Today's Road Trip

[tony barnhill]

Drove up to Andersonville, TN today to look at Lee Graser's ThunderMidget that took 2nd place overall at last year's GRM Challenge; it has an '87 Thunderbird engine under the hood:

....& to pick up a set of Hoosier 205x50x15 Auto-X tires I bought from him....he's been keeping up with my GRM car build and told me "Honestly, I'm a bit worried & don't know if I should sell you a set of tires just to beat me with."

 

[kennypinkerton]

LOL, did you look the tires over carefully? Competition can be fearse!

Your gonna beat him!

Go Tony! Go Tony! Go Tony! Go Tony! Go Tony! Go Tony!

On the other hand his paint job looks good! I like that shade of blue. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

His finished engine compartment:

My "under construction" engine compartment:

 

[JamesWilson]

The engine in the blue car- surely that 4 cylinder turbocharged fuel injected (if I'm reading that right and seeing what I think I'm seeing) engine can't be from a '67 Thunderbird as it said in the initial post. Can it? Seems like 20 or 30 years newer technology.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

James - sorry 'bout that...I changed my post...its out of an '87 T=Bird!

 

[kennypinkerton]

Dang, I was about to say that's from an 85-88 turbochicken. The V-6 will have more torque (unless he's really pushing the turbo!). Torque will count for alot on most of the tests.

What really caught my eye is how HUGE the BGT engine compartment is after comparing the 2. Are you sure we couldn't have stuffed a v-10 in there? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

Remember, Kenny, MG put a V8 in there!

I think he might be toying with Nitrous for this year's challenge....gotta check my budget closely...anybody got a cheap Nitrous setup for sale?

 

[kennypinkerton]

How's he (the other guy) gonna add Nitrous for $1? If he ran the SAME car last year, I'm sure he can't add much more, looks like he's already close to or at last years $2005 limit. Or did I miss a rule somewhere?

 

[tony barnhill]

New rule allows harness, driver restraint, window net to be backed out of the budget...so, he can recoup that to put into Nitrous

...it's saved me a couple hundred!

 

[kennypinkerton]

Dang, if I had a dry nitrous setup here, I'd swap it to ya for one of yer old (for sale or used to be) cars! I think if you get one, you want to be conservative - say a 30-50hp shot. I've read up on nitrous - have 3 thick books on it here. If I were you, find someone with a used dry setup, and position the jet nozzle directly over the carb (center of the air cleaner?) Check with the ricer guys. One somewhere near you just blew up a Civic motor because he put on the 100hp jet (just going by statistics from what I've seen around here!) and his mom won't let him put it back on - lol.

If you want to go higher than that and find a wet system, email me.

 

[kennypinkerton]

Is the cost of fuel considered part of the budget? Is nitrous considered fuel? That will be a big part, because refilling the bottle can get expensive quick. I've always called it "cocaine for car engines".

 

[kbash]

Looks like Tony your going to give him a run for his money, but in the end it comes down to the driver. Lookign good by the way,too.

 

[tony barnhill]

Well, maybe I need Adam to get on the chase for one...where is that boy?

 

[twigworker]

Okay you guys...What sport/class/event are you talking about here. Road racing, drags, autocross, what? Being the devious devil and long ago SCCA guy that I am it occurred to me to ask if Borrowing or Leasing parts or equipment counts against the total expenditure, or, if it is a really expensive piece can you amortize the cost over a period of time and get the real time expense down that way? LOL Just a thought. But I do want to know what you are talking about. Jack

 

[kennypinkerton]

The Grassroots Motorsports Magazine 2006 Challenge. They have a few of their own rules...

A link someone? SorryJack, I've been following the story for what seems like forever, and even I have learned a few things in the past few weeks. Someone will come along soon with the link. It does seem interesting, and I've read the final standings before in the magazine, but never knew up til now what was involved.

Try...
https://www.theautoist.com

Look for Racing or GRM update - maybe he has a link to the GRM rules.

 

[DrEntropy]

[ QUOTE ]
... Being the devious devil and long ago SCCA guy that I am it occurred to me to ask if Borrowing or Leasing parts or equipment counts against the total expenditure...

[/ QUOTE ]

This same thought (and same devious nature) occurred to me. "On Loan" @ $1 per year...

 

[tony barnhill]

I wish! & its hard to build a car that'll be competitive at the GRM & still be SCCA-legal....heck, building the care is easy; staying in the budget limits is what's hard!

Here's some info on the event & the rules:

https://grmotorsports.com/news/category/2006-challenge

 

[Nunyas]

if I'm not mistaken the racing part is drag AND auto-X... and then there's concours judging. So, it's not just one thing but and overall thing...

 

[tony barnhill]

You got it, Rob!