[TPR] Asa back at home

Tue Sep 17 16:04:19 PDT 2013

I dropped Bullet off at home about 12:45 and then I came home.  Here is
my wrap-up of the Pantera on course this year.

Somewhere past 90 MPH the Pantera had a bad vibration.  It was low
pitched and I could feel it in the seat of my pants.  It was bad enough
at the start I nearly pulled off just three miles into the course.  I
pressed on for another couple of miles slowly bringing her up to 120 and
it didn't feel any worse, so we prayed and kept going.

I pushed up to about 130 in the trap and it felt about the same.  At
some speeds it seemed to smooth out a little but it did get worrisome. 
What is it?  I don't know, but my gut feel is that it's an imbalance in
the engine, either due to something being out of balance, or something
like compression being off on one cylinder, or a bad plug, plug wire,
cap, rotor or maybe a lifter not working as well as it should.

Best case is wheels/tires out of balance, or a half-shaft out of
balance.  I'll start there as those are easy to do and probably need to
be done again anyway.  I have a great shop in town who works on the
half-shafts, and I think they can do a high-speed balance on the
wheels/tires.  I'll check into it in the coming weeks.

Next, I'll start looking around for a used portable engine analyzer.  If
I can find one, great.  If not, well, I'll start hunting around some of
the performance shops for some dyno time and see what we can find there.

I would like to say overall the car ran fine, and for the most part it
didn't disappoint.  But there -is- some kind of stumble, even at low
speeds, which leads me to believe something is wrong with the engine. 
I've got all winter to figure it out.

Be that as it may...
Chalk up another successful trip from Spokane, WA to Ely, NV.  Add an
average run of 119 MPH (5.5 seconds off time), with a trap that should
come close to 130 and I'd say I had a good run.

Oh and one more thing:
At 70-75 MPH on the Interstate, my temp gauge runs a needle width or
more below 230 with no overheating.  I checked that last year and it was
fine.  Oil pressure at that speed is near 75.  That is normal freeway
running.  However, on course at 120, the temp climbed to the needle
touching 230 and the oil pressure was just a needle or so above 35.

My guess is that I was running a higher temp in the engine which was
thinning the oil.  I'm thinking the engine may have been running lean,
it's hard to tell without an 02 sensor or A/F gauge.  One thing for
certain, if I want to run faster, I'll need to mod the cooling system
and most likely add an oil cooler.

I took an oil sample immediately after the race and will send it in for
analysis.  I'll let you know how it all comes back.

Asa Jay

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
******************************     
http://www.racingagainstautism.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism

On 9/15/2013 4:12 PM, Teampantera wrote:
> AJ and I both finished...my Bosch elec fuel pump for Efi started going south right after passing.canyon/narrows...its never been a problem in last couple 2-3 years but....
>
> Soon as fuel pressure falls below 43 pounds the efi computer shuts down engineso engine doeant grenade...yea good thing....but..
>
> when I lost fuel pressure (luckly Mike Trusty recommended I get a fuel pressure gauge) the engine SHUT DOWN.....I was aberaging 145+ at Narrows....so every time fuel pressure fell below 43 engine shut down completly...
>
> I'd throw it in neutral and about 5-10 seconds later the fuel pressure would go back up and engine would fire up  again...I did that like  a DOZEN times but it worked and I finished.....I  think I was far enough ahead of my goal speed that I only lost about a total of 5 mph or a 135 average. In the last 20 miles.  I was just so happy to FINISH so no complaints what so ever.
>
> AJ said his run went okay.....but he had a unidentifed high.speed vibration above +/- 120 or.130...he can clear that up
> Later when he gives his summary report but he thought it might have been his tire guy didnt get high speed balancing right....and yea it could be a dozen other things too and we wont.know until he gets home amd can tell us.
>
> AJ and the Major drove back to Ely for awards banquet there tonight and then they are headed back to Washington....and Peter, Mark and I are back in Vegas. Will find out tonight how we really did but happy we finished!!
>
> Mark and AJ got.lots of photos so they will follow for sure.
>
> David in Durango <adin at frontier.net> wrote:
>
>> Standing out on the high desert waiting for a green light?
>>
>> Sounds like good odds.  You certainly have some good support - we should see 
>> a trophy or two?
>>
>> Seems the Pantera would qualify as a vintage car - mine is 40 years old (and 
>> getting better every day!)
>>
>> No matter what - BE SAFE!
>>
>> All the dogs on the porch want to see pictures!  Good luck w/ the rail 
>> project - I want a tour!
>>
>> Peace out.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Teampantera" <teampantera at yahoo.com>
>> To: <tpr at teampanteraracing.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 11:35 PM
>> Subject: [TPR] The Competition
>>
>>
>>> In AJ' 120 division class (his goal is to nail 120 and can go a sfast as 
>>> 140) there are only 7 entries...compare that to 24 entries  in the 110 
>>> class. His competition includes many veterans...there is a awsome 1969 AMX 
>>> and a race prepared Caddy CTS-V. The rest are one vette, 1 mustang, 1 87 
>>> Firebird, and  race prepared ASA truck
>>>
>>> In my 140 (165 Tech) group they are all veterans and include two Porsches 
>>> (911t & 89 928S), one 600HP Shelby GT500, a Mustang Cobra, a Z06, one 
>>> camaro, and two other C6 Vettes but not one vintage car.
>>>
>>> And only 7 vintage pre-74 entries out of 127 total entries...we should all 
>>> be proud of having two non race car panteras here this weekend.
>>>
>>> I EXPECT to finish tomorrow. And I EXPECT Asa will WIN something...his 
>>> Pantera looks so good and sounds even better.
>>>
>>> Hanging out in JB's "Cafe Finito" all weekend was awsome too. He fed us, 
>>> had cold brewskys and some stuff called Bud Light ;-))))
>>>
>>> To have  our buddies here helping us was so big I can NOT even begin to 
>>> describe how good it made me feel.
>>>
>>> So big thank you to Peter, John, Mark, and AJ's dad who is a 
>>> firecracker....I dont even believe the Major fathered Asa....what I think 
>>> happened was Bullet just adopted Asa or found him under a rock 
>>> somewhere.... ;-)))))
>>>
>>> But the Major who I will write much more about next week is a USAF legend 
>>> flying among other jets a F-111 and of course the B52 (BUFF)...There is no 
>>> combat veteran that ever called in and actually got and  then saw and 
>>> heard a B52 arclight bomb run who could not be impressed.
>>>
>>> Okay guys...hitting the sack and next week starting the new high speed 
>>> (bullet) rail project in Central Valley (Fresno)...20 miles from Sequoia 
>>> and Kings Canyon Nat Parks...so super excited..first one in the nation.
>>>
>>> Old Dawg
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> TPR mailing list
>>> TPR at teampanteraracing.com
>>> http://teampanteraracing.com/mailman/listinfo/tpr_teampanteraracing.com
>>>
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