2013 indy ''backyardigan''

[jmcarter]

Larry, congrats on your great qualifying and run at the class trophy. Know many of the new car folks work hard on their combo but you working hard and "running against the wind" with the Cuda represents the best of what Class Racing is all about.

Hope the tour continues to reward yours and Patsy's dedication to the sport.

[Larry Hill]

The plot thickens! The next day I disassemble the engine to get the deck machined by Pat Robinson. I check deck height before it go to the machine shop and tell Pat he has .004 " max that can be removed. Pat does a great job less than .0005 end to end and side to side.

I have an appointment at Tommy's machine to get my blocked honed this coming Tuesday so everything is looking good. I inspect the cam its looks great until I see #7 Ex. lobe. The lobe has .025" wide, .008 to .010 deep, aprox. .100" long part missing on the opening side of the ramp. I look at the cam under a lighted magnifying glass and see that it looks like the lobe is flaking. I take a razor blade to pick at the spot and open the spot up to about a .250''. Man am I lucky, I dodged a bullet. Now we need a new cam made and in my hands in less than ten days. You know I got my fingers cross.

[Larry Hill]

I get the cam on the way and now its on the road for a 280 mile round trip to have the block honed @ Tommy's. I use CP pistons and have a new set with me to make sure we have proper piston to wall clearance for each cylinder. The set of pistons only vary .0002" so that makes the hone job a little simpler. Eric Wingo shows up at the shop and ask me if I am building a diesel, what a sense of humor. The rest of the day goes well and make it home for a late supper.

Next day clean the block and do some trial assembly.

[Larry Hill]

Once home I give the block a very good cleaning before trial assembly. First thing I check is the drag on the oil ring, we play musical expander and rails for a little while before we decide on the package.

[Larry Hill]

Now its file, file, file, and tweak the rest of the expanders. I hate to file all 16 oil rails because I am never confident that the rail is square to the bore. Did I mention that the rails are difficult to cut and deburr. The top and second ring are of a softer material so they cut much faster, almost cut the one second ring too much but was able to but it in the smallest bore to get the correct end gap.

Crank, rods, end play, clearance, are all good. Now we are ready for the new (old cam) cam, maybe it will be here in the morning. Indy is less than two weeks.

[Larry Hill]

YES! The cam is here. A quick incoming Q.C. shows the base circle is .020 larger. Lobe lift is +/- .001 of the old cam, it might be ok checked at the valve. We install #1 and #2 piston and rods to check tdc. and degree cam. After degree wheel is removed I install timing cover and damper to see if I cam duplicate the numbers from the degree wheel, just in case I want to change cam centerline at the track.

Now is "proof of the pudding" time, does it check at the valve. Most valve lift is good I have five that check too big the worst one is out by +.003". I have two different sets of pushrods and an adjustable push rod to help solve the problem of too much lift. Chris at Comp Cams to the rescue the next day I have a new set of pushrods that I think I need.

Now its time to play Rubik's pushrods and rockers to get the engine to check, just in case we are chosen for the barn at Indy.

[Larry Hill]

The loss of a day getting the cam to check causes us to miss the target day of 8/16/ 13,for dyno test. We still have not entered Indy. I'm just not going if I cant qualify. Test and tune day at Bowling Green is Thursday 8/22/13. The weekend is spent getting the car and trailer ready just incase we are successful at the dyno.

8/19/13 Monday 4:00 A.M. my feet hit the floor, coffee and review check list. Everything is loaded and the weather looks good no rain. 7:55 A.M. we are unloading engine, by 10:30 we are warmed up, valves readjusted, and ready to see how much steam it will make. We light the engine up, turn on the O2, check timing, and I wonder what the funny noise is? It a water brake dyno with no water. Commode flushes, water comes out of faucet, we got water everywhere but at the dyno.

The 3hp 3 phase motor water pump is toast, bearings are down and its smoking, and its lunch time. I just don't feel very hungry and I love to eat!