Friday - July 7, 2006

Today is July 9th and what that means is that I have one month from today before we head to Bonneville. Now if you’re not aware, I have once again completely rebuilt the Thacker and Shine roadster. Armed with the knowledge we gained by putting the car in the MIRA wind tunnel. Radical changes are being made to get this donkey through the wind much easier. All work done at nite or weekends after customer projects are completed. So much of the car needed to be changed that serious thrashing started months ago. Thinking that the car would be done in the time to shake it down at the July S.C.T.A. meet. Unfortunately, with so much left to do neither the car nor I will be there.

Bill Mitchell Sr. and Bill Jr. at World Products are close to completion on the D/Blown small block, hopefully I’ll have it in a week or so. 

What’s been done so far:

• 4 – 925 amp batteries are mounted in the trunk and paralleled wired
• No alternator this year
• A new Simpson parachute installed
• I fabbed an 11-gallon ice tank for the intercooler water supply.
• This year we’ve eliminated the trans blanket and opted for an S.F.I. 4.1 scatter shield (blankets hold heat and are bitch to deal with)
• No converter in the T.P.I. prepped TH400. I’ve installed a splined hub to direct drive the trans.
• Raised the tonneau cover to the top of the cowl.
• Had a Lexan windshield formed much like a dragster
• 10 minutes ago I finished mounting the 5 gallon moon tank in front of the radiator (Thanks Shige, Chico and Bob at Moon Equipment)
• My buddy Nate Bug over at B.D.S. is hooking me up with the intercooler and all the injector bits I need. You might have seen his Nostalgia TF/FC (Lil’ Nate) run at some of the Goodguys events.

So like I say, a lot has been done but so much left to do. No matter how soon you get the jump on it, you’re always scratchin to get it done in the final hour. Tick-tock-times-a-wastin. 4pm Sunday, Baja Pomona (the close Mexico), humidity 90%, and I can feel my brain starting to die. Race car to build. Wish me luck.