Since I now have gears and had some time off to hang out with the boy, I figured we’d take the car up to Evans Mills for some practice. So I got the car up on stands to fix the clutch (again) and put in the gears. Several hours later, I put it back on the ground. It turns out no amount of adjusting will account for a clutch disk spring stuck in the pressure plate. But it does explain why the throwout bearing o-rings gave up. Fortunately, the flywheel and pressure plate were OK so I threw in an old disk I had laying around and hoped it would hold together. Things to do regarding the gears in a 9″: Get a slide hammer, put in a drain plug, buy a reusable gasket, lift more weights. After that ordeal I was ready to go back to my old 8.5″. Dave Fetterly gave me some pointers to help out next time so I expect I’ll have an easier time of it.
Anyway, after getting the drivetrain back together, I decided to do what I could to get the weights close to legal for Evans Mills. 58% left side. Are they nuts? Who wrote these rules anyway? So I bolted 180# to the left frame rail and got to just over 57% at 3310#. You need a Late Model to get these percentages. No wonder half the field runs them.
By the time I got the weight on, it was getting close to time to leave so we hooked up the trailer and discovered one of the drums had locked up. And that the ramps were too short. It’s a good thing this was only practice. Eventually we got everything straightened out and Griffin and I headed north. Practice was pretty light so we got plenty of time on the track. Dave Fetterly showed up with the Hot Rod Lincoln as I was heading out for my first session to shake it down. I didn’t actually get to see him on the track but Jason says he looked fast. I, on the other hand, did not. I’m a good second away from fast. I’m sure I’ll make up some of that with tires and a little more track time but the car has some issues I need to work on. I think the rear is out of square and there’s a bind somewhere. I’ll be taking a long look at it in the next couple of days and heading back up on Saturday for the race. On the plus side I’m starting get an idea what the preferred line looks like.
Unfortunately, there’s enough to do that I’ll be staying home from Spencer. I was hoping to get down there to get some time on the track in preparation for the 9/7 NYSS show. I’ll take another shot at it next week. It sounds like there will be a decent turnout for that show from the guys up north as well as the southern tier and WNY guys. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a better car count than RoC.