2 Sluggo's Garage

[rmalkow2]

2nd Project of the past couple weekends….

This has been a long awaited install of the Badlands 9000 pound electric winch onto my car hauler trailer. I bought this winch about a year ago and finally made time to work on the install. I was able to use up all scrap metal I've saved to make the mounting plate and brackets.

Started out using the new torch to heat and bend some ends of angle iron cross members. I thought to make the mounting bracket a bolt in item to the trailer frame so a) I could too any welding needed in the garage and b) it could be easily unbolted and replaced if ever needed.
This made for good use of the torch and my own vise on a stand.

The vise and movable stand also came in handy for cleaning rust off the mounting plate. So convenient to roll the whole vise outside for this dirty job. Why did I not make one of thee before? Kicking myself now for not doing it sooner.

Mock up of the plate and bracket assembly on the trailer before painting it with some Rustoleum black.

I made another bracket for the fair lead and mounted that in from of the winch itself. And then took an old plastic tool box and cut out the bottom enough to let it slip over the winch and become a rain hat of sorts. Still easily opened for access to the winch but it should keep most of the rain and snow out.

All that's left now is to wire it up and give it a test pull.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, that's a brilliant cover for the winch. If only I had a trailer (and something that could pull it).

 

[DynoDave]

Bob, that's a brilliant cover for the winch.

Yep....may have to leverage that idea.

 

[rmalkow2]

Bob, that's a brilliant cover for the winch. If only I had a trailer (and something that could pull it).

Yep....may have to leverage that idea.

Thanks guys. I knew I was saving that ratty old plastic box for something. It's not totally water tight but should serve to keep things somewhat dry.

 

[don long]

Hey Bob
Today is the 25th and last saturday was test day at the track. Did you make it out???
So I like the shadow box for the winch very clever and it looks like the plastic box was what the winch was shipped in (nice fit)

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Good idea on the winch cover!

 

[rmalkow2]

Hey Bob
Today is the 25th and last saturday was test day at the track. Did you make it out???
So I like the shadow box for the winch very clever and it looks like the plastic box was what the winch was shipped in (nice fit)

Well, disappointing as it was I did not make it to the track last Saturday. I'm learning the hard way just how much work is involved with getting everything done and ready to go especially when I'm doing it all myself. And the other hard lesson is that I just can't work as fast as I used to. This getting old thing *****.
I worked at work till noon and took half day of vacation last Friday then worked until 9pm that night and then again in the morning early and just could not get everything done.
I always make lists of tasks in my head and think like I'm 25 still then only get about 25% of that list done. But, we have to keep moving forward so the next available date is July 6th and I'm continuing to work towards that date.

 

[rmalkow2]

Bob,
Good idea on the winch cover!

Thanks Jon. I should have it wired up and working this weekend. Having the working winch is not optional for me anymore. If I break the car at the track I need a way to load it on the trailer by myself without driving it. I hope the cover will help keep it in working order for a longer time.

 

[rmalkow2]

Good day around the garage today though really hot and humid. 87F and 60% humidity so I work awhile and then come in for a quick cool off.

Todays tasks were to get the trailer winch wired up and do a successful test in my driveway so I know I can actually load a car by myself in necessary.

Got all the wiring attached and ran through holes drilled in the plastic tool box and through the side wall of my aluminum trailer box with some rubber grommets made to guard against the metal. I secured the deep cycle battery in the trailer box with a hold down clamp I already had.

The first attempt at pulling the car up proved that the winch works fine and made easy work of pulling the car weight but my lead strap was too long and I ran out of winch cable length before the car was all the way up. The second attempt was with a much shorter chain attached to the car which gave me the full length of cable travel. Glad I did this at home first and learned some refinements to the whole process but feel good that I can make it work. Video link below.

 

[Paul_VR6]

Wrap the breaker assembly in electrical tape before you have an oops.

 

[rmalkow2]

Wrap the breaker assembly in electrical tape before you have an oops.

Exactly. I thought about making a little plastic box just for the relays which is what we would do in a modern car. When not in use I currently have it completely disconnected from the battery but your point is well taken.

Thanks Paul.

 

[Paul_VR6]

No problem I dropped a wrench on mine once and got lucky that it kept falling. Yours being in a metal box would be less forgiving! I just got a 5k for my new trailer, after having one for so long its tough to be without.

 

[rmalkow2]

New tool for the shop!

After a lot of thinking, researching and comparing I had decided that my next welder would come from HF and it would be the Mig 170. For my level of fabrication it will provide enough power and the gas shielding for cleaner, better welds than my old Flux core setup. Has the flexibility of running on 110V or 220V input and should handle the most common thickness of materials I will likely use.

So I had just made up my mind and was willing to wait for a sale and Shazaam! A new HF coupon appears in email for this past weekend with 15% off any of their name brand equipment. That coupon saved me $75 on the welder that they do not put on sale very often. Ran down to my local store and came home with this.


Now to buy a cylinder of shelving gas (most likely 75% argon and 25% CO2). And likely the next good coupon will be for a new cart to put all this new welding stuff on.

 

[DynoDave]

Happy New Welder day!

 

[xtremek]

And likely the next good coupon will be for a new cart to put all this new welding stuff on.

A fish tank stand works great as a welder stand.

 

[rmalkow2]

A fish tank stand works great as a welder stand.

True enough there are so many other things that can be repurposed as a welder cart. This welder will go down in the barn and I actually have a decent cart on wheels that I repurposed from a school AV cart. So, I may just continue to use that and use my 25% coupon for this weekend on a new self darkening helmet.

Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

Upgrades for the Race Car

Yesterday afternoon work let us off early so I was able to work on installing all the new ignition parts I had purchased. New plugs, MSD wires and a new Screamin Demon 45,000 volt coil from Performance Distributors. With these items I should have the hottest spark available to burn all air/fuel mix in each combustion chamber.

From looking at the old plug next to the new one I can see they are not very old and actual electrode wear was minimal but most had some dark residue that looks like some oil burning. This is not surprising to me given the age of the motor and miles on the car. I hope to nurse it along this season and see what next year brings.

The MSD plug wires come with numbered plastic split rings that snap over each wire and a handy little tool for sliding them up to the wire, gently spreading them and guiding them over the new wire as you just push it onto the tool. An nice extra touch.

All in all it was not a hard job and should provide the best possible spark to help get full horsepower. The other thing I noticed is that the prior owner who told me he recently installed new plugs had failed to tighten them. 5 of the 6 old spark plugs were only hand tight!!!
I don't imagine that was good for HP and was causing some compression leaking. So now that issue is fixed as well.

 

[Paul_VR6]

There may be other things going on but that one plug looks carbon fouled from being quite rich. I would check the new set after running a bit. Wouldn’t be surprised if they look better. Tightness counts here!

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Nice score on the welder. (I used my 15% HF coupon on a blue side locker).

You got it done on the plugs & wires.
I have the numbered split rings on the wires on the Vega. They are useful.

Hand tight plugs can cause problems.
I'll bet it runs smoother just for having properly tightened spark plugs.

 

[xtremek]

So a weird question, do you think the plugs being that loose would mess up your AF ratio?

 

[rmalkow2]

There may be other things going on but that one plug looks carbon fouled from being quite rich. I would check the new set after running a bit. Wouldn’t be surprised if they look better. Tightness counts here!

Probably some carbon fouling but what's hard to see in the photo was the oily wetness. Not a lot but, it was there maybe combined with running rich and causing the carbon.
I got to the track Saturday and did 6 more passes so sometime this week I'll pull some plugs and see what they look like. Tightness really does count.

Given the age on this motor I expect some blow by which can cause the oil wetness. I ordered an air/oil separator for the pcv system to filter out oil from the pcv air that goes back into the intake.

 

[rmalkow2]

Bob,
Nice score on the welder. (I used my 15% HF coupon on a blue side locker).

You got it done on the plugs & wires.
I have the numbered split rings on the wires on the Vega. They are useful.

Hand tight plugs can cause problems.
I'll bet it runs smoother just for having properly tightened spark plugs.

Jon,
I saw your new side locker and it's a great addition to the tool box. Another good use of that coupon.

With new plugs (tight), wires and the coil it runs great. I also added a new cold air intake and opened up the exhaust. It definitely has more power now. To the point where it's become a real delicate task not to spin the one tire at the start line. Even on a sticky track I was easily spinning the rear wheel.
Time to upgrade the rear and get both tires gripping. I have a lead on a potential good deal on a locker for my rear diff and will be looking at it tonite.

Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

So a weird question, do you think the plugs being that loose would mess up your AF ratio?

That's a real good question and I suppose it is possible that before the injector sprays, some air has been pushed out during the beginning of the compression stroke. I have no idea what percentage that could be (research now required) but, it seems logical.
Will read the plugs yet after Saturday's passes to see if things look better. Someday when funding allows it would be nice to have active data monitoring of air fuel ratio, etc.

Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

Bam! This just happened tonight after a 4 hour round trip drive after work today to Holland, MI I now have an Eaton Detroit Locker rear diff for my 7.5" Mustang rear end with like new 4:10 Ford Motorsport ring and pinion set. The gear set is very low miles and has no visible wear marks. The locker will be the easiest and most reliable way to get both rear wheels spinning now. Better even than a positraction diff.

 

[DynoDave]

That's a nice piece.

 

[xtremek]

Good snag

 

[teal95]

Finally made made it through the whole thing. Several specific areas of interest for me.

First your not that far away. I'm just east of Jackson and occasionally have to go to Auburn Hills (you can probably guess who I work for...) and I used to live in South Lyon.

Second I also had a pole barn built about the same time you did. Also had built a work shop a couple of years before mine is only for storage, which brings me to item #3.

My wife says I have a Mustang problem. I have 8 in the barn, a road race car in the car port and #10 is at my cousin's body shop. Several have the 7.5 so I know what a find that is. If you have any interest in tuning it (and datalogging) research twEECer and Moates QuarterHorse.

steve

 

[metalhead140]

You've been busy! Cool to see the race car, and nice work on the vise stands.

 

[rmalkow2]

Finally made made it through the whole thing. Several specific areas of interest for me.

First your not that far away. I'm just east of Jackson and occasionally have to go to Auburn Hills (you can probably guess who I work for...) and I used to live in South Lyon.

Second I also had a pole barn built about the same time you did. Also had built a work shop a couple of years before mine is only for storage, which brings me to item #3.

My wife says I have a Mustang problem. I have 8 in the barn, a road race car in the car port and #10 is at my cousin's body shop. Several have the 7.5 so I know what a find that is. If you have any interest in tuning it (and datalogging) research twEECer and Moates QuarterHorse.

steve

Hey Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to read through my thread. It’s always good to find another Michigan GJ member.
Sorry your wife has that opinion because I cannot even understand what a “Mustang problem “ is??? I say 10 is not a problem but just the start of a nice collection. If your barn is like mine it’s already too small.

I was going to swap in an 8.8 posi but the locker became available for a good price so I’ll see if I can blow up the 7.5 first.

I’ll definitely check out those tuning sites you listed but first I’m off to Bonneville tomorrow for Speed Week. Got salt fever last year and can’t wait to get back.


Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

You've been busy! Cool to see the race car, and nice work on the vise stands.

Thanks and yes it’s been a busy summer with more yet to come. As if I didn’t have enough projects going I decide to start a race car project. Sometimes frustrating but it takes more time to build up a car than I thought and going to the track is a major all day affair but too much fun to not.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bob

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Have fun at Bonneville!

 

[rmalkow2]

Salt Fever 2019

 

[rmalkow2]

Bonneville or Bust

And we almost had the bust about 3 hours into the trip. The stationary idler pulley decided to take a **** and was making noise.


I pressed onward and a few miles on found an Auto Zone. Bought a new pulley and had my own little Road Kill episode fixing the truck in their parking lot.


It took about an hour but now runs smooth and quiet. Got to my hotel late but better than being stuck on the road.

 

[rmalkow2]

Day 2 of travel went much smoother. Crossing the Mississippi and onto my next stop at the Speedway Motors Museum of Speed. I only had time to see the first floor so a return visit is in order. But it’s a cool place with cars and displays from all forms of racing. See how many of these oldies you recognize.





I also met the nephew of Tiny Lund who was touring the museum and had a couple cool stories of his uncles NASCAR days.

Then before leaving I met another guy heading out to Speed Week to run his 180 mph flathead powered street roadster. Hope to find him again at the salt. He said it promises to be a good meet with over 400 entries this year.

 

[rmalkow2]

In Salt Lake City where I’m staying we had an evening gully washer of a rain storm. But weather looks to be good from here on.

I copied over the official update from yesterday.

SW 2019 Update #7 (8/8/19):
Inspection opened this morning and approximately 70 vehicles were inspected. The Blue Line was put down, comms put up, wire layed for clocks and the Timing Tower is up & running.
And then we got hit by a brief squall with wind, rain & hail and there is a small amount of standing water. As of now, the Driver’s Meeting will still be Saturday at 9:00 a.m. We may post pone the start of racing a day or two, but better weather is expected from now on. At this time, we expect to still go racing.
Gates open tomorrow @ 7:00 a.m. and Inspection & Registration opens at 9:00 a.m.
JUST A REMINDER, THE NEW SPEED LIMIT FOR THE ACCESS ROAD IS 45 MPH.
See ya on the salt!
Bill Lattin
SCTA President

 

[xtremek]

I hope you take this the right way, but I hate you right now. I hope the salt is good for you and the racers.

 

[rmalkow2]

A short video here of some friends from Colorado that race vintage motorcycles.

The blue one is a 1953 Triumph “bathtub” body with turbo added.

The black one is a 1938 Velocette with a belt driven supercharger added.

Salt and weather both cooperating, they will be running in vintage classes.

Owner/driver is from Colorado Springs and the Boulder Street Moto Club. Check them out online.

 

[rmalkow2]

I hope you take this the right way, but I hate you right now. I hope the salt is good for you and the racers.

Yes, totally taken as intended and made me smile. Well this year I’m getting another side of the salt experience. Being rained out. I feel for the race teams that have a lot invested for no racing yet. Still hoping it dries up enough but I feel their pain at coming a long way, taking time off work, spending money and no racing. At least I’m happy to spend quality time with some of my kids who live here.

Still have salt fever and will be back next year.

Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

Here’s some pics from yesterday on the salt. Lots of puddles after the Thursday night rain and then the Friday heat causing water to rise to the surface. Hopefully today was windy enough to help dry it up a lot.

Here’s some interesting vehicle going through tech inspection.

 

[rmalkow2]

More pics. I think the Moon Eyes car is for display but still cool.