[Cglrcng]

The build is still ongoing but first Quarter Mile Shakedown, ring seating & some bracket fun:

Now that I have almost recovered from my first outing in Las Vegas with my Wife of 35 years, after a layoff of 25 plus yrs. (a couple of very hot bright and Sunny L.V. Days), in much worse air than I wanted (corrected elevation wise at least), and understanding that this was my very first real 1/4 mile shakedown of a brand new rebuild (that is not fully finished yet, the rings are not even seated yet (24 miles on the trip-o-meter since May 18, 2023, and there were things to find out about, and improvements to be made just to get back to square 1 first, take it slow, do not ruin the future chasing things that are not going to be fixed at the track, just seat those rings into those freshly bored and honed cyl's, work on finding the spot on the tree that you have never raced on in your life (this was after a 25 yr. layoff), my very first time on Friday in my life, going at an LED Tree folks. (And it is a very different world, as I loved incandescent Flood Light Trees!) They are different. Then Sure Start (I miss those lil' yellow bulbs), yeah I'm old. As I actually miss the 5 amber, 5/10ths tree too.

Friday was strictly a Test-n-Tune day & saying hi to some very old friends (spent most of it just attempting to get the timing back right to where it was at the prior 1/8 mile Legal Street race outing in May after doing a lot the past few months. I think it is within 3 degrees (but not quite yet there). Took big swings both ways, and ended in the center. 1 Street tire pass then a switch to the slicks, had added a lot of weight to the car, the air stinks, the conditions felt higher than Denver, and the car is rock slow, converter changes are definitely in order (waaaaay too tight), am working on that this week while recovering along with a few other things I knew would make the car slower (But Saturday/Sunday are 2 Bracket Races!)

Late night chasing around attempting to find a sit-down decent meal at a place that is actually serving food still in the cool.

The Tree:

It took some time (Deep Red 2 passes on Friday), Deep Green 2 Passes on Saturday...Hmmm, um an .082 really junk, but at least I am going the right direction now on last time trial before the Saturday Bracket program begins... I have a spot in mind now, we will see how that will work out, staring at 1 single LED is not anywhere as easy as the many variables that an incandescent Flood light offers. But I will get this. Everything in it's time.

To begin with, here is my (I broke the car), parts list for the weekend...

Loading the Luggage in the hatch of the car after it is on the trailer (at home still), I reach up to pull the hatch closed, and the Dodge Pentastar emblem comes off in my hand as I am closing the hatch, not broken, just some 2 sided tape will fix that next week.

Friday night, headed over for the 2nd and last pass after switching to FWD slicks, pull into the lanes, put it in park, and later as they pull us forward, I cannot get the car out of park. Oh sure, I changed the shifter cable, but have not found the Quarter Stick ratchet or B&M shifter in the (PRN321) pattern for the A413 TF yet that I am looking for, so if anyone has 1 hanging around doing nothing, and are willing to part with it for a reasonable price, and it is in good shape please give me a holler! (Thank you Greg Hogue in Texas, as he just recently pulled a shifter out of his 84' Daytona Turbo model that is the same type T-handle he is not using anymore for his FWD Stocker build, and is sending me a new (old) T-shifter handle).

And at least the button still worked, still had both park lock and the reverse lockout, so outside of the lane delay and looking foolish for a half hour or so, I could still race!

And lastly, after everything is over on Sunday, loading the car with things I will need in the future, as my car is "thanks to some fantastic & great friends" staying somewhat locally, & me moving a bit too fast around very old brittle plastic car parts...I break a seat belt Trim pc. on the passenger side (I have 2 now on the way already shipped to me via e-bay), but they are black and will get a coat or 2 of Gray paint to match the interior!

I call that highly embarrassing on the center 1 (that 1 happened not on track, or in the pits but as soon as I pulled into the lanes (and a lot of cars lined up behind me). Ever get your car stuck in Park, and you cannot get it out of Park? Try it holding people (it felt like everyone), up while they are pulling your lane (while many came to my aid, attempting to help rock it out of gear, we were fighting a losing war (the shifter handle broke inside, and the pcs I found out shortly were jamming the shifter Park/Reverse Lockout Detent Rod- but not pressing downward (just jammed on 2 sides).

And had done so perfectly timed, while my wife had left with the truck and all the tools (except the ones I changed the tires with), to do some much needed errand runs (get more water, pick me up some trans fluid, ck. into the hotel, grabbed us a small amount of fast food to make it until dinner later, etc.)...Important stuff. (I just needed a small flat blade or phillips screwdriver, not a single 1 in the car).

I never did eat that McD's meal she brought back as it was stone cold by the time I got back to the pits after fixing the car and they pulled the lanes again. It was like 2 hrs. later...Ergo the late-night dinner later near midnight to 2 AM.

I got lucky, they stopped pulling our lane, and I had fewer people to wave around me and someone was very kind on a bicycle with a pit nearby to retrieve a small screwdriver for me. Thank You! I really appreciated that kindness.