Project 66 Nova

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by james schaechter

Jeff, I tried that number and it did not go through. Jim.

Duh…602-418-9797

[j smith 4115]

paul reading back over your build post wondered if you have had any tech man question the fuel tank mounted with tabs only no straps. like the way it is mounted along with the seats. thanks jim

[JHeath]

An aluminum fuel cell with welded on mounts probably doesn't need straps.

[Tom Meyer]

Here is a shot of my cell mounting with straps. I have to remember how to make it bigger because I am computer challenged. If you click on the pic it will get bigger. Also over 70,000 views on this nice build Paul. Tom

[Paul Merolla]

Originally Posted by j smith 4115

paul reading back over your build post wondered if you have had any tech man question the fuel tank mounted with tabs only no straps. like the way it is mounted along with the seats. thanks jim

Jim -
No questions from tech...it's been looked at by Bob Blackwell, Wayne Lewis, and several others. Thanks for the compliment...I'm a simple guy, so I built it simple!

[Paul Merolla]

Had my first on-track engine disaster last weekend at Topeka, so I thought I'd add a couple photos to this thread. It had a mysterious oil pressure issue going on, so it wasn't a huge surprise that it let go...still hard to swallow though, especially this early in the season. Big thanks to Larry Vierregger for the tow back to my pit, and also to everyone who expressed their condolences. And especially to John Hladky, who is loaning me a shortblock!

[IMG]

[goinbroke2]

Damn, sorry for your loss. Is that a cap that is spread so wide? One rod bolt let go? Wondering if one loose bolt let oil pressure drop due to the leakage?

Cam and lifter laying there, damn that's too bad. Been there, sickening feeling.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by goinbroke2

Damn, sorry for your loss. Is that a cap that is spread so wide? One rod bolt let go? Wondering if one loose bolt let oil pressure drop due to the leakage?

Cam and lifter laying there, damn that's too bad. Been there, sickening feeling.

Spun bearing , tried to weld rod to jourmal, until it flexed and broke.

[Paul Merolla]

I wanted to pass along "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say:
I got the borrowed shortblock together and in the car but didn't have time to test before heading to Marion for the Midwest Class Racers deal last weekend. So...after the burnout for Q1 I noticed the oil pressure gauge do a little "flutter." Launched the car, and halfway through 2nd gear the gauge dropped to zero. I immediately pushed in the clutch, and in a few seconds it came back up. The thing had 5 quarts of oil in it, which is 1 more than I normally run. I figured it must be the pump, so ran to Napa and then spent a lovely few hours laying underneath the thing in 97 degree heat and swamplike humidity. Went back up for a test and it did the same thing. At this point I was not in the best of moods to say the least. A few of us had a little powwow and made a list of things that were different in the engine versus previous years: Heads (no effect on oiling), Lifters (had been in the borrowed shortblock for a year or two), and different brand of oil filter. That's all.
I have only used Wix Racing filters since I started racing this car, but for some reason I decided to use K&N this year. Dave Weeks had a Wix in his trailer, so we swapped it in.
Next morning went up for Q1 and it was fine. Ran Q2, fine. Won 2 rounds and lost in E3, no more problems. All this was apparently caused by the wrong brand of oil filter. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else ends up in the same boat: Try the easy stuff first!!!!!!!!

[Dan Fahey]

ouch !