[Mark G]

Congrats George long time coming not easy to do

[Elarson]

We sacrificed a few pistons for a good cause! 😀
Fresh engine getting swapped in now, so we'll be ready to go again tomorrow.

Eric

[3fastgtos]

Originally Posted by Elarson

We sacrificed a few pistons for a good cause! 😀
Fresh engine getting swapped in now, so we'll be ready to go again tomorrow.

Eric

Congrats Eric and crew. Great achievement.
SD

[ponchjoe]

Originally Posted by Elarson

We sacrificed a few pistons for a good cause! ��
Fresh engine getting swapped in now, so we'll be ready to go again tomorrow.

Eric

Way to go Eric! Congrats! What a blast to watch, probably even better from your view.

[PontiacMatt72]

Some of the quick 16 contenders...

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by Elarson

... Fresh engine getting swapped in now...

The only thing "unprofessional" about this well-orchestrated crew is their lack of a payroll.
And this deserves to be told- that this busy crew graciously took on the added burden of tutoring a rookie, by being my crew to test-run the lakester (all of 182 c.i.!) at Norwalk 2019. An invaluable opportunity and I can't thank them enough.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Jack Gifford

The only thing "unprofessional" about this well-orchestrated crew is their lack of a payroll.
And this deserves to be told- that this busy crew graciously took on the added burden of tutoring a rookie, by being my crew to test-run the lakester (all of 182 c.i.!) at Norwalk 2019. An invaluable opportunity and I can't thank them enough.

Thanks Jack. I am glad I finally got to hear your engine run in person. With the changes you made in gearing and the priming system, the second run would have been much stronger and we would have had a chance to really hear that little Pontiac sing. But time and schedule wouldn't allow, I guess. As far as our crew, they work damn hard for cold pizza, that's for sure. We do practice our starting and staging procedures at home and we still need some improvement. Everyone has multiple jobs and then primary responsibilities. Eric is very organized and lots of things are written down. Diverse talents, not all die hard Pontiac guys. (sorry). Dave our master clutch man is as crazy about Oldsmobiles as we are about Pontiac's. He is in the final stages of finishing Joe Mondello's V O Twister II, not a replica. Tim Fields, the man with six eyes, finds all kinds of weird things going wrong right before they actually do. He finds the missing dzus fastener, the loose nut or bolt, the missing zip tie. And he is a Ford guy, ( takes plenty of crap from us for that). Next race for us is Funny Car Chaos in MI. Boss Bird will need to go 5 rounds to win. Serious challenge. It will be all Hemi's and us.

[Scott Roberts]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Thanks Jack. I am glad I finally got to hear your engine run in person. With the changes you made in gearing and the priming system, the second run would have been much stronger and we would have had a chance to really hear that little Pontiac sing. But time and schedule wouldn't allow, I guess. As far as our crew, they work damn hard for cold pizza, that's for sure. We do practice our starting and staging procedures at home and we still need some improvement. Everyone has multiple jobs and then primary responsibilities. Eric is very organized and lots of things are written down. Diverse talents, not all die hard Pontiac guys. (sorry). Dave our master clutch man is as crazy about Oldsmobiles as we are about Pontiac's. He is in the final stages of finishing Joe Mondello's V O Twister II, not a replica. Tim Fields, the man with six eyes, finds all kinds of weird things going wrong right before they actually do. He finds the missing dzus fastener, the loose nut or bolt, the missing zip tie. And he is a Ford guy, ( takes plenty of crap from us for that). Next race for us is Funny Car Chaos in MI. Boss Bird will need to go 5 rounds to win. Serious challenge. It will be all Hemi's and us.

We had a list on the firewall that could be seen by the starting crew.... last thing on the list, " finish right side up"!
You guys look like true professionals out there!

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

... With the changes you made in gearing and the priming system, the second run would have been much stronger and we would have had a chance to really hear that little Pontiac sing...

Ran the lakester again at the local tenth-mile dragstrip Sunday, with more appropriate gearing. Once more it ran with no issues. Turned 85.3 MPH at 7,100 RPM, which is getting closer to where I want to test the engine.

[johnta1]

Sounds good.
Trying for Bonneville next year?

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Jack Gifford

Ran the lakester again at the local tenth-mile dragstrip Sunday, with more appropriate gearing. Once more it ran with no issues. Turned 85.3 MPH at 7,100 RPM, which is getting closer to where I want to test the engine.

85 MPH in 528 Ft. is a HUGE improvement over what it had run! I am sure you could feel where the engine finally began to make some boost and power. About what RPM did it seem to come to life? Do I remember right that the target RPM is over 8000 somewhere? I bet it sounded totally different than at Norwalk when it got into it's happy RPM range. Did it prime and start much better? Any video of the test this past weekend? Your getting there.

[Jack Gifford]

John- no Bonneville plans. Probably just east coast pavement LSR- Arkansas mile or Maine 1.5 mile.

Mike- Yeah, I want to test that it runs okay at 9,000+. I still had to use part throttle until car speed exceeded clutch lock-up, a little over 5,000 RPM, at which point it ran clean at full throttle. I wish I had looked at the boost gauge, but I got a little concerned about the rough pavement and no rear suspension! Yes, priming and starting is back to normal. But I'm still "searching" for a fuel setting for engine warm-up that doesn't guzzle huge amounts of methanol. I'm getting closer- only about 2 gallons total for Sunday's warm-up and run.