Cars, Computers, Society in General
It happened. The new pistons for the Probe’s engine have finally arrived, and boy are they pretty. These puppies are 85mm in diameter, 9.3:1 compression, forged aluminium copies of the OE piston. They feature improved quench areas and reinforced pin bosses. CP Carillo even sent back the rod and piston I sent them so they …
I was honored to be featured on the latest episode of the Classic Car Corner Podcast! Check it out! https://gdherring.com/journal/the-buick-grand-national-with-andrew-scott/
In our last post, we mentioned the car wasn’t running right beginning in the second road course session. Once we got home and had some time, we compression checked the engine and got a nasty surprise. Yes, positive evidence of a blown head gasket. Unfortunately, I put ARP head studs in this engine. That means …
What a weekend. With the demise of the Probe’s second engine at Time Trials, we’ve been campaigning the Buick. We had an encouraging event at Atlanta Motorsports Park, with a solid 385 point performance despite the car giving us fits, basically refusing to run properly at wide open throttle. But, we did well enough, and …
Read More “Optima Search For the Ultimate Street Car at Road America, 2021!”
Long time, no write, because I’ve been BUSY. Work has not let up like it usually does towards the end of the year, but the lack of a commute due to the transition to work-at-home still leaves me time to wrench. And boy, have I been wrenching. And cutting. And welding. First, the reasons. The …
As I write this, tomorrow will be the first day of May. You’re probably reading this on the first day of May. We’re still stuck in COVID-19 limited contact rules, but things are looking up. At the top of things, my state of residence, Kentucky, acted aggressively back in March, and it seems to be …
While my friends are still tearing up the track at NCM, I’m looking at logs. Figured out the bottleneck in my cooling system: Engine oil. You can click for a full-sized view. In the bottom chart, you can see the water temperature (green) stabilize along with the engine oil (white) while the transmssion continues to …
It’s finally here: racing season! This past weekend, I loaded up and headed for beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina, where the season opening Match Tour was taking place at the ZMax Dragway. This was my first out of town tow with the new-to-me tow pig, and what an event to end up with for a tow. …
I must be insane. Three weeks before I was slated to leave for the Optima NJMP event, I was at the National Street Rod Association Nationals in my hometown. They had an autocross course set up, and I ran on it. A lot. In fact, I burned second gear in the transmission. Oops Not to …
Owing to an uneven fender overhang that’s existed since I bought my Grand National, I’ve always been suspicious as to whether or not my car was straight or had been in an accident before I got my hands on it. Even after I replaced all the body bushings and yanked the car straight (as far …