Cars, Computers, Society in General
I had the honor of participating in the first Speedway Motors CAM Challenge East, hosted by the SCCA at Grissom Air Base in Peru, Indiana, this past weekend. To say it was a blast is an understatement. The course was fast, the cars were incredible, and the people were fantastic. The contrast between this event …
So, there was an autocross yesterday. The day started quite rainy, resulting in a low turnout, but things cleared and we had a fantastic afternoon for an event. Seven runs, done by 3. Perfect. Except on my second run, somebody came running up to my car to tell me I’d let loose of a large …
Sooooo, yeah. I had to go to the dentist today. I thought I’d take the Buick. It ran fine on the way out, didn’t smell any oil burning off the exhaust, all good things. When I came out of the office, there was a puddle of coolant under the car. Grrr. A hose connecting the …
So, all this work, and no updates on how well it did… until now: Driving impressions? Very good. The day before this event, I taught at the local drivers’ school. Aside from student that showed up with a bone stock Evo X, my car handles better than everything else I drove that day. A lot …
Back in Part 1, I described some of the issues with braking on my 1987 Grand National. In this installment, I’m going to explain what I went through to convert my car to a manual brake setup. The first thing I did was call Wilwood, who manufactured the front brake kit I already had on …
A longstanding issue with my car has been sub-par braking performance. The GM G-Body suffers from woefully substandard brakes, especially when compared to modern cars. Tiny 10.75″ vented rotors up front with single piston calipers and 10″ drums out back on a 3600 pound car do not inspire confidence. Piling on with the Grand National …
This: That little bit of currugated metal is the head gasket. It blew right at the top of cylinder #4. I was going 111mph in 3rd gear at the time at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. It was the first time covering the quarter mile since I had converted the car to run on E85. …
Read More “What happens when you run 26psi of boost on a stock Buick V6?”
Following the unfortunate, but necessary, sale of my Datsun, I was left with no car to race in my chosen sport: SCCA Autocross. I mean, I had this nice Cadillac CTS-V, which is a sporty ride, but I needed that vehicle to get me to work each day. It’s not a toy. I spent half …
Read More “Preparation of a 1987 Buick Grand National for SCCA CAM-C”