Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

LILCBRA said:

Welcome back Mike! Was wondering where your thread disappeared to, then found that YOU had disappeared, then....

And it's not an all-bad thing to try to stay away from political topics. They generally only tend to piss people off. I'm not sure why some people seem to want to do that, but I guess they can't get their egos stroked enough elsewhere or they just want to be confrontational. The only echo chamber anyone should really find here should be about cars and related content. Of course, having said that, I started a BSing thread a while back that is just that - about BSing and whatever floats your boat. Well, except political .....

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HotFox said:

Oh Mike your so predictable!

On another note thinking about your time out. I do enjoy the days gone by of reading when you first joined your racing stories. Do you know that is 10 years ago now since you joined? You have such a knack at story telling and a way with words. Your a great writer first a mechanic second.

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CarMichael Angelo said:

So....
* insert appropriate amount of of disgusted emotions in the space below.

.....

I tell Kate that I built this car to show,......not to have it sit in an endless state of dis-repair/modification stand by.

To prove that, i look into the numerous regional cruise-in events that go on continually throughout the year down here, and tell her that even though i just came from one 45 days ago,..my next goal is to make the Bama coast cruise in the 3rd week of April, going on in Orange beach.

I look at the event, and it’s a three day thing, slotted to take place 4/22-4/25..I look into rooms,...I can book a 1 br condo with a private driveway for 775.00 for the three nights....
I book it.

Then,...for whatever reason, I decide to take on the oil pan swap, and the k member swap...and as usual,...sht hits the fan. The k member swap forces the front wheels forward, and they now hit the intercooler that has been in the same space since this build was a baby..

Instead of stopping right there, and solving the problem by replacing the lower control arms with adjustable units that would allow me to not touch the intercooler so that the tires could be effectively moved rearward,. I choose the opposite. Primary reason being that the control arms in question are on back order,...and won’t be available till first of May..

No said the mutherfcking finger...I need this fixed sooner, than later. I choose to modify the intercooler instead.

And...as is typical for all things I touch,..I fck the intercooler up beyond salvage..effectively destroying it, and forcing a redo of the entire cold side, and it’s requisite water supply lines....Which are now too short to reach the yet to arrive new intercooler water ports....

All because i decide to replace the perfectly good, albeit heavy ass factory K member with a lightweight unit instead..

The new one is a straight though design, it’ll fit under the engine, behind the radiator saddle....but,....I gotta build the charge tube, re do the water lines, and make the mount tabs to hold the thing in place.
And...it won’t be here till Thursday, one day after my day off, leaving me only Sunday to figure it out, and get it working. Then get the car to an alignment shop...with only days to go before taking the thing on another 500 mile round trip...untested.

So....the better part of conservatism tells me that being stranded with a project like this 100-150 miles out of town is not the desired outcome, and I bail..leaving the Monster an me free to fight another day.

The next several of these events are dead of summer things,...nothing i’m interested in being part of..I’d rather just do a couple of local,Saturday night cruisins and save the Monster for my one big favorite....The week long Mississippi Gulf coast event in October..And come hell or high water..I’m going.

Provided I don’t change something between now and then.

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Olivethefet said:

This is not a hijacking, but I just pulled up this tread and an add came up. I've never had this happen before. Is this just on my end or did something on the site change?

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CarMichael Angelo said:

” Objects aren’t as fcked up as they appear”.

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General karthief said:

"I gotta go downstairs and make my new plywood intercooler."
Does anybody else see the humor in this?

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CarMichael Angelo said:

You guys thought I was kidding..




What isn't visible is the complexity inside the box.
There's a 15" section of 3" tubing inside the box. Winding around the tubing is a "Double Helix" looking myriad of 3/16 brake line with 27 intersect points. At each intersect point is a tee, and at each tee, a line runs through the middle of the tubing ( think n2o spray bar w/o the holes). The 27 bars spiral around like a spider web inside the 3" tube.
Additionally, the box is insulated to maximize the cooling effect im expecting.
On one side, there's an inlet, and on the other side, there's an outlet.
Nitrous will run into the inlet, and out the outlet, then vent to atmosphere.
The intended outcome is to replace the A2W intercooler , water lines, water reservoir, pump, and heat exchangers completely, and use the nitrous to superchill the bars that the air intake charge has to pass by.
I know that there has been an attempt to use nitrous to chill the air to supplement the cooling provided by an A2A intercooler, but, it didn't really work. My plan will force the intake charge to pass by the actual frozen bars,....and there is a sht ton of them inside that span of 3" tubing.
I figure ill program it to turn on at 15p.s.i. plus.
Ima gone wrap the plywood box in carbon fiber vinyl to try and keep it water resistant, but in reality, ill prolly never have to worry bout that since driving in the rain isn't in the plans.
Im also converting the car to full drag race duty, so losing all of the weight that the existing A2W system is taking up is a big priority..figure ill pull the engine, and replace the internals with forged stuff, and send the head off to a guy in ATL to port it, and convert the valves over to oversize stainless pieces, and go with a set of bigger 272 cams, shimless buckets, titanium retainers, and a set of Vasco jet beehive springs.
The AC system will come out, as will most of the interior. ( only running two front seats). In its place will go a 12pt chromoly cage.. I'll be selling off the LJK, the seats, the Prius eps, and the 4L8O with the lockup converter. In its stead, Ill be putting a T400 back in its place.
I plan to race it in the street legal class just as soon as I get it back together..looking at maybe first of next season as a target,..the engine comes out this Sunday.

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