1971 Firebird Build ("The Other Woman", a.k.a. Project "T.O.W.")

[Panteracer]

Bryan,
sounds like things are starting to come around
on your car....changing the springs in the front
back? Why??

Leaking windows... I am toying with pulling mine
to try to save some weight.. at 3710 lbs something
has to go.. so rain won't matter then

Keep after it... like you said it is all about
having fun and running the car

Panteracer Norcal Bob.. with the 70 TA Clone

[EVO]

Bryan, Awesome firebird you got there. If youre ever driving it down around Seguin, Id love to check it out. I just got a 70 Lucerne blue TA that I plan on resto-modding sometime soon. Come on by anytime.

Evan Q.
413 Beechcraft Lane
Seguin Tx 78155
2106215165

[Flash68]

Great showing Bryan!

So you are switching it to a 550/500 spring setup next? Interesting....

I will be starting out with the Jake suggested 700/500 setup with mine.

[chichirone]

Bryan, a few of us wondered what happened to TOW and you on Sunday. It was down right frigid with the temps and wind so we all just figured you were "smarter" than us and packed up and headed south.

The track was dusty and slippery so more of a drifting event sunday morning but ALOT of fun to just be out there banging around the cones. You missed a pretty killer new gen mustang that had an incredible exhaust, huge wing, bolt on flares that was more race car than street car that won the All American Sunday class. Would have been fun to watch under better conditions but the dude couldn't get the power down.

I hope you get the miss figured out and it is only an O2 sensor. It appears I have a fuel delivery issue. I have a feeling the shop that installed my gas tank installed the wrong part because anytime i dropped below a half tank of gas the hesitation/miss was back. I need to go back and look at my parts list and ensure they bought the correct tank.

I look forward to hang in with ya in the fall and joining TOW with our 73. We will have to get you out to Rodeo Goat in Ft. Worth for a Whiskey Burger and a Moontang. We can even invite Greg!

Glad you made it home safely to Austin. Let me know if you decide to head back up for the USCA event.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by chichirone

Bryan, a few of us wondered what happened to TOW and you on Sunday. It was down right frigid with the temps and wind so we all just figured you were "smarter" than us and packed up and headed south.

Dunno about smarter, but when I walked out the door of my motel and was smacked in the face with that wind, I was that much more certain of my choice!

The track was dusty and slippery so more of a drifting event sunday morning but ALOT of fun to just be out there banging around the cones. You missed a pretty killer new gen mustang that had an incredible exhaust, huge wing, bolt on flares that was more race car than street car that won the All American Sunday class. Would have been fun to watch under better conditions but the dude couldn't get the power down.

I'm sure. As cold as it was, I imagine there wasn't much grip to be found. Those California guys sure got a dose of crazy Texas weather!

I hope you get the miss figured out and it is only an O2 sensor.

I'm pretty sure this one is fouled now...



Should be interesting to see the plugs.

It appears I have a fuel delivery issue. I have a feeling the shop that installed my gas tank installed the wrong part because anytime i dropped below a half tank of gas the hesitation/miss was back. I need to go back and look at my parts list and ensure they bought the correct tank.

Oof, good luck. Which tank did they install? That's an odd problem unless you're getting some serious fuel slosh!

I look forward to hang in with ya in the fall and joining TOW with our 73. We will have to get you out to Rodeo Goat in Ft. Worth for a Whiskey Burger and a Moontang. We can even invite Greg!

Glad you made it home safely to Austin. Let me know if you decide to head back up for the USCA event.

Definitely, and thanx! I was pretty nervous about hitting the road, but after a few miles of everything feeling ok, I settled in for the drive. TOW cruises really well between 80 and 85 on the highway.

[EVO]

Bryan, The dragstrip is only about 10 min from my hangar. Send me a PM or call when you go to the strip. I only have a couple of pics of the TA. I just bought it off of ebay 2 weeks ago. Drove nonstop to SanDiego to pick it up.
I just finished a complete resto mod on a 69 corvette, complete with all C6 goodies and an LSA. Heres a linky:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...resto-mod.html

Here's a grainy cell phone shot of the TA after I loaded it up in San Diego

Evan Q.

And now........

[carbuff]

Nice TA, and nice Vette too! That car turned out very well...

It looks like the next Spokes event is April 27th, so I'll try to be down for that. If you get to Austin, let me know as well.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Panteracer

Bryan,
sounds like things are starting to come around
on your car....changing the springs in the front
back? Why??

Originally Posted by Flash68

So you are switching it to a 550/500 spring setup next? Interesting....

I will be starting out with the Jake suggested 700/500 setup with mine.

I actually haven't decided what I'm going to do yet... I'm in a bit of information overload at the moment, and I need track time with the ability to experiment to really know what to do.

I think I have a few things going on that need to be sorted. One thing was that the front end of the car was too high. We just didn't have time to adjust it with me sitting in the car before I left. That, combined with the stiff springs meant that I wasn't getting any decent weight transfer to the front of the car. So my braking and turning both suffered on the tight auto-x course. I was pushing badly in a few turns.

I have a feeling, and I'm still trying to figure this out, that the 700/500 is a perfect recommendation for the bigger tracks that you plan to run Dave. Of course I will do some as well. But I'm thinking that for the small auto-x, a softer spring may be better to get some grip in the front when I'm really slowing the car down.

I met JJ from JRi shocks, and he spent a lot of time talking with me on Friday. He watched me run, and he was the one that noted several of the things that may be wrong. He also commented that I was WAY more sprung than the other cars he was working with (DSE, Hobaugh, others). Of course the suspensions are different, but not THAT different.

I want to experiment with moving the Watt's pivot, and soften back up the front springs. I'm not sure what I'll do with the back yet.

The biggest problem is I have no idea when I'll get to hit a track again. The next local auto-x is at the end of April (at least one I can make). I REALLY wish I could get back to Fort Worth for USCA this weekend, but it's not going to happen.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by EVO

Bryan, Awesome firebird you got there. If youre ever driving it down around Seguin, Id love to check it out. I just got a 70 Lucerne blue TA that I plan on resto-modding sometime soon. Come on by anytime.

Evan Q.
413 Beechcraft Lane
Seguin Tx 78155
2106215165

Thanx! I may end up down at San Antonio Raceway for a Spokes event at some point. I'm not sure when the next one is, but that will likely be my next event with the car. We should have all the little things sorted soon.

Let's see some pics of that blue TA!

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Panteracer

Leaking windows... I am toying with pulling mine
to try to save some weight.. at 3710 lbs something has to go.. so rain won't matter then

3838# on Ridetech's scales this time for me... It did have a full tank of gas. Makes me feel even a little better about my auto-x results when I think about how heavy the car is compared to some.

Keep after it... like you said it is all about
having fun and running the car

Panteracer Norcal Bob.. with the 70 TA Clone

Exactly! I'm having a blast, other than the little problems... Thankfully there hasn't been anything major, just more annoyances. Makes me happy on the whole with how the project has turned out!