We've been working on Pontiac 2+2 for the last year, ever since my son and I drove my '86 T-type 770 miles up to Nebraska over Labor day weekend and drove the 2+2 back to Texas.
My son Wil just turned 18, so he is finally eligible to co-drive with me at the Sandhills Open Road Challenge. The rules state Rookies need to run in the 100 Mph class their first year, so it should be pretty easy and we shouldn't break anything. Next year we can run the 110 mph class, and I'll let him run North @115 mph, but this year is all about learning.
1.) I've redone/cleaned up the rats nest electrical wiring, and added a new LED stopwatch that should show up nice on video.
2.) Cleaned and Rebuilt the Howe upper ball joints,
3.) Had the steering box rebuilt and rebuilt the flaming river steering shaft,
4.) Added Thompson Power Blast Plates and tuned the carb to get rid of the off idle bog.
5.) Rewired the Power Windows using an LMC Truck relay harness
Then we did a Track day with my 17 Year old Son at the wheel:
Which demonstrated the need to fix additional stuff:
6.) The welded Ultra flow Mufflers were blown out and blown up, so those got replaced with new.
7.) And the Headers were flattened from years of landing on them, so I Welded new patches on one tube,
Then repaired the other tube with a strap design for extra security:
Then added Skid plates with crush zones under the pipes:
With the exhaust all back on Dad took the car to the Pontiac Owners National Meet at TMC and put a couple hundred miles on it, so I loaded it into the trailer for the Trip to Nebraska.
After Getting Teched on Tuedays we'll Run the courses on Tuesday and Wednesday at legal speeds to to familiarize my son with the course and the Rally Computer.
Thursday is the first race: the Loup 2 Loup. About 24 miles and we'll average 100 mph while not going over 130 mph. Two years ago a '70 Mercury NASCAR Replica crashed at the Loup 2 Loup and it looked like a plane crash:
Before:
After:
The Debris field was nearly 500 feet from where the car flew off the road. The Car did 146mph in the standing mile (Hellcats do 144) so he could have easily been going 130 mph when he got a wheel off.
Friday is the 1/2 Mile Shootout. My son will be driving my 5.0 Mustang and will be trying to beat my 130.1 mph record, which is still the fastest Stock 5.0L in the 1/2 mile at the SORC (even Faster than 4 Boss 302's and only .4 mph slower than a '16 GT350 520HP 5.2L) The SORC is at 2,500ft altitude so NA speeds a little slower than Sea Level events.
Saturday is the SORC. 56 miles averaging 100 mph. My son will drive the 29 miles north leg, I'll drive the slightly more challenging 27 miles south leg. My dad and I have won the 115 mph class 5 times, so the driving part shouldn't be that hard. The stopwatch work will make us or break us.
We are camping at the state park so internet may be spotty, but we'll try to do daily updates.
My son Wil just turned 18, so he is finally eligible to co-drive with me at the Sandhills Open Road Challenge. The rules state Rookies need to run in the 100 Mph class their first year, so it should be pretty easy and we shouldn't break anything. Next year we can run the 110 mph class, and I'll let him run North @115 mph, but this year is all about learning.
1.) I've redone/cleaned up the rats nest electrical wiring, and added a new LED stopwatch that should show up nice on video.
2.) Cleaned and Rebuilt the Howe upper ball joints,
3.) Had the steering box rebuilt and rebuilt the flaming river steering shaft,
4.) Added Thompson Power Blast Plates and tuned the carb to get rid of the off idle bog.
5.) Rewired the Power Windows using an LMC Truck relay harness
Then we did a Track day with my 17 Year old Son at the wheel:
Which demonstrated the need to fix additional stuff:
6.) The welded Ultra flow Mufflers were blown out and blown up, so those got replaced with new.
7.) And the Headers were flattened from years of landing on them, so I Welded new patches on one tube,
Then repaired the other tube with a strap design for extra security:
Then added Skid plates with crush zones under the pipes:
With the exhaust all back on Dad took the car to the Pontiac Owners National Meet at TMC and put a couple hundred miles on it, so I loaded it into the trailer for the Trip to Nebraska.
After Getting Teched on Tuedays we'll Run the courses on Tuesday and Wednesday at legal speeds to to familiarize my son with the course and the Rally Computer.
Thursday is the first race: the Loup 2 Loup. About 24 miles and we'll average 100 mph while not going over 130 mph. Two years ago a '70 Mercury NASCAR Replica crashed at the Loup 2 Loup and it looked like a plane crash:
Before:
After:
The Debris field was nearly 500 feet from where the car flew off the road. The Car did 146mph in the standing mile (Hellcats do 144) so he could have easily been going 130 mph when he got a wheel off.
Friday is the 1/2 Mile Shootout. My son will be driving my 5.0 Mustang and will be trying to beat my 130.1 mph record, which is still the fastest Stock 5.0L in the 1/2 mile at the SORC (even Faster than 4 Boss 302's and only .4 mph slower than a '16 GT350 520HP 5.2L) The SORC is at 2,500ft altitude so NA speeds a little slower than Sea Level events.
Saturday is the SORC. 56 miles averaging 100 mph. My son will drive the 29 miles north leg, I'll drive the slightly more challenging 27 miles south leg. My dad and I have won the 115 mph class 5 times, so the driving part shouldn't be that hard. The stopwatch work will make us or break us.
We are camping at the state park so internet may be spotty, but we'll try to do daily updates.
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