Project: LONG HAUL - LONG ROOF

[tommycomfort]

It's been a couple of weeks since we ran the cars at Midwest Musclecar Challenge and I'm just getting around to posting pictures. The wagon did great with Deb, Sam and I all driving it some. Deb and Sam did the bulk of the driving. We're still finding run slips that the SCCA provides, but so far we have come up with 121 for two days, two cars and three drivers. We could have had more, but swapping drivers just took extra time and at some points we were just worn out and took breaks.

Lined up all the tickets for a picture with the award that the 66 won.


Deb hanging it out like it is a drift car... Deb has really learned car control over the last couple of events. Once she learns to mash the pedal on the right harder she will be dangerous! (Thanks to Dave Dean / Burnt Bridge images for the picture)

[HectorM52]

Awesome!! That thing stays flat!

[Yelcamino]

Deb hanging it out like it is a drift car... Deb has really learned car control over the last couple of events. Once she learns to mash the pedal on the right harder she will be dangerous! (Thanks to Dave Dean / Burnt Bridge images for the picture)

Cool! Go Deb!

[tommycomfort]

Time for another change to the wagon! The single adjustable ridetech coilovers have been working great and Deb and Sam who do most of the driving love them. But, the opportunity to make the switch to a nearly complete DSE setup came up and we jumped on it. The new setup will be using AFCO double adjustable shocks and have remote canisters up front. We already have the current ridetech setup earmarked for a future project that should be entertaining for everyone.



Even though Sam is already back to school he made some time to get things started. (Gotta love the lift!)

[BuddyP]

Nice score on the front suspension componants! Where did you get the lift from? I need one bad :(

[tommycomfort]

Nice score on the front suspension componants! Where did you get the lift from? I need one bad :(

Thanks Buddy! I'm embarrassed to say that the lift is an import. We bought it from Greg Smith Equipment in Indy. This one will stay with the current garage/shop when the new owner takes possesion and we'll buy another heavier duty one for the new shop once it is built. http://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Lifts
I got your PM and will reply soon...

[LUV2XLR8]

Car is looking great!!... what model is your Lift?

[silvermonte]

Will you guys be making it out to the Indy GG's this year? The wife and I have never been to the Indy event, and since we cant make the Charlotte event this year we decided to go to that one and hope that they allow ride alongs.

[tommycomfort]

Car is looking great!!... what model is your Lift?

It's an Atlas, but not too sure what model it is. I'll look for more info soon.

[tommycomfort]

Will you guys be making it out to the Indy GG's this year? The wife and I have never been to the Indy event, and since we cant make the Charlotte event this year we decided to go to that one and hope that they allow ride alongs.

We will definitely be at Goodguys Indy with both cars. Charlotte is looking iffy for us also. Tom

[Pontiacken]

This R n D Fabrication radiator is a thing of beauty! We're honored that Sparky is allowing us to test fit and put it to the test in Deb's wagon.





Check out the welds.

Tom I am looking at R n D Fab and was wondering how their radiator was working out for you and Deb so far?

Thanks,
Ken

[tommycomfort]

Tom I am looking at R n D Fab and was wondering how their radiator was working out for you and Deb so far?

Thanks,
Ken

Ken,
We are absolutely thrilled with the performance of it. Zero complaints! We're using the built in automatic trans cooler as a cooler for the power steering and that seems to be working fine too.
Tom

[tommycomfort]

Been a long time since any updates on the wagon!

Last fall at Bowler Transmission's Day at The Strip event last fall Deb took the wagon down on Saturday while I was at work and the plan was I would drive the 66 down on Sunday and meet up with her. The wagon ran fine all morning but had been getting harder and harder to start. Well, around lunch time it died, and wouldn't restart. Dan and Mike Ballard tried to sort out what the issue was but had no luck. To make a long story short, when I came down the next morning, I brought a new small cap GM HEI with me, but still no luck. Since we were building the new shop, we just shoved the wagon off to the side and figured we would sort it out this spring. Well, it was a long winter, but spring did come and it was time to dig into the wagon problem. Sam, Deb and I did all kinds of troubleshooting to no avail. The weird deal was that the ECM wasn't reading any RPM's so it would not provide spark or fuel. So, with the help of the awesome Holley tech guys, we found out that our coil was smoked and it was not providing power to the computer controlled small cap HEI. To be honest, I really wanted it to be the Holley ECM so I wouldn't look stupid, but nope, it was the thing I should have caught, or at least replaced just to be safe. Live and learn!

Up on blocks ready for spring attention.


Storage in the partially complete shop all winter was not good for corrosion!

Cleaned up


Not that anyone cares, but we ditched the temporary paper element air filter that we installed two years ago in favor of this K&N gauze type.


Midwest Musclecar Challenge is this coming Friday and Saturday so Deb will be thrashing the wagon both days. Can't wait to see her out there!

[tommycomfort]

We decided that the wagon deserved the take off Baer brake calipers from the 66.

[GeoffP]

More bling for the wagon!

[tommycomfort]

Alright, I am grossly behind on all our build threads, so instead of doing nothing while I try to figure out where to start, I will just start posting updates.

The Big Big news is from back in mid June when we took both the wagon and 66 up to Road America to run the USCA event there. Bottom line, Deb won the spirit of the event award/invite to optima's Ulitimate Street Car Invitational which takes place in Las Vegas the week after SEMA. Deb and Sam have been running the wagon pretty hard at events since 2009 and although it always surprises people with its ability, it is still not a contender and is certainly not a show car. For that reason, we never thought in a million years that it would get an invite to sit at SEMA and compete at OUSCI. I can't even tell you how proud I am of Deb. Of course, this just means more wrenching for Deb, Sam and I...





That has obviously led to some upgrades...

Ordered her new brakes and they came almost two months ago. Did I mention it has been a very busy summer?
Baer Pro+ with 14" rotors front and back (same as we use on the 66)

[1966longroof]

Cool deal ....... Congrats!!!!!!!

[Scott Parkhurst]

So glad for you guys and it's great seeing the wagon continue to evolve. I've since traded mine away but will always have the memories of running our wagons at a couple of the same events! Best of luck in Las Vegas- I'll see you there!

[tommycomfort]

As always, I am way behind on updates, but tonight I am finishing up a 48 hour shift at the firehouse and I think I have some time. Lot's of things started on the wagon, but nothing is completely done yet. I'm hoping it all comes together in about ten days. One way or another it will be loaded on the trailer with the 66 and we'll be headed toward Vegas on the 31st.

We decided to pull the Aeromotive fuel cell with the A1000 pump in favor of putting the original tank back in with the Aeromotive Phantom Fuel System installed. Pretty amazing kit to say the least. Almost done, just need to sort out the filler neck that comes up through the quarter panel and finish wiring.

[tommycomfort]

Two quart accusump installed and have been working on trying to mount one of our previously used oil coolers. No luck on packaging one of those coolers, so I had to order a new Setrab and a small fortune in -10 AN line and hose ends.




Swapped out our 12" 300lbs springs for 10" 300lbs springs. We had the 12's as low as we could adjust them and the rear of the wagon still sat a little high. The 12's are what we ran with our ridetech coilovers. DSE stuff uses 11" but they are a little card to find, so 10's will do fine.