Clifford Gets a Makeover

Those of you that follow this blog know that my cousin's daughter Kayla has been battling cancer and has started a new treatment trial to stop and defeat the cancer. She is so tough and is fighting this battle with a tenacity that most people do not have. As a tribute to her willpower and as motivation for both of us, I have initiated a campaign for us both to accomplish our goals. I am calling it "5.80s For Kayla".

I chose 5.80s because it is a goal that is a pretty tough for a newbie who pretty much built my car on my own. Not impossible but tough! Just like Kayla's battle, not impossible but tough!  Luke 1:37 "Nothing is impossible with God"!

I am sitting in bed writing this and I am more tired than I have been in years. I just finished doing a two week marathon makeover on Clifford The Big Red Truck. I have not done anything to Clifford since we bought him and it was time to go completely through it to make sure it is ready to go racing.

I ended up replacing every component on the brakes (both front and rear), wheel bearings, king pins/bushings, changed the differential oil, transmission oil, engine oil, anti-freeze, dash lights, dome lights, cab heater pipes, hoses, belts, mounted the trailer hitch,  and a bunch of other stuff!

I am pretty sure that I do not want to be a heavy truck mechanic any time soon. Nothing is more nasty, heavy, and stuck like parts on a heavy truck.

Clifford rolled back out of the garage this evening with his shining new undercarriage and even had his wheels polished back to a shine.

Now I am back on the trailer to get the spares that have been coming in loaded in the trailer, and to test fit The Black Hole. It has never been loaded into Moby the Big White Trailer! I have to build brackets to store the doors of the car, a holder for my TIG welding gas bottle, and wire up the TIG welder to the generator. I did manage to get the weather station mounted in the trailer and tested it. The weather vane was not showing wind direction or speed but I am working with the manufacturer to solve the problem. It is a nice weather station and will be critical for tuning the car to the performance altitude. Weather conditions have a major effect on the tune up of a race engine and its performance. For instance, on the day I installed the weather station, the performance altitude was nearly 2000 feet and we are only at 165 feet above sea level here in Magnolia. That is a big difference!

We have narrowed our testing dates down to two possibilities. One is on August 13-14 and the other is on August  20-21. We have penciled in track rental dates with Houston Raceway Park for both sets of dates and will cancel one of them. We also will have the use of the press suite for our family and friends to have a place to hang out while we are working on the car between runs. It will be air conditioned and will be a big relief for everyone to stay out of the heat. There will be a lot of downtime between our runs. We are also going to be renting the track in the evenings and into the night so the track workers and our crew do not overheat. I cannot wait to get to work with the Mike Janis Sr. and Mike Janis Jr. to get the car down the track. It will be an experience I will never forget.

Please keep Kayla and us in your prayers to help us achieve our goals! God is guiding us every step of the way.

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