Author Topic: Berkeley tune up AK  (Read 42138 times)

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Offline Dr Goggles

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #75 on: June 16, 2009, 08:17:44 PM »
Harv, got it, you should have a reply.
GH According to Yahoo Maps, from where I'm sitting at the moment (not at home) and not the route I plan to take (I'm going through Medford, not SLC) it's 3139.76 Mi. each way.

Holy long haul Batman!!!! :-o :-o

and I thought we had it bad ,

Good progress Air Wick.
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Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #76 on: June 17, 2009, 12:03:17 AM »
We've been considering the 'ship it down' thing, and if the numbers come up right, we will ship it to Tacoma , may even ship it back from Tacoma, if the price isn't too steep (the price Northbound tends to be about 3 times the price Southbound :-( ).

A 'connex' or cargo container is a wonderfull storage shed (we have one). I know people that use them for a worksop even, but Glen is right, and renting a helicopter to sling it out of there after it sinks a foot and a half would be ridiculously expensive (CH-53 maybe?).

Then there's the whole tie down thing, as you would have to anchor everything like you planned on it traveling on all 6 sides. :-o

The big hang up is we aren't using the Isuzu as a Push Vehicle.

Uptight I know, but we prefer something a touch more maneuverable, hence the Tracker (that and it flat tows excellently).

That makes for 2 vehicles and we don't know as yet how much that is going to cost 'extra'.

Hence the plan to build everything to be able to make the round trip through Canada, as it might have to. :roll:
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #77 on: June 17, 2009, 12:05:02 AM »
Harv, got it, you should have a reply.
GH According to Yahoo Maps, from where I'm sitting at the moment (not at home) and not the route I plan to take (I'm going through Medford, not SLC) it's 3139.76 Mi. each way.

Holy long haul Batman!!!! :-o :-o

and I thought we had it bad ,

Good progress Air Wick.

Yeah, it's 'far, far away'. :-D

You funny guy. :roll:

I do try. :-D
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Peter Jack

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #78 on: June 17, 2009, 12:18:59 AM »
Just be sure you have your passport now so you can get back into your own country. Hate to see you stranded here with us! :-D :evil:

Pete

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #79 on: June 17, 2009, 10:19:16 AM »
Got one for the last trip through there, nothing like being 'sequestered' (trapped) in a secure gate in Vancouver (not WA, trip before that) because AK airlines couldn't find Sea-Tac. :roll:
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Rex Schimmer

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #80 on: June 17, 2009, 12:10:00 PM »
Back in the "dark ages" when I was working on a race team we did some races in Canada at Mosport and as I remember our truck driver had to have a list of everything in the truck, tools, tires, spares etc before the the Canadian customs would let us in and then they wanted to make sure that we didn't sell anything in Canada. Any way it was a pain in the a$$. Do you have to do something similar?

Rex
Rex

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Offline Peter Jack

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #81 on: June 17, 2009, 07:11:09 PM »
We used to do the same thing so that we could bring back everything we took down without hassle.  I haven't taken race cars across the line for about 10 years now. We bought the last cars down there and left them in the USA. It was much easier than the alternative of importing them because the American laws require that cars being exported have a title. Indy cars don't normally come with one! Taxes and such really add to the cost and we had a place to store and work on the cars in Indianapolis so we left the cars down there.

Pete

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #82 on: June 17, 2009, 11:52:15 PM »
We have had good luck having Customs install a seal on the 'car hauling' part of the truck (curb and ramp door, 1 ea). That cuts alot of the BS.

It helps not to look like you are some racing tycoon (avoid puting the decals on the truck, we don't have sponsors so that's easy).
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #83 on: June 20, 2009, 08:48:08 AM »
New seat belts showed up yesterday.  :-)

They're purty. :-D

Pops has them mocked up and we will hopefully have them anchored today (we only have to anchor the 5th, 6th & 7th points as the lap and shoulder belts are going back where they were).

It has the sternum belt we ordered as well.

I have the most difficult part of the wiring finished, hope to have the rest completed today.

Still waiting for nozzle hoses, I figure the quickest way to make them show up at this point is to order replacements from Hilborn. :roll:

Hopefully they'll be here Monday, I'll likely order a set Monday morning regardless as at this point, I can't wait anymore.

If I wind up with 2 sets, then I'll just have spares.
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #84 on: June 22, 2009, 05:50:34 AM »
Pops has the new seat belt anchors / reinforcements in.

I have the cockpit wiring complete.

So with just a bit of cleanup we should be down to bodywork.

And the tow rig of course. :roll:
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline jackson

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #85 on: June 25, 2009, 12:30:42 PM »
Erik  -  don't underestimate the tow rig importance!  On our most recent trip I not only destroyed our push bumper, I bent it under the truck until the front wheels were off the ground.  I know the end of the road can deteriorate during the week, but I guess I was excited we had the car in impound.  It turns out I was blessed to have Skip Hedrich be the truck right behind me when it happened.  He didn't know me but he stopped to help me out.  I told him I would be fine getting the truck going, but I whined about having the car in impound that would REALLY need a push in the morning.  His liner was broken by then and he volunteered to meet us at the 7 am start to push us off.  With his wife and dog in tow, he pushed us off for the back up run.

We learned a few things about that trip.  Don't use a drive line set up that allows you to run 175 in first gear, and make your push bumper so that it can be raised for in town driving. 

Also, Skip, his wife, and their dog are good folks.

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #86 on: June 25, 2009, 11:24:54 PM »
Definitely good to know.

We are using an Isuzu NPR box truck to haul the Berkeley to / from the salt. I'm working on that currently installing a 'new' turbo, the old one died a horrible death induced by boost and drive pressure leaks, gotta hand it to the Garret engineers though, even as horribly destroyed as the turbo was, it was TRYING to make boost.

I have a slightly larger Holset to install (on the recommendation of people that work with these engines). The extra size should allow for some more power at altitude. To be clear that's not 'more power' per se, just the ability to maintain factory power to a higher altitude, we had an older one of these in the states in '96, it ran ALL the way out of power by 3500 feet, 2nd gear @ less than 15 MPH climbing a hill blowing large black clouds of diesel smoke is not my idea of a safe trip (kinda glad in retrospect I didn't have a pyrometer on that trip, I would've scared myself :-D).

The push rig is planned to be a Geo Tracker, they flat tow well (we have the tow bar from the last time we did it) they're cheap (we have 3 in pieces), and much more manoverable for the trip to and from the hotel than the NPR.

I'll see what I can do about the articulated push bumper, that's a heck of an idea, thanks.


I ordered replacement hoses for the injector assembly earlier this week from Hilborn directly (I've given up on the supplier I went through 6 weeks ago  :-( ).

I'll go put those on, it'll make me feel better about that anyway.

That will eliminate several stumbling blocks I've had as I've had to work around the hard lines I hurriedly fabbed to get the engine running again. The header is off for repaint, we had hoped to have it coated, but we likely aren't going to have time, so we're trying POR 20 for the first time (the can claims good to 1400 if installed correctly). I hope it's as good as the POR 15 we like.

Have to wait and see what the finish looks like when we are done, I'm hoping for 'rust resistant' more than anything else.
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #87 on: July 17, 2009, 04:03:03 AM »
Finally, I've got positive progress to report (sort of).

I've been working on the transport vehicle since the last post, it's doing much better for the attention (or at least I like to think so).

I have the last bit of the wiring tidied up, the injector assembly is back on and leak free, and the body is back on for the first time in months. :-D

Not quite as far along as it initially sounds, as we are going to have to clearance the body for the tach/shift light before the top half of the body will mesh properly with the bottom half (it's high in the right rear by almost 2" (5 cm roughly).

Hopefully finish the Berk (as finished as it will be for this speed week anyway) this weekend, I hope.
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #88 on: July 20, 2009, 11:06:06 AM »
Pops has the body to where it clears the tach, we have the injector stacks back in (had them off to put the body on, weren't sure they would clear). Tank vent is sorted, hope to have the windscreen today and that will likely be it for this year.
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik

Offline Nexxussian

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Re: Berkeley tune up AK
« Reply #89 on: July 23, 2009, 04:05:50 AM »
Prepped 'er for transport today, hope to load in the morning, pics of that, maybe (if it's rainin I'm leavin' the camera inside the house).
Just happy to be here. :-D

Erik