ups88john Posted May 31, 2003 Report Share Posted May 31, 2003 Tommy Gural lead wire to wire. Brian Schild was second and ronnie new was third. Mike Yale was Fourth and Jeff Pollard was fifth. Hudak set fast time of 15.4, rolled a 7 on the invert dice and was up to sixth i think when his throttle springs broke. He nudged the tire wall in turn one, fixed the springs and returned only to have a right front go down later in the race. The 29 car was way off, and was parked after something in the rear end started to go. Im not sure, but i think Mclemore broke a motor, and Engelhart in a borrowed car was in volved when todd spun. It was a long hot day, not too many people in the stands, but al pretty good race. There were a few cautions and i think one or two red flags. Thank you goes out to hudak and crew for the help, also mike yale and his crew. Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2003 The Fowler Racing team is expierencing some ups and downs. The crew chief is a complete idiot, thats all i can think of. Never have I had so many handling and mechanical problems with a car. Not that I have worked on that many, but this one still needs alot of work. The rear end is coming out, bad crush sleeve from what i could tell. A completely different setup is going in. The car was getting faster, but all of a sudden went dead loose. I think we were a second and a half off the pole, the slowest car out there. We tried to tighten the car up a little, but obviously it was too much as the push came back in the feature. I have never seen a car lose cross when rounds are put in the RF and LR and rounds out of LF and RR. Maybe we should run it at Saratoga, it might be faster on dirt. Again thanks to all that tried to help get that sled together, Hudak, Yale and their crews. Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 1, 2003 Report Share Posted June 1, 2003 Bring it to Saratoga and put a young driver in the seat with zero experience (me). lol Really though I hope you guys can get it figured out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel Posted June 1, 2003 Report Share Posted June 1, 2003 Big John, Ran into a similar problem with a car, No matter what I cranked on the scales kept reading greek language... Turned out we had some hein joints frozen, and very slightly bent shocks. The car was "Bound" up and wouldn't allow suspension to work. You might have a similar problem, check ball joints & bushings, anything that might have the car bound up. Good Luck, Mel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2003 thanks mel, ill try anything right now. big john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted June 1, 2003 Report Share Posted June 1, 2003 Hey Big John, Is the current 29 car the same car that you guys ran the first couple of races with the older style body on it? I was just wondering if you guys put on a new body or got a new car. Good luck getting the bugs worked out. Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 Big John, Another thing you can look at is something I saw a driver discover on his car just this last Saturday night. His involved the chains on the rear end to keep it from dropping too far when the car is jacked. He had his chains too short, and was actually trying to jack weight against them. You might also check the swaybar for pre-load. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 Big John, Another possible reason for a car not responding to suspension adjustments is that the chassis is flexing. All the added wedge does is further flex the frame.. Learned this the hard way a few years ago.. Nick Holt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 2, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 Chase, this is a new to us car, its and older Howe 3rd design. Don sold the other car. Tom, you may be on to something there, I never even thought about that. We run straps instead of chains, I guess I could compare the free play in the straps with shock travel huh. Sway bar pre load is good if you ask me, but everyone does it differently. It has just a touch of slack in it, it is tight on the right with the slack in the left side. The frame could be flexing too, but how would i check that? We run the same springs in the front, but that shouldnt affect how the wedge goes in should it? Maybe I am being too impatient, overlooking little things trying to go fast. I know we need to check if the car is square and check everything else too. I think the sway bar is too big, its an 1 1/8 with 900 lb springs. I think it probally should be like a 7/8 or smaller, but im not sure. Thanks for the advice guys, keep it coming. Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 This isn't the former #70 ROMCO car is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 2, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 oh heck(edited by big john) no!! Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckman Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 HEY JOHN YOU MIGHT TRY CHANGING THE SPRING INSTEAD OF PUTTING ROUNDS IN. YOU MAY BE BINDING THE SPRINGS UP AND THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TRAVEL. JUST SOMETHING ELSE TO CHECK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 If you do think you might be getting coil bind, you can check by wrapping each coil at two or three places with a strip of white adhesive tape. Run a few HARD laps. If the coils are touching there will be a telltale mark on the tape where they touched. Nick Holt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 What kind of front clip is on the car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 The car is a Howe 3rd design camaro. Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 what kind of cross and panhard bar height are you running? are you using stock lower control arms? three link or other another type of rear suspension? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 I have a stock camaro clip big spring 105 wb car with truck arm rear suspension with the rear springs mounted on the trailing arms in front of the rear end that I ran in kyle about 2 years ago.we got our car running about 16.teens to 16. low 20's.i think it could have gotten faster if i would have had more practice time. pm me and i will try to help if it would be useful . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted June 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Jim, the car is a big spring camaro with a three link rear. springs are mounted on top of the rearend. Panhard bar is about that high, somewhere around 10 inches with about 2" split. Cross is 49.5 with 2" stagger and a full spool. 55 on the left and 50 in the rear. Big John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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