Category Archives: going out

1974 Dodge Colt, 1990 Ford F-350 7.3L IDI, going out

Gingerman TNiA racing 🏁

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On the 13th, I went to Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, MI to drive the Colt. It did pretty well with the new suspension and repairs/upgrades. For some reason my phone wasn’t picking up lap times, but I got some video with the dash camera and a GoPro inside. It was a lot of fun!

It still needs to go lower, but it’s handling a lot better.

I installed MR2 strut inserts in the front, dropping it 1.75″ in the front. I put the only shocks I could find in the rear, getting rid of the bouncy feeling. All new pads, rotors, shoes for the brakes, plus some venting for the rotors.

I also installed a pair of BMW e36 (?) camber plates in the front. I had to drill holes in the strut tower and oversize the sleeve in the hat for the mr2 struts, but they’re in and functioning.

The Colt weighs 2,180Lbs

The whole rig weighs 14,100Lbs. She’s heavy.

Here’s the video of a couple sessions.

1974 Dodge Colt, 1990 Ford F-350 7.3L IDI, going out

Tracknight in America!

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The 1974 Dodge Colt made its debut run at Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, Mi. The event was called Tracknight in America, presented by tirerack.com, koni shocks and hagerty insurance. It’s an SCCA sanctioned event. I ran in the novice group, having never driven on a track before. It was a fun experience. The car was pretty sketchy. The brakes were good for the first two rounds, but the last two rounds, they were on or off, no in between. The new southbend clutch performed excellent. The motor, the beat ass old 2.0L I swapped in the morning of, worked great. The old carburetor was a little rich, but not horrible.Here’s the wet run.I got it to the dyno in 05/19/2019

1974 Dodge Colt, going out

The Colt is alive! And one lap was fun.

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Last week was One Lap Of America. It started at the Tire Rack in South Bend, IN and ended there a week later.

After One Lap last week, I started getting things going on the Colt.

I got the rest of the engine bay wired up, and got the gauges and switch panel wired in. For some reason, the front running lights don’t work, but that’s not a huge deal. I had to switch out the fuel pump because it just randomly stopped working. But tested fine out of the car afterwards.

2003 Mitsubishi Montero, Electronics, going out, Tig

Montero solutions

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So the Montero went into 2wd mode only. There’s no option for that on the transfer case. So in Awd, it just wouldn’t go, and made a gear on gear grinding noise. In 4wd, I got the rear wheels powered. So my catastrophizing brain “knows” the transfer case or front differential broke. The grinding is probably the chain in the transfer case, right?

So I bought a parts truck with a good tcase and front diff. It had a front impact, so it wasn’t suitable to put my good parts on it, so it got dismantled and the body got scraped. Plus the frame was rotted through.

Come to find out, the front driver side wheel hub was stripped….

Luckily! The parts truck has two of these! Yay!

In the mean time, I installed a 2 speed electric fan from a Ford Taurus and replaced my leaky coolant hoses. Now the heat works!

Low and high speed temperature sensors installed, with an oem thermostat. I absolutely love having a TIG welder and being able to use it. I also replaced the fuel tank because the high pressure fuel line was full of pin holes, thus my 11mpg.

I have a small hand full of things to finish on it, like the exhaust, but it’s back on the road and ready for adventure!

1978 Plymouth Arrow, 2003 Mitsubishi Montero, going out

The new power plant

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The Arrows crank got beat out of round, so instead on having the machine work done to get the stock motor back in it, I decided on a motor swap. The plan was to go 4G63T 2.0L DOHC Turbo engine. But, as they say, you can make plans, but not plan the outcome. So I traded Dibari a stroked 4g63 for a stocker, or so I thought. After I got it all unloaded and thrown on the stand, it looked, off. After some inspection, come to find out, it’s a 4G61T. The DOHC Turbo 1.6L from the mirage/colt. How fitting for an Arrow.

So, now having this basically stock 1.6L bottom end, it’s time to check it out.

New bearings ✔

all new gaskets ✔

hks 272 cams ✔

Evo 8 intake manifold ✔

Evo 3 big 16g ✔

2g head and head studs ✔

So far everything is coming together smoothly. From the specs of this combination, it should be ~250HP. Which is right where I want to be.

One difference is the deck height of the block is shorter, so I had to clearance the timing belt tensioner bracket, and slot the top hole for it. Also, the water pump is different than a 4g63. It’s shorter as well.

Everything is lined up, the cams are degreed, they were about 4 degrees off. I got the crank trigger mounted, I just welded a bar on and drilled and tapped some holes in it. I welded a couple beads on to keep it centered.

The crz got some love this weekend too. I took the roof rack off the Montero and cut it down to 42″ then took the mostly destroyed plastic off and used gaffing tape as a traction material/color.

Then added the basket.

I also did some kayaking with my girlfriend Jamie last weekend after wandering around the shore of Lake Michigan.

1990 Jeep Comanche, going out, Uncategorized

Jeep days

So the Comanche needs some dissembling before it gets to a good point, so that’s what this weekend was made up of.

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I have to take all the suspension/axles off to put on the scrap zj.

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The front was challenging.

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I had to cut/grind the upper control arm bolt off.

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But it came free.

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The rear was very simple, but I did decide to cut off every brake line. It’ll make sense later. Longer lines and what not. Ford parts and junk.

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Had to cut off the u bolts. With a torch.

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And then I isolated the engine harness from the engine bay body harness. Because a 5.2L swap makes sense.

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Then we went fishing.

1978 Plymouth Arrow, going out, Uncategorized

Baffling. And so on.

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The baffle that I’m installing will help regulate the oil from getting sloshed back in the pan on acceleration. It will allow the oil to flow back to the front, or back to the lowest point, with no real change. I also installed the turbo drain pipe in the pan. I didn’t have enough room to just use a compression type port hole, so I welded it on, inside and out. This is Mitsubishi Japanese steel! None of that “American sheet metal”.

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I installed a supplementary trash magnet as well. You can see it through the drain hole so it can be checked easily during an oil change. The drain plug also is magnetic. The extra is a rare earth magnet from the inside of a hard drive.

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I started mocking up an exhaust manifold. I planned to do a tri-y design, but I don’t think that will work out as I wanted to put a twin scroll flange on it so I could install a turbo after the motor is broke in and tuned non-turbo. I think I’ll just make a basic long tube header. I’ll do that once the engine is installed.

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I sprayed the lower section of the engine bay with bedliner. The end result will be two-tone. I found a paint the matches the stock “bright blue” pretty well.

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Adam bought a house and was real excited that prohibition ended back in 33. So we celebrated!