Our 1st (but not last) Drag Week - Warning: Lengthy

[Fat Fish]

I reckon it's never too late to post this and make up for forum inactivity now that life has slowed down a bit. Drag Week didn't go quite as planned for us but was still a blast! Bottom line, the plan was to have at least a month of much needed track time for a new build and rusty driver. Instead, we pulled the Marlin into the tech line at 1:57 and made it's 1st pass ever on Monday because we thrashed on it for months right up til we left for Tulsa. Header leaks was our biggest enemy. I'm running an old set of Hedman Huslers since my only other option for AMC with 2" primaries appear to be custom. I thought I'd reworked them as good as I could but still had leaks. It ran ok so I figured they were good enough. I'm also running the FAST EZ EFI 2.0 and it turns out it doesn't like exhaust leaks at all, causing a very legitimate rich afr, due to the o2 sensor doing its job quite well. I believe that's what caused the smoke show that some of you may have seen. It did run ok and went 12.004. We decided to make easy 'cruise' passes the rest of the week just to survive. About 50 miles into our trip to GB, header leaks suddenly got way worse so I shut it down and coasted up an off-ramp. There'd been leaking around a couple of warped flanges so we thought the hi-temp rtv had blown out there. We re-gooped the copper gaskets and reassembled, let them dry awhile and briefly fired it back up with no improvement. We felt we'd done all we could and, especially with the afr issue still a factor, decided to throw in the towel. After disassembly and inspection at home, it turns out a primary tube had developed 3 big ol' cracks where I'd overdone it denting for steering u-joint clearance. Although it makes sense now, I had no idea that would've been the result or I'd have repaired it before DW. It's repaired now, plus I reworked the flanges better, so they're good enough for now with less leaks. I plan to get a kit to build my own this winter. I've never done it before but am anxious to try, especially since that's all that'll fit in the budget for some time. I took it to the local track and went 11.77 so at least I broke the 12 second curse I felt I was under. The quickest my other car ever went was 12.007 ;-) I'd hoped to meet a bunch of you guys on DW but thrashing in the pits and late hotel arrival times didn't allow for that. I think Mike Cox was the only one I met when he came over to check out Henry's younger 'cousin'. I plan to run at Mokan this Sunday, then shut it down and start on the new headers so it's not such a thrash to make DW next time. Ramble on! Jason

[nesabo]

David and Brian loved your car on the live broadcast. I believe they called the Marlin "Majestic".

[Fat Fish]

Yeah, that was cool. It took the sting out of the 'Uncle Buck' smoke comments lol.

[tsanchez]

Wish there would have been more coverage of other cars, do you have pictures and details? As an AMC fan I would have loved to see you continue, I know a few amc guys in the Kansas area that would have helped.

As for headers, the only gaskets I have found to work are the remflex for amc.

[Wolf]

Loved the Marlin! I know it's too little too late at this point... but EFI can be run in open loop fuel mode, and your exhaust can basically be a screen at that point and it won't care...

+ 1 on the Remflex gaskets!

[Fat Fish]

Thanks guys. FAST said the EZ 2.0 doesn't work like that. Here are some details and pics. Here are some details and pics. 401 based 429 built by John Garland 12.5:1 comp (on e85) Iron heads worked over by Hemi Adkins Comp FT Hyd cam - .644" lift w/ 1.72:1 Comp rockers TH400 built by Flip O Matic PTC 3800 converter 8.8 Diff with 3.73:1

[Fat Fish]

What's the trick to uploading a 30 second video on here?

[TheSilverBuick]

YouTube and link.

[tsanchez]

I was asking John jf the engine was going this year, he was building it last year. Cool, too bad you through in the towel.

[Fat Fish]

I hear ya. I've got a way better feeling about next time. We'll have lots more testing done instead of testing on DW, despite how common that practice is ;-) Hopefully we can represent AMC together one of these years.

[tsanchez]

Well Im going next year, still dont know if the car will as it will depend on the rules. My car was in modified N/A and its going to be eliminated and merged with another class.

[Blown II]

I hear ya. I've got a way better feeling about next time. We'll have lots more testing done instead of testing on DW, despite how common that practice is ;-) Hopefully we can represent AMC together one of these years.

LOL! We also have very similar goals. I like the way you think!!

Next year we will have more fun, less stress, and more Crown just in case.

[Fat Fish]

OUTSTANDING! Always good to have a backup plan lol!

[AdvAutoBob]

LOL! We also have very similar goals. I like the way you think!!

Next year we will have more fun, less stress, and more Crown just in case.

[tsanchez]

2012 drag week I forgot to bring spare rockers, but I had 3 1.75 litres of whiskey haha