Tunachuckers Can-O'-Blog

Perhaps you should consider driving a more "substantial" car on the roads of Maryland. Where is the Ford LTD Landau? The oil rig on the roof could be rigged up with additional lighting. Leave the Volvo for tooling around Carroll County and trips to the airport to pick up or drop off visitors.

Yes! The 560 SL is for sale! Ask me about it!

I love that Mercedes. Is it for sale?

Class V is as big as I've seen in a receiver-type hitch. But the ratings start to get weird over Class III. I've seen Class IV hitches rated for anywhere from 7000 to 10000 pounds, and it also depends on whether you're using a weight distribution device (I don't). This Curt Hitch is rated for 15K, which I'll never pull, but it's an extra F.O.S.

Hardware Grades- Grade 8 has a higher rated stress than Grade 5, but because it is stronger, it is also harder, which also means it is more brittle. The Grade 5 will handle less of a load than the 8, but can is also more pliable and more forgiving to shock loads. It's a trade-off. But if you look at the numbers, even a single lowly 1/4-20 Grade 2 bolt can handle like 800 pounds of stress. There's 8) 7/16 grade 5 bolts holding the back of the hitch together and 6) 1/2" grade 5's holding it to the truck. EACH of those bolts can probably withstand 5,000 pounds or more of stress. And even a 15,000 lb trailer never puts anywhere near that kind of load on the hitch. The tongue weight will be about 1500-2000 pounds, and even towing up a 10 percent grade will impart only about 1500-2000 lb on the hitch pulling backwards.

Wow, you already had a Class IV hitch on it and you upgraded that? And here I thought Class IV hitches were about as beefy as you can get. Most people just have a Class III hitch on their pickups. So, is this a Class V hitch then or something? Glad to see you finally replaced that broke-ass busted hitch that was on there. Safety first, right? Of course you ignored the label on the ACME hitch that says do not cut, weld, or modify the hitch and did basically all three things to it!

Also, the new hitch only came with Grade 5 bolts and mounting hardware? Hah! I would have thrown that junk out and replaced it all with Grade 8 hardware, but that's just me. Heck, I replaced most of the original hardware on my tractor that I'm "restoring" with Grade 8 bolts, so you want to talk about overkill... That tractor will never fall apart!

(Last Note: Oh, and you couldn't get a shot of the new trailer in the daytime so we can actually SEE it and not just the conspicuity tape on the side of it?)

Spike the punch---Yes, spike the punch!! You guys normally mix up something special called Moonshine that you share after the first day of racing. Well, spike it with Ex-Lax. That will keep the other teams off the track. Just remember not to taste it yourselves.

After logistics, there are always covert operations (FM-23-86.1) to consider.. Enough of the Mr. Nice Guy stuff. Sabotage the competition!! Let's think James Bond here!! Can the Tunamobile distribute pointed/sharpened Jacks(remenber the old Jacks game??)on the race track? James Bond did it in Goldfinger. How about the wheel cutter in Goldfinger?? Crips, you have an oil rigger on the roof, you should be able to find a way to "help the competition lose".

Mr. Logistician here---Yep, 21 years of military logistics and recon planning.

First you need video tapes af the prior races (all sports teams use videos). Then you break down the races in 3 or 4 hour segments and assign one segment to each team member.

Start analysing how many cautions (average number) in each race. How many laps (on average) are run under each caution? How many more laps would you do if exited near the end of a caution and swapped drivers and filled with gas?

Next exactly how many laps can you make on a full tank of gas. This will help limit the stops and lost laps. How many more MPG if you all lost 10 pounds? :)

Oh, I'm just getting started :)......

I like the fulcrum used to pop the bead on the tire change. You all have too much patience.....Barney at the corner garage would have changed and mounted those tires for $25 CASH... You need to get on the CASH and BARTER Exchange.

Awesome theme! Nice write up



413racing.wordpress.com

Writer's Prerogative. Sod off, Wanker. And fix the names on the right hand bar.

How did you skip from Friday morning in the last post (technically 2 posts ago, but...) to all of a sudden Sunday morning? What happened to all of Friday and Saturday's racing action?

I have no idea what WW is talking about. They didn't teach us Playdough at engineer school.

Wow... that's actually pretty sad that a 1975 big-ass 400 V8 only made about 153 HP stock! I guess that makes me feel a bit better about my non-stock 318 V8 in my car that dyno'ed out a couple years ago at 159.9 HP at the wheels! And that's on a totally stock block 318 with just a bolt-on intake manifold and 4 barrel carb with headers.

In any event, definitely seems like a HUGE upgrade to the 460 V8 with 365 HP. Was it like a night and day difference racing it with that much of a HP increase?

From Wickopedia on Plato:
Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science.[3] In the words of A. N. Whitehead:


The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.[4]

Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts.[5] Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics. Now add Lemons Race Cars to the list :).

Plato---I lost you at the double wishbone anti-lock dual pain aluminum cask triple clutch plastic shroud from a 1992 stock column shifter with a 2.75 to 1 PE ratio.

Fine... just send me a list of all the names you want on there (and any interesting monickers you might want text to each name) and I'll update them... It's better to just send me a new list of all the names you want on there and that will get rid of old names that maybe aren't on the team anymore either (not sure if that is even a thing or not, but thought I'd mention it at least...)

You're lucky you get anything. Get off my lawn.

BTW, Mr. Admin, we need an update to the "Tunachuckers Member Roster" on the sidebar. Katie, McCall, Stephen, and Brian's son Nathaniel need to be added.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! To Belated Bloggage!!! What happened to updating stuff during the race weekend???

I think the Lemons car has a better chance of finishing the race than Rob's truck has of making the round trip to Camden for the race. That little truck is low to the ground :).

The LTD is talking SO much sh!t to that prius.

GOOD LUCK IN KERSHAW!!!

Don't blow up any engines... Remember to keep it rubber side down and between the lines! Oh, and it's not bumper cars either!

Hope you win some stupid trophy that is accompanied by ridiculous amounts of nickels in a nondescript bag stolen from a shipment hijacked on its way to the local bank... Or something like that...

Nice... Holes in hood = super speed!!!

What are those things? They're SPEED HOLES!!! They make the car go faster!

Now all you need are STICKERZZZ!!! 'Cause everyone knows stickerzzzz make things go fast. And crooked stickerzzz make them go EVEN FASTER!

The calipers were from a 2005-2009 Mustang GT

Cold air comes in through the hole in the hood!

Awww, and here I thought those were super cool (no pun intended) cold air intake scoops for the engine mounted in the new front "bumper". You know, to wring out every last spare HP out of that beastly 460 V8. I didn't think they were brake cooling air ducts. That is somehow less satisfying, although I guess it is more practical as you don't want molten hot brakes that will catch on fire (again).

Shoot, and next weekend I'm going to the Jane's Addiction concert at the Palace with the g/f. I guess I won't be able to make the race then. I better see lots of cool videos of the Landau in action then in lieu of being there!!!

I'd like to see it make another drag race run now with the 460 in it. That sucker's gotta be FAST!!!! Not that you could SEE it with it billowing all that smoke. That's not LeMons approved at all, is it? Are you allowed to deploy a smoke screen behind you to confuse the competition (and escape "the law")?

Looks and sounds much better that it did in the Continental too for some reason. It's the same engine I know...

Hmm...

Sounds like a 700lb sewing machine.

Okay, I showed you mine, you kinda showed yours. Where are we going to drag?

Oh, and I notice Katie isn't listed as a TUNA CHUCKER team member. Maybe Mother Chucker come race with us, no? With Lemons it's all about inclusion!

xo, dc

Pretty sure they are 2009 calipers - way better!

Just wait until Christopher shows up in the garage next year - the boy wouldn't be able to stay out of trouble in a padded room in a straight jacket.

Engine and Transmission World: Owner, Engine and Transmission World in the Automotive industry (Greater Milwaukee Area

I see a nice old Mercedes in the background. How come it isn't covered? It will get dusty if left uncovered :).

LeMons may start to limit HP after this monster hits the track.

OH, don't forget the oil plug.

Good luck, wish I could be there.

There's a layer of oil absorbent spread over the floor. And dirt. And other stuff. That's why it doesn't roll.

Sometimes it's better to have a supervisor. We've got the engine swapping down to two monkeys and about 20 minutes now.

Spray some WD-40 or PB Blaster on those engine hoist caster wheels. It should roll a LOT easier then that, even with a heavy-ass big block hanging precariously from it.

Also, might have expedited extraction a bit to DROP THE VIDEO CAMERA AND HELP!!! (Just sayin'...)

But hey, at least the hood ornament remained unscathed. Gotta watch out for the IMPORTANT stuff.

Looks more like "Three virgin monkeys. One big, heavy, reluctant football."

I must say, nice video edit! Well done then.

Brian's working on the brakes...currently we're planning on replacing the single piston cast iron relics from 1975 with dual piston Mustang GT calipers...aluminum...with greater pad area, and ceramic Hawk racing pads.

We figured the backfiring was mostly bad timing, and possibly related to a very weak coil, too. (We replaced the coil, it was rusty, and from 1968, and it ran MUCH better)

We all wished there was a big cliff or a lake or something to push the car off of. That Continental is a real basket case. Its missing most of the interior, the floors are swiss cheese, and the P/O stripped off most of the trim pieces for another project. We basically got 4000 pounds worth of scrap metal and a decent engine and transmission (the rear end, a Ford 9", might be worth something, and the brakes, too...I'll strip it before we recycle it)

Well, congrats then! Sounds like you got yourself, "MORE POWER, Arrugh, Arrugh!", after all! Of course, I don't know how you got a knocking noise coming out of the water pump that sounds like the engine about to die, but hey, weirder things have happened. (Like the dashboard of my Fury suddenly pluming out smoke and the gauges going haywire. I guess I got a shorted wire to track down behind the dash...)

What happened to trying to "fix" or at least upgrade the brakes? No time for that now then when you've got a bigger big block to shoehorn in? You don't want a repeat of 2008 though when the Volvo brakes burst into flames from overheating... Ye who forget history are doomed to repeat it...

Oh, and congrats on figuring out how to embed a YouTube video... Now you're caught up in learning with all those 11 year old's online!


P.S. - BTW - "Loved the video! Hilarious! I laughed! I cried!" - (Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert). Although, with it backfiring fire out of the carburetor that badly, was that just getting too much gas or was that as a result of the ignition timing being waaaaay off? It's not supposed to do that if I recall... The best was pushing the Continental out of the garage though at the end like, "Meh, we're done with you now... get lost!" and then not caring if it rolls out and hits anything or not. I could just see it rolling into someone else's car, lol...

Well, I would hardly call that '68 Continental, "an absolutely unrestorable, stripped out, rusty, derelict hulk". I have seen people fully restore shells of cars that are less complete, more stripped out, more rusty, and more derelict than that! Actually, it looks in pretty good shape, just needs a grille, a rear door, maybe some paint and upholstery work, and it's back on the road!

Good to see you blogging again, hope the blog keeps working for you (unlike your engines...) When is the next race then, in Feb in SC? Hope you can get some of that "MORE POWER! Arrugh Arrugh" shoehorned into the Ford LTD for the next race then! You could ALWAYS bring it as a backup, although I somehow DOUBT you could swap a big block engine into that LTD in under 4 hours like you could with the Volvo Amazon. Eh, those Swedish cars do have their upsides. Hmmm... maybe once you do get the 460 into the LTD you could put the 400M into the Volvo and make a real ROCKET out of that little car...

Actually, I was going to reply to your earlier E-mail about the blog not working where you said you were using it on a netbook with IE 9. My first thoughts were that the netbook has a small screen, so maybe your screen resolution is screwing up the blog making it look "broken" with the pictures? My other thought was perhaps all your problems were related to IE 9.

My buddy Ed has a Magic Jack on his computer for his home phone. It installs software on your computer to run Magic Jack and so you can get your voicemail messages on your computer, etc. I remember when IE 9 came out, Magic Jack pushed a message out to all their users saying DO NOT UPGRADE TO IE 9 because it will "break" Magic Jack and it won't work properly anymore. So, I figured if it messes up the Magic Jack, it could also not work right with the blog, despite me updating it recently.

In any event, my thought would have been for you to uninstall IE 9 and try to go back to an older version that will work, like IE 8 or IE 7 (I'd recommend IE 8 as the last "working" browser version...) Or, you could get another, better browser. I'd have recommended Firefox, but Chrome works too I guess. Just glad to see you figured it out and are back now happily (mostly) blogging again...

Of course, I would have told you all this earlier, but my computer has been FUBARed for the last week or so. Hard drives crashing, losing data, and now I can't get into Windows at ALL. My Windows install and/or registry is corrupted I think and I have to get a new HDD and reinstall everything from scratch. Just what *I* wanted to do with my next week and a half or so was rebuild my computer...

I'm working on trying to implement a CAPTCHA system for comments. I downloaded a CAPTCHA plug-in for the blog software and installed it, but it doesn't seem to be working. I have no idea why not. Still working on it, so please be patient. More updates to come soon.

No wonder it broke down..lmao :)

Hey, the Plymouth is now road-going- I've been driving it around the block periodically. The oil pressure issue was relativey minor and I've attacked all the potential causes I can think of. It's a fun little tool-around-the-neighborhood car- much cooler than a golf cart, anyway.

Did you figure out how to block the sp@m that's been invading the comment section of late?

And, sounds like no WONDER this car broke down on the side of the road about a month ago... [ahem]

Hey... *I* personally didn't blacklist such benign words as fetish and tranny! Yes, I guess it IS hard to have an automotive blog that bans words like "tranny", which is short for transmission and NOT the "sexually confused" people of a similar name.

So, are you happy now? I allowed these words again on the blog... Tranny, tranny, tranny, tranny! Fetish, fetish, fetish, fetish! Do YOU have a TRANNY FETISH??? I'm not going there if you do...

That metal can looks like the charcoal canister.

You should dyno this thing just because.

(found your blog after wondering for the past year or so what happened to the amazon, hope to see you in another volvo some day too though this is hilarious)

Well, at least you drained something. A couple of months ago, I figured out how to fill the MG transmission - pull back the 'carpet' (next to the drivers right thigh), pull out the 47 year old rubber cover, remove the fill plug, pour in oil. I thought I would 'top it off'. I added a little over a pint. Then I checked the book and it said it held 1.3 pints. Hmmmm, I had not drained any and added about 1.3 pints. No wonder the passenger compartment was always warm...

I did add a couple more quarts of Type F, after idling for a while in 'N' while flushing the block the ATF wasn't even on the stick. It goes solidly into all gears at idle now, so all signs are promising.

Smokey burnouts after we get the brakes fixed. I promise. :-)

So have you taken it for a test drive? We are expecting a big smoky burnout!

Excellent article in Red Bulletin. I bought the magazine just for this article. The writer did an excellent job in the space provided. I think the article could have been longer but it did capture the weekend. Photo's were also excellent. Too bad RB doesn't have an on-line section for additional photo's.

I hooked up the lower radiator hose and ran the engine with the garden hose stuck into it. More brown crud effluenced from the themostat housing. I'm fairly certain it's casting sand from 1975.

Awesome write up guys. Performance holes FTW!!

OK--Lets put some figures on this. Red Bull article says you averaged 53 MPH. Lets look ahead to the Charlotte race. If you can saty on the track for 12 hours at 53 MPH, that equates to 636 miles......a days drive in the old LTD. If the track is 1.5 miles as you suggest, that comes out to 424 laps. How many laps did the Class C winner (the old truck with a couch in the bed) turn at Kersaw in May?