The National Lightning Owners Club Inc - View Single Post

Skritch · 05-10-2009, 05:21 AM

Yeah, well here's the whole story from beginning to end !

I asked the Wizard if he could be available Friday afternoon/evening to come out to Bremerton to "fine tune" Moody Blue. Yep, said he could accommodate me and he'd see me out there. I was set up in the Ford Drag Team area when he eased in the gates. Gave me a quick call to find out where I was on the grounds then took a "shortcut" down the dragstrip to meet me (we set up next to the return road close by the timing shack). I was in the process of changing out the wheels and tires to which the Wizard promptly lent a hand. He was rollin' the last of the street tires over to the pit area while I was gettin' ready to move the truck back over (I'm changing the tires NASCAR style jackin' up one side of the truck to get both front and rear at the same time). I was parked on this strip of asphalt backwards from how I normally park and started to back up. Looked out my drivers rear view to see one of the four corner posts that hold up the chain around the weight scale and stopped as I was just a bit close to the one I could see. Pulled forward and jockeyed around to get the truck parked in the pit area. Steve comes runnin' over and asks, "Did you hit that post ?" Nope, don't think so, didn't feel anything. He sez, " I think you did." We both have a look see and yep, sure enough there's around 4 scratches on the left rear quarter just behind the wheel well. SunofaB.....well that looks kind of nasty but there's no cracking (remember the outer skin is NOT metal) and no distortion, just 4 kinda ugly scratches, the longest about 4 inches, the shortest about an inch. No use cryin' over split milk, and any other cliches ya wanna think of, what's done is done. Just another attack of that "old timers disease".

So with that lets make some passes and see about shaving some hundredths off this truck. He starts wavin' his wand around, presses some buttons, mumbles some spells over the TwEECer box and proclaims, "Give that a try !" Ooh, the truck sez yeah and pops off a 12.65. Back in the pit area he asks for the critical info (timing and AFR) to which I reply with some unintelligible gibberish. He goes back to his lab, waves his wand again, presses some more buttons casts yet another spell over the little black TwEECer box and sends me out for another run. Truck is even happier and coughs up a 12.58. Again, he asks for the all critical information and again I reply with some unintelligible gibberish. Back he goes to his lab, waves the wand one more time, with the attending button pressing and appropriate spell casting for one last pass. Truck is smiling ear to ear now and hangs a 12.51 on its tailgate. The Wizard has just made a consistent mid 12.7 truck into a 12.5 truck ! Scratches on the left rear quarter, eh I'll take care of'em.

Fast forward to Saturday and Corey appears on the landscape along with John (Cruzn93SVT). The Wizard had written one more tune for me to try and I did Saturday late morn. Only clicked off a 12.57. Thought sure I would have a 12.4 on the time slip. No such luck though. We had ourselves a headwind to run into and that caused a loss of the hundredths needed to crack the 12.4 barrier. Changed back to the previous tune and the timers showed a pair of 12.68s. Man oh man, hundredths are so hard to come by !

Corey was a HAPPY camper as he made that SuperCab dip into the 15s ! He worked and worked at it Saturday morn/afternoon and was rewarded with a 15.99. Keep in mind that motor is not a Lightning motor but a 5.8 truck motor and stock from the factory Gen 1s were advertised at 15.7. His truck has some extra pounds from being stretched and without the benefit of the GT40 heads and intake.

John hisself was a smilin' as well. His truck just kept getting quicker. It seemed every run became a personal best for that black '93. Last run he made stopped the clocks in 14.74 seconds.

Steve rolled in on Saturday on his two wheeler after makin' a run around the local area since it was nuttin' but sun for the whole day ! He gave John a couple of tricks to try which certainly helped John to get those new PBs.

Meanwhile the CCCA racing was not good for Corey and myself as well as the Ford Drag Team in general. I red lighted first round. Corey seeing that red bulb in my lane insisted he would NOT red light. He didn't, but that .526 reaction time of his cost him the race ! So we're out first round. When the smoke cleared there were only 5 Fords left for second round. Ford Drag Team gets two lanes assigned to its members as there are so many Fords that show up for CCCA racing !

Crumby day this time.

Great pics James !

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Steve for making time to come tune my truck and for helping the "old guy" with tire changing on Friday eve. A big thanks to Corey, James, and John for helping the "old guy" get the street tires back on and helping pack up the back of my truck with all the junk I think I need to bring.

05-10-2009, 05:21 AM	#100 (permalink)
Skritch Moderator Paid Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: The socialist kingdom of Washington State Posts: 4,730 NLOC member #: 1461 View this user's gallery iTrader: 6 / 100%	Yeah, well here's the whole story from beginning to end ! I asked the Wizard if he could be available Friday afternoon/evening to come out to Bremerton to "fine tune" Moody Blue. Yep, said he could accommodate me and he'd see me out there. I was set up in the Ford Drag Team area when he eased in the gates. Gave me a quick call to find out where I was on the grounds then took a "shortcut" down the dragstrip to meet me (we set up next to the return road close by the timing shack). I was in the process of changing out the wheels and tires to which the Wizard promptly lent a hand. He was rollin' the last of the street tires over to the pit area while I was gettin' ready to move the truck back over (I'm changing the tires NASCAR style jackin' up one side of the truck to get both front and rear at the same time). I was parked on this strip of asphalt backwards from how I normally park and started to back up. Looked out my drivers rear view to see one of the four corner posts that hold up the chain around the weight scale and stopped as I was just a bit close to the one I could see. Pulled forward and jockeyed around to get the truck parked in the pit area. Steve comes runnin' over and asks, "Did you hit that post ?" Nope, don't think so, didn't feel anything. He sez, " I think you did." We both have a look see and yep, sure enough there's around 4 scratches on the left rear quarter just behind the wheel well. SunofaB.....well that looks kind of nasty but there's no cracking (remember the outer skin is NOT metal) and no distortion, just 4 kinda ugly scratches, the longest about 4 inches, the shortest about an inch. No use cryin' over split milk, and any other cliches ya wanna think of, what's done is done. Just another attack of that "old timers disease". So with that lets make some passes and see about shaving some hundredths off this truck. He starts wavin' his wand around, presses some buttons, mumbles some spells over the TwEECer box and proclaims, "Give that a try !" Ooh, the truck sez yeah and pops off a 12.65. Back in the pit area he asks for the critical info (timing and AFR) to which I reply with some unintelligible gibberish. He goes back to his lab, waves his wand again, presses some more buttons casts yet another spell over the little black TwEECer box and sends me out for another run. Truck is even happier and coughs up a 12.58. Again, he asks for the all critical information and again I reply with some unintelligible gibberish. Back he goes to his lab, waves the wand one more time, with the attending button pressing and appropriate spell casting for one last pass. Truck is smiling ear to ear now and hangs a 12.51 on its tailgate. The Wizard has just made a consistent mid 12.7 truck into a 12.5 truck ! Scratches on the left rear quarter, eh I'll take care of'em. Fast forward to Saturday and Corey appears on the landscape along with John (Cruzn93SVT). The Wizard had written one more tune for me to try and I did Saturday late morn. Only clicked off a 12.57. Thought sure I would have a 12.4 on the time slip. No such luck though. We had ourselves a headwind to run into and that caused a loss of the hundredths needed to crack the 12.4 barrier. Changed back to the previous tune and the timers showed a pair of 12.68s. Man oh man, hundredths are so hard to come by ! Corey was a HAPPY camper as he made that SuperCab dip into the 15s ! He worked and worked at it Saturday morn/afternoon and was rewarded with a 15.99. Keep in mind that motor is not a Lightning motor but a 5.8 truck motor and stock from the factory Gen 1s were advertised at 15.7. His truck has some extra pounds from being stretched and without the benefit of the GT40 heads and intake. John hisself was a smilin' as well. His truck just kept getting quicker. It seemed every run became a personal best for that black '93. Last run he made stopped the clocks in 14.74 seconds. Steve rolled in on Saturday on his two wheeler after makin' a run around the local area since it was nuttin' but sun for the whole day ! He gave John a couple of tricks to try which certainly helped John to get those new PBs. Meanwhile the CCCA racing was not good for Corey and myself as well as the Ford Drag Team in general. I red lighted first round. Corey seeing that red bulb in my lane insisted he would NOT red light. He didn't, but that .526 reaction time of his cost him the race ! So we're out first round. When the smoke cleared there were only 5 Fords left for second round. Ford Drag Team gets two lanes assigned to its members as there are so many Fords that show up for CCCA racing ! Crumby day this time. Great pics James ! Last, but certainly not least, thanks to Steve for making time to come tune my truck and for helping the "old guy" with tire changing on Friday eve. A big thanks to Corey, James, and John for helping the "old guy" get the street tires back on and helping pack up the back of my truck with all the junk I think I need to bring. Last edited by Skritch; 05-10-2009 at 05:43 AM..