I believe many knows our ’67 VIP here. But for those who don’t, we built the 1967 Plymouth VIP in 2006, run it first with a naturally aspirated street engine running 10.6’s, and once all the parts arrived a twin turbo intercooled 478 cu in RB with Indy heads and EFI. During the years following we run the car becoming the first street car in Finland to break in to 7’s winning numerous races and championships.

We run the car until I crashed it in the street in 2014, after which we decided to update the engine a little at the same time when the body was being rebuilt. However, happened like it sometimes does, delays after dealys…. until now.

Next summer is the 50th birthday of the car and we decided to give it a present, take it back to where it was born! And what would be a better way to do it than to participate on the 2017 Drag Week!

Our main goal at this point is first to get the car there, and then be able to survive the week, performance and success doesn’t matter. We are going to run the car in the Ultimate Iron class, it should fit the rules with stock doors. There is still a few things to do and a lot of practical problems to be solved…, for example I have never been in to USA and have no idea about anything there.

And then there are a lot of technical things that must be tested and solved, and of course the problem of getting the parts needed.

The engine will be an Indy blocked wedge with Molnar crank and rods, Diamond pistons with 8.8:1 CR. The heads are FBS heads that probably no one has used for this kind of purpose before… The transmission is a JW powerglide with 10 disc FMX drum, and the rear axle a Dana 60 with 4.10 pro gears.

Basically everything will be done in our home garage by ourselves excluding the more complex machine work we have no tools for. I will report here about the progress, or if you are in the facebook you can follow things there too, there is stuff both in English and Finnish.
https://www.facebook.com/VIPFlyingFinns/


But for now a couple of videos, the first one is from spring 2014 and the second one showing the car isn’t quite ready yet is from last week…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYH7x7Dh9zg

https://www.facebook.com/VIPFlyingFinns/videos/808878022582994/

Good luck Bro. I'll be following

I'm in Wisconsin. If you need anything stateside, let me know. If I can help I will.

AWESOME! Never figured there'd be any shot at seeing your car in real life!

Love the car and love to see it at drag week.
Best of luck on your goal

Following! Good luck and hope to see you at Drag Week next year!

Sick, I was driven to the hospital in a vip to be born in 69. Love It!!!

You are in for a adventure driving in Europe compared to here in the U.S.
AKA, I was shocked how close all the town and cities in Germany where back in the late 1960s.
I was borned and raised in Southern CA in the Mojave Desert where every town was at least 50 miles apart, not so in Germany
One of my old bracket cars is in Finland, I got a E mail years ago from the owner wanting to know if I ever owned that car, it looked like it hadn't been driven in a long time
I sincerely hope you have fun and enjoy the trip and have no problems with the car, will it be shipped by air or by boat ? Not cheap in either case I'm sure I wonder how much the Aussie and Kiwi pay to ship there cars here for that week long torture trip

you are livin the dream!!! hoping for the best... you need anything, you'll have support. Lots of "friends of friends" here

That is one awesome car. Good luck at Dragweek this coming year.

I am not a drag racer...but still read here some..


Just a little advice, and be sure and ship the car with plenty of time up your sleeve this end in case of any unforeseen delays. (Customs checks, etc,etc can slow down getting your container and car cleared to go.
(I ship stuff/load containers back and forth to Melbourne for a living so have seen every manner of delay possible over the years. )

Jykä, what are the dates for this Drag Week?

The dates come out in december I think'

Drag Week is the week after Labor Day. So, Sunday September the 10th will be registration day, and the event will be the 11th through the 15th.

Now we wait for them to announce the tracks!

Hey Jyrki
I hope to have my fbs headed motor together and there also. If I make it ( will be 5th drag week) you will be able to see the Brewer intake that you sold me ! Hope to see you there.

Very cool!

Good Luck and keep us posted on this adventure.

Bill

You might want to start researching where specifically you want to ship the car to the US (New York, Baltimore, ???) on the east coast. Then, begin trying to build a support network of Moparts members (and anyone else you know on this side of the Atlantic) who are close(r) to the port where the car will be delivered and can assist you with storage, workshop space, transportation to DW, etc.

I haul a lot of stuff into Baltimore to Mid Atlantic Terminal and see a lot of vehicles there arriving from and going to Europe via this company.

http://www.2wglobal.com/

It's all roll on/roll off.

Kevin

Awesome,hope you will get this done with as little trouble as possible!

Okay, let me make a short brief of the projects current situation.

What's most important is that it seems we have been accepted to participate in Drag Week 2017 and it seems okay that we run in the Ultimate Iron class! The hotel reservations have been made and the trip arrangements are progressing.

The new engine block arrived over a month ago. We decided to modify it for lifter oiling, and it has been at the machine shop ever since, hopefully they get it done soon. After that it must be honed for the pistons and propably the decks machined too since the Indy workmanship may have left something to desire. But that’s for the machinist to decide.





Still waiting for T&D to get the rocker arms done, surprisingly they are late… Don’t know the situation of the Jesel lifters ordered. Scott Brown at Competition Components is arranging us the parts needed.

Other than that, the engine is pretty much ready to be put together, ie all the parts exist. Or at least I think so… The old engine has been torn apart and the next thing will be washing the parts and packing them for further use. At his time only the block will be changed.

The valvetrain may need some adjustment because of the new lifters and pushrod oiling and most likely there will be other small surprises too before it’s ready.





The tubing and headers have been built, now still some finishing work and adding of the o2 sensors left, and they are ready for coating. The exhaust pipes will get done last, The 5" downpies will go into two 4" with mufflers.





Alternator and vacuum pump were installed and water manifolds were made, the oil filter will be relocated and the oil cooler added later.





The intercooler and boost tubes modified, fitted and installed.

.



Yesterday we went through the transmission, no surprises there, it has only been run for one summer. It's a pg using JW housing, wide band and 10 plate drum with FMX discs and ringless shaft. Pretty much has the best parts available.

We have two converters, a “tight” and a “loose”, I believe we’ll choose the tight one. It’s only a three bolt, but so far it has been enough, and of course it’s possible to convert it to 6 bolt.





The rear axle will get changed, we’ll replace the Dana with about four inch narrower “Ford 9” ” rear axle to make changing of the tires easier and to have a wider choice of gear ratios. That part of the project is still in the planning stages but will eventually get done. Now thinking wether to buy a readily fabricated cromo housing or building it ourselves, floater or not? Pro gears? etc etc.





The steel doors should also be put back together so that we’ll get the front end and doors lined up properly before readying the body for paint. the rules require stesl doors. The bumpers are already being covered with a “chrome paint”, we’ll see how it turns out.

Once the car has been painted it’s time to start figuring out the wiring, maybe and hopefully we’ll start getting the engine ready for dyno at that time too, but that’s basically not in our hands at this moment.




The very next thing to do is to design and execute the fuel cells, pump etc locations and the routing of the fuel lines to the front. I guess we’ll concentrate on that tomorrow.





That’s shortly how things lay at the moment, we’ll continue working….





BTW, I heard that maybe some of the next live broadcasts will be held in “Rallye English”, Finlands second official language! I’ll try to advertise it forehand!

[img]http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q530/jyrki6664/VIPDW9_zpsnlsfh2kr.jpg[/img]

Yep, following!

When you say you have been accepted do you mean subject to inspection at the track technically? As you know registration is still months off.

Good luck with the project!
Bill

Looks like it should work good! Glad to see another Mopar making the trek not just talking about it and never following through.

Need another point of compression in that thing leaving a bit on the table.

T&D will come around, they do good work and the rockers last. See if you can get the spring oiler upgrade (They make a tiny hole that sprays out of the rocker directly onto the spring) helps springs stay nice and cool.

Are you going to switch to a 3.50 gear or similar? 4.10 seems a little steep even with a 33" tall tire.

Changing Tires sucks.. avoid it if you can. ET Street R or a Hoosier Quick Time Pro is your friend..

Organize all your parts into tubs and label.

Round up the oil you would like to run before drag week, chances are there will not be any nearby.

Modifying for lifter oiling is the ticket! My rockers barely moved the whole week with Isky EZ-Roll X's and pushrod oiling.

Last but not least-

Bring earplugs!!!

The cars that are shipped over for Drag Week...I assume they need to be registered/licensed/tagged to be legal to drive on the highway? How is that done? Or do you just drive it and hope you don't run into any issues with highway patrol? Just curious.

jyrki
have run the fbs heads on the street before? just wondering if there are any heating issues with them. I can't wait to get my fbs headed motor going, my block was just shipped to indy to get repaired.

Without a larger picture, it's hard to tell, but how is the water routed? Are there hose outlets on the heads?
From what I see in the picture,(not enough) it LOOKS like the plan is, "in" one side, and "out" the other side. If that's the case, It needs to be reworked. The cooling system in a STANDARD configuration is actually two separate "compartments". What goes in one side will not come out of the other side.
I know nothing about your car is "standard", so if I'm off base ...

Sorry, I see what's going on there. Upper/upper, lower/lower. Just an odd view.

Looks like an easy way to reverse cool.

Very cool, I'll be watching.

You will need to have the cage certified by NHRA. Do they do that in Europe? If not you will have to allow time and make arrangements to have it done when you get here and allow time for possible changes if required.

Good advice Joel.And make sure your helmet is up to date.

We have NHRA rules here as far as the major safety specs go, and the cage is 25.5 sertified. So. in theory 7.5 sec is possible. The helmets are Snell SA 2010, we have the HANS etc. But have to verify the chassis cert that it covers USA.

A small update. We have now installed the door glass and the windows are working, the fuel system has been trial fitted and the car is now being prepped for paint. That will take awhile. the new Indy block was taken in to a machine shop for drilling the oil channels for the lifters. However, it was slightly screwed up..., the drill bit ended up to the cam tunnel on the drivers side in the two last lifter holes. Just have to block the channel before them and propably have them oiled with a tube from the other side. On monday the block will go into a machine shop for final honing, and then a week after that in to another for sleeving the lifter holes. Once that is done we should be able to start putting the engine together. That is, if the lifters and rockers arrive...

Since not much happening at the moment I'll put here the story of the car for those that like to read to the point I have written it... it's also in the facebook but buries there under all stuff.


VIP story #1

Since the story of the “hero” is propably unknown to at least our international friends, here is the first part of the story:

It’s year 1967. Finland, one of only two countries in Europe taking part in WW2 while retaining unoccupied, is still mentally and financially recovering from the sufferings of the lost war against Soviet Union.

It’s been five years since the rationing of importing western cars ended. Majority of the cars around are still manufactured by our eastern friends, the western cars are mainly practical, cheap and small.

The small amount imported from the United States goes mainly to companies for their representative purposes. Most of them are black four door sedans with pretty basic equipment, six and three on the tree is the norm.

Within the few exceptions among the Plymouth – Chrysler cars imported by Berner OY, in the addition to the only known four door Hemi Plymouth made , is also the storys top of the line, blue Plymouth VIP. Originally equipped with a 318 engine, column shift automatic, manual steering and power disc brakes. Only less than 8000 coupes were built and today it’s relatively rare, the car of the story is most likely the only one in this use!



Years pass, the youth of the car is pretty much unknown, but during that period for example Finnish Hot rod Association is established in 1972. Come the oil crises, and the value of US gas guzzlers collapse, suddenly they become available for the youth just starting their drivers career, and they become one sign of the rebel against Finlandizing of the official Finland.

Plymouth VIP is still an expensive car, but despite of that it soon becomes a hobby car. One day it shows up with a red flake paint and a painted “vinyl roof”, ever changing.The last version before the hiatus is presented in the Finnish USA car magazine, the V8 Magazine, in 1987.

At that point the car is dark blue, Nascar steelies, and wide tires all around. The original 318 engine has been hopped up with two turbochargers blowing through two side draft Dell’orto carbs adapted to a four barrel intake. Soon after that, a massive engine failure, and the car is pushed on the back burner and soon forgotten…



Part#2

…At the same time Jyrki Aukio who had always had US cars in his family, is starting his street race career, racing officially for the first time in 1988 with a 1973 Valiant four door 360 running a 14.57/99 mph.

In the property where Jyrki gets to work on his car, is also working a guy named Jussi Lahti. Jyrkis working at the car raises Jussis interest, and he also decides to start building a street racer.

The next decade is pretty much spent on building Darts and Valiants and they gain name both in official and unofficial street races with their A-body Mopars. However working day in and out for a decade with the same vehicles takes its toll, and a need arises doing something different.



During their trips they begin to speculate with the idea of building together a full size street car that would run mid 9’s like their pump gas engine, naturally aspirated A-bodies did at the time. The key, they agree, to achieve that and still retain street able would be turbocharging.

In 2004 Jyrki gets a call from Jussi; “Just bought a new car, a ’67 Plymouth VIP roller”. Jyrki thinks for a few minutes, takes another call and then returns to Jussi; “I bought turbos for it”.

They had no rush with the project, both still continued racing with their own vehicles until the VIP was moved in to the garage in the fall of 2005 and the fly cutter started to sing…



A lot of parts had already been gathered for the project, and the progress was rapid. The rear frame was replaced with Quarter Max parts, four link with coil overs. The car was built with an intention that it would full fill the FHRA Street D rules of the time, while still being able to be registered it and have it inspected as street legal.

The car was externally ready by 2006 FHRA American Car Show where it was introduced. However, the drivetrain was still in parts since the engine parts ordered hadn’t arrived.

http://kuvia.1g.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2006/ACS-2006/Acs-06-164.jpg

And then the waiting begun…, the summer was already in the midpoint when a decision was made that for the 2006 season they would forget the turbochargers for now.

Instead, the engine was put together naturally aspirated with a carburetor. The rest of the season was raced with that combination, and surprisingly well it run; The heavy car with a low stall converter and too long gear ratio for the naturally aspirated engine run a best of 10.6 sec at 129mph.

Part #3

Even though the car run pretty well for its size naturally aspirated, we were left with mixed feelings. Compared to the earlier leaf spring cars that had to be steered through the quarter mile, the two speed four link car was boring to drive. The car run straight like a train and the only thing to do during the run was to wait the rpm gauge needle reach such figures that it was appropriate to push in the second gear.

Year 2007 started like the year before; waiting for the parts to arrive. The short stroke crank proved out to be the most challenging item. Finally after the season had already begun, the parts arrived. We rushed to get it together and the first race we attended was our annual European Championship race in July.

We arrived to the pits late, and the car had not run once. Saku Ritola from R-Motorsport helped us to get the car started with the EFI and when it did, we immediately drove it to tech, passed it, and straight to the line up for the last qualification round.
http://kuvia.1g.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2007/FHRA/NitroNationals5-8.7_07/Pit/5-8.7_07-081.jpg

I instructed Jussi just to run through, and for a moment floor it to get some data to the ECU. Jussi did just that and the first run with the turbos was 12.6 seconds at 86 mph. At the pits we noticed that the data logging feature of the ECU hadn’t been turned on, still Jussi reported that for the brief period he pushed it, the car pulled pretty well.

We qualified last in the eliminator, and were to meet Olli Rämä in Jussis old Valiant, low 10 second car with its new drivetrain, in the first round, and get another chance.

Next morning in the eliminations the strategy was the same, just to get some data about the engine functions. The data logger was on, burnout went fine, staging and launch. Jussi didn’t rush, got worse reactions and was immediately left behind, then after a while floored it. Since everything seemed to work fine he stayed on it and almost caught Olli in the finish line running a better ET and loosing with a hole shot. However, everything worked and the tune up was safe according to the log, and the first 9 second Et was reality; 9.97/137 mph!
http://kuvia.1g.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2008/FHRA/DefaFinals29-31.8.2008/Defa29_31_08_7.jpg

In the next race we continued with the same tune up, running better than in our A-bodies, 9.37/148 mph, and in the next one 9.27/149.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqo3YcoO35Q

With only our national finals left, we decided to install second springs in to the waste gates and see what happens with a bit more boost. I was in the line up running another car, so didn’t see how it went, thought I heard something but didn’t believe my ears.

However, it turned out to be true, the car responded well raising the boost and run 8.55/159 mph! As the race continued, the ET dropped in to 8.44/162 mph! The performance had more than met our hopes and even though we were glad about that, breaking the 8.50 second barrier caused some new challenges.

http://kuvia.1g.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2007/FHRA/DefaWinterFinals31.8-2.9/Race/31.8-2.9_07-605.jpg

So, we were at a point where we had to ditch the basically one year old roll cage and start prepping the car for SFI 25.5 spec that at the time was the quickest unibody spec, at least in Finland.

It was evident that the new cage had to be built out of cro mo since the car according to the SFI 25.5 spec must weigh under 3600 lbs. During the next winter we first stripped the car, then Jaffu Holms Island Race Cars welded the cage together, and we did the rest of the job. At the same time all the glass except the windshield was converted to Lexan, the doors were made out of fiberglass, and we met the SFI specs!

Next summer 2008 we continued from where we have left, won the first races with the car and made a national street car record of 8.13/170 mph, guess it's the only C-body ever done that!

http://kuvia.1g.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2008/FHRA/DefaFinals29-31.8.2008/Defa29_31_08_394.jpg


To be continued….

It's been a while...., a lot of dealys but we are getting there.
Hot Rod noticed us too. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/vip-flying-finns/

Love the big cars! We entered dragweek also, looking forward to seeing your car.

We live about a hour from cordova so if you need anything let me know.

I didn't know you crashed it! However, I vaguely remember you driving that thing around your shop yard in the snow when I visited. Were you driving that thing around in the snow????? LOL!

Good luck with it! I love the car and your talent..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAT1V-wKnKs

Long time without updates...

So far about everything that can go wrong has.

We got the engine to dyno in the begining of May. Got the street tune up done but run in to problems with power pulls. Only got 1250 hp at 13 psi until decided that the engine doesn't work. Some valves were leaking, the head gaskets leaked, one lifter bushing broke...

Got those fixed and put it together with new rings and bearings, but a new dyno didn't fit in to schedule. A day before the first test day we found out that the Ford Motorsport brakes didn't fit with the billet specialties wheels..., so had to build new brakes out of a checy set we luckily had.

The first tests were the first time the driver drove the car. Got three runs done without boost control, the best was 9.90 at 140 mph, and again small technical problems.

Got them fixed again and a new test at a local airport. Made four runs and played with the hboost control a little..., now the engine seems to work mechanically but with no traction at the airport high 10's were the best.

Now I'm building a new oil pan out of aluminum because the zillion time modified original steel tends to create a new leak every time out. There is still a lot to do in the car, and we only have one chance to test it before shipping. Hopefully we get everything done so that we can get some kind of a handle about how things work.

The last time the engine was apart I decided to detune it quite a lot, swapping the cam to a regular comp cams XE street roller. At this point it isn't so important what the thing is capable of running, more important is to get it more reliable, and the cam with way smaller spring pressures should definitely help.

Here is a small video from last weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xulWJKff2-g

Been following on FB. Hope things work out and you can make it. How soon does it have to ship to be here on time?

Early July, there has been some problems with shipping and customs recently, so we have to leave some extra for it.

Looking forward to seeing you at Drag Week! Can you link your Facebook page??

Hope many people come! There isn't much in English in the facebook, but still some


https://www.facebook.com/VIPFlyingFinns/

I'm still very much looking forward to seeing the car!

Last weekend was our last possibility to do some testing before the car must go in to the ship. Not much to tell..., problems. The valvelocks are trying to pull through the retainers. Have never run in to this kind of problem before.

Anyway, we managed to run two 8.5's which at this point is satisfying. I think I'll still change the cam now in there to a custom one designed for turbo use and longevity, it just may be so that the smallish comp cams street roller costs us power.

Never the less, the container comes on friday, leaves on monday and then it's too late to be sorry...

Here is one video of a little less than 1/8 mile test run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNXD7wLb8YI

Good luck!

Is it possible that the valve train issue could be caused by coil bind?

It's not a coil bind, There is more room with the current cam than with the old one when the problem arose, just left the inner spring out for about 260 lbs seat pressure. The cam card says 140 lbs, so there should have been plenty for it. Unless you have to take the boost in to account somehow..., but previously for the last ten years or so we have not had such problems.

10degree retainers with 7degree locks? Seen that one before.

A tiny bit to little spring pressure will cause more problems than a bunch to much on any solid race roller cam motor

The locks are/were correct for the retainers.

Isn't there a problem sometimes with spring surge if you are too far away from coil bind? I think a spring designed to run as a dual configuration might also do weird things at speed if you removed the inner. If it's doing that it might explain why it's eating retainers.

Kevin

Thats true, while your spring pressure might be right for your camshaft it could still be the wrong spring for the job. I have done Drag week 5 times, valve train is one of the number one reasons for failures on the road, I would make a call to one of the spring companies and have some new springs waiting for you to install when you get to the U.S.

Small, short update. The car is now in SC, and the custom duties should be done today. We will leave on thursday, fly to Atlanta and drive to SC. We have a trailer there that we can use, it needs some fixing first... We don't have a puller for the trailer, and have no idea of where to rent one. Once we get that fixed we'll drive to Illinois where we can use a shop and make some changes to the car. We have a new converter from PTC that we are going to try, and Scott Brown has made us a new cam and the valvetrain parts to support it. Then, on wednesday if the car is ready, we should have a chance to test at Gateway with the Rocket brand fuel. If all goes well we should be ready for the Drag Week in time!

You've come a long ways and overcome a lot of hardships. Good luck to you on completing drag week. I'll see you there!

...and to continue the list we don't have yet, but would like to; a small compressor, aggregate and a small welder. Don't know if they can be rented or do we have to buy them.

Harbor Freight has small welders cheap, but flux core.

Good luck and see you at dragweek

You're likely better off to buy them and sell them when you're done. Rental fees add up quickly.

where in IL will you be working on the car, down by gateway I imagine?

I'm looking forward to watching you guys run on the live feeds!!

I hope your adventure on Drag Week goes well!!

A small update, we flew over last thursday, then after fixing the trailer pulled the car from south carolina to Jerseyville Illinois. While running down the highway on sunday, we saw that there was a drag racing going on and stopped at I 57 dragstrip to eat and meet people, it was a pleasure!

Then we arrived to family Teppens farm and started to work on the car in their gorgeous garage. Worked until 3.30 AM and then started the trip to Indianapolis where we spent the mo day watching US nationals.

Now on our way back to continue working on the car. The cam, valvetrain and converter has been changed but there is still acessories etc to put together. Then change the fluids and it should be ready to start. We have a minor problem with the driving tires..., seems that I ordered 16" tire and 15" wheels. We have to try figure that out, maybe it would be easier to find tall 15" tires than to find 16" wheels with 2" backspacing.

Still don't have the aggregate, and have to still buy some basic tools for the trip, but otherwise about everything is there, except the hitch and the u-haul trailer. If all goes well we'll should be testing at Gateway drag strip on wednesday.

Finlands biggest tabloid is following our trip and we try to make them about 3 minute broadcast everyday (if we have time to edit one), here is the latest. http://www.is.fi/autot/art-2000005352845.html

Awesome, looking forward to checking out the car next week!

See you there Sunday!

Are you gonna be at Gateway tonight? My cousin, uncle and I will be going. yellow 68 super bee (me), lime green 72 swinger and a 72 hemi orange duster.

If I don't see you run tonight, my cousin and I are going to come and watch when drag week is there for that day.

Welcome to U.S.A.

Run it hard!

Very cool, will be rooting for you all week

Sorry, the data connections are what they are.., we were at gateway last night and got three runs made. First was with a very mild set up to 330 ft, second was with some boost at the launch and to 660 ft, and the third was a full pass but still with mild settings. So far, so good;8.22/168 mph. The converter feels a little soft and that may or may not be a problem as far as the ET goes. We drove the car to track, and also back, got some 80 miles street driving experience. Everything seemed to work. Today some checking and maybe tomorrow we'll go to Cordova and perhaps test there on saturday. Don't have our race fuel yet and going to change to Roayl Purple oil everywhere before the race.

Great job/effort so far!!!

This is one of my favorite things to follow on social media at the moment.

The language difference really adds to the mystery of it all. I wonder what the heck you guys are saying, and have to keep watching it to see what you're going to do next.

Keep up the good work!!

Anyone going to Drag Week bringing extra green bearings for an 8 and 3/4? We ordered some a while back but they never showed up... I would like to have a spare with me or have access to one... thanks!

Man that is some dedication!!! Cannot wait to hear the results

what part number? I don't think I'm going to get to watch until thurs at the grove, but if they are available around here I'll bring some.

I got to see your last pass and Gateway, from under the tower so couldn't see much. But I'll be there watching at Gateway during drag week.



I believe I have one extra and I will be at Gateway. Text 636-485 seven 33 five if you are unable to locate one so I don't forget to find and bring it.

Looking forward to following the adventure. I'm jealous.
Doug

After 80 miles to and from the track, everything checked ok, changed the fluids to Royal Purple stuff and that's all. Now still a little EFI tuning so that it doesn't backfire when you press the gas pedal, and then packing things in to van & trailer and start to move towards Cordova. There is a race tomorrow that we are trying to attend.

We headed there tonight for test and tune. See you sunday.

pretty sweet when you ship it internationally, assemble some new pieces, shake it down and go 8.20's. So far looking like a great weather week in Chicago, hopefully Irma doesn't change that.
It's a shame I've got my Charger out here and not my Fury, I could have gotten a picture of it next to it's much bigger brother!

Very impressive.

End of the line? Run a 660 ft run, ET 8.5 at 125. Next was a full run, 8.0 at 170. Then to the next one we raised boost some, but it run worse from the very beginning.An exhaust valve broke and got hit in to the exhaust port. We'll see in the morning what we can do about it.

Dang dude, I'm sorry for those results.
I'm sure you guys will get it fixed Any ideas yet why that valve broke

One of the Facebook live videos I saw it sounded like it had some pretty bad tire shake, could that have contributed to the valve? I know it can do weird things.

Dang: Hope you can get it fixed. That's a long ways to bring a car.

I saw a picture of it in the tech line with a head off, hopefully they get it fixed up.

Clark

Please check your valveguide clearance carefully. More hp means more heat means more material growth..... means need for bigger clearance. Hope it works out for you, good luck!!

It's easy to sit here and "Monday morning quarterback" this situation...... But what came to my mind was that perhaps this is a by-product of whatever the previous valvetrain issue that was causing the retainer and lock problems(unless new valves have been installed since that all happened).

8.08! They got it back together.

Whats the motor combo seems i missed that somewhere sorry

That's fantastic!!

it's a turbo big block, but I've lost track of what this incarnation is. It's been turbo'ed for close to a decade I think.

Jyrki, I'm very happy to see it running. Good luck the rest of the way.
Doug

Really glad to hear the car is back together. I think it is a brewer head combo, and when I heard he broke a valve.... well it didn't seem likely he would get it back into one piece.

Thanks all! Even though we have had some bad luck, we have also had good. For example, we went to Cordova on saturday and broke it there. Had we come there on sunday, we would not have had time to repair the problem. I do not know what is the reason, maybe just old parts? But, I had spare parts and with the support of a local Layne machine shop we could get the job done. The other turbo was also hurt because some particles run through it, and it's temporarily fixed now, just turning the turbine down in a lathe. Therefore, we weren't hoping for much since we only are running with about 1.5 turbo now. So, the result was a pleasent surprise, especially bcause we had nelected tightening the throttel cable support; the throttle was only 75% up to 5.5 seconds after which it started to slip and was zero at the traps. We had and have our share of problems moving to gateway, the fan quit working and we were overheating. So, took some time to get there to the hotel, also some electrical and leak problems. They can be fixed, but it takes time and we have a lot of else to do.But most likely we will be able to make it to gateway in the morning!

Jyrki, hope you all have enough Lapin Kulta and dont fall asleep behind the wheel ;-)
You guys doing an awesome Job and I love to see your fat landyacht running!

Cheers
Dennis

Best of luck.
Watching and rooting for you

Awesome car!
Best of luck

Good luck! Following you on Facebook!

The 8.08 looked awesome from that big barge!!!

Hopefully the worst of it is behind you.

and you definitely got love from the tower commentating the live feed!

8.07! man its fun to watch that car go

Fantastic! Good luck on the remainder.

Looks like the VIP is out of competition, dropped a valve. Sad to see, that thing is awesome.

Sad to see the VIP out.

We were able to go to St. Louis yesterday to watch. The car is even more impressive in person as far as performance and appearance.

Bill

Sucks for you guys...... But you gained some fans for sure.

Impressive effort from you guys right from the start.

Met with them yesterday and they are a great bunch. They were so happy to be here even with all the break downs.

They're going to try and fix it for Cordova. They really wanted to get in the 7's.

Bummer... I was hoping for "The Fying Finn" to stay in one piece for the whole event.

When we were waiting in line to get in yesterday morning a very pleasant blond with a slight accent came up to great us and handed up this postcard.

These Finn's are awesome.

I saw a pass a Cordova, it looked awsome. I told Jeff, they make it look easy. I know it's not.
Sorry to hear they are out.

If I remember correctly, then long time ago, VIP has gone 7.8 something with the smaller engine. After all the trouble to get the car over there, it would be like the icing on the cake, to take that 7.x timeslip. Good luck and hope you can make that final run. Women in the sauna said, that they found brewer heads and are going after them?

dang, was looking forward to seeing them tomorrow

I just watched the Tuesday recap, love the cow horn lol! Hope you are able to get that beast fixed.

Thanks guys for your support!
Having troubles with the connection, so I'll try to give a short brief of what has happened.

On saturday night we tested at Cordova, run an easy 8.0 and decided to raise boost some. Everything went worse, no power. One valve lash was zero and when removing the rockers the stem came up and up...

After removing the header we saw the valve plate in the exhaust manifold.., so we tore it apart. There was a local racer Anthony Layne that had a machined shop and he promised to try to repair the head on sunday.

Got the car teched without the head and then the head repaired, and engine reassembled. At night it was running again. The piston for small scars too, but we were actually lucky since it was a complete full run with the broken valve. The turbo was hurt too, but nothing we could do about it at that point except to turn thee turbine down in a lathe to get it "balanced".

So, on sunday the hopes weren't that high. To our surprise it run 8.08 with a mild set up, 60 ft was 1.27 and we started putting the car back to street condition, mufflers on and street tires & pacing the U-haul. Then the direction to Gateway. After the first day we were third in our class.

Had some heat problems, the bigger fan quit working and the temps were high and we had to stop every now and then. At 8.30 pm we arrived at gateway hotel and everything seemed good. Some things were on order on tuesday before making a run, so we knew that we might have a long day.

Something snapped in our drivers, Jannes leg and he couldn't work on the car much, but we still got everyhting done and went to the line up. There Janne got something in his eye and it hurt a lot, the medical personal tried to help him with no success and ordered him to hospital. Janne still made the run, 8.07, but after that left to hospital.

I started to put the car back togetherand got it done and then waiting..., at some point Janne got back, he had a wound in his iris, got some treatment but was supposed to be practically blind for the next two days... It was already quite late and we were among the few still at the track when we left towards Byron me driving at # 2 spot... After about 30 miles of driving a sudden noice from the engine...

It was quite obvious that the race was over. We towed the car off the highway to a gas station and started to call for help. Tepen family that has helped us here borrowed their trailer and we got another car there to tow the U-Haul.

Teared the engine apart when we got to Tepens, and this time the damage was worse, one piston was dead. We had another set of heads, but they were at Cordova and a bit different style, that's why we didn't just replace the head the last time the valve dropped.

Anyway, in the morning our friends started the trip to cordova to get our trailer and the parts that we had left to Tapens closed trailer. Meanwhile in the jungle, we pulled the other head off, and there was also some piston damage. Also disassembled the intake and there ws more metal pieces..., and the other side turbo was also hurt.

So, we started to take the pistons up, four pistons. Two only required minor tweaking, but two were replaced, luckily we had spares. Except that they hadn't been pin fitted..., but again we found a great machine shop that got that done while waiting. Thanks Performance Automotive at Bethalto!

The guys came back at night with the other heads, mocked them up and figured that fitting them might be doable, so we would give it a try. Once again Performance Automotive helped us finding a cut to length push rod set, it's comps .080" wall but it's better than nothing.

This far we have gotten one of the turbos repaired, the heads and the intake are on. The pushrods were ordered to Layne's to Cordova and he'll build them for us for tomorrow morning. They are 11.5" long... Seems that we can get the car back together tonight except for the pushrods, we'll drive to Cordova and get the pushrods in the morning, install them and try to get down the track!

So, the drag week has been rather eventful so far..., anyway we are very satisfied with the performance and everything has been great despite of the draw backs. Don't know how hard we are going to push it tomorrow if we get the things done, but even to get it running would be a win!

At this point I understand that we were caught pretty much with our pants down, badly prepared, because of delays and bad machine work we weren't able to practically test at all before shipping the car. What the car and engine wants is still a question mark, but still it run decently.

Our "professor", Saku, calculated that in he last run we had about 1480 hp in use, and there wasn't much boost yet. The launch was at 13 psi and a slow raise to 17 psi. Now I think I know how we should prepare to this event, and depending of the funds I would really like to come back and show that we CAN make it!

Tepen family, whom we found through internet only a couple of weeks before leaving, has been essential in our succeeding this far, can't thank them enough!

cool stuff, human being wise, even if the car didn't cooperate. I'm thinking about still going out to cordova tomorrow but won't able to be there till 2:30 at the best. Would be awesome to see the car run!

Thanks for the update: Great effort!

x2... That's an amazing story unfolding right here on Moparts.

What a thrash. Best of luck, or should I say effort, hard work, and determination.
Doug

Those are some serious challenges, even if you weren't halfway around the world from home Major props for sticking through it.

You've done a hell of a job, pat your yourselves on your back, most would have called it much sooner.

I have to commend these guys, traveling half way around the world to a country they copy their, our, hobby to compete against us, knowing thier support base is a ocean away and there in a country that most people speak English only Congrats to you guys
Good luck, I hope it goes a lot better from now on

Sorry for your luck. I was rooting for you guys..