Here is the last update for this week.

While we still had a pretty good list of things to be done before we could race, my buddy came over at lunch and by 3:00 we were ready to load the car and take it to the track!
We got all of the new brakes and brake lines bled and found only one leak. The leak was not on any of the fitting we made, but rather on the fitting going directly into the caliper from Wilwood. We made some adjustments and got the leak to stop, so now we have great new disc brakes on the front of the car.
When we went to crank the car we had two issues.
#1 the main ground wire that goes to the charger connections on the back of the car was coming apart. This caused the starter to drag and not start even though we had a brand new battery. We realized the full charge was not getting to the starter and traced it back to this connection. Greg and I were able to clean this up, get a new fitting on the line and establish a much better ground. Now the starter turned right over.
#2 the intial timing was way off. Once we were able to get the car started and put a light on it, we found the timing to be off and when adjusted the car ran very smooth and cranked immediately.
Problems solved! Off to the track.

We arrived at Paradise later than I had hoped, but they were a bit behind schedule as well and so it gave us plenty of time to test the brakes, and check things out. The brakes worked far better than ever and I felt super safe and thrilled to be back behind the seat.
They do things a little different at this track than I am used to. They let everyone take a few warm up laps down the track to get their cars warmed up. By the time we were ready to take ours, they had flipped over to actual time runs. Since this was my first time at the track running, I was not clear on what I was doing, and so I took it very easy on the first pass. Car felt good, I was ready to lay down a better time next round.

Round 2 - I went in and staged and ran like I normally would. The car jumped off the line and felt like it had a bit of a spin down most of the track, but the car felt strong. It only ran a 7.5 but that felt really good for the first time running in 11 years. I was beside a dart and beat them pretty good. When I got back to the pits, they were checking the track. They were thinking I might have laid down some oil due to my car smoking a bit.
We looked closely and found the new valve cover gaskets I put on were leaking horribly. In addition, we did find one of the fittings going to the trans cooler a bit loose, so we tightened them up. We also pulled the valve cover gasket, added some sealant, dogged the screws down again and headed back to the staging lanes. This time I left the hood off the car and as soon as I brought the RPM's up the smoke started flowing out of the passenger side at that same gasket. I made a hit, but immediately saw smoke and let up, moving to the side out of the main racing groove. This time the track crew saw nothing at all on the track, but I was done for the night. I did not want to put anyone else at risk since our car was not right. It was kind of embarrassing to have my car look like this, but I realized this was not really a bad outing for a car that has not run in 11 years.

All in all it was a decent night for test and tune. The good thing is everything we worked on this week worked well except the valve cover gasket, so of course that gets me to my question of the day.

"What the heck are you all doing to get a decent seal on a valve cover gasket for a Mopar performance valve cover?"

I was running a Fel-Pro VS 50145 R. This is a black rubber material, without the tabs. I will never buy these again, completely useless in my opinion.

Oh and one more comment, not being negative but I was not that impressed with the Jegs Harness I bought. I had a nice Simpson one from before, but now that they have the dumb rule about changing belts every two years dang if I want to pay that much for a new harness. The problem I had with the Jegs belts were they were extremely difficult for me to hook. I caught the end of my finger in it and I am still typing this without using my left index finger. Sorry Jegs, would love to have something good to say about the belts but I really have used much better in the past.

Let's end on a positive note.
Wilwood brakes, big thumbs up!
Right Stuff master cylinder, thumbs up!
MSD distributor, thumbs up!
Autozone loan a tool program for flaring kit, thumbs up!
Jegs pre-made AN-6 5 & 6 ft steel braided lines for transmission cooler, thumbs up!
Getting to bed after 1:30am three out of the last 5 nights, but getting a car that has not run in 11 years to the track, and making a decent pass at a track you have never run before, and being back in the saddle as a Mopar drag racer, Super awesome big Thumbs Up!


I do want to thank the great folks at Paradise Dragstrip. Everyone there was super nice and helpful. Several people came up to me and made kind comments about my car. Thanks to my loving wife who supports my love of racing. Thanks to my buddy Greg who has been there by my side all week. I miss my dad, but it sure helps to have them both to enjoy this with.
We will be back, but we have a few things to work out first. I also want to thank once again the folks on this board for providing a lot of good opinions and perspectives that have given me new ideas. You guys are great and I appreciate your support. We will not be racing at Caffine and Octane at the drags, but I might still go just as a spectator this year.

PS: Sasquatch I want that M1!