Saturday night, I decided to change the oil and filter, to flush out any remaining water that might be left in the pan. To my astonishment and dismay, Cam came out from under the car with a bolt stuck on the magnetic drain plug, along with a few metal slivers. It looked like one of the bolts from the timing cover. I thought long and hard about what all bolts are in the crank case, and was certain that it could not be from within the engine. The only thing I could think of was that it must have fell in that last time I had the timing cover off. But I don’t remember having a bolt missing. Come to think of it though, I did hear an odd clink-clank sound when I restarted it after re-tightening the cam bolt. But I only heard the sound once, then it quit so I continued.
Cam filled up the oil and installed the diaper around the pan, then we called it a night.
Sunday morning starting at 8:00 AM was tech, both for Sick Week rules and NHRA safety. I decided to give the lights and horn one last test before heading up there at 7:30. Lights, check. Blinkers and brake lights, check. Horn – yikes, no horn! I did some snooping, and found the the horn relay was clicking when activated, so that was good. The old ahooga horn sits between the right hand frame rail and the engine block and was covered in oil. We cleaned it up and messed with the wire and thankfully, it started working.
I had seen a sign on Saturday announcing the location of tech. So at about 7:45, with all the safety gear and required paperwork, we drove up towards the sign. When we got there, we learned that there was already a long line heading off in the other direction. So we found the end of the line and took our place. I was kicking myself for having spent the night at the track, but yet not being at the beginning of the line. I counted 40 cars in front of us out of the 400 entries, which helped me relax with the realization that with 300+ cars behind us, weren’t in too bad of shape.
Walking up the line a bit I saw some familiar faces, and introduced them to Cameron whenever I got a chance. Time to start plugging him into the social pipeline.
While in line, it dawned on my that I should test the remote kill switch. Oh no. It didn’t kill the engine. I KNOW for certain that it used to did. I figured it had to be something wrong with the alternator that was back-feeding. So I figured I’d just unplug the alternator before we got to the front of the line. Cam suggested a couple times that we test that theory, but for some reason, I didn’t think it was necessary. I can’t remember having anyone check it at past events anyway.
When we got to the front of the line, I was greeted with a man-hug by my friend Keith Turk, who was the head tech. Then I heard another familiar but unexpected voice greeting me. It was Joe Timney from Delaware Chassis works who was now part of the sick week tech team.
We went through all the usual stuff: putting numbers on the windows designating class, run group and car #, scrutinizing the paperwork, tire width check, etc. Then a nice NHRA tech lady told me that my window net was expired. Honestly, I didn’t even know they had a date. I asked if she would pass it this time, since it is like new. She asked how fast the car goes. I told her low 10’s so far, but I’m hoping to get into the nines. She asked me to start the car, and while it was idling, she went to the rear of the car pushed the cut off switch. The Hemi just kept right on rumbling away! Oh-oh, very awkward moment. I was dumbfounded. But why didn’t I follow Cams advise and test it again? I tried to explain that it used to work and I’d take care of it, do I pass tech? Joe was inspecting the arm that attaches to the shaft on the cut-off switch. He said in a way that everybody could hear that the set screw was loose, and if I just tighten up the set screw it will be fine. I knew that the switch had killed everything except the engine. And it is a single pole switch. Either the switched worked or it didn’t. What was Joe thinking? Then it dawned on me…