on the tranny? I think a better line, not rubber, neoprene or any slide on flexible hose with hose clamps, would be a lot safer

I talked to Steve Morris in the pits after the crash. If I'm not mistaken, he said that it was an AN line that blew off of the fitting. I asked him how much line pressure they were running. He didn't know. I was surprised that an a AN line came off. How much pressure would they be running in a transmission that is built to handle a few thousand horsepower?

I was referring to the video of a crankshaft with a spun main bearing

He made a video last week.

He said the reason the line came apart was because when he reinstalled the trans the line didn't easily seat against the connection point and he basically forced it into place,. He had some tire shake issues, he showed a video of his tire shaking, it violently shook everything and that is what pulled the line right off the fitting .

I've learned the hard way to not mix fitting and hose brands between most of the major brand, also make sure the fittings your using are for the type of hose your using,, neoprene fitting with that type of hose, same thing on Teflon lined hose, you MUST use the proper fittings to make them safe

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…

Keep it comin

WAG…… oil pump mounting bolt?

The first gen, Fire Power Chrysler, Hemi motor oil pumps mount on the number five main caps like the LA SB motors due

Correct. The Gen1 HEMI's lower end is basically a Small Block.

it be vice a versa
The early Mopar Firepower hemi motos in the Chrysler cars had similar poly motors with less HP and torque used in the cheaper Windsor and Saratoga cars, I think the blocks are the same for both type motors,
I'm not sure when Mopar started making the Poly headed motors and which brand they used them in first either
Dodge and De Soto both had their own Hemi motors from 1952 on is what I've been told, I don't know if they had poly head V8 also
Plymouth supposedly didn't get V8 motors until 1956 is what I've read on here, I'm not sure if that is accurate or not

Joe was trying to make it sound like a super simple fix so that the NHRA tech lady would pass the car. At least that's what I think he was doing. It's great to have friends who have your back!

Next thing I know they were telling me to go over to the tent where the ladies were completing the paperwork, but nobody ever said whether I passed tech or not. So I went over to the tent and was greeted warmly by the ladies who gave Cameron and I our wristbands and all of the necessary paperwork. When we got back to the trailer I figured out that the wire for the water pump somehow got moved and was hot even when the master switch was off. Somehow that must've been back feeding into the ignition. So I got that fixed. But I still didn't know where I stood with the NHRA tech. So I called Keith Turk on his cell phone and asked him. He said I needed to bring the car back up there and just demonstrate that the master cut off switch worked and I would be good to 8.50. By now, there was a couple hundred cars in line and getting back in line would mean burning up the whole day and being deprived of my very much needed test passes! That was a very real possibility, and one that I definitely did not relish. I didn't want to be presumptuous and assume that I could skip the line, so I asked Keith if I need to get back in line now, or if I could make some passes first and get in line later. He said no, don't get in line. Just go around the line and pull up to tech, they're only going to test the switch. Exactly the answer I needed to hear, yippee!
So I drove back up there, parked the car in the tech area, and went off looking for Keith. Then Cameron came trotting over to me saying "you need to move the car, somebody's really wound up about where you parked it!". Thankfully when I explained the situation, the guy calmed down and pointed to a spot where we were okay to park. He said if all we need is that switch checked he can do it. He checked it, it worked, and he wrote down on the clipboard that I was good to 8.50.
We went back to the trailer and started getting ready to make passes!



I don't have any pictures of this, but I made it into Vice Grip garages video at the seven second mark. https://youtu.be/Z8FNdcvvq-c?feature=shared

As usual, I didn't take enough pictures, and I was so focused on my own game, I can't report too much on what everybody else was doing.

saw you motor past.

I’ve been watching some replays of the first 4 days.

Holy crap are there a lot of Mustangs!!

I think it’s the least number of Mopars I’ve seen at one of the bigger DND events.