SoCal Jet Boats
Discussion => Boat Racing => Topic started by: Ralph Brunt on August 09, 2013, 03:45:57 PM
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Ross made the call that the river racer jets could race long beach and from that moment i was in. i called Jim Brock and told him i was going and that i would need some help and as always he says he would be there to help me. (fast forward) its now thursday morning at 4am i wake up my daughter and said its time to go test at lake ming. she gets up and we head over to Cyclone speed and marine to caravan with Jim and the c/j 460 boat we get there and help him load up and if you know Jim he wants to bring the hole shop >:D he finally just throws the bare minimum in the truck and off we go.
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On the way up the grape vine my check engine light comes on but the truck seems to be fine so we forge on. I need to stop and get gas for the boat so i figure i will stop some place closer to Ming. Jim is supposed to be following be but we get separated and now I'm lost and needing to piss really bad :banghead: I'm on the 58 i think :-\ and can't see any gas stations from the freeway. I finally just get off the freeway and go on the search, i pull in and of course all the lanes are full, so i say fock it and just throw it in park and run inside and piss. well now i need some chap stick and the normal stuff you need for a day on the lake with a 10 year old girl ;). i procure said items and go out and unblock the 3 lanes of the gas station i was blocking and proceed to pump my gas. All the while im watching this guy try to beg for money wondering when it will be my turn, well sure enough he comes asking and i tell him sorry cant help, he walks away and get's in a new toyota camery and drives away (WTF O0)
we make it to the lake and Jim is of course already there, testing is from 8:30 to 11:30 and its now 9:00
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the lake is flat so here i go >:D
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so im out there giving my boat the heavy end of my right foot trying to get the diverter set so i can make a diverter stop. (rules say i need one) she is running pretty good then i look down :banghead: :mad: :screwy: no oil pressure, lean over hit the guage a few time and nothing. So i shut it down but now im stuck in the middle of the lake >:( look around the motor nothing hanging out of the pan so i refire it and bring it in. pull the dizzy and stick the primer in the pump and i get no resitance well its broke...lol
to be continued
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Jeremy (Jims son in law) is supposed to meet us to test Jim's boat and he was late but, we start prepping his boat because it needs to be tested. I'm a little nervous because i would be the one to test it and the last time i drove it, it scared the SHIAT out of me :-[ any way he shows up and we he gets to test it twice but now its 12 and the lake is shut down to us... we head back to the shop to figure out what to do with my boat and make some more changes to Jim's. My truck is running good then right about lake pyramid i feel a shaking from the boat trailer, pull over and sure enough one of the tires is starting to seperate :banghead: :banghead: jeremy and i go into nascar mode and had it changed in about 3 minutes and on our way... while driving back to the shop i have to tell you i thought about throwing in the towel more than once.......
Jeremy and i rip into my boat get the motor pulled and flipped over, i fully expected to see a broken oil pump or pick up tube but, instead found this.
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ok we now know why i lost pressure, the pick up tube flange was welded on wrong and i did not catch it when i built the motor :-[ :-[ upon further inspection we find rods #1&5 black from lack of oil, we open it up and well the cranks not hurt just not real pretty :'( :'( Jim says we can fix it,(i look at him like whach u takin bout willis)
i have another motor sitting in my garage but damn that a lot of work to make long beach, so i ask him how he says go get the parts and Jeremy starts calling auto zone looking for an oil pump and some 10 under chevy rod bearings. We end up going to 2 auto zones but get the parts. i ask Jim what now? he says we got to polish the crank!! im like huh??? he goes deep into one of his cabinets and pulls out some 2000 grit foam sanding pads and says start sanding, so we sand on the crank journal till all the high spots and black are gone. :screwy: :screwy: im thinking to myself this will never work :screwy: :screwy: but we forge on he sands the big end of the rods, by this time justelectric (justin) shows up and releives Jeremy so he can work on the 460 boat..
we get the motor all cleaned out (bearing material every where) and back together and in the boat
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light it off around 8pm and its got better oil pressure than before :P i leave the shop and get home around 10pm. (we been up since 4am) but we are going to race this boat dammitt
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Ralph,
That is good stuff.... ;D
Honestly, it is all the stupid crap you have to go through just to get to the races that make it "fun", those stories stick with you forever..
I wish slideartist would do the same thing (create a story thread), the truck bed fire story had me laughing my ass off (only because nobody got hurt)...
It was really great to see you guys and the boat ran awesome....
I was very glad to see you in the drivers seat again... :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Glad to see all that hard work paid off for you Ralph. Your Liberty looked good out there.
Christian has got to be pretty excited. A good result in your first time out has a way of getting you hooked.....
Jack
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i gave brad short notice that i needed my numbers done and they were supposed to be at my house on thursday but, when i got home they were not there :banghead: gave him a call friday morning and ups screwed up and had no idea when they would get there..
well i still was not convinced that this motor was ok so i fired it up at 8am in my alley and did some tuning on the carb while i watched the oil pressure. i got it to sit right at 15" of vacume.
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and the oil pressure was still holding at 75 at idle so off we went
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set up the pits and just hung out for a while
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my wife calls me and says the #'s have made it to the house, (thought i was going to have to use duct tape)
saturday comes and i decide to test the boat to see if our patch will hold. I take it easy for about 4 laps then decide to hammer it down the front straight. well all is good so lets race..
here is a video from one of the heats on saturday
rear view #1 final edit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAO6ABz2SKk&feature=c4-overview&list=UUR7PzyVet7lWMaUKsvCfWuA#)
the boat did really well and i was stoked to take 1st in both heats on saturday
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we made a couple of adjustments to the diverter and we were off on sunday, i was doing well in the first heat but pushed to hard and spun the boat, not once but twice.
front view edit done (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iDQrLSqZU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUR7PzyVet7lWMaUKsvCfWuA#ws)
i guess all my electronics got wet during my acrobatics because in the final on sunday it just kept popping and i dnf'ed.
all in all i had a great time..
congratulations to christian for his 1st place and Jeremys dad for his 2nd, i am very proud that i got to race with these two guys as they are good ambasadors (sp?) for the sport..
a real big thank you to my wife and kid as they gave me all the support i could ask for.. Thank you to Jim Brock of Cyclone speed and marine, your support knowledge and friendship mean the world to me..
Justin and Jeremy for holding my hand through all the trouble i had, i call you true friends.......
Brad, thank you for listening to me when the cards were against me and the stickers
SCJB thank you all for your support
ralph
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Anytime not like we born in the same da bud what a blast even the 14 hr days and trashing to get ya going. I'm only a phone call away and 38 miles away whichever means 2 hr to get to with traffic 😜 looking forward to more of these nights but I think with our program the bugs will be worked out and plus the sprint is gonna be an addition to the rr clas for now 👍
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Glad to see you back in the seat Ralph. I've always said one of the best times was watching you, Omar, Brad, Nick and even Jim Rich out there goin roundy round. All back when SCJB was just a baby....:-). Still pissed I couldn't make it out last weekend. Congrats on the 2 first place wins!!!
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So glad I decided to come down, and the fact that you ran so well after all the crapola, just made it sooo much better. It really was good to see you do so well. And it is amazing all the people that have been inspired to try and make it to the races themselves with whatever they have laying around. This class is gonna take off for sure. :thumbup:
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wanted to make it out both days but only did Saturday,left phx Friday around 3pm. did some things with family Sunday before the drive home just electric was that you riding the beach cruiser with the 460 shirts?
boat looked great Ralph...i got some pics of you fist pumping after the first win ill load up
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wanted to make it out both days but only did Saturday,left phx Friday around 3pm. did some things with family Sunday before the drive home just electric was that you riding the beach cruiser with the 460 shirts?
boat looked great Ralph...i got some pics of you fist pumping after the first win ill load up
1961 Schwinn satin black with apes then yes 😄
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Ralph, you had a lot to contend with out there! You did great.
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Ralph, first off it was great to see you out there again :thumbup: :thumbup:.... And yeah, ol Jim Brock is an asset to anyone that can put up with him :screwy:, he is an endless fountain of knowledge and always ready to help anyone that has our addiction.. (yeah, it's an addiction)... I too have hundreds of "race" stories, but most of them are about the months/weeks/days/hours leading up to actually getting to the race with something that will be competitive... Yeah, "band-aids on bullet holes", been there, done that... Just be happy it is NEVER easy... If it was, there would be hundreds of boats racing..... Kinda like "sand toys" since they have been mass produced and created a sport with thousands of idiots out there killing each other... Yes, we need boat count, but the trials and tribulations we go through keep it limited to addicts like us.... :banghead:
Ray
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Glad to see all that hard work paid off for you Ralph. Your Liberty looked good out there.
Christian has got to be pretty excited. A good result in your first time out has a way of getting you hooked.....
Jack
I'm still buzzing with excitement from the races ..... what an awesome bunch of dudes!!
Looking back brings out the biggest smile ..... from my own funny episode of driving down the freeway from San Francisco with 3 foot flames burning my gear in the back of my truck, discovering 3 quarts of water in my oil on thursday two days prior to race weekend :o....can't forget getting double roosted by Ralph and Bll going into the first turn and then scrambling across Brown Sugar's bow to save her from beaching on the rocks ;D
Having a laugh about the crazy struggles and nerve wrecking episodes is what makes this stuff so fun :screwy:
Looking forward to more racing and good times.
P.S. To all you guys on the sideline mulling the notion around about whether you should race or not .....DO IT !!!!! :thumb up:
It will be the most fun you'll ever have with your jet trust me. Plus we need some Bowties in our class to tease :beer:
Ralph, Glenn (gt jets) Terry, Mark, Jr, Randy and the whole crew ....thanks for all the support ....I'll be seeing you guys again real soon.
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I'm still buzzing with excitement from the races ..... what an awesome bunch of dudes!!
Looking back brings out the biggest smile ..... from my own funny episode of driving down the freeway from San Francisco with 3 foot flames burning my gear in the back of my truck, discovering 3 quarts of water in my oil on thursday two days prior to race weekend :o....can't forget getting double roosted by Ralph and Bll going into the first turn and then scrambling across Brown Sugar's bow to save her from beaching on the rocks ;D
Having a laugh about the crazy struggles and nerve wrecking episodes is what makes this stuff so fun :screwy:
Looking forward to more racing and good times.
P.S. To all you guys on the sideline mulling the notion around about whether you should race or not .....DO IT !!!!! :thumb up:
It will be the most fun you'll ever have with your jet trust me. Plus we need some Bowties in our class to tease :beer:
Ralph, Glenn (gt jets) Terry, Mark, Jr, Randy and the whole crew ....thanks for all the support ....I'll be seeing you guys again real soon.
That was too much fun. Funny, but I am just now leaving Union Square in San Francisco for a service call..... We are mere miles from one another.
Can't wait until the next time.
GT
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Hoping to be running in rr in my boat next race if the motor dosent go boom by then 😜 and I will be the only Chevy in the class 😱
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Hoping to be running in rr in my boat next race if the motor dosent go boom by then 😜 and I will be the only Chevy in the class 😱
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i think the next one is the thanksgiving race at parker and i cant make that do to work
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Yeah the wife will be camping and will hopefully be in Parker racing so much for the dez trip and breaking in the new dirtbike 😜
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I'm sure the class will be gaining popularity and bigger boat counts in the near future.
Hope to see old and new faces in the near future. O0
Peace
2813
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my wife was cleaning out some stuff and found this, it was written by my 10 year old daughter
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That's awesome....
And it did not blow up... it even had permission. Good times Ralph, looking forward to this next year.
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Thats good stuff right there.
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Very cool. Gotta love them kids!
RoB~SoCalJetBoats~
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That is really cool. It even made me chuckle
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i think the ending sums it up for me ;D
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Thanks for the memories Ralph. That Long Beach race was a damn fine day this year. :thumbup: