i have a lot to do before the race  and today was the day to start, project #1 needed to get my trailer fixed to make the 12 mile trip. the leaf spring broke 3 weeks ago and the spring finally came this week. this is how its been sitting

no big deal i still got the motor out last weekend (i think?) well went to put the new spring on and the locating pin was stuck in the axle, so i had to take the hole axle out. no big deal rite the only socket we have that fits the u-bolts is broken .
so off to harbor freight i go, when i get back my pops has the damn axle out now i am pissed i ask how did you do that he just smiles and said get to getting on the locating pin.

well the trailer is now road ready, thanx pops

project #2
i had mpd make me a loader so it was done today as well so off to costa mesa and back
the old one

the new one

theres a big difference between the two loaders the most noticable is the size and a few small ones that he pointed out to me.


this is the old one in the pump and it blocks a lot of water as you can see

here is the new one, it looks like it will flow more, but it was built for rough water so it should slow me down a little by keeping the boat in the water more


project #3
we had to put the motor back together after replacing the valve springs. no big deal, we have done this before . got the heads back on and was getting the motor back to TDC to set the #1 valve lash. some thing was wrong  when i put the balancer on TDC the valve where hanging open WTF the motor was fine when it was last used. after a little searching we found that the balancer had slipped.
the first pic is of a stock balancer key way lined up with mine on the back

and this is how much it slipped

this is a professional products sfi rated 10,000rpm balancer and you see what happend i guess i just have this kind of luck oh well like i always say cheap aint good and good aint cheep, so now i get to spend the big bucks on a good one.
the shiney ring is where it slipped



i think it slipped because of all the loading and unloading of my pump, but thats just a guess
pops doing his thing,

and yes the motor is ready, just waiting on a new balancer.
thanx for letting me vent ive had a hell of a day.

No worries Ralph, you got plenty of time . Looks good bro. Glad to see pops is up and doing well. See you in a couple weeks kicking some ass in the LBC

Hey Ralph, isn't racing fun? We did the racing thing for a few years (Rock Dodging) and it seemed like the challenges got bigger and more expensive, we were always on a tight budget and never really had killer equipment, but I will never forget the fun and exitement of getting to run and all of the funny shit that happened along the way.

Something my late grandfather used to say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or just kills you later" (he was a funny man). His approach always killed me though, something expensive would break and all he would say is, "well we need to figure out how to make that better to keep that from happening again!". He was not a poet, but a very smart dude. Miss you gramps!

Good luck!

  look en  good Ralph trying to make it out to the races if you need any thing let me know ready to help

May not make her faster, but it will run longer! looks killer.

Ray, could not have said it any better myself.