Car Club: NETO; North East Timing Organization

For my first car club feature I am showcasing NETO; the North East Timing Organization. It's pronounced neat-o, because it is neat-o. This club focuses on sportsman nostalgia drag racing. This is organized drag racing for cars earlier than 1974-year models, in a traveling club format. Although I am sitting out this year, I have been a member of NETO in the past.
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This is not sitting around some shopping center parking lot in lawn chairs, these people are out there pushing their cars to the limit in actual competition. Here are some shots I took of a meet at Island Dragway in north New Jersey on Sunday, August 24th. Here's two typical NETO cars in time trials; a vintage '55 Chevy and a Chevelle muscle car.

Don't let the unassuming looks of this early Ford pickup fool you; it runs 11's.

The finish and detail of some of these cars rivals that of any show-car. Yes, drag parachutes are sometimes needed to slow these cars down.

Remember the Chevrolet Vega economy car? Don't mess with this one, it will do 9 seconds in the quarter mile.

1966-67 Chevy II's (Novas) are popular drag cars.

This show-quality '69 Camaro packs 502 cubic inches of big-block power.

Here a competitor sprays cold water from a garden sprayer onto a hot radiator to help cool down the motor in this classic '55; a time-honored tradition in the drag pits.

Where else are you going to see a Ford Fairlane sitting so low? At the drags, of course. Low ride height aids stability and reduces aerodynamic (air) drag.

Have you ever wondered where all the good early Camaros have gone? They're at the drags too.

This Nova looks like it's smiling. Perhaps it's because it knows how clean and fast it is.

The interior of a full-race car is an all-business environment. The steering wheel is temporarily removed via a quick-release hub for easier driver entry and exit.

This photo does not do this beautiful and fast Mopar justice. Another 10-second car.

Even Amber the wonder dog had a good time at the NETO drag meet. I am wondering whom she scared right out of their shoe.

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I have more photos of this event to post mid-week, so please check back later.

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NETO; the North East Timing Organization is a wonderful club, dedicated to fun competition of nostagia-style drag cars, in a low-pressure atmosphere. If you would like more information about NETO just e-mail club president Tony at tonyfeil@aol.com, or leave me a message in the comments.

In with the new

The '58 Biscayne is here. My mom was game enough to go with me to Virginia and back Monday to pick up the car. Only 800 miles, 16 hours of driving. We didn't stay over, we "cannonballed" it right back after loading up the car. It wasn't so bad, she is an excellent navigator, and having company made the time fly. We only had one close call with a freight train.

The car is in decent condition. It is both better and worse than I expected, depending on where you look. I think most people would consider it "rough", but I'm up for the challenge.

" Looks good from far, but it's far from good", as the joke goes.

Custom trunk securing device. This was necessary because every little piece of trim from the interior has been taken out and is laying in the trunk floor. Under normal circumstances I would have passed on this car, since much of it had been taken all apart, and it needs so much work, but what can I say, I really wanted it. It's like I bought the car a total rookie would buy. I don't care.

k seems to think it's just fine...

...K is not impressed with the dead bugs and other debris.

The car did come with a complete new fuel tank, sending unit, tank straps, and all new stainless steel fuel lines, which I promptly installed. This was a $500 bonus. The car fired right up and ran decently. The car also had all new floor pans installed in the interior, about a $1000 bonus, and the work looks to have been done well enough that I don't need to re-do it. New trunk floor pans came with it, they need to be welded in. I can do that.

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The car is very solid, just like the F100 was. By that I mean that the frame, underbody, and most body panels have at most a light surface rust, no deep scaly rust or rust-through. This is important, since that is the foundation you are literally building upon. If that stuff is bad, nothing else you do will be worth anything. I have a lot of modifications planned for this car, so I won't feel so bad modifying it like I would have with a better car.

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It looks like the focus of the blog will be changing a bit. I don't know when I am going to be able to get back to the EVs. But what can I say, this is the car I have always wanted since I was a little kid, and I'm not getting any younger. I hope I will still be able to keep this interesting enough to keep you tuning in. Thanks for your interest everyone.

The End?

"This is the end...my only friend, the end..." I'll spare you Jim Morrison's psychedelic rambling, and get to it: The truck is gone. The F100 is gone. Done. Outta here. I decided it did not fit my plans any longer, so I listed it on ebay. A guy came and looked at it and made me an offer I liked, so I pulled it from auction, and sold it.

Here K & k give it a last look, Mickey stands guard. It was easier for me to just load it up on the trailer and bring it to the guy; so much for one last ride.

Here's me and k. She is so cute, she always used to point at the truck and say: "truck-truck", or lately just: "blue". Hope I'm not scarring her for life.

Here is the proud new owner(s). Cliff, on the right, is the guy that came and made the deal. I was happy to get a big envelope of C-A-S-H and an easy transaction from him. He even gave me a free t-shirt from his business: "Electric Snake", a video plumbing diagnosis service. Bonus.

Here's Cliff again, and Jake, his one grandson. Lucky guy, his 10th birthday present is a classic F100. I hope they have many many hours of fun together enjoying the truck. It was a little easier to leave the truck knowing what it's future would be. Really a nice ending to the story.

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If I get back to doing an EV, or shall I say: "when", I plan to do an S-10. I still think the F100-EV was a viable project, and would have been extremely cool. Now I feel that I would be satisfied with a moderately cool S-10 EV.

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I have kind of missed drag racing this year. Probably watching Pinks All Out on the Speed Channel hasn't helped. I was talking about replacing my altered with a simple doorslammer(1) bracket-car(2)with my friend Joe V. Something maximum fun, minimum hassle. Not long after that, we went in on this little beauty:

A 1976 Nova hatchback. Joe V wants the motor and trans, and I bought the rest. Not a particularly cool car, but the price was ridiculously low(3), and the car was in amazingly good shape. I figured I could transplant many of the race parts from my altered into this, and be on the track by next spring. Cheap too. Just what I wanted.

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1. Doorslammer: A drag race car based on a full car, with operating doors. Not a dragster or altered or roadster, where you climb in.

2. Bracket-car: A drag car specifically designed for handicapped amateur drag racing. Not for all-out unlimited classes.

3. Ridiculously low: $300 for the whole car!Here's Joe V pointing out all the good features.
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The Nova is an excellent candidate for the purpose. So I have that to consider. But I have been thinking about how much work goes into these cars, and I have surprised myself about how fickle I have become at the same time. If I'm going to put in this much effort, perhaps I should get something I'm more attached to. How about my favorite car of all time:

A '58 Chevy! I'm looking at this little guy right now. What better way to get over the loss of one old car, than with another old car? You know, it's like crashing a motorcycle off the road into a ditch; you have to get right back on that motorcycle, if only to get medical attention (and I would know). Someday I will tell you the story of how I got hooked on '58's. This one is a Biscayne, not the top-of-the-line Impala like I favor, but the Impalas have gotten prohibitively expensive. Like 50-grand expensive; 25 for a piece of junk. I'll go for the lower-line Biscayne, Bel Air, or Del Ray instead. I want what I want, but I'm not dropping that kind of dough on any car, Impala or not. I'm hoping I can snag this and get it here before Joe V finds out; he might be a little miffed that I sold the F100 after he helped me with the sweat-fest of a trans-job we did. How that guy still likes me I will never know.

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I still have plenty to do on EV-Steve's S-10. For myself, I'll either build the Nova, or hopefully the '58 Biscayne. I plan to expand my show coverage and car features as well. So there's still plenty to tune in for. I apologize to anyone if you got attached to the F100, and for the demise of the original project. Change will occur whether we are ready or not; hopefully things are still headed in a good direction.

More work on EV-Steve's S-10

I redid the passenger-side frame mount on EV-Steve's S-10. This was in somewhat better shape than the first one I did, but it was still pretty bad. Before, above.

After. The paint is still wet, makes it look kinda bad somehow. It actually came out as well as the first one, although the experience of having done this before did not translate into any time savings on the second one, as I had hoped.

Keep moving, not much to see here.

Quickie tool tech:

To drill the opening in the floor and get at the nut-plate, I had to lift the interior floor matting. But first, I had to get the door-sill molding off. This can be a difficult task on any car older than a couple of minutes. The screws that secure these are exposed to moisture and road salt from dripping shoes in the winter, and direct outside exposure since they sometimes protrude right through the floor to the underside of the car body. They get dirt and gungo packed into the heads, so it's hard to even get a screwdriver in them.

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First, insert a phillips screwdriver if they are phillips head, as most are. Whack on the top of the screwdriver to seat the point, and hopefully knock the screw loose from it's rust. This works for many. Oh yes, use a rust-lube spray on them too.

For the stubborn ones, get an Impact Driver like the one I have here. This ingenious tool is like a combination screwdriver, ratchet, and chisel. This is designed to be hammer-whacked. Seat it in the screw head like so. Whack it HARD with a hammer. No, a bigger hammer. And hard! When you whack this tool, there is a mechanism inside that twists the tip as it is hit, so the twisting torque is delivered at the exact moment that it is being pounded into the screw head by the hammer blow. Ingenious, right? This gets most of the tougher ones.

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I had to actually go in from the side with a chisel and knock the head off of one that refused to loosen. Sometimes brute force is all these guys understand.

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See ya soon. JK

I am now a "Radio Personality"

My radio interview was great! Bob Miller of Mix 97.7 is a great guy, and it was nice to meet Irwin Goldberg, Digital Editor for the Poughkeepsie Journal, as well. Irwin has been pleased with the PJ blog, which is nice recognition. In case you missed it, audio clips are available here: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blogs&template=1col

Regrettably, I did not bring a camera to get a pic of the event, but like radio itself, you can use your imagination. Irwin told me he would like me to do more radio spots in the future.

I MUST again thank my sister-in-law Carole, who first alerted me to the PJ blog opportunity. Without her help, none of this would have happened.

If the weather is nice, I will probably go to the Gracie's cruise in Arthursburg tonight. See you soon.

More F100 fixing and I'M ON THE RADIO FRIDAY!

I will be on the radio this Friday morning, August 8th!!! Please tune in to 97.7 fm, Mix 97, the Bob Miller morning show. I will be on with Digital Editor Irwin Goldberg, from the Poughkeepsie Journal, to promote the Poughkeepsie Journal Classic Car Blog, which I write. We will have two spots, at 7:35 and 7:50 am. I'm excited, this should be fun.

I took the F100 to the Smokehaus cruise in Hopewell this past Monday. It was pretty good, there was a good selection of cars there. K & k met me there, and we strolled around, and then had an ice cream. Sorry no photos, since it was getting dark.

The F100 has had a bad howling noise in the lower gears, that goes away in high. Classic symptoms of a bad trans input bearing, I have heard and cured this before. It was bugging me, and really takes the enjoyment out of driving the truck. With my good friend Joe V helping, we pulled the trans out Tuesday (Joe V has a vehicle lift, and is like a mechanic-guru). I was lucky to get a replacement bearing the same day. It looks like the one above, and it is a biggie, like 4" across. So far, so good.

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We finally got the trans heaved back into position, ready to go onto the bellhousing. But it would just not go in the last 1/4". We struggled with it for about an hour, there was no way we wanted to pull it back out. This is a heavy duty truck transmission, it is an IRON CASE 4-speed with the granny low (super low) first gear. This pig must go 200 lbs. It is heavy. It is even heavier over your head. We finally relented and pulled it partially out.

The bearing retainer, like above, was cracked. I must have cracked it putting it on, and it spread open just enough so it wouldn't go into the bellhousing bore (it is a very tight fit there). I was going to get a new retainer, but since the one we had was already cracked, Joe welded it up to see if that would be ok. We decided it looked good enough to try. I test fit it on the trans, when I discovered that the new bearing had an outer snap ring that was larger than the old one, which no doubt caused the retainer to crack! Who would think to check that? (This is not shown on the bearing 2nd photo above, but it would be on the outside of the outer bearing race). I swapped the old retaining ring on the new bearing and the welded retainer fit perfectly. We finally got the trans in and I finished putting the truck back together this morning. I thought this job would take about 4 hours, it actually took about 10. Whew.

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One last fix: The engine had a miss. I found one spark plug was fouled. I made sure the plug wires were engaging properly. No fixey. I put in a new plug, and the miss went away. Ran so much better I had to lower the idle speed a bunch more.

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I drove the F100 around today, and it was so nice and quiet! It purrs like a kitten.

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I fixed the vacuum leak on EV-Steve's S10 (it was a tricky one), and ordered him all new mirrors.

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That's all for now folks, thanks and listen in Friday morning.

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photos: radio: artmarket.com; bearing: bestbuyparts.com; retainer: quad4x4.com

The F100 is on the road

I have been driving the F100 around all this week. It's cool. Did a lot of small things to it. Figure I might as well use it for now (more on that farther down). I put a new antenna on it. The radio works. Mostly I drive it around with the radio off though. That cowl vent in front of the windshield throws a lot of air onto your feet when the truck is moving. Very neat.

I was going to check the rear brakes when I discovered that the rear wheels have a locking lug on each. Oh-oh. They're supposed to keep people from stealing the wheels. But the truck did not come with the adapter tool. How am I going to get those off? Look at how they sit in there.
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I actually drilled them out, starting with a small drill bit, and increasing the size until I was up to 7/16". By then there is so little left they break off. You have to get that first hole centered real well though. It's a lot of drilling. Another way is to weld another nut on top of the lock, then turn on that. No real room to do that here.

The exhaust system was crap; the half that had not fallen off was held on with that thin peforated steel strap that plumbers use. It was just looped over the framerails, and under the pipes. The local muffler shop was out of 2" tubing (likely story) so I went to the house of Tony Stewart and got 10' of 2" rigid conduit. I just love makin' stuff out of welded conduit. I got some real exhaust clamps and hangers, and fabbed up a full set of dual exhaust that goes all the way out the back. Not show quality, admittedly, but good enough for this, for now. And cheap.

I made up a set of sign boards for above the bed sides. I'll letter them up to advertise my businesses. Pretty trick, right?

Avert your eyes now if you get queasy from viewing burned body parts...

...OH, TOO LATE! This is what happens when you roll onto your just-used acetylene torch tip. Only what, about 1000 degrees there? That's a full inch across, and yeah it hurts.
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The F100 actually passed inspection, so it is legally on the road. I have decided to do some fixing and just keep it around for now. So it has gotten a second chance. Some would call this indecisiveness, in politics it's "flip-flopping". I prefer to think of it as adaptability, or open-mindedness. I am going to keep it around in case the circumstances allow me to go ahead with the EV conversion. In the meantime, it will continue to get closer to being ready, should that time come, while still having utility as a second car, or just a pleasure vehicle. Ok the exhaust will not be needed, but it is needed now.
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Still to do: I need to put a new input bearing in the transmission. The brakes work, but the truck darts around under braking. The clutch may need replacing. All the wiring works, miraculously, but the electrons are the only thing holding it together; a complete re-wire is in order. I am even thinking of continuing with the frame swap, while keeping the gas motor and trans that are in it now. That would solve a lot of current problems, and still keep to the original project plans.
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I plan to go to some car "cruises" (they're more like parks) with it, to hopefully get some car work side jobs. Despite driving like a 53 year old truck, it is a lot of fun. I had forgotten how cool it is to tool around in a funky old vehicle. It is, as they say, "my bag". I've done probably 100 miles in it already. It certainly is an attention-getter, too. Might be useful to keep it around.
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Kieran, '55 or so Ford, and 2 late 40's cars of unknown make.