SuperDave

I have a set of Proxes that have been idle for 8 years! They were brand new (shaved) but I blew up and haven't been back on the track since. How do you think they'll perform when I get them back out sometime in the next year? I wish I had packed them in nitrogen, but no, they've been in the attic and on a shelf in the garage the whole time.

Here is what my L24 block looked like before I attempted electrolytic rust removal on it. It had been degreased, but the rust remained. The guys at the machine shop said "it's not as bad as it looks" when I picked it up. It sure looks bad to me. After 24 hours in the solution, this is what the garbage can looked like. When you know that the rust-colored stuff is rust rising off of your parts, this is a beautiful sight. And after about 40 hours in the can, this is what she looks like after some light brushing and rinsing. I immediately blew some air on and in her, used my paint dryer to dry out the cylinders and internal surfaces, and dabbed some WD40 on. I think I'll get some primer and paint her this weekend. Not bad, huh?

My son, you have committed a grave sin. But since you have confessed your sins, Mr. K's spirit will have mercy upon your soul. For your penance, you must await a beautiful, sunny, spring morning. You must fill up the gas tank with premium. You must drive until you find a twisty road. Then you must drive that twisty road until you find the most beautiful oak in the forest. You must pull off, sit under that oak, and look back at your Zed and imagine how the ride you just had and the sight you are now seeing would have looked and felt if it was a Neon. Study that oak above you and that Zed in front of you and think about what is beautiful and what is worth preserving. Now, go forth and sin no more.

"You might be a red-neck if your garage is nicer than your house..."

This has been interesting! I really didn't know, so I'm glad I asked. Once again, you Zed folks have taken something that could have brought out the snob factor, and you turned it into something fun. Sometimes I don't know whether I like Zed's more or the people who love them!

OK, I admit I don't know what I'm doing. Be gentle. The project will be a race car, so it doesn't need to be concourse restoration guality. Of course, I want it to look good and last a long time. Stripping and sanding off the paint, some parts of the car are clean and now look great under a coat of primer. But there are some large sections of bondo and numerous smaller sections of bondo on the roof. There are also greenish spots that look like rust that has been repaired. Below are some pictures. My question is: How much farther do I have to go? Obviously, if I see unstable brown rust, I want to nip that. Do I need to dig out all the bondo down to the bare metal and re-do it completely? Do I dig it out just a little and add some new filler to smooth it out, or do I just want to take the paint off the top of the bondo and smooth everything out as best I can and smooth it out more with the hi-build primer? When do I know I'm finished stripping and can prime?

OK, go ahead and laugh. Here's a REALLY stupid question. All you guys refer to our Z's as "Zed" What does that mean? Where does that come from?

No, I didn't see the Evaporust patch pads. How much are they? I couldn't find them on their order page. Yes, I have practiced on smaller items first--it will work. OK, you are right--you have to have a battery charger ($25 or so?), electrode(s) ($5 maybe). Evaporust's product comparison chart says you need $60,000 to do electrolysis. That must be some fancy battery charger! My garbage can is plastic. I don't think there's a chance it will turn into an electrode and dissolve.

First. Karting, indoor our outdoor, is great fun, and I believe represents the best racing bang for the buck! I definitely feel, at certain parts of the track, like I'm going about as fast as I want to go. I'd also recommend Johann Schwartz' Endurance Karting. http://www.endurancekarting.com/ I participated in a 6-hour race last spring and it was an absolute blast! Johann keeps things fun, yet fairly safe, had brand new equipment last year, plenty of rental gear (helmets, suits, etc). Second. The waiver. It may or may not be worth the paper it's printed on. But liability is not my biggest concern. I have raced only with SCCA, and when you sign their waiver, in exchange for signing away certain rights, you sign up for $2,000,000 worth of major medical insurance. Even if you are just spectating (at a club event where you have to sign the waiver) you can go to the quack shack tent and get treatment for a boo-boo knee or more serious stuff. I believe that dollar amount of coverage is more than NASCAR drivers can currently expect. Where was NASCAR when Bobby Allison was getting bankrupted by medical bills? Having such good insurance, of course means that the underwriters are going to scrutinize things carefully. So with SCCA you can feel certain that the sport is just about as safe as it can be made. It's still dangerous, I have felt good about the way people look out for each other. It's very important to have someone looking over your shoulder when attempting something like racing. I have worked as a tech inspector and people have shown up with homebuilt roll cages that broke apart when you hit it with a hammer. The guy was disappointed he didn't get to race, but if he had rolled the right way his cage would have collapsed. Another time a guy was doing a driver's school with a borrowed formula car. I was poking around the suspension and found a rod end with a loose nut. A couple of laps and that guy's left front would have fallen off. The point is that little things can lead to big mishaps. And when you race with an organization, people can look out for each other and minimize the risk. As far as street racing. Don't be stupid. Search around the net and you can find plenty of videos of street races that got out of hand and hurt innocent bystanders. If you want to go fast, try limit your damage to yourself and your own car.

Let's see...Evaporust at $22 per gallon. To submerge an L24 long block...roughly 30 gallons. Electrolytic rust conversion...maybe $1 worth of washing soda. Hmmm...which to choose. There's your answer! Turns out an L24 fits perfectly in a 30 gallon garbage can! I'll get you some after pictures in a few days.

I'm going to start a new thread to continue this discussion about thrill seeking...

This comment probably isn't fair to the person(s) who worked hard to make this car so pretty. But one word comes to mind...SILICONE! This car is like a great looking gal with awesome hooters...that aren't real.

The block was rusty to begin with. I guess the solven just removed the grease.

I'm think my assumption was wrong. I'm still searching on the net for definitive info, but I have found several web pages where people mention using electrolytic rust removal on their engine. The only concern I can see is hydrogen embrittlement, and none of the web pages I have found mention this as a concern. I'm thinking about this because I got my block back from hot tanking at the machine shop and I need to remove rust from it and stabalize it. The guy at the machine shop suggested using muriatic acid, but I'm concerned that the acid will also etch away some of the good metal and that it will be hard to neutralize the acid once I'm done. Plus, that muriatic acid (diluted hydrochloric acid) is just plain nasty stuff. The machine shop guy said it I breathed it, I would immediately pass out. Great! Anyone have a definitive answer as to whether electrolytic rust removal is ok for my block?

Agreed. Going fast on the race track helps get the need for speed out of your system. Fastest in a Z: About 125 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Because of the walls looming, it felt fast, too. BTW, we don't lift going into turn 3, unlike those NASCAR wimps.

You want to get respect on the highway? Fasten your WINDOW NET in place. That, plus your helmet, will show everybody you mean business!

Short answer: a NEW Snell SA-rated full-face helmet. That should cover you with any sanctioning body. If you show up at an SCCA road race and present the tech inspectors with an M (motorcycle) rated helmet, they will confiscate it and won't give it back to you until you are headed out the gate! I'd buy a new one because the Snell rating has a date on it that will eventually expire for SCCA use. Right now it has to be SA95 or later. Effective 1/1/07, Snell SA95's will no longer be permitted and SA2000 will be the minimum. So a new one will roughly be useable for ten years. And also a new one is assured to not have any damage. I'd buy a full-face one because you could also use it for karting or open-wheel racers. Personally, I like my old open-face helmet even though you can argue it isn't as safe. But most of all, read the rules for the type of event you are considering. The SCCA's rules are available free online. Now if you're doing track days or whatever, again, check with them and read their rules. You might be able to get away with a used helmet and save yourself hundreds of dollars. Final words of wisdom: Don't try to get too cheap. YOU NEED YOUR HEAD.

No offense taken. If I roll and part of my body finds itself between the ground that that edge, the shear from that edge is only part of my worries. But I will take your suggestion and see if I can either find a way to dull that blade or maybe even re-attach the finisher piece but re-attach it more solidly and safely than the factory did.

The pinnacle for CART, or for any open-wheel racing in the U.S., as I experienced it, was the 1993 season when Nigel Mansell won the championship. In late stages of the Indy 500 there were 8 cars with a shot at winning. Then in 1994 when Dennis Vitolo (hard-working family man but who Danny Sullivan described on the air as "just horrible") wrecked Mansell in the pit exit road, Mansell just seemed to lose his fire. Tony George then accelerated their downfall. The final straw for CART for me was when Chip Ganassi fired Memo Gidley, a talented young driver and a great guy. At least Gidley now has a Daytona Prototype ride.

Who needs wipers! It bothers my wife, though. I guess she gets distracted by the little water beads floating up and away.

Thanks. BTW, the CarTalk guys wrote today about mixing different octane gas and how simple the math is. They weren't talking about anything exotic, just taking 89 and 93 to make 91. Richard Lassiter's "How to Mix Your Own Brew" http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html How to make your own octane booster (this is the basic formula of one of the popular octane booster products). To make eight 16 ounce bottles (128 oz = 1 gal): 100 oz of toulene for octane boost 25 oz of mineral spirits (cleaning agent) 3 oz of transmission fluid (lubricating agent) This product is advertised as "octane booster with cleaning agent *and* lubricating agent!". Diesel fuel or kerosene can be substituted for mineral spirits and light turbine oil can be substituted for transmission fluid. Color can be added with petroleum dyes.

I'd say that, roughly, you need a minimum of 1 lb of dry ice per square foot. That's if you're able to get the chunks broken down into as small chunks as possible.

Right...I wasn't looking closely enough at the VictoriaBritish catalog. So I guess I will want to put in new hardened valve seats as well as premium manganese-bronze valve guides. Thanks for straightening me out on that aspect.

Thanks, they came off easily and I managed to not tear them up too badly. In fact, they came off so easily I am more convinced they were indeed a safety risk and I'm glad I've taken them off. Dave

I heard today that Sunoco leaded fuel is no longer availabe at Road Atlanta or Lanier National (across the street). Have any of you racers (actually racing as opposed to project-building and dreaming about racing like me) had to run on unleaded fuel? My machinist says I should put hardened valve guides in my head to cope with unleaded gas. Since they cost the same from Victoria British, it sounds like a no-brainer to me. I'm planning on running a high-compression version E88 with a stock block and standard rings. In the next block rebuild, I will probably bore it .040 and use a set of oversized pistons from my first race car. Based on this and the possibility I'll have to run leaded fuel, do I need to do anything special to the head other than the valve job with hardened guides?