Alternator Misalignment
More parts quality issue for you: The Powermaster one-wire alternator was 1/8" too long to where with the alternator crammed against the cylinder head, the pulley was 1/8" too far forward of the water pump and crank pulleys. I’m not going to place blame on Powermaster since it’s possible that the TrickFlow heads are machined 1/8" too far forward, and the factory manual allows for 1/8" of misalignment. However, throwing the belt worried me for a race car. On that note, the first time I ever met Jon @jonUU was at the 2024 RAKC when he was quickly replacing a thrown cooling fan belt. I thought his car was one of the coolest there, and I still think when I see it at the track now.
One option was to pull the alternator pulley and grind off the 1/8" stand on its backside, but I was concerned the shaft taper wouldn’t let the pulley go back any farther anyway. Another option was to place washers behind the pulleys, but the crank pulley wouldn’t index on the crank snout if I did that. The last option, which I went with, was to take off material from the back of the alternator housing. A burr bit in the die grinder took care of things, and I was able to get the pulleys aligned with a small gap between the alternator and cylinder head.
Front End Geometry
My buddy Brian Garcia was kind enough to share his secrets with me and provided me baselines for rake, caster, camber, toe, and shock rebound. With the front wheels on turntables and the rear on blocks of the same height and a string line pulled across the rear wheels to the front, I went to work dialing in everything. The upper control arms at first worried me that I wouldn’t have enough adjustment to get both the caster and camber I aimed for, but things turned out okay with ample adjustment for tuning. While not physically with me, my dad was working that night in the garage since my brain and hands were doing what he taught me when I was about 10, and I was using the Snap-On caster-camber gauge he wielded back in the 1970s.
Unleash the Fish!
My friends, it’s been a long journey, but the beast lives! Thursday early evening the replacement ignition box arrived, and I couldn’t resist. After installing and programming the box, I flicked on the master electrical switches, gave the throttle two pumps, and nervously placed my finger on the starter button. In that moment, Mary Shelley’s character Victor Frankenstein crossed my mind. This by no means is the first car I’ve built, but it has been the most challenging and at times frustrating. My brain paraphrased by Frankenstein thought before bringing his monster to life, and I looked up that actual quote for you:
“It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.”
Indeed, anxiety that almost amounted to agony is right. I took a breathe, pressed the starter button, and the engine popped to life. The gauges showed good vitals, and everything sounded, looked, and felt healthy. Now I couldn’t resist. Lia came out when she heard the car and filmed me driving it out of the garage for the first time, down the driveway, a couple turns around the cul de sac, and then off down the street for a short spin. I wish I could upload videos here (we can’t from what it seems), but I’ll create a YouTube channel and share that link soon.
I’d like to say I was overjoyed, but I’d be lying. As with every new build or new engine I’ve ever built, joy doesn’t come for a while until I’m confident in my work. What I felt was that anxiety amounting nearly to agony that ol’ Frankenstein felt. Once I had the car back in the garage, I looked it over for any leaks and found none. I made a short list of things I noticed, the largest being that I need to cut, bend, and weld the arm on the throttle pedal I built to reposition the angle since it was uncomfortable on my ankle. This, along with a short punchlist, will be my weekend’s work into next week if needed.
This evening, Lia took her maiden voyage in the car with me when we cruised it over to the local Sonic Burger where cars gather Friday evenings. We had quite the crowd of people around the car, and I had my RMVR shirt on and was playing my part to advertise. A late-teen told me he is building a 1966 Ford Galaxy and wants to build a 60’s period stockcar replica, and I did my best to convince him to build it for both the street and RMVR. A child was very interested in the car and loved “Cuda Gone Faster,” and at my offer he jumped into the driver’s seat and asked me “Where’s your speedo? How fast do you know you’re going.” I replied, “It doesn’t have a speedo, and if there’s someone in front of me, I’m not going fast enough.” I then showed him the transponder and explained how timing works, and he thought that we neat. I made up two flyers that I taped to the windshield and back window, and I encouraged people to take photos of them and to come on out. We’ll see if we get any takers.
I give you an almost-race-ready Barracuda monster:
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