Finishing up the Intercooler and Starting the Chute Mount

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to add any substantial news, so here it goes:

– I made a huge Summit order, which included things like: fire suppression, parachute, parachute mounting, bump stops for the front shocks, some -12AN fittings (the hot IC pipe location required some slight remounting of the water pump, so we’re going to have to remake a few lines – not a big deal, but still work nonetheless) and a bunch of lug nuts. For anyone who doesn’t know, Weld Racing’s lugnuts just straight up suck. I have about 50 lug nuts laying around I’ll never be able to use because they’re either the wrong size, or they won’t fit how they’re supposed to. Aside from those lug nuts, I also have nuts from Weld that are off center, or somehow cocked up in some way shape or form. So, I dug around a but, and found almost identical nuts from Centerline, and they seem to be better quality. The complete set that I ordered was about the same price, and they come in pack of 5 instead of 4. So, Weld, I like the look of your wheels, but your lug nuts [b]suck[/b].

Oh, yeah, I also made an order from McMaster-Carr to get some stainless plate for some mounting brackets and the like. I also ordered one of every bolt in the catalog, I think./ Okay, I’m exaggerating, but I still made a few hundred dollar order for [b]bolts[/b] which sounds pretty ridiculous, but I think that’s just what you do when you’re building a car. Oh well.

Other than that, I welded up the IC top tank. I’ve had a few questions about how that thing was going to work, and I think now that it’s assembled, it’s easier for people to see how it’ll work. I had one guy who thought I was going to punch a hole in the hood, and that it was going to be an air:air Intercooler. That’s not the case – The top tank is essentially a huge icebox for about fifteen pounds of ice per pass. Fun stuff :-)

I’m also working on the parachute mount. Last night I mounted it partially to the body. With any luck, tonight I should be able to finish up the rest of the mount, and get it up on the car. Here’s to hoping :-)