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Bill's Car is Dead - Part Deaux!

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Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
GB899 ( good friend Rob from Omaha ) who always makes it to the Mustang Roundup, made a pleasant compliment about how pretty my Boss S looked , then followed it up with the frustrating news that it was " Dead!" This and many other scenes from the premier event were all documented by numerous photos of both the " Car Show " and the "Racing " participants. With fellow drivers crawling all over the White Stallion it was a consensus that the alternator was fried , or the computer had taken a dump , or the starter was toast , or......................you get the idea. Well, since she would not even turn over and the battery was drained I trailered #22 over to Palmer Racing Development ( in the country near Malvern, Iowa ) so Dean Palmer could assess the cause, and make repairs, along with switching over to anti-freeze since it is getting quite cool now during the Midwestern Fall evenings. Well , all the guesses on the problem came out to include toasted alternator ( locked up ) which in turn fried the starter and flung the belt around in a weird fashion. This put a nasty gash in the radiator hose and luckily that did not burst or I would have more problems. I am starting to feel like Madhatter because the scramble for parts is almost as bad in North America as it is in South America , and once the concerns were found ( engine turns over fine ) the migraine parts headache began. The last NASA race of the Central Region is coming up this weekend so time is running out , but on Monday Dean told me the good news that all the parts were in but the special alternator used on a 2012 or 2013 Boss 302 and it would be in Tuesday afternoon. Called up this morning to check on whether we might be able to finish up and do a full corner weighted alignment since we had made a few changes this year and then I got the " Madhatter " news. The alternator was delivered yesterday according to FedEx except no one could find any box , not at his home, his place of employment or frigging anywhere!!! I realize that Mad uses TMO to help keep his sanity, chatting with others and using the frustration of many racers to calm his nerves. Well, I feel your pain Chile con Racer because I seem to be under the same wacky umbrella in 2020.

I do have to thank the " Racing gods " because I was able to finish the short course timed runs at the Mustang Roundup and actually run the second fastest time in my class, but NASA races this year have been a bust, I have missed all of them except getting in at the end of one event to test my newly installed fuel cell. My problems have been partly health and massive parts delays, so a word to the wise , if you are making changes to your beast , start now getting the stuff you need as Winter is around the corner and projects are on many Christmas lists.

So, GB899 , say a few prayers for me that they find the box with the alternator , as I do want to make it down to Topeka ( Heartland Motorsports Park ) ----- would lover to see some of you fellow TMOers that also frequent this super smooth race course.
 
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Yep, I always keep a new spare Boss alternator kit in the trailer. It along with front hubs are my most often used spares not counting rotors and pads. If you haven't replaced your Howe ball joints you should and then put the old ones in the trailers as spares. I see at least one set fail at the track every year.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Thanks TMS and 2012 Boss I appreciate the info, guess I have been lucky in the past?! Cool how fellow members are so willing to come through when needed and this often happens at the track/autocross too. It pays to make friends on the site and TMS was willing to get his mommy in law to zip over to his house and overnight an alternator to me --wow, and I appreciate your friendship! Good news is I just got a call from Palmer Racing Development, the parts were found left at the neighbor's house --thank you FedEx for the incorrect delivery.

Hoping everything else goes well and I get to Topeka this weekend?!
 
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Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Need to change your moniker to TMOBoss from TMSBoss , as you are definitely a strong ambassador for the Trackrat Mustang Club Forum.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
986
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Have had an issue once or twice, I think from 3rd-party delivery contractors for Amazon or FedEx. Seems like they use Google maps to find the delivery address and leave the package wherever the virtual pin shows, whether or not the mailbox for the house has the correct number, or even is on the right street! Had to walk a package 5 houses down the side street to the right house once; looked up the address on Google that night and the pin was on my house.
 
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sfo
My misc. ramblings of an insane racer...
I have 2 theories. 1 the more one modifies the more one breaks. 2 new cars break less than old cars

I guess the real question is what is the cost of racing a new car vs. racing an old one? All I can say is it seems that starting new is not that crazy. Twice I started with new cars and C5Z06 and a fairly recently a GT A10 PP1 both right off the dealer lot stripped out cages welded and made into SCCA Touring racecars. Touring cars have fairly minimal modifications but it is an easy $15k to have a 85% optimized car + car. I raced around the country doing SCCA races and had minimal spares and needed very few until my C5Z started getting tired. I had probably 5-8- years of totally gas and oil racing with minimal issues breaking and I always finished races.

Then my 1st motor finally blew. That's when other stuff starts breaking too. It actually took me 3 motor builds to finally get a good one but none were as good as the 1st motor the car came with. These were stock builds because by then no GM crate motors could be bought. Once, the perfectly just rebuilt motor that made awesome power on the dyno failed to allow me to even practice at the MID-O Runoffs. It cost me about $6k traveling there and only taking a few laps before my motor was black flagged for spewing oil on my competitors. Then add in the 3 sets of new Hoosiers that now are relagated to next year , but, no longer fresh and my week of old car failure cost $10k. Then I had to get into it with the motor builder and you can imagine how much fun that was.

Then there was the time the ears of my steering rack broke and I could not find a rack anywhere in Texas again spending $1000's to get to CoTA from Socal. I ended up buying a welder and welding the rack in the garage so I could race. So when you add up all those issues on an aging racecar is an old car really cheaper than a brand new one? All I can say is I am again enjoying pain free racing with a new GT with less than 2000miles on the chassis. So far the most work I have had to do since the maiden race in 2020 is pull my restrictor for tech. It gives me time to go fishing instead of fixing my car in the paddock. If any of you are considering a new build consider a new car. The economics might not be as bad as you think.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
986
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
1 the more one modifies the more one breaks.
One of my college friends who was an electrical engineering major coined a phrase that we still use - "Everything is a fuse." It's a variation on the old saying "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link." When we modify broken parts so they won't break, all we're doing is making what had been the second-weakest link the weakest link. Eventually enough links break and we strengthen them so that what had started out as the strongest link is now the weakest. We break that, strengthen it, and start the whole vicious cycle over again.
And if we can't break any of the links, we add power until we can. :hellyeah:

2 new cars break less than old cars
The famous "bathtub curve" of failure rate applies to most things.
1634793207851.png
Warrantees are generally designed to cover the failures from manufacturing defects that make it past QC and into customers' hands, but expire before age-related failures become an issue.

I've got #3 for you - the more parts there are, the more things there are to break. Compare the potential points of failure in the manual window crank system of a 1966 Mustang to the power window controls in a modern Mustang, with control switches, wiring, fuses, Body Control Module hardware and programming (e.g., one-touch up & down), motor with integrated limit switches, etc.

Rally car window mechanism - count the failure points.
1634792864166.png
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Having been in the Automotive Industry for over 30 years ( 2 different periods of my life ) I can attest to the logical simplicity in your example. The problem now is that the bell curve highlights age related failures and with a 70th Birthday coming up soon I now have another possible failure issue besides the car, haha.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
In 1981 my bride of 4 years told me to stop talking about racing and to go do it ( starting with Autocrossing ) and therefore I have been a member of SCCA for 40 years ( been with NASA for 10 years now ). My extended warranty keeps going and going, because that bride of 44 years still tells me ( and our son ) to have fun racing and supports my track disease. Best kind of warranty one can have is support from your family!
 
I just got a total titanium knee joint rebuild four weeks ago
Hey carver, Good luck with your new knee! Did your old knee impede you enjoying your Boss? My knees aren't in the best of shape either, but it's my clutch foot ankle that acts up now and then. I bought an ankle brace/support that lets me keep hearing my Boss "hum". With titanium, I don't think you have to worry about going thru any metal detectors at airports..................drive on!!
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
New alternator , new Starter, new fuel cell, made all the warm ups and qualifying, along with all 4 races --- may have even set a track record on the second Sunday race. Car ran solid, driver only spun out once ( ha ) and we both left the track in one piece. I even won an entire bucket of car cleaning supplies from O' Reillys along with winning my small Class. After no racing this year except the Mustang Roundup, nice way to end the year. Rained heavy Sat. night and Sunday morning so the track was quite wet for the first race on Sunday. We lost a fast BMW whose driver is super talented, but the damp and slick track won out and he collected a concrete barrier s most of race one was run under yellow. We inverted the start for the second race and I was able to run through and get third behind a GT3 and a Porsche 944 ( with a small block Chevy installed ). Spun out in front of the 944 , but collected it quickly and stayed behind him till the finish.

Dear BS1 , decided to try Toyos this year as I could gain HP and lose weight, but after all the changes the weight stayed vitually the same and no time for an HP increase due to many parts delays, so .............well the RRs suck!! Great for HPDEs or a Spec Tire where the whole Class runs them, but looks like it is time to go back to .....HOOSIERS!!!!!!!!
 
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