I performed a BFT...uhh...that's Blinding Flash Test. A phrase that dates back to my army daze of working on high-voltages with radar. It REALLY had meaning with 50,000 volts.
Oh...yeah...the BFT. My race car motor fired up last nite (07/30/2012) for the first time since its little runamok driveshaft issue on the salt in 2011.
Lessee here. ATF, check. Oil, check. Coolant, check (and almost none of any of it spilled on the floor....amazing.) Coil wire repaired, check. Alternator connected, check. Battery connected, check. Banzai!!!
(Driver hits his head on the top of the car getting into the new seats he isn't used to. No blood. Good.)
Banzai take 2!!!!!
Ya know what the cops said?
Well...nothing, really.
I realized I'd fired the thing up without opening up the garage door. When I opened it, there were 2 cop cars outside. They were checking out the house across the street. I ran in and grabbed the camera. I was gonna ask 'em if they got a noise complaint, but they left just as I got back to snap a coupla shots.
So. It fired up. I cranked it over a bit and then had to give it one spray with starting fluid. After sitting for so long, I'm not a bit surprised. But then it started on the next tap of the key. Oil pressure was good; I didn't run it long enough to see any coolant temp, but the electric fan was working fine. The volts gauge is pegged negative and I bet that has a little bit to do with the broken brown wire at the alternator. I'll get to that "almost" next.
After I ran it, I made sure I had 35 pounds of air in each of the tires (ancient BFG T/As) and remembered I had chicken cooking in the oven. So that was it for the evening. But tomorrow will prolly be the go/no go test. If the transmission and drive train are working (that is, if it moved under its own power) then it's a go. If not...for whatever reason, I'm gonna bag it and get ready to go to Speed Week on the 8th.
