Very nice!!!

Go look at the cab/bed area on the 4th gen ram you have, you should have some vertical bed seals mounted. Duplicate that on the dakota from the top of the bed down to the body line about 2/3 the way down, the one that lines up with the bumper. It should improve your times.

On the 3rd gen ram I did the aero experiments on I found that the seal reduced drag noticeably when going down some of the hills on the way to work. I'd drop it in neutral for mpg savings and found that on some of the flatter hills I was able to keep from loosing an unacceptable amount of speed while in neutral (~2 mph max was my limit, anything more and I'd throttle back up). That is at 60~64 mph, pretty sure the faster you go the bigger the payback... to a point.

It would be interesting to see pass data before and after seal install...

 

I took out some of the 1/2" foam from the fan shroud and added some 3/4" foam, including a vertical strip between the fans.

Something I have learned from talking to AFCO, Mezeire, and some mopar folks:

1. The factory water passages are ripe for air bubbles. The rear manifold steam bleeds are an absolute must, and will even benefit a traditional street vehicle. But getting one to clear the distributor is a lesson in futility.
2. The factory 00+ top hose fill is a horrible, horrible idea. A cooling system should never be filled from the high pressure side, always fill at the water pump inlet. That's how most traditional radiators are set up.
3. A 16AN hose clears the fuel rails and alternator nicely. The ID of 16AN fittings are 3/4". Contrary to popular belief, that's just fine. Especially considering the inlet ID of the Davies water pump is 1-1/4".
4. The thermal reduction suction power of water isn't what you would expect, and alot of radiator caps seal poorly. Even a .010" metal shim can be night and day difference in a cap sealing. Crimping the hooks is more of a band-aid. The recovery tank needs to always be 1/2 full cold, and be at about the same height as the middle of the radiator, or higher.

With that said, I had the radiator converted to 16AN, and also added the steam and drain ports. My fab guy also made the expansion tank, which plumbs to the fitting next to the lower hose.

In the meantime, I've also been working on the new tongue for the 16ft flatbed trailer. It's not a big priority as long as the coupler on it now doesn't come apart.

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It's been a minute since I updated this thread. Things have been absolutely ***** to the wall this year. I've been active 7 days a week for the last 8-9 weeks now.

1/30 Dragster test session
2/03 Michael Narx Podcast as guest
2/26 Baton Rouge race
3/05 Girlfriend
3/06 Purchased Trailer
3/08 Barndominium
3/12 Got race truck DOT inspected
3/19 Dallas Race
3/26 Okla City race
3/29 Got race truck DOT registered
4/02 dropped off Ram for engine repair
4/03 Barndominium
4/9 Houston race
4/14 Trailer Sheriff Inspection
4/16 Girlfriend
4/23 Houston race

That's 9 straight weeks of either working on a friend's barndominium, working on the race truck, working on products/projects I'm building, or with the Girlfriend. Most days I nap from 2:30 or 3AM to 7AM anymore. I'm "working" well over 120 hours a week.

I've stripped the interior aside of the dash, removed all my wiring, and started over from scratch with all new relay panels and layout. I designed and assembled the new relay panels myself.

The seats were a fiasco, I had to raise them up an inch and move them inboard an inch. Finished the passenger seat last night.

Today I got the shifter mounted. I'm ditching the electric shift and going back to traditional cable. Hoping to weld the cable bracket on Saturday; going to the barndominium on Sunday.

Tomorrow I hope to finish the battery isolator. If I'm lucky, I might make some headway on the switch panel.

 

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If anybody has seen the Episode of Roadkill where they take the Rubber Duck Firebird on Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0 last year, I made a cameo appearance at the end of the show.

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Completed Rocky Mountain Race Week. Finished 17th out of 50 in the 12.0 index class. Went 11.96 once, 11.95 once, but couldn't claim those runs and had to backpedal for legal runs. Won first round of the bracket race but it cost me 3 ribs of the blower belt; Lost second round in a close race. AC worked great, had no mechanical issues. Upon return, found a fuel leak in the filling hose (probably loose hose clamp). I need to add a catch-can to the transmission vent; it's tossing fluid when hot. So i ordered one of those from Summit with my new blower belt. I also paid the penalty for a shorter belt. I've been running a 5120788 ($40 at summit; 78.74 inches) and switched to a 5120783 ($47 at summit; 78.3 inches). I don't think the 1/2" will do much, but it might keep the belt from hitting the tensioner base. I'm also going to feed that part of the tensioner base to the dremel and angle grinder/flap disk to smooth it out.

Signed up for King Of The Open Road this morning. It's a different, 2-day format with heads-up racing instead of running against the clock.

Next upgrade is in the works - swapping to a Ford 9" rear axle.

Been doing some measuring. My numbers show that:

The leaf springs are 40.75 inside-inside, 45.75 outside-outside, 43.25 on center

The pinion is 2.25" offset to the passenger side

The WMS-WMS is 64.5 inches. Factory wheel is 5.5" backspace. Since most race wheels are 3.75-4.00 backspace, the desired WMS will be 61.5 inches to keep the track width the same, and also keep the tires from rubbing the leaf springs.

Along with, I'll be doing the 5-lug conversion to the 03/04 front brakes. the brake rotor is the easy part (I might have found something to make it even easier), but I'll have to get the hubs plugged and re-drilled on 2 of the holes. Hopefully not a huge deal. I have 2 friends with machine-shop equipment whose talents I won't count out.

One issue I have found is that because the 03/04 brakes will not clear a 15" wheel, I am automatically restricted in the wheel designs available for the 5x45 pattern in a 16x8 wheel.

942681242 - Black Rock Series 942 Type D Matte Black Wheels > Wheel, Series 942 Type D, 16 in. x 8 in., Steel, Matte Black, 5 x 4.5 in. Bolt Circle, 4.25 in. Backspace - $98.50 (Six 16x8's for street tires + race fronts)
942511240 - Black Rock Series 942 Type D Matte Black Wheels > Wheel, Black Rock Series 942, 15 x 10 in., Steel, Black, 4 in. Backspacing, 5 x 4.50 in. Bolt Circle, Each - $100.50 (Four 15x10's for race tires)

The JEGS Baja-8 wheels don't come as a 16x8 with 5x4.5 pattern for the road tires; The Cragar Soft 8's come as a 16x8 with 5x4.5 pattern, but with a 5" backspace - would require spacers from a race wheel (std 4" backspace).

 

Media from Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0:


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