We finished!!

Just got back from Roebling Road and it was a blast.  Car ran strong all weekend finishing both days.  How'd we place you ask?  Not sure but I know it was at or near the back of the pack.  We had many pit stops and they were long.  That makes a huge difference.  Doesn't matter though, because we were out there to have a good time.  Here are some video and pictures for you.


ChumpCar at Roebling Road from Michael Chisek on Vimeo.

Full gallery here.

Teaser Photo

So the Camaro is race ready and it is sitting in my garage right now (as opposed to Dad's where it usually stays). I love having my racecar with me! If ever you have a bad day or just need a pick-me-up, just open the garage door and look at your racecar. In the meantime I thought I would post a quick picture of how she looks now.

Why is the air cleaner sticking so high out of the engine bay??  Why does the alternator stick out of the engine bay??  What engine is that???  You shall see.  Patience.

We're still here

I know I haven't made a post here forever, but I wanted to assure all of my 2 followers than Ramrod Racing does in fact still exist.  Since my last post the Camaro has run in two races, albeit not that well.  Within the first few laps of Rockingham the thermostat jammed closed and I blew both head gaskets.  We tore the motor down and replaced the gaskets to got the car back out on the track so that everyone got seat time.  It was fun!  Three weeks later was VIR.  That was a disaster.  The car was pouring smoke and we kept getting black flagged.  After a couple of hours I managed to fix the smoking only to have the motor blow up a few laps later.  So the Camaro has run 200 laps at Rockingham and 27 at VIR.  Not very impressive.

Currently the car is getting a new engine AND transmission to make it ready for Roebling Road in August.  The Camaro will also be making an appearance at Sebring in September.  I'll post pictures soon.

She's ready to rock!!

Finally, after months of driving back and forth to Raleigh, the Ramrod Racing Camaro is complete.  I ran up to Raleigh this past weekend to finish the details on the car.  Got everything wrapped up on Sunday morning.  Behold the Camaro in all its glory!!!

I had been conerned about the transmission the past few weeks.  It didn't have reverse and with no testing having been done, I wasn't sure if it shifted either.  Well I drove it a bit on Staurday and it shifted through all the gears just fine, but still no reverse.  I called ProBuilt Automatics in California and they helped identify the problem.  Low on ATF.  I'm a bonehead.  I had only put 6 of the required 12 quarts in the tranny.  I filled up the tranny with the rest of it's much needed fluid and now everything works great!

I say the car is complete, but it actually still needs it's exhaust installed.  For that job Kevin will be towing the car down to Charlotte so that Jimmy at CMD automotive can install it for us.  Oh and we need to put clear tape over our tail lights, and mount the rear view mirror, but these are small peanuts.  The one thing that didn't get done that I was hoping to have was the windshield wipers.  I tried to wire it up, but I think the old motor is seized.  Plan A: hope for sunny weather.  Plan B: lots of RainX!

So now we wait.  Actually now we get together all of our supplies that we need to take to the race.  I'm happy to be done with a little time to spare though, and no more trips to Raleigh!  So you at Rockingham!

She runs!

You may be thinking that the race is coming up pretty soon and you haven't even seen the Camaro run.  Well we have fixed that problem!  Behold the beauty that is small block Chevy power!

Yes, this past week, Kevin managed to get the engine installed into the car.  Good job bro!  I drove up for the weekend and worked with Kevin to hook everything up and continue to work on all the little things.  There is so much to do and I feel like we are falling behind.  But Saturday night we both felt a little better just to fire her up and hear her roar.  And does she roar!  There's nothing quite like the sound of a V8 open header.

Like I said we knocked off some other items as well while I was there.  Gauges got installed, but they are not wired yet.  Brake lights: complete.  Battery box: complete.  Tranny cooler: complete.  And there were a few other little items as well.

So T minus 31 days and where do we stand?  Uhhhh, we need tires, first of all.  Then there is the list of other tasks that still need to be completed.  Hood, bleed brakes (again), wire gauges, and a couple of other things. Like the exhaust, for which I need to tow the car down to Charlotte to have a friend install it for me.  Nothing like the pressure of last minute work!  I'll keep you posted.

A little work and a little.......work.

So I went to Raleigh this weekend to help work a booth for ChumpCar at the Piedmont Racing Expo.  I had a great time talking racing with people and even got in a little shopping for myself!  Chris drove up from Charlotte as well and we met Lloyd Boggs there.  Lloyd is one heck of a guy.  I can't wait until our first race!

So after the show I needed to try and get some more work done on the Camaro.  It needed to be painted and the weather was beautiful so I seized the opportunity and spray bombed her!  Nice color, poor paint job (I'm no body man).  Oh well, she's getting stickers anyway.

With the paint still drying there really wasn't anything else I could do.  So back home I go!  Kevin had better start knocking some of those tasks off the list during the week.....

 I cut the grille out...

Getting close...

I just got back from Raleigh and a long weekend of Camaro work.  The family was out of town for the holidays so I was alone.  That meant 12 hour days, three of them to be exact.  I got quite a bit done.  Brakes are complete, roof is on, window net installed, windshield is fitted, holes in firewall are plugged and the wiring harness has been installed.  If I had a battery I could have lit up the lights and brakes.  We're getting pretty close to paint-job time.  Of course, somewhere in here I'm going to have to fire up the car and test it out!  Check out the pictures:

 

 

More to come, 10 weeks until Rockingham!