[DanH]

This weekend good buddy Bill Griffin and I did 1500 miles round trip between LA (Lower Alabama) and Tulsa. The Mission was to pick up my new engine at BPE. Took a few pictures of course, and thought ya'll might find the whole thing amusing.

Bill showed up at my house kinda sleepy at 6AM Friday, so I offered to drive first. Didn't get 15 miles before I used part of the ditch to avoid punting somebody's Cavalier off the road. Oh boy, off to a great start...at least Bill wasn't sleepy anymore.

An hour later we were stuck in Birmingham rush hour traffic. An hour later we were still stuck. As soon as we cleared that, we ran into what remained of the most recent hurricane system and spent the next two hours peering into the murk through flapping wipers. The far side of Tupelo finally brought sunshine, and we started thinking about a side trip....for dry-rub Memphis spareribs.

A little preflight planning said this was the place to go:


The BBQ Shop, 1782 Madison Ave, which isn't anywhere near the Beal St
tourist traps. The locals park in back. The ribs were GOOD, and I grabbed a bottle of their sauce to take home. Also got a rack to go and packed it on ice, because (attention; useful RV builders tip!) if you want Rhonda to hug your neck, Memphis ribs will do the trick.

Stuffed and happy, we started up I40 across Arkansas, turned right for Tulsa, and quit in Broken Arrow about 8PM. Bill is a huge blues fan, so I spent most of the afternoon learning that all the great blues artists seem to be dead.

Bright and early we were up and hightailing over to BPE. Full disclosure here: Monty and I are friends, something that grew out of a mutual interest in gearhead stuff, biplanes, Russian radials, and shooting portable generators. I tell you this to explain why most of the Barrett clan turned up at the shop on Saturday morning just to fool with two knuckleheads from Alabama.

First order of business was to see all the secret projects. Well, not entirely secret; most of the acro clan already know Monty has become interested in a certain Russian radial:


That's an M14 crank, master rod and slave rods on a factory fixture. The M14is already a pretty good motor, but yes, it can be improved.

Monty also has a new car:


Ain't it lovely? It's a 40 Ford. You just have to use your imagination.

Of course he started on the important parts first:


Hot rod flathead. Yes, Rhonda and Allen let Pop have a little dyno time. Nice!

You wanna be careful what you touch around the BPE shop:


Judging from the bloodstains, some fool didn't believe 'em.

(to be continued)

 

[DanH]

On to business. The shop gang already had my new 390X set up on the
dyno, so we fired it up for a few minutes, shut down for a leak check, then set it on 2400 RPM more-or-less for an hour of ring seating. Here are the gearheads hard at work:


Later came power runs and a bit of tweaking. This a dead stock 390; the rated 210 was fine with me so we switched to playing with cruise settings and recording some useful data:


Yep, you read it right, that's 22/2200 at 7.6 gph. Ignore the "corrected HP" readout; the dyno mass airflow sensor was TU. Uncorrected brake HP is true, as is torque.

A little cool-down time, and we put it in the box. Here is Bill steadying the Object Of My Affection while Allen drives rivets in the data plate:


Eventually we got it on the truck. Here are the Okie engine builders. They can fix your tractor too:


Take a good look at the one on the left. If Rhonda and Allen ever convince the one on the right to stay home, we need not worry about the shop. Allen has been building engines and engine components for 23 years, almost half of it under a certain very critical eye.

We eased on down to Cookson for a few hours to see Ms. Betty, and of course Monty's Model 12 project. Alas, all good things must end, so after much good conversation we hit the road about 6 to try for Little Rock before bedtime. Didn't work so good. Some poor soul had a very bad wreck just north of Conway AK, and we found ourselves parked in the interstate with about 1000 friends. About the time Bill said "I wonder how long we'll be here?" the truckers shut down the diesels and turned off their lights. Not a good sign. Five cars back they must have been hauling beer, because somebody started what sounded like a party right there in the road. It was almost midnight when we made Little Rock. Sheesh.

We must have paid all our penance, because the road gods gave us a no-sweat run on Sunday. After unloading the 390 at my shop and getting it up on the stand, we even had time to visit the airport and pull a jug on Bill's new Cub for some warranty work. Busy weekend!

Oh, almost forgot to tell you about the lovely Miss H. She's soft, and squeezable, has purple polka-dot panties, and she is very vocal if you rub her just right. Rhonda gave her to me. May I present Henrietta the Pitot Chicken?:

 

[mark manda]

i bet that package in the back kept you smiling or at least a smug grin all the way home. except for having to hit the brakes too hard.

sweet looking engine and that Offy ain't bad either. I've always wanted to have one of those.