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Saturday Night Buidup, Dec. 2000: No Rest for the Weary

We solve our water-pump dilemma just in time to be hit with a new problem
February, 2009
By Bob Carpenter
Photography by Bob Carpenter, Vane Ledgerwood
Saturday Night Buildup Front Drivers Side View
The Saturday Night Buildup... 
   
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Saturday Night Buildup Front Drivers Side View
The Saturday Night Buildup car is still one of the best-handling street stocks around. The car is very neutral and can be loosened up with a simple stab at the brake pedal.
Saturday Night Buildup Front View
Perris Auto Speedway uses... 
   
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Saturday Night Buildup Front View
Perris Auto Speedway uses a team of technical inspectors to go over every car prior to the race. The prerace inspection focuses entirely on safety issues.
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One thing that’s nice... 
   
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One thing that’s nice about Perris is that you pit in the infield, so you don’t have to unload all your spares and tools unless you need them. Check out that K&N Flow Control filter. We’ve been using the same one for about five years.
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This is the stock GM power-steering... 
   
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This is the stock GM power-steering pump that has given us so many headaches. We haven’t been able to get the belt to stay on for five consecutive races. We finally tossed the entire system in favor of an aftermarket pump from Speedway Motors.
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After yet another night of... 
   
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After yet another night of power-steering problems (this time in the hot laps), we gave up and put the car on the trailer with the intention of going home. When fellow racer and friend, John Handzel, (he had just sold his car) stopped by to help, he refused to give up and fixed the car with the help of Karl Tollman. Johnny ended up driving the car in the race.
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Pulley alignment remained... 
   
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Pulley alignment remained a problem throughout the night. We never did get it right.
Saturday Night Buildup Engine View Tuning
Karl tries to pry the power-steering... 
   
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Saturday Night Buildup Engine View Tuning
Karl tries to pry the power-steering bracket forward to get a better alignment. The bracket is a fairly tough cast piece.
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After the heat race, there... 
   
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After the heat race, there were more rushed attempts to get the power steering to work. Many ideas were sparked and attempted.
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“Johnny 5” Handzel... 
   
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“Johnny 5” Handzel marks a rare occasion at the end of a long, frustrating night. He’s the only other driver to race the Saturday Night Buildup car. He looked good and commented that the car handled extremely well.
Saturday Night Buildup Wheel View
Ouch! There was big-time crunching... 
   
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Saturday Night Buildup Wheel View
Ouch! There was big-time crunching going on during the races. This is a difficult spot to fix, too. Johnny and Kurt helped work on the car the next week to get it back into shape.
Saturday Night Buildup Hood View
The fact that the nose... 
   
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Saturday Night Buildup Hood View
The fact that the nose was beat up is a bit of evidence that Johnny was being aggressive and trying to take away spots on the track.
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After trying to bang out the... 
   
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After trying to bang out the damage, we gave up and cut out a new piece from another car at Memory Lane Auto Dismantlers. Scott Talkington helped fit the new piece to the car and welded it all up.
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We finally (finally!) gave... 
   
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We finally (finally!) gave up on the stock power steering pump and ordered an aftermarket Profile pump and remote reservoir kit from Speedway Motors.
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The pump’s mount is so... 
   
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The pump’s mount is so simple, you can’t screw it up. We needed to space out the pump a bit because we used a long water pump, but all that was required was a flat piece of metal.
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We put the remote reservoir... 
   
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We put the remote reservoir on the front hoop. We’re more than ecstatic to report that this system worked just fine on the racetrack. We should have come to our senses a long time ago before wasting so many race nights.
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Since our power-steering problems... 
   
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Since our power-steering problems were behind us, it was time for something new. During hot laps, the engine let go with a loud kaboom! I instantly knew it was bad. Here, car owner/crew chief Earl Carpenter tries to wiggle the crank pulley to see if the crank is broken. We discovered later that a rod was sticking out the side of the block.
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We don’t know why we... 
   
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We don’t know why we went all these years without a winch. This X3 model from Superwinch makes life a whole lot easier on bad nights. Now it’s back to the GM crate engine, because that’s the only engine we have in the garage. It will be interesting to see how that engine does against the high-dollar crowd at Perris.
Memory Lane Collector Car Dismantlers
Sun Valley
CA
Superwinch
Speedway Motors
P.O. Box 81906
Lincoln
NE  68501
402/474-4414

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