Ebay...Ain't it grand!

In the quest to get some more engine parts for "The Sickness", I've been scavenging on Ebay. So far in the last 3 weeks I've won a set of Crane Energizer 1.6 ratio roller rockers, and a set of CompCam Retrofit roller lifters. Now the rockers were used, but the rollers are new. I have received the rockers and they are in great shape.

Now here is my delima; For every part that I need, I alwats get a price for them at the local speed shops here in Hamilton. After I get that, I start looking at the "mail order" places like Summit Racing and Jegs. Even with the currency exchange, they usually end up being cheaper than buying locally by about 15-20%. Then there's Ebay. On those roller lifters, I saved 12% from the Summit price, which is about 27% cheaper than locally. But there's always that little voice inside me saying "Support the small local guy...". Why should I feel guilty? It is my money that I'm spending here right? Anyhow, just thought I'd share that.

Tomorrow I have my appointment with the chassis dyno for "The Sickness" so I can get some base numbers before I start hacking away at the engine. I will report back the results.

MadDog

In the beginning.....

Hi everyone. Welcome to my racing blog. My name is Ray "MadDog" Vachon and my hometown is Hamilton, Ontario Canada. Here I will blog my racing experiences for 2006 in drag racing, and autocrossing.

Before I go any further, I must introduce "The Sickness".

"The Sickness" is:

• 1986 Camaro Z28
• 350 CID 4-bolt (HP will be posted next week after the dyno test session)
• T56 6-Speed Transmission
• 10-bolt GM 3.73 rear gears
• '1LE' Suspension
• NO panzy "Traction Control"
• NO panzy "Stability Control"
• NO panzy "Anti-Lock Brakes"

The engine currently has the following:

• Bored out 0.03"
• Stock Crank & rods
• Hypereurethic -16cc dished pistons
• Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads
• Edelbrock Performer RPM Camshaft
• Edelbrock Performer RPM Intake
• Edelbrock 750cfm carburator

Current estimate is 375 HP, but with that cam and lower compression, is not very "street" friendly. The camshaft will be replaced by a milder CompCam full roller setup within the next couple months. HP should remain about the same, but it will have alot more torque where it is needed for the street.

Other mods that will be done shortly are Spohn Performance Inc. transmission crossmember, adjustable torque arm, dropped rear lower control arms, subframe connectors, street/strip prepped Q-Jet (by Jim Wildgoose @ J&J Performance) carburator, and of course, a fresh paint job.

Other than drag racing and autocrossing, I will also look into Solo 1 (road course hot lapping), but at this point it looks like I would need to install roll bars in the car. Reason for this; because of the horsepower increase that my car has over the "original" factory engine, it puts me 7 classes above my original starting class. Roll bars are required if you jump 5+ classes. I'm still waiting for the official 2006 classification rule book to be made available.

Well, that's it for the opening post. Check back later for further updates.