Weblogic

Here at the Summit Point track on the 24 Hours of Lemons circuit, Jeff Bloch took the fastest lap time of the day in the Lincoln Mark VIII on only seven of eight cylinders.  On Day 2, after replacing a messed up coil, we have all eight cylinders firing right, so we should be able to retain the fastest lap time.

Hit up the read more to get a follow up on the 63 Thunderbird with the BMW V12 engine, and a video!

So, if you're not following on twitter, there a lot miss.  During the many days without sleep, we've been updating the twitter feed with pics and status updates. 

Second, after a 33 hour straight build, the cars headed to the track.  The Lincoln headed out with Bobby and Ron early in the morning, and Dave, Damion, and Jeff (a.k.a. Speedycop) stayed with the 63 Thunderbird to get the BMW V-12 working well, as well as fixing some smaller items such as seat belts, cable dressing, and the exhaust. 

The Rocketbird was trailered and we headed out to Summit point.  Upon arival, the crew immediately started unpacking and setting up the work area, with only one fire to put out (literally).

Now, working late into the night (again, with no sleep yet), and with the help of a few other teams here at the 24 Hours of Lemons Paddocks, we got the V-12 sounding fantastic for about 30 seconds.  Then the water pump blew.  Even now, more teams are working to help us resolve the water pump issue, and we thank thank them.

THANK YOU to the other teams that are helping out!

Team Police Brutality--Beating up on breast cancer is again raising money for this excellent cause! Our team has suffered through severe battles with breast cancer, and lost mothers, sisters, grandmothers, even a grandfather because that cancer wasn't cured. Why on earth would we use a rusty 47 year-old luxury car with a blown engine and transmission for an endurance road race? We needed a car that will draw everyone's attention in order to raise enough support for our cause. What other car on the track could draw as much attention as a cherry red 1963 Ford Thunderbird convertible? And what better way to make it stand out than with a BMW V12 drivetrain?

The build of the Thunderbird (a.k.a. Rocketbird) is still ongoing.

We're running both cars next weekend (we hope). I spent many weeks already on this BMW V12 Rocketbird project. It took me a full 3 days to build a custom carbureted intake manifold. Yes, that's a cut-down ammo can! I welded 12 pipes to it, cut out two flanges with the plasma cutter and two custom gaskets with a razor blade, and welded 12 more short pipes onto the flanges. Don't worry, all that's left to do is make a custom driveshaft with a slip yoke, make a custom exhaust in an area without enough room to do so, make a trans mount, add a radiator, cut down two new ebay HEI distributors and figure out how to mount them on a BMW motor, cut the plug wires to fit, set the timing, figure out a throttle assembly, repaint the whitewalls and remount the wheels, swap the seat and harness, and a myriad of other stuff. Oh, and the Mark VIII isn't ready either. It's not like we procrastinated, we started right after the last race, and have hundreds of hours in this already. Next time I offer to put a BMW V12 in anything, save me a lot of headaches and just shoot me in the face with a 12 guage. Seriously. It's the only humane thing to do. ;)  -Jeff

It... It... IT FITS!  Look closely folks, that valve cover doesn't show a Ford oval.  It's BMW!

Okay, not in book form just yet, but still a pretty good article by a well-known automotive writer!

Clink the link for this month's Wheel People, by Jim Koscs:
http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=227f02619ae92f3cb93bf60ef&id=3e474ec5e7&e=b669168180

I feel like Steve Martin in The Jerk. "My name is in print! I'm somebody now!"

Hi gang! Just figured I'd drop you a few lines to update you on what's going on. My website is finally up! 

A few months ago, I picked up a rough, rusty 1963 Ford Thunderbird for $300 (scrap value). It would start if you poured gas in the carb, but it had been sitting for nearly 30 years (with a collapsed shed on top of it), so the tires were dry rotted, the brake and fuel lines were swiss cheese, and the unibody frame was rusted out in all the key areas. About three weeks ago, we gave up trying to make a 1990 BMW V12 fit in the '61 Cadillac for the Detroit area race last weekend. Without redesigning the massive X frame of that 5,000 lb. car, it just wasn't gonna fit. We took the beefy roll cage out of the pink Cadillac, cut the roof off of the Tbird, removed the windshield, cut the windshield frame (A-pillar) and leaned it forward, and dropped the cage straight down in it. Because of all the rust, the car wanted to fold in half just sitting here on the jackstands! I had to spend 4 days cutting and welding reinforcements, using the roll cage and scrap steel to tie the whole car together.