Only 7 Days Away!

Traci and I are only seven days away from starting the long drive to Lancaster, New York to see the Janis family and pick up our new Janis 4.9 engine which will propel us to our first NHRA ProMod race this year!

Mikey and his guys have been thrashing to get everything gathered up before we get there. I appreciate the efforts that Mikey and his team have done to keep us on track and headed in the right direction. 

Not many people can possibly imagine how much time and effort it takes to put one of these machines together. Not only do we have thousands of hours involved in this effort, but Mikey's team is equally committed. I don't know how many hours Mikey has spent doing text messages with me, but I would be willing to bet he has better things to do, ha! Thank Mikey and team for the help!

Once we pick up the engine, transmission, shocks, and other goodies, we will drive to Galesburg, Illinois to get the chassis and body from RJ Race Cars.

It has been several months since we decided to build a new car (“The Salvation Project “) and it has taken this long to get it pulled together. We will still have months of fabrication and assembly time to do once we get home. 

I have been thrashing as well to get the fabrication done on “The Resurrection Project”. I have it all apart and, on the rotisserie, so I can reach all of the hard-to-reach spots that needed to be finish welded. For the record, the frame will look much nicer once I strip all of the old paint off!

The rotisserie makes it so easy to weld everything up. Good TIG welding depends on being comfortable and having good body position.

My welds have improved 100% since I began this journey.

New cross brace all welded up. So much stronger than it was.

Wheel tubs fitted and brackets all fully welded.

New carbon seat mounted.

New seat mounts. Still have to add some bracing at the bottom and a steel pan underneath.

I fit snug as a bug in this office.

Helmet crash absorbing pads all around my helmet.

Throttle pedal and throttle cable mounted. One of my favorite racers calls this “The Loud Pedal”.

Another view of the office.

New NHRA legal safety net. The old one was hard to undo with gloves on. This one falls out of the way with one, easy to reach lever.

The silver lever (upper left corner of picture) releases the window net from either the inside or the outside. The old net took up a lot of room in the door opening. The new one falls completely away and does not protrude into the door opening. Much safer now!

New PSI screw supercharger for “The Resurrection Project “

Screw supercharger injector hat. Mikey is having it dipped with a carbon fiber look coating.

My new Janis billet injector hat for the roots supercharger on “The Salvation Project”.

Pistons/rods laid out and ready to install.

Lifters ready to go in. Big diameter lifters with huge rollers on them to help them live in a tough environment.

New engine going together with the help of Mikey’s dad, Mike Janis Sr.

Pistons in and ready for heads and cam drive

Oil pan and dry sump oil pump installed. Dry sump engines have multiple pumps (scavenging pumps) to keep oil from the oil pan pumped to a remote tank. Each of the shiny sections, separated by black are sections of the pump. They have another pump section to pull oil from the tank and feed it to the rotating parts and lubricate/cool them. Keeping the used oil pumped out of the engine reduces the parasitic drag (wasted horsepower) of oil splashing around inside the engine. It also minimizes the amount of oil spilled out of the engine if a catastrophic failure occurs. This helps reduce the amount of oil that could fuel an engine fire. The scavenging sections (4 of them) are at the top of the picture and the lubrication pump is at the bottom.

New Penske long travel front struts

New Penske air assisted shocks

As we get closer to everything coming to its new home, I am reminded of how blessed I am to be able to do this at this level. I am also blessed to have my family, friends, and God to support me. 

Most of all, I want to thank my Sunshine for putting up with the thousands of hours of shop time I spend, constantly talking/thinking about the dream, and always having my back! I know she is worried about the day we start going really quick, but she will be right there by my side, cheering me on (and praying for me). She is my rock and I love her dearly!

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God”