Restarting my SLC project in West Texas

[Hector]

So I will post on my maiden voyage to Austin, about 220 miles, first stop was the Martin brothers shop in Johnson city, hardly anybody there on friday afternoon but I could see some of the projects they are working on, amazing stuff . Unfortunately I could not talk with their tuner , since I need to fix my idling. I am still running on the factory settings of my LS376 525 crate engine .
Then I stopped by Howards to visit another SLC and his GT 40, both very amazing cars . And Howard is always a fountain of knowledge.

So quick notes from the first leg of the trip.

The good:
Passing on 2 lane roads is too much fun, glad I was able to set up the shifting lights the day before, got to watch those rpms. At one point I passed 7 cars at once, got up to 130 , could not believe how quickly I got there. First high speed pull.

The drop gear is awesome, doing 80 at 2500 rpm is not quiet but was able to listen to the stereo. Nice !!!

My Braum seats are super comfortable , could ride for hours without an ounce of discomfort .

The padded arm rests are a must for long trips, happy to have them on both sides.

visibility is great !! the gentex mirror and camera lets you see a wide area behind you . the side mirrors work well

I got about 20 miles per gallon , which is better than I expected driving fast .

A/C worked great, and I did a great job with insulation.

The gas tank holds about 18 gallons .

Getting gas becomes quite an event, the crowds are large , the questions endless, people are really nice,I dont mind it at all, always enjoy meeting new people , especially gearheads,

And the best news, I arrived at my destination without anything breaking, falling off or catching on fire . And I had an absolute blast, driving this thing is such an unfiltered experience. I swear I had a smile on my face for hours. As someone mentioned on one of the posts, racecar that I built, yeah!!! Quite a rush.

I already have 1700 miles on the car !!!

My jaguar headlights, combined with the morimoto sealed3 90mm LED high and low beam ones work super well.

The bad:

I would not mind a little bit more quiet exhaust , it would be nice to talk on the phone without screaming.

I need a tune, car idles rough and sometimes stalls at low rpms, stop and go traffic is no fun.

I still have an a/c tensioner squeak, I have tried countless things without success, the dirty dingo kit sucks. royally.

 

[Neil]

So I will post on my maiden voyage to Austin, about 220 miles, first stop was the Martin brothers shop in Johnson city, hardly anybody there on friday afternoon but I could see some of the projects they are working on, amazing stuff . Unfortunately I could not talk with their tuner , since I need to fix my idling. I am still running on the factory settings of my LS376 525 crate engine .
Then I stopped by Howards to visit another SLC and his GT 40, both very amazing cars . And Howard is always a fountain of knowledge.

So quick notes from the first leg of the trip.

The good:
Passing on 2 lane roads is too much fun, glad I was able to set up the shifting lights the day before, got to watch those rpms. At one point I passed 7 cars at once, got up to 130 , could not believe how quickly I got there. First high speed pull.

The drop gear is awesome, doing 80 at 2500 rpm is not quiet but was able to listen to the stereo. Nice !!!

My Braum seats are super comfortable , could ride for hours without an ounce of discomfort .

The padded arm rests are a must for long trips, happy to have them on both sides.

visibility is great !! the gentex mirror and camera lets you see a wide area behind you . the side mirrors work well

I got about 20 miles per gallon , which is better than I expected driving fast .

A/C worked great, and I did a great job with insulation.

The gas tank holds about 18 gallons .

Getting gas becomes quite an event, the crowds are large , the questions endless, people are really nice,I dont mind it at all, always enjoy meeting new people , especially gearheads,

And the best news, I arrived at my destination without anything breaking, falling off or catching on fire . And I had an absolute blast, driving this thing is such an unfiltered experience. I swear I had a smile on my face for hours. As someone mentioned on one of the posts, racecar that I built, yeah!!! Quite a rush.

I already have 1700 miles on the car !!!

My jaguar headlights, combined with the morimoto sealed3 90mm LED high and low beam ones work super well.

The bad:

I would not mind a little bit more quiet exhaust , it would be nice to talk on the phone without screaming.

I need a tune, car idles rough and sometimes stalls at low rpms, stop and go traffic is no fun.

I still have an a/c tensioner squeak, I have tried countless things without success, the dirty dingo kit sucks. royally.

"
Getting gas becomes quite an event, the crowds are large , the questions endless, people are really nice,I dont mind it at all, always enjoy meeting new people , especially gearheads,"

I guarantee there will always be these questions- "What is it?", "How fast will it go?", and "How much did it cost?".

 

[Hector]

"
Getting gas becomes quite an event, the crowds are large , the questions endless, people are really nice,I dont mind it at all, always enjoy meeting new people , especially gearheads,"

I guarantee there will always be these questions- "What is it?", "How fast will it go?", and "How much did it cost?".

HA HA. yes Neil, those are always the top 3 questions .

 

[Hector]

So moving on to day 2 of my maiden voyage , drove to a car show in Austin with Mark B, I sayed in New Braunfels , so it was about a 75 mile drive early Saturday morning , quite pleasant, traffic was not bad at all . I was flying the entire time , lots of people drive 90 miles an hour on hwy 35, crazy!!!

I did hit a couple of huge potholes and massive dips, that was scary for sure, bout nothing broke or fell off.

Happy to represent the SLC team, I am guessing is super rare to see 2 SLCs in any car show across the country.

Mark is a very relaxed guy, like me, and we got along great!! One of the best things about this project is all the neat people you get to meet along the journey.

Mark and I got parked next to the Lambos , Ferraris , Porsches and so on. To be honest I have much more in common with a guy that restored an old classic than a guy that paid 300 thousand for an exotic that most likely he will not drive much and probably will never turn a wrench on it . Just saying, nothing against those guys , but not much in common with them.

That was super cool, as always lots of attention and lots of questions, and Mark won an award, I did not find out what it was . His engine and engine bay are super cool. I was impressed by his paint job, much better than mine . Mine was super cheap and I am OK with it , I intend to drive A LOT and do not stress about chips and such !!!

One thing that was very interesting was chasing around another SLC on the streets , it is hard to describe how much an SLC stands out in traffic once you see it in person. Then the attention it gathers makes sense.

After the show we went to have a nice lunch, and then back to Mark's place to turn wrenches for a bit. Our goal was to corner balance my car , but a couple of problems got us side tracked, I could not get rid of my a/c compressor belt squeak, tried repositioning the belt and tensioner in different configurations but nothing worked.

Then the front lift pump decided to quit and blow a fuse. Since Mark's driveway is super steep , and luckily the pump failed with the front end up, we decided to get the car out of the garage, then release the hydraulic fluid pressure and lower the front end on the street. Luckily not much fluid came out and we did not make a mess. we tried connecting the pump to 12 volts directly, it did make noise but was unable to move any hydraulic fluid in either direction .

As it turns out Mark's wife is an award winning pastry chef, and I got to taste why, some of the most amazing croissants and pastries I have ever had . That was truly the icing on the cake , and a perfect end to a fantastic day, despite a couple of setbacks. I was happy that the problems were not catastrophic and that the SLC continued to be driveable.

 

[Hector]

And finally day 3 of my trip, another 75 miles back to Austin for a Sunday morning cars and coffee, Sunday morning on hwy 35 was awesome, very little traffic, a couple of stretches in which 2 guys on fast mototrcycles and I did a couple of pulls, I have not had that much fun in 4 wheels in quite a while.

The not so good part was that as I was driving into the parking lot my a/c belt squeak suddenly went away, not good , something broke. Now have to figure out what happened , before I drive more than 200 miles home.

Another very enjoyable cars and coffee.

 

[Hector]

Once I was at the cars and coffee I noticed a drone hovering around my car . I found the drone owner and we had a long talk about the car and his hobby, he did a couple of cool drone videos that I will post later , the pictures were also awesome !!!

 

[Hector]

It was getting close to start heading home time, I started asking around if anyone had a jack , I needed to see what happened to the a/c compressor belt, and tensioner.

Then I ran into Emerson, a master mechanic and racer with a full set of tools and a floor jack on the back of his SUV. How lucky is that !!!
Sure enough the a/c belt was just hanging, however the compressor and tensioner seemed to be in good shape , so I decided to cut the belt off and drive home without a/c , but without worrying about the belt.

The drive home was uneventful, temp in the 70s , the fan did help, as well as the fact that my car is heavily insulated. It was a bit toasty but I was not sweating at all.

My suction cup visor was very helpful when the sun was coming through the side window, happy that I have the tinted windows from the factory, a great purchase. Thank you Cam for the tip , I was able to catch the last batch.

And so my journey ended. Now I have 2500 miles on the odometer , It has been about 7 years since I received my kit. It was such a long wait to take my first long drive, totally worth it !!! I had a blast and truly enjoy the unfiltered, loud , analog , sensory overload experience. Honestly , can't have enough, and still get butterflies putting on my driving shoes and strapping on the Schroths. What a rush !!!

 

[Mark B.]

Awesome updates, Hector! It was great meeting you and your wife! I feel bad that each of the things I tried to help you with actually made it worse .

It was definitely super cool seeing the two cars together and driving them. We made a lot of heads turn. Next time you're out I definitely want a ride in your car -- it certainly looked more comfortable than mine .

I just got back in to town last night from my trip and found a decent clip from my rear-view camera of your car driving to the show last Saturday:

 

[Hector]

All good, a/c belt squeak is gone,lift pump was fixed at the factory and both cylinders O-ring seals replaced, everything is being sent back to me today. Super cool video Mark!!! Can't wait to do it again !!! Thanks for sharing !!

 

[Hector]

Never had personalized license plates before . This time I earned them . Black and gold theme to boot !!!!.