The car launched really good and
fairly straight. During my first pass shifting was also really
good. My second through fourth passes is where things started
to go bad. During the second pass I went to shift from first
gear to second and all I could hear it grinding. I looked down
at the shifter and the gate had dropped into the third-forth
selector while the gear box was still in first. What was
happening was the pin that goes in the gate was not staying up next
to first gear. This was going to take some modifications to
the location where the rod connects to the shifter. I needed
to lengthen the throw of the 1-2 shift so the vertical gate pin
would stay in first when the car launched.
It turns out that making this
change wasn’t very difficult with the help of some very generous
Super Street racers Mike Hunsaker, Dave Mason and Ron Fleming were
kind enough to let me borrow there generator so I could weld and new
mounting point to the shifter. You see I brought my welder, just in
case, but knew I would have to run around to find a generator
powerful enough to use it. Fortunately I found one . . . I ended up
retrofit the shifter however, the damage was done. The 3-4 shift
fork had moved the when in the neutral position the shift selector
would chatter (slightly grind against fourth gear).
Although I could have taken Jimmy
Larson’s advise and just hit it with a hammer to see if it would
move back, I decided I wouldn’t beat on it or the borrowed motor
anymore and just enjoy being a spectator.
So out of the car and off to
Rancho Performance Transaxles with the gearbox. After talking with
Sam at Rancho, we decided to pin the shift forks to the rods (as
pointed out in the photos below). Although this may not be needed
for most transaxles, it seems my use of a vertical gate shift may
require it . . . Special thanks goes out to Sam and Mike at
www.ranchoperformance.com for their continued patience and
knowledge.
On another train of thought - I
want to congratulate Roger Crawford for not only setting the Super
Street record this past Bug-O-Rama but, for helping to bring
excitement back to the Super Street Class. I really admire people
like Roger Crawford who have the knowledge and resources to bring
Super Street back into the lime-light . . . where it belongs.
See
you in the staging beams,
Michael Meyer
You can learn more about Michael Meyer and
Meyer Racing by visiting
www.meyerracingonline.com.
