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Sleepless in Seattle . Our Adventure. Tommy & Nick

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  • Sleepless in Seattle . Our Adventure. Tommy & Nick

    Sigh... Where to begin

    Well Tuesday Gary Lang Picked up the car to trailer it up to Monroe, Washington. We left Las Vegas at 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon and flew to Bellingham Washington.


    Big Rob Primo from ZT and The Comrades (pacific northwest drift team) picked us up.  Washington is a beautiful state, its so green, lush, and the people are very hospitable.


    We got to Rob's parents house in Anacortes, which is located in/near the San Juan Islands.


    We did a bit of sight seeing. Below is the [url=http://Deception Pass [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Pass]Deception Pass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decepti...ption_Pass</a>


    Rob's Family treated to an AWESOME Salmon dinner and then we settled in for the night.


    We woke up around 9am and then met up with Trent and some more Comrades as they were haveing a local drift event at Monroe Speedway (the same place that FD was being held)





    Practice Started at 5pm on Thursday and was scheduled to go till 10pm. We offloaded the ae13 and got everything prepped and ready to go.


    We were the first car on the grid for practice.


    Everything was going fine... till the 5 practice lap.&nbsp; After completing the bank a loud noise was heard and he limped the car to the pits.&nbsp; There was a rattling sound coming from the top end. Everyone thought that we broke a rocker arm and so we removed the valve cover.

    We bumped the engine a few times and all the rockers seemed to be just fine.&nbsp; We then removed the spark plugs and found that plug 4 had been smashed and broke apart.&nbsp; We removed that plug, replaced it and blew out the porcelain debris.&nbsp; Re-RTVed the valve cover gasket and started it up.

    The motor no longer had the same noise but there was a clanking sound still being heard.&nbsp; Tommy felt that it was knocking, so practice was now over. We looked all around and asked alot of people if they had any s13 long or short blocks.&nbsp; NO one had a long block.&nbsp; Marcus from The Comrades had a questionable short block at his house and so after much delebration he went home and brought it and an engine lift to the track.&nbsp;


    Victor let us do the swap in his pit area with access to all the necessary tools that we needed (BIG THANK YOU VICTOR)
    Neither Tommy or I, or any of the Comrades that helped and supported us ALL NIGHT LONG have ever worked on the timing chain portion of sr20 assembly.&nbsp; Ray from Washington made his services available and helped with the head swap.





    We got the motor back together and back in the car.
    http://dizons.com/drifting/FD%20Wash...MG00202sml.jpg

    See the LOVE !

    Friday at 12:00 practice started and we had an opportunity to test again.&nbsp; The car sputtered and was not creating power.&nbsp; .4 bar was all that was being produced.&nbsp; We got the car back to pits and the Oil pump was not squirting.&nbsp; We drained the engine, removed the oil filter, and the oil squters, reassembled and still could not get it to prime.&nbsp; we now only had 2 hours to get the oil pump changed.&nbsp; Ross and Frank (boso garage) gave us the low down on how to fix it.&nbsp; We removed the front cover/oil pump from the old engine and threw it on the block in the car.&nbsp; RTVed it and primed it!! it was now squirting.&nbsp; The new short block had a striped out oil line so we were franticly rushing to fix that with only 5 minutes we RTVed it and got the car on the grid for top 32 qualification. Ross was having a difficult time timing the engine and so on the start line we once again removed the valve cover, thinking the timing chain was not properly set up we once again removed the timing chain cover. The tooth count was correct. The Track Steward told us that we have 30 seconds.&nbsp; We threw the valve cover back on the car (Ross timed it by ear) and then we closed the hood (with 5 seconds left) Tommy was able to make his qualification run.&nbsp; He made his pass and received a score above 85pts placing him in 9th over all.&nbsp; On his second run the oil temp sensor popped off and dropped 4 quarts of oil on the track... He limped the car to the pits and now due to oil starvation one of the rod bearings had spun.&nbsp; (Thankfully he was able to make at least one top 32 qual pass.) Now since this replacement short block was knocking we had to remove the bearings from the original motor.&nbsp; Once again Victor let us use his pit area and we removed the sub-frame to remove the secondary oil pan to gain access to the con-rods.&nbsp; Mio Bolanos (Bomac's Father) ASE master mechanic Flew in earlier to support Tommy and spectate.&nbsp; The comrades assisted with the removal of the oil pan and gasket cleaning.&nbsp; Mio replaced the bearing and i resealed the front cover.&nbsp; By this time i had not slept in over 30+ hrs, Paul Smith assembled the oil pans and when i woke up from a really cold 40 min nap ,Mio and i re-connected the sub-frame.&nbsp; We did a once over, made sure that all suspension parts were tight and then gave it a start.&nbsp; &nbsp;It started on the first try and felt responsive NO MORE KNOCK!!&nbsp; we had the car up on the lift looking for any oil leaks and then noticed that there was a fuel leak.&nbsp; The An fitting that conneced the hard line to the fuel cell developed a small hole.. *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*!!&nbsp; we only had 35 minutes before Tommy's bid for a top 16 spot.&nbsp; O'l JB weld was applied to the hole and then dried with a heat gun. we fired it up again and the leak was temporarily fixed.

    Tommy made it out to practice and then blew a coupler, pulled back to the pits and then blew a different coupler.&nbsp; It was now time for the quall run. right as he was to initiate the bank different coupler blew apart and needed to be replaced completely.&nbsp; We got it replaced and the car was able to make his 2nd and final qual run.&nbsp; &nbsp;it held up for the quarter mile start and half way through the bank, then his boost spiked and the car crashed in to the top of the wall.


    the cars suspension didn't appear to be damaged but the rear left quarter panel and trunk lid will need to be repaired.&nbsp; At least he earned 1/4 point for the top 32 qual.&nbsp;

    this was an event to forget!!!
    We got to sleep at the Airport for a few hours before our flight back to Vegas


    We would sincerly like to thank everyone that assisted us with accomidations and tech support.

    Rob, Victor, Marcus, Trent, Paul, Ray, Mio, Gary, Boso Ross, Drift Office Bob, Boso Frank, The Comrades, FD Henry, i know i forgot some names and people but thanks for helping!!

  • #2
    If Tommy Suell doesn't deserve the "Spirit of Drifting" award this year, I don't know who does!!

    This man is camping out at the track, fixing motors all night long, and busting his *Censored**Censored**Censored* for every single 1/4 point!! What an inspirational story!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Tommy,

      I'm with the EvergreenDrift.com officials and my brother Brad supplied the TB silicone coupler and T-Bolts (After running to Napa for the T-Bolts and home for the spare coupler) for you before qualifying on Saturday. Sorry qualifying didn't turn out better but you really persevered and did well considering the sleepless wrenching and lack of practice time.

      I was really rooting for you and you are a great inspiration to the rest of us grassroots guys. Keep on trucking!

      Your mechanic (forgot his name) deserved the tech of the event award.

      Hopefully you can make it up for one of our EvergreenDrift.com events to sneak some 5/8ths practice in.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Umaikakudo View Post
        Tommy,

        I'm with the EvergreenDrift.com officials and my brother Brad supplied the TB silicone coupler and T-Bolts (After running to Napa for the T-Bolts and home for the spare coupler) for you before qualifying on Saturday. Sorry qualifying didn't turn out better but you really persevered and did well considering the sleepless wrenching and lack of practice time.

        I was really rooting for you and you are a great inspiration to the rest of us grassroots guys. Keep on trucking!

        Your mechanic (forgot his name) deserved the tech of the event award.

        Hopefully you can make it up for one of our EvergreenDrift.com events to sneak some 5/8ths practice in.
        yes i was waiting to see when u will come by and pick them up i can ship them back out to you when i get a chance to see the car again thank you

        contact me on my myspace lol

        Comment


        • #5
          True inspiration!

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by RAM GARAGE View Post
            yes i was waiting to see when u will come by and pick them up i can ship them back out to you when i get a chance to see the car again thank you

            contact me on my myspace lol
            Tommy,

            I checked with Brad and he said go ahead and keep them. He has no use for the parts and isn't concerned about the cost.

            May they bring you good luck in the future! Hope you can get your engine dialed and solid before Infineon.

            Oh - and Rob Primo rocks and Ray from GarageAutohero is a pimp at welding and mechanics.
            Last edited by Umaikakudo; 08-13-2008, 03:42 PM.

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