TireSmoke.org

Over the weekend I gave the S10 the first machine polish of it's life. I used Machine Glaze which doesn't really cut much, but is pretty good at making things shinier. After that I followed up with a cleaner wax and some touch up paint. I'll grab a picture when I get a chance but it looks pretty good.
I went to a car show with it today at Hemly Tool and on the way home when I came to a couple stop signs, I noticed a big single clunk from the rear end area somewhere. I poked around after dinner and found the rear tailpipes were loose and rubbing against each other and the clunk is when one would slide off the other.
I noticed a few weeks back that it seemed to be getting a little louder, but I just thought my muffler was dying again. Turns out the band clamps had just started coming loose and was leaking in a couple different areas. After tightening everything up, were quieter and back in action.

-BP

Driving the S10 earlier in the week, I noticed a stutter while it's under load. This is usually a plug wire starting to die. And this time was no exception. I assumed it was one of the two back plugs on the passenger's side since they're the hardest to reach. After some screwing around, I figured those were fine. It turned out to be the 2nd plug on that side was melting through the heat sleeve.
I had put FAST brand wires on it when I did the stroker install, but turns out the boots are way bigger and longer than a stock set and don't play well with my big headers. I think there's only three left at this point.
And a picture of it all waxed up.

-BP

My front brakes had been squeaking almost all year, every time I leave the garage, until I warm them up a little. In the last month or so it was pretty much every time I stop. I bought new pads, but when I went to replace them, my current pads (which I later learned only had about 5k miles on them) were still in good shape, but had a tiny lip on the edge that was dragging. So I smoothed that all off, cleaned everything up again, and put it all back together. So far so good, and I can take the new pads back to Summit.
Next up it's 2000mile oil change, and hopefully back to the track tomorrow.

-BP

In our work at the Wheels4Hope charity, WXO and I found the cheapest pads to squeal.

Was that a lip on the edge of the rotor? I just did the same thing on a Chevy Cruze - I trimmed the outside edge of the pad, probably should have ground the lip off the rotor.

No, the rotor was fine, the pads just hang off the outside edge the tiniest amount so they don't wear, just leave enough pad to squeak. The pads are PowerStop Z26 pads and are normally never squeaky, and the rotors I'm pretty sure are PowerStop also, and are slotted and crossdrilled. They've held up to LOTS of dragstrip slow downs. These are the same pads we used on the TrackBird and they were never noisy either.

-BP

Basement Paul wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:34 pm No, the rotor was fine, the pads just hang off the outside edge the tiniest amount so they don't wear, just leave enough pad to squeak. The pads are PowerStop Z26 pads and are normally never squeaky, and the rotors I'm pretty sure are PowerStop also, and are slotted and crossdrilled. They've held up to LOTS of dragstrip slow downs. These are the same pads we used on the TrackBird and they were never noisy either.

-BP

Shoulda known.

After my trip to TRP last week, the next day the front brakes were squeaking again, so since I had new ones, I just replaced them. I'm not going to listen to that nonsense, regardless of how much pad life was left.
I got my new drag radials I bought earlier in the year mounted, and I bought new taller and narrower front tires since the old ones were over six years old and liked to chase the road around too much IMO. The new ones are 225-60-16 vs the old 245-50-16. The new tires were a stock size on my rims on S10 Xtreme blazers back in the day.
A quick test drive while I was breaking in my front pads was positive in a little smoother steering feel. At the time though, the tires had 40psi in them from the Newbury Tire, so I have since dropped them to 35 in the front and 26 in the rear. They will be at the track on Wed.

-BP

Been awhile since any postings here. I bought new drag wheels. Weld Pro Stars in 15x8 for the rear and 15x4 for the front for a total weight savings over my stock wheels of 42lbs rolling. About the same as my last "drag pack" (I hate that term BTW). But these will have 275-50-15s on the rear, and a front tire that will be a little more conducive to street driving. I'm hoping those wide 50's will NEVER spin. I've never had that much rubber on the road in this truck. But in typical Mickey Thompson form, both wheels required a TON of weight. I wish someone else made a drag radial that worked as well and was street friendly because otherwise, these things have terrible quality control.

I've also been doing a bunch of maintenance to the truck. The trans now has more than 20k miles on it since it first went in, so I put a new filter in it and of course changed out the oil in the pan. There was no signs of any problems there, so I didn't bother changing the converter oil or flushing the lines. As it was, I added over six quarts of new oil, which was more than half the total system. Should be good for awhile.
I also put new synthetic fluid and additive in the rearend. This wasn't more than a few years old, but it gets abused, so why not? I greased the complete front end and also the driveshaft u-joints. The rear one requires partial disassembly, but no big deal.

Then I went under the hood to tighten all the hose clamps as they do slowly loosen over time on this one, and it's been a couple years since I've done this. I topped off the coolant and snugged up the header bolts, mostly on the driver's side since those all seemed to be just a hair loose. All the passenger's side ones I checked were super tight, but that's the side I already replaced recently. I also had to retighten the passenger's rear exhaust pipe from the muffler back. For some reason it likes to come loose at least once a year, and it was very loose this time.

I'm being a little picky this winter as I'm signed up to do the 1/2 mile in August near INDY, and it looks like Thompson is going to have an 11.50 index class this year too that I'd like to be a part of, so the truck is going to get some use for sure. Should be a fun year.

-BP

With the impending amazing weather coming this Wednesday, I decided yesterday that I needed to get the new race wheels on the S-10. I used to have a used set of these wheels on this truck back when it was a V6, and always liked the look. Now with an actual speed rated front skinny tire and these new R compound Mickey Thompson rears, I'm ready for going fast. With all the insane amount of weight added to make these balance, I didn't have high hopes for a smooth ride at speed, but they are truly smooth as a boob. Hopefully this Wednesday I can lower my PR in this truck. I went 11.28 on the stock rims on what I remember as a similar night, so we'll see. I would love to see an 11.teen somewhere.

-BP

So I went in threefold on a new set of car weighing scales with Dave and Kevin. Since we all have a bunch of cars and the fleet seems to rotate with some regularity, we thought it would be fun and convenient to have some we could all use. It's made by Proform and this set is wired instead of bluetooth. It's a little less expensive, but with as little use as these will get eventually, I didn't figure extra batteries in every platform was such a great idea.
The S10 was up first and with the lightweight wheels and 5/8 tank of fuel, it was 3431 lbs. which is about where I expected. I'm 170 lbs race weight, which puts it right at 3600 lbs with me in it. If I swap back the stock wheels, its another 40+ pounds too. So really, if I fill the tank with the stock wheels and me in it, it would tip the scales at 3700 lbs. It's no surprise that the truck is nose heavy. You can see the pics for the breakdown.

-BP

Bad day for S10 fans everywhere. My first deer collision since I was 16.

-BP

I remember the last time you hit a deer. I think that was on 306 just north of Fairmont. Did you keep the deer this time, too?

While none of that looks horrible, I am guessing this was not a project you wanted added to your list right now. I could send you a link to a guy who has a frame straightening device who seems to be making a hobby out of fixing wrecks lately, but you probably already know about him.

I left this one in the ditch. She wasn't too big or worthy of breaking my back for.
It was about the same time of year, and you're right, it was just north of Fairmont on 306. It might have been the first time I used a cell phone when you arrived on the scene in your sweet Mustang GT!
I started the insurance process today. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

- BP

After dropping the truck off on Saturday, the work has already begun. I didn't order a core support in hopes that they could straighten the one that's on there. That is not the case, so he was able to find a clean one in KY that should be here early next week. In the meantime here's some teardown pictures Jim sent me.

-BP