[AMC-list] SoCal TT videos (Sunday)

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Took me all !@!@!$! day (actually, all week, multiple attempts) as this was
the first time I've ever used iMovie. I didn't realize video processing was
still so slow (new Macbook Pro). Source was HD video from my Aiptek flash
camcorder mounted on a dash magmount
http://wps.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-American/Interior/images/tach-dv-mount.JPG.
(New pics of the nearly-done interior at
http://wps.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-American/Interior/ ) I'll complete the
Monday (2nd day) vids later this weekend. It'll all get a webpage on
wps.combut for now here's a few pootube vids:

little tujunga cyn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvUQqAprhs

elizabeth lake rd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbrZs4T9TNA

pine cyn rd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBZFxE-zYbk

tepesquet cyn rd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8PlWrNDh3U

The Tepesquet vid is the longest at 2 minutes.

Tepesquet Canyon Road was unbelievable! The first half above is uphil
(sloooow...) after the fade to black is downhill -- and the return trip
Monday (down the "up" section) was A TOTAL BLAST!

OK I can tell you with authority now -- drilled drums are as good as small
(emphasis on small) discs. The Tepesquet downhill return run is long and
fast (50+ is the "straights" between turns) and I do not do engine braking
--  it upsets front/rear loading, without compression it doesn't do much,
and no way I'm gonna wrestle a T-96 into it. So I was on the brakes HARD and
OFTEN and they DID NOT FADE AT ALL. Sweet. But I might have cooked 'em, so I
will pop a drum this weekend and look.

I don't know how to post the route itself, but it was a spectacular drive,
just under 300 miles a day. If you search PooTube for "SoCal TT" or
"SoCalTT" you'll find more videos from other people, 2009 and other years.
(There's a cycle TT also.) There's http://socaltt510.shutterfly.com/ and
other pages if you care. Only two people this year received paper awards
from Highway Patrol.

What pleases me the most is that the American appears in pages of rally car
photos as if it was a peer -- it was!

I've spent good money trying to get later AMC cars to handle well (79 304v8
Spirit mainly) and it wasn't even half as good as this breadbox American. Go
figure. I most definitely will be turboing this engine, ASAP. I will also
address handling shortcomings:

* panhard or something for the sloppy rear (typical leaf spring setup)
* understeer ("raise" effective rear spring rear perch height, maybe rear
sway bar)
* sloppy steering box (wear)

New springs like Frank points out, but not til spring ($$$) and one change
at a time, esp. slop has to go so I have some basis for comparison.


PS: The bobbing ugly thing in the center of all the videos is my new hood
talisman -- better pics to follow but here's a quickie:

http://wps.com/temp/hood%20talisman2.JPG

That's a pulverized 195.6 ohv piston (from a head-donor car in U-Pull-It)
and a snapped off fuel pump lever (I did that, putting a 195.6 pump in a 232
:-). There's two blue LEDs for eyes...
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/20091016/59859706/attachment.htm>
_______________________________________________
AMC-list mailing list
AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com