gtsparkplugs.com Blog

Ok, getting off my duff and honestly comfort zone in doing Cobra Club and L.A. Shelby Club events, and well I guess some Alltime Racing events, signed up for a Speed Ventures event. The event looks to be many late model cars, I think 2 other 60’s cars are signed up so far. I guess I’ll be the old cook driving some old low tech car. The event is the weekend of Jan 26, 27 2008. I signed up for the intermediate class, BLUE group. The event should be good, lots of track time, potentially some new things to learn from people more driven to drive their cars (No pun intended). Read the rest of this entry »

First off you know who you are, and I’m sorry for you. But Here are a couple of things that have triggered this current fit of Horn Honking Rage (HHR). How many stupid people toss out cigarettes out of the moving car? Almost all of them (or you, if your reading this and do it, your a dumb ass). All cars come with ash trays please use them, even the Tata. The streets are not your ash tray, you wouldn’t want me coming over to your neighborhood and dumping trash on the street. And that would be trash soaked in a gallon of gas just in case you toss out another lit cig into the street. Looser Cigarette smokers. As last I checked on the web, about 1 in 4 fires are caused by you. Not bad for a group of people, good consistent results. Do they care, not a chance. BTW if you want to smoke, be my guest, just give a $hit about others and do know it is not your right to impact me with your bad behavior. Read the rest of this entry »

From Tata’s press release, and spell checked since it was not written in ‘American English’ -

Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, today unveiled the Tata ‘NANO’, the People’s Car from Tata Motors that India and the world have been looking forward to. A development, which signifies a first for the global automobile industry, the People’s Car brings the comfort and safety of a car within the reach of thousands of families. The People’s Car will be launched in India later in 2008.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi, Mr. Ratan N. Tata said, “I observed families riding on two-wheelers – the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors’ engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realize this goal. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel efficient and low on emissions. We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.” Read the rest of this entry »

OK, I’m avoiding the Toyota Prius driver these days, just can’t deal with them. On to the only thing worse then the attitude toting Prius driver, and that is the GRIDLOCKING BASTARD. Besides gridlock situations being very dangerous (No fire or police services can pass) it is highly annoying. I think it is ultimate exhibiting of lack of courtesy and intelligence on the Los Angeles roads. How many of the new signs do you see that say “Don’t Block Intersection”. I’m pretty sure that it is obvious, but I guess not. BTW if you own a Prius this is the perfect place for you to exercise your ‘Green-ness’. Read the rest of this entry »

Pet Adoption. I have 2 dogs now, and the family decided that we needed one more hound. Both previous doggies were pet adopted a long while ago, and it was time again to make the trip to the Dog Pound. I can say this, you will not feel any more sorrow then going to the animal shelter. It makes your again realize that some people are worthless and have no sense. We went to the Burbank Animal Shelter and they were so nice in helping find a new hound. We didn’t want to take a puppy as they were certain to be adopted, we went for a 1 year old lab Rottweiler mutt that was in lock up for about 3 months. Nicky was his given name. High energy and a good boy. The nice thing is that the Burbank Shelter let us bring our other dogs down for a meet and greet. It all worked out well and we now have 3 hounds roaming around the palatial estate.

I can only hope he gets along with the UPS and FEDEX driver so I can continue to receive car parts…

Do something nice, adopt a pet, don’t be a F’ed up person and pay $$ for an animal when you can save one that needs your help. Remember the life you save may be your own…

I spend a crap load of time in traffic on the 405 Freeway in Southern California. I drive a LARGE Ford Diesel Excursion and have this re-ocurring dream of having the key to the city, and being allowed to switch the Diesel Truck into 4×4 mode, and just start plowing traffic. Like the dream many people have of fogetting their locker combination years later in life it is a haunting thing. (Automotive Anarchy???) Read the rest of this entry »

This is Quoted from the SAAC Site and interesting…

And I quote…

SAAC Press Release November 25, 2007 – Sharon, CT.SAAC is very proud of its numerous accomplishments over the past 33 years and is looking forward to a bright future for the many years ahead.SAAC is very proud of its numerous accomplishments over the past 33 years and is looking forward to a bright future for the many years ahead. Read the rest of this entry »

Well this is the separate start of the Flog story of the VSE Cobra. This story starts in a place far far away a long long time ago. In an era where gas was less then 2 dollars.

Itching for a project after selling my 1969 Chevelle SS 396 (Had a 427 in it) and having a job out of college I decided to start looking for a car project. Having income helped. I was lucky to be in the fast paced field of computers (sounds like a Devry add) and was working as a software developer. In my quest for a light car, I came across a Kit Car magazine. In looking caught some review of various Cobra Kits. One that was especially hot was the Herb Adams VSE Cobra monocoque chassis. At the time I was not a huge fan of the Cobra but it was starting to grow on me, so I ordered a steel backbone chassis, with the intention of collecting and paying for the parts as I went along. AND besides that Herb was an old GM guy and I loved the Big Block Chevy and had an aluminum block stashed away from a few years of horse trading (Ends up might be a Chevy Can-Am block, hard to say). Likely could get the car down into the 2200 lb mark with a Rat motor. The math sounded good.

About a week after ordering the chassis I get a call from Herb and Matt (his son) they they had an all aluminum version of the chassis that the customer didn’t like the look of the welding. The customer was very particular since it was to be used at the Pebble Beach concourse for the Aluminum manufacturing consortium so it had to be perfect. I understand that they ended up flying in a ringer to weld up one for the show. So for a bit more scratch I stretched for it, got a good deal and it was already done. What did I care I was living with my aunt in a rented room so I could afford it! So well on my way for the collecting the parts. I had a few weeks to gather the needed funds and It would be mine.

A couple of weeks later Me, my friend Richard, and our ‘Old Ladies’ made a trip up to San Fransisco then on the way back stopped in Monterey to pick it up. At the time VSE was being run out of Herbs home in his super larger workshop. We popped the the entire chassis on the top of my friends work truck and we were on our way. It was pretty light as I recall… but that could have been because we were young and in shape!

Back to the garage at my parents house, and close the garage door.

See you next time for more of the VSE Cobra story

Goto www.gtsparkplugs.com and you will find more about the VSE Cobra

Well not much new. Have to go and yank the motor out in the next week (VSE Cobra). BUMMED about that screw job. The next thing is to get the tiger under way. Hopefully no FLOG shit will happen with this job. I have gathered a bunch of parts already for the Tiger transformation. Got the word that the pistons are ready from Ross, and they are on their way. Have a David Kee top loader under construction, picked up the bell housing. Just waiting on the new Dana ring and pinion and Dana Truetrac (really a Torsen I think). Dale at Dale’s restoration has also some tips on fixing up the Dana 44 to support real axles instead of the 2 piece that the Tiger’s have. Waiting on the Tiger pan from Armondo’s racing Pans and lastly the cam selection. The cam selection (Solid Roller) is the tricky part. Heads should be good to 7500, but not sure that I want to hammer the Tiger motor that hard. Looking line one of the Comp-Cams ‘Street Rollers’. I hate the sound of that already. The 2 that I’m looking at are the 35-771 and 35-772 for 351W motors. They look either will get the work done, just at what point in the RPM range. The 772 looks good on desktop dyno to about 7200 and the 771 about 7k. so both are pretty close but the 771’s area under the curve looks actually better. Maybe smaller is better?