Lots of labor for the whole deal.
Entire thing tore down. Main bearings, cam, lifters, a few rockers, timing chain and components, piston rings, reassembly, then a bunch of dyno time to break in the new cam...

It's kind of hard to show how much progress has been made in the last month. Because it doesn't look like much. But i can assure you i've had 5 hours of sleep every night for the last 30 days.

I am beefing this thing up much better than it was before

Engine rails in.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...46d62591f5.jpg

Hockey sticks to add support.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fb0e5f430e.jpg

Hockey sticks in. Tube for wing wiring in.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1dccbaff89.jpg

Wing and new wing hardware being mounted in.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d201542b8f.jpg

Making templates for decks.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5d3f4c8296.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...556c8283f9.jpg

Rough cutting up foam for decks.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6e820f6f98.jpg

Laying up the first set of decks. All that black velvet.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0bfa8d5a62.jpg

Vacuum bagged.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...113c9278b3.jpg

Stupid little hanger on the bottom layer. It's getting painted, so i wasn't worried about it.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...23d1fefab6.jpg

Hockey sticks in, this is the cell that the skid fin is mounted to. Lots of beef.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3a1bbcb90b.jpg

Here is a little time lapse video of the workflow on a layup.

It seems like a lot has happened. But as with any project, what seems like major progress happens in quick succession. Decks are on.

Looks cool now, until i tape in all the joints and start doing body work! Unfortunately i'm painting over all this beautiful carbon. Unlike what modern supercars would lead you to believe, high temperatures and direct sunlight absolutely wrecks the glue in carbon fiber. Plus, working on a black boat / race machine in blistering heat is not something i want to do, or would put my crew through.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a1cb5dbd82.jpg

Erats hydroplane thread update.

Honestly, just going to spare you the month and a half of bodywork updates and skip straight to the paintwork. Bodywork absolutely sucks. I burnt up 2 electric orbital sanders even taking good care of them.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bc926149d0.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7bb62c34ea.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f8b27fc5ff.jpg

Looks sweet!

Was it dust killing the sanders?

Brushes on both. But I don't know what made them heat up. I blew the dust out of them after every use... But when they're $50 I guess they aren't meant to last.

So how many knots per shark or whatever speed unit you use, does this thing go? Looks pretty bad ass.

I've touched 115 on the Racepack GPS.

At $1500 a prop, it's hard to justify a massive prop for top speed when we spend a good majority of time turning left. Our average lap speed is around 90mph on a 1 mile course so you can see how important is it to carry speed through the turn.

Hot momma.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d709799f03.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...173afda9f4.jpg

Any guesses as to how heavy that carbon fiber cowling is?

10 pounds.

How 'bout a carbon fairing for those round air brakes?

8lbs. Half the weight of my old one and more rigid.

What are you referring to in your question?

He's being a smartass. He means the exhaust headers.

I bet there's data to be had that would suggest rear facing headers with a collector produces an amount of thrust that is greater than what would be provided by zoomies.

Regardless of all that. She's ready to go. Gunthersville AL this weekend.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...612165a2cd.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...91fd51204b.jpg

Looks great. You did a ton of work getting her ready, hope it pays off for you.
Looking forward to films in actions.

Yep exactly. I am an above average intelligence asshole that works for one of Erat's old competitors who saw gains by rerouting their headers out of the wind.

Rear facing headers are better than zoomies, but a fairing on the rear facing headers is better than no faring on rear facing headers. With the pic of the engine cover I see there's a kickout helping air flow around them already though. Like you mentioned a few times, consistency is more important than any of this. Good luck in AL this weekend, the boat looks great!

These were made specifically because our SBC hydroplane couldn't run shaft rockers, and because polylocks and guide plates are not ideal at the rpms you are turning. About $1000 more* than the scorpions and guide plates, but some amount less risk of wiped out cam/lifter/engine/race weekend.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7703b48176.jpg
*Available in steel if your sponsor is paying for it.

Oh come on, now you come off some secrets...

Now i know why them boys never lift the valve covers off them engines. At all! They even say they never check them all season...

If you're at liberty to say and if you know. What lash are they running? I've heard 2-4 but i'm up around .008 - .010 cold. I was always under the assumption that things close up when hot and at .002 there doesn't seem to be much room for margin.
I'm still running the scorpions, but i could easily swap them out and use them on the wet sump backup engine i have.

They said 4-6.

Just happened to park the RV next to rich runne. Real good guy.
Lots of beer and many conversations later.
Said he'd hook me up with some good stuff this winter if we want it.
Right now my old ass boat is hanging with Bobby and his mahan power as well as Dylan's old ride.

today's events:
It's rough out there today. Beat up the boat a bunch. Broke the battery box in multiple places. Couple holes in the shoes on the sponson. Got it patched up for tomorrow.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d77c81b687.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...55a19d8c0e.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...70f8c00d56.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04e30a60fb.jpg

Manged a 3rd and 2nd. Got one more and fian tomorrow.