Hoopty Update from the road!

I had the absolute, and distinct, pleasure of meeting one Cory Drake and his friend Hoopty in person today! As I was telling Cory while we were standing by his car "No one can ever appreciate this unless they see it, feel it and hear it." People, let me tell you IT WAS FRICKIN AWESOME!!!!!! I got to drive Hoopty down the street and back (sorry Alan, Cory did say he wanted you to have the first honors) Who knows how long it will take me to get over it? Sitting in that thing, flipping the switches, turning the key, pressing the start button - KABOOM! It is thunderous, I get goosebumps just thinking about it! It was pretty cool to sit and watch through the window of the restaurant as people walked by Hoopty and just stopped and starred, they don't quite stop or stare as long at my car, hmmmm? It was a real honor to meet Cory and to drive his masterpiece, I feel privledged. Enjoy the pics. Thanks Cory! I'm looking forward to the Bay Bridge drive.

WAY Cool!

...sounds like you two had more fun than humans are allowed to have!!

Aww man, you drove it before I did....!

Glad you two met up, this is one of the percs of being on both of the speedster groups.

I just got back from running a few errands in my car. As I mentioned in my previous post, it will be a while before I recover from driving Hoopty. Well, I'm anticipating a restless night - laying there trying to figure out where to go from here?

Jim, I don't know about Cory but I had a blast! The roads were wet so cruising really wasn't going to be that much fun. We're planning another meeting hopefully in the next few weeks.

Let me know where you guys decide to meet, I'm in the middle and may be able to join you some time.

Mickey, that was waaay cool. Bruce, we're thinking about this Sunday.
Mick, you're going to have to go past 1/4 throttle at some point. Might as well be this week!
I tached out on the way home. Gotta get a better chip.
And lunch was great. Thanks again -- Sunday, I'm buying.
WOO-HOO!

I have a little more time now than I did this morning.
I really had some good fortune on that Delaware trip. First, the weather held. I have to say, even if it was in the mid-50s out, I didn't feel the cold at all. I had a death-grip on the steering wheel for the first 40 miles or so of the 80-odd mile trip to Wilmington, but after that I got pretty comfortable with passing cars and settling back down to a prudent and reasonable 70 or so miles per hour.
I didn't realize until I passed Havre de Grace, Maryland, (almost at the Delaware line) that I had never greased the front beam assembly. I had packed each of the bearings last week, but I never applied the grease gun to the beam's fittings. I also had no rear brakes at all.
The tires stopped spinning when I hit the brakes, and they'd been bled three times, but there was a lot of play in the pedal.
The hand-brake didn't hold on a grade, probably due to air in the lines and the newness of the pads themselves. I was terribly excited and wanted to get on the road, so I took my chances with primarily front brakes. My plan was to use the gearbox to slow down, and the brakes to stop. I also made the Wilmington trip without engine tins, but owing to the very cold air outside and the DTM shroud kit, I figured I'd dice it.
I hit the road after peak noon traffic in Baltimore, took the 895 tunnel to clear the city and had really good luck with the engine.
I had estimated there were four and-a-half quarts of oil in the case, since I have no dipstick and therefore had no way to tell how much I had puked out the day before. (I had been running hard without a filler cap and didn't notice until I put the car to bed that night. The cap I had didn't have a gasket and vibrated off without announcing its departure.)
I was basing my assessments on the oil pressure gauge on the case; 20 cold and 40 hot seemed like it was 'normal' for the dragsters we've seen in and out of the shop. All I know about this engine's operational history is that it came out of a dragster and into my hands. There's lots of speculation about where it had been before that, and almost no wear-and-tear to base detective work on. ...
I'm retarded. Anyway, I got away with it. (more)

So, as it turns out, I was running with about three quarts. My exhaust had that hollow sound you hear in an old Nova when it's light on oil, and that should have clued me in. I wasn't sure whether I was going to have to stop for an oil change at the last service station in Maryland or not, but I didn't need to. I stopped, but I looked at all of my component pieces and the two gauges I do have closely at idle, and then I continued on carefully and didn't pass a whole lot of folks. Old men with hats, mostly, but they had it coming.
I got to Wilmington without incident, and met up with Mickey at the restaurant to a warm reception.
Mickey's chalkboard sidewalk sign read "The Hoop is Loose" or something similar, and the car got a heroes' welcome from the adjacent shops' patrons and proprietors. That was neat. He had coffee on (which the Michelin Map people will hear about, and so will the Zagat folks -- to up the four-star rating to five) and we chatted for a few minutes while watching passers-by break their necks walking on the sidewalk past the car. We traded stories of how our ownerships had come to pass, and Mickey mentioned a very enthusiastic mechanic friend who might want to see the sloppy jalopy in action.
I had mentioned that I had some service concerns when I made the en route call from Havre de Grace, and Mickey connected us with his Wrench. He drove the car to the garage after the third cup of coffee.
The former-medical-school-student-turned-mechanic he uses shelved the cars in the bay when we got there, and made the Hoopty his next patient. That guy was also an engaging conversationalist who seemed genuinely excited to see something as bizarre as the sloppy jalopy come rolling down the street.
For fifty bucks and a good conversation, Mr. Steve Swyka did what I should have before I started the trip. He also looked at each of my idle jets for obstructions, cleared one, set my idle at a slightly increased rate and then test-drove his work.
Fifty bucks for brake bleeding, idle-clearing, oil change and initial break-in analysis (we looked at the aluminum in the screen), lubium application and several other small fixes I'd have had to make AFTER getting home seems to me like a great deal when you're on the road. That guy is getting a mailed thank-you card with a photo in it. (more)

When Mr. Swyka had done his level best, Mickey drove us back to his restaurant; I think we both had the SEG plastered on our faces, and lots of Delaware bugs narrowly escaped death by a sum total of 64 barred teeth.
It was getting toward the evening rush, but I figured I'd have time for a sandwich before I had to get home to make Mama happy. He ordered me up a turkey wrap and some very good bottled seltzer water and we talked for a while longer.
If you ever get the chance to pick his brain about his 356-related history, why and how he came to the realization that it was a worthwhile thing to do -- and how his car occasionally gets space in the garage -- have that conversation. Good stuff; I can relate.
But we had a chance to talk about business, philosophy and people, too. A leisure conversation of the kind I so rarely get to have, on the same wavelength the whole day. Very cool -- and one of the things I had been regretting about leaving Carlisle before dinner on Saturday last year.
He took the photos at the top of the thread right before I got back on the road, the Hoopty humming through the gears as I got back onto 202 and headed south. I stopped at a gas station a few blocks into my return leg, added eight gallons, and ran into one of the guys from Swyka's shop. I thanked that guy again for the time they gave me -- even though that guy hadn't touched the car -- and headed on down the road at excessive speeds.
I took a couple side trips on rural Maryland biways, and treated I-95 like my own personal speedway when traffic was thin. I had an absolute ball, and I don't think my shakedown cruise could have gone better. (Thanks again, Mickey.) I had forgotten how much of a head-clearing exercise it is to just saddle up and go, even in the freezing cold. I'll be doing that again and again until the first frost. I may be singlehandedly responsible for fourth-quarter oil company profits this year, and I could care less.
It's good to be back in the saddle again.

As an aside, Alan, I'm sorry you didn't get first honors as Guest Driver, but we'll save that for the Carlisle track if you like. That way, you'll get to be the first SOC'er to drive her in friendly competition. I promise, she'll be up to the challenge.

Cory,

Thanks for sharing the in depth tale .....great reading!
As mentioned if,(there's that word)I get the Killer Kart done for Carlisle, it will be an interesting 350 lb ride with a 50 hp Virago twin hooked to the Yamaha a five speed. 7:1 should be a permagrin.
I suppose I should keep my Neurosurgeon's card in my wallet for easy access:)