Cliff notes: KOH sucked. A lot.
This is going to be pretty long and drawn out because we may have the worst ever KOH experience. I got hooked on my first race in 2009 when I codawg’d with my buddy Alan Thomas at the first race put on by Rausch Creek. Last year was the first time that I felt like the truck and its driver we really ready to take a shot at the RCQ. It was a rough day, but at the end of the day, Dave Cole said, “Dan Guyer, you’re in. You’re going to California.” We tore the truck down to a bare frame after our last race in September. The goal was to have it running by Turkey Day. Everything was showing its age, so we did a lot of patchwork on the frame and added tubes to the chassis. The engine and trans ran great for two years, but the decision was made to “freshen” them up a bit. It’s a LQ9 with heads, cam, car intake, etc. and a TH400.
I conjured up a pit crew of the best guys I know. They’re the ones who I’ve been wheeling with for years, and one is even my son’s godfather. I trust these guys. I then made the plunge to buy a 14K enclosed trailer to be sure I’d have enough room for the things we’d need in Hammertown. Fast forward to mid-January, and the pile was finally getting close. Dave Williamson of Dave’s Offroad Supply lives about 10 minutes from me. While he was trying to finish his own buggy, I’d pester him to come down and help out when he could. I got help from Chris Pearson, Chris Albert, and of course, my codriver Mike Haran.
We got the pile loaded on the trailer and back down to Hagerstown to reinstall the drivetrain and finish some other bits. We had a few days left, so it went back to my house to “finish” what I could. I loaded it in the enclosed and piled in my tools and spare with the help of my wife. Once back to Hagerstown, Mike and Alan would be driving my CTD and trailer to Cali on Wednesday. A few other guys from the club would be dragging two more buggies out to CA with his CTD too. They left Tuesday. Mike and Alan had an uneventful trip, but the other guys had engine problems, which stranded them in Arizona. The rest of our crew flew into Vegas on Friday and picked up RVs on Saturday morning. So far, almost so good. We arrived on the lakebed on Saturday afternoon, but one only one truck made it. Stu and Happick would end up taking my truck to Arizona to get the other trailer and their buggies.
Then things went to hell.
The triple fatal accident on 247 happened as the driver tried to pass Stu. The guys were fine, but they were the first responders. No more description necessary. They made it back to the lakebed on Sunday late afternoon. While the guys were gone to get the buggies, we finished a few things on the buggy and decided it was time for a spin out to Chocolate Thunder. The engine starting getting hotter than ever, the oil pressure was low, and it lacked power. Glowing. Red. Headers. WTF? Back to the pits. We tried to add a bit more fuel to the tune, and took it back out. No change.
We decided to sleep on it for the night and try again in the morning because we were all exhausted. We added more fuel once again, but the same thing happened. 220 with just gliding through the sand. Wes from Sho-Me speed came over to look over to the tune to see if he could find anything. Zilch. The AFR still went to 17+ throughout the RPM range. Again, not good. In the past, we didn’t use a coolant crossover tube but that was the only thing we could find to change. We spent Monday afternoon chasing one down, finally finding one at a dealership in Ontario. When we finally got it installed, it was late night. We went for a quick spin, and the temps seemed to be a bit better, but the oil pressure was way low for my liking – 25psi hot idle.
On Tuesday morning, I informed Dave that I would be missing my qualifying slot, but he gave us a chance to go on Wednesday. We played with the car a bit more during the day to see what we could do. Wes gave it a new tune, and we seemed to get the cooling correct. By mid afternoon, we took the jeep over to tech, and Wayne gave it his blessing. The excitement was short lived because we took it back out to the lakebed, only to have it shut off at mid throttle in 2nd gear. It felt like someone hit the kill switch. We tried to restart it, but nothing but a puff of white smoke came out the exhaust. We got a tow back to camp and started to notice oil on the air filter. Not good We tore the heads off only to find a 7 cylinder. #1 decided to part ways with us. It looked like a half moon. Damn. I managed to bend a valve too. KOH was turning into King of Hell.
I looked on Wednesday for a ride – even jumping up on stage with Dave during Happy Hour to see if anyone might want to get their car in the race. The only taker was someone who wanted to boot me out after the starting line. That didn’t sound like much of a KOH experience to me. My wife then arrived to the lakebed about 7pm. I was trying to drown my misery in the form of Lager cans, but it wasn’t working. I never thought I’d hear her say something so odd. “Let’s go buy you a motor. We’ve spent this much money so far. And you’ll need it eventually.” So, off to visit Chris at CBM in his motorhome. He had 6.0L block with forged pistons and rods at his shop. He told me to have mine torn down and in pieces, ready for his shop to open. In a little over three hours, I was back on the road from CBM with a fresh bottom end and a little hope. By 10:00pm, the guys had it back together, and Chris was riding along with me, watching the AFR and making a safe tune. Oil pressure was 45 hot, and temps hung at 200. Bingo.
The start of the race was uneventful until we got to the first lakebed. The rear brakes had seized. We bled them and went on our way. The desert was punishing….especially because we missed all shock tuning and pre-running. And we East Coasters have no idea how to drive on the sand. The calipers seized again at MM40, so we capped the lines with our -3AN fittings.
We winched backdoor and headed for lap 2. We came upon Doug Bigelow at Aftershock and handed off a link bolt. And then we gave a jump start to someone else. At least we were doing a good deed for the day. Things went really sour midway through Aftershock when a link insert pulled out of the rear LCA. FAIL. After two failed attempts with the ready welder, we moved on with a ratchet strap fix. I did get some pretty cool tire tracks across my truck, courtesy of the leaders. King Miller owes me a mirror.
After freezing our asses off for hours, we finally got back to pit 2A. We were so numb that the Ruff Stuff guys threw us in their truck and let us get warm. They welded the CA and even put it back on. Thanks, RSS and Dan!
Our crew came out to drag us back to camp, and Chris would drive the racecar. Fail # Ihavenoclueanymore struck. The front brakes caught fire. God help us. We still have no idea, but we think it’s the MC.
We loaded up and headed home about noon on Saturday. We took 40E and found one helluva snow storm just west of Albuquerque. We found a HoJo for the night and weathered the storm. We made it through the next day and night, when I’d take over about 7am in Oklahoma. And then it got worse. The tail wagged the dog, and I saw someone no one would ever want to see – the side of my 24’ trailer in my side-view mirror. Oh fawk. The trailer went into the median and hit a culvert. The next thing we knew, we were climbing out of my beloved CTD…upside down. Yard Sale. The two responding officers couldn’t believe that the three of us walked away. The truck and trailer were a total loss.
Within 30 minutes, the pbb crowd had come through. Greg Cochran of Arkansas Truck came to our aid with two 24’ enclosed trailers. We loaded all of the junk and headed to his house. He’s one fine fellar and let me take his personal truck to the wrecking yard to clean out my now totaled truck. Scott (Deke) changed his direction home and stopped by to load my buggy to take it to LII, where Timmay would let me store it. Thank the Good Lord for people like them.
There are some people you meet in life who are different. Everyone knows Eugene Rose. And we all know that Gene is different. He and Numidia started driving just after the accident and arrived in Arkansas (from MD!) in 17 hours. AJ Condon even sent them on their road trip with a big box of chow from Jimmy Johns. We collected all of the thrashed toolboxes and equipment and loaded his gooseneck. 17 hours later, we hit Maryland. Gene and Numi are quality people.
I have to thank a lot of people for making this less painful. Greg, Scott, Gene, and Numi were lifesavers. I must also thank all of my Maryland Creeper friends who donated a pile of money to help Gene and Numi get to AR. I can't begin to repay these people.
And that is my King of Hell experience.
This is going to be pretty long and drawn out because we may have the worst ever KOH experience. I got hooked on my first race in 2009 when I codawg’d with my buddy Alan Thomas at the first race put on by Rausch Creek. Last year was the first time that I felt like the truck and its driver we really ready to take a shot at the RCQ. It was a rough day, but at the end of the day, Dave Cole said, “Dan Guyer, you’re in. You’re going to California.” We tore the truck down to a bare frame after our last race in September. The goal was to have it running by Turkey Day. Everything was showing its age, so we did a lot of patchwork on the frame and added tubes to the chassis. The engine and trans ran great for two years, but the decision was made to “freshen” them up a bit. It’s a LQ9 with heads, cam, car intake, etc. and a TH400.
I conjured up a pit crew of the best guys I know. They’re the ones who I’ve been wheeling with for years, and one is even my son’s godfather. I trust these guys. I then made the plunge to buy a 14K enclosed trailer to be sure I’d have enough room for the things we’d need in Hammertown. Fast forward to mid-January, and the pile was finally getting close. Dave Williamson of Dave’s Offroad Supply lives about 10 minutes from me. While he was trying to finish his own buggy, I’d pester him to come down and help out when he could. I got help from Chris Pearson, Chris Albert, and of course, my codriver Mike Haran.
We got the pile loaded on the trailer and back down to Hagerstown to reinstall the drivetrain and finish some other bits. We had a few days left, so it went back to my house to “finish” what I could. I loaded it in the enclosed and piled in my tools and spare with the help of my wife. Once back to Hagerstown, Mike and Alan would be driving my CTD and trailer to Cali on Wednesday. A few other guys from the club would be dragging two more buggies out to CA with his CTD too. They left Tuesday. Mike and Alan had an uneventful trip, but the other guys had engine problems, which stranded them in Arizona. The rest of our crew flew into Vegas on Friday and picked up RVs on Saturday morning. So far, almost so good. We arrived on the lakebed on Saturday afternoon, but one only one truck made it. Stu and Happick would end up taking my truck to Arizona to get the other trailer and their buggies.
Then things went to hell.
The triple fatal accident on 247 happened as the driver tried to pass Stu. The guys were fine, but they were the first responders. No more description necessary. They made it back to the lakebed on Sunday late afternoon. While the guys were gone to get the buggies, we finished a few things on the buggy and decided it was time for a spin out to Chocolate Thunder. The engine starting getting hotter than ever, the oil pressure was low, and it lacked power. Glowing. Red. Headers. WTF? Back to the pits. We tried to add a bit more fuel to the tune, and took it back out. No change.
We decided to sleep on it for the night and try again in the morning because we were all exhausted. We added more fuel once again, but the same thing happened. 220 with just gliding through the sand. Wes from Sho-Me speed came over to look over to the tune to see if he could find anything. Zilch. The AFR still went to 17+ throughout the RPM range. Again, not good. In the past, we didn’t use a coolant crossover tube but that was the only thing we could find to change. We spent Monday afternoon chasing one down, finally finding one at a dealership in Ontario. When we finally got it installed, it was late night. We went for a quick spin, and the temps seemed to be a bit better, but the oil pressure was way low for my liking – 25psi hot idle.
On Tuesday morning, I informed Dave that I would be missing my qualifying slot, but he gave us a chance to go on Wednesday. We played with the car a bit more during the day to see what we could do. Wes gave it a new tune, and we seemed to get the cooling correct. By mid afternoon, we took the jeep over to tech, and Wayne gave it his blessing. The excitement was short lived because we took it back out to the lakebed, only to have it shut off at mid throttle in 2nd gear. It felt like someone hit the kill switch. We tried to restart it, but nothing but a puff of white smoke came out the exhaust. We got a tow back to camp and started to notice oil on the air filter. Not good We tore the heads off only to find a 7 cylinder. #1 decided to part ways with us. It looked like a half moon. Damn. I managed to bend a valve too. KOH was turning into King of Hell.
I looked on Wednesday for a ride – even jumping up on stage with Dave during Happy Hour to see if anyone might want to get their car in the race. The only taker was someone who wanted to boot me out after the starting line. That didn’t sound like much of a KOH experience to me. My wife then arrived to the lakebed about 7pm. I was trying to drown my misery in the form of Lager cans, but it wasn’t working. I never thought I’d hear her say something so odd. “Let’s go buy you a motor. We’ve spent this much money so far. And you’ll need it eventually.” So, off to visit Chris at CBM in his motorhome. He had 6.0L block with forged pistons and rods at his shop. He told me to have mine torn down and in pieces, ready for his shop to open. In a little over three hours, I was back on the road from CBM with a fresh bottom end and a little hope. By 10:00pm, the guys had it back together, and Chris was riding along with me, watching the AFR and making a safe tune. Oil pressure was 45 hot, and temps hung at 200. Bingo.
The start of the race was uneventful until we got to the first lakebed. The rear brakes had seized. We bled them and went on our way. The desert was punishing….especially because we missed all shock tuning and pre-running. And we East Coasters have no idea how to drive on the sand. The calipers seized again at MM40, so we capped the lines with our -3AN fittings.
We winched backdoor and headed for lap 2. We came upon Doug Bigelow at Aftershock and handed off a link bolt. And then we gave a jump start to someone else. At least we were doing a good deed for the day. Things went really sour midway through Aftershock when a link insert pulled out of the rear LCA. FAIL. After two failed attempts with the ready welder, we moved on with a ratchet strap fix. I did get some pretty cool tire tracks across my truck, courtesy of the leaders. King Miller owes me a mirror.
After freezing our asses off for hours, we finally got back to pit 2A. We were so numb that the Ruff Stuff guys threw us in their truck and let us get warm. They welded the CA and even put it back on. Thanks, RSS and Dan!
Our crew came out to drag us back to camp, and Chris would drive the racecar. Fail # Ihavenoclueanymore struck. The front brakes caught fire. God help us. We still have no idea, but we think it’s the MC.
We loaded up and headed home about noon on Saturday. We took 40E and found one helluva snow storm just west of Albuquerque. We found a HoJo for the night and weathered the storm. We made it through the next day and night, when I’d take over about 7am in Oklahoma. And then it got worse. The tail wagged the dog, and I saw someone no one would ever want to see – the side of my 24’ trailer in my side-view mirror. Oh fawk. The trailer went into the median and hit a culvert. The next thing we knew, we were climbing out of my beloved CTD…upside down. Yard Sale. The two responding officers couldn’t believe that the three of us walked away. The truck and trailer were a total loss.
Within 30 minutes, the pbb crowd had come through. Greg Cochran of Arkansas Truck came to our aid with two 24’ enclosed trailers. We loaded all of the junk and headed to his house. He’s one fine fellar and let me take his personal truck to the wrecking yard to clean out my now totaled truck. Scott (Deke) changed his direction home and stopped by to load my buggy to take it to LII, where Timmay would let me store it. Thank the Good Lord for people like them.
There are some people you meet in life who are different. Everyone knows Eugene Rose. And we all know that Gene is different. He and Numidia started driving just after the accident and arrived in Arkansas (from MD!) in 17 hours. AJ Condon even sent them on their road trip with a big box of chow from Jimmy Johns. We collected all of the thrashed toolboxes and equipment and loaded his gooseneck. 17 hours later, we hit Maryland. Gene and Numi are quality people.
I have to thank a lot of people for making this less painful. Greg, Scott, Gene, and Numi were lifesavers. I must also thank all of my Maryland Creeper friends who donated a pile of money to help Gene and Numi get to AR. I can't begin to repay these people.
And that is my King of Hell experience.
