Wrapping up the May car shows

     Attended a small, local show on Sat. and there were more trophies than cars; about 30 cars.  Needless to say, everyone got a trophy.  Threatening weather will ruin a car show.  Several of the Road Rodz club members cruised the 50 miles to Turk Lake, north of Greenville to their 19th annual car show.  Again, the weather forecast was a bit iffy and the day was quite warm and humid but the car turnout was great.  158 cars showed up on a holiday weekend.  The Road Rodz had 9 cars in attendance and all of us garnered a top 75 trophy.  Here's the gang:

Norm, on the far left is holding 2 trophies as he had two cars in attendance.  As we were leaving to get ahead of dark skies, Ken was camera ready as we make our exit from the show parking lot.  Here's a nice shot he captured as the 41 heads down the road.

     The old girl gets a lotta looks at the shows with many comments on how cool it is to see an inline 6 still nestled under the hood.  The winter upgrades have proven to be worth the time, effort and money as the 41 is a real pleasure to drive.  Every change has worked flawlessly.  I have three more upgrades to complete this year (hopefully).  I plan to carpet the trunk area, replace the windshield and get the chipped paint on the front fenders and hood fixed. 
     This past Friday evening, the wife and I cruised to some friends' house and the four of us took the 41 for a ride before stopping at a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.  You can't do that with a hot rod coupe!  The sedan has room for 4 and everyone has plenty of room. 
     Big weekend coming up June 2 & 3.  The 2nd is a big local show and Sun, the 3rd is the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour stop in Muskegon, Mi.  We did the Muskegon event last year and I'm looking forward to this year's show.  Great cars and lots of 'em!

Just cruisin' the month away!

It's been about 3 weeks since I've updated the blog and most of the time has been spent driving the 41.  The new front suspension and steering makes a world of difference over the stock parts that were barely tolerable last year.  Several people have commented favorably on the new stance with the front end 5" lower.  I just smile when I look at a side view because it sits exactly how I had hoped it would. 
     The oil leak isn't fixed but the leak is less than last year.  I've been under the car and wiped it clean a couple of times since getting on the road.  Last week I removed the dust cover from the bottom of the bell housing, cleaned it thoroughly and applied a special oil absorption pad that I cut to fit.  The pad is something Maksim's uses for EPA compliance in the event of an oil spill.  I used weatherstrip adhesive to hold the pad in place inside the dust cover.  The pad seems to have reduced the leakage quite a bit since it not only blocks the weep hole in the bottom of the dust cover, the pad also retains any oil draining down the sides of the dust cover. 
     I used the 41 for a couple of computer service calls last week as well as a trip to Lowell to LA Trim to measure and order some carpet for the trunk.  Much of that tank of gasoline was burned as highway miles.  When I refilled the gas tank, I calculated the miles per gallon and got 17.7 m/gal.  That's excellent for the this combination.  Plus, I was running 75 mph on the expressway in overdrive!  Gotta love it!  The 41 doesn't have a tach so I calculated the rpm based on mph/tire diameter/3.36:1 rear end gears.  Looks like it was running 2200 rpm's at 75 mph in OD.  Sweeeet!!
     So far this month, I've attended a couple of benefit car shows as well as a club cook out and a Tues nite gathering at Fricano's Pizza.  It was raining the day of the cook out and I got a chance to run the new electric wipers.  They worked perfectly!   Here's a few pics of for this month.
 

  That last picture was taken with my cell phone in bright sunlight so the quality is a bit off.  But it's a great shot of the stance.  Hope everyone reading this has a great summer.  I'll post some updates periodically but I plan to spend as much time as possible Cruisin' the Summer away!