Racerboy1a

11-8-11 This is my first blog post and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here but I thought I would recap who I am and how I got into building a 33HR.

As my profile says; I'm a lifelong motorhead. I got introduced to drag racing at the tender age of 14 and was hooked. I spent many happy Sundays at the now defunct US 30 dragstrip near Gary, IN watching and eventually racing there. Those were the days. 1965....run watcha' brung factory cars....match racing....altered wheelbases, Hilborn FI, nitro, Dyno Don, Ramchagers, Mr. Norm, Dickie Harrell.

I eventually partnered with my best friend Pete in the early 70's and we scratch built and raced a tube frame '73 Pinto with a 366 Cleveland and Lenco trans in Pro Stock. We did ok but weren't up to the level of the pros by any stretch but we won several events US 30 and made a little money in the UDRA circuit.

After 3 yrs, we gave up and the car was sold. I then built and raced an A Econo Altered '32 Bantam roadster in NHRA Comp Eliminator for several yrs in the early 80's. This car was also 351 Cleveland powered with a Powerglide trans. It ran 8.77 154 but was never good enough to qualify at the US Nationals as you had to be able to run .5 under your index just to qualify. I gave that car up in 1984 when US 30 closed.

In the late 80's, I bought a '88 Mustang GT. Just for fun, I took that car to a road racing school at Mid-Ohio Sports car course. I had a blast and really enjoyed the driving. It was a real challenge to learn how to do it well. I attended the Bondurant school for advanced racing in 1994.

That experience lead to getting my SCCA competition license; buying a car ('87 VW Scirocco ITA) and going racing wheel to wheel. I raced all over including Nelson Ledges, Putnam Park, IRP, Gingerman, Grattan, and Road America.

I eventually switched to a Honda CRX ITA car and actually won a couple of races. I have been off track for several years now but I did attend a track day at Gingerman two months ago and after a few sessions I was back up to speed....well sort of. I can still do it acceptably at age 66.

Building a street rod has always been on my bucket list but I just never seemed to get around to it. I saw the FFR 33 Hot Rod shortly after it was released and the concept really registered with me. A street rod with road race handling.....yes!

In the spring of 2009, I was diagnosed with an acute subdural hematoma after bashing my head accidentally. Apparently a blood vessel popped and I was bleeding inside my skull. They slapped me in the hospital and did a surgery to fix it and after a few wobbly weeks I was on the road to recovery. I have this really cool scar on my melon that goes from behind my right ear up and around the side of my head to my forehead about 4 inches above my right eye. I have adopted the nickname "Zipperhead" or "Zippy for short.

That life changing event, lead me to conclude that if I was going to ever do a street rod, I better do it now. You never know how much time you have left. So, I ordered a kit (#99) and it was delivered in late August '09.

Progress on the build has been much slower than many of you because we snowbird in FL every winter for almost 6 months. Currently I am close to engine startup as soon as we get the wiring sorted out. GoKart will have to wait until next spring.

The build has been enjoyable but very frustrating at times. I didn't think I would have to do so much rework of parts or have to replace many of them outright. The fuel tank was a big frustration. First with the fuel inlet and mounting brackets and then later with the trunk hinges hitting. After a lot of wasted time I went with the Boyd tank.

In the last few days, my engine builder threw me a curve. I had just finished the ignition wiring for a conventional point trigger ignition system (coil and ballast resistor that he sent me with the engine) including a resistor bypass circuit etc. Now I discover the MSD distributor in the engine must be used with an MSD CD ignition box which requires a completely different wiring configuration! Of course he didn't tell me that. And, oh by the way, another $214 in parts.

After awhile you get numb to this sort of stuff and just get out the credit card, rip out the work you just did, spend the money, and do it all over again.

As many have said......all that agony will be forgotten once the car is running and you drive it. I hope so.

Well, that's it for now.

Mark "Zippy" Seaman
Valparaiso, IN
33HR #99
302/347 (425HP@5500rpm)
TKO 500
3-link, coupe