54-57 Fast Lane 9/16/13 4:00 PM Page 57
THIS ISSUE: PG 60 >> Tales from the WD
some effort to get it loose. When I put the engine back together, I decided to use the special black silicone to seal the whole pan, ensuring it would never leak. Well, it didn’t. The next time I went to remove my Steff aluminum pan, I nearly destroyed the rails getting it apart. Apparently, Ford intended that black silicone to be used for something to never come apart again. It was back to my industrial clear, but I did keep the special Ford black silicone handy for emergency repairs.
PG 62 >> Show Products
PG 80 >> Final Wrap
best you can. Part of racing is how you deal with adversity in situations like these, and you may help your customers make it to the finish line if it comes down to it. The point is to never give up easy. Do what ever it takes. Call upon the unsung heroes. To the person that says, “I’m not putting stop leak in my engine,” all I can say is – If you
Fast Lane
are a true racer, you will! Welcome to the REAL world of racing. ■ “Animal Jim” Feurer is the owner of Animal Racing Engines in Lacon, IL. He has raced and won numerous drag racing events and has learned many lessons along the way. He is a frequent contributor to our Fast Lane column.
Absorbents and Diapers Absorbents and diapers have been a huge safety breakthrough. I can recall using numerous “unsung heros” back in the day at the “Turkey Farm” before these were around. The Turkey Farm, aptly named for the Cedar Falls, IA, drag strip located next to a property with a huge turkey farm, was another UDRA Nationals venue and my nitrous tune had a disagreement with my crankcase pressure, which resulted in billowing and cracking the front lower horizontal weld in my oil pan. It only leaked on deceleration when chutes deployed and the oil washes forward. Because of this, shutdown at Cedar Falls created a very dirty, sandy mess under the car. We used most of the unsung “friends” that weekend, including brake cleaner, silicone, epoxy, racer tape, folded shop towels, etc., on the cracked weld. (Unfortunately, special black Ford silicone was not available yet.) For three rounds we fought to contain that cracked weld. I lost by a hair to Wild Bill Kuhlmann in the final. He was just faster that day. At least we had thrashed our way to the final and were still upright, but our patchwork failed. The smoke from the oil on decell on each run was pretty harsh stuff. The under side of the Zephyr was a mess. Oil drenched and coated everything with the dirty sand. Today, with diapers and absorbents, a situation like this would not be a problem. When I ponder the sometimes bizarre and scary things that I have done to keep running, it amazes even me. But, my theory has always been to start as perfect and as good as you can be and to get through possible future marginal times the
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