Seat Relocation

       My first project to complete on Howe is to relocate the seat to a position that fits me comfortable and allows me to safely operate the car.  The gentleman I bought the car from was about 5'6" or so and I am 6'2"  so some work is in order.  The first thing I have done is to move the seat down as far as possible to give me ample head room. I also leaned the seat back an extra 10-15 degrees to give me some more arm room.  I have also moved the pedals forward about 2-3 inches to accommodate my long legs.
     My current struggle is with the harnesses.  Since I moved the seat down considerably, I was worried about the belt angles being off. Luckily since I am considerably taller than the previous owner all the belts line up quite well.  Only problem is the shape of the seat and the height of my shoulders don't allow the harness to route correctly.  I will be wearing some sort of head and neck restraint system and that necessitates that the harness be run in a very specific way.  Long story short I am going to have to cut new harness holes in the seat and weld up the one that the seat originally came with it.  I think that brings everything up to date so Ill post again once I work on the car more tomorrow.

Update

      Now that I've introduced you to the car the following posts that I will put up in the next couple days will be updates on what I am doing to the car to get it ready for the first event of the year. The first event will be Mt. Ascutney on May 17-19.  I don't have much time today so ill have to post more when I get a minute.

Meet Howe the race car

      On Sunday February 10 I accepted a new pony into my stable. Her name is Howe. She may not be the prettiest car in the world but what do you expect from a girl with a boys name. The reason she may seem a little unsightly or unfamiliar to most is because she isn't in the configuration most people are used to, being mainly a stock car without the usual fiberglass body, and only minimal body panels.
      The reason I bought this specific car was to race it in the New England Hill-climb Association, King of the Hill series here in Vermont.  This car has been campaigned in that series quite successfully by a gentleman who has now retired from racing.  That being the case, the car should be very well set up for the purpose of hill-climb racing.
      An explanation of hill-climb racing is in order to clarify exactly what it is I will be doing. The short version is that it is asphalt time trial racing up a winding mountain road.  The events of NEHA (New England Hill-climb Association) are all held in the middle and southern parts of Vermont.  Most are either State Park summit access roads or Ski Area maintenance roads. The shortest course is about a mile, the longest being up to 4 miles, with the average around 3 miles.  This is very tight technical racing as the roads are often very narrow and quite rough.
     The roughness of the road is one reason you'll find a hill-climb setup to be very different than that of a track setup.  The cars that tend to do well are rally cars and cars with a  little softer suspension setups. You see a lot of  Subarus at hill-climb races.  Likewise Howe is setup with what by racing standards would be considered to be fairly soft suspension, its still no slouch but just not as stiff as a setup for a smooth track.
     Now to the important stuff, one of the biggest reason I bought Howe was for the engine setup. The best explaination is how the original advertisement put it.

"Chevrolet small block engine; balanced; 350 C.I. block bored .030 over but destroked to 320 C.I.; Holley 750 C.F.M. carb reworked by Davinci Carbs; Wilson carb spacer; K%N Air Filter; Edelbrock Victor Jr. Intake Manifold; Dart 202 angle plug heads with machine work by PCW; chrome forged crankshaft, Crower H-Beam rods, Wiseco 12.5 to 1 pistons; Iskerdarian camshaft; Rollmaster Performance Timing Chain set; Dual Crane Hi-6N Ignition Boxes, Coils, & Coil Splitter; Holden 9000 Pro Billet Series Electronic Distributor; Canton Road Race Oil Pan with Accusump Oil Accumulator (gravity feed); lubrication Mobil 1 15 w 50; RAM Triple disc hydraulic clutch; Howe Aluminum Radiator, with electric fan"

I'm not sure exactly what the cam profiles are but this thing runs like a top, even the idle is smooth. Ill update soon on what I'm doing to prepare the car and for hill-climb and fit it to myself as a driver.

Moultroup Racing

This Blog is to document the racing adventures of any and all members of the Moultroup Family.  I Luke Moultroup am the first to purchase a dedicated race car. Thus I saw it fitting to start this blog and share with the world the adventures that will ensue. Tomorrow I will post details of what my race cars is and what I plan to do with it.