Hey guys!!! I'm BACK!!! Thanks for the concern and well wishes. My wife has been doing better. We went to the lake 10 or 12 times this summer and ran the hell out of the boat. It ran great and it was SO NICE to get out with the wife. The year before, the boat never even left the shop. I have been slammed at work. I have been getting home at 8 to 10 every night. My back recovery has been extremely frustrating but it has gotten better. I have to admit that there were several days of boating that my wife looked at me and told me that she was ready to go in.....I was ready to go in too. I can't walk out on the nose with socks on anymore. I can't keep my balance and I don't have the control over my left foot that I had before the surgery....but if thats all I have to put up with...I am in good shape.
When we stopped boating, I got the Burb back out and started driving it again. I found something out that really surprised me. If it is 70 degrees or less outside with no AC on, I have no loss of fuel pressure. Its is vapor locking somewhere (and the pump is too week to pull it when it is hot) So, I have been driving the crap out of it. (I still haven't put the new fuel system in it). My wife has been driving it everywhere because the dogs can go. I finally talked her into driving it and now I can't get her our of it. It has a little over 2,000 miles on it now.
I hooked up my wideband O2 this morning and started tuning. It was pig rich with the smaller headers (than Dyno) and the cats and muffs. I went from 76's to 72's in the primaries and adjusted the air again. Its amazing how much of an effect that adusting the air will have across the entire RPM and load band. Cruising around with no load in it, I am in the 13.0:1 to 13.8:1 range. When the secondaries kick in it is in the high 12's. The longer you hold it wide open, the more it comes down. I clamped down on it about an hour ago for a few seconds in the HOV lane and at 120mph I was at 12.0:1 which is Perfect to be safe at WOT. I want to put about 10,000#'s behind it (thats all the hitch is good for) and do some towing to make sure that it is not going to go to lean under more load. My gut tells me it is going to be fine.
Lets see....what else is new..... I sold my big RV. I listed it in Racing Junk and a guy from Texas bought it. I met him half way in Little Rock Arkansas. I finally gave in that I will not be able to 4 wheel like me and the misses used to do due to both of our health issues. We have been looking at Toterhomes with a big motor in it so that we can tow the burb and the Rhino on the flat deck trailer and have 40' of living space.
I have a this boat for sale where a friend of mine committed suicide at the end of March. I have sold the 6 door F650 and all of the other toys he had. (I am selling all of it for the estate to go to the family. I have also spent a ton of time doing all of this.) http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifieds/skater_399_vrod-o47000-en.html
This is a $500,000.00 boat. The market is just in the crapper. I started at $299,000 and I thought it would be gone in a week. The engines and and rigging cost what the price is at now. They are at 1320 hp per side on pump gas at about 12lbs of boost. If I have to drop it much more, I may buy it. It is sitting in my shop anyway.
I have really missed talking to everyone. I will follow up with the guys I talk via pm when I have time. I hope that everyone else is doing good. If I can ever help anyone based on my build, please don't hesitate to ask.
John
When we stopped boating, I got the Burb back out and started driving it again. I found something out that really surprised me. If it is 70 degrees or less outside with no AC on, I have no loss of fuel pressure. Its is vapor locking somewhere (and the pump is too week to pull it when it is hot) So, I have been driving the crap out of it. (I still haven't put the new fuel system in it). My wife has been driving it everywhere because the dogs can go. I finally talked her into driving it and now I can't get her our of it. It has a little over 2,000 miles on it now.
I hooked up my wideband O2 this morning and started tuning. It was pig rich with the smaller headers (than Dyno) and the cats and muffs. I went from 76's to 72's in the primaries and adjusted the air again. Its amazing how much of an effect that adusting the air will have across the entire RPM and load band. Cruising around with no load in it, I am in the 13.0:1 to 13.8:1 range. When the secondaries kick in it is in the high 12's. The longer you hold it wide open, the more it comes down. I clamped down on it about an hour ago for a few seconds in the HOV lane and at 120mph I was at 12.0:1 which is Perfect to be safe at WOT. I want to put about 10,000#'s behind it (thats all the hitch is good for) and do some towing to make sure that it is not going to go to lean under more load. My gut tells me it is going to be fine.
Lets see....what else is new..... I sold my big RV. I listed it in Racing Junk and a guy from Texas bought it. I met him half way in Little Rock Arkansas. I finally gave in that I will not be able to 4 wheel like me and the misses used to do due to both of our health issues. We have been looking at Toterhomes with a big motor in it so that we can tow the burb and the Rhino on the flat deck trailer and have 40' of living space.
I have a this boat for sale where a friend of mine committed suicide at the end of March. I have sold the 6 door F650 and all of the other toys he had. (I am selling all of it for the estate to go to the family. I have also spent a ton of time doing all of this.) http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifieds/skater_399_vrod-o47000-en.html
This is a $500,000.00 boat. The market is just in the crapper. I started at $299,000 and I thought it would be gone in a week. The engines and and rigging cost what the price is at now. They are at 1320 hp per side on pump gas at about 12lbs of boost. If I have to drop it much more, I may buy it. It is sitting in my shop anyway.
I have really missed talking to everyone. I will follow up with the guys I talk via pm when I have time. I hope that everyone else is doing good. If I can ever help anyone based on my build, please don't hesitate to ask.
John
