Detroit, MI -- Yet again, I have to apologize for the lack of timely information on the Pelech Bros. Racing website. It's not that we don't have the interest or ambition, no sir! We just haven't had the time! So instead of a full-blown update, we'll just give you the 'postcard' version of 'How we're spending our Summer Vacation'…

It's been none stop madness ever since our Charlie 'Chaz' Vickery painted chassis rolled back into the shop. Charlie did a killer job applying the color to our once battle scarred Super Streeter. Special thanks to Pro Mod racer T.J Harrill for being so kind to share the manufacturer & color code for the retina melting red that now drapes our car. One other note that you might find of interest; in our un-ending pursuit to minimize the weight of our racecar, we had our body & chassis media blasted before painting. After blasting, the body & chassis that you see in the photo to the right weighed 17 pounds less then it did before blasting! I sure hope Charlie went real thin on the primer & paint - but not too thin!

As soon as the chassis rolled back in, the boxes of powder-ready parts rolled out to Shelby Township's QC Coatings to be treated to 'Bill's Baked-on Bullet Proof Beautification' program. As QC's Bill Walker likes to say, "You make it fast, we'll make it pretty". And they'll make it pretty - pretty darn fast! These guys never cease to amaze me by how nice of a job they do and how quickly they do it. It's great to have a nationally recognized industrial coating company right here in southeast Michigan. And not only does QC Coatings apply a multitude of powders, they also have several options for metal-ceramic header coatings. QC Coating has been a long time supporter of our operation and we can't thank them enough for the years of great service they've provided.

The moment the racecar was un-bolted from the rotisserie, Tim immediately jumped on the re-assembly starting first with bending hardlines for the fire suppression system and brakes. While that's going on, I've been busy working with our CNC cylinder head supplier ET Performance on a pretty cool prototype part that should remedy the valve train reliability problems that have plagued us and a few others I've heard.

A while back, I brought our problems to the attention of Dart Machinery founder, Richard Maskin. Since the 'Big Chief' castings we use are his babies, I gave him some specifics of our combo and asked him what it was, in particular, about our combo that is wasting exhaust side rocker arm gear so quickly. He said, "Because you're doing something nobody else is doing." OK, like what? "It's simple; you've got a short stroke big block that you're spinning to 9,500+ with a heavy load of nitrous. If I was the exhaust valve I wouldn't want to open either." So with that in mind, Tim and I set out to fix the problem by designing a part that nobody else has. It's a 'one-piece' rocker arm mounting bar specifically designed for the Big Chief head. Now we know the concept in general isn't new, but applying it specifically to the Big Chief casting is. This will eliminate the scrawny little, unsupported, stand alone exhaust rocker mounting stands. The exhaust stands will now be structurally tied into the surrounding intake stands. Gone are the days of ripping complete exhaust arm & stand assemblies out of the casting and the costly, time consuming repairs that go along with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah… We tried deeper holes & longer bolts, dowel pins, steel threaded inserts, and all that stuff - but it didn't cut it. But now, if an exhaust arm wants to rip out of the casting, it better be man enough to take seven other arms with it!

We've got a ton of time and effort wrapped up into this endeavor and as soon as we've proven the designs, we'll be applying them to our new 11 degree heads and our revamped 14 degree heads as we go looking for the answer to the next obvious question; What's the next weakest link? Lifters? Pushrods? Or maybe the arms themselves? I'm sure we'll find out.

That's all we have time for right now.

More later…

Thanks for visiting!

Ted & Tim Pelech
Pelech Bros. Racing