So there I was, missing Clifford in a really bad way. Having no turbo car to drive really sucks! The trans rebuild was taking quite a while... and then all of a sudden an opportunity fell into my lap. At the end of July, along came an '89 Caravan SE Turbo with 127,000 miles which I could pick up for a mere $500... and it ran! There was no way I could pass that up, so I became a two minivan bachelor.
8-3-01: Hastily got the new van licensed, registered, and insured... then had a custom 3" exhaust system welded up identical to the one under Clifford (all mandrel bends with a high-flow cat and a Race Magnum bullet muffler). Except for the exhaust, everything is completely bone stock... even the sucky two-stage boost control provided by the computer. Took it out to the strip tonight; the best pass was 17.79 @ 74.7 MPH.
8-17-01: Tonight was the next Streel Legal points event, so the blue van made another track appearance. Sadly, not a single change was made to the van for more power. I decided to try playing with my shift point (I cross the traps in second gear). Turns out I was a big hit with the crowd as they loved seeing me knock off competitors left and right in the bracket racing; I made it to the semifinal round before commiting a blunder and giving the win to my opponent. I did manage a 17.58 @ 78.1 MPH, though.
8-24-01: This week I installed a Cyberdyne gauge to monitor my fuel mixture and also a Grainger valve to eliminate the annoying two-stage computer-controlled boost. In preparation for intercooling, I removed the underhood A/C components... and had the engine professionally steam cleaned (worth every penny!). I then splurged and bought a shiny new Ford PowerStroke intercooler to stuff into the van.
8-31-01: Tuesday I dropped off the intercooler to have the outlets modified to fit my application. Picked it up on Wednesday, then worked like a madman to get it installed and functional. I managed to complete the job, barely in time, and headed to the track Friday afternoon. With the boost gauge showing 13 psi I laid down two passes in the 15.8 range, the better being a 15.84 @ 85.4 MPH with a 2.348 60-foot time.
9-15-01: This week I installed a Cartech 20002 adjustable rate of gain regulator. The plan was to have enough fuel to run the turbo wide-open... but I did not have any time to experiment and dial it in. I did try raising the boost by closing my grainger valve all the way; this would give me 17 psi off the line but then the boost would gently settle down into the 15 psi range. I had no idea why this was happening, but I had no time to investigate. At the strip, the result was a crowd-pleasing 15.43 @ 88.6 MPH on a 2.340 60-foot time. This was my track's last street car event of the year.
Modified: 2-19-08.