I know you were being sarcastic.
I was too.
You're absolutely correct about the practicality of my setup as a dependable race setup. It would not be the way I would suggest someone else go. Especially, someone just looking to have a car to race. You know. People with the race car driver mentality. No regard for how the machine works, just wants to tear things up on the track. It would be so much easier to buy off the shelf parts and put something together that would most likely give me the same results and ultimately have been much cheaper. But, my ultimate goal has never been to quickly put a car together, jump into it and just race it. That would bore me to death. The enjoyment I get out of my project is the challenge of putting together something that is unique and efficient and challenging. I love to tinker and try new things out and learn new skills. Whether the skills be craftmanship related or scientific (metallurgy, fluid dynamics, electronics, metal fabrication, mathematics, etc., etc.). Sometimes, I think so much so to a fault. But,... it's how I enjoy using my free time. It would be total boredom to most people I'm sure. It's like blower technology. Top fuel teams are never satisfied with the performance of their blowers, among other aspects of their race car too, I'm sure. Blower technology would never be where it is today if racers just sat on the couch watching football games all weekend, chugging down six packs. There are people out there that are always asking the question, 'What if we tried this? Would it squeeze a little bit more out of it?' There are some people out there that know hundreds of ways not to build a blower and a few right ways to build a great blower. They didn't get that experiece by sitting on their behind. And,... it's what they enjoy doing. Obviously, I'm not trying to build a record breaker. The setup would have taken a much different direction and I would have ended up with a worse maintenance nightmare than I have with this one. Plus, there is always someone out there with the resources to top a record. I choose to simply challenge myself. That is where I derive my satisfaction from this project. It's my shop project.
The delay box is working great. There is one aspect of it that worries me.
There is a reset circuit that I have connected to my throttle microswitch. The same one that activates the NOS system. The WOT switch. I have this reset circuit connected to the normally closed terminal. When this terminal supplies 12V to the delay unit, it resets the delay timer to start (rearms the timer). This terminal on the microswitch only supplies 12V when at any throttle position other than WOT. The only time the timer will count down is when this circuit is at 0V (WOT). If the circuit sees 12V, it stops the countdown and resets the timer to start. That brings up some situational problems.
The intended situation would be to stay at WOT for the complete run, the 16 psi pressure switch shut power to the nitrous gas solenoid, the loss of 12V on that circuit then signals the delay box to start and maintain countdown on the ground circuit of the nitrous fuel solenoid, as long as 12V is not seen on the reset circuit (at the throttle microswitch) as the countdown is occuring.
The problem. What if during or just before the countdown needs to happen, I have to come off WOT? As soon as I pull off WOT, 12V is supplied to the reset on the delay box and countdown is haulted and reset waiting for the next loss of 12V on the power side of the nitrous gas solenoid, as long as there is not 12V on the reset circuit. I don't like the idea of what might happen if I have to pull off WOT at the wrong time. I've been trying to figure out a different activation arrangement for the reset circuit that would be automatic and keep me away from the above situation. Any ideas appreciated.
