drecpt83

Looks dangerous. I love it!

Game ova

Leroy 2.0

JoeNova

After the magazine articles on the early setup last year, its a little late to change it now.

The name came from someone putting me on the spot by asking "what is it", and not being able to say what my neighbor had been calling it lol.

NSFW

Bummer. I was kinda proud of that pun.

JoeNova

I had big plans with the car. I'm not sure if I'll have the chassis finished soon enough to get around to it this year.

I'm still on a stock TH400 and a stock Dana 36 rear (which is making lots of noise). I have an 8.8 from an explorer that won't be too hard to get mounted. Its the axle situation that will take some time to solve if I want it to be a budget solution. I MAY have found a work-around, we will see. I'm also hoping to pick up a mildly built TH400 with a manual VB and T-brake for ~700-900 bucks. That would make this a reliable 800 HP setup, and I would still have less than $10k TOTAL invested.

Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

Can’t just throw a solid axle under it and be done? 8.8’s aren’t very heavy and can be made tough pretty darn cheap! Best of luck with it. I was hoping you’d finish it up and go stomp "Leroy's" times... I just saw it went 8.3 @ 169 tho... finally got it ironed out after dumping 50k at it.

Game ova

Wait until he really starts leaning on that 427, I don't like the guy (too corny) but that motor setup is not one to be denied. And when he gets sick of jacking around with the 6 speed and puts a 2.08-2.10 400 in it..... watch out.

JoeNova

I've contemplated the solid axle, but I want to keep the IRS. The newer Mustang 'super' 8.8 has been pushed to 1700 HP, so IRS is an option.
I've picked up an 03 explorer 8.8 for $100 with axles. Getting it bolted into the car is going to cost me $100 for brackets and that's it.
Axles are the hard part but I may have gotten lucky and figured out an affordable solution. I might be able to make this work on a major budget.
It looks like the inner axle stubs for the Ford 8.8 have a bolt-on 930 style flange instead of a 1 piece axle stub.
This means I might be able to either bolt on a 1350 pinion yoke, or at least weld one onto the axle stubs. I could then use my stock axles, but I'll probably get chromoly versions made.


Building a 6-link rear would eliminate the axles as the upper control arm. I could then use C7 rear hubs and just order custom length 8.8 axles. The 1200 HP Versions are $899.
That's the $$$ route. I would end up with $2k in a near bulletproof IRS rear end. As of now, its looking like $400-500 for the 8.8 conversion.


Drag racing was never the goal. I have other cars for that. I wanted the best possible all-around performer on a 10k budget. Autocross, road course, drag, etc. Ultimate goal was to be competitive at LS Fest in the Grand Champion competition. Since I'm tackling this completely alone on a $150/week budget, it probably won't happen this year.

bikerman9967

ridiculous build

coltboostin

Few local events I hope you can attend-

https://www.facebook.com/events/1784...tab=discussion

And Drag race + Auto X at Kil Kare
http://www.columbusracing.com/forums...d.php?t=128508

JoeNova

Its alive!

Filled the tank with E85 and got it fired up temporarily. Its sounds amazing with the new cam under a little load.
Considering that this thing sounded like a cammed LS3 while cruising on the stock cam, that's saying something.
It builds boost wicked fast on the 2 step. Even with the gates opening at ~12 PSI it climbed to 20 or so.

I have a center console to build, and I have to mount and wire the new headlights/taillights and get plates for it.
First thing to do after a few miles to check for bugs is hit up the local autocross fun-runs and make sure the suspension is dialed in.

JoeNova

JoeNova

Strickland Racing contacted me about my car. Apparently, they are building a new 'supercar' using the name Chupacabra. They claimed they owned the rights.
A quick search shows that their Trademark application was denied, so I've started a GoFundMe in order to pay for the federal Trademark for the car and youtube channel.

Mods, I don't know the rules here on this type of thing, and I re-read the rules but they don't seem to specify for this kind of thing, so please just delete the link if I'm in the wrong here (and don't give me the ban hammer, you guys love me and you know it.)
https://www.gofundme.com/help-me-trademark-my-car

P.S., I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I've been contacted involving a few BIG things coming up involving this car that I haven't told anyone about yet.

NSFW

I and a couple friends own a Mustang that was named Chupacabra when we bought it. It was raced under that name in the American Iron class. Not sure when, but the car is a 1996 and we bought it in 2017, so somewhere in that range (I realize that doesn't narrow it down much, but that's all I know...). The wing had Chupacabra printed on it with vinyl sticker letters when we bought it.

We, the current owners of the Chupacabra, hereby transfer the rights to that name to JoeNova for him to use however he pleases.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I am not a legal expert, but I seriously doubt that anyone can trademark the word "Chupacabra." From the little googling that I did, it seems that it was a term that was coined by an individual and is used to describe a mythical creature. The analogy would be if someone tried to trademark the words "Big Foot" or "Sasquatch." It won't happen. The example is already out there because I see there is now a Sasquatch Music Festival and a band called Sasquatch.

Both Chupacabra and Sasquatch are words are are in common use in the English language, and are thus allowed to be used by anyone for any purpose.

Andrew

NSFW

El Chupacabra was also blamed for a murder in an episode of the X-Files.

Corvette was also an ordinary English word (a small fighting ship), but I'm pretty sure it's a trademark now.

I'm also not a lawyer, but it seems bizarre that somebody would apply for a trademark, not get it, and then act like they own it. Especially when they have not actually made the thing they want to call Chupacabra.

Probably the first step would be to talk to a lawyer and get their thoughts on what the next steps should be.

JoeNova

I'm not worried about it anymore.

They've already contacted their lawyer. I've been told that I have no legal obligation to change it. If I change it, I'm going off the deep end with the new name. Trust me, itll draw some attention.

I'm working on a new YouTube series as part of a collaboration with another channel. It should be pretty epic.

NSFW

This is one of the reasons that in-development projects are usually given a code name. Call it "project nine" or whatever, then work quietly to make sure the real name is suitable for trademarking - not already in use by someone else, for example - and release a finished product with a secured name. They put the cart before the horse.

Years ago, Apple had a project code-named Sagan. Even though the name was purely for internal use, and the product was going to be given a new name upon release, Carl Sagan (or was it his family?) complained. So they renamed it the "Butt-head astronomer" project.

So you could go with something like "Strictly Vaporware," for example. If you feel like making enemies, that is.

JoeNova

I don't know if this will play for those of you who don't have Facebook (let me know), but I couldn't wait to get the car finished before taking it for a test drive today.

JoeNova