Getting the coupe ready for the 2004 Ego Rama didn't require quite as much work as last year. The first order of business was fixing the neutral safety switch. As it turned out, the switch wasn't fauly at all. It just wasn't wired properly. In the mad thrash last year we did test the switch at the shifter but we didn't check to see if it actually worked with the ignition switch. It wasn't wired properly at the ignition switch so, it had no chance of working.

A couple of more outings at the local 1/8th mile dragsrip indicated that last years trans mods were not sufficient and that the car really needed a shift kit. Without it the car felt like it was hanging between first and second when shifting it manually. A B&M kit cured that problem. It also needed more convertor to work with the new heads and cam. With the stock convertor I was only able to get 2.00 second 60 foot times and it felt really lazy off the line.

The last major change was to install the complete MSD ignition system that I bought before the 2003 Ego Rama but ran out of time to install. With the bigger cam and heads, the engine was going through spark plugs like crazy with the stock ignition.

The convertor and ignition made a huge difference. The drivability that ws lost with the cam and heads is back in spades and the car has a lot more useable horsepower. Unfortunately now, traction is a big problem and I didn't have time to do any more track testing before the event.

I'll update this page some more after the coverage of the event has been published in the April 2005 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine.