Project Muscrate: We build a TCI C-4!
By Jay Roeder
11/9/07
Hi everyone and welcome back! Well, the racing season is over in these parts and as I write this it’s a stinking 22 degrees outside. Hey, at least that’s 22 degrees above zero! So now that the “off season” is upon us Midwesterners it’s time to sit back, relax, and wait for next year.
Wrong! Now is the time to get going on the projects and details for 2008. I am as guilty as anyone of procrastination. Unfortunately, this is also part of the reason I have not been ready to race in the Spring for the last couple seasons. So, in the spirit of so-called “off
season” projects I figured this would be the perfect time to cover the build up of the C-4 transmission I assembled for Project Muscrate earlier this summer. Considering that notall of you are willing or able to tackle a transmission rebuild I figure there isn’t much reason to make this a “how to” article in the normal sense. For those of you that do rebuild your own C-4’s you don’t need me to show you how anyway.
Instead, I want to cover some of the basics and also highlight some of the new C-4 parts on the market offered by TCI Automotive. In the last article I finished up the engine installation and even made it to the track. Since then I have made 43 runs and I can say that the transmission worked great!
To begin with, I have never been able to use a transmission brake in the Mustang because it is not allowed in Stock Eliminator. I have always wanted to be able to use one and this year was the opportunity I needed. Man, is it nice! No more pumping up the brakes, trying to hold the car on the line without rolling (which cost me a few red lights and losses, by the way), and no more semi-coordinated releasing of the 2-step button at the same time as releasing the brake pedal. I swear, sometimes I would pump up and hold the brake pedal down so hard I must have looked like a monkey mounting a football!
 This is showing all the internal parts required to assemble a C-4. Now, where did that piece go? |
As I was looking for available C-4 parts and considering that TCI is a DRO advertiser I figured I would have a look. Honestly, I had no idea that TCI had SO many parts available for the C-4. I looked through the parts listings at www.tciauto.com and they had literally everything I needed. I then contacted TCI and formulated a plan of attack.
