To say this week went smooth and without trouble would be a flat out lie.  As noted in “The Rock Bug has Left the Building”, Tracy and the Rock Bug headed back to Phoenix last Sunday to, and I quote, “wrap up the final details on the Scat V4”.  Wrap up the final details my ass! What started out as final details turned in to everyone’s worst nightmare.  The Scat V4 was pissed and refused to run.

Think of “Tucker: The Man and His Dream”, except in this movie everyone wanted to commit suicide.  This pretty much sums up the week.  Here is the break down as it happened starting from Monday.  To kick things off, it helps to know just a little background on the motor.  One area that makes this highly custom motor tricky is its “odd” firing sequence which single handedly created our biggest problems.  Every time the motor would try to turn over,  almost immediately the Scat V4 would violently shut down as the firing sequence was not in harmony with the motor.  Repeat this violent behavior for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and you end up with a Scat V4 and transmission flex plate that are so badly damaged from the abuse they need to be completely torn down and rebuilt.

Its now Wednesday night, and Tracy is back wrenching on the Rock Bug, tearing out and replacing the destroyed flex plate so the Scat V4 can be completely rebuilt.  Have I mentioned Tracy has not sleep in nearly a week?  It was pretty obvious at this point Tracy needed some help and support, so Eddie (and his 6 year old son) booked the first flight out to Phoenix (Thursday morning) to hang once again with Tracy and the Rock Bug.

It is now Thursday and with a new flex plate installed, the Rock Bug and what is left of the Scat V4 are back with Dave of Powerhouse Motorsports.  Although the clock is ticking, Dave is careful to take his time in fully rebuilding the Scat V4 as this could honestly be the last chance we are all going to get before KOH.  The complete rebuild goes into Friday afternoon.

And here we are.  Friday night and the Scat V4 is still pissed and refusing to cooperate.  Luck will change however with the visit of a new face, at least in the eyes of the Scat, namely Gerald King of Finish Line Racing.  For those new to the blog, Gerald wired up the entire Rock Bug as posted in “Rock Bug Weekend Update for January 24, 2009”. Gerald stopped by simply to tie up some final ends on the wiring, completely unrelated to the Scat V4.  Hearing how pissed off the Scat truly was, he couldn’t help but jump head first into helping solve the firing order mystery.  Wouldn’t you know it, about 1 hour later all of our luck had changed.  The Scat V4 was running and man does it sound great!!!

We couldn’t make this stuff up even if we wanted to so there you have it, the complete timeline from Monday through today.  For those, including us, dying to hear what an un-tuned Scat V4 sounds like, go ahead and play the video below taken a few hours ago.  Just below the video is a small collection of photos showing off stills of this weeks adventure. 

Finally, we can all sleep a little better (or for Tracy’s sake sleep at all) knowing the Scat V4 is indeed alive and happy.  Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, Tracy will “drive” the Rock Bug over to the engine tuner for some quality dyno time.  As far as the rest of the schedule before KOH, the Rock Bug will hang out with Dirt Sports all day Tuesday for a “Master Piece in Metal” photo shoot (we are told this lasts for 12 hours!).  This was kindly rescheduled from Friday the 20th due to all the issues of the week (thanks again Boyd for working with us).  That’s it for tonight.  Enjoy the video and pictures below and we will see you next time for some more, but hopefully less painful, Rock Bug adventures.

Well that’s a wrap, at least for now.  The last bit of fabrication is officially finished and the Rock Bug is heading back with Tracy to AZ.  With no time to waste and no sleep to prove it, once Tracy pulls into Phoenix he will team up once again with Gerald King of Finish Line Racing to wrap up some final wiring.  Then, first thing Monday morning Tracy will work with his engine builder & tuner to wrap up the final details on the Scat V4. 

Rock Bug coverage is far from over, actually we like to think it is just getting started.  We will be following Tracy and the Rock Bug all year, covering competitions like King of the Hammers & W.E.Rock as well as updates on how the Rock Bug and all the new concepts are holding up.  All of this will be posted right here on our blog as it happens.  Who knows, we may even come up with some new concepts to test along the way.

With only the action pack carriage, GPS mount, and sway bar links left on the list, the Rock Bug is just about ready for final tuning in AZ.  Enjoy the rolling photos taken today and we’ll see you back here once again real soon.

Here is another rapid fire update as we near a close for the Rock Bug project.  The last bit of notable work to finish today will be fabricating a rear spare tire mount, welding up front and rear drive shafts, and fabricating the engine skid plate.  Tonight we will assembly the skins and tomorrow the Rock Bug should be on the road with Tracy for final wiring detail and engine tuning.  Enjoy the quick video taken at 11:45 am MST today and we will see you back here again real soon for the Rock Bug farewell.

There is no question the Rock Bug assembly is down to the final stretch.  The skins are painted, bolts are safety wired, heat treated chromoly third member skid plates are installed front and rear, and the custom chromoly gas pedal is fabricated.  Because the weather was not cooperating today, we gave ourselves till the weekend to make sure everything is in perfect shape and Tracy has an easy drive back to AZ.  Enjoy the photos from today and we’ll see you back here again real soon.