The Cal-look Lounge

Ran it up today, no issues, just need to whip the heads off, stick the JPM springs in and get it in the car.   ;D ;D

im a happy man

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0nvenQZcXg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0nvenQZcXg)

Sweet  ;D

 -cool. Well done Ben.. bet you cant wait....

 You'll have to post some vid, cos we're not likely to see it in the flesh..  :(  ?

Not this year im afraid  ;)

Well pleased with it, its my first ida motor, so we'll see how it goes, its nothing too lairy.

Not Drag Day  :o ??? ;D

Definately not  ;D

Savage. .. ;)

seems very responsive!

care to share the spec?

yes andy no bother, nothing serious just a lot of off the shelf parts.

as41 case with all the usual stuff

82x94
cb super race crank
cb 5.5" super race rods
aa pistons/liners tru arc keepers
cb flywheel
stage 2 clutch exedy/daikin disk.
ks main bearings clevite rod
web cam 86c
cb forged 1.4 rockers
jaycee pushrod tubes
manton cromo p/rods
cb 28mm lightweight 2 piece lifters.
cb s/c cam gears
cb wedge ports 44x37 flycut 44cc chambers
10.2-1 comp.

26mm shadeck oil pump
cheapo set of italian ida's on big beef mani's
speedshop 1" 5/8 exhaust system.

thats most of it.

new arrival due next week so im not going to have any time in the short term to get the motor in and on the dyno, although to be fair its the least of my worries. ;D

Well done mate! Look forward to hearing and seeing it sometime soon!

You have got me going with an ida motor now!
 ;)

So im trying to sneak a few hours in the garage to get the motor in the car, its a bit off a mess at the minute  >:(    I'd like to have it in and ready for the dyno in a couple of weeks, better start clearing the damn garage out!!!!!!

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/486684_10151288940371644_732352202_n_zps1f3ea291.jpg)

like my shed and garage lol

Washing machines do make the best engine stands.

Haha the wife doesnt seem to think so, its in the car and running now, plus i cleared my garage out  :o just got a couple of small jobs and some wiring to finish then ill hit the dyno in the next few weeks if the weather picks up, currently blowing a gale here and due more snow  >:(

this is how it sits as of yesterday, excuse the rubbish phone quality.

i had a set of straight cuts on the shelf so i used them, christ they are LOUD, i hate them. :o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8FTzqOLwxc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8FTzqOLwxc)

Its been a long wait to the start of the season here, but i had the best day racing today, My car has stock gearbox and axles, and to me, is on shoestring, i ran drove the car to the strip, did a few dial in passes, beat my pb of 13.82 on the first run, then the numbers kept falling, after my 4th run i'd managed 13.002 so i was desperate to do just one more to see if i could crack a 12.

Final run of the day, i let the tyre pressures on the crappy 185 van radials (ten years old) down to 18psi, and went out and ran a 12.9 @101 on a crappy airstrip, no prept tracks for us.

Mega happy with such a great result (for me) and i took a trophy for quickest of the day too ( you could argue that the competition wasnt that quick) but ill take it  ;)

rubbish start, i think my 60 ft was 2.2, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUwtAatqCWg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUwtAatqCWg)

Awesome work Ben! If you can shave a couple of tenths of the 60ft, you can knock a lot more off the overall ET - it's generally reckoned that a tenth off the 60ft is worth 2 tenths at the top of the track, and I've had a 1600 getting sub 2.0's... ;)

Cheers neil, my old engine on a completely unchanged car was 1.9's, im just doing the best i can with no budget and going through the line in 3rd lol

I know all about the low budget thing, my wife lost her job due to company insolvency on Friday (which was supposed to be payday! :o) - I'm collecting cheap stock boxes at the moment as my race car fund is suddenly re-named the household bills fund and Asda don't do close ratio drag boxes... :D

welcome to my world, my wife is off on maternity and ive an extra mouth to feed , but to be fair, thats no complaint  :)

Well done Ben !!  :) I think that's a great achievement mate. Built and run on a  budget and still nailing a 12 !! How cool is that  ;D

Thanks shane, it would be really nice to have a "built" box, something i simply cannot afford any time soon, infact definately not this year, im only using 3 gears  :-\ over the 1/4 the ratios and the big rear van radials make the gearing so looooooooooong, but hey ho, im so happy it ran a 12, theres more in it, i jetted it up at the track as i'd not been back to the dyno since the manifold work and vent change, i erred on the side of caution and its definately rich, I'll give the engine a full service and then drive it over to see the boys and get a final tune on it. Best bit was being able to drive it home, knowing i'd got the number and it wasnt broken  :)

Well done Ben!! Tom told me today...we're all chuffed for you! Seems like only yesterday when you got that car bet you're glad you held onto it!

Get a box and some sticky tyres and you'll knock another second off that time!!

Keep it up!!

Ian Clark
WPS

Hi Ian thanks  :)    Funnily enough it only seems like yesterday that me and Tom used to finish work and come to the workshop and have pizza with you Lee and Jay, great times, i guess they left their mark, I always thought there was no way i'd ever be able to afford/build an ida street car, but i guess i was never in a rush.  Funnily enough the van radials are ones that Deano put on an old set of american eagle wide 5 fuch copies years back, i remember him saying "ill get you a pair of burnout tyres" haha.

Got a chance to fire it on to the rollers today, Did two quick pulls and immediately a fuel pressure issue has risen its ugly head.

Prior to finding this issue heres the numbers so far.
 
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/bens%20bug/dyno_zps88d3d3d1.jpg)

There was no real point in trying to tune it, so ill have to go through the fuel system, as soon as it comes on cam fuel pressure just drops away afr's were hitting 13's at around 6k rpm, called it quits but overall im extremely happy with it, i need to do some midrange tuning too and smooth it out but that can wait until i have sorted the fueling issue.

I must add previous to this i ran the motor on the rollers (my dyno time is free ;)) this was with 37mm vents f7's 160 mains 200 airs, standard bigbeef manifolds that were only partially match ported up, it made 160bhp and 151 tq. 28 degs advance.

I then had a friend weld the manifolds right up, then i spent the guts of a week of evenings porting them right up and getting them right, now it has 42mm vents and 175 main (which was a good guess at the track) 200 air  still f7's untouched advance, the work was worth it. :)

double post, whoops.

👍👍👍

Good Numbers so far Ben  ;D and good progress !!  What was your pre-set fuel pressure on the ida's and what did it fall too by 6-6200 ?? Be interested to hear about your final jetting too.

Cheers.

Shane.

Hi Shane, fuel pressure was set at 5psi @ idle, it dropped as soon as the motor comes on cam, by 6k its at 1psi and afr's are leaning out, i wound it up to 7psi just to see if the gauge was iffy same result, could be something as simple as a bad earth or kink in a fuel line, itll be a simple fix im sure, Im using the Facet red top "works" pump (regulated),Flow rate of 35 gallons per hour with a delivery pressure of 6.5-7.25 Psi. For competition use up to 240 BHP.  So the pump should be more than up to the job, i only have a small pinhole breather in the neck of my tank so i ran it without the cap to see if the tank was vacuuming, same result but at least it ticks an item off the check list.

I thought IDA's liked fuel pressure about 3.5 PSI??

They love 1psi  :D
ive run idfs with 6 psi, never had a problem, the ida's havn't shown any problems with more than suggested, in fact every motor ive run on idf's or indeed the ida's have not been sensitive to more than the "Known" fuel pressure, the only carbs that ive ever experienced problems with too much pressure has always been soiex/kadrons.

Shane Im running 8mm i.d hardline to the rear, pump below the tank etc, funnily enough with my old motor, on first install i remember taking it up the a127 and floored it in 4th and the thing just died until i let my foot off, the tank was vacuuming and after some advice from my old man and his days of motorbikes and funnily enough Ritchie Webb too ( Although he suggested the "proper" way to do it,  i drilled a pinhole in the filler neck, that sorted it without having to mess about with fittings etc, ok not the safest way but it did me all those years lol.  I will get back to it in the next week or so, first fathers day today so ive had a well earned break from the car and a day with my girls  ;)

Small update, i ran a new pb with the car last weekend, and im interested to know your thoughts.

im running a bone stock trans with 4.12 R&P and stock axles, my 60 ft was 1.9 on my pb, but they normally average around 2 sec. obviously im ringing its neck, the tacho reads over 8000 through the line in 3rd, not that im bothered by this.

My question is, being realistic  how much quicker over the 1/4 would the car be with a built trans and slicks? and what added problems do these upgrades bring, i have had two seasons of running, super consistent and zero breakages, literally check the valve clearances, fresh fuel drop the van radials down to 18psi and away i go, if putting a built trans and slicks makes it a hard launching car that breaks, then im not interested, maybe not go the slicks route, i would be happy if the car clicked 12.5's all day long consistently.

Hi Ben, firstly congrats on your new PB !! I heard you ran 12.4@111mph ?? Was that ET with no fan belt mate ??  That is a fantastic time with a 1.9 60ft on radials let alone a stock ratio box. I would have thought blasting through the traps at 8k with your motor spec would be way past peak power having an idea of your motor spec ( fairly typical 190-200 fwbhp without belt )

For what it's worth I always thought having a close ratio 3rd and 4th could knock half a second off stock box times and the same again with slicks so potentially one full second quicker, ie 11.4 in your case. I am sure there is way more science to it than simple 2+2 math though !!  :D

Only examples I can give you are based on my own experiences. With my old blue 63, I ran with radials but a little more sporty than van tires ( yokkies ro32's ) at 18 psi - with a 1.58 / 1.21 / 4.12 trans and my 200 bhp ( fwbhp without belt ) JMR 2276, I would run consistent 12.7 - 12.8 at around 104 - 105 mph with fanbelt ( removed the belt for one pass and ran 12.5@106 ) my 60ft's were always around 1.8-1.9

Onto current 2332 motor making maybe an extra 20 bhp ( fwbhp without belt ) same ratio 3rd and 4th as before but using DOT's now - my typical 60ft's are in the 1.6-1.7 zone with pressures anywhere between 14 - 17 psi ( have not seen consistent reductions in ET going down from 18psi to 14psi just less tramping with lower ) I did manage a 1.59 once. My best ET'S have been around 12.2 and best mph 111 crossing line in 4th around 7k with the fanbelt in place. Have not tried without. Yet.

Hope this info is of some use ??

Cheers, Shane.


 

Hi Shane thanks for the info, yes im waaay past peak power, but that shift to fourth is completely pointless, although its not making power im not worried about the rpm its pulling, theres no sign of float etc and if it goes bang then hey!!! ive only myself to blame, yes it ran 12.4 @111mph the engine is making 185 flywheel, im not concerned about dipping into the 11's, but im thinking more along the lines of a trans combo that will make use of the engines peak power in all gears and also improve my 60fts, my last 3 or 4 runs have all been 2.2 60ft and clicked 12.8s, so consistently it will run 12.8s all day long if the gearbox were to hold up. food for thought Shane, it can wait till next year if the funds are there, otherwise its another season on a £50 gearbox  :D

oh and yes Shane belt off.

If you are on facebook, this may work for you.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=573845209345551&set=vb.118164291689879&type=2&theater

It really depends on what you want to do with the car.   111 mph should net you around 11.70-80 with gears and slicks. But if you have the power to run 12.40 with stock gears, building a beefed up trans with those same stock gears will get you 12.0s and you can still drive it around.   Since you, like me have a new baby and money is tight, that's what I would do.  More fun, less money.

Well thats my season over, and to be fair im extremely happy with my progress.

I ran on saturday of this weekend and only mangaged two runs both with missfires, first was a 13 flat with a missfire top end so i just got off the throttle and coasted it, 2nd run was a 12.8 with a misfire pretty much through 2 and 3rd then at the top end losing all full throttle power, i nursed it back to the pits and had a look at the jets and ignition, but nothing was blocked in the carbs and i suspected a fuel pressure issue. Went out for one more run and it died in 1st gear so i pulled it over and limped back to the pit where i parked it for the day. It was actually a really good day, helping a few of the guys tune their engines that weren't running right, those guys all ran p.b's which was great.
I got it home and fired it up to get it off the trailer and it ran clean as a whistle, no problem, so i suspect the coil is on its way out or the fuel pump, not bad to be fair, two seasons racing and only had to park it once.

The car achieved what i wanted, which was a genuine consistent 12 sec, it runs easy 12.6- 12.8's with a soft launch on the stock gearbox so im mega happy. my best was a 12.4 @111mph with a sub 2 sec 60ft.

What next year will bring, i dont know, probably more of the same, consistent and cheap to run i hope, i have no plans to make any changes to the engine, but i would like to do some minor work to improve the chassis setup and add some more safety to the car. Most importantly ive learned a lot and had a ton of fun at the same time.  :)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/1043921_174827499356891_936258753_n_zps1106086c.jpg)

Well done mate. Beat my best in that car :'(

Cheers ant, im actually driving my car, not your dads old one, still a way to go before Dave beats your best time yet, his best is a 12.9 so far, hard to believe we have 2 12 second bugs here in Northern Ireland that have run those times on a track here. Hopefully the first of many.  :)

This was my first run on saturday with a poor start and a slippery mid track and a missfire at towards the end, haha its all stacked against me, that was a 13 zero, i went 12.8 with the missfire and parked it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTjr9llMF1w


This is my best run of the season.  12.49 @111mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OR077VA0Ik

Oh yeah of course, I'm stupid sometimes.

Haha, not as bad as me, im pretty stupid most of the time.

Heres your dads old car from saturday, not quite running as quickly as he usually does but itll bring back a few memories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX1e4Y3oZTc

So i have a little winter progress, if you can call it progress, just garage tinkering is more appropriate.

The engine is out, the gearbox is out and the rear end completely stripped down.

The new gearbox is yet to land here but hopefully will be this week, i bought it from Tom on here, its a bit of a halfway house but i could just about afford it, i know 4th is still going to be a touch on the long side, but beggars cant be chosers and all the other parts inside are real nice.

it has a weddle mainshaft, all weddle gears, superdiff h/d sideplates etc etc and a pair of short race axles, Dave Dinning very kindly went and collected it for me last week to which i am extremely greatful (Thanks Dave  :) )

The ratios are
3.75 1st
2.25 2nd
1.48 3rd
1.04 4th
on a 3.88 r&p.

I have started to clean up the back end of the car, the wings have never been off in its life by the looks of it, i started one side last night, it has a tough bitumen layer underneath, so i hit it with the heat gun and it peeled off very nicely to reveal a really solid inner wing. Note the factory crayon mark that has transferred to the underseal.

I have a TON of work to do before the new season starts in March, but hopefully i can get enough time to get out into the garage and get stuff done.
No plans to change anything with the engine, i think i will just run it as is this season and see how i get on with the new gearbox.

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/1003194_10151852579441644_1108260297_n_zps708038e6.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/1535723_10151852579646644_920113546_n_zps6b18c390.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/936817_10151852579826644_797925337_n_zps44aef3f3.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/1604652_10151852580276644_1891944727_n_zps7daf3d39.jpg)


Plans this next month are.

Clean up all the inner wings, redo the fuel system, add 2 sets of caster shims to the front end, limit the suspension travel on the rear, New gearbox built up and back in the car and sort out the frame horn brace. Then its heading down to my mate Shane at Lawlors Customs for some cutting. This will pain me slightly  :(, but it has to be done, im going to install some hookeys Hi Pac access panels in the inner wings, i just cannot get those manifolds down tight enough and forget changing plugs so somethings got to give. I will however keep whats cut out.

It took me about 10 years to finally get a system of tightening the manifolds sufficiently.  I got pissed one day at the street legal races when a manifold came loose so I went home and fixed it.  First make sure your manifolds are flat.  I then filed the manifold on the nut side flat.  Then I filed the side of the manifold to accommodate a real washer and replaced the nuts with ARP 12 point ones.  I use a 1/4" 12 point 10 mm socket and a universal joint attached to a 15" extention and put the manifolds on first.  You can really crank the nut down that way and I haven't had a problem ever since.  All of those 8mm ID 11mm OD nuts are worthless.

Went for a blast tonight, had a ring round a few friends and it was the general opinion that if youve got a street car you may as well use it on the street  :D

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/10289888_10152128087946644_6191353829028868427_n_zpsb6a7d4b0.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/IMG_2129_zpsaf40de9e.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/IMG_2127_zps8b84a14d.jpg)


So nice to take a run out with a few folks, makes a nice change, plus the wonderful weather helps.

The car is running pretty good, not much to report, the new gearbox is certainly suited more for the track but not too bad on the street, for cross country blasts its a scream, but on the motorway you really notice the shorter 4th.

I think im pretty much done with the numbers, we were out a few months ago but nothing to report as it was wet, a damp run sugggests with a 1.8 60 the car should go somewhere near a 12 flat, its now in the realms of taking it further away from being a street car and biasing it more towards the track, something i dont really want to get into, my whole deal with the car is it must remain a street car, but as it gets quicker it becomes more uncomfortable, and i like a bit of comfort  ;D

I also made some side access panels, there are varying items off the shelf, none of which i find truly suitable and easy to either install or use on regular basis with about a million screws per cover.

This is what i came up with.

0.40" printing plate, cut to shape, super strong mag tape loom clips and a foam gasket seal.

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/10325584_10152018379541644_9037206256825945802_n_zpsfde041d6.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/10330309_10152018379551644_4206483340420218967_n_zpsfd535bd2.jpg)

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/t3ben/1001981_10152018379751644_441427547802612608_n_zpsb9e1049b.jpg)


They are simple effective an most of all super cheap, less than £5 a pair. They hold in no problem over 100 mph and dont leak, they pop out in seconds rather than having to undo a ton of screws, much as it pained me to cut the car, the manifolds are so easy to get to now and bolt down tight.

Its been a long winter. In December my mate Dave at bugbitz helped me tear the motor down and we went through it, may as well have stayed together as there was nothing wrong with it bar a few leaky pushrod tubes, this year after much deliberation i decide i wanted to nitrous the car.

Ive spent the guts of a year gathering up parts to build up a system and it took me a long time for the right parts to come along 2nd hand or unwanted new.

Its a wizards kit direct port kit, i had my mate tig weld some boss's into the manifolds and tidy them up, i wont bore you with all the details of the build, im running 2 fuel systems both low pressure, one for nos one for fuel. today was the final day of plumbing the system and were good to go. im also running a Max extreme controller with transducers to keep an eye on the pressure side of stuff to be safe.

I primed the fuel for the carbs and checked for leaks, then cranked it, it fired straight up no dramas, ( well apart from that bloody fanbelt going walkies AGAIN and i put loads of time into the alignment, new deeper grooved pulley is on the cards, im fed up playing fetch )

So next up its get some Nitrous into the country as currently there is none, and even more of a worry, no one is dealing in it over here for the automotive industry, period. Ive spent weeks on the phone and dealt with everyone who used to supply it over here, all drawn blanks, there has been very little uptake in the use of nitrous in vehicles here in Ireland and the costs to bring it in for vendors means that even at £8 per lb, they will still be losing a tonne of money. I have a friend hopefully going to dragstalgia who has offered to get me a bottle filled and bring it home, that should be enough to get it dyno'd at least but im a patient man and the season is long. My goal for the car is drive it to the track and run an 11.99, if it all works out and everything is still together by the end of our drag day in August, i will turn it up a bit for our big road/boat trip to Santa Pod for VW Action.

A huge thank you to Danny Pike and Bernard Newbury for the advice theyve given me along the way, it has been much appreciated  :)

Tonights fire up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRN_PvQzAVo