The eternal rebuild

[Peter Shattock]

I’ve had a bit of time on and off to put some street miles on the car this summer and the good weather has been great for the hot temp testing.

I’ve got to the point now where I’m happy I know where the car is with hot running and with the deck lid open it is manageable even when the outside air temp is in and around the 30’s which does not normally last for long here. It is a bit marginal at times and I do need to slow down every now and then, but it’s manageable.

What has not been manageable though is the lack of charging but two regulators and a replacement alternator later it looks like I have a working system now. I had wondered with all the electrical power hungry gear I have in the car now I was just short of power which would have been a real pain but thankfully that was not the case and it all looks to be good to go.

With the new alternator fitted just in time for Bugjam I had a 1 hour test drive one evening in the week before the event to check it was all OK. Thankfully it was all good as I really wanted to drive the car to the track for the first time in quite a while.

So I was all set, a bit last minute, but what’s new. I had the day off on Friday so once I’d dropped the kids off to school I packed up the car with all the gear and set off. SantaPod is about 100 miles from home and I had not driven that far in one go in any of my previous drives in the car, but I was confident all was well. Other than the traffic the drive to the track was fine and the car behaved really well, with good temps and pressures so I just drove non stop to get there as the track was due to open at 12 which was about when I arrived. As it turns out I didn’t get to run on Friday as I wanted to change the oil check the valves and have a look through the car and check the data log and have a look at an oil leak that has sprouted. As it happens by the time I’d unpacked and done this little lot it started to rain so the track closed early and that was that, but I was all set for the morning.

In the morning I got signed on and got the car warmed up and down to the start line. The first pass is always a bit of a moment (and generally a balls up) and it was no exception this time! I decided to skip the burnout and just drive it, which I sort of managed, but for stalling when trying to stage then I nearly rolled through, but just caught it in deep stage. It spun the tires hard of the line so a bit of a peddle to get going then I managed to barge into the Rev limiter on most of the shifts and was on the Rev limiter at the end of the track. The latter was a known issue as I was limiting at 9500 rather than 10500 as before. The main thing was though that I’d got the first run under my belt.

Just being able to drive straight back to the pits with the engine being cooled on the way is a joy.
Back in the pits it was clear I’d not resolved the oil leak though and the tinware was not such a joy when trying to find the oil leak given the fan had given the oil a rollercoaster ride around the engine bay.

The nice thing was that the push rod tubes were bone dry which was a major step forward as over the years I have spent hours trying to get them to seal properly, but with the short stroke and the increased pushrod angle I had failed miserably till now. I did end up having to make pushrod tubes and Johannes cut the heads at the correct angle which made all the difference. So the other oil leak is currently ruining joy of dry pushrod tubes. At least the back of the car is not going to rust away any time soon!

As it turns out my 12 year old son noticed a loose nut on the generator stand and it turns out they were all loose so I nipped them up and ran again but there was still oil. I decided this might be residual oil from the previous leak so mopped it up for one last run on Sat but there was still oil.

Sat night I set about taking it apart and having a proper clean up and putting new gaskets and glue on the generator stand. There was a fair bit of oil around on the inside of the tinware so I was hopeful it was good to go.

In the morning first run guess what more oil! Looked like it might be the 1&2 rocker cover this time so after the mop up it was a new gasket bend the bale to tighten it (thanks Dave) and it felt good and snapped on with some purpose. But of course the next run there was still oil. By this time we were into eliminations so there was next to no time to do anything but mop oil and go again. Typically its the only event I’ve ever gone rounds.
Fortunately the whole oil escapade was not lots of oil and any which did drip got caught in the tray so no dramas for the track but still very annoying and on top of the to do list now the car is home.

So eventually my luck ran out when I came up against Udo, but that was in the final by then. I did have a glimmer of hope when he missed 3rd gear and was catching him briefly but he found 3rd 2nd time around and had enough in the bag already to cover me off with some ease, but I was more than happy with the weekends work and just looking forward to getting the car home sorting the oil leak and getting the clutch sorted.

During the whole oil slick debacle what also came to light was that what I had hoped was a good clutch solution proved not to be. So in the short term at least I‘m going back to the steel pressure plate and a sintered iron disc for the next outing. I had gone back to the aluminium shoe and a new centre disc I had high hopes for but it’s not worked out as I had hoped there is another disc option for me to try but I think that will need a bit more time to organise than I have before the next race.

I’m in California at the moment so hope to call in at Mcloed and sort out a couple of 180mm sintered iron discs as I know that is enough clutch and I have a steel pressure plate balanced and ready to go so is a quick fix.

The clutch was fine for the first few runs but the 5th run it was fine in the burn out (a short no line lock 3rd gear effort), but off the line it slipped. This actually resulted in the best 60ft of the weekend and pointed towards slipping the clutch a bit to keep the motor up in the rpm. Sadly the run after slipped more so I needed to manage it from then which meant no burnout to save the clutch for the start which was better but a compromise. Basically it got me through the rest of the weekend and the drive home, but it’s certainly not the long term solution I was hoping for.

To complete the hatrick of drama the serial port on my laptop was not playing ball or at least it was not for the whole weekend. This meant I was struggling with any data logging, but it was a bit academic as the clutch that I was looking to monitor was clearly slipping without me trying to slip it.

Fortunately the Outlaw pit came to the rescue (thanks Darren) with a spare laptop so I could at least nudge up the Rev limiter so I was not stat on it going through the line each run. 200 extra rpm gave me 3mph (116-119mph) which was just about enough.

So the actual runs other than the 1st and last were all 11.2* actually between 11.24 and 11.26 with a best mph of 119. This was a big improvement on my proper street car pb (street tyres, fan belt and muffler) but mainly because I’d not run the car like this in ages. Regardless it’s the new marker to work from and hopefully I can now nibble away at this next time out with with a clutch and laptop.

Other than the general social and actually getting the car to the track for the first time in a long while was the drive home was really good. Whilst I was lording it up getting my trophy for 1st looser and packing Dave was moping oil and glue in another rocker cover gasket to the head and cover in a hope we would not leave an oil slick all the way home (thanks Dave). I decided to leave the oil try on just to see what difference it made to the temps and they did go up a bit perhaps about 5-10 degrees but sort of manageable in the traffic on the way home as it was all fairly slow moving for the first hour or so. I’d been watching the temps and pressures the whole time as there was not much else to do and all was steady at about 100 degrees and good oil pressure on a really hot evening for us in the UK. So I was a bit shocked when I looked over at the temp guage to see it at 170+degrees! Fortunately it was obviously an electrical fault as I’d only checked the guage moments before so there was no way it was a real temp reading. I pulled over and it turns out the sender wire had shorted out on the oil tray. So we took the tray off and problem solved and a minor job to add to the list to modify the tray slightly so it does not happen again. The rest of the ride home was plain sailing and the car behaved perfectly.

As ever it was great to drive the car to the track and generally having it as a turn key car again is the only way for me.

So I’ve a few jobs to do when I get back from the family holiday, but hopefully all doable in time to have another go in early October and get some decent street miles in before that.

That’s about it for now, but I’ll try and post up video or 2 but a photo will have to do for now.

Peter

  [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[bean]

read through this thread after seeing the motor pics in a racing mag - major congrats on all the work and design thoughts that have gone into the car and i'll bet you're stoked at it now being streetable

[Peter Shattock]

Bean, the street car ting for me is the most important bit, but I’ve had a lot of fun along the way with the car and met a lot of good people too.

[Peter Shattock]

I can fully sympathize with not wanting to take the car off the road - mine ran out of mot and insurance in early July so I took it off the road for a couple of months while I have holidays and housework and I'm really missing it! I'll have it back on the road when I start my new school in September tho!

Couple of questions about the data you're getting - what sort of sensors are you using for oil temp and pressure, and where do you have them located? I've still got my old VDO gauges for oil temp, oil pressure and cylinder head temp in a box somewhere, but haven't got around to fitting them yet. Just wondering what you do before I fit mine over the six weeks.

Neil, sorry I missed your post. Get the car back on the road as soon as you can is all I would suggest!

The senders are just regular off the shelf items from CB for the ECU and the Autometer gauges just use the ones they came with. The oil pressure comes off the old std oil cooler location oil temp on the galaxy where it exits so it’s done the work and is off the the filter, cooler and tank.

Peter

[Jim Ratto]

Hi Peter, this topic has become one of my all time favorites on the Lounge. Good luck with the oil leak issue. I fought one for weeks with my last engine assembly and it was a real bonehead move on my part. The new cylinder heads I am running have a reinforcement which interferes with # 2 and # 3 intake pushrod tube @ head end, IF you run the Type 1 seal. Once I swapped the seal to 411 style, no more leaks.

Have a good stay here in California.

Jim

[Peter Shattock]

Hi Jim,

Glad you like the car and my ramblings. Fortunately the oil leak is not a pushrod tube issue. I’m sure I’ll find it when I get back as I can take it for a short ride with no tinware on it if necessary then it should be more obvious with out it hiding under the tinware and the fan throwing it all over the place!



Given we are in the home of the Callook VW I was hoping to show the kids some nice VW’s in their natural habitat, but to date the only AC VW we have seen is a bit of a clapped out super beetle, which was not quite what I had in mind. Having said that we have not made it anywhere near LA as yet. We are on a bit of a whistle stop tour from Vegas, Death Valley, Mammoth, Lake Tahoe, San Fran then down the coast to LA. We are not due in LA till a week on Saturday and we fly out on Thursday afternoon. This means we miss Irwindale so I was wondering if there are any other possible VW gatherings  or general car shows where we might see some nice VW’s?

Peter

[pupjoint]

awesome updates Peter. I dint realise we can run EFI with generator. always thought the other way round.

What engine oil have you been running on this beast if you don't mind sharing.

[Peter Shattock]

It’s actually a generator look a like with an alternator inside hence the aluminium casing.

Oil is nothing particularly special Millers 10-50 I do like to change it regularly though, more than I need to I suspect but it’s good peace of mind.

As I keep saying it’s just good to be able to use it again as it’s been a while, and prove there are no problems with using it on the street. The efi the short gears and light car make it ridiculously drivable.

Peter

[andy198712]

I used to run my mega squirt with a generator and it was okay before I went Porsche cooling if that helps?.... what’s ment to be the issue?

[broen messiaen]

Hello Peter,
Saw your car at bugjam and it's really impresive.

Are you using any headtemp sensor or are you only using the oil temp sensor?

[Peter Shattock]

Hi Broen,

I don’t run head temp sensors, but have contemplated them. I’ve got so much spaghetti in the back of the car now a few more would not make a lot of difference! That said it’s not height on the list of priorities.

Glad you enjoyed Bugjam it’s was a fun weekend for all of us racing there too, trying to keep the ACVW numbers up!

Peter

[Peter Shattock]

I’m beginning to wonder if I should not call this the eternally out of date thread, but once again time has been limited for an update.

I did race (we’ll sort of) again after Bugjam last year at the National Finals. The journey to the track from home usually takes a couple of hours give or take, but on this occasion it took nearly 3 and a half. Suffice to say it was not the best journey in fact it could be the worst ever and I’ve been driving up there since the mid 80’s. Looking at the positives I can say the car will sit in a traffic jam on tick over for hours on end and not get hot.

I did finally get to the track, but needless to say I was quite a bit later than planned due to the journey time and the fact that I left home later than planned too. By the time I had faffed about (as I do) to get set up and ready it was getting late and I was in two minds about getting a run in. Then there was an oil down which made my mind up.

As it turns out that was a bad decision on my part.

Alex had brought his camper and offered me a spare bed for the night which was great, so we packed up for the night had a bit of a social, some food and got off to bed.

Saturday morning and over night on Friday was really wet though and it was clear that there was not going to be an early start on Saturday. In fact it soon became clear that the rain was heavy and persistent and looking at the forecast was due to stay that way all day. Unfortunately the forecast proved to be accurate and there was literally rain all day and nothing to do but sit and chat and eat and drink so we were even more grateful for a camper to sit in! The only thing that was clear was that there was no danger of any racing.

The forecast for Sunday was much better though and we woke to a dry morning all be it there were still a lot of puddles around from the rain the day before although one in our pit area was more like a lake! The track staff were out early drying the track though and it all looked promising.

Everyone was getting ready and moving their cars into the sun to dry out and warming them up and checking that all was well. I did the same and all looked good.

As there was no qualifying on Saturday the elimination ladder was just drawn out of a hat and I was paired with David Swift which should have meant a close race as our cars run similar times. I say should, but it didn’t turn out this way......

Having driven the car for 3 and a half hours to the track checked all was well on Friday after the journey fired the car up and got it warm Sunday morning, I drove the car down to the start line from the pits, did the burnout, sat on the start line ready to go launched off the line and the car was flat. No nasty noises or anything just no power.

Needless to say I didn’t win so that was the end of my weekend in terms of racing and I now had an issue with the car.

I drove back to the pits and sorted my self out and started looking for problems. Fortunately mechanically it all checked out so I started it again and it was still flat. This is where Mr Clagget came to my rescue. I switched the car off again and was looking around the engine bay when he reached in behind the fan shroud and his hand came out with the plug  lead from number 3 in his hand where it had come off the coil pack! As you might imagine there was a mix of relief closely followed by frustration that such a simple thing had ruined my weekend of racing. Unsurprisingly with 4 plug leads attached it sounded much more sprightly!

I had had the motor out of the car the week before the race changing the clutch and I think I must have knocked the lead on the coil pack some how. They all come through the bulkhead behind the fan shroud and I’d perhaps knocked it / them when putting the fan shroud on and not checked them properly or at all once it was all back together. Needless to say this is something I’ll be adding to the check list in future!

So after licking my wounds I packed the car up with all my gear and headed home. Fortunately the journey back was much better than the one there and I got home in usual time with no dramas running on all 4 cylinders!

This all got me thinking that it would have been an even worse weekend if I had a race car and not a street car. As in my case at least I got to enjoy the drive back rather than loading it all up on a trailer again and towing it all home having barely driven the car at all!

So that was it in terms of racing for the year, but I have managed to drive the car here and there on the street this winter when time and weather has allowed which has been good as I’ve not had the car in a hundred and one bits this winter as I’ve just been doing various small jobs to the car. It actually reminds me of what I did over the winter years ago when I used to just improve a few small things here and there to see if it made any difference.

The only job of any note this winter was to add another engine breather.

As you will know if you have followed this thread previously I’ve been constantly chasing oil leaks and I’ve fixed several now, but I’ve still got at least one leak to find.

This all sounds quite simple but it’s proved to be anything but. Having said that it does appear to be concentrated around the crank pulley area now.

So the latest theory is that it’s getting past the oil flinger behind the crank pulley because there is to much crankcase pressure.

I do run a dry sump so in theory there is the potential to actually pull a vacume in the case, but the engine is not sealed (quite evidently!) as I’ve not got a sand seal and it’s only a small single scavenge stage pump.

I do currently have a -12 breather hose from the fuel pump block off to the dry sump tank and a -12 to a breather tank but my initial thoughts were that that was not enough.

I decided to get the bits together to add another -12 line from the oil filler tower to the dry sump tank and a replacement larger -16 from the tank to the breather box to loosely double the breather capacity.

When doing this I did discover that I may have had another issue which effectively meant I had no breather. This was because the existing breather hose had a dip in it between the engine and the tank and this may have been sufficient to block the hose with oil or at least significantly restrict it. So it may be the single -12 was sufficient if it had been routed more thoughtfully.

Regardless I added another breather so hopefully this is it and I’ll have a oil free engine but having fixed other issues and potential issues I’m not holding my breath but hopefully this is the one!

[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]


I had my first drive in the car for a while last night. Just a quick half hour drive about and the initial news looks promising as the motor was dry and it’s the first time in a while I’ve been able to say that! I’ll need to go on some longer runs to be sure, but initial signs look promising.

Oh and as I usually say at this point it is very easy to forget why we spend all the time and money we do on these stupid old cars but one quick drive is all it takes to remind me what fun they are and how bloody fast this car is! So if you have not got your cars back in one bit yet keep going it’s worth it!

The first race outing this year is not until mid May though so I do have a bit more time to look again if this is not the solution I’ve been looking for.

Peter

[henk]

Was about time to hear something again from your car.
Nice read again.

Henk!!!

[richie]

You sure you need all those cable ties on the 3 hoses in that last pic? seems like extra weight to me

[Peter Shattock]

Hi Henk, usual storey not enough time to be doing anything like as much as I would like to be doing, but it’s back in one bit again now so I can have some fun, so there might be a few more posts again

Oh and the zip ties are just adding a bit of weight to help the turbo spool up.....

[richie]

Oh and the zip ties are just adding a bit of weight to help the turbo spool up.....

One day soon

[UltraOrange67-2443]

Drilling more holes!

[Peter Shattock]

Nick the trouble is I had to fill the holes with a hose....

Had a good little ride out to Wheels Day on Friday which is the first time I’d been to a car show in ages. Lee came along for the ride so it was a good social too. Great weather the car ran good and we still look to be oil free.

Still need to go on a longer run and do a bit of clutch testing between now and the Doorslammers in May. The weather is making a turn for the worst now though so it won’t be this week.

Peter

[dangerous]

Hi Pete,
I was reading the RTE Magazine story,
and there was mention of some sump baffling to reduce oil slosh,
but no pictures.
I DID like the 'moved' oil pickup tube too,
but would like to see a picture of the baffles if you have one!

Thanks in advance,
Dave.

[richie]

Nick the trouble is I had to fill the holes with a hose....

Had a good little ride out to Wheels Day on Friday which is the first time I’d been to a car show in ages. Lee came along for the ride so it was a good social too. Great weather the car ran good and we still look to be oil free.

Still need to go on a longer run and do a bit of clutch testing between now and the Doorslammers in May. The weather is making a turn for the worst now though so it won’t be this week.

Peter

Its only rain, come on its a street car and your in England, it rains a lot here    



Good to see you on entry list for Doorslammers, tea & cake will be available

[Peter Shattock]

Richie, sorry I mean Jo, tea and cake was the only reason I entered! I’ll be straight round......

Dave, the sump baffle is just the regular one you see but with a scraper profile to get the oil off the crank and some windows in the plate to direct the oil that you have got off the crank below the baffle plate and towards the relocated pick up tube. I might have a photo somewhere I’ll take a look and if I can find it I’ll post a picture. It’s all very close to the crank and a bit of work up to sort out. You can see in some of the pictures that there is an extra stud and nut on the sump plate which adjusts the height of the scraper to make sure it’s close but not too close!

JP and I had a funny discussion about the extra stud and nut, thinking people would wonder what it was there for, but no one has ever mentioned it which we have both been surprised about, but that is what it’s doing.

Peter

[dangerous]

Thanks Peter, a picture would be great if you can unearth one

[Peter Shattock]

I can't find a picture of the completed thing but here's the scraper so hopefully you get the idea.

Peter

[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[dangerous]

Thank you Pete!

[brewsy]

Peter,
Ordered up and just read the feature on JP in race car engineering.
Awesome piece of work that looks like its paying dividends now!

Recommend a read to anybody out there!!!

Cant wait to see/hear it one day..

Cheers

[Peter Shattock]

Brewsy, glad you enjoyed the read. I remember reading it for the first time myself in a Premier Inn at the NEC the night before  the Race Car Engineering show. We had just set the motor up on the Race Engine Technology stand and I went to get some food headed back to the room and got stuck in to it. It’s a strange thing reading about all this stuff you know so well having planned it for years. It was much the same as when the motor first ran in the car. It certainly felt like quite an achievement long before we even know the numbers.

Good times!

[Peter Shattock]

Since the last update I’ve used the car a bit here and there on the road just to get used to driving it again check a few things out and make a few adjustments here and there as well as putting a few miles on it not to mention just having a bit of fun!

Lee Maynard and I took a trip to Wheels Day on Good Friday and called into North American for the after party. Both of which were rammed given the good weather. We got to see a load of people we hadn’t seen in ages, but as it turns out it sounds like we missed at least as many people based on how many subsequently  said they had seen the car there but not us.

The car ran well though with no drama and no oil leak on this or the other drives recently so all was looking good and things were coming together for my first planed race in May.

The down side of not having any more mechanical jobs to do was that it left me with no alternative but to try and sort out the laptop, which means I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel on the to do list!

Given my recent history with anything electric based this proved to be far less troublesome than it had been in the past. With a new cable and battery it looked like I was in danger of knowing what the car was doing when I got to the track.

Alex called in at home the week before the race and picked up the tent (for the car) and a few other bits and bobs so I didn’t have to pack them in the car. The intention being that I would not have so much of an excuse to dither around when I got to the track so I could make the most of the track time on Friday as it looked to be the best weather of the weekend looking at the forecast.

With the car packed Wednesday night I was ready to go Friday morning but for getting some fuel. This proved to be problem number 1 of the weekend as I ran out on the way to the fuel station. Fortunately I nearly made it and was actually about 50m from the pump by the time I stopped. So only a minor delay and I was soon on my way. The journey to the track came and went without dramas and the car ran well with good temps and pressures and still no oil leak when I arrived at the gate which was encouraging after 2 hours plus of driving.

I pulled round into the pits found our home for the weekend an unpacked.

I was soon (we’ll soon for me) ready to go, so I got signed in and drove down and joined the queue in the fire up lanes. It didn’t look too busy, but various delays meant it was getting late by the time I got towards the front of the queue.

Eventually it was my turn, but they were only running a single lane by this time, which was actually quite good given it was my first run of the year.

I had adjusted the clutch on the road to a point were I thought it would at least be a half decent starting point on the track following a few blasts up and down my local practice track so I had a starting point to just give it a go.

I decided not to do a burn out so just spun the tires before the line. The car left with no wheel spin and some controlled clutch slip which was a result in itself as this is were I have been trying to get the car for some time now. I’ve become a bit of a specialist in uncontrolled clutch slip, or wheel spin or both, but this was the first time in all this time I’ve been trying that it’s been controlled.

The car ran a tidy 11.12 at 118mph which was a great start to the weekend.

I don’t stop at the top of the track these days all be it that this used to be my favourite place given it’s just the cars and drivers and a nice calm place after all the excitement of a run. I now just switch the cooling on and trundle back to the pits to let everything settle down and it’s always good to get back and look at the data now the logging is actually working!

There was a moment of un planned comedy on that 1st run in that my new glasses obviously don’t fit my helmet that well or I didn’t push them back enough, but suffice to say they were wobbling around all over the place and it looked like there were 6 tracks in front of me so I was glad to be racing on my own and in a straight line!

Back in the pits the main news was no oil as this was the first time the car has had a really hard workout since the winter breather changes. I still think a sand seal might be on the cards though just to be sure, but it was nice to see a dry pad in the oil catch tray and no sign of the previous oil spray off the pulley in the engine bay.

I checked over the usual stuff on the car and all looked good and downloaded the data log from the run.

After a bit of familiarisation with the software I managed to have a decent look at the run. I knew I was on the Rev limiter as I went through the line as it was holding back and you can still hear it quite clearly in the car even with all the other racket going on.

The only odd bit was that after the hit and the usual rpm drop as the clutch engages there was a bit of a flatline for about 0.35 of a second. I’ve not seen this before and have no explanation for it. I concluded to have another go and see if it was a one off.

I bumped up the Rev limit 200rpm to 9,900, as it was clear it needed more at the top of the track particularly as the flat line also indicated I had lost quite a bit of time at the start. The time ticket confirmed the same as it was a fairly shocking 1.67 60ft which made the et sound even better.

I have to be honest I was feeling good. Hitting the rev limiter at the top of the track the blip after the hit and me just driving a bit better were all positive signs that there were gains to be had.

There is a video of most if not all the VW’s running at The Doorslammers in Richie’s thread in Pure Racing including me. You can hear the stutter at the start and me also hitting the revlimeter hard in 3rd and at the top of the track.

So that was it for Friday, but as I said I was quietly confident I could go a bit quicker on Saturday.

Friday night was the usual social and we all got to sleep at a sensible hour only to be woken in the morning with the sound of rain, this is UK drag racing after all!

I decided to check the valves whilst the engine was completely cold and all was good subject to some minor OCD adjustment check, check and double check as with the rpm I’m still paranoid about the valve train.

I started the car to check all was well and to get some heat into it as it had stopped raining and the track crew were out drying the track. The car sounded ok and the pressures were good and the temp gauge was showing signs of life after 4-5 minutes of running I was about to switch it off, but just gave it a few last blips of the throttle then came an unwanted noise! As fast as my right arm could reach the key I switched it off.

In that moment my mind was racing not the car. Ever optimistic I thought perhaps a lash cap or broken valve adjuster, but it didn’t sound quite like that to be honest, but I checked anyway. All looked good with the valve train which was good and bad news all at the same time. Turning the engine over by had all felt OK, but clearly something wasn’t happy as it was not the sort of noise that would just fix it self.

As tempting as it was to have another listen, there was nothing to be gained so that was it for the weekend for me.

As luck would have it Lee was heading home on on Saturday night so he was good enough to tow me and the car home on the A frame Alex brought with him on the off chance! How jammy was that!

Obviously I was stewing trying to think what it might be, but the truth is I don’t know and won’t know until it’s apart.

Every cloud has a silver lining though and the reality was that I was only planning on one other race this year before taking it apart anyway.

Johannes and I had been talking about Plan C almost immediately after our last dyno session with the motor as it is and as I write this I’m busting to get on with it now.

So with the car back home I dropped the oil and checked the filter and there were no horror stories just the usual little bits in the filter.

I might be a bit premature, but in the big scheme of things it looks like I’ve been lucky. The data log from the warm up shows 5,423 rpm when the nasty noise struck and it ran for no more than 0.2-0.3 of a second after this peak with no load on the motor like there was when it was on the track or even the drive to the track so all in all it could have been much much worse.

I did even allow myself to wonder if it was the clutch release bearing briefly, but when I pulled the motor out that was fine.

So the next stop for the motor will be a little holiday in Sweden and I’ll nip over for a day and Johannes and I will take it apart and see where we are.

So from the excitement of Friday night thinking this could be a good weekend, having driven this little car all the way to the track clicked off an 11.12 straight out of the box with a less than perfect run it all went a bit pear shaped. That said I couldn’t help thinking the old girl had done pretty good as it’s taken quite a kicking and done quite a few road miles too now.

I’ll get the box out for a refresh too as 2nd gear has been noisy for a while now and have a general clean up under the car to check there are no other jobs to sort out before I make another pilgrimage to Sweden with the car.

Peter

[Peter Shattock]

[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Turned out to be a shorter weekend than planned but a good one none the less

[brewsy]

Turned out to be a shorter weekend than planned but a good one none the less

Mate,
That really sucks! One run and then the engine (sort of) expires?
BTW you mention turning on the cooling but from the pictures looks like you have a fan and housing. Do you slip off the belt for a run?

So come on then, whats Plan C?? 
Guessing that JP has now got springs that can hold the pressure you originally wanted and mean you can go back to the original cam?
Or maybe hes managed to source a lighter valve-train component? 
Either way Id hazard that you could then run more RPM on the aggressive cam and wring some more out of it 

Cheers

[vwhelmot]

Desmodromic for the win 😁👍