Tentatively. I received a call about a week ago letting
me know that the La Carrera organization has requested
the necessary permits to run the Classic on the weekend
of June 27th. Nine weeks away, that was the good news.
*Plenty* of time to prepare. The bad news was that the
torrential rainfall they've been having has not only
caused massive cholera outbreaks, but it's done a fair
share of damage to the road we'll be running on, and
they don't know if they'll be able to patch it up well
enough to get some good contiguous roadway. Hmmmmm.
Glad I re-set those springs ....
Redcar progress;
Since we'll be running in mid-summer in Mexico, I opted
for the cross-flow radiator & an electric fan instead
of the vertical flow + engine fan. I had the radiator
place check out the cross flow & of course they found
the core to be in quite poor shape. So I had them replace
it with a new 3 row, (instead of the usual 2) and boil
out the heater. *Ding* All new hoses & all components
painted, it'll probably go back in tonight.
The other big change this year was to return the bonnet
to the "normal" manner of opening, which is back
towards the windscreen. That's the way it worked when I
got the car, but I quickly designed some hinges that
would allow the bonnet to tip forwards, and made
everything quick-disconnect (even the wiring harness),
so that the whole shebang could be lifted off in
seconds. Well that works great when the bonnet's
integrity is, um, pure, but when Mt. Hamilton takes a
big bite out of the driver's side, let's say the
bonnet's integrity becomes compromised. Hence, my
repaired bonnet didn't really work well with these
hinges, so I decided to put it all back stock. I'll
just save the tilt forward hardware for a glassfibre
Speedwell bonnet .....
Anyway, the conversion back to stock took quite a
bit longer than expected, having to dig up all the
original hardware (still cannot find the handle, am
using a glass doorknob. That's class.) But finally the
other night I managed to get it all back on & adjusted.
And then I remember why I changed it in the first place.
Working on the Sprite under hood must be a
chiropractor's dream come true, oh and you can just
forget about taking that battery out. But I shouldn't
complain, it looks like a car again, & it works good.
All that's left now is to refit the radiator &
finish hooking up the wiring harness. I'm shooting for
Friday to be the maiden voyage.
cheers-
dstone@sc9.intel.com
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