I'm finding myself sinking deeper and deeper into a tar pit here. Do
I continue and find myself with a terminal case of shipwright's
disease or do I just bolt it together and hope its ok? Intellectually,
I know that poor preperation is a recipe for failure at the most
inconvenient (or even dangerous) time, but gee it is tempting to
delay the major work until after the 6Hr relay race (last important
meeting of the year). OK, I'll tell the whole story...
I think my racecar was trying to tell me something when, after
spending hours in the pits fixing a clutch problem (see "Saga of a
Spridget racer"), I just managed 20 laps or so before it broke
a half-shaft as far from the pits as it possibly could!
After due consideration, it became clear to me that I hadn't spent
enough time with the car. She had decided to get my attention and
*make* me spend time with her! She was clearly jealous of the other
things in my life that were taking time away. If it was just the race
episode, it would be OK -- I had been slapped over the wrist for not
spending *all* my free time with her, but alas she wasn't finished
with me yet!
I had done routine maintenance between events, but now I have been
forced to learn more involved procedures real fast! After the short
term clutch fix at the 6Hr, I had to pull the engine out again and
repair the clutch plate. I also had to replace the broken half shaft
(I actually bit the bullet and ordered a pair of "unbreakable" axles
from Simon Gardiner). But during the past week or so, the list has
become more formidable and the car is in a million pieces!
I decided to relocated the rear axle about 1.5 inches forward, back to
its correct position. I then fixed the geometry of the damper shackles
by swapping and inverting the bottom mounting plate. I also moved the
extra lowering block over to the passenger side instead of the
driver's side. I still have to make up a proper mount for the panhard
rod and repair the cracks in the boot floor caused by the old mounting
point. I did buy a harmonic balancer (Mk II Cooper S) to put on the
car, as it currently is running sans balancer. All these problems are
either carelessness or ignorance on the part of the PO. Building a
race engine without a harmonic balancer is apparently very stupid.
Especially as the PO had already broken one crank.
Pulling out the broken half-shaft revealed that the hub retaining nut
on the passenger side was loose and ineffective - the thread was
completely mangled on that side. I didn't discover this until I had
reinstalled the rear springs :-(. I have found a replacement wire
wheel banjo and pick it up tonight. The only think holding the
passenger side rear wheel on the car was a locking tab and a bit of
mangled thread area (it looks like the end of the banjo had been hit
with a steel hammer - Yikes!),
At the business end of the car, things also became complicated. The
clutch plate repair was simple enough -- the three damaged ceramic
pads were replaced by the same person who originally made up the plate
- Alan at ASK Racing Products. However the damaged diaphram had to be
replaced and in doing so, it became clear that the whole pressure
plate needed to be replaced (Again, the PO had "lightened" it by
removing some of the stiffening ribs and it was slightly buckled -
probably the cause of the bearing failure in the first place).
It turned out be be a bit of an exercise, as we couldn't get the
locating holes right (they moved out of alignment when bolted up) and
resorted to making a new locating arrangement. I may yet have
bell-housing clearance problems, we'll see... I have to get it
balanced when I verify clearnce is OK.
The engine and gearbox are obviously out of the car, as is the seat,
steering wheel etc. The banjo still has to be removed and the
replacement fitted. I hope to have the new half shafts tomorrow.
I naturally drained the diff and gearbox, panicked when I saw the
glittery gearbox oil and some significant chunks of gear metal (half a
dozen 1mmx1mmx1mm steel chunks). Ouch! I'm told not to worry about the
glitter, but at $1100 for a changeover C/R straight-cut box, the
chunks were a big worry! I've dropped off the gearbox to John Neadham
and he's rebuilding it for $150 plus parts. He thinks it is probably a
dog tooth and will be pretty cheap to fix. Naturally, the bearings and
seals will be replaced since it is being stripped down anyhow.
This whole exercise has turned into a bit of a disaster, I'm missing
this weekends meeting at Winton (OK, I admit I'll run the prelude
instead, heck I already paid my entry fee!), and even the 6Hr race in
Sydney at the end of the month is not safe. Not to mention the wallet
:-(
With all the bodges I've discovered so far, I've decided I should
check the engine internals as well, put in new bearings and rings and
generally check the condition of bores, cam etc etc. I'll get it
checked for balance and the crank crack tested. I just hope that it is
OK... This is my first time with most of these procedures, so I am
proceeding slowly and with caution, good but will it get done in time?
Well, again, since the engine/gearbox is out, and it is up on stands,
I called Dennis the chassis man over to take a look at the body. As I
knew, there is next to no rust in all the usually bad places. As I
also knew, there was big cracks in the trunk floor where a poorly
designed and mounted panhard rod was mounted. Dennis recommends a
replacement trunk floor as there isn't enough room to repair the
cracks properly (A big rectangular hole has been cut in the floor to
mount a long range Aluminium fuel tank. There was no reinforcing
around the hole...)
We measured the car up - it has some pretty serious chassis problems.
Sigh. Well, the front rail on the passenger side has been pushed back
10mm (> 3/8, < 1/2 inch), a shoddy repair on the same front rail
alongside the sump, an auxilliary frame has been welded on underneath
the chassis (again in the sump area), but it stops abruptly well
before the main cross member at the firewall, raising the stresses on
the rail. Even worse was that the battery tray had been cut out by a
twice removed PO (to fit a rotary), and no structural member had
replaced it. Now the whole front is slightly buckled and twisted. Even
the gearbox tunnel has a bit of a kink in it. Dennis reckons it can be
repaired ok, he has fixed many much worse front ends, but it is at
least a weeks solid work. He is busy up to Christmas, so that will
*have* to wait until then...
It seems that everything I lookat becomes at least a weeks work and
many $$ out of pocket!
I think the car should now be happy. I am spending an unbelieveable
amount of time with her and I am certainly scheduled to continue
spending a *lot* of time in the foreseeable future...
I think the car has named herself (as per the earlier thread on car's
names). All I need to do is find the name of a famous or infamous
jealous lady. Any suggestions?
Mike "up to my armpits in spridget bits" Gigante
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