A few of you long term list subscribers may recall an adventure a
couple of years ago where Chris Kantarjiev and his TR4A, Sarah, came to
the Fat Chance Garage for a working visit. There was this long list
of things to do, and through some miracle combination of modern
technology and ancient brewing science, Chris and Sarah were on their
way home, close to schedule. This was the beginning of the Memorial
Day knucklebashing tradition, which this year occurred on Columbus Day
weekend.
Bubba was the subject this time, a 1970 GT6+ which Chris has been
tinkering with for a while, driving about town and taking in an
occasional autocross. One such event was the 1993 VTR meet in
Seattle, where Bubba had the distinction of getting FTD in the hands
Bob Bownes, who at this time may have his hands full with some other
tasks. But the car didn't seem that well suited to the task of
scaring cones to death, and it needed a bit of work here and there.
So Bubba delivered Chris K. and Pat to the doors of the Fat Chance,
with a much shorter list than that original one with Sarah.
Basically, all we were going to do was take out Bubba's diff and swap
in a freshly built up late model Spit 3.89, with a brand new Quaife
limited slip center section. Chris had sent the Quaife to me in the
spring, in plenty of time for me to get the diff built before the real
Memorial Day weekend. In what should be no surprise to anyone who
knows me, I was a bit late.
Chris was due to leave Palo Alto sometime Wednesday, arriving Thursday
evening. The schedule was to then spend Friday putting in the diff,
Saturday hosting the British Motor Club of Utah Tinker Day, and then
Sunday testing out the new rear end at an autocross. Assuming, of
course, I had the diff together. So Wednesday night I am out in the
garage assembling parts, most of which were close at hand since I just
put a Quaife in the Junior, the Spitfire I run on the local autocross
circuit.
I had ordered in a batch of bits for the diffs in the spring, knowing
I needed to build these guys. The parts were all for the later model
large pinion units, and as it turned out I put an earlier small pinion
unit in Junior, so I had assumed that the bits on hand which didn't fit
the small pinion diff all fit the later diff. He he.
So I'm out in the garage wasting time, since I need to go to Utah
Bearing to get the proper pinion head bearing and side carrier
bearings. The head bearing I pulled out of the box just isn't right.
The OD of the outer race is just fine, but the ID of the inner race is
the same as the pinion nose bearing. Odd, I may have to write to TRF
about that part number. The next morning I pop over to the bearing
place, and ask for the parts. The carrier bearings, no sweat, but the
pinion head bearing is out of stock, but a special order can get one
here in about 4 days. Well, it is about 4 hours before Chris arrives,
so I decide to check some other places. All the same answer, not in
stock, maybe could find one sometime next week. I'm not in a panic
yet, we have some options.
Chris and Pat arrive, and we discuss it. We could just put the Quaife
in the current diff in Bubba, and not disturb the pinion in that case.
We could just blow it off, or we can call around in the morning to see
if one of the usual places has it in stock, and be ready when the UPS,
Fed Ex or whatever courier arrives on Saturday. Karen, my wife, has
the idea we get in touch with Steve Bender, see if maybe by chance he
has one in the piles of stuff he purchased. So a quick email message to
Steve, and we spend some time, actually quite a bit of time, cleaning
up the garage for the diff build and Tinker Day. Unfortunately, we
don't clean off the one roller box with the 1500 engine block, stroker
crank and some old bearing boxes on it.
Friday morning, we call around, TRF is out, but Vicky Brit has one.
The bearing is only $16.95, total bill about $46. Yikes. We get it
on the way, and the person taking the order tries to be nice and save
me ten bucks by having it arrive Monday. Right. We hear from Steve,
he does have a box of several dozen NOS bearings. He stops by early
on his way home, and picks up the old races for the bearing, then
heads home to sort. We actually do some useful things with the garage
that evening, but still somehow manage to stay up way too late. Part
of that was due to having Chris and Pat go over to my codriver Pugs'
house to keg a batch of brew, intended for the picnic after Sunday's
event, while I drove out to Steve's to pick up the bearing. So with
the right bearings in hand, and most of the needed shims, work begins
on setting up the new diff around 10 pm or so. When my wife pokes her
head in the garagedoor at 6:05 am, she doesn't for a second believe
the bit about getting up early to get a head start on the day. Good
thing the tooth contact looks almost perfect on the first try. Did
you know that some old steel baking pans are 0.012" thick? Eventually
we coax the two halves of the case together, and everything still
turns without making any funny noises. We head inside, hoping for an
hour or two of sleep before getting up for Tinker Day. At least the
rains stopped, and the bedroom ceiling isn't dripping anymore from the
leaks in the 2.05 year old roof, with the 2.00 year warranty on labor.
Saturday morning, Tinker Day is fast approaching. I'm waiting for the
coffee to finish, and decide to sort out the stuff on that roller box
I mentioned earlier. First thing I do is toss all the bearing boxes
from the rebuild of my Quaife. You know, these boxes seem a bit heavy
to be all empty... yep, there had been a Timken 88040 sitting in my
garage all this time. If I wasn't so tired, I would have slapped
myself even sillier. Shortly thereafter, the overnight shipment
arrives, so now I have two 88040 sets in stock.
Tinker Day is not too stressful, though one of the first fellows to
show up wants to put this MG-TD diff back together. No sweat,
compared to what we've been through so far. Actually, while Tinker Day
was fun, there isn't too much worth discussing about it here, so I'll
end this part now. Later I'll talk about how the autocross went on
Sunday.
mjb.
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