Preparing a Ford Zepyr Mk II For Racing
Pt 6 - Joys and Woes
Well, how do I start this episode? 'It was the best of
weekends, it was the worst of weekends' to coin a phrase.
Since the last one at Eastern Creek, the fuel problems
have persisted (as on the Sydney Harbour Bridge). Due
to commercial pressures ie having to pay bills, I didn't
get around to my plan of a dual fuel line. I just pulled
the line out of the tank, wiggled some wire around inside
for enough fuel to come through and wait for the next time.
We set out on Friday night after competing in our yacht club's
twilight series race. (Hows that, TWO race events in one weekend).
We didn't leave home til 10pm. Only got about 15kms when that
familiar feeling returned - no gas. I pulled up, did the wire
trick and proceeded. Only got about another 5 kms and it did it again.
I thought 'I'll fix it this time' and got out the cordless drill.
10 seconds later, with a 1/8th hole through whatever is inside the
tank, plenty of fuel poured out.
On we went, driving down the freeway at 120 - 125kph, no problems.
Arrived in Goulburn and noticed that it wasn't slowing down much,
in fact proceeded quite quickly with foot off the pedal. Now Goulburn
is famous for two things - its jail and its Police academy. So I
proceeded by turning the ignition off and on. We pulled into
the motel at 12:40am idling at a mere 4000 rpm.
Next morning I found that one of the throttle arms had slipped on the
shaft, so fixed it easily before heading out to the track.
Wakefield Park is the first privately constructed race circuit to
be built in NSW for the past 35 years. It comprises a main circuit of 2.4
km, with a shorter club circuit of 1.3km. It is VERY tight and I don't
think my ASCII art is good ennough to give you an impression of it.
Up the hill is a 'hillclimb' but it more of a slalom course with a slight
constant climb. The whole complex is set on former farmland of 130 acres,
with barely a tree in sight. The buildings are nicely designed in a 'Heritage'
look. Facilities for competitors are good, with 60 carports available.
This was the Official Opening of the circuit with a Historic meeting by
the HSRCA with 240 entrants.
First practice went well enough. Being in Regularity, there is quite a
spread of cars with lap times varying from a 1:32 to 2:20. The Zephyr
was going OK for the first few laps then starting losing power (again).
As the tank was only about 1/4 full and I had drilled the hole about 1/4 of the
way up the tank, I thought I might have been getting air. Lap times
were around 1:45 - 1:47.
After lunch I filled up with Avgas ($1.40/litre!). The next practice session
went well without any hiccups and I was happy. The handling is something
to behold, spectators comment on the pink Zephyr rocking and rolling
around the course. It was understeering quite a lot and tyres squealing
even though I had 46 psi in them.
At re-scrutineering, they noticed oil over the axle and left rear brake
drum. 'Looks like the seal's gone' they said. 'Hmmm' I said.
I went back to the pits, jacked it up and undid the filler plug. I had
filled the diff only last weekend in preparation. Apparently I put in
too much as 2 cups of oil poured out of the filler hole. I cleaned
up the brakes with petrol, the axle with degreaser and went back to the motel.
Next morning, refilled the tank just to make sure. Passed re-scrutineering
with the explanation and assurances that the brakes were OK.
The first event we were sent out roughly in order of fastest first. I was
behind
a '39 Ford Special with an Edelbrock side valve V8. He was reasonably fast
on the straight, but was slowing me on the twisty bits. A TR3A and MGA passed
me at one point but I later passed the TR :-). My fastest practice
time was 1:41.5 so I nominated 1:41. However my best time was 1:43.6. After
about 5 laps, the old familiar feeling returned. It sort of felt like
fuel, but not quite. It seemed to clear a bit at the end of the straight.
At this stage I thought it might have been the plugs which I havent touched.
I borrowed a set of N9Ys to try out instead of the N12Ys that were in.
In the next session, it seemed that they did perform better, as I had
no power loss. I had convinced the Ford Special driver that as I had
nominated 1:43 and he 1:44, that I should go out in front of him,
and he should just let me draw away. We did that and I had a clear run
for the first two laps until I hit the backmarkers (like 1921 Amilcar).
I was able to get around them without too much problem. In fact, I was
so consistent that I won the event with only 23 points lost. At one point
I had a '59 MGA Coupe behind me but I shook him off!
We packed up and left the circuit around 3:30 pm after a short, fierce
storm. I decided to leave the N9Ys in to see how they went on the
freeway. We had only gone about 5 miles out of Goulburn when we
came across a traffic jam. I edged up to join the queue when I noticed
that the engine was quite lumpy and about to cut out. While I was revving the
engine trying to keep the fire alight, my wife noticed smoke coming from the
front.
'SHIT, A FIRE!!' I shouted. Judy grabbed the fire extinguisher and handed it
to me while I cut the ignition and popped the bonnet release. I raced around
the front and aimed the extinguisher through the gap as I had heard that
opening the bonnet right up adds air and can be quite dangerous.
A driver in the car next to us had seen what was happening and took
the extinguisher from me to aim it under the mudguard. It all took
about 20 seconds I suppose and it was out.
Lifting the bonnet revealed a sorry sight. Of course being covered
in powder didnt help, but all plastic breather lines, the fuel lines
the throttle ajusters with plastic ball ends were all melted. The
paint on the bonnet was severly heat affected too.
Luckily my friend with the Morris Oxford had towed it up on a trailer.
He and the many HSRCA members who stopped got his car off the trailer, and the
Zephyr on. The Oxford is road registered so we drove it back to his place.
The Zephyr is at a club members house for a quote. He did up the Oxford
and is a Healey restorer and expert. The insurance company assessor
will have a look tomorrow or Wednesday. It will be interesting to
see if they 'write it off', as the insured value is $5000. Its hard
to say how much it will cost, but rewiring the front could be expensive
if done by a professional, if the insurance company agrees to repaint
the engine bay, then the motor will have to come out, etc etc etc.
If they do write it off, I keep the wreck, so then its a case of replacing
the under-bonnet components such as hoses, wiring harness etc, and getting
the carbies rebuilt. The plastic tops of the dashpots are melted too.
So, how did it happen? It is obviously a fuel related event, maybe
the electric pump flooded one or all of them, the fuel spilled onto
the exhaust or into the alternator, who knows. It may have been
due to slowing up for the trafic jam, if we had kept on running, the carbies
wouldnt have flooded perhaps.
We finally got home after dropping the car, then the trailer, at 11:30pm.
Great hobby this, vintage car racing!
paulr
Mk II Zephyr
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