All
First off, thanks from a new member for the invite and acceptance.
11 years ago, I purchased the 63 Spitfire that was the very first race
car I ever worked on. It belonged to a college friend and after
graduation, I got to use it for my first SCCA drivers school in 1971.
In 1982, 3 owners later, my wife rented the car and drove it in her
first SCCA school.
Last weekend, after a 10 year, ground up rebuild, I took it out for it's
first race since 1988. This was an SCCA regional at Portland
International Raceway in the vintage group. Minor teething problems
during the practice session, but I was able to run all of the two
qualifying sessions with no problems. The car ran well for the first 20
minutes of the 30 minute race and then started popping out of 3rd gear.
Had to slow down a bit to steer with one hand while using the other to
keep the proper gear through the backside. Haven't had time yet to
figure out the problem.
The car handles great out of the box. Easily outhandles Sprites and
Midgets in the twisty bits. However, my little 1147 is not quite a
match for the 1275's on Portland's long straight. I'm about 2 seconds
off on a full lap with that being about -4 on the straights and + 2 in
the turns.
This first time out, I had not had time to put the car on a dyno. I'm
planning to do that before the next race. I was running some very small
pancake air filters and no ram tubes because that is what came with the
car. I'm thinking along the lines of 3 1/4 inch K&N filters with the
billet ram tubes. Anyone have any experience with these? Also, I'm
looking for recommendations for carb needles so I can take a selection
with me for dyno testing. I'm running an 1147 with 11.5 compression,
ported and polished head, A-6 cam and so-so headers. The current
needles are CC's and seem to be in the ballpark at least.
Finally, any suggestions on where to buy carb parts such as needles, ram
tubes, etc?
Thanks!.
Jim Norlin
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