Prior to the event I'd only managed to put maybe 80 miles on the Tiger to
verify that it was basically roadworthy after a complete re-do of the
driveline, front suspension, and brakes. During the last week we were able to
put on another couple of hundred miles as well as almost two days of autocross
and figured out a bunch of things:
1. (always number one!) Keep your cooling system in shape, and don't get stuck
in the slow line at the Mt. Rushmore park gates. I dumped a bunch of coolant
in the parking lot after having to wait too long (and after a SLOW drive up
the last segment of the climb). The next day I replaced the 10-year old 13
pound radiator cap with a new 16-pound cap and didn't see any more coolant -
but I also didn't really test the system as hard for the remainder of the
trip.
2. If you're going to replace 80 percent of the Lucas wiring harness then the
remaining 20 percent will take offense and bring you down. My autocross day
was over early on Thursday due to a melted starter wire - speculation is that
the mini-starter solenoid draws more current than the original starter
solenoid, and the resulting heat softened the insulation of the light-gauge
wire and caused the conductors to short out against another wire in the
harness. I still need to verify that but it's a good working theory. And Dave,
I should have taken you up on your offer to drive your car for a fun run... I
was distracted at the time.
3. Banjo brake fittings on a moving component (I have them going from the rear
calipers to the chassis) can be a liability. For some reason the right-rear
fitting came loose twice and contributed to my decision to park the Tiger on
Thursday. Loctite may be the answer here but I might also see about orienting
the lines so that they can't try to undo themselves.
4. It didn't happen to me, but having the ammeter connection come disconnected
while the engine is running can seriously damage many parts of the electrical
system. The phenomenon is called "alternator load dump", and it's pretty well
described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_dump . Always use ring
terminals on the alternator (not spade lugs), with star locking washers, make
sure the crimp connections are tight, and that the nuts on the ammeter are
tight... and make sure that the engine is off and the battery ground is
disconnected from the chassis while you're working on the ammeter circuit.
5. Speaking of nuts... make sure your lugnuts are tight.
6. Peter Thomson described a situation he'd been in where the steering arm
came loose from the spindle - one bolt disappeared altogether but he was able
to get the driver to stop the car before anything really bad happened. The
steering arm was obviously marked up from having been attached only at the
rear for some time. However, when he checked a bunch of spares at another club
member's place, he found that all of the steering arms were similarly worn -
apparently it is not uncommon for this to happen. So check your steering arm
bolts - it might be worthwhile to use LocTite on the steering arm-to-spindle
bolts.
7. Fat Tire makes a good beer... and it comes in 20 oz bottles.
Cheers,
Theo
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