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Further update. We ran out first Lemons race and the basic engine & T5 trans worked OK. The trans still leaks from the speedo and we used a quart of oil after about 10+ hours of running so I would call that successful.
Now the bad. About 5 hours in to the race our 3rd driver was about 30 minutes into his stint when he called in on the radio that something in the front suspenion/steering broke. He was able to drive it in with the LF wheel leaned way in and over. The upper ball joint had came out of the spindle. The bolt either was not tighened enough or the cotter pin wasn't thick enough but the bolt worked itself off. The first two drivers both mentioned of a noise in the corner of the car but didn't push the issue enough to cause us to check what it was during our pit stops. We fixed that but lost about an hour. A bit later the same driver callls in and tells us the car had now died!
After the car is towed in we lifted the hood off and find the alternator in 3 pieces with 2 of them laying on top of the dist. But that's not what caused the engine to die! After replaceing the alt. we tried to fire the car and got nothing! It sounded like the engine was out of time. Brought the engine to TDC and popped the dist. cap and found that it was off. But how? Further checking found much play in the dist. shaft, in fact as I worked it I found that the upper dist. shaft was broken from the lower dist. shaft. The break was somewhere inside the dist housing.
We sent someone to check part store for a re-man Duraspart dist. As we waited we changed the metering plate on the Holley 350 carb to one with pluged Accel. pump ports. We upped the jets a bit to compensate. When we got the update on no replacement dist. I went to work solidering the three wire to a spare TFI dist we just happen to have. I wired it in and with one minor mistake we got the car running again.
I then took the car out for my stint which at this point was about 30 minutes as it was now 7:30 PM and the race is stopped for the day at 8 PM. The car ran better, mostly due to the carb tuning change.
We made some additional changes to the car Sunday morning and i took the green flat at 12 Noon.
The engine was now pretty good, not perfect but the best it's been. But now the other parts of the car were starting to fail. The rear suspension which is a 3 link with panhard bar was really banging around. We found that the drive shaft was rubbing on the top of the tunnel and on one stop we had to tighten one of the panhard bar bolts.
As the race entered the last hour at 4 PM on Sunday we got the word from our driver that something broke in the drivetrain. He limped it in and we found that the back U joint had failed. The clips holding the cups in must have worked themselves out, perhaps due to the rubbing. With further checking we found that the rubbing was caused by the upper 3rd link adjustment screw backing out and making the link longer. This was enough to allow the axel to rotate the pinion upward enough for the drive shaft to hit.
We found a large hose clamp and some duct tape, yes duct tape and got it together so that we could go out for the last lap and be listed as running at the finish which we did.
Over all the car despite all the suspension problems DID handle. With all the issues fixed it should be even better for the next race. We need to add an oil cooler as oil temps of 250 were seen before we backed off for a lap or two.
Now on to Autobahn in Joliet, IL on June 8 & 9, but I won't be there.
Now the bad. About 5 hours in to the race our 3rd driver was about 30 minutes into his stint when he called in on the radio that something in the front suspenion/steering broke. He was able to drive it in with the LF wheel leaned way in and over. The upper ball joint had came out of the spindle. The bolt either was not tighened enough or the cotter pin wasn't thick enough but the bolt worked itself off. The first two drivers both mentioned of a noise in the corner of the car but didn't push the issue enough to cause us to check what it was during our pit stops. We fixed that but lost about an hour. A bit later the same driver callls in and tells us the car had now died!
After the car is towed in we lifted the hood off and find the alternator in 3 pieces with 2 of them laying on top of the dist. But that's not what caused the engine to die! After replaceing the alt. we tried to fire the car and got nothing! It sounded like the engine was out of time. Brought the engine to TDC and popped the dist. cap and found that it was off. But how? Further checking found much play in the dist. shaft, in fact as I worked it I found that the upper dist. shaft was broken from the lower dist. shaft. The break was somewhere inside the dist housing.
We sent someone to check part store for a re-man Duraspart dist. As we waited we changed the metering plate on the Holley 350 carb to one with pluged Accel. pump ports. We upped the jets a bit to compensate. When we got the update on no replacement dist. I went to work solidering the three wire to a spare TFI dist we just happen to have. I wired it in and with one minor mistake we got the car running again.
I then took the car out for my stint which at this point was about 30 minutes as it was now 7:30 PM and the race is stopped for the day at 8 PM. The car ran better, mostly due to the carb tuning change.
We made some additional changes to the car Sunday morning and i took the green flat at 12 Noon.
The engine was now pretty good, not perfect but the best it's been. But now the other parts of the car were starting to fail. The rear suspension which is a 3 link with panhard bar was really banging around. We found that the drive shaft was rubbing on the top of the tunnel and on one stop we had to tighten one of the panhard bar bolts.
As the race entered the last hour at 4 PM on Sunday we got the word from our driver that something broke in the drivetrain. He limped it in and we found that the back U joint had failed. The clips holding the cups in must have worked themselves out, perhaps due to the rubbing. With further checking we found that the rubbing was caused by the upper 3rd link adjustment screw backing out and making the link longer. This was enough to allow the axel to rotate the pinion upward enough for the drive shaft to hit.
We found a large hose clamp and some duct tape, yes duct tape and got it together so that we could go out for the last lap and be listed as running at the finish which we did.
Over all the car despite all the suspension problems DID handle. With all the issues fixed it should be even better for the next race. We need to add an oil cooler as oil temps of 250 were seen before we backed off for a lap or two.
Now on to Autobahn in Joliet, IL on June 8 & 9, but I won't be there.
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