52 replies to this topic

[piquet]

Could the Mods please move this to the members plans and projects. It's probably a better place for the postings.

Many thanks

Peter

Edited by piquet, 31 December 2015 - 08:31 PM.

[piquet]

The latest update

Today despite the hot weather again in melbournhe, I have done some more work on the car.

I went to our friends at Rare Spares and purchased the correct dealer transfer for the back window of the car. It was originally sold from a dealer in Ballarat.

I haven't installed it yet, will wait till I clean the interior.

I got under the car and decobwebbed it. There were a few under there.

I also replaced the soft mount for the exhaust system that had just fallen apart over the years.

Then I changed over the clutch master and slave cylinder. Bench bled the system first then installed and bled it all again.  I now have a clutch,so we are getting closer to altogether again.

i also replaced some of the convoluted tube over the wiring in the engine bay  and started on cleaning the engine bay.

 

We are getting there. More again tomorrow if the boss lets me go outside.

[piquet]

The weather in melbourne has been more liking to just sitting by the pool (El Chepo above ground) and trying to keep cool that way. Yesterday was 42.2 in the city and hotter out here in the Eastern suburbs got to 44 in Scoresby. Now thats bloody roasting. So I didnt even go to the shed.

 

The other day i started to car only to find that its running on 5 cylinders. Changed to another set of plugs and it didnt make much difference. So I pulled the carbies off and cleaned them out, in case some sediment had settled and  got stirred up blocking a jet or port of some kind. All seemed to be OK. I did notice one thing though and that was theat the oring for the pump jet cover was leaking. So much so that when the throttle was operated and it pumped fuel down the throats it spurted out fro the O ring.

Now that would be great spraying raw fuel onto the exhaust manifold! Most interesting!

% years of sitting round and not having done anything has taken its toll.

Today seeing as the weather was only 18 instead of the low 40's of yesterday it was an ideal time to get something done. I went to Weber Performance in Braeside  and bought 12 of the o rings.. This place is run by a fellow member of the HTCAV so best to support fellow club members when and where possible.

 Daniel van Stokrem who runs this business has one of the Toranas in the latest edition of Racer magazine.

Brought them home and intalled them. Tomorrow after work I will get a new set of plugs and then on Saturday put them in a give it a kick in the gust and see what happens.

I've also taken off the stone tray bashed it bak into some kind of shape and hit it with a coat of paint.. That's also ready to reinstall.

Probably the smartest thing that I have done there is to put some nutserts/rivnuts in the chassis where the stone tray is in bolted in.place. I know that its not original but they will never pull out  and the self tapers thatnormally held the stone tray in place were always subject to having them stripped and larger diameter one haveing to be put in all the time. I'm thinking of doing the same with the leading edge of the stone try as well and maybe even the airdam locating nuts and bolts. They don't weigh much more than a nut and washer and they can't get dropped or lost.

Will updaet this later toward the end of the weekend.

[piquet]

Not sure which cylinder. It has no coolant in it yet so couldnt run it too long and its also in a fairly closed up shed so the gas attack is horendous.

I thought that the nut sert idea for the stone tray was a gret idea even if I do say so myself. A pity the factory didnt think of it. Those type fitttings have been around for nearly 50 years. GMH used them on some of the flair attachments for the L34/A9X.

 

nice cool day and work has been cancelled so will be able to go to the shed and see what im doing after I get the new specs. Dropped a lens and cant see a dammed thing. Getting OLd sucks.

[piquet]

So new glasses installed and Im rearing to go. Then work interupts.

Still, the stone tray is painted and the freshly painted and styled airdam is ready to bolt back in place.

Probably get that done tomorrow and get the new plugs installed at the same time.

Ill also start cleaning and polishing the roof now that i have a short ladder. then after all that is done its time to clean the inside.

[piquet]

Air dam and stone tray installed and it looks great. all fresh paint is a wonderful thing. i know it wont stay that way for long  but what theheck

New plugs installed and  o rings in the carbies,  all joints in fuel system double checked. Hit the starter and it fired easily. Still sounds fluffy at idle but off idle its OK. It's is probably the cam at idle that makes it sound like its on 5 cylinders now. Thinking back it always did sound a bit strange at idle! It has been quite a while since I've heard it running so it is probably a matter of getting used to it the sounds of the car again.

 

So it's all go for the John Brash meeting.

Just have to finish the cleaning of the interior do an oil and filter change and we are away.

If I get a chance I will get it to a dyno but it was fine last time it was out so I dont think that there will be too many problems.

Have to check the wiring to the tacho as that is not working, either its unplugged or a wire has broken.

Glad I'm finding these things now.

Edited by piquet, 21 January 2016 - 04:31 PM.

[RallyRed]

So it's all go for the John Brash meeting......whats that  PK?

[piquet]

John Brash was a much loved, respected and extremely likeable member of the Historic Touring Car Association of Victoria who sadly died in March last year.
John was an extremely good and widely respected photographer, a guitarist in many bands and a lover of BMWs. He had several 528/535 Alpina BMs .
He raced a Valiant pacer and for a while a HK/T/G 327 Monaro
John succumbed to Liver Cancer. He is greatly missed so the HTCAV are having a family fun day called the John Brash Bash at Calder in his honour.
The club has hired the circuit and will have sessions for race cars with and without passengers. It is run as a sprint meeting but there is no winner on the day but some kind of award and a free BBQ at the end of the day.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate his life.

[piquet]

I have been asked to be the judge of the Brashiest moment of the day at the upcoming family day.

Not sure who or what that will be but I now know that It won't be me!

 

Someone suggested that it could be the person with the most parts falling of on the day. Thats a bit rude but in some instances not always far from the truth.

He did have that problem at one stage.

John also had great problems at the GP in Melbourne one year where he changed bigend bearings either twice or three times during the weekend due to the oil pump problems with the hemi engine.

John had one of the biggest looses I've seen at Winton. He disappeared off the track in his Valiant at a great rate of knots 9backwards) at the sweeper and eventually stopped in a great big cloud of dust.

 

When he got back to the pits he had a grin from ear to ear.

 

When He bought his Monaro I was with him at Calder and neither of us even knew the firing order or which was No 1 cylinder. Talk about the blind leading the blind. They were fun times

I miss him and also our regular Friday drinks.

[RallyRed]

John Brash was a much loved, respected and extremely likeable member of the Historic Touring Car Association of Victoria who sadly died in March last year.
John was an extremely good and widely respected photographer, a guitarist in many bands and a lover of BMWs. He had several 528/535 Alpina BMs .
He raced a Valiant pacer and for a while a HK/T/G 327 Monaro
John succumbed to Liver Cancer. He is greatly missed so the HTCAV are having a family fun day called the John Brash Bash at Calder in his honour.
The club has hired the circuit and will have sessions for race cars with and without passengers. It is run as a sprint meeting but there is no winner on the day but some kind of award and a free BBQ at the end of the day.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate his life.

Ok...sad, but at least he had an interesting life!!.....and thanks

[piquet]

Hi Grant.

It hasn't happened yet. The John Brash is on the 21st Feb. So I have a bit of time to get the car somewhere near right for the day.

I did a little bit today but It was pissing down with rain most of the day and I had to work this morning but will get a bit more done tomorrow.

have to clean the interior and boot and then do the nut and bolt check.

Then the expensive part.

New Harness as it is now out of date, new fire exingusher, licence renewal and the new design roll bar padding. I'm looking at buying the Velo seat off Mark but it all depends what funds I have available in the next week or so.

Entry forms submitted and fees paid.

will add some photos as I go along.

[RallyRed]

good stuff...

by the way,I think  it sounds like sundry organisations are getting closer to requiring HANS devices for all sorts of track time.??

 

Cant argue with it really, just the cost I guess....but its the old $1 head needs a $1 helmet argument all over again.?

[piquet]

For the sprint meeting a HANS is recommended but not mandatory, YET.
I think HANS or other FIA approved head restraint is mandatory for all circuit racing from Jan 1,2016. The Simpson Hybrid seems like a good option. Not happy with the tie in between the HANS people and the FIA. I think I will support Simpson. More than happy with their Helmet.
My helmet is compatible and I have an SFI approved restraint which is better than nothing but cant be used because of the way that the rules are written.

[RallyRed]

yeah YET.....I'm just about up for a new helmet anyway, so probably go the whole hog then.

 

I think Agent 34 has been down this path and ended up with the Simpson?

[piquet]

On the engine stand I have a spare partly built 186 race engine. I have gotten a bit sick and tired of cleaning so decided that i might do a bit of fabricating for a while.

ive had the components for an external oil pump pick lying around for a while now so thought that I would start modifying the spare sump to suit.

more of the story tomorrow

[piquet]

latest update

its been a while but I have done a bit more. Today I cleaned the wheels. Dragged them out into the front lawn and hit them with some Kitten (yes its been sitting round for a while) Mag wheel cleaner.,

on the inside I used a stainless steel scrubber.Not the ones from the supermarket but the Bunnings ones. They are better and last longer.

A spray with the cleaner and a quick scrub then another spray and some heavy scrubbing. The dirt that was there from 4 years ago just melted away, as did the oils on my hands. Should have worn gloves!

 

Previously I was able to weld up the new oil pickup and drill the hole through the spare sump for the external pickup system. The pickup pipe was welded to the sump and then a large washer was brazed to the outsidde of the sump to stop any chance of flexing and breaking the weld.

The  -12  hose connector was brazed to the pipe and all is now ready to be fitted up.

I have searched the nut and bolt bin and thrown out a lot of crap but managed to find a set of bolts for the sump. Temp fitted this to the spare block and also bolted in an olipump to measure the distance centre to centre for the pick up hose. All in readiness for getting the Speedflow fittings and some high pressure hose.

 

Now, if someone will buy the parts I have in the for sale section I can get it sooner!!!

 

the list of things to do is getting shorter and the list of things to be done seems to be getting longer if that makes sense.

[piquet]

Less than a week to the John Brash Dash and I'm nearly there and ready for it. Our house is a bit like the kerrigans in the Castle. I'll have to move the boat and accumulated junk in front if he garage to get the XU1 out.

So the tyres are pumped, I'm pumped, it's back down on the ground after bleeding the brakes. Interior cleaned. Although once it's in the daylight I've got no doubt that it will look like crap. The tyres are a bit old and probably hard but they will do. They have been off the ground in a garage all this time so should be OK , At least they will have no flat spots.
I've put Volvo brakes and BMW rotors on the car with some Black Flash pads on the car. This will be the first time out with this set up and it will be interesting to see what it feels like. If necessary I have everything at home from the original set up that I can go back t, if necessary.
Licence organised. Hopefully pick it up tomorrow
Fire extinguisher checked in date.
Seat belt in date.
Engine runs, Carbies sorted. Have to get some avgas from supplier pick it up either tomorrow or Friday. Probably cheaper than buying it at Calder.
After all this time out of the seat I'm a bit aprahensive about getting out there again but excited at the same time.

[piquet]

Today I got rained out at work so had some spare time up my sleeve.

Went to CAMS to pick up my licence but it has been posted out. On the plus side they did print me off a temporary one incase the posted one doesn't arrive tomorrow. Can't ask for any better than that.

CAMS for all their bad points at time are better than AASA in that respect. I sent AASA an email last friday and they still haven't replied.

CAMS took my monrey for the licence and didnt charge me the fast track fee which i thought I might have to pay as I wanted it within the 5 days. I know I should have done this ages ago but I didn't.

 

I chased up the Avgas that I will need for the weekend

$4.00/litre a bit of a price rise from last time I bought some. What is the price in Sydney?

Mounted the new fire extinguisher and bolted the hip bar back in place. What a fidly job that is!

 

Anybody want an old never used but 4 years out of date Extinguisher. I seem to have a collection of about 4-5 around the place.

[piquet]

Tomorow is the big day. Today was spent tidying up the last few things and getting the car on the trailer.

So it nearly ready to go, still have to Charge up the battery, Charge up the Dorian timer and se up the GO Pro

Here it is, first time in daylight for a couple of years

 

>  XU1.3.jpg   76.14K   3 downloads

 

 

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•  XU1.4.jpg   77.3K   2 downloads

[joeseph]

lovely to see..

[Dodgey]

Have a great day at the track tomorrow.

Will look forward to reading about it

[RallyRed]

Nice work mate...you have done well to get it up and ready.
Need to get my finger out..havent even been in the shed for a few months as busy with other stuff..but your pics give me inspiration. Its always a good feeling seeing them on the trailer ready to go! .