Spent Sunday at Santa Pod Drag
Strip for one of the last events of the year.
Very interesting and something I'd recommend
people go and see just once. The cars to see
are the Top Fuel cars - cars which pack over
6000bhp and use £ 400 worth of fuel each
run.
The most powerful car yesterday was a 3000bhp
methanol powered car - this does the 1/4 mile
in 5.5 seconds and crosses the line at over
250mph (from a standing start)
New steering wheel arrived today - it is a
MOMO Shuttle 350, and was fitted to the limited
edition Lotus Esprit V8 Sport 350 (only 50 cars
made). Lotus were selling surplus stock at a
good price (abour £ 60) so I bought one...
posted by Andrew
on 19:22 - 30/09/02
17th September 2002
Beadblasted exhaust manifold,
cleaned cam belt cover.
Here are some shots of the passenger side floor
and the offside of the front body compartment
that I cleaned over last weekend. The small
amount of welding to the front body section
is clearly evident.
posted by Andrew
on 19:46 - 17/09/02
16th September 2002
Dinitrol RC800 has dried. Just
requires a light sanding prior to priming &
painting to make a key.
Have four cylinder heads with unknown camshaft
profiles to map - two Montecarlo heads with
top mounted distributor, one of which was the
'race' head so may have had porting work and
uprated cams fitted at some point. Will map
the others at the same time which will help
identify the unknown one..
Put sump back into Jizer tank to soak and remove
any final deposits that had softened. Will use
Nitromors paint stripper on the outside of the
sump to remove the Hammerite finish - cannot
beadblast it as the risk of getting bead in
the oil system is too much of a risk.
posted by Andrew
on 19:38 - 16/09/02
15th September 2002
Stripped paint using MBX wheel
to the passenger side floor up to sill height.
As there was some rust (one or two small areas
to repair, I put some Dinitrol RC800 rust converter.
This stabilises any corrossion.
Stripped more paint of the inside of the front
body compartment and used Dinitrol on that as
well.
posted by Andrew
on 19:29 - 15/09/02
13th September 2002
Fitted new accelerator pump diaphragms
to the carburettors. Beadblast cam covers. Degrease
oil filter housing, oil cooler sandwich plate
and various bolts.
Found some spare carb bits in amongst the spares
with the car - 35mm chokes, spare main jets,
air corrector jets, emulsion tubes and idle
jets.
posted by Andrew
on 21:26 - 13/09/02
12th September 2002
Used compress air to clear out
any stubborn dirt and water that hadn't drained
out. Have built up the carburettors as much
as possible.
The choke mecahnisms have been left off in
order to clean them. New accelerator pump diaphragms
and the corresponding gaskets are required.
posted by Andrew
on 19:11 - 12/09/02
11th September 2002
Removed the carburettor castings
from the chemical dip. Wash off thoroughly with
water, use toothbrush to remove any deposits
which didn't completely come off and leave to
dry.
Carbs are ready to be rebuilt tomorrow.
posted by Andrew
on 22.38 - 11/09/02
10th September 2002
Beadblasted the Alquati inlet
manifold - brings it up a treat.
Strip down carburettors, measure float heights
and record. Strip all the way to empty castings.
Dip castings in chemical cleaner overnight.
These should bring up the shells to an as new
appearance. Will have to source a couple of
new 'o' rings which have perished and a few
gaskets.
Have broken flange on water casting repaired.
Degrease first of my two sumps - apart from
the fact its covered in hammerite on the outside,
and someone previously had used too much nasty
instant gasket its fine, apart from one or two
little dents in places hard to get at. The Montecarlo
sump has a windage tray, and a superior design
of baffle and trapdoors to prevent oil surge.
Degrease oil pump.
posted by Andrew
on 19.08 - 10/09/02
9th September 2002
Remove filter cases and Weber
40 DCNF carburettors from Alquati inlet manifold.
Clean manifold and prepare for bead blasting.
Check carbs - appear clean inside, note sizes
of venturis, jets for reference. Clean some
of the muck off the outside of the carb, will
strip properly at a later date.
Notice that one of the cast water tubes (tav
31 # 19) has a broken flange - broken some time
by the look of the metal. Gasket #12 is torn.
Oil pump turns nicely and smoothly.
2 x 40DCNFs, Alquati manifold
Guy Croft
stage 2 suggestions
my setup
Main Jets...
165
125
Air Corrector Jets...
190
150
Idle Jets...
55
50
Emulsion tubes...
F24
F22
Venturi (Chokes)...
32
32
Auxiliary Venturi...
4.5
Starter Jet...
75F5
posted by Andrew
on 21.11 - 09/09/02
7th and 8th September 2002
Wet weather puts any idea of
spending the day scraping paint away outside
on hold. Collect some parts for cleaning at
home. Put some loft flooring in...
posted by Andrew
on 21.11 - 09/09/02
6th September 2002
My new lightweight rear bumper
arrived this afternoon. Kevlar wasn't available,
but they have made a lightweight version for
me, but with reinforcing around the mountings
and in certain areas to make it rigid. First
impressions look good - nice smooth gelcoat.
I'll offer it up to the car over the weekend
to see what its like.
posted by Andrew
on 11.01 - 06/09/02
4th September 2002
Found a source of carbon fibre
/ kevlar front and rear wings... Tempting isn't
it!
My new bumper is ready today. I have given
instructions to have it collected tomorrow and
delivered to me for the end of the week.
posted by Andrew
on 00.26 - 06/09/02
1st September 2002
Finish fitting workbench...
Seems very good so far...
Need to 'find' rest of garage in order to get
the car home where it is easier to work on it.
Must start by getting some loft flooring!
:
: cliffeandrew@hotmail.com
