This makes me regret getting rid of my last e21. Just a tiny bit.
This makes me regret getting rid of my last e21. Just a tiny bit.
I swear that just looks like John Deere green on the front half (hell, it could be John Deere yellow on the back) of your car but I'm sure you've tried that already.
I'm a fan of the E21 as well.
In reply to captainawesome :
While I don't want you to live with regret, I'll take that as a good thing.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I've got to be honest to say that I never thought of it being John Deere colors. That would make damn good sense as it lived it's initial life as a racecar in farm country...
EDIT: I just looked at Rustoleum JD Green... Yeah I bet that's it.
In reply to AxeHealey :
I can picture you towing to an event passing a tractor/lawn mower along the way and being like, wait a minute! lol
Rustoleum Regal Red is a very close match for my Zinnoberrot E28. I've used it to repaint my front valance and rear spoiler, it's not perfect but as good as anything I've had mixed up and put in a can that is supposed to match.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I told my wife about the JD suggestion and her reaction was the same. "Yeaaahhhhhh, that's definitely what it is!"
Big progress this weekend.
I had full intentions of riveting the windows in place but the drill bit breaking on literally the first hole was enough reason for me to reach for the zip screws.
How berkeleying cool does this look??
It's now occurring to me that I didn't weigh the windows and sunroof panel before installing them but the 4 pieces were 15lbs total before I cut them down to size. 1/8" polycarbonate is much heavier than I expected. Lighter than what I removed but, still.
Window film tint is cheap. Might be a wise investment for the clear roof. I predict lots of BTUs come pouring in June - Sept.
In reply to John Welsh :
Yeah, could be. I think it would only be an issue sitting on grid but time will tell.
Remember the self tapping screw that punctures your tire could be your own. They should never be used anywhere on a racing car. Yet Gentilozzi's Tranas-Am cars were full of them.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
I have heard that concern before and understand the premise. I also think, however, that a loose rivet or really any other slightly sharp debris one may run over on track is just as likely to puncture a hot, soft racing tire. There's always a chance I go to rivets. It's much easier to do with the windows all in place.
And, yeah, especially in ChampCar and the like I'd be willing to bet self tappers are on high on the list of most-commonly used racecar fastening hardware.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I couldn't resist... Looks like the valence is coming back off.
In the pic it's hard to even tell where I sprayed, isn't it?
Adam, I owe you a beer (or whatever your beverage of choice is).
Of course a bug landed on it while I was painting and I scraped it while putting in the grilles and the tape took off some of the black paint but the color is a damn good match!
I also finished the windows. I'm genuinely not very happy with how the rear window went in last night but it looks good if you don't pay too close attention.
Awesome, glad it worked out. Now just complete the look with a proper 1980's stripe just under the hood line lol
The yellow on their tractors doesn't look like a match for your yellow but they use a different colour on the commercial equipment (back hoes, pay loaders, excavators etc) that might be close as well.
Just filing this away as another reason I prefer a manual trans over an auto. Apparently most/many auto trans don't have a drain plug. It took forever to get all the fluid out without it going all over the garage floor. I got a late start last night too so this is how it remains.
Looks good in there at least. I found that it's also leaking from the shifter seal and I noticed a less-than-acceptable flex hose for the front right brakes so that needs to be done too (I'll do both up front).
Got the shifter rod removed. The new seals and brake lines should arrive on Thursday.
I'm a little concerned about the prospect of getting everything back together correctly but it would seem that it only goes back in park so I think I'll be fine.
With this silly ratchet shifter, two of the pan bolts are used to hold the cable bracket on. There seemed to be a combination of strange washers between the bracket and the pan. They fell out before I could see exactly where they were. In the pic below, bottom of the top paper towel - two normal washers and one very thick one. Are these just random spacers the PO decided he needed to use or is there an actual part I should be looking for?
In reply to AxeHealey :
I bet 2 regular washers equal one thick washer. They preserve the edge flange on the pan when using the bracket. The bracket probably came with two of the thick ones and PO lost one.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
It's got to be, right? Thanks.
Good news: the trans is all buttoned up.
Bad news: I'm about 93% certain it's still going to leak. There is about 1/16" of movement in and out that I can move the shift rod. I know it's got to be able to move (see: rotate) but no matter how much I tried, I could not tighten down that 7/8" nut on the inside to get rid of that movement. I guess we'll see. There doesn't seem to be any play in any other direction.
Other bits of good news: the front flex lines are expected today and I remembered to hit the old ones with PB last night before going inside. I also replaced the fuel filter on the E21 earlier this week and it doesn't seem to leak.
The brake lines seem to have gotten lost somewhere along the way and now are supposed to show up today. I haven't even put fluid back in the trans as I can't bear the thought of it leaking right back out. Saturday was full of exhausting yard work. Yesterday was full of side exhaustage.
I'm fully expecting it to not sound great as it really doesn't have a great sound to begin with but it's side exit so it's much cooler than it was.
Now the question is how to cut the end? I'm between two options. 1. Vertical cut, parallel with the body 1-2 inches out from the bottom of the sill. 2. Match the angle of the sill with the top sticking out about .5". Thoughts? Other suggestions?
Healey stuff! A guy in Columbus remakes all of the parts of the control head/trafficator that tend to break. Ours has been non-functioning, I believe, as long as my dad has had the car. They arrived this week and I assembled it last night. This is a three-hand job.
Well, I did a lot of car stuff this weekend but apparently only took one picture. I cleaned and put the summer wheels/tires on my wife's car and the same with mine, finally replaced the valve cover gaskets in the truck, charged the truck's battery, figured out how I'm going to mount the gauge cluster in the BMW, trimmed some sharp edges on the doors and started putting the molding on and finally installed the dead pedal.
I found a tiny leak from the pan gasket on the truck last night. Snugged up the bolts in the area, I'm guessing it'll be fine now.
Last night I made up a new switch panel for the race car. I almost tossed it in as just raw, scuffed up aluminum but remembered I have textured paint left over from the Healey dash.
I also got the exhaust trimmed down and painted along with getting undercoating on all of the wheel wells.
Got it out for it's first test since the off-track excursion, extra lightening, face (and butt) lift and side exhaust. All seems well, temp is good, the exhaust is roudy.
It's still pretty slow.
The Healey has re-emerged from its winter slumber. None of the little issues fixed themselves and no new ones seem to have surfaced. All's well.
Sometime in the last month or so, my dad and I took the Healey to the Stoddard Porsche show/swap meet. It was HOT and the car performed quite well. Since then it's been quite hectic in the Axe household. Good hectic, but still hectic. We had a new roof put on the house last week and all the stomping knocked a ton of E36 M3 onto the Healey which I had left uncovered. Saturday evening I took it for a short blast and gave it a nice cleaning.
With just under a month to go until Schenley, I realized I have to get my self into gear prepping everything. The E21 is actually pretty well set, just needs an alignment, oil change and maybe tie rod ends but Elmore needs love. The fan clutch has never worked in my ownership so I started into that this weekend.
Checklist for Elmore is fan clutch, oil change, replace a nasty looking flex brake line, fix the leak at the transmission pan, replace a destroyed fender mount and look into why the driver-side speaker cuts out.
You'll need to log in to post.
