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AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/6/21 8:11 a.m.

OK the only things left for the truck are the trans pan leak and figuring out the wonky speaker. 

Glad I got that line replaced. That wear is actually from the tire and obviously down by the crimp is terrible as well. Driver's side looks good.

I went to the parts store for a new bleeder setup and ended up with a Mityvac pump. I'm either doing it wrong or there is a ton of air still in the system. I'm going to test drive the truck today or tomorrow to see where I stand. The pedal feels just as good, if not better than it ever has so there's that. 

mechanicalmeanderings
mechanicalmeanderings New Reader
7/6/21 12:40 p.m.

Although I have enjoyed the cars, I come for the truck content!

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/12/21 8:23 a.m.

In reply to mechanicalmeanderings :

Thanks! It's a pretty cool old beast.

No pics but a few updates. The brake feel in the truck is no worse than it was before and it maybe bites a bit harder. Success, I suppose. I'll pull the trans pan tonight if I can muster the energy. 

I got the wink mirror back into the BMW this weekend along with the brand new belts. It's going to the shop on Friday for the first alignment since race school however many years ago that was... They'll also put the new tie rod ends in if I can't get to it this week. I need to adjust the passenger side e-brake cable that the nut decided to undo itself.

 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/14/21 9:33 a.m.

The pan has been drained, edges beaten back straight and everything reassembled. This time with RTV and it doesn't leak!

Wait... there's no fluid in it yet... everyone keep your fingers crossed. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/15/21 10:30 a.m.

OK, seriously, how the berkeley is this even possible?

That's just sitting overnight after filling, I haven't even driven it. 

I also sort of cleaned up the bottom edge of the windshield. Did I take my time? No. But does it look good? No. But will it serve the purpose? I guess. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/19/21 9:05 a.m.

Short story: We now race a Miata with about 20% of a turbo.

Long story: The team was tired of being a moving roadblock on the straights and decided to turbo the car. Two of my teammates and their sons did the Lemons race at Pitt earlier this year and had issues with it getting too hot. One of the sons also looped it and snapped the diff carrier. A week ago, we got together, put in a new diff + carrier along with a brand spankin' new Mishimoto. 

Unusual for this team, we were first through tech at Nelson this weekend.

Note the wing which I could see vibrating up and down on the back stretch. It's probably serving to just slow us down.

Saturday was sopping wet and the car was running hot. We could get 2-3 hard laps in and then had to take a cool down. Pretty frustrating. We attempted some heat evacuation. 

That did nothing. Not pictured: we also closed off all holes on top of and in front of the radiator on the core support with duct tape. In addition, all of the studs in the turbo manifold were snapped off leaving 1-2 threads available in the manifold so each time one of our drivers came back in, the turbo had no bolts holding it on. It was just sitting on top of the manifold. It's amazing how well it ran in that state. 

Before my second stint, I ran over to check out the NEOhio Rallycross which was about 10 minutes away. I was lucky enough to chat with Evan for a few minutes about his turbo Miata experience and he said that radiator ducting had served him well. 

Somehow I didn't take any pictures but Sunday morning before the race I whipped up some ducting out of sheet aluminum and aluminum tape. It worked! Pretty awesome. Aside from one driver stint where some of the aluminum tape had ripped open and it started running a bit warm, temp was perfect all day. 

We drilled out the old studs and re-tapped for bolts but by the second stint, only 3/4 of the bolts remained and we eventually were sending drivers out with one bolt having them return with none. 

Our fastest lap of the weekend was a 1:20:06 or something like that. The first driver in the car Sunday set it and he did it with at least 3 bolts holding the turbo in (that's how he came off track). I ran a 1:20:15 Sunday afternoon with 0 bolts holding the turbo on. I'm pleased. The car and I were getting along well. 

This CRX was wicked fast and stupid loud. I think it has an S2K engine. 

The truck now has another sticker on the back window. 

 

Last night I shuffled all the cars around so I could get the BMW out this morning and drop it at my friend's shop for tie rod ends, an alignment and tire balancing. The Hoosiers felt pretty hard when I pulled them out of the basement... Oh well. I suppose I'll give them a few mineral spirits baths this week and see what happens. 

EvanB
EvanB GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/19/21 9:38 a.m.

Nice! glad the ducting helped out. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/26/21 10:14 a.m.

Schenley, Schenley, Schenley. What an awesome event. It could really use help in the department of making it run smoothly but man, it's hard to complain when that is the track we're racing on. 

Short Version - I don't clearly remember my times from 2018 but I think they were in the low 2:40s(?). This year my fast time was a 2:31 and I have no doubt I could have been into the 2:29s with clear track and more actual track time. I think there are three factors at play causing a 9-10 second drop off my time. 1) Frankly, I'm a much better driver than I was 3 years ago. 2) It's my second time at the track  - I was more comfortable 3) The car is better/lighter.

Long Version - I left Cleveland around 7:45 Friday morning, made one stop and got to Schenley around 10:45. It's 2 hours in a car and no stops so I call that good time. Bonus, Elmore got about 8.3 mpg towing!

Tech was no problem and I decided to attend the driver's dinner this year which allowed for a cool photo on the bridge. 

There were LOTS of delays this weekend with spectators on track and much carnage. At least two cars rolled and one driver went straight into the jersey barriers at the conservatory. Big impact. I definitely spent more time sitting on grid/sitting stopped on track this weekend than actually racing but, oh well. Two of my sessions were black flagged, one of those was also red flagged. 

Qualifying Saturday afternoon was cut so short that I had a total of 3 timed laps and was stuck in traffic the entire time. I had a great dice with an angry Spitfire in the Axis v. Allies race Saturday evening though. That thing should be a 1500 but it pulled me going up the hill. It had twin sidedrafts on it so it's probably pretty hogged out. Poor Hatchet is suhlow. That's OK, it's good through the corners.  With the Serpentine yellow flagged all weekend, pretty much my only opportunity to pass anyone was through the conservatory as I tended to carry more speed than others but that was a bit sketchy with some terrible new pavement. I made it work a couple times though. 

Sunday morning practice I was stuck in traffic again for much of it but the car felt good. The race Sunday afternoon I was behind two MGBs. The one was quite slow and made himself very wide. He got the blue flag a number of times to let me and the other B through and never did. We finally both got around him. Then I was chasing the other B who proceeded to almost literally stop in the haybale chicane and turn 11, both corners where I was quicker. He slowed down so much at the chicane that I almost hit him and completely lost all momentum in turn 11. 2 laps later, the race was red flagged, then black flagged, then called. I pulled up next to him during the red flag (asked permission from a corner worker) to tell him it was fun playing with him and he immediately said "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to block you". Which means, he purposefully overslowed to get me off him knowing he had more straight line speed. 

All in all it was a great weekend. I got to see a good friend that I haven't seen in person literally in years and other vintage racers that I haven't seen in a while either. There was some good on-track action and the experience of Schenley is unlike any other. 

Hatchet ran warmer than usual this weekend. I'm guessing it has something to do with the new front valence having less flow along with I'm betting the looped coolant hose at the back of the engine is heat soaking a bit. I've got ideas for both. The rear main leak hasn't gotten any better but when compared to the leaks I saw left from other cars in the paddock, it's in good company. The oil level hardly changed all weekend. 

"Nasty" and the A which my friend takes care of. Q was running the Nash great on Saturday afternoon but the right rear brake gave up the ghost and he came in 1 lap before the end of the race with no brakes and big smoke. It was exciting. 

He drove that 02 off the track to the paddock in that state...

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/18/21 9:08 a.m.

After waiting for our backordered steering wheel, receiving the wrong one and waiting again, the new wheel for the Healey showed up yesterday. 

It annoys me that the seam in the leather is not in the middle (bottom or top) but I'm certainly not sending back a second wheel and waiting again. I also realize that the original steering wheel had the single spoke up to fit between the gauges but I think these wheels look silly like that. 

The Healey got a nice workout last night as well. The sky was gorgeous. This pic doesn't even come close to doing it justice. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/30/21 7:08 a.m.

Raise your hand if you got everything plugged in, turn signals tested, wiring loom back in place and the grille reinstalled just to realize you hadn't threaded the olive and lock nut back over the steering column wiring/stator tube. 

*sheepishly raises hand*

I also think I adjusted the overdrive in a way now that it'll just work unless stomped on. There's some slop in the throttle that makes an accurate adjustment difficult which leads to spotty overdrive. Hopefully I have some time today for a test drive. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/1/21 6:57 a.m.

Turn signals work great!

OD still does not work. I'm confused. I know I have a firm understanding of how the system is supposed to function but I must not have a grasp on how the box on the firewall interprets the signal. Back to the drawing board.

TurnerX19
TurnerX19 UltraDork
9/2/21 11:06 a.m.

In reply to AxeHealey :

The switch contacts in the firewall box were always questionable. When the cars were newish we bridged out many of them so the OD just worked instantly from the dash switch.

JoeTR6
JoeTR6 Dork
9/2/21 12:15 p.m.

That throttle switch does seem like extra complication, but it should only keep the overdrive from being disengaged when the throttle is closed.  Check the relay, dashboard switch, and gearbox interrupter switch for continuity.  Do not bypass the gearbox switch as bad things will happen if the overdrive engages in reverse.

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/2/21 3:11 p.m.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Well, bridging the firewall box is what I tried. It worked on the third try and then nothing after that. 

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Right, that's my understanding. Definitely not going to bypass the switch on the gearbox. 

 

JoeTR6
JoeTR6 Dork
9/2/21 7:41 p.m.

Can you hear the solenoid moving?  The A-type overdrives need the operating lever to be adjusted properly or they will not engage (or engage too quickly).  You should be able to hear the solenoid energize without the engine running.

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/2/21 7:52 p.m.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Last summer when I was troubleshooting this, I did a lot of testing sitting in the garage and the solenoid was firing at that point but it also was working after that round of troubleshooting. 

This time, I have not tested it in the garage and I've never been able to hear it engage while driving. 

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/5/21 8:44 a.m.

Confirmed. Key on, fourth gear, the solenoid is a-clickin'. 

In other news, I finally put the inner door panels in on the passenger side but I cannot for the life of me find the screws for the outer door panel. That's what I get for leaving parts sitting around for over a year.

JoeTR6
JoeTR6 Dork
9/5/21 9:18 a.m.

Hopefully it just needs an operating lever adjustment.

When I move out of this house someday, I'll find all of the stuff that disappeared three years ago when I moved in.  I swear the parts must wander around at night.

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/5/21 9:33 a.m.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Yeah, that's the other factor. These parts moved from my old shop to the new house. Lots of factors against me here!

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/24/21 5:08 p.m.

Joe's constant work on the TR6 to make it perfect gave me the chutzpah to pull the Healey out during the work day today and use my breaks to finish the door panels. Check.

Of course one of the holes in the new panel lined up perfectly with the old hole...which had been hogged out and the screw doesn't catch. Overall, I'm happy with how they look.

I then took it for a nice cruise and stopped on a closed street for a few pics.

It also passed the rattle test.

jfryjfry
jfryjfry SuperDork
9/25/21 9:13 a.m.

Going back a few posts, the holes you cut in the miata's hood are probably too far back to help evacuate the engine bay.  They might even be pushing air in, making it run hotter

JoeTR6
JoeTR6 Dork
9/25/21 10:07 a.m.
AxeHealey said:

Joe's constant work on the TR6 to make it perfect...

Yeah, sorry.  I'm done for now.

The doors look great.  The whole car looks great.  Those pictures make me miss back east a little.

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/25/21 2:45 p.m.
jfryjfry said:

Going back a few posts, the holes you cut in the miata's hood are probably too far back to help evacuate the engine bay.  They might even be pushing air in, making it run hotter

Very well could be, yeah. There wasn't much planning involved. It certainly didn't help but now that the ducting is in place, the temp is fine.

AxeHealey
AxeHealey GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/25/21 2:46 p.m.

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Thanks! It's definitely really pretty here for like 2.5 months. 

jh36
jh36 HalfDork
9/25/21 2:58 p.m.

In reply to AxeHealey :

Them's some mighty inspirational images!  Looks fantastic. I will likely go the minilite replicas in mine as I have disk wheels. That or the wire conversion, but I like your look. 

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