Here's a few pictures:
The calendar for '06 is as follows:
April 15th Brands Hatch (GP) - Dunlop Track & Race Cars MST-TIMING Report
29th Silverstone National - Dunlop Track & Race Cars
May 13/14th Snetterton - Dunlop Track & Race Cars + Dunlop V8 Supercar Challenge
June 10/11th Lydden Hill - Dunlop Track & Race Cars
24/25th Castle Combe - Dunlop Track & Race Cars
July 22/23rd Brands Hatch Indy - Dunlop Track & Race Cars
August 5th Donington - Dunlop V8 Supercar Challenge
November 4th Donington - Dunlop V8 Supercar Challenge
Race Reports (well my side of the story)
Brands - 15th April
A few problems hilighted at scrutineering, and thanks to Rod Birley for smoothing the way to let me race.
Qualifying - err 2 laps! Not my fault they threw the red flags. So not much done there. Lots of wheel wobble at the front, so looked in to it, and found some woes which Jon Mann (who spannered for me today) sorted. I'm still learning about this car, and Jon's knowledge is greater than mine in this area. Race 1 : Rolling start - 39 cars. Made a few places up straight away, then set about the task of moving up from 28th on the grid. Got to 13th place before the gearbox jammed between gears, which was a good thing really as it was starting to cook. The Stewart Warner gauge for the top-hose said 230deg F. About 30 too many. Oil was a little warm too.
Still, Jon's work on the front suspension worked wonders - gripped like a ghecko on a greek holiday apartment wall!
The noise test was "variable" - one side is OK, the other is tooo loud man. New silencers required.
Can't wait for the new gearbox - that should sort most of my problems in the driveline department.
Didn't make Race 2. Decided that discretion as the better part of valour, packed up, went home.
A good day out, more experience with the car, loved every minute of it.
Silverstone 29th April - Peterborough Motor Club meeting.
With a new gearbox, a nice new set of silencers, the oil tank covered up, an oil cooler fitted, and a decent pressure cap fitted, it's all looking good,... until after scrutineering when I notice much too much smoke from the left hand exhaust, and deeper investigations show water coming up the head studs between cylinders 1 & 3. I checked the head's torque, and it's not good - a quick click with the torque wrench, and things look a bit better, so I decided to try a few laps. I pulled in at about half way through the session.
Temperatures were OK, but the smoke was too much to be anything to "ignore". Further investigations showed that the water system was being pressurised dramatically! And it was breathing far too much to be normal. So, sadly, back on the trailer and off home. I'm still impressed with the grip, even though the front end is desperate for more camber.
Getting it home, and in the workshop I was able to set about removing the 1/3/5/7 bank head. The gasket had clearly gone, and it looks like it may not have been torqued down properly (that's my fault!). It had blown into the valley (hence the heavy breathing), and into the water galleries, hence the water blowing out.
New gaskets were ordered from Terry at The Performance Connection, and shipped out on Monday 1st May, direct from CV Products in North Carolina. They arrived in the UK quickly, but for some reason, the paperwork didn't have my name on it - it had Terry's, and as such, Customs wouldn't play ball. It took quite a bit of shuttle diplomacy to get them released, but they turned up here too late to get the car ready to run at Snetterton, and the first round of the all new Dunlop V8 Supercar Challenge. I really wanted to do this round, and it just won't be ready.
More drama! After changing one head gasket, then moving to the other head, I find all four pistons in the right hand bank missing bits of rather important aluminium. After some uncontrolled sobbing, and clutching of the wallet, a new set of pistons were ordered, at .040 oversize, and the whole thing is in the hands of our good friends at Anglian Engine Services. The new capacity will be 6730cc, and it'll be fresh as a daisy when it goes back in, with new bearings too.
Thankfully, I have another spare head gasket, so I don't have to wait for them.
The new pistons are from CP Racing Pistons in California. They were born out of ex-JE Pistons engineers, and offer some very nice high quality products. As usual, Terry in Knoxville is helping out as much as he can from so far away.
A page about the rebuild is here......
August 5th - Donington.
The Nightmare Continues.
With the freshly rebuilt engine requiring running-in, the only thing I could do was treat it gently in the 25min qualifying session for the V8 Supercars. That meant keeping the revs below 5000, and not "thrashing" it.
That was fine, but I still have a serious shaking on the steering under braking. It's fine on power, and after the brakes have been on a bit. It gave me zero confidence under braking, and therefore I was braking early for corners - very early. After the session was over, I was asked to go to scrutineering for them to check out a "wobbly wheel". They didn't find that, but what was noticed was a serious oil leak. That was traced to the front crank seal on the timing cover. The reason was the Harmonic Damper not being on the crank far enough. No matter what we did, it wouldnt move. I didn't have my home-made tool for pressing it onto the crank, and there was nobody at the circuit that had one. That meant an early return home, and therefore no racing.
With the car back in the workshop, and the tools to hand, it took about 15 minutes to fix the problem.
I had a look at the suspension & steering to see what could be causing the wobble, and found the ackerman arms moving very slightly, even though the bolts were tight. The cause of that seems to have been the length of the shoulders on the bolts. A washer 25thou" thicker fixed the problem.
August 19th - Brands Hatch (Indy)
What do I have to do?
After four laps of qualifying, I'm shown the Black & Orange flag. It was reported that the car was losing fluid, and smoking.
The fluid was coolant. Smoking - a small weep from the right hand bank rocker cover onto the exhaust headers.
The reason for blowing out the water was put down to too much water in the header tank. Once it had blown out what it didn't need, it stopped.
It looked like the oil was going up the studs on the rocker cover, so I added a little silicon to the washers in an effort to seal it.
I put a little bit of water in the header tank. And got ready for race 1.
I made a steady start, and started picking off places. It decided not to select 2nd gear for some reason, so I had to drop to 1st for Druids, which made it a little interesting. Then on lap5, out came the Black & Orange flag again - fluid being dropped..... Yet again, water was being thrown out of the header tank overflow. Temperatures were fine, so I didn't have any worries there. The oil leak was still there on the rocker cover.
So back in the paddock, some head scratching followed:
Graham Bahr (aka Guru) helped with the rocker cover using a little quicksteel to repair a hairline crack which was a likely exit point.
The problem with the water system was probably localised boiling caused by some air in the system where the top hose exits the inlet manifold, rises up, and then falls to the radiator. Some careful pumping of the system appeared to make it better. The 2nd gear thing was odd, as it worked when I drove it back to the paddock, so I assumed it was fixed.
Race 2, starting from the back, I made up about six or so places quickly, then the 2nd gear problem came back. I managed to spin it at Druids, and kept it out of the gravel by lighting it up. I didn't manage a full 360, but got going again, only for my friend Mr Black & Orange flag to be shown to me again. Same reasons. So we hadn't cured it.
After the race, we had a "pow-wow" to think about the causes and cures for the problems.
The rocker covers just need the cracks finding, and welding up. The water system problems are most likely caused by the way that the top hose leaves the block, and a lack of thermostat, or restriction in that area to improve coolant distribution/water flow around the block.
The gear selection problems are still a mystery - as I haven't investigated that area yet.
The wobbling wheels under braking was back. I found the threads on one nut on the driver's side had stripped, and I managed to get a normal nut on there to hold it. There is also a little play in the rack on the passenger side.
Before I take it out next, I will strip down the front end and replace bolts where necessary.
I have ordered a number of parts to fix the water system. A "manifold water neck" from Moroso, and a water catch tank to plumb into the overflow.
We'll see what we can do with it then.
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