[Fot] What are you working on?

[dustin nicholson]

Greg, I also haven't raced the Spitfire since February and am also getting ready for Texas World Speedway in 2 weeks.  Yesterday I finished the install of my "new” one piece competition axles and hardy spicer u joints.  The axles are new to me.  I upgraded to long wheel studs.  Replaced the pinion seal in the diff.  Rebuilt the brakes and got new tires.  Tried to take it for a test drive yesterday and the starter is fried.  I push started it and ran it around the block.  The good news is my intermittent low speed rear wheel wobble seems to be fixed although I never really identified what was causing it.  The bad news is that the car ran fine for a couple minutes and then decided to sputter and try to die while I limped it home.  Could be the battery getting weak as the tach started reading too low and then totally stopped working about a minute before it started running bad, the battery hasn’t been charged in 5 months and I don’t have an alternator
 so it’s probably pretty weak.  Or it could be starving for gas as it was low when I parked it in the spring.  When I shut it off the back bowl was about half full, the front bowl was a quarter full or less.  

It was amazing how stubborn some of the parts where.  I suspect the u-joints hadn’t been replaced in a few decades, I’ll bet I spent 6 hours fighting them just to get the old ones out.  One of them I ended up having to drill and cut the cap to pieces.  I also had a terrible time getting the new wheel studs to seat.  The first two where so difficult that it took my full body weight on a 4’ cheater bar.  I broke off one of the new studs and bent another.  Good thing I had extras.  I ended up grinding the teeth down just little which got them in with a reasonable amount of force.  I think they are tight enough, we’ll see.  Also one of my trunnion bolts on the suspension upright at the hub was so stuck that I never did get it out after hours of trying.  Apparently the bolt can become a part of the sleeve after a few decades of rusting, I’ve learned this is common.  I found a “junk” upright in my stash of spares and although it looked just as
 rusted it came apart easily and is now on my new axle.  I imagine my alignment is pretty far off as I can see the toe in.  I’ll be in England from tomorrow until the day before the race, but I think I’ll be ready for TWS more or less.

Joe Alexander, this is the rainbow colored Spitfire that I bought from Tom Chandler 2 years ago.  Thanks for helping me find it, although it's been more of a project than I expected... no surprise for an old racecar that's been sitting up for 20 years, right?

Dusty Nicholson
1971 FP Spitfire #4
 


--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 9/8/15, Michael Moore <mmoore at mtmcpafirm.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Fot] What are you working on?
 To: "Greg And Alison Blake" <ablake2 at austin.rr.com>, "FOT" <fot at autox.team.net>
 Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2015, 7:16 AM
 
 Early end of season for me, so took
 engine out for rebuild. Found two cracks in stud bosses for
 head bolts. So now I am tearing down one of my spare engines
 to use that block, which so far looks in really good shape.
 
 Thanks, Mike
 
 62 TR4, Race car
 63 TR4, Street car
 
 Mike & Becky Moore
 6050 Ruhl Road, Fairview, PA 16415
 
 mmoore at mtmcpafirm.com
 
 -----Original Message-----
 From: Fot [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net]
 On Behalf Of Greg And Alison Blake
 Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2015 11:06 AM
 To: FOT <fot at autox.team.net>
 Subject: [Fot] What are you working on?
 
 Getting the 3 ready for CVAR's TWS last run redo in a couple
 weeks.
 
 Can't wait, I have not raced the 3 since February and we
 have another new TxFOT member taking the drivers school. 
 
 Have a great Labor Day weekend. 
 
 Greg
 
 _______________________________________________
 fot at autox.team.net
 
 http://www.fot-racing.com
 
 Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
 Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
 Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
 Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/fot/nicholsondustin@yahoo.com