Author Topic: My Lakester  (Read 69156 times)

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Offline RichFox

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #120 on: October 19, 2015, 12:30:42 PM »
i agree completely. But at the beginning of his thread, I understood him to be building something that looked like a tank from the beginnings. As things progressed on, I never really got the idea that wasn't still true. As such, the HAMB was the proper place for his build. But I stayed out of the discussion at the time because I saw no point in joining. I only posted now because I am really interested in what it is about Bonneville that makes people believe that cars built to 1950 standards will still be allowed to run. And get upset hen they find different. Good luck with your car. Did you say what motive power you will be using?

Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #121 on: October 19, 2015, 09:56:48 PM »
Good luck with your car. Did you say what motive power you will be using?

I am kind of a 2.0L guy so will be using a modified Ford Cosworth BDG very similar to the one Ted Wenz lent me for the first lakester in 1993. The modification is a new cylinder head and intake system via John Stowe (cylinder head) and slide injectors by Dave Dahlgren. Burton Brown used the engine in his liner this year and is having a higher horsepower version made by John Stowe as we speak or so I heard. The engine I get to use produces 342 hp, 195 ft lbs of torque and 11,000 rpm if needed. I would post an image but can't seem to make it happen.

John
« Last Edit: October 19, 2015, 09:59:47 PM by ggl205 »

Offline Rex Schimmer

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #122 on: October 20, 2015, 08:35:58 PM »
ggl205,
(Which i assume stands for "G Gas Lakester, 205 mph) A nice 2 liter BDG at 342HPs should certainly make a VERY competitive G gas lakester. I may have missed it but did you say what your body style will be? Tank, Jack special etc.

Rex
Rex

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Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #123 on: October 20, 2015, 08:52:22 PM »
ggl205,
(Which i assume stands for "G Gas Lakester, 205 mph) A nice 2 liter BDG at 342HPs should certainly make a VERY competitive G gas lakester. I may have missed it but did you say what your body style will be? Tank, Jack special etc.

Rex

Hey Rex:

This new 2.0L engine has about 60 hp more than I had with the old BDG and 40 hp more than with the YBM used later in the first lakester. No doubt that if I get aero right, the G/GL record will come back to Wichita. Wait, it already is in Wichita, just at the wrong address.

My new car is not a tank. It has a 150" wheelbase, a two maybe three piece chassis, based on a 1984 Reynard FC car, roughly 7.5 sq. ft. frontal area and should come in around 2,000 pounds. Hard to explain body shape as it han't been made yet but will look familiar to many good streamliner shapes.

John

Offline kiwi belly tank

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #124 on: October 21, 2015, 01:28:10 AM »
Good luck with that engine, it cost Burton a lot of heart ache & pain in failures plus a pile of money. I hope you don't try to run the hewland  transaxle that was on the thing as well.
  Sid.

Offline tauruck

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #125 on: October 21, 2015, 01:44:35 AM »
Sid, why don't you like the Hewland?.

Many, many ratios and interchangeable, well in the early 80s there were. :-D

Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #126 on: October 21, 2015, 08:00:45 AM »
Good luck with that engine, it cost Burton a lot of heart ache & pain in failures plus a pile of money. I hope you don't try to run the hewland  transaxle that was on the thing as well.
  Sid.

Sid:

I lent Burton the Hewlad M9 that came out of my Lakester. It successfully made record passes for seven years with only a side cover bearing failure due to excessive bearing preload. I routinely put between 350-400 hp through that box on nitrous. It is a solid transaxle.

The engine is solid too. Problems Burton had with it were not the engine. I have been around these deminutive engines for decades and you do have to treat them differently than a SBC. My first Lakester used a very similar BDG (Kent block), then a YBM version behind that very same Hewland. No serious issues causing a DNF over seven years of use.

John
« Last Edit: October 21, 2015, 09:10:58 AM by SPARKY »

Offline kiwi belly tank

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #127 on: October 21, 2015, 10:38:39 AM »
Sid, why don't you like the Hewland?.

Many, many ratios and interchangeable, well in the early 80s there were. :-D

I worked with Hewlands a bunch of years ago when I was building Formula Ford stuff for people. You misunderstand Mate, I do like them, it's just that Burton had a pile of failures with that one including broken parts, burned up bearings plus the clutch & he was paying so called expert's to work on the setup. & yes there were engine issues like the first time they fired the thing it jumped the belt & nailed the valves.
I also built a bunch of BDA stuff for rally guys way back when Escort's were the hot ticket & I was responsible for one that ran in a dirt midget so I know my way around that old Pomie $hit.
We ran a Weismann transaxle behind a blown nitro Keith Black hemi in the liner, probably every bit of 2500 hp (who dyno's a nitro engine :roll:) & I solved the breakage problems on that. It ran the last 12 years of it's racing life without another failure.
  Sid.     

Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #128 on: October 21, 2015, 12:56:54 PM »
Sid, why don't you like the Hewland?.

Many, many ratios and interchangeable, well in the early 80s there were. :-D

I worked with Hewlands a bunch of years ago when I was building Formula Ford stuff for people. You misunderstand Mate, I do like them, it's just that Burton had a pile of failures with that one including broken parts, burned up bearings plus the clutch & he was paying so called expert's to work on the setup. & yes there were engine issues like the first time they fired the thing it jumped the belt & nailed the valves.
I also built a bunch of BDA stuff for rally guys way back when Escort's were the hot ticket & I was responsible for one that ran in a dirt midget so I know my way around that old Pomie $hit.
We ran a Weismann transaxle behind a blown nitro Keith Black hemi in the liner, probably every bit of 2500 hp (who dyno's a nitro engine :roll:) & I solved the breakage problems on that. It ran the last 12 years of it's racing life without another failure.
  Sid.      
Then you know never to turn these little twin cams backward, for any reason. The wrong clutch was the problem with bearing failue, not the pro who built the engine. Dunno what to say about the Hewlad failures other than to reiterate that the same box worked flawlessly for me over a seven year span of LSR racing includine a 1995 trip the Lake Gairdner. How many times have you split a Hewland or Webster gear in half. It has never happened to me in all of my FF, FC and SP2000 years of road racing including LSR.

Sid, we got two different versions of what happened to Burton but hey, I will take my chances with engine and trans.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2015, 03:39:48 PM by ggl205 »

Offline Rex Schimmer

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #129 on: October 21, 2015, 01:39:03 PM »
John,
I like your thinking about using some existing small formula car parts as the basis for your lakester. Lots of good "race proven" parts there. I also agree on using the Hewland tranny, my experience has only been with the 600 series but we raced them hard for a couple of years at Interscope , we put over 800 hp at 9000 through them with the turbo V6, and the only problem we ever had were related to dumb a$$ problems that were caused by the guy working on them. ( I won't mention his name but his initials are RS) and as you say there are many many ratio options and with an engine that runs to 11,000 you will need a good close ratio tranny.

Rex
Rex

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Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #130 on: October 21, 2015, 06:43:09 PM »
John,
I like your thinking about using some existing small formula car parts as the basis for your lakester. Lots of good "race proven" parts there. I also agree on using the Hewland tranny, my experience has only been with the 600 series but we raced them hard for a couple of years at Interscope , we put over 800 hp at 9000 through them with the turbo V6, and the only problem we ever had were related to dumb a$$ problems that were caused by the guy working on them. ( I won't mention his name but his initials are RS) and as you say there are many many ratio options and with an engine that runs to 11,000 you will need a good close ratio tranny.

Rex

Rex:

Some of my FC race tested parts were pretty well "tested" but most passed. I am using 100% of the rocker rear suspension from the Reynard. By using the Reynard chassis integrated with a legal SCTA chassis, all I have to do is fit up a scatter shield around the flywheel, add in a few line shields and bolt on all the FC stuff. As the Reynard used a SOHC Ford 2.0L engine, even the John Stowe BDG bolts right in. That little Hewland Mk9 is hard to break. Burton Brown broke two Webster S first gears on initial push off. The first gear breakage was with a gear I had used over a dozen times before so I have no idea why it broke. The second breakage was with a new gear so this only adds to the mystery.

I may be looking for a DG600 if we turbo the 2.0L or move up to F class. The only problem is the price of a DG these days. Got an affordable one (LOL)?

Boy, do I remember the Interscope car! Danny Ungias (sp) was the driver, I think, and clearly remember how fast this drag racer turned road racer was in his privately owned and operated Lola T-332 F5000 car. I think he broke the late Riverside Raceway ultimate lap record previously held by Mario Andretti. I was there that day and simply could not believe how fast Ungias was. Good times, for sure.

John

Offline Rex Schimmer

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #131 on: October 21, 2015, 08:37:42 PM »
DO (Danny Ongais) had a very large set of "attachements"! Don't get me started on how many times he proved it while I worked for Interscope! A true gentleman and a good guy. I worked on the Lola T-600s and the Porsche 935s.

Rex
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Offline kiwi belly tank

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #132 on: October 21, 2015, 09:36:42 PM »
Sid, why don't you like the Hewland?.

Many, many ratios and interchangeable, well in the early 80s there were. :-D

I worked with Hewlands a bunch of years ago when I was building Formula Ford stuff for people. You misunderstand Mate, I do like them, it's just that Burton had a pile of failures with that one including broken parts, burned up bearings plus the clutch & he was paying so called expert's to work on the setup. & yes there were engine issues like the first time they fired the thing it jumped the belt & nailed the valves.
I also built a bunch of BDA stuff for rally guys way back when Escort's were the hot ticket & I was responsible for one that ran in a dirt midget so I know my way around that old Pomie $hit.
We ran a Weismann transaxle behind a blown nitro Keith Black hemi in the liner, probably every bit of 2500 hp (who dyno's a nitro engine :roll:) & I solved the breakage problems on that. It ran the last 12 years of it's racing life without another failure.
  Sid.     
r
Then tou know never to turn thise little twin cams backward, for any reason. The wrong clutch was the problem with besring failue, not the pro who built the engine. Dunno what to say about the Hewlad failures other than to reiterate that the same box worked flawlessly for me over a seven year span of LSR racing includine a 1995 trip the Lake Gairdner. How many times have you split a Hewland or Webster gear in half. It has never happened to me in all of my FF, FC and SP2000 years of road racing including LSR.

Sid, we got two different versions of what happened to Burton but hey, I will take my chances with engine and trans.

I do remember your lakester from the Gairdner trip in 95 but I was too busy working on Betsy to see what else was going on around me. We were always the last one's back to Mt Ive station when the hot food & hot water were all gone.
Ken Walkey killed two engines, Chuck Salmon's roadster ran good, George Fields had some handling issues in the conditions & we went 370-something after changing to the smaller B engine.
What was the outcome for you?
  Sid.

Offline ggl205

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #133 on: October 21, 2015, 10:18:08 PM »
Hi Sid:

We ran 218 mph on gasoline all week with one short interruption. The track was rough and vibration effected my suspension-less car by breaking off the right front corner. We used George Field's welder to patch the front axle and continued running. SCTA officials were in attendance but would not certify records sighting that we were not racing at altitude or some such nonsense. FIA was there too so we were hopeful for those records. Our consistent speed was never an issue but timing in both directions was. This problem was never fixed so it was a bust as far as records were concerned. We had a ton of fun, made many new friends, spent time with the finest safety crew I have ever met but really wanted that FIA record. It was just not to be, I suppose.

Upon arriving home, I freshened the car and raced at SpeedWeek that same year. We were a bit more fortunate and secured the G/GL record at 205 mph which Stainless now holds at 211 mph.

John

Offline kiwi belly tank

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Re: My Lakester
« Reply #134 on: October 22, 2015, 12:14:32 AM »
Thanks for that John, yeah the salt surface was rough alright but in the end a great experience.
Here's a little Betsy from then & no it wasn't a 400 pass. Remember the push truck I scrounged up, the next one was an even bigger Hino cabover that I pushed both Al & George with.
  Sid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ3VOeILdM0