Author Topic: Mid- Engine Modified Sports  (Read 784784 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Milwaukee Midget

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 6662
    • Milwaukee Midget Racing
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1515 on: June 24, 2018, 12:09:38 AM »
I think it's looking pretty darned nice, Neil.  :cheers:

"Problems are almost always a sign of progress."  Harold Bettes
Well, I guess we're making a LOT of progress . . .  :roll:

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1516 on: June 24, 2018, 12:32:54 AM »
Thanks, Mike. This is a never ending project!  :-P

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1517 on: September 01, 2018, 08:39:42 PM »
Two days ago I was checking to see why my tach was not working and found that my battery was going open-circuit under load. Click the starter button and everything went to zero volts. Off to Costco to buy a new 24F battery. In accordance with the SCTA rule book my battery is in an enclosed box (since it is mounted in the cockpit) and I put it far forward in the right side foot well for weight balance. If I ever build another car I'll pay more attention to accessibility...  :cry:  Anyway, a new battery in now installed and the electrical system is now working normally- except the tach. I think it's NFG.  :x  I ordered a new one but we'll see if it arrives in time. Otherwise, it's calculator time to relate RPM in gear to GPS speed.

As long as I was working on my electrical system, I made up a matching cable for the auxiliary power connector that I had already mounted in place. This way I can plug in the connector and connect the jumper cable to an external battery for starting, charging the on-board battery, etc. The military current rating for this connector is 750A so it can easily handle the current of starter.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline Milwaukee Midget

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 6662
    • Milwaukee Midget Racing
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1518 on: September 01, 2018, 11:32:54 PM »
The military current rating for this connector is 750A so it can easily handle the current of starter.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Or a discotheque.
"Problems are almost always a sign of progress."  Harold Bettes
Well, I guess we're making a LOT of progress . . .  :roll:

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1519 on: September 02, 2018, 01:29:51 AM »
We can even refine aluminum.  :-D

Regards, Neil
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline AJR192

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 404
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1520 on: September 19, 2018, 11:02:00 PM »
So you are awfully quiet Neil.... Tell us how WoS was for you, please...

Offline floydjer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4242
  • "There is no duck side of the moon..."
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1521 on: September 20, 2018, 08:44:45 AM »
Yo Neil....your power plug reminds me of a pal  that is an A/P tech...One of his fellow techs  pulled a Gulfstream 550 out of the hanger with the aux. power hooked up and bent the lugs...$55,000 for the replacement plug. Ouch.
I`d never advocate drugs,alcohol,violence or insanity to anyone...But they work for me.

Offline tauruck

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5126
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1522 on: September 20, 2018, 10:30:03 AM »
That's high tech Neil. Fitting for your project.
I love the aviation stuff. Closest I got was helping
my brother in law skin a cargo door off a business jet.
How come my rivets never dimpled the surface?????. :-D

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1523 on: September 20, 2018, 12:01:57 PM »
We had a problem with a bad diesel fuel leak on our tow truck on the way to WOS and had to leave it with a Dodge dealer in Henderson (Las Vegas) to fix. To continue, we rented a pickup from U-Haul and transferred all our gear and the trailer to that. In tech inspection, they wanted me to isolate the fuel cell filler cap from the cockpit and vent the fuel cell overboard. Fortunately, a fellow wearing a yellow “Team Vesco” tee-shirt (Jerry Jacobson) stopped by our pit and wanted to help. He borrowed some aviation tin snips and a hose from Rick Vesco and, with the Ace Hardware sheet metal (three flattened stove pipes), we passed tech inspection. Joline towed me around to the staging lane for the short course and after a wait I was able to run. Embarrassingly, I promptly stalled the engine. Re-started it and ran through first gear, shifted into second, and at about 5,000 rpm the engine started misfiring badly so I turned off the course. Whatever the problem was it wasn’t going to be solved until we returned home so we packed up and left Monday morning.
 
I posted a video on YouTube that pretty much says it all:  https://youtu.be/Tir3rdckiHw  The engine really didn’t sound quite right from the beginning. I’m going to see if maybe I have a fuel filter blockage since it felt like a fuel problem... I’ll see what a teardown reveals.
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline tauruck

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5126
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1524 on: September 21, 2018, 01:18:53 AM »
Thanks for the post Neil. The car looks great.
Sorry you had the problems.

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1525 on: September 21, 2018, 11:08:00 AM »
Thanks, Mike. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to go faster but the main thing is, I drove a car that I built by myself on the salt at Bonneville! I felt like Anthony Hopkins at the end of "The World's Fastest Indian".

Regards, Neil   Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline WOODY@DDLLC

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1803
  • ECTA made it to AR-Kansas!
    • Design Dreams, LLC
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1526 on: September 21, 2018, 11:34:07 AM »
The car looks a lot meaner than you Neil!  :-D
B'ville ain't a race it's a life long process!  :cheers:
All models are wrong, but some are useful! G.E. Box (1967) www.designdreams.biz

Offline SPARKY

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 6908
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1527 on: September 21, 2018, 07:38:33 PM »
Wow     hooray for you!!   I remember you showing me your car when I first got out here!!  CONGRATS!!
Miss LIBERTY,  changing T.K.I.  to noise, dust, rust, BLUE HATS & hopefully not scrap!!

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."   Helen Keller

We are going to explore the racing N words NITROUS & NITRO!

Offline manta22

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4137
  • What, me worry?
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1528 on: September 29, 2018, 12:36:35 PM »
I think that I've found the problem that I had at WOS earlier this month. The engine was down on power and at about 5,000 in 2nd it started mis-firing and then quit completely. I coasted as far as I could off the course but it didn't get quite as far as the return road. A USFRA official towed me over to the return road, he worried about running over the timing wires but we did it without any problem.

When we got home I was able to crank the engine over on the starter but purposely didn't fire it up. Yesterday I removed the hose from the carb manifold and used the electric fuel pump to pump two gallons of fuel from the fuel cell into a fuel can. It took about a minute but I noticed that the flow was not a clear liquid. There appeared to be some froth in the fuel as it went into the can. The sound of the pump running sounded a bit funny, too.

I have two filters in my fuel lines, one 100u filter between the fuel cell pickup and the fuel pump inlet and another 10u filter on the pump outlet. I found out that my "100u" filter element is actually 10u !!! No wonder I was getting fuel starvation. Sucking fuel through a 10u filter together with a pressure altitude of 4200 ft was causing my Carter electric fuel pump to cavitate. I'll replace the inlet filter with a Kinsler 140u filter that I have on the shelf.

Before the run my main power relay failed; the contacts were open even when its solenoid clicked in. I jumpered around it with a short wire and clip leads so I did have 12V electrical power but the voltage drop of the jumper may have made the fuel pump voltage a little low. I'll take the relay out and disassemble it to have a look at the contacts.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline ggl205

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 956
  • G/FL 218.282 since 1995. G/FL record since 1993.
Re: Mid- Engine Modified Sports
« Reply #1529 on: September 29, 2018, 02:12:42 PM »
Always the little things, isn't it, Neil? My sequential transaxle would not shift into 3, 4 and 5th due to a $5 torsion spring that failed.

John