Don’t pay the ransom, I got away.
We didn’t make it into impound at Bonneville in 2012. The primary problem was the fact that the car wasn’t done and we didn’t go to Bonneville.
Yeah, yeah, I know . . . . the car is taking way, way, to long . . . but I am still working on it and, yes, I am still going to finish this car.
Plans for 2013 are to run the car in Wilmington, OH with ECTA and (time and funds permitting) maybe run the July meet with LTA in Maine. Full SCTA safety requirements will not be installed for 2013 (full cage, fire system, etc)
To bring this build diary up to date. . . .
The rule change in 2012 for gas coupes requires using the stock radiator or a replacement radiator at least the same size as the stock radiator mounted in the original, as produced, location. With this car/engine combination this presents quite a challenge while retaining front wheel drive (a gas coupe requirement)
I considered swapping the axles left to right and right to left (they are different lengths) to offset the differential to the right. But this still did not leave enough space to mount the radiator. So I abandoned the axle swapping plan and went to a drive shaft set up like a power takeoff shaft.
Here is the engine and shaft mounted. The cross members and mounts are in place but everything is finger tight until all the alignment issues are finalized.
With the PTO shaft I was able to move the engine as far to the right as possible. This leaves exactly enough room to put the original Metro radiator in the original location
Here is what the shaft looks like with coupler, bearings, sprocket the spicer flanges/universal joint. The final install will not have as much shaft sticking out to the left (driver’s) side. One advantage to using this setup is that I can fine tune sprocket alignment without moving the engine or the driven sprocket. All I have to do is slide the drive sprocket along the shaft to achieve perfect alignment.
I’ll also add a few locking collars to prevent the shaft from walking away from the engine . . . .
The coupler is from a dwarf car. .