bryancohnracing Posted November 27, 2011 Report Share Posted November 27, 2011 Besides the fuel odor problem I made a list today of all the projects I'd like to get done this winter so my car is ready for its first track outing April 14-15 2012 at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis MO. It's a long list... Change engine oil/trans oil/diff oil Change coolant Change fuel filter Change brake fluid Check valve lash Re-torque head Tighten torque tube bolts Fix exhaust/muffler rattle Install engine overflow tank & mount Insulate intercooler/intake tubes Check/tighten all hose clamps Fit OMP passenger seat to stock seat tracks and install Try and fix RF window switch Adjust shifter for better reach Move boost gauge to a better location (its position makes it impossible to see now) Install/fit front brake upgrade (4 piston calipers) Fix wiring for RF headlight Fit bumper cover/spoiler and fabricate fender/cover mounts Fit front fender marker lights (if possible) Fix drooping headliner around sunroof opening Fix sunroof (if I get motivated!) Pack front wheel bearings Install newly rebuilt rear bearing carriers, fresh rear rotors Install skinny aero outside rear view mirrors Plus whatever else I run across that needs doing while doing all of the above! I'm thinking I'll need TWO winters to get it all done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 i'm glad you posted this list, bryan, i find it helpful in that there are some things i need to check on my car -- like the torque on the torque tube bolts -- that i hadn't added to my own mental list of things to-do for my car. i should probably write the list down... two questions: i thought this car already had the front bumper cover on it? and what do the "skinny aero mirrors" look like? i saw your posts re:fuel leaking, and since i have no idea why it's happening, i haven't posted anything. i assume you didn't see any obvious leaks, puddles of fuel on the ground...how cold is it there now? cold enough to keep fuel from evaporating? it was 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) here today, santa ana winds blowing... btw, i still need to send that package to you, sorry i haven't sent it yet. i am sending the springs off tomorrow or tuesday, will try to send the package to you then... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 Mirrors will either be Vitaloni Sebring model mirrors or a pair of small round mirrors of unknown origin. I'll shoot photos of both and post them tomorrow. The has the late model front cover/spoiler but the ends are not fastened at the fenders. To avoid cracking I'm going to build two brackets that use a duzs fastener to hold the cover to the fender. Or if it looks like that is over kill a small bracket, counter sunk allen and a tinnerman washer. My serious racing days creep into every project I do, can't be helped. Been all over the map temp wise. Day I drove it to fuel up was in the upper 60's. Last 2 nights in the mid 30's. As for the package no worry, life gets in the way. It sure has on my end of late! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted November 28, 2011 Report Share Posted November 28, 2011 vitaloni sebring rang a bell -- a few minutes of googling, and i found it --- mods for vitaloni sebring mirrors to increase the range of adjustment... don't know how i remembered this. fwiw, though, i can't remember my mother's phone number... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted November 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2011 I decided after messing about with both sets of mirrors I had on hand to go with the smaller of the two. The Sebring mirrors didn't fit the space well although I like their look much better. The aluminum panel will get wrapped in black vinyl to color match the body as best possible. The stock interior panel that hides the stock mirror mounts fit perfectly. Looks stock inside, zoomy on the outside! Found my fuel odor: Pump is leaking at the seam where the metal body is crimped to the body of the pump on the inlet end. New pump time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EUROTRASH Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Here is my list for this winter: 1. Stay in the garage. The end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted November 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 I wish my list was that short.... But then I did check one item off the list already. Tomorrow I tackle setting the valves! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted November 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Head Torqued, Valves Set, Vc gasket was cork and like new. Removed the stud by the throttle cam and replaced it with a bolt so the VC is easier to R&R next time. What a stupid design, the studs make the VC interfere with the throttle cam and I had to force it lightly to get it off. Nothing exciting other than it was spotlessly clean and as expected the exhaust valves were all a thou or two tight and the intakes a thou or two wide. Did the job in just under 2 hours, not bad as I've not set valves since my last home built FF engine about 12 years ago! If you plan to attempt this I'd highly advise buying go-no go feeler gauges. I own a set of old school ones that I bought in 1985 for my first Formula Vee (1200cc Beetle power). Easy to use when you have full access to the engine, not so much when you have to lean over a fender. My back hurts. Tomorrow? RF race seat I think. It'll take some fab work so might be a few days before the next update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 Got side tracked today. Decided to clean up the heat shield over the exhaust, found a small crack and a shoddy previous repair. Cleaned it up and will attack it with the death wheel (4 inch angle grinder) tomorrow to grind down the poor welds, then off to get it fixed. I'd like to ceramic paint it, might see how that over the counter stuff works. Hardly worth the coin for jet hot coating. I did snug the exhaust manifold bolts so that was a bonus item added to the list. Also found the coolant bottle isn't held in place well so that will get a little re-engineering. As expected one project leads to 3 others. This might never end! And think, once its done I'll take it to the track, thrash the hell out of it and then bring it home and do all this over before the next outing. I must be nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2011 Heat shield is ground smooth, new large OD washers added to spread the bolt loading, reinstalled. Coolant bottle bracket and bottle have been removed. I think a simple tank with a modern radiator overflow tank will be fitted in place of the plastic tank and cap No luck with finding the leak P/S, maybe tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Been a while since my last update partly due to the site crash, partly due to my being busy with the holiday. Since my last post, the following are in the works or have been completed: Right seat mounting built, left seat moved to right, mounted and finished. Left seat padding glued in place, cover almost completely installed. Lower cushion/thigh support needs to be made. Both seats are on stock tracks and slide. Stock seat belts are usable, race belts will go in on the drivers side. Re-routed and re-plumbed vacuum lines. Made a spaghetti explosion lock neat and tidy. Re-routing of random wiring on the left side oft the engine by. Found several poor connections, the main battery cable run between the steering shaft and the block in such a way it rubbed badly. Fixing fan wiring in process. Drained coolant due to concern about the cold weather and not knowing how strong the protection was from the anti-freeze. Besides, with the leak it was slowly going down anyway so it could be on my floor or in a drain pan. Easy choice. Thinking of cutting the OEM battery tray out. Its not used in my car as the battery is in the trunk. Takes up space, gets in the way, would make working on things easier. The work involved to remove it won't be easy, thinking I need to use a Dremel tool with cut off disks and a vacuum to suck up the dust/shavings. To much other stuff in the way to get after it with a plasma cutter, torch, death wheel or air powered cut off tool. Slow and steady would win this one. Going to get back on the fuel pump, P/S and coolant leak after the 1st of the year. Need to buy a pump, a coolant tank and decide what to do about the P/S. Its so tempting to remove the P/S and simplify due to my planned use, but as I want to use the car other than on track I don't want muscles like a he-man from parking at the do-nut shop. Once the LF seat is done and installed then it back to the engine bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 sounds good...if you get a chance, some pics would be great, especially of the vacuum line re-routing & the seat work... wrt the dremel cut-off disks -- buy a bunch, they will wear down very quickly cutting metal like that. fortunately they're not very expensive. you will need to go slow, otherwise you will kill your dremel -- ask me how i know... andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 Race seats installed! That took too long...Not a great photo but I don't have much room in the new garage to get a better angle. Drivers side is a composite shell OMP. Cost: FREE. Its an out of date FIA seat no longer legal for racing without a support brace. Perfectly good for my use. Cover is a bit rough but I can live with it for now. Passenger side is a tubular steel frame old school OMP. Cost: FREE. Never installed, new, woefully out of date. A friend had it sitting in his warehouse and no only gave it to me, but paid to ship it from Decatur IL to Wichita! It has one minor flaw in the cover from sitting around. I had to buy a 2 ft piece of T6 aluminum to mount the passenger seat as I ran out of stock on hand. Other than that I had all materials on hand, left over from my race shop days. Total cost for this project: $10 Now if I add in my time at my old shop rate of $50 per hour it'd be about a $1000 job!!! No, I'm not kidding. Fan wiring is done too, runs the right way. I'll try to get a photo of the vacuum lines soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted December 22, 2011 Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 nice work the holes in the upper part of the driver's seat that have been made/enlarged -- is that for the brace? andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 Those are OEM holes, the shoulder harness runs through them for the 5 point racing seat belts. Both seats have belt holes, two shoulder, two lap and one submarine/crotch area. Both seats (and most of the shell type) have simple plastic parts that line the holes. The drivers seat was missing these parts, no idea why. They do break somewhat easily if removed incorrectly so that might be the issue. I plan to use some kind of slip on U shaped rubber trim to finish it up. The seat material and the holes match in shape so they'll be fine once trimmed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted December 22, 2011 Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 ah -- thanks for the explanation. i knew that race seats had holes for the shoulder harness, but i wasn't sure what you meant by a "support brace" to make the seat legal...i though maybe you were referring to one of those head-and-neck things, and maybe that the seat had been modified for that... if i remember correctly, bryan, this car is for track use but also intended to be street legal? two lap and one submarine/crotch area this made me laugh, i must be in a juvenile mood this morning. andré Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 The rules require a seat back brace for out of date composite seats. The passenger seat, with its tubular frame is impossible to add a brace to and is utterly useless for racing once its expired. Now you know why they were free... My plan is for track and street use. I plan to drive the car to close to home events just because I can. Two of my good friends race a 911 and 964 respectively and they are street legal cars. Drive them to the track, race, drive home. Old school like the 50's and early 60's! My car, with all its space has an unfair advantage over them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 Looking good Bryan! BTW: You should put a hitch on the 505 and use it to tow the Miata. It'll blow minds when you unhook the trailer and race the 505... lol So when does the car go to Izzy? Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 Yes, towing the race car with the race car would be epic. I knew a guy when I was young who used a Datsun 510 4dr to flat tow his Datsun 510 race car. Spare parts galore! Not sure of the time frame for a roll bar truthfully. NASA Time Trials don't require one, the budget is tighter than I planned and timing is such that it might have to wait till winter 2012. I'm leaning, because of my plan not to go wheel to wheel racing with this car is a roll bar, tied to the B-pillar shoulder harness seat belt mount with legs that connect in the rear crossmember mounting area. Also thinking it might be good if the rear legs are bolt in and removable so I can use the back seat easily. Got an idea for this but its a ways out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Quick update: Wiring clean up about finished, all that's left is ty wrapping myself silly and I'll hold off on that for a bit as I'm sure I'll find one or two more things to tidy up. Engine overflow/vent bottle mount fabricated today. Mounted and ready for the bottle once I drill 3 vent holes in the top and the vent hose hole in the side by the top edge. I'll take a photo when its done and post it. Found the coolant expansion tank I need. Need to sell something to get some funds in my paypal account to pay for it! Look for classified later today with some loot for sale.... Making the Power Steering/No Power Steering call in the next 48 hours. Feel free to toss out your thoughts on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Well today was interesting. Been taking advantage of daytime temps in the 60's this week, so lots getting done. Brought the Miata race car home yesterday after its winter engine rebuild and dyno tuning. 132 hp! Woot! Needs a Mega-squirt and we figure to find 10 hp more... On the Peugeot front I decided to go power steering-less. I know, I'm an idiot as it will drive like a truck in town, but losing 20 odd pounds off the nose was just too attractive and it really makes the engine bay more accessible. So, guess what I found while/during/after the pump/rack/line removal process? Ready? Are you sure....? Missing motor mount to frame bolt. The bolt that is there is lose. Loose motor mount to bracket (the piece that mounts to the engine) bolts. Loose bell housing bolts Some funky wire thing hanging out of the bell housing. Straight down, like something got sucked into there and the end is hanging out. An oil leak. Big oil leak. Exxon style. I knew it had one but sheesh, this thing will never rust! My hope is the oil leak is just a loose oil pan instead of a rear main seal. It looks that way. All this is on the left side. I'm afraid to look on the right side........ Next Monday all the loose stuff and missing bolts get attention. Then I'll check the right side. If you don't here from me by Wednesday, call in the SAS! I ordered the expansion tank and parts to finish that up and they'll be here Tuesday. Fuel pump is to be bought by the end of the month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Almost forgot, a few new photos of the vent bottle and the Lexus LS430 brake caliper mount installed. I might have to start over on the caliper mount, we'll see once I get hold of one for mock up. Trying to squeeze a free pair out of TRD, an old friend is married to the someone that works there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 All the stuff you listed is really quite minor.... Except for the oil leak of course - but even that isn't a big deal since the car was purchased for you to prep as a track car. As a track car - engine has to come out and you have to go through it with a fine tooth comb... Couple bolts and an engine seal on an uncompleted project car is hardly earth shattering. Car itself has killer components, rust free chassis and you got it for a song - so I don't have any empathy for you! (Sure shipping added to it - but that a buyers decision unrelated to a vehicles purchase value.) A buddy of mine that just bought a historic FF1600 was joking about the research he did on the car. When the PO bought it he complained openly about all the issues he found with the car after purchase and how the seller wasn't forthcoming. When he bought the same car off the new owner - he found the similar undisclosed issues after getting the car... He figured all racers are like that... Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 I'm not complaining in any way, hope this isn't coming off as such. I'm rather enjoying the process of going over the car and making it right, fixing things and so on. I'm also enjoying documenting things for all to view. As for being upfront about condition, having made my living at this for 25 years and been involved since I was 15, I learned early on honesty was the only way. When I would sell a Formula car it came with full documentation (all I had plus all that came with the car), whatever spares were agreed upon plus driver fitting and the car would be fully prepared to go on track. I will say I bought plenty of cars and my customers bought cars that were as you describe Rabin. The rule of thumb is "treat it as if its about to fall apart". I'm simply surprised at some of the things I'm finding such a the motor mount issue. Oh, and who is taking the engine out? You coming over to help? hahaha I'm not going that far any time soon if I can help it and I don't think it needs it. A case of degreaser and a visit to the high pressure car wash? Yes! Tomorrow: attack the lose bolts, check the right side motor mount and see where we end up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 I was busting your chops with the reference to the selling race cars story - but I did think you were complaining which is why I posted the other points. It's all good though. I wanted the car for myself BAD because of all the quality parts August used in the build up, but I just couldn't swing it. VERY happy you picked it up and giving it the fine tooth comb treatment. As for the engine - I've got the tools an equipment to make the engine out a 2 hour task - so I'd do it in a heartbeat to verify the rear seal and inspect the clutch to make sure it wasn't contaminated. If I was closer I'd come over for sure... Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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