Formula Ford - Page 11 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #**151** 07-21-2013, 09:10 AM

Its too bad too since the car is handling pretty well. I was getting in some good runs. The only culprit I see as a possibility at this point is a leaky head gasket.

t walgamuth · #**152** 09-08-2013, 10:27 AM

I pulled the head and found nothing amiss there, now I am replacing oil cooler and tank lines. As with everything I have delved into the oil lines have opened a can of worms of mismatched fittings and things plumbed in the wrong order. I won't be running today.

In other news I just checked the results at the national event in Lincoln Nebraska and found the Nick Myers and Brandon Lavender of the Indy region (my region) have finished first and second this year.

Woo hoo!

That has me fired up for running my car more....once I get it sorted. It even has me thinking of doing a body off frame resto this winter. I came within 6/1,000 of a second of beating Nick last year at Connorsville for second in class.

t walgamuth · #**153** 09-21-2013, 01:46 PM

I got it all back together yesterday. I had a problem getting oil pressure to come up on the gauge. Finally it occurred to me that it might be the gauge. I pulled the valve cover and found oil coming out the rockers, the last point of the system to get oil so I figured it must be ok to run it. Too late to continue though. Today I will fire it up, bring it to temp and retorque the head, then get everything for an early departure to Chicagoland speedway where I will meet up with Chicago's finest autocrossers and probably get beat by a bunch of guys in VW beetles or other such humble stuff.

It is a slippery, dusty asphalt parking lot though and I tend to be at my best with limited traction. Last time there though it was a course that favored big engines and automatic trannies.

t walgamuth · #**154** 09-21-2013, 04:08 PM

When I tried to fire it I had no spark. Turns out I fried the coil cranking the motor. My ignition switch and starter switch are wired together so all that cranking did the coil in. Changing it now.

t walgamuth · #**155** 09-21-2013, 06:19 PM

Changed it and still no spark!

Dang!

t walgamuth · #**156** 09-28-2013, 06:03 PM

I had the new coil in backwards and the wires hooked up backward. Got that all square and found the timing was off on the dist. So pulled that and started over looking at illustrations about how it should look. I can't figure out how I got that wrong since I did nothing to it but nevertheless its all fixed now. I fired her up and am waiting now for her to cool off so I can retorque the head bolts.

I'll be up and rolling early to run the last points event in the Indy region tomorrow before dawn.

I also addressed some fitment issues with the body work and finished off some holes I drilled in it to exit heat from under the cover.

Woo hoo!

t walgamuth · #**157** 09-30-2013, 08:04 PM

Got there, ran, did not overheat, still leaking some oil. rear brakes inop. drat!

Had some fun though.

Ran out of gas and missed my sixth run.

Ordered two new master cylinders today. May run on sunday at the casino in Gary.

t walgamuth · #**158** 10-05-2013, 07:04 PM

So I spent the last two days installing the new master cylinders, not knowing where the brake fluid was going. It was a chore because of extremely limited access to the mounting bolts. So finally got everything buttoned up (in the process I put in two longer bolts with spacers so the backside is easily accessible), filled the res and started pumping the brakes with my hand and heard a squirting noise and saw brake fluid squirting out of the line back by the engine.

Now I realize my "oil leak" was actually brake fluid. there is a place where the brake line has been cut by what must be a pressure point from a body panel. Its too late to start on replacement of it tonight, so I won't be running tomorrow.

Too bad. Its one of my favorite places to run and the weather forecast is perfect. Rain tonight and clearing up just in time to run tomorrow!

t walgamuth · #**159** 10-19-2013, 08:40 PM

Got the brakes finished today and am loaded and ready to run up at South Bend at the Tire Rack test track. I always enjoy running there. Wish me luck!

t walgamuth · #**160** 10-20-2013, 07:06 PM

When I routed the new hard line through the corner of the footbox I checked it for clearance with the accelerator pedal and cable. It looked fine.

First run out....there was a four cone slalom then two gates arranged so that I had a good full second or more of full throttle and had a good head of steam up coming to the pinch point. I cleared the last cone of the slalom and put my foot to the floor on the gas pedal, accelerating hard, ready to brake hard for the pinch. I let off the gas and put my foot on the brake ...but the gas was jammed full on.

Yikes!

I push on the brakes as hard as possible and against the full throttle engine in the meat of its torque curve. The front brakes lock and I skid about 50' off the outside of the curve. ...now I am reaching for the ignition switch. It seems to take an eternity to reach it. I go across a drainage swail and up a small berm at an angle before reaching the switch and shutting off the ignition.

It was over in a second or two but it had seemed like an eternity.

The car is silent. The corner workers run up and ask if I'm ok. I say "I'm ok...the throttle stuck open".

I am told I scattered the corner workers who had been standing on the outside of the curve (a bad idea). Fortunately they were young and agile and were out of the way when I came through. (perhaps they were out of the way but it was close enough that they ran anyway.)

I climbed out and looked at the car. The nose is now sporting a toupe of grass and roots. I look at the engine. The throttle at the carb looked normal so I fired the engine and it revved to the sky as I shut it down immediately.

I asked if they could get me a tow back to the paddock but they decide it will be quicker to push me.

I climb back in. My left shoulder was aching....for a minute or two....then forgotten.

When I got to the pits I peeled off the engine cover and nose and found the gas pedal lodged tightly under the brake line. There is enough wear in the gas pedal for the end of it to swing back and forth an inch. With the play it swung up under the brake line and lodged there tightly.

I pulled the brake line over as much as I could and put four ties on it, then took a test run down the paddock area, giving it full throttle with my hand poised at the kill switch. It worked as it should.

So I took my other five runs, each time pushing a little harder until the last two felt pretty good. I was hoping I had beat the three time national champion in his E mod Fiero but when I checked I found he had me by a little over a half second. Drat!

When I walked up to get my (uncontested) C mod trophy they mentioned my little agricultural excursion. They made it sound pretty routine so I said ..."well I had to change my pants" (after it).

I got a good laugh.

Another Sunday racing the Reynard, another adventure.

t walgamuth · #**161** 10-20-2013, 07:22 PM

In reviewing my thoughts yesterday I believe I may have been a little too proud of the clean job I did routing the brake lines.

Chris W. · #**162** 10-20-2013, 08:51 PM

Tom,

I applaud you for hanging in there with this car. I sure hope you get a weekend where you run the car and everything WORKS and you can focus on the driving! You deserve that after all you've been through with it.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 406K

t walgamuth · #**163** 10-21-2013, 10:32 AM

Thanks Chris! Me too.

There is an event up at Gary next sunday. If I do it that will be my last event this year.

Most of my wounds on the car are self inflicted. Its nothing like working on a benz. The main thing actually is there is no good information about how to do things....IE this is the third season running it and I just this year figured out how to check the correct oil level. I was overfilling it on a regular basis and wondering why it was puking oil out the vent tube.

There was a fellow running a 1974 Mini cooper yesterday. He was pretty quick too. It had right hand drive.

There are two national champs in the South Bend region. One runs a Austin healy sprite in a prepared class, the other a Fiero in a mod class. the fiero is a lovely tube frame device running (I am told) March suspension bits and a romping stomping chevy v8. I battled him during my heat for FTD and thought I had beaten him but in the end found he had me by about .6 seconds. The body on his car is amazingly flimsy. He sits down in it as low as I do in my FF but he has elbow room and when I am in I can barely breath.

The guy in the sprite is amazingly quick but I managed to beat him yesterday.

In the afternoon they ran CS and several guys in Subie BRZ's nipped both of us. The temps were higher after lunch and they were running two drivers which keeps the tires hot and results in quicker times. I barely was able to pick up any rocks yesterday as it was about 43 degrees in the morning when I unloaded.

t walgamuth · #**164** 10-21-2013, 10:53 AM

Out of curiousity I decided to calculate how long it took me to run 50' before reaching the edge of the pavement.

I estimate I was running at least 50 mph in second gear (which is good for about 65). At 60 I'd cover 73' in a second so I covered that distance in about .68 seconds. It takes me .22 to react in the reaction test, so I had .46 in which to decide to turn off the ignition and turn it off.

I'm not sure whether I got it off before or after I left the track. I remember after making the decision to shut off the ignition it seemed to take forever before actually being able to move my hand off the wheel and flip it off.

I estimate it was all over in less than a second.

In racing a second is an eternity.

t walgamuth · #**165** 10-27-2013, 11:35 AM

I hooked up the trailer with the Ford on it this morning in the dark and headed up to Gary to run at the Majestic Star Casino parking lot. I was making good time when about halfway there I felt a sickening lurch at the back of the truck. I looked in the rearview mirror and to my horror I saw the trailer with the FF on it lurching back and forth. There are no brakes on the trailer so there was nothing I could do except slow down gingerly and hope for the best.

The best was not available and I watched while the trailer's swings back and forth got so violent the trailer tires were smoking from skidding sideways. Something had to give and it was the safety chains....they let go and the trailer headed for the median strip (thank goodness!). It looped at least once and skidded sideways digging deep furrows in the sod. At one point I watched helplessly as it headed for the cables that thankfully were on the other side of the median.

At the last instant it turned and landed facing the right direction near the wire catch fencing.

I pulled off the road and took a deep breath. Then I backed up to where the trailer was. I was just over the crest of an overpass bridge so visibility for anybody coming up on me was limited. I had the flashers on and surveyed the trailer and FF. The safety chains were broken and the hitch was undamaged. I must have not gotten it latched down. The low slung trailer paid off as the race car was securely lashed down even after sliding sideways on the highway. I did not note any damage to the race car. There was grass between the rim and tire on the drivers side wheel on the trailer and the other side had black marks halfway up the sidewall suggesting the tire had either folded under a lot or the whole deal was up on one wheel.

It was resting against a drainage structure which would have not been the best thing to have run over. I decided to pull forward and back up over against the wire catch fence and hook back up.

I did so, after a lot of grunting and groaning. I found a u bolt cable clamp big enough to fasten the safety chains back together, did so and with much trepidation eased it back on the highway. A few miles up was a rest area so I pulled off and surveyed again in case I had missed any damage in the tall grass.

Seeing none I assessed my situation. I was 45 minutes behind schedule now and not confident of my rig. I ate a banana and walked around a bit and decided I did not need to race today. I faced a minimum of 3 hours more towing a trailer which I wondered about the tire with the grass in the rim leaking.

I got off the interstate the next exit and came home on the two lanes.

This race car just keeps kicking my butt!