Formula Ford - Page 7 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #91 08-05-2011, 09:14 PM

Today I broke the rear hub today and lost a wheel! A little too much excitement.

I got it mended by a skilled man who is in our Indy Region scca. He was amazing! Welded it back together starting with six pieces.

and then for the finale brazed the broken brake rotor together. He did advise me to get new pieces for long term. The brake rotor definately but the hub looks stronger than the part must have looked when new!

Tomorrow is our divisional two day event. Then last day of August and the following three days I will be going to the national event to test my progress against the best in the country.

Chas H · #92 08-05-2011, 09:19 PM

This is what happens when you keep improving your skills. More stuff breaks the faster you go. I'm gonna guess the rear brakes don't get real hot during a run.

t walgamuth · #93 08-06-2011, 03:55 AM

The brakes don't see much use....a dab here a dab there. Sometimes hard use sometimes just a little.

I bought the softest pads I could get for them.

t walgamuth · #94 08-31-2011, 07:23 AM

After the hub repair we attempted to compete in the Divisionals. After six runs the starter refused to start the car.

So I removed it and had it gone through and reinstalled it and it again refused to start. The new gears were all chewed up. So was the ring gear, so the transaxle had to come off to get off the fw. The transaxle has the rear suspension attached. It all came off amazingly easy. I did it all by myself.

Unfortunately everything I take apart has 10% of the bolts stripped and 10% of the parts cracked and so forth. Normal I suppose for a 27 year old race car.

So today I am going to bolt the rear end back on the car and take it over to Anderson to get some thinkgs welded and so forth.

I also found out the distributor has been operating with the wrong cap on it which one can take and rotate about 1/4" and wiggle back and forth about 1/8". So yesterday I bought a slightly used Bosch distributor to install. I can fit it with a rev limiting rotor so I am hoping to increase performance, reliability and protect the engine from over revving at the same time.

Of course I will be replacing the ring gear, pp, clutch, pilot bearing and such along with all the rest.

Getting parts for the FF is not too bad once you figure out what they all are. Pinto clutch, fw and such. VW t/o bearing.

I am hoping to get it all back together in time for our final points event on the second weekend in September.

Today and the rest of the week I have off. I was planning to go to Nationals and compete but the car failing in cascades has turned that into an impossible fantasy.

Stretch · #95 08-31-2011, 07:39 AM

Take someone with a video camera - and then post the best video!

cscmc1 · #96 11-13-2011, 10:06 AM

Hey Tom -- if you're not already aware, Peter Eagan has a (typically fantastic) article in the December Road & Track about his recent acquisition of a Forumla Ford. You might enjoy it!

t walgamuth · #97 11-13-2011, 10:36 AM

He is one of my favorite authors. I have read the latest. I also have all (i think) of his books which are collections of his columns.

He is within a few months of my age and we have owned many common cars, including bugeye sprite, BMW motorcycle, Reynard and 53 Cadillac, though he has kept coming back to english cars I took my cure and only came back to buy the reynard after forty years or so since owning one austin healy bugeye sprite.

Peter has owned five or six FF, typically buying them broken and disabled and (to quote him) frame shaped like a bananna, fixing them up, racing them for a few years and selling them off. Since I bought my FF with a straight frame (afik) I guess I am ahead of him on this one.

He is always an entertaining read. His life is probably what mine would have been like if I did not have children.

There are not many folks I would go to a lot of trouble to meet but he is one. I keep thinking I will run into him at some car event. Once when at Elkhart lake I thought I saw him but am pretty sure now it was not him, though there is a good chance he was there somewhere since it is in his back yard.

He is very circumspect about ever mentioning politics so I can only imagine that his views are similar to mine.

He is also a Viet Nam vet, (which I am not).

t walgamuth · #98 11-13-2011, 11:05 AM

I spent the rest of the season chasing various problems. As I fixed one thing I found another to fix.

Life has also gotten in the way.

I found eventually that my rr wheel bearing was bad. the looseness had allowed the wheel to rub on the upright chewing away at the aluminum. I ordered a new wheel bearing and had my favorite machinist install it and reconstruct the damaged part of the upright. I now need to pack the CV joints and reinstall it all. I am also installing softer springs in the quest for more grip on the rough surfaces we typically run on.

I may also be chasing weight reduction this winter.

I can see a number of things which can be removed and put in the spares box, though nothing very heavy.

cscmc1 · #99 11-13-2011, 02:25 PM

I'm also a big Eagan fan. Every time we drive past Madison on the way to my wife's hometown, I think of Peter and his wife, and wonder if perhaps we've ever crossed paths. I'd love to stop and meet him sometime.

His column on resurrecting his deceased friend's TR3 was particularly moving.

MS Fowler · #**100** 11-13-2011, 03:03 PM

Tom, AGAIN we agree!

I'd love to be on one of his road trips. ( Or maybe he is a much better writer than the trips were in reality.)
Don't all British roadsters leak?

t walgamuth · #**101** 11-13-2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Tom, AGAIN we agree!

I'd love to be on one of his road trips. ( Or maybe he is a much better writer than the trips were in reality.)
Don't all British roadsters leak?

What do you mean British?

MS Fowler · #**102** 11-13-2011, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

What do you mean British?

I "thought" Mazda had perfected the British roadster.

The only Egan road trip that lacks veracity is the one where he claimed the tool box was never disturbed--again on a Brit Roadster ( TR6??).

t walgamuth · #**103** 11-13-2011, 08:54 PM

The Miata leaks if it rains and blows hard enough. Also if I drive seventy with the top up it sounds like its going to take off, so I rarely drive anywhere in it except with the top down.

Air&Road · #**104** 11-14-2011, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

I "thought" Mazda had perfected the British roadster.

The only Egan road trip that lacks veracity is the one where he claimed the tool box was never disturbed--again on a Brit Roadster ( TR6??).

Yeah, I guess it was the British that perfected positive ground electrical systems.

t walgamuth · #**105** 11-14-2011, 09:22 AM

[QUOTE=MS Fowler;2827465]Tom, AGAIN we agree!

Scary isn't it?