Corvair Build Thread (Transcontinental Drifters) (Page 3 of 10)

Crap, crap, crappity, crap crap.... We have been slapping together our latest entry into the madness at a downright leisurely (glacial) pace, Thanks for putting it in black and white, I need to get a move on!

Last night worked on the other (white) Jag, just to be able to drive it around and make sure it is viable as a parts car. Nearly burned down the garage cleaning the injectors! I lost part of an eyebrow. Idles OK, #2 still not happy, compression OK. Finished mounting the coolers. How it it that a free oil cooler costs $200 in fittings and hoses? Sounds like a racket. Does it make sense on a motor/car that cost less than $200? Okay, relax, calm down, remember this is endurance racing, in order to finish first, first you must finish. Lemons is good. Lemons is good. Okay, better.

Pulled the hubs and brakes off the Jag and both driver side hubs are shot. Front had an inside spun bearing (ruined spindle) and a broken cage. Rear had spun bearing also (ruined hub), hubs are supposed to be pressed together, hub fell apart as soon as the axle was removed. Outcome: pulled parts off the other Jag and things are progressing. Weird that it was both hubs on the driver's side, front bearings did not have any grease in them. Had to torch rear rotor off the car to get to the hubs. Did not want to take good rear hubs apart, so grease zerks were added. With the brakes and hubs sorted the decision was made to scrap the red car (plus the wife is sick of looking at my towable junk yard).

I hope we do not need any more parts off this thing, Troy made a joke about the engine having a proximity security system like a stereo. Not funny.

Said our goodbyes to the Blue Smoke Six (now five cylinder), it is in the correct position in the back of the Jag chassis.

Used this opportunity to clean out the garage, extra rotors, old clutches, all non essential (hopefully) components GONE. A messy garage makes me CRAZY.

Took the car to a scrap recycler (auto recycler won't pay because the car doesn't have sellable components) Scrap price is down right now, but would have paid to watch the car get RAPED by the claw. Operator could not read VIN off windshield, flipped the car on its side and ripped the driver door off. Totally looking forward to scrapping the other Jag.

About a month left  and running out of fabrication excuses why the car has not been driven, so I decided to go on vacation. Will be back at it next week and hopefully driving next weekend. That leaves four weeks for shakedown and theme, which is still four weeks more than last year.

There is a lot going on in the engine compartment: steering, brakes, intake, oil cooler, coolant overflow, air cleaner, radiator and alternator. As much stock Jag stuff used except where cost was prohibitive (Jag alternator $200, radiator $500, brakes $no idea$)

The only gauges I use are official "Judge" gauges. They are precise and easy to read. "When this Corvair motor starts making noise, bring it in before it lets go."

Is that an Aeroquip fitting? CHEATURZ!

Well bravo then, carry on.

Four weeks to go and guess what? Compressor takes a crap, rod seized to crank. No air, can't run tools, can't cut parts, can't lift cars, Work stops. One of the other team members has a compressor to borrow, but spent most of the day changing out compressors. Now looking for replacement pump. Needs to be at least 10.2 cfm @ 90 psi and can be run by 6hp motor. There's another $300 down the drain. Well, it is going to have to wait. RACECAR.

PM sent.

Bravo! I look forward to racing against this fine machine! Sorry, "Racing"....
We will be campaigning our American-engined British car again, so I am looking forward to seeing this in the flesh!

Jagvair News: 10 days left and still have a huge list and there are some things that we are NOT going to get to. No rear wing, no front splitter, no wipers or lights, there just is not time for those things. I have spent the better part of the week removing extraneous wiring from the car just to get to a point where I feel I can run the harness for the race. I still do not feel good about the wiring as a few of the test drives today were interrupted by loss of spark due to a variety of issues including blown fuses and relays. Thank you, Joseph Lucas.

Here is a 2' by 3' box that is 1' deep filled with all the wiring not necessary to run the Jag (I hope). The box currently weighs 55 LBS!

https://youtu.be/kPiKc1_6_jU

Here is a vid of one of the successful runs today, car still needs fender flares. Yeah, more sheet metal work! Please note how surprised my wife is at the fact that the car runs nice. Some of the runs were ECM relay shortened, while some were hampered by the car going into "limp mode". That is when the car does not change gears, brought on by forgetting to plug the TPS back in. I am learning way too much about Jags. Why did we not pick a Subaru or something that was easier? Reason: car cost $230, scrapped it for $175, total cost of drivetrain $55. I spent more on the oil cooler hose than the car, Lemons priorities. That left $444.20 for our fancy (import) radiator, fancy oil cooler, alternator, and front shocks (still have not shown up yet). I am just focused on the things necessary for Tech, hopefully we can start on the theme this weekend. Oh, it's July 4th, going to miss some fireworks.

Next, I spend the rest of Thursday getting the trailer and parts ready while the car is getting painted. We finish all the pre-race checks: belts, fluids hoses, etc. and I get to bed around Midnight. Actually sleeping before a race is a new experience for me. Get up early to finish odds and ends (zip tie crap) and start loading the truck and trailer. I wanted to leave at 9 to be at the ridge by 11 for practice, at 9 we are just getting the tool boxes loaded. Now the moment of truth, will the car start and get in the trailer. The engine roars to life, the brakes feel good and the trans makes a reassuring clunk into gear. Yeah! We don't have to push the car on the trailer! Now to strap down the car and get the hell out of Dodge. Three hours later and the doors on the trailer are going up. Stop and get fuel and we are on our way! We reach The Ridge at about 3 and unload the car, put on the final graphics, and head over to Tech. Judge Tom starts looking over the car and when the hood is popped open, it was like moths to the flame, people started whispering, carrier pigeons were released. "Did they really put a Jag in that Corvair?" Tech had its problems: tank vent wrong (too short), kill switch didn't work (I hooked it up wrong Friday morning after it had been hooked up right) and I needed to add some more protection for the fuel cell. No big deal, head back to the trailer, bust out the generator and welder, get to work. After two hours measuring, cutting, fitting and burning my arms and legs welding, the protection was in place (good thing I brought that extra cage tubing). Tech had closed by then, so the car was parked and camp was set up. Around 7, found Steve and got the tech sheet signed off. WOW, I get to sleep the night before the race! Here is a pic in race trim: