carbonboy

Howdy! Cheers for reminding me about the June event, I haven't been to DECA since Springnats when I had my KE70...now I think about it, that's 10 years ago! Also just realised Round 4 is at Sandown this Sunday...Mothers Day...bugger! Will link the Entry Form/Supp Regs at some point soon. A shame you won't have your car ready for Winton, you're always more than welcome to stop by an event any time. I can vouch that it's good, cheap fun & having a gutless POS of a car doesn't mean you can't keep the other drivers on their toes. :wink:

How'd the engine check out? All good I hope. Also hope no-one came a cropper on that oil on the road, I thought my blown CV-joint made a mess! :laff:

Took part in a motorkhana practice day today, all organised by TCCAV. There was no timing at all, but we did set up some tandem straight-slaloms (just shortened by a few flags) at the end of the day for some head to head 'testing'. I think Blue Thing held her own quite nicely against the rear wheel drive cars. ;)

They are pretty good, so good in fact that they held a FREE to members motorkhana practice day today in Werribee. The next round at Sandown is bitumen, but I'm making up for what I missed! We practiced a few courses, took a lunch break & set up some tandem straight-slaloms (just shortened by a few flags). Here's a link to the YouTube playlist of videos of the days antics: , while someone was kind enough to take some action shots. There's a flag in that dust, somewhere.

Ahh, EvilTwin's ROH Casino's.....you might have to take a number & get in line for those methinks. There's a few of us! :laff:

The red one with wide, black wheel & a boot-spoiler I saw at CC&D last weekend by any chance?

Yay! She's back in your possession! :D None of the transporters got sticky fingers did they?

This week I'd been planning to get all the engine components cleaned up, so I could start checking oil clearances (the crankshaft is being sent off to be linished & measured for bearing size). But Blue Thing had other ideas. It started with a flickering/intermittent 'charge' light on the dash, which didn't go away with more revs or tightening the belt to it's maximum adjustment. So started to play around with some spare alternators & still had the same problem, also fitted a new drive-belt while there. It was when I pulled out the voltage regulator & saw the worn carbon brushes that I realised that it was the problem, so a phone call to the parts store & a two hour wait later, I had a new one. Problem: still had a 'charge' light on, Solution: Fit regulator to other alternator, success! Both the regulator & internals of my existing alternator were stuffed, but it was only the regulator of the spare alternator that needed replacing, the internals were fine. So now that BT had a steady supply of electricity again, it was time to discover why she still didn't seem to be firing properly. Renewing the spark plugs made things a little better, but it still seemed like something was off with the spark. Checked the timing, all good there, checked the leads, all good too, checked the coil resistance.....bingo! Swapped over to another coil & we're away, revving much cleaner this time. The motivation to get the new engine in has increased though, feels like I'm milking the last bits of life from the 2A-C. A big thankyou goes to dpb for supplying me with an ignition coil & alternator on such short notice, much appreciated mate!

It's only when seeing photos like that (cool by the way) that people can appreciate just how little room there is in there, the shot of the wheel-brace highlights that. I wasn't sure on the beige car/white wheels, but bugger me if it doesn't work & look good!

Unfortunately I am no longer able to make it to Deniliquin this weekend, a combination of mechanical dramas with BT & things to deal with in my personal life meant I had to pull the pin. Annoying, as I was really looking forward to this event, but hey, that's how life goes right? On a happier note, I received a phone call out of the blue from a fellow TCCAV member, offering me their car to drive in the motorkhana. Blown away by the generosity of this offer, but unable to take it up sadly.

I can see what they were trying ​to achieve, failure of epic proportions, but they tried. I blame the ingredients of that 'energy' drink messing with peoples brains.

Mmm.....20 valve.....nomnomnomnomnom!

Not sure if you noticed or not, but there was a dopey-looking bloke in a white Lotus F1 shirt hanging around your car trying to work out who owned it ;) My brother-in-law works in printing, so getting a banner made would be as easy as asking irokins permission to do so & determining a size. I haven't done this as it is a TCCAV event, not a rollaclub event & I don't want to step on any toes. :) Edit: I have a bright pink rollaclub.com sticker floating around somewhere, maybe I should slap that on the windshield! :laff:

Some more: https://picasaweb.google.com/117427185344396044531/CCDApril2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-Eq5Pm0LuNnAE#5869152659008753890 https://picasaweb.google.com/117427185344396044531/CCDApril2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-Eq5Pm0LuNnAE#5869152677944470306 https://picasaweb.google.com/117427185344396044531/CCDApril2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-Eq5Pm0LuNnAE#5869153524766157362

By the time I got there this morning (little bit late) & after spending too much time chin-wagging, I didn't manage too many photos this time around :( But the ones I did get can be found here: https://picasaweb.go...CI-Eq5Pm0LuNnAE

Loving the persistence & dedication to this car, okay you've got a cranky female as extra motivation but at least she's letting your talents shine through! :)

*breathes sigh of relief* I made myself confused as hell for second there, all good now. Can see this causing a few sleepless nights, should be good fun. :)

Slightly higher temperatures in an engine than your average oven, but the oven cleaner makes sense. Baked on black $h1t. Wait, so I was meant to check with Plastigauge before I pulled it apart? F**k. I ran my nail over it & yes, I can feel it. Damn, had been hoping to avoid machine work where possible. Can you recommend a place Stu? No fancy knife-edging etc, just a clean up.

More progress photos: All was looking good, until I checked at the #4 Main Bearing. I was thinking of replacing bearings, I'm wondering about what should be done with the crankshaft. Thoughts?

Believe me, I have no delusions of being an angel. If you've seen me driving when late for work in the morning, you'll know that I don't always obey every rule to the letter. If I was pulled over & had the book thrown at me, I wouldn't particularly like it but would I deserve it for contributing to the problem? Most likely. I accept that laws are the way they are, I don't necessarily like some of them but I don't have a better solution/alternative myself. The funniest part about it all is, we (the public) DO have a say in what legislation is passed & what is gotten rid of. The problem with it seems to be that we (humans) kinda suck at uniting together for change in a peaceful manner. Call me a pessimist, but if people can't even merge into freeway traffic properly, I don't like the chances of banding together to vote for/force the removal of a piece of legislation.

Agreed. I don't have the wide wheels, stupid toys etc hanging off my car, nor is it loud, yet I can drive around Melbourne for an entire month with 300mm high racing-numbers on my rear drivers-side window & hatch glass without drama. The police who pulled up next to me at a set of traffic lights & asked me about them actually thought they were auction lot numbers. They laughed when I told them I'd been competing in motorkhanas & had forgotten to wash my car, then went on their way. Swap my AE80 for an S15 (for example, not picking on anyone) that's lowered, rolling on 19's with stretched tyres, a cannon muffler you can fit your head into & a random toy hanging from the rear bumper, I don't think the result would be the same. When seeking attention from those in the car scene, whether you like it or not you will receive attention from those outside of the car scene. Having said that, if a police officer has seen you behaving like a douche on the road, no amount of pleasant attitude is going to help.

Just a reminder to everyone that CC&D is on this Sunday, there is a $5 gate fee to get into the carpark area where we will be, but this money can be redeemed in the form of a discount at the cafe itself.

Cheers Stu, that helps a lot! Any recommendations on a cleaning substance? I want something a little stronger than degreaser to remove all that carbon build-up on the head, the block I'm thinking I'll have to get dipped to clean out all the oil/coolant galleries properly? Scrapped the idea of purchasing a ridge reamer, turns out the 'wear' in the bores was just a build-up of carbon at the top, this was taken care of with a scourer & some WD-40. Thank goodness, as I'd been reading some horror stories of people using them & things going badly! Not sure if I'm being pedantic, but I'm thinking of getting a set of digital vernier caliperss that measure 1/1,000ths of a MM, mine only go to 1/100ths.

Got myself a little work area set up inside the tool-shed, the contents of which are now out in the enclosed verandah extension I built out of scrap building materials. Started stripping the engine down, so far all of the measurements/tolerances for the camshafts & lifters are within specs, just need to check the lifter bores once I have the valves out. Need to acquire myself a ridge-reamer before I can remove the pistons/conrods, have the block cleaned out & work out what size rings/bearings I'll need, hopefully standard size will suffice. In the meantime I'll pull the cylinder head apart so everything can get a good cleaning, there's a bit of carbon buildup everywhere. I've never put an engine together before (following a manual at the moment), so if anyone has any hints or tips, they would be greatly appreciated. :yes: