Black Pig Too

[BikerGran]

Its a test and tune weekend at Shakey (Avon Park/Shakespeare County Racway) then in two weeks it the HOT ROD DRAGS

Is that same place?  Dates, times, what does it cost to get in?  Woiuldn't mind coming along after reading the build thread with interest!

[cunningplan]

What was the problem on that last run Steve? Seemed to take off from the line & pull up 100 yards up the track, as if doing a burn out, then carry on again. Fuel or ignition trouble? Or just experimenting?

or brain fade

[cunningplan]

Its a test and tune weekend at Shakey (Avon Park/Shakespeare County Racway) then in two weeks it the HOT ROD DRAGS

Is that same place?  Dates, times, what does it cost to get in?  Woiuldn't mind coming along after reading the build thread with interest!

here you go, all the details, yes it at same place

Tony
http://www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk/eventdetails.asp?event=48

[BikerGran]

Thanks!

[Manky Monkey]

Shakespeare County Raceway, Avon Park or Long Marston, depending how long your memory is Bobbi.
Stratford on Avon. Same venue as the Bulldog Bash.

Event admission details:
Gate: £18 per person per day (Advance N/A) or £30 per person per weekend (Advance £25 - weekend only).
NSRA Members Discount £25.00
Run What Ya Brung Track Fee: £18 per person one day, or £30 per person two days, or £40 (Fri/Sat/Sun) for a weekend of unlimited runs.
*Children under 16s free (accompanied by an adult).
*Free overnight camping with weekend tickets.
*Catering and Bar facilities.
*Free Grandstands & Pit Entry
*Showers & Toilets

If you've never been to a drag meet before this is probably the one to go to. Not just racing to watch. It's also a weekend long celebration of British car customising with the emphasis on trad hotrods. Plenty of 50s bobbers & chops in attendance too. There's also autojumble & trade stands, plus bands & fireworks, even a drive in movie theatre showing continous hotrod films on the Friday night.
Plus of course, a free mug o' tea & bacon sarnie for all MMMotors forum members at the Black Pig crew tent -hee, hee, hee!  
See you there.  

[brock]

   Well, hello again, 'pologies for me tardiness but I have been laid up since Sunday with the world's worst case of ( according to Mrs B ) a little bit of a cold. A bit better now which is good as there is still quite a lot to fit in between now and next Friday.
   Last Weekend, we set off about Seven'ish and , having stopped for a fried everything and large coffee en route, got to the track at about Nine. We picked a spot in the middle of the pits and parked up. It probably took about an hour to unload and errect the tent, sort the pit furniture and get the car and quad out. Virtually everything worked as it should, I need to put a test on the 240V generated power just for peace of mind and have a look at the fresh water drain cocks, mostly it was good. The only issue that could have caused a bit of an incident was when the generator developed a gas leak, a ten inch piece of rubber pipe on the high pressure side split end to end, luckily we caught it in time and had the right stuff to replace it. By about mid day we were ready to try a little run round the block, first time driven under power, it started reasonably easily and, with a gear selected, pulled away cleanly. A little potter round the pits showed that we could turn pretty much when we wanted to and speed up and slow down almost at will, about as good as it gets really. While I was out and about I drove it into the scrutineers bay and had it checked over, a big thumbs up and a ticket issued, we were good to go and play

[brock]

   so there we were, memory being what it is you'll have to bear with me. Sometime after 1300 hrs we towed down to the line. The Big Fella had a spanner in his pocket as the motor had become quite tight and sometimes needed a little nudge to line the starter up, sure enough when the time came it did. We rolled round, found the water, did a little burnout, backed up, selected high gear, prestage, stage, first amber and drive away. It felt OK so I kept on it, giving it more throttle later in the track. The only surprise being the air under my helmet threw my head back in the cage, never had that before, always had a windscreen. I lifted at the 1320 beam and let it roll for some distance before slowly braking to a halt at the last turn out. Probably a thirteen at something over a ton ? Oh no, an 11.558 @ 140.16, well pleased would be an understatement. More, let's do more.     

[brock]

   Later in the day, 16:44:29 if you must know, we went out again and ran a 10.393 @ 141.82, still high gear only and soft launch, I was getting cocky now, this was easy, Oh No. The next run the brakes went away after the burn out and I had problems slowing it enough to select reverse, off down the track to no time or speed, bugger, first driver error in the new car, if only it was the last ! Luckily for us the moment was captured on film and posted for millions to see, otherwise I could have lied, cheers mate !

[brock]

   After a pleasant evening doing not much, drinking a bit of beer and watching the on car film, still actually on the car now I think about it, we rolled out Sunday morning ready to do some serious launches and see what it would do. We had spent the morning tightening all the loose bolts, that'll be all the bolts then ! The car didn't fire well and didn't want to stay alight when it did. After being pushed back and restarting once we did a short burnout and pulled forward, the whole car was vibrating so much I was having trouble seeing so I shut it down and we went back to the pits. Three of the carb bolts were loose and one had fallen out, that would be the rough running sorted but I felt the vibration thing was something worse so we called it a day and buggered off home.
   I was a bit despondent about it all for a while, but on reflection, not a bad first outing at all, far faster and quicker than I thought we would run and nothing broken, if only I knew ! 

[brock]

   One highlight of the meet was pitting next to some fellow Wild Bunch members out testing for the Saturday, asking, in passing, what they were doing with the spare wheels leant against the fence netted "nothing, they're your's for a ton". Now I'm not allowed to play with cash, and for good reason, but I guessed that the Big Fella wouldn't be out without a drop about him, he's now the proud owner of a splendid pair of spindle mount wires 

[brock]

   One sunny evening in the week after we got back I unloaded the car and put it back in the shed, will it ever be free of this place ?

[brock]

   the next evening I started to fit up the new wheels, they looked every bit as good as I hoped they would. Not being able to put it off any longer, we started to strip the car down. One of the first pieces off is the cowl, putting it to one side and glancing into the footwell brought me up short, bad car, bad, bad car. The bellhousing on the trans was broken almost right through, that'll be the vibration sorted then. Further investigation showed both the rear mounting bolts were loose but whether this is cause or effect I don't know. A phone call to Andy Robinson soon had an Ultrabell on order, a sort of armoured replacement bellhousing, this will be fitted as soon as it arrives but in the mean time we had the Hot rods to think about. Out with the die grinder and fire up the TIG, a few hours later I had it looking like Dr. Finklestein's Sally but it was aligned and one piece again.

[brock]

   The Hot Rod drags have been covered elsewhere and whilst we had a good weekend in the sun with some mates it would have been far better to have had the car running. Doc proved to be a bit of a star, keeping focused and active on the maintenance side of things whilst I got increasingly fed up with a series of small but significant failures, cheers Mate, you made a difference, just sorry you didn't get to see it run. Bobbi also turned up just in time to be commandeered, thanks again, and proved to be pleasant company.
   The car just didn't want to start despite a fair bout of work on it, sometimes you should listen to what your car is telling you !

[brock]

   During the week following our poor showing at the Hot Rods the car was back in the shed and Lesley had got it stripped of all the ancillaries ready to lift out, I found a bit of enthusiasm lurking in the back of a draw somewhere and joined in toward the weekend. With the motor out and on the stand we could start going through it and see what might have happened to cause the problems

[brock]

   by late Friday most of it was in bits and ready to clean and inspect. I spent Saturday with bore gauge and mike's going through everything and making a big list of figures before going and finding the spec's to see what they should be. Starting with the block I measured the bores, despite several years wear and re honing all the bores are still round and true to size, right down to No. 2 being half a thou' big, just as it was when I re-bored them. Next I flipped the block and installed the mains caps, once torqued, I measured them, all good. Then the same with the bearings installed, still good. Measure the crank journals, absolutely spot on, do the maths, 2 1/2 thou' oil clearance throughout, just dandy. Lube everything up and install the crank, torque it all down and put spacer tube over the damper bolt and a bar on that, 2lbs and it turns. All the bearings looked good, measured good and so were reused. Next I turned to the pistons, stripped the rings off and placed them in their respective bores to check the end gap, all good. I measured the pistons to death and can't find any fault, checked the spiro locks and the rod side float clearance, checked the rod bearings and crank rod journals, torqued the big ends and checked for roundness, cleaned the grooves and re installed the rings. Checked for orientation in the bore, both pistons and rods and beat the bastards back down the holes. As each piston assembly went in I rechecked the torque needed to rotate the crank, strangely ( ! ) it required more each time, but then for the cost of a set of total seal file fit plasma moly rings it bloody well should do. With nothing untoward found in the bottom end, I nailed the oil pump in and, using a magic new one piece gasket ( cheers Ed ), re-fixed the sump.