Wheels up....6 AM

The last leg from Morris IL. to Oshkosh, WI. was just fine. Nothing more enjoyable than to see the sun rise from 3,000 ft. The weather today is just perfect for a airshow.

Oshkosh ?????

Well, decided to visit Oshkosh this year. The engine is still at least a week away, so I'll spend a couple of days at Oshkosh,WI. Departed Hackettstown airport this morning after waiting for the fog to burn off. Made it as far as Morris, IL. Thunder storms where in my path so I'll overnight in Illinois and continue the last 150 mile leg tomorrow morning.

Radiator back

Hole fixed and ready to go. Now I can start to cut new hoses and finish the water lines from the radiator back to the engine bay. A few more things I can do, but not a lot, until the engines back.

Sprung a leak!

After two years of replacing or repairing most everything on the car, it comes to no surprise the radiator has a hole in it. Took it to a shop in Pa. they came very highly recommend. Should be ready next week.

Brakes!

The master cylinders for the brakes where rebuilt, but they never really seemed to operate properly. So, decided remove the old ones and replace with new cylinders. Much better now.

A visit to my engine.

Loaded the intake and carbs and drove up to Connecticut yesterday to see the progress on the engine. I was very pleased, Jim is really going the extra mile to build a strong and reliable engine with the vintage touch. The oil pan that came with the engine won't work, so looking at options. Jim's looking at getting the engine on the dyno in about 2 weeks.

Oil cooler mounted

Still waiting for the new cooler to arrive, but wanted to see how it would mount. The wing support does interfere with the oil cooler. Might have to move the wing back about 1". For now I'm not going to worry about it.

Oil Cooler

The engine oil cooler is mounted by Lola, directly over the gearbox. However, the one I have has a custom made mounting bracket that moves it to the right rear of the car. If it wasn't for the old photos of the car, I would have never figured it out. This cooler looks OK , but I think I will order a new one. Cheap insurance for a expensive engine.

Another delay

Another delay has surfaced. The engine builder (Jim) had told me a number of months ago he would be moving his shop down the road into a race prep shop. I had high hopes my engine would be completed before the move. Guess it didn't happen. He'll call when he's ready for the manifold. So, I'm planning on getting the car in the race shop for the exhaust work in the beginning August. Really need it to be finished by the 3 week, if I'm going to make it to Watkins Glen in September.

Set-up

Working on the rear suspension set-up. Things like ride height, toe-in, caster, etc. Using the measurements I recorded when I disassembled the car. Just something in the ballpark for now should do.

Now what.....carburetor linkage?

The carburetor throttle linkage was installed on what would be considered the drivers side(left). For a front engine car this is normal. But on a rear engine single seat formula car, it needs to be on the right side(passenger). So, another phone call to the engineer, at first, the idea was to send the whole unit back(another 2 week delay). Then after a lengthy conversation, the plan was to unbolt the carbs, lift them up as a unit and rotate them 180 degrees and set them back down on the manifold. This should place the linkage on the right side with it pulling in the right direction(forward). This shouldn't disturb the factor settings. Bingo, it worked. It's about time something worked correctly

At Last! No more decals.

I picked up the last of the decals I needed. With the rear wing completed, I'm finished with the decals.

Maybe later

The other issues are the roll bar support tubes. As you can see from the photo, they connect at the roll bar and then to the lower cross member. The fuel lines are very much in the way. Now that I have an idea of a few of the problems, I'm going to leave everything along, and wait till the engine is installed. I might find out, it's not as bad as I think.

It sure fit better on the work bench.

I was going to wait for the engine, but I figured with all the past problems, I better check to see how the fit was. Estimated the position, and guess what, problems. The first is, the stacks on the carbs are about 2" to high, so the air scoop won't bolt up. Those I can return for shorter ones. The issue is the car had fuel injection, and now putting in carbs is just not the same thing. More problems to follow.

What's in the box?

The carbs and intake arrived yesterday. Very nice. I'll take them up to CT. next week.