Turning Avons into Goodyears, con't

I cover the tire with newspaper and spray paint the letters.

Hand paint the areas that need filling.

And now before your very eyes, Goodyears appear.




The top tire is from the 1970's.  The winged foot(Mercury)is position close to the 'D'.  On the new tire, bottom left, the 'D' is centered.   It looks like a mistake on the painted Avon, but that's the way it should be. 

 

Turning Avons into Goodyears

I've been working on this off and on. I have a old set of Goodyear tires that came with the car. I'm working on lettering the Avons using the old style Goodyear.



The tires have raised lettering and I coat them with paint.

Next I place clear tape over the letters and press down.

Now I place the tape on thin cardboard.

With a knife I cut out each letter.

Now I tape down the cardboard and ready the tire for paint. More tomorrow.

Lime Rock Park

Everything is on schedule for Lime Rock. The to do list is done for the car and most of the support equipment and parts are still on the truck.

Geneva trip

Took advantage of this great weather to get some work done in Geneva.  Staying overnight at the Sampson State Park. This was a Navy base in WWII. Did training at Seneca Lake.

Nose support repair

The repair at the track was a temporary one. Upgraded the bolts and installed new rivets, that should hold it for a couple of years. Other items preformed was changing the oil and filter, then running up the engine to check for oil and water leaks. All looks good. Next is to work on the gear ratios. I might leave in the Road America ratios, not to far off from what I used at Lime Rock last year.



That’s the bracket I made a couple of years ago. I only used rivets to fasten it to the nose support. What happened at RA last month was the rivets sheared off. That’s why I’m included a bolt in the repair.



Water line

Moved the water line forward, away from the oil pump belt. It must of been moved toward the rear when I used the T190 Lola radiator. No big deal, just loosened up the clamps and a couple of taps with a rubber mallet got it back in place. Just finished up the truck also. Another item on the list was a spare belt and water hose, they should be here Wednesday. Tire choice will be the Avon’s for Lime Rock and the Goodyear’s for Austin.

Problem solved.

Ball joint done

Received the necessary parts from Eric the other day. In the photo below the part in the middle is the replacement. I only had to remove .080th from the height to make it fit. Installed it and looks right. Might need a small adjustment at Lime Rock, but that’s easy. Next on the list is move the water line away from the oil pump pulley.

Ball joint parts

Should have the ball joint parts from Eric today or tomorrow. Continue to work on the replacement parts for the drive shaft from the truck. Bigger job than anticipated because everything was very rusty.

A visitor this morning

Lime Rock next

Lime Rock event is coming up fast. In just a little over 3 weeks it will be here. I think Lime Rock will end up being a test session for Austin. I really need to be sure the car is ready for that race. Their was going to be another F5000 car at Lime Rock, but it got damage at Road America a couple of weeks ago.

These are the drive shafts from the truck.  I have been meaning to replace the u-joints and center bearing.  Something that's needed attention for the past couple of years.

Next problem

Next on the list is to move the water line a little more away from the oil pump belt.

My old water line hose, not the first time it made contact with the belt.

I tried to add this photo the other day. 
This is the ball joint spacer, as it pressed down, the crack would open up more.

Ball joint problems

A closer look reveled a crack in the ball joint ring. It’s a nylon piece that centers the ball joint. My first thought was to call Eric, he still has many spares for the Lola 190/192. Talked to him last night and he has what I need. He’s getting it out in the mail today.


You can just see the crack



Location of ball joint

The culprit?......Maybe

I was starting to lean more toward the idea that the past problem I had was more of a steering problem, not brakes.

While checking the front wheel bearings for play I noticed a lot of play in the right front wheel. The play wasn’t coming from the bearings, but the ball joint. Measuring the toe-in, toe-out with a dial indicator gave me a total of .060th play. This needs further investigating.


Starting at 000 and moving the wheel .060^th without moving the steering wheel. Really should be almost no movement at all.



Unloaded and in the shop

Unloaded the car yesterday and took a quick look at the rear suspension. Everything looked tight and no movement in the joints. All the wheels are on tight. Once I get the car off the ground I’ll check the brakes. I do have my eye on a suspicious area of the front suspension. Again when the car is elevated I’ll have a better idea.

Road America Recap

It was certainly nice to be with the F5000 group again. We had a great showing of cars and hope to carry the momentum to Austin later this year.

The Lola.

This was only the second time I was unable to finish a race, the first being at Road Atlanta in 2010. The down side is I just completed only 20 laps in 3 days, or about 80 miles. A long drive for very little seat time. This is always the problem at large events. I did discover a problem with the rain tires. I used them for the Friday evening parade and realized I had a bent front rim. So for now, no rain tires.

We arrived Wednesday which afforded us a great parking spot for the car and truck. The truck was just 20ft from the car. Last time we came on Thursday and we’re ½ mile from the truck. Talking about the truck, ran perfect the entire trip(for once).

So, what did I learn. I was very lucky with spare parts, had one and borrowed one. The engine ran well, the dyno sheet says less HP but I don’t really notice any loss. My first run on the Avon tires, don’t like them. Not much I can do about it. Had Chris check toe-in, toe-out. Set the car a little toe-out, felt better.

This past weekend consists of a 18 minute race encompassed by a 4 day event. I was very glad for the 4 day event, cause the racing wasn’t there for me.