This steel rod won't work

Yep,  this is not what I used last time.  Located the old  receipt and found I ordered the steel tube(form Aircraft Spruce) with the correct ID & OD. All I have to do is cut it to the correct length.

It would have been a lot of work to drill that hole.

Aluminum spacers done.

The aluminum spacers are completed.  Three for replacement, and three for spares.

The drilled hole has to be centered.  Without the lath
this would be almost impossible to achieve.  I'm only 2 thousands of an inch off
center. 

Materials arrived

The materials arrived yesterday.  The aluminium rods look perfect for what I need to make.  However the solid steel bar(top of photo) doesn't look correct.  I made the steel spacers before and I don't think I drilled a 5/8" hole in the center of the rod.  I will have to look in my old records to see where that came from.

More axle shaft parts ordered

I've ordered lath bar stock, aluminum and steel. Should be here next week.

I'll need to make 6 of each.  These are parts that came adrift at
Laguna Seca back in 2015.  Probably still laying around the race track.

The small spacer is one I made in order to take up the
 void of the new(smaller)
 rubber donut(right).  The donut on the left is from 1975,
 no longer made in that size.
The longer spacer is made from aluminum and that I will also make on the lath.  

A fresh start for 2017

The weather turned warm again so took the time to finish cleaning the barn and shop.  The shop becomes a catchall for tools and whatnot.

Before you know it, it's a big mess.

That's a little better.

Back to working on replacing the axle flange.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving

2017 F5000 Drivers Association race schedule

• June 8-11:  Open Wheel World Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with SVRA
• July 20-23:  Road America – The WeatherTech International Challenge with Brian Redman presented by Hawk
• September 29 - October 1:  Charity Challenge at Sonoma Raceway with CSRG
• November 1-5:  U.S. Vintage National Championship with SVR

The Open wheel challenge in Indy is a new event being run by the SVRA.  As it says in the title, "open wheel only".  The one thing to notice in the title, no mention of vintage or historic cars.  This event is open to any open wheel car, new or old.  

This is probably a good idea that the SVRA has.  There are always a lot more closed wheel cars at the historic events.  Early open wheel cars have very limited seat sizing.  By opening it to new cars, the entry list will be big. 

Oh, did I mention snow?

Yesterday I was raking leaves in a t-shirt.  Today we had almost 4" of snow.

Race car update

It's going to be a short update.  Other than getting the parts for the repair to the axle, I haven't had time to work on the car.  With the holidays fast approaching, don't see anything happening in the near future.
The new plan is to have the car ready for 2018.  That gives me all next year to make the car 100% race ready.  The past couple of years the car has been at 80%.  Time to get it back.

New axle parts

Who would think you could still get new parts for a car that was made in 1971.  The 1972 Lola T-300 change axle design, so these parts weren't used.

Output flange and more

Jeff had a few more parts that I could use.  Another flange that also had bent.  3 more bolts, the threads had been damage at the ends.   Parts should be here today.

Hard to see, but the top flange is bent.  You can see some of the Nickle plating has peeled off. A good indication there is a problem. 

2016 Wheeling Vintage race boat Regatta photos

Throughout the day a good crowd was on hand.

Really nice boat, but only did a couple of laps.
Had engine problems.

The fastest boats ran on alcohol and had superchargers.

Talked to this boat owner/driver.  He's had this boat for 10 years.  The trailer holds 40 gals of water and 50 gals of fuels plus many spares.  The boat weights 1500 lbs and the trailer is 6000 lbs.

2016 Wheeling Vintage race boat Regatta.

Excellent day for this event.

2016 Wheeling Vintage Raceboat Regatta

Visiting the Wheeling Vintage Race Boat Regatta in West Virgina. Friday is loading in and Saturday and Sunday are the time trials.  Today you get to walk around the hot pits.  Saturday and Sunday it's limited to just lunch time.  The boat trailers are very innovated.  No enclosed trailers here.  They have to be creative in making storage.