Two new racecars in NZ

Hi All,

This coming weekend is the last race of our season. The good news is that I have entered and the proof is in the pudding. We'll see how the head repairs hold up to racing conditions. The good thing about it is that I will at least know if it is good or not and have a few months to fix it if it is not good. The new season starts in September.

Overall it was a bad season for me, in fact the worst ever. Piston broke in January 2017, gearbox broke September 2017, Accident in December 2017, then 1 race in December 2017(yay), then welding repairs on the head January 2018, then wife and daughter's birthday party in February 2018 where I have applied for leave to them but it wasn't approved, only snarled at :cry:. Done only 3 races of which 2 counts towards the championship. If the car proves to be reliable this weekend, I will look forward to September because of the new found horsepower as seen in the photo collage on the previous page.

So wish me luck and reliability. I will surely do my best to get some in-car footage again with the new camera.

Regards, Frans.
 
can't wait.

Wooo Hoooo.

:banana:
 
Hi All,

The last race has come and gone. Sometimes my imagination gets the better of me and I think and believe things that are good for the mind and ego. I do think that there are slow starters and work their way up from there. On Saturday I qualified 8th on the grid but finished 10th. So why did those 2 guys that overtook me qualify lower than me? They gave me false hope.

So, Saturday's race I've already described to you as above. The car went well and I couldn't feel any hickups so that made me feel good. Results was nothing to brag about. Then Sunday arrived and the chase was on but only for 3 laps when I lost power. I limped back to the pit not knowing what was wrong yet although temperature and oil pressure was fine. DNF. I started at the plugs and found that the no.4 plug has burnt again. The same same cylinder as in the last race when the head failed. All the others where good. I started thinking about what good be wrong because as I said in the previous thread I did go one size up on the main jets to make it more rich. I read the jets as 130s so I made 135s and put them in. I thought of channels blocked and all those kinds of things that you don't or can't really do at the races. In my ways of not knowing what to do I took the old jets out of the toolbox and what I saw in the sunlight turned the lights on in my problem!! The jets that I removed because they were to lean were actually 138s as seen in the sun. The markings were very shallow but I confirmed with a youngster there that it was a 138 punched on the jet. So effectively in thinking I made it richer I actually made it leaner.

I asked around and found one guy that does his own tuning and he had a set of 140 mains that I borrowed and a set of smaller air corrections as well. I fitted those into the carb causing all the issues making it now richer. The no 1 & 2 carb is running now 138 mains and 180 air corrections and the no 3 & 4 carb is running 140 mains and 170 air corrections. I saw this once when Ross took his Dauphine to the dyno and the plug colour readings and temperatures only came right with odd jet sizes in it. Has anybody else found this with their cars?

I started the 3rd race and all went well. Overall it was busy weekend but it ended well. The times it ran it was going well. I have recorded a few 1:23s and plenty 1:24s when I couldn't get below 1:25 for many years.

I have footage of all 3 races but that will have to wait for a week or more now until I'm back from the South Island Tour with Ross. There is a lot of editing to do before I can post them.

Regards. Frans.
 
Frans and Friends ,

Another glimpse of the George Old Car Show - nice row of G's courtesy of this month's CCA Mag :cheers:

Regards, , Carvel New Picture (21).jpg
 
Frans - sounds like you had a "busy" time of it , but well done

Regarding you jetting issue , I'm sure you have looked at all the usual suspects but just to re-cap -

A DCOE is not always a DCOE - are your two carbs a matched pair i.e. from the same series e.g. 29 and 30 ?

Are the chokes correct ? One man's 36 is not always the same as another !

Are the floats / float levels correct ? And matched to the carb series ?

Don't recall your water jacket connections and if you are feeding the back of the head as well, , but are the back two cylinders not running hotter / cooler than the front ?

Have fun !

Carvel
 
Hi All,

This is the link to the last race as described here earlier. There are 2 more to come that I will post as soon as I have done the editing. I still have a problem with the sound as the recording is distorted because it is too noisy, or so I think. The picture looks good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m2AJQKMUts

I hope you enjoy it.

Regards, Frans.
 
These videos are always so great to watch Frans. What a great field of cars to be in. That is a fun looking category.

You look so relaxed behind the wheel of that thing. And it sounds awesome.
 
Hi All,

Bowie, thanks for the compliment, maybe I'm too slow a driver that's why I am relaxed.

The other videos are now available and a little more action due to the handicaps. Here one can see how luck can work for others and put you back a position or two. At the end of the afternoon race you will see that I have eventually managed to catch the Alfa with the orange bottom but at the second last corner I was on the outside and he was in the inner lane and he pulled a huge gap on me, so much that I couldn't catch him before the finish line.

The pink Peugeot is a good indication of how much I am suffering with the uphill at the start of the straight. He outdrags me easily on the uphill and then I overtake him on the level again. Or maybe he runs out of revs? I'm not sure about his gear ratios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqa-pSYsdUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqdxaxulBbc

Enjoy it.

Regards, Frans
 
Well done. I enjoyed watching that!!
Is the oil press. gauge on the left?
What was the flickering light on the first video?
Love the new? shift lights.
 
Johan said:
Well done. I enjoyed watching that!!
Is the oil press. gauge on the left?
What was the flickering light on the first video?
Love the new? shift lights.
Click to expand...

Hi All,

Johan...Correct the oil press on the left, and the flickering light is my water pressure warning which goes out as the car warms up. The new shift lights was done some time ago during a "I'm bored" phase.

While we're somewhat on the subject of oil pressure, I have a problem and a question for all you clever guys out there. The Friday race of 8 laps shows the oil pressure remaining high till the end of the 8th lap. Then the following day "HandicapRace2" another 8 lap race and the oil pressure dropping dangerously low and suddenly on the last 2 laps as seen in the videos. It was staying constant all the previous laps. Then on the cool down lap it came back to normal pressure while still hot. So it can't be temperature. I have checked the oil level in the mean time and that is good and there isn't an oil leak either. What could the problem be??

Today I have completed the fabrication and installation of the new jets as it was run in the last race. I will invest in a new set of spark plugs as well.

Regards, Frans
 
Hmm. I suddenly lost oil pressure in the 4cv about 25 years ago. I replaced the oil pump with a new one, as I was a bit short of time and it has been sky high ever since. I've dismantled that pump and can't find anything wrong with it. It is a complete mystery.

I can only think of something funny with the pressure relief valve. But nothing can go wrong and rectify itself other than something solid holding the valve open and then moving past it. The pump has a sieve on the inlet (does yours?) so I struggle with the problem.

Have you checked the oil pressure sender unit? I had an idle oil pressure light problem on the R8 years ago after it was stuck in a creek and got a bit of water in the sump via the main crankshaft seal. Fitted a gauge and the pressure has been fine since 1974 - I presumed something was obstructing the pressure light sensor, but honestly never really came to a reliable conclusion.

So, I am very interested and hope you solve it. I doubt my experience has helped much!

Best regards
 
Was doing a few laps of a home made Autokhana in the brand new R16 up at Pine Plains many years ago and the oil light came on and stayed on. The screwed and pinned plate holding the spring for the oil pressure relief valve undid itself and prompted a 360 MILE (580 Km) flat tow back to Ringwood VIC.!
 
Ouch!

*goes to make arrangements to measure pressure on my thing*
 
Frans, I am sure you have checked all the usual things but could it be a temporary aeration or oil frothing issue. Using higher revs for longer periods than before, changes in the oil circulation system such as hose junctions, fittings, cooler or thermostat ?
 
Kim Luck said:
Was doing a few laps of a home made Autokhana in the brand new R16 up at Pine Plains many years ago and the oil light came on and stayed on. The screwed and pinned plate holding the spring for the oil pressure relief valve undid itself and prompted a 360 MILE (580 Km) flat tow back to Ringwood VIC.!
Click to expand...

Ouch, but the point being that the oil pressure didn't decide to come back on its own!

Cheers
 
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