History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[JohnMiller]

You could try a small perspex deflector "windscreen" as fitted to single seater cars to reduce buffeting.

I love this thread. It is like American Chopper - you can catch an episode after not seeing it for three years and nothing seems to have changed.

[driftwood]

feel like an actor in a movie in a race car do you turn the steering wheel from side to side as you go along as well?

yes fit small screen i had to fit a screen in f3 car as the wind buffeting pulled my head back
a 1-2 cm high tab screen is VERY effective i fitted this AFTER i bought new helmet with a front spolier bib on it DOH shoulda fitted the screen first

regarding the glasses might be worth having 2nd pair with tighter fit side rails for the car driving helmt lark
fortunatly i dont need glasses to see just read (porn mags and count money)

[911thillclimber]

I hope Driftwood's ban is just a clip round the ear.

Just how am I supposed to progress with my saga of this car without the like of him and Clive Brown??

[911thillclimber]

Been busy fetching and carrying over the snowy days, and it is even too cold for me to graft in the garage at -5 Deg C...

The headers are back from the tig welders, all distorted...
Neither side will fit the engine! I will have to cut the first lengths of the tubes and weld on some slipper tubes. No big deal, just a bit of messing about. Overall they look good.

The brakes will be done tomorrow, freshly faced discs to true the one that is warped slightly, and also a pair of new master cylinders from BG Developments.
I've been advised by someone else 'who knows a lot' that i should be using DOT 4 fluid, so that will be bled into the car soon.

The car is pencilled-in to be aligned at McClurg Motorsport in mid Feb, so just a month to go.

Today at the Autosport show i fell in love with the Jenvey injection system for the 3.2 911 engine. Sure looks better than old webers!
Also fell in love with the Ferrari.......





I also got very excited at the Lola T 490 (492?) on the sports 2000 stand, purely because it's chassis plate was in the floor crossmember, a place i have never seen one before.

This made me wonder...
Could my tub's plate be in the same place? This crossmember is covered over by the additional bracing Tony and John added to the tub! Maybe the plate is there, just hidden!!

Sadly, no. The pics I've had from Tony recently show the tub being converted for the Ghia body with the chassis plate definitly in the normal place...rats!

Garage warming up now, so full steam ahead this weekend after I've tried to buy a trailer and taken the damaged Dymag wheel to York for repair!

Bloody race cars.

[911thillclimber]

Things have happened, but progress has taken some time!

The headers were all tacked together and sent for tig welding and with fingers crossed that they would not distort too much. Things are very close in the chassis area.

Here they are before final welding:



£315 of labour and materials later they were back, and one side even fitted! The other needed a pipe cutting and a slip joint making and welded on and that side dropped on too. (phew)

Bolted back onto the engine, the clutch back in, the gearbox leak having been fixed (gasket) and the lot positioned for the drop into the chassis:







Of course, it fouls the chassis.

The one tube 'just' touches the chassis, so after a bit of thinking I decided to raise the whole drive train 12mm, just 4 cuts and that will be that.

Well, nearly.

The front crossmember was cut (again) to raise the front. All done and trial fitted, I jacked the box up to level the drive train in the chassis and pondered cutting the gearbox cross member which is quite complex. After cutting and welding it went back in, still cooling down after some of the nicest mig welds I've done.

It just looked terrible!

So, out with the hacksaw again, and cut all the work I had done for the last hour and welded in some more tubes which look really nice in comparison.

A lick of paint on both before roast beef and tonight all is dry and ready to be installed.

The headers are noe 10mm clear of ecerything and I can start to button all the supplies up this week.

Brakes are back with fresh surfaces on the discs and 2 new mastercylinders too all for £160!

On saturday went and bought a Brian James trailer second hand and carried on to York to drop-off my precious Dymag wheels which were both damaged.

however, the most precious on is badly buckeled and I think is scrap and the other is better but stands a good chance.

Magnesium wheels are not very strong.

If both are scrap I am in deep (expensive) trouble....

It's getting busy and lots yet to do and only 8 weeks to go!

[911thillclimber]

Dare I ask if Driftwood is 'back-in'?

[driftwood]

Im here may even have wheels

[SAMD]

Steady guys....... Steady..

[911thillclimber]

The wheel man has 2 weeks to fix them or call me with bad news!
I'll measure the rims I need and post on here and maybe you can have a look in the den you have please?

Martin Cowell might have some and March 6 stud drive centres, but i think his are far too wide.

Engine now in, bolted tight, oil lines back on and a few other bits done. Big push tomorrow evening too on the drive shafts which will take ages to grease and seal.

Big box of parts arrive from Demon Tweeks tomorrow, so more fun this weekend bleeding brakes.

Drifter: whatever you did to come back can you send some to Clive Brown too?

[driftwood]

1 if mag wheels are bent or broken scrap them. Why fit repaired wheel s for £50 and they later break and put £5k damge onto car= no brainer
2 rear wheels are 14/15 inch wide march fitting is 3 pins in rim 6 in wheel or 4 pins on hub 12 hole sin wheel
3 tried for clive but they wouldnt wear it

[911thillclimber]

You have given good advice i think.

Here are the wheels off the front, 13'' dia x 10'' wide early/mid '70's Dymag wheels: Drifter: do you have one or two close to this?

[911thillclimber]

After a zillion hours (the cold always makes time go by slowly) on the car, the Engine is fully in and all piped/oiled/electric'd up.

The new headers clear everything better than they did before by miles, so a plus point.

When re-connecting the throttle cable though a few things needed sorting out.

The run of the cable to the webers, the alignment of the spindle drop links and the spring return posativity all needed some effort, but i noticed also that the pedal did not give full throttle...
The pic below is before the re-alignment of the linkages.

Maybe that is why the engine only gave 198 bhp?

Anyway, all is well now.

The freshened brakes are on with new master cylinders and ready to bleed with my new one-man op race car bleed system. Hope its better than the tube with wife as the peddel squeezer!

Have another set of wheels incase the worse happens on the mag Dymag wheels. I have no news from the man fixing them in York, so just maybe no news is good news, or he hasn't started them yet...

I had decided to change the springs to the original Lola Spec of 300Lb Rear and 250 lb fronts as the car seemed very hard riding last year. I was surprised to see the rear springs fitted when it was a Skoda/Karmann Ghia race car was 560lb rear and 400 lb front....
Little wonder it was stiff!

Here's a few moody shots during today. Tried monochrome for a lark.

[SAMD]

I think you need bigger brakes. How on earth are those wee things going to stop a big car like that?

[911thillclimber]

And the rears are AP 4 pots to 'balance' the fronts.....

I believe the fronts are F3000 Brembo's all drilled out for heat venting.

They were on the car when i bought it, and i think were on the car when Alan Humberstone last raced it.

It does weight 560 Kg you know!

[haggispeed]

so how much more is that than an S2000 ? bet a lot of that is in the engine isn't it ?

[911thillclimber]

Not realy surprisingly enough.

The S 2000 with Pinto/Mk5 Hewland is 480Kg dry

The 911 engine is about 40Kg more than the iron Pinto and the 911 box a good 20Kg more.
My car is weighed wet, but it only carries 10 litres of oil, and when corner weighted, 3 gallons of fuel, and no water of course.

So it is about the same weight as a good Caterham?

[SAMD]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

And the rears are AP 4 pots to 'balance' the fronts.....

I believe the fronts are F3000 Brembo's all drilled out for heat venting.

They were on the car when i bought it, and i think were on the car when Alan Humberstone last raced it.

It does weight 560 Kg you know!

You certainly dont get brakes like that on a S2.
I think the weight limit for the S2 is 500kg

[911thillclimber]

The Lola T 492's came with solid discs and Cortina cast iron calipers.....

Prob perfect for the car.

The hillclimber came with these brakes, so a bonus for when I press hard about 3 times in a 40 second hillclimb run!

Bled the lot out this evening and the pedal feels good.

Wires to new dash boards are next and a mirriad of small jobs, but getting ready for the alignment at McClurg Motorsport in mid Feb.

Had a posative conversation with the wheel man today, so fingers crossed for a result.

Quoted £346 each + vat for new split rims with magnesium Dymag copy centres...

These cars are expensive.

[911thillclimber]

Called Ian Jamieson today about the Dymags, and both are true and straight!
That is good news, but don't know the damage yet.

Looking for Brownie Points right now, so taking Mrs Hillclimber to York next weekend for a jolly (and to collect the rims...)

Collected my used Brian James trailer today, just the ticket, and £800 saving on a new one (at least).

Brakes bled again and pedal good and solid.

After bleeding the first time my heart sank as fast as the pedal did!

Fortunatly, I had a sheet of newspaper under each corner while bleeding and heard a 'drip-drip-drip' from the one rear corner.

A leak!

Pesky thing was leaking from one of my new joints and the fluid was wicking into the stainless braide so you 'normally' could not see any fluid.

Now all tight and all is well.

Wires done, 12V check tomorrow, seat out and a bloody good clean.

Drop the car down and roughly set the ride height.

I'm in good time to get the car to McClurg Motorsport in 2 weeks time on schedule.

Time to ponder the webers......

[haggispeed]

Impressed with your rate of work Graham, this is a bit like "Midlands Hillclimber - The series"
Wish my prep was going as well... have received the suspension arms and uprights now and preparing them for the various bearings before getting them off for coating / plating. Still loads more to do as well to be ready to test mid March for the first meeting at Oulton on the 27th, and I have to go away for two weeks on business in Feb so that's 3 weekends lost

[911thillclimber]

I seem to be making progress now!
I even stood in the garage today at 4.00pm and thought;

'Can't think of much else to do!'

Then made a small list! Even inc to remove the old weights off the wheels for the new slicks.

Dropped the car to the floor today to see how it sits on its new springs (much weaker than the 'original' ones) and all is fine.

Off to York next weekend for a wedding anniversary treat and pick-up the freshened front rims off Ian Jamieson.

Then the following weekend the suspension man at McClurg motorsport for a week.
I hope Sean does not want the body on the car as it will be a good time to paint over the damaged front corner with the garage empty for a week.

Then off to Hitech for weber tune-up, then to BMTR for fresh Avon slicks. (that lot is going to be a bit pricey)

Our Club has it's own hillclimb track by Shrewsbury and a Members Only practice weekend in March, so that is the target, but if it rains I'll chicken out and run the 911 to get back in the seat.

First real outing will be at Prescott Hillclimb by Cheltenham.

The new season has come round really fast!

As to this thread being a TV'esc series? I think you are right!
Wonder if many 'watch' this lot and see it merely as a running account of a backyard amature racing driver and his backyard hotrod hillclimb banger? Think I'm heading for 28,000 hits soon!

[911thillclimber]

I could do with a bit of help from those of you who race cars!

I want to have made a close fitting custon car cover for the Lola which can be used on the car WHILE TOWING on the trailer.

There is a woman somewhere who comes to your house/car, measures up and goes off and sews the cover up.

The cover has anti-balooning flaps stitched-in and flaps that drop/unzip to expose the wheels for applying the tie-downs to the trailer.

Now: anyone know this woman or anyone who does such a cover?

I've searched google to no avail.

I've see several hillclimb cars with these intricate covers so I'm not dreaming!

[driftwood]

i had car cover made for my Lola t290 to sit in garage and they did trailer covers as well
from memory cost was about £800 ish for all weather cover
personally rather spend £1200 make trailer fully covered so it can take many cars rather than have specific car cover that goes with teh car when u sell it/ or you have 2nd car with no cover on open trailer!

http://www.classicadditions.com/cont...e9143b19005b86

[JohnMiller]

Need to be careful as tight covers can scratch the car badly when flapping in the wind on your trailer.

Driftwood makes a good point or just make up a cover for the cockpit and engine (ie a tarpaulin laid on top before you put the bodywork on).

[haggispeed]

A really well made cover will not damage the car. We have a guy race with us, John Harrison, who makes excellent well fitted covers, I think he's based down in the SW somewhere, if you want me to get you a contact number Graham let me know. A company called Gardener Racing advertise covers here http://www.gtmotorsportuk.com/Trailer%20Covers/
(used to be Mick Gardner) I thought they used to do fitted race car covers as well