Wet race tyres

[dtype38]

Originally Posted by graham bahr

could be temperature, but more likely is suspect is the oil wasn't getting as airated by having the crank wisking the sump contents like a food blender

Good call... That could well account for the oil pressure drops not affecting the bearings... I may not have been uncovering the pick-up, just collecting frothy oil

Anybody actually solved a problem with an Acusump? I seriously considered one, but then decided that I was trying to cure my oil pressure worries, not any actual problem on the car

[Al Weyman]

Yes a mate of mine Ellis did, light coming on under heavy braking with a standard sump and a horizontal baffle, Accusump cured it, I have it actucally and if I decide to race one of my machines oin slicks may well use it.

[greenamex2]

An accusump is currently stopping my engine blowing up.

I know this because every time I forget to turn it on it blows up!!!!

I suspect that my current and fourth incarnation of baffled sump could cope without it IF I could get the oil back out of the head into the sump. This mostly what PACE will be helping with.

Out of interest I checked out my engine oil cooler sandwich plate. I am VERY unimpressed with the size hole that the oil is supposed to flow through, and don't even mention the sharp edges!!!

Is there such a thing as a 'free flow oil filter'?

[COLIN STUBBS]

i reckon sandwich plates are only ever half finished when you get em. ok for mild donkey engines but they are the biggest cause of constipation of the oilways possible.[medical term denis].you need to bore out the oilway,make sure it is equally as big as the block,and make the pipe unions as big as you can.inch and an eighth spanner size is about right.hydraulic engineers or tractor dealers like me are good sources of gear.also trying to use either straight or swept bends in unions and NOT square ninety degree unions helps. reading power secrets by smokey yunik is good as well!!

[graham bahr]

Originally Posted by Denis Bassom

Out of interest I checked out my engine oil cooler sandwich plate. I am VERY unimpressed with the size hole that the oil is supposed to flow through, and don't even mention the sharp edges!!!

Is there such a thing as a 'free flow oil filter'?

most sandwich plates can be dramatically improved with a bit of porting,

free flow oil filter, yep thats easy, buy a bigger one, the greater the internal furface area the better

[dtype38]

Originally Posted by graham bahr

the greater the internal furface area the better

My oil cooler gets a bit furred up too!!

My original Mocal oil cooler take off plate sounds like the same as Colin's. Nothing a half hour with a die grinder and a porting kit can't cure. Eventually I ditched that, though, and mounted a pair of 5/8" bore straight fittings directly into the filter housing. As for a free flow filter, if your need really high flow then one possibility would be to use a filter bypass. I've not used one myself, but I've seen them with a simple sieve filter in parallel with the main filter. You get much higher capacity, and all the oil still gets filtered... eventually! It does mean you have to be more careful not to get any rubbish in the sump though.

Interesting on the Accusump. Maybe if I ever get mine to grip properly I'll consider it again

[Al Weyman]

You could use an Aircraft screen filter. On the Accusump dont forget the pre-oiling facility it offers as well. The one I have is electrically operated and pre-oils as soon as you turn on the ignition as I understand, I have not fitted it on anything yet.

[dtype38]

My hesitation was more about the extra weight and complexity than anything else. I've sweated blood and tears to get my car down to its present weight. Anything that puts that back up again has to have serious benefits :-)

[Al Weyman]

Opps crossed threads, no the Accusump is not that heavy, I will weight it for you if I remember.

[dtype38]

Remember to weigh it with oil in it :-)

[greenamex2]

Bit of feedback. I got caught out in the rain at Silverstone on my half a season old buffed dry tyres.

Contrary to what I was expecting the car had plenty of grip. My relative time drop off was far less than at Snetterton.

I checked the relative hardness of my old but little used wets versus my newer but hammered dries with my durometer (spring loaded spiky dial thing) and found that the wets were HARDER.

Lesson learnt, the replacement wets will ordered early next year from Toyo at a suitably ridiculously cheap price (about 120 quid based on the last time).

[COLIN STUBBS]

hey denis remember one thing from silverstone.we all got beaten by a guy thats new,has no worries about tyres or anybloodything else. he,s an ex off roader and i reckon thats half the reason he goes so well!,as most ex rally and autocross drivers do.think some of my lack of speed may have been gearing though.never checked what final drive new gearbox had after being told it was 4.5:1.,i was still in 3rd pulling 8k at the end of the straight.quick shufty last night looked more like 3.8:1.

[greenamex2]

Colin, we need to talk (for info I was in 5th pulling mid revs and kicking myself for not fitting my short circuit diff).

David demonstrated two things. Soft suspended lower powered cars are easier to drive in the wet and offroad drivers go searching for extra grip rather than complaining about it. The stupid thing was I saw what he was doing and just thought he was driving badly!

Another lesson learnt.

[COLIN STUBBS]

im still learning about how different this fwd thing is compared to the old capri!! and having a small engine that likes rpm when iv been used to 7k maximum...im sussing out what different gearing is available but the best i can come up with at the min is a hybrid 4.35 using a cw from one diff and a pinion from another.only options seem to be 3.8 or 4.25.my old standard box was a 4.25,but the only time iv ever had it in 5th was at snett before the deluge.and that was only for a second or two a lap.

[greenamex2]

At Snetterton my car is bouncing off the rev limiter (don't tell Al) in 5th about 100 metres before the braking point.

If you can't get/afford a better CWP then you need the smallest OD tyres you can get, what wheel sizes are you running?

Also, let me know what your current castor, camber, springs rates and corner weights are and I'll try to provide some pointers.

Given that this is now way off topic, do you want to carry on via email?

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

the best i can come up with at the min is a hybrid 4.35 using a cw from one diff and a pinion from another

Don't try to mix pinions and crownwheels that are not correctly paired - they simply won't mesh properly as the angles on the teeth will be quite different.

[greenamex2]

Inclined to agree with phoenix but know little about gear type things so kept quite.

[COLIN STUBBS]

denis. thanks. will get all the info to hand and email you. might be a few days.

[graham bahr]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

im still learning about how different this fwd thing is compared to the old capri!! and having a small engine that likes rpm when iv been used to 7k maximum...im sussing out what different gearing is available but the best i can come up with at the min is a hybrid 4.35 using a cw from one diff and a pinion from another.only options seem to be 3.8 or 4.25.my old standard box was a 4.25,but the only time iv ever had it in 5th was at snett before the deluge.and that was only for a second or two a lap.

sorry colin but as has already been said what your suggesting is a BIG NO NO

what car and gearbox are you running?

[R59]

Strewth! mixing crownwheels and pinions - a recipe for disaster.

Two things could happen :

1. It locks up
2. It works for a while, then eats it's teeth, spits metal in the box, lunches the lot.

It's a bad idea.

The car is a Rover 216GTi - so it's a Honda in disguise.

There are competition parts available, but for the price of a decent gearbox, it'd probably be cheaper to build a complete XR2 which would blow the Rover into the weeds.

When you change the cambelt, make sure that the cams are correctly positioned - one tooth out and it's a kaboom!

Is your car an ex-Dunlop Rover GTi series car? If not, have you seam welded the shell yet? You'll need to before the panels start to come apart.

Rob.

[Al Weyman]

I hit one of those up the chuff on the grid at Snet when the car in front of it stalled and the driver swerved into my path in the Black Chevy. I went on to finish the race and there was virtually zero damage to my car, all the polythene (SMC) nose cone had popped itself back out and just left it with a slight dent in the wing. The Rover? It need reshelling!!!!

The same driver drove the car into a gravel trap and as he ran it without a cambelt cover (why, you may ask) a stone got between the belt and the pully and this resulted in a lunched engine (ouch) all from a seemingly inocuous trip into the gravel!

[R59]

No cambelt cover - I used to run my Nova without one - simply because it was in the way of the vernier pulley. I ran with the top half missing, went in the gravel somewhere, can't remeber where, and filled up the bottom half with kitty litter. Thankfully, I'd turned off the engine on the way in, and there was no damage other than one stone just under the belt on the way in to the bottom pulley, which just required a new belt (lucky me!).

Like most modern era cars, the shells are designed to crumple on impact. Nice and light, nice and flimsy more like! What was it - Nissan Micra (old shape), the crumple zone starts at the headlights, and finishes at the tail lights!!

Where were we, wet tyres.....

I never had the luxury of a second set of wheels when I raced in Super Road Saloons, so I made do with what I'd got. I suppose it's one way of learning how to drive properly in the wet!!

[COLIN STUBBS]

yes!!! thanks guys-all info taken on board. i wasnt intending to swop crown wheels and pinions over unless i managed to find a matched set.it was just something i read on a honda website. although years ago when i raced a vauxhall vx4/90 in classics we did sucessfully mate a bedford ca van cw to a victor pinion and i bet its still in it!! sorry this is well off topic. reason iv got this car Rob is after running a capri for donkeys years and having too many ghosts[ex misses,etc]it had to go,and me best mate/spannerman is chief techy at a rover garage.weve had a bloody good season and the rover/honda has been ok.and iv never been beaten by a festa yet!! spose its all down to pounds for wins/points/finishes/laughs/nights spent in garage.iv had the latter and chose the others.id hate to get rear ended in any eurotrash hatch by a camaro Al.seen a hillman imp write off a capri like that as well.talking of timing belts/gravel traps iv seen 3 damaged motors this year;the best was the guys who rolled at paddock and arranged autoglass windscreens before running the engine....anyone got a 4.8 cw&p for a honda zc?

[COLIN STUBBS]

Rob.in answer to your q.its an ex enterprize racing?? cup car.iv got some old paperwork relating to it.as it is well off topic and if your a 216 cup expert pm me!

[R59]

Originally Posted by COLIN STUBBS

Rob.in answer to your q.its an ex enterprize racing?? cup car.iv got some old paperwork relating to it.as it is well off topic and if your a 216 cup expert pm me!

Ahh, so it's bent already then.

No, I'm not an expert, I nearly ran in it, but ran away when I learned more about the cars.

They don't live in garages, they live in kennels.

I had the misfortune of driving a LHD 220 Turbo while working at Donington, and it was the most evil contraption I've driven in a long time. It went like stink, but didn't stop, and handled like a supermarket trolley! If it had a name, it would have been Lucifer!! It was evil!