Most importantly, here is the Columbia River Classic schedule:
The British Columbia Historic Motors Races (BCHMR, aka “Mission”) is in the the books. I’m in the middle of a three week break between races, with the Columbia River Classic coming up in Portland, Oregon.
Mission was great, you can read about it here, but not without issues. Some I was aware of at Mission and some have revealed themselves since.
- Fuel pressure drop in right turns. Yep, this was an issue at the clockwise Portland track last fall that I thought I’d resolved with a surge tank in the fuel cell and running with more gas in the cell. Nope. At the wise suggestion of John Alexander, I’ve re-run power from the switch to the pump and see if that helps. I also re-did the vent line to reduce over-spill and got a backup pump from a different manufacturer.
- That hump at turn 3 at Mission did a number on my exhaust and exhaust wrap. You can see it in the videos; it has enough rise that the lowest part of the car, the collector on the header, the pipe behind that, and the lowest part of the muffler were rubbing. This caused the system to catch driving it onto the lift in my garage and I made it worse. I’ve repaired as best I could in without taking it to a muffler shop.
- On the sage advice of Rod, I ran a 4.55 diff at Mission. That worked great on the tight, short, ‘turny’ track there. But for Road America it sounds like a 3.9 is the ticket. While I have a welded 4.88, 4.55, and 4.22, I don’t have a 3.9. Rod very generously loaded me one from his vast collection and it is now installed in the car.
- When I took the left rear brake drum off one pad on one shoe fell out. Mission is hard on brakes- lots of braking and very little opportunity for them to cool off. So new shoes on the rear.
- Installed a guard over the ignition switch so I don’t inadvertently turn the car off again, like I’ve done twice now. This is especially important now, as it really doesn’t want to re-start when it’s hot.
- Water temp issue: On the 90 degree Friday test day the water got to 230F. Fortunately it didn’t go higher, but that’s too hot. I ran part of Saturday and Sunday with the grill off the car. To help address that I blocked off the opening behind the grill where the big duct to the heater box connects, forcing more air through the radiator. To get air to the oil cooler, I installed an open cover for the right headlight, so no more winking Bugeye race car. I also have a larger diameter water pump pulley ordered, in case cavitation is part of the problem. The next step, if needed, is to add an electric radiator fan.
- The bolts that hold the front sway bar end links had partially unscrewed themselves. I doused them in red loctite and re-tightened.
- The set screws for the wind screen came loose, with one disappearing. It is replaced and both are and loctited. I also added ty-raps as backups.
- Front brakes: Mission is hard on brakes, so I checked the pads I put on the front end last November at Thunderhill. They are good for another weekend.
- Reinstalled the front grill, which I removed for better cooling at Mission.
- Adjusted the clutch pedal down for more legroom. This involved crafting a new pedal stop, as what I built is not adjustable.
- It was a stretch goal that I’d removed from my list, but I had enough time and energy to move the seat back an inch. This, combined with the clutch pedal adjustment, gives me a lot more leg and foot room.
- Lastly, and it was even on my list, I made and installed a little dead pedal for my left foot. No more inadvertently riding the clutch.
Looking forward, we have the Columbia River Classic races in Portland August 31-September 1. Just over a week later, we’ll set off to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for three days of vintage racing at Road America and the Austin Healey National Conclave. Finally, we’ll end the season back at Pacific Raceways for SOVREN’s Fall Finale September 28-29. If the car holds up, of course.