My Road America and end-of-season updates aren’t done yet…but why not post a little update of what’s been going on during the off-season?
The year started with a focus on the Arnold car, and the SOVREN Annual General Meeting, AGM (awards banquet). My fellow Sprite and Midget racers swept the top three positions in Group 1 (and five of the top six spots), the indispensable Owen Duncan received the Eddie Vanetti award, and I was honored to receive Wade Carter Sportsmanship award. Finishing first in Group 1 is a testament to all the people who have helped and supported me; the car has come a long way.
2024 was about performance upgrades and cleaning up the engine bay. Rebuilt shocks, switching to Hawk Blue pads, a new bias-adjustable triple-master pedal box, switching from Toyo tires to Hoosier, and of course a full race-built 1275 with a new set of HS4 SU carbs all made the car handle better and go faster. I’m still learning to drive it.
2025 is about refinement and addressing some nagging issues. Here’s what’s going on in the garage:
- Rebuild both straight-cut gearboxes. One was popping out of 2nd gear; it got a new gearset, lay shaft, reverse idler shaft, 1-2 hub assembly, MED synchros, and some little bits (springs, needle bearings, etc.). The second box seemed to be running okay, but inspection after the season revealed issues. It’s getting a new 1-2 hub assembly, layshaft, front and rear main bearings, and little bits.
- Deal with the aftermath of the cam shaft nut coming off inside the timing cover. I’d hoped to get some assistance from MCCS on this, but haven’t. With the MED timing belt setup it’s hard to use a lock-tab washer, so Loctite is essential; I found no evidence of any.
- Solve a clutch geometry issue: The combination of the MED clutch assembly and the Newby Racing annular throw-out bearing has a slight geometry issue that causes the clutch to not fully lock up. This gets worse as the friction disc wears and ultimately led to the car being unable to move for Sam’s last autocross run at the Austin Healey Conclave last September. After careful, repeated measurement, I’m as certain as I can be that machining 0.125″ off the stand-off legs of the Newby Racing bracket will solve the problem.
- Remove, clean, reinstall rear springs. Replace fasteners and bushings as needed.
- Cool the car down. With the 1275 it was consistently running near 220F water temp in warm weather, sometimes higher. At Mission last year I took the grill off the car to help it on-track. An upgraded radiator and electric fan are in the works.
- Figure out and solve the vexing hot engine no-start problem. I wish I could say I knew the cause and fix. When the car is hot and sits for more than a minute or two, it will crank but not fire. It will push/bump start every time, though. I don’t know if it’s vapor-locking or if the float bowls are pressurizing and forcing gas into the throttle bodies flooding the engine, or if it’s a coil voltage issue as some have suggested. I’m taking a shotgun approach for now: Make sure the float bowl vents are open, replace the starter solenoid, and install a small electric fan to cool the carbs.
- Get a 3.9 diff welded and prepped. I found that with the switch to smaller Hoosier tires, I was running out of revs on the front straight at Pacific Raceways with a 4.22.
My goal is to get my car ready to go, then make a big push on the Arnold car. If there’s any way we can get it to Laguna Seca, it will be there.
I’ve been posting some videos to the YouTube channel from my garage.
Here are some photos from the work so far this off-season.
