Projects Track Roadster 16 yrs in the making

Thanks for those kind words and the link to the Wilcap story...love those pioneer trailblazer stories and enjoyed many more in the book "The Merchants of Speed"

 

Interesting observation -

A couple of nights ago I notice that, at idle, the air/fuel ration (O2) was fairly lean, about 15:1. I had been driving about 45 min. Due to my well-earned paranoia I immediately started worrying; however, I made the trip back to my place OK. I knew the gas tank was low and the thought occurred to me that the fuel might be cavitating and causing a leaner mixture. “Normally”, the air/fuel ratio is about 13.5 at idle.

The next day I told Brett about the lean condition. He correctly pointed out that the most likely culprit was hot fuel and perhaps cavitation. With very little fuel in the tank, and the fuel rail buried under the “valley plate”, there was a strong chance that the fuel was overheating while circulating through the fuel rail, before returning to the tank. Due to the small fuel volume this condition was significantly raising the temp of the gas.

Later that evening I filled the gas tank and drove around for about 90 minutes. After about 30 min I noticed that at idle the air/fuel ratio was creeping up and finally got to about 15:1. I drove home and used my new hand-held infrared thermometer. The exterior of the thermoplastic gas tank, which is in the trunk, registered 90 degrees F. The ambient temp was around 80 degrees F.

Thus, even with almost a full tank the fuel path can significantly heat up the gasoline. Probably on hot days driving and idling on scorching pavement this is not going to be good…

A fuel cooler isn’t going to do too much good unless it’s hanging out in free air (not). So we may have to think about a higher volume fuel pump and larger diameter fuel rails to try to get a quicker transit time through the fuel circuit in the valley area. It also may be worth trying to insulate the fuel rails as much as possible. All of which will be many moons down the road.

The issue is not a big deal, since the engine idled fine, but one more consequence of making decisions that can later come back to bite you.

I have to say that, in my estimation, the top of the engine looks so cool (no pun) that the 50s appearance is worth the fuel heat issues.

I also, dropped by and visited local KC Hamber, Cactus1, yesterday evening. Cactus1, aka Mike, went for a brief cruise in the TR, so I could show him how much better the Hemi ran. He had ridden in the TR a year or so ago. Mike agreed that there is a huge improvement in drivability.

While visiting Mike I checked out the latest progress on his very cool nostalgia rod. Mike is constructing his hot rod with his own hands. As always, my hat’s off to those who do it themselves.

Check out Cactus1’s project thread at:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=371802&highlight=cactus1

OH YEAH, one more thing! The Street Rodder Magazine Road Tour is passing through the KC area; and a local event will be hosted by AEROMOTIVE, Inc. The open house is at their world headquarters in beautiful (?) Lenex, KS. According to their web page the event is open to the public and all rodders are welcome to drive their cars to Aeromotive on Monday evening, June 18. Barring a complete catastrophe I’ll be there with the Maserodi. Of course, EFI genius Brett, his-own-self, Clow will be there as well.

Cheers,

Charlie
aka trakrodstr

 

Where are they stopping in KC? Their website is a cluster F.

 

I remember using a coffee can, cooper line coiled inside it with dry ice

 

Charlie, Sounds like TR is up and RUNNING ! Way to go ! Need a video of TR in action . . . .

Dave

 

I copied this from the Aeromotive web page.

THE DETAILS:
• Monday, June 18 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm
• Aeromotive’s Facilities: 7805 Barton St., Lenexa, KS 66214
• Open House and Car Show is open to the public
• No entry fee for your car
• Car clubs encouraged!
Download & Print the Flyer
Want to bring you car or car club?
Please call us at (913) 647-7300 in advance so we can reserve you a parking spot. If you are a car club representative, please call us ASAP so we can reserve spaces for your group together.

 

OK Doug, you ride shot gun and keep the coffee can full of dry ice.

Dave, Yeah thanks. I have to admit that things are going very well with the TR. I’m working on getting a video and audio made.

I hope things are perking up for you too.

Regards,

charlie

 

Charlie, Yah I hope they are perking up . . . Will talk off line on that if you want. Hey Roadster Show is tommorow . . I am kind of down so I won't be there. Doing laundry and being Mr House Wife . . . . Gee, what fun . .

Dave

 

Charlie, great to see everything has been figured out, fixed, and you can finally drive your Roadster ---- CONGRATS!!!


Malcolm

 

Malcolm,

Your congrats are very, very welcome. I hope to head up to your neck of the woods before too long. Maybe we can go on a short cruise.

Charlie

 

Why isn't the computer maintaining air fuel ratio via 02 sensor readings ?

Cold fuel, hot fuel, warm days, cool days, sea level, tip of pokes peak - the computer should be compensating no ?

 

Hey Charlie. Thanks for the ride the other night. TR feels strong! I wish I would have been paying better attention to my camera duties as the short video I took does not do the car much justice. I would have liked to catch the (alleged ) third gear chirp as we re-entered the highway, ha! Good stuff.

And thanks for the nice words on my pile! I joked with my wife when I got back from our ride because you caught me in the middle of painting the hood of my truck with a roller... How embarrassing, ha!

I hope to make it out to the shindig on Monday so I'll see you there.

 

Mike

No embarrassment my friend — you are creating authentic hot rods with your own hands.

I'm glad you enjoyed the TR and agree that it's running better with its new nervous system.

It was good to see you at the Aeromotive sponsored Street Rodder Mag Tour event and the Art of the Car Concours in KC MO.

We need to go on a cruise when the weather gets nicer.

Charlie

 

31Vicky,

Sorry about the long delay in replying to your question.

Both header pipe have an O2 sensor. The passenger side talks to the EFI CPU and the other sensor talks to a instrument gauge hidden in the glove box, which I can see from the driver's seat.

To answer your question, Brett has never set up a map with the high ambient temp and my understanding is that he has intentionally constrained the CPU from "correcting" for parameters beyond about a 10% variation. As we learn more Brett is likely to modify the fuel maps further and perhaps allow the CPU to make more robust compensations for local conditions.

Thus, it may also be that the ambient temp was getting high enough that the injector was not compensating adequately. At least that's my hunch. I'll ask Brett your question too.

My guess is that we are going to have to revisit the idle fuel maps and possible open up some more bleed holes in the throttle plates. We'll see.

Again sorry for the long delay.

Charlie

 

I've attached some photos of the Maserodi at the SRM event at Aeromotive. Brett arranged for me to have a front and center parking spot...in the disabled driver slot. You had to walk by the TR to see the SRM 40 Ford and get to the food and drink; so I had lots of "customers" who asked a bunch of fun questions. I think there must have been over 200 street rods parked all around the Aeromotive lot.

By the way I have driven about 300 more miles recently with no problems.

trakrodstr

 

next

 

Well one thing for sure, The M is always in the green. {

 

Looking good Charlie, and very pleased to hear you are getting some time in it at last. Looks like it was worth the hassle.

 

I have heard that it takes plenty of time ,pockets full of money and considerable amount of patience to build a car of detail and quality. congradulations ,u have succeeded ,beautiful car, I had just seen your thread 3 hours ago, I went thur the whole 48 pages and enjoyed it ,from start to finish,thanks

 

Hi Charlie - do you think you finally have the injectors and throttle bodies working right? Any updates?


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Hey Charlie,
How about an update on this rascal ?

 

"Hey Charlie,
How about an update on this rascal ?"

Good question….

 

Doug, Hasty, Vickie and other friends,

My guilty conscience has been whispering at me to get off my lazy butt and post on the HAMB. So many of you were so kind for so long there is no question I owe you folks an update. Let me compose some text in my head over the next few days.

Much progress was made. The TR has, as of a 75 mile cruise yesterday, about 7,500 miles on the odometer. The latest major mechanical change was last week. Consequently the "16 years" in the title is incorrect. I guess I'll have to find out how one goes about updating the title of a Thread.

Thanks for the continued interest and the nudge.

More soon,
Charlie

 

Good to see you Received the nudge, your profile said you were last seen back in May. 7500 trouble free ?

 

Hummm… where to start?

When last I last communicated on the HAMB, Brett Clow had configured and installed a new electronic FI system. This change represented a galactic improvement over the earlier system. Since that time, there have been no meaningful changes or failures to the FI system. An ignition control module that Brett installed failed and was replace, with a new unit. Very recently the original TPS failed, both were OEM quality parts (?).

The new user-friendly EFI system allowed me focus on serious problems with the steering system. As I put more miles on the chassis the steering effort went from bad to worse. Many pages ago, I described the drag-link steering, which is based on a Schroeder sprint car box. The steering was beginning to bind. The problem was reaching the point that I was reluctant to drive the car, as the binding caused an intermittent "catch" that was truly scary when driving in traffic on the highway.

Finally, I called Schroeder Engineering in Burbank and spoke with Gary, the son of the company's founded, Gordon Schroeder. Gary was very helpful and offered to drive the roadster and troubleshoot the steering system. The roadster was shipped to Burbank, July 2013, and left in the capable hands of Rick Cresse at Tri-C Engineering, a very well-respected fabrication shop in nearby Valencia CA. Rick's company has worked on a number of national caliber hot rods and restoration cars. Rick and Gary are good friends and have worked together for years.

http://www.schroedertorsionbars.com/HotRodSteeringPg.html

http://www.tri-cengineering.com/

Upon inspection by Gary and Rick, the steering box was remove by Rick's crew and taken to Schroeder for diagnosis. At some point the outer (pitman) bearing assembly had been removed and replace with a bronze bushing. The loads on the bushing were far too high — leading to failure. Gary and his crew reconstructed an essentially new gearbox with a standard sprint car steering-arm bearing.

As some of the readers who have followed this Project know the roadster was constructed with a reduction gear situated between the steering wheel and the Schroeder box. This reducer slowed the steering ratio to a suitable level for street use. During the intervening years Gary had developed a planetary gear to slow the steering from 8:1 to 16:1. His new product mounts directly on the existing sprint car box. After much thought I asked Rick to remove the existing "reduction" gear, and make a new steering column that would work with the new Schroeder hot rod part. Thus, the revised steering system, as it exists now, has a "new" sprint car box with an integral street reduction unit installed. Very little surgery was required, mainly a larger hole in the cowling to allow the steering-arm bearing (housing) to pass through the sheet metal.

Once the steering system was installed I asked both Gary and Rick to drive the car and critique its suspension and front end geometry. I had two experts on my team and I very much wanted their advise and criticisms. Overall they gave the Maserodi good marks but both suggest significantly softer torsion bars (lower spring rates). Since Schroeder Racing is a major supplier of racing torsion bars, and since torsion bars are cheap and easy to change, I asked Rick and Gary to install what they would want on their own hot rod. Both Gary and Rick did some road tests and selected new front and rear bars. Rick also suggested that a slight increase in the king pin angle would improve tracking on uneven roads. So, while in the hospital the surgeons sleeved the king pin bosses, machined a new king pin bore angle and installed flat needle bearing assemblies between the king pin bosses and the spindles.

I flew out to Burbank, before Thanksgiving 2013, on a Friday, and drove the roadster. Words will not express how much better the car steered and handled. It was a revelation. Honest. My buddy of 50 years, John, agreed completely. It was a miraculous departure from its previous state. The ride was more compliant and the steering effort and smoothness were wonderful compared to "before surgery". I'm not saying that the present steering rivals a modern rack and pinion unit, but the the new system is easily mainstream quality for a street driven hot rod.

After picking up the roadster at Schroeder Racing (you should see Gary's "museum"….WOW!), my lady friend and I spent the next five days driving all over Southern California — from Burbank to San Diego, to Joshua Tree and in between. If memory serves, we put about 1500 miles on the odometer. I left the car with John and he and drove it another 1500 miles or so around the San Diego area. In early spring this year (2014), I flew out to San Diego, loaded the roadster in a rented box truck and brought it back to Kansas City.

That's it for now, I'll bring the saga up to date with another post soon, I promise.

Charlie

 

That's quite a bit there
So glad you updated the thread.

So they added a bit more camber , hummm what is the final # they shot for?

 

Thanks for the update, Charlie. I shimmied out of KC before I got a chance to see it in person. If you ever come to Scottsdale...

 

OOOPs, I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember the figure Rick mentioned. I'll try and find out. The next part of the story involves brake shoe material and a bit of fine tuning on the torsions and a new improved set of spur gears for the quick change.

Thanks for the kind words and interest.

 

Nitro,
I may well take you up on your Scottsdale offer. In my gearhead heart of hearts, I want to attend the LA Roadster Show by driving to the event. You can see where this is going...

If I have, ahem, difficulties on the road, knowing that there are knowledgable HAMBers along the route would be a big confidence builder. And guess which state I would pass through on the last leg of a journey from KC to Pomona?

Keep your fingers crossed.

charlie

 

Here is a virtual image showing the "racing" number 4. I created the shape and colors in Photoshop.
I am thinking about printing file in vinyl for occasional use only.
Any opinions? Colors good/bad? Too modern of a font style? Tacky? Unnecessary? Who cares?