You were going to get another long winded race report but due to extenuating circumstances it ain't gunna happen. After a leisurely 10 hour drive to Willowbank on Saturday, the Crew Chief and I set up camp ready for a day's racing Sunday. I could've done some test and tune runs on the Saturday night but decided to save the car for Sunday. A wise move perhaps, maybe not? We had 4 cars only. John, Jeff, Steve and myself. Numbers were down in most brackets as well. I suppose I'm dragging (pardon the pun) this out a bit and you're right, I am. Out we go for the first qualifying run. John and I line up. I chose to take off with a different method and by the video you can tell that worked a treat, not. That was a 14.3 for me and 14.6 for John. At the end of the run my oil light came on but I was able to get enough oil pressure to chug back to the pits. Pulled the rocker cover off to check if oil was getting to the tappets. Nope. Unscrewed the oil sender out and oil would only dibble out as I brought the revs up. After a 10 hour drive and 1 run it was back onto the trailer and home we went. Dang! We got home about 11.30 last night but I was under the car by 8.00am this morning with the sump off and didn't find anything broken, bent or missing. The only thing unusual was the pipe from the oil pump to block was loose in the fitting. My best guess is the pump was picking up oil and pushing it out the loose fitting instead of pressurizing the block. Any thoughts on that theory? I should mention on these engines the oil pump is in the sump with all piping in there as well. I ordered an oil pump rebuild kit anyway but raided the other race engine of it's pump and installed it. Everything's working good, I hope. I've booked an hour at the local dyno for a couple of runs to check things. I'll let you know the outcome. In the meantime I'll try to get results of the day's racing.
Sucks about the oil pressure but it was good to catch up and have a chat. Fingers crossed you have it all sorted. Cheers Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
I hope I've got it figured. I'll take my camera with me to the dyno . It's a bit scary watching and listening to someone else wringing the freckle out of what you have assembled.
Just been to the dyno. The dyno bloke wasn't up to climbing in the car so he asked me to do it. Great, I get to rev the freckle out of it whilst sitting in one spot. I've never been at the helm on a dyno before. First was the intended run to check for proper oil pump function. Everything working as it should. I kept the revs at about 3500 while Glen altered the dyno brake. Of course Glen wanted to see how it would do a full pull (so did I for that matter). After a couple of runs with adjustments to the timing it was time to let it rip. My apologies for the shaky video as the camera was coming loose in it's mount. My previous dyno runs last year gave me 92 H.P. but this time it ran 99.7 HP. Not a lot for some but remember when these engines were new they rated at 60 HP. Next race day will be Gunnedah in 2 weeks.
Good to hear it wasn't anything major! Gotta love the sound of a screaming Grey Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
I'm sorry I didn't get to yap with you blokes either. In hindsight I think I could've repaired it on the spot but hindsight's a wonderful thing.
The Jalopy Journal
