Circle Track spread on Rockingham

The article will eventually be posted on www.circletrack.com

Short session tonight

I got the last bolt in for the seat. They've all been tightened down and the seat still moves. It's a bit stiff, but it does move.

I worked on getting the running, but something's just not right. The oil pressure switch, fuel pump relay checked out fine. The pump delivers fuel when the oil pressure switch is disconnected as described in the troubleshooting section. I'm kinda at a loss for what to look for next. Carb rebuild? Replace pump? It did look pretty bad, but did run when tested outside the tank.

Oh hey, I got a little bit of work done last night...

I got the tank put back in. Last week, it was pulled and cleaned. It appeared to be dry. I didn't drop a match in it to test it. The fuel pump cover had 1 screw when I removed it. It now had all 7 screws with 3 washers each. The extra washers are there for speed! Well, plus the new screws were too long. I put about 1.5 gals in the tank, but could not get it to turn over. I ran through the last of the starter fluid I got with the car and am into my new can. Yeah, a milestone! I'll pick up another 2 gals on the way home.

I got the seat 90% complete. One bolt is about 1" too short. It has to go through: a washer, seat slider, floor, catalyst heat shield, plate, washer, lock washer and nut. The heat shield is the deal breaker. I'll get another one tomorrow at lunch and see if I can wrangle it in under the seat. I got the under car plates cut and drilled. This is what the bolts go through under the car. This should prevent the seat from pulling out of the car if there is a collision.

No pics. I think I need to hire an assistant to take pics. I'm too busy sweating and wrenching.

Tackling the Tank!

We pulled the tank Monday and cleaned it out. There was about 10 gallons of gas in there! The in tank filter was off and floating around. That will be cleaned and put back on. The pump is in good working condition. It's had some work done to it before. You could tell by the fact that there was only 1 out of 7 screws holding the access cap on the tank,the pump was tie wrapped to the mount and the leads had been resoldered. The tank was a bit rusty. We put some rocks in and swished them about to clean it out. Ran a bunch of water through it and put it under the trailer to dry. Eric checked on it Wed and said it was dry. It will be installed at the next session.

We had to weld one of the original nuts back on the seat frame. It’s still not in the car, but maybe next week will be the week!

I hope I won’t have to use a back brace on the Sparco seat. I’ll send a note to Lemons HQ once the seat and cage are in. It’s a rigid frame seat, so it may be ok. My concern is getting out of the damn thing in an accident. It’s a tight fit and with the back locked in place and I would have trouble getting out.

More small stuff done

Ken came by and helped out again last night. Eric's on vacation for the month of July. Well, vacation, business travel and moving if you want to get specific. We were able to get the important dash pieces installed and the lockout for the steering wheel removed. We started on the seat, but did not finish. The slider mounts are giving us problems and are being addressed. Mounting location and necessary hardware has been decided on. I'm going to get the mounting bolts today. I still have some steel to cut and attach before its complete, but it's getting there.