Superformance MKII, Riverside Racer 289 FIA vintage race car

[byronpete21]

Cool Decals, they will certainly add a nice touch to your race car.

Byron

[Moto One]

Hey buddy, I'm still planing on meet you at Mid Ohio.

Mark.

[1795]

Mark,

Great! Looking forward to it. I will put you on my crew list, PM me your full name (not sure if I have it) so that I can add you to the crew list. I am planning on getting started on the pre-season prep for the car this weekend. It is finally going to warm up a little.

Have not been spending much time on the car much of late, as my Mom had been battling pancreatic cancer for the past year and have been spending a lot of quality time with her, easy choice to make. She was a pretty tough cookie, 92 years old and all of 4'10" tall. She raised 5 boys and kept us in line. She passed away last Tuesday and I am dedicating this race season to her.

I will have pictures to post of some changes that I am making over the next couple of weeks. The first race of the season is in a little over three weeks at Summit Point in West Virginia. A lot of work ahead of me.

Jim

[1795]

As I re-read my prior post it was quite apparent that it was awful. I have edited in a little, but it still leaves something to be desired. It comes off a little distant and I want to correct that. My mother was the glue that held our family together. She was raised in the depression on a small farm by parents who were immigrants when they were young. Her father fought in World War I for his new country. There were 10 children my mother being the third oldest, when my mother was 18 her mother died, so she had to help raise her younger brothers and sisters.

She started working at any early age to support the family. She learned to be tough and work through tough times. When we were growing up, if one of us started to cry over something, she would tell us to toughen up, she was raising boys not sissies.

I do miss her and my brain is in a fog right now, so please excuse a poorly written response, it will probably be a little while before my brain clears up.

Thanks.

Jim

[moore_rb]

These are the "seasons" we all go through in life... And they are more challenging than any hobby car race, for sure.

So sorry to hear about your mom Jim, and I totally understand (first hand) about the shift in focus away from the car.

Let the car sit, let it get dirty, and every time you glance at it, don't feel any guilt about neglecting it. Just be thankful that it's still sitting there (mine isn't )

Seasons pass... and when all the family business is settled, and all the bills are paid, and the fog on your brain has cleared; and when you can look at the car and smile about the fact that your mom wanted to to do the things that make you happy, then you will know that it's time to re-aquaint yourself with the lesser-important (but maybe more pleasant ) aspects of life.

All my best regards....

[66gtk]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. She sounds like she was a good woman who raised you right! I hope you can make her proud behind the wheel of your Cobra, which I am sure you will. Heck, you don't even have to drive it to accomplish that (:

[1795]

Thanks Robert and Troy for your thoughts and condolences. Working on the car will be therapeutic for me, in that it will occupy my time. Focusing on good memories right now. So glad that we were able to arrange for hospice in my parents home and mom was able to be surrounded by her family at home, not everyone has that option afforded to them.

Jim

[Alfa02]

I too understand Jim, I lost my dad (A car guy his whole life) he was more then my dad, he was my friend too, got me to where I am today (Car guy and I believe a good person) . I had the honor to care for him, the last 3-years of his life and talking about the good ol'days, when we raced together. When he left this world, we both had no regrets. Robert, I'm with you too, buddy I know what your going though, my prayers are there for both of you. Cars are just cars, family is forever. Tom.

[Buzz]

Condolences, Jim. I lost my mother a few years back after a protracted illness. She was 95 and a great wife and mother. Like your mom, she packed a big punch in a small package - at 5'0" she took on the government and the establishment here for years, opened and ran a family crisis center and caused the establishment of new domestic violence legislation and the opening of a family court. We kept her here at home throughout her illness and keeping her comfortable and happy were our number one priorities. Those were some of the most rewarding years of my life.

Enjoy the memories of your mom - sounds like she was a real champ. The car will still be there and will provide you comforting distraction and enjoyment when you are ready for it. Take care and all the best.

[1795]

Well, it was nice weather today, got up to about 70 which was unbelievable considering the weather we have had. The first race of the season is just 3 weeks away at Summit Point in West Virginia and it is time to get to work. Spent some of yesterday and today doing some maintenance.

Changed the oil in the jag differential and will be changing the transmission oil in the next couple of days. Had some difficult to stop minor oil leaks at the fittings going from the oil filter to the oil cooler and from the oil filter to the engine block plate. Decided to go with all new lines and fittings and see if that will stop the leaks. Did notice one mistake, some of the NPT to AN fittings from the remote oil filter and the remote block plate were steel and both of those items are aluminum. These metal expand at different rates when hot and that may have been a contributing factor, all of the new NPT to AN fittings are aluminum. I am going from the reinforced black lines with the press in fittings and snap rings to braided steel lines with AN fittings. Have two of the three lines made, need to pick up one more fitting tomorrow.

Also worked on the throttle pedal today. Last year was having some difficulty doing heel-to-toe due to the large gap between the throttle pedal and the brake pedal. Pease forgive the orientation, they were upright on my computer but were rotated when placed in my album.


So I found a spare throttle pedal that came with my MGB race car which had a wider plate welded to it. I removed the plate and cleaned it up. Glued some 80 grit sandpaper to it for better grip (old racer's trick). And then attached the plate to my existing throttle. Went from a 3" gap to a 2" gap. Heel-toe works much better now.



More work to come over the next couple of weeks.

Jim

[byronpete21]

Very nice solution to the pedal gap issue. Good luck with the upcoming race. Weather has been beautiful down this way, hope it continues to be nice for you at Summit Point.

Best regards,
Byron

[1795]

Thanks Byron,

Finished up the oil cooler lines today and then did a little pressure test afterwards with just the starter in case I did not fully tighten any fittings to avoid a massive oil leak. Got the oil pressure up to 40 psi with no leaks. I will need to purchase some more race fuel before I can get the engine up to temp to check for leaks. Not enough fuel left in the fuel cell.

Changed the transmission oil, so all that is left fluid wise is to change the engine oil and filter and drain the antifreeze and replace with water and water wetter. Still need to re-grease all fittings and check all bolts among a host of other things. Hopefully Rick will have the new race screen this week and I can work on getting the windshield off and the race screen installed.

More to come. Tomorrow I am getting the truck ready with some new brakes and an oil change.

Jim

[byronpete21]

With all the oil changes and such, I am considering buying more shares in OPEC. Happy race prepping. Wish I could join you in West Virginia, but will be in London. Still on for VIR in September though.

Byron

[1795]

Well, had a relatively productive last few days. Finished changing the fluids and lubricating the suspension. Almost getting there, will have the car ready for the first race, but still have a few days work ahead of me.

Today my new race screen arrived. Thanks Rick and Time Machines!!! I could not wait to get started, so I went about removing the windshield by myself, not something that I would recommend. Luckily I already had the seats and steering wheel removed so that saved a lot of time and frustration. Even with those items out of the way, it still took me about 3 hours to remove the windshield. All of the retaining bolts are hidden underneath the dash or tight places. You spend the majority of your time on your back underneath the dash trying to figure out how you are going to access unto that are barely visible at times, one was completely hidden by a relay switch. By the way, again please excuse the orientation of the pictures, it again turned them, so I went back to my photo album and rotated the pictures thinking that it would them turn them the right way, and it did not. I will have to figure this out later.



After you remove all of the bolts the fun begins. I figured that the windshield would just slide out of the slots and I would carry it away with no problem. Wrong! I should have expected it, and quickly realized what the problem was when the windshield did not want to move. Invest in RTV, Superformance uses it wherever they think there might be a potential leak. The bast@@@# was glued in place. Spent about 30 minutes prying and puling before it finally broke free, then it came out pretty easy.



I then did a rough fit of the race screen and that is where it sits for now. Tomorrow morning I am heading to Time Machines to borrow a threaded inset tool and will attach the race screen. Had to tweet the aluminum in spots to conform to the body, but it will work fine. I need to make some posts for the mirrors as well.



Jim

[byronpete21]

Looking good Jim. I always thought there was only 4 fasteners that held the windshields in, figures there would be more. Always loved the look of the race windshields, you are a brave man to drill through that beautiful body work. Good luck with the rest of the race prep.

Best regards,
Byron

[Moto One]

Great to see that your getting it all together for the season. I'll be watching for updates. Sorry for your loss, we just went thru that with my wife father.

Mark.

[xb-60]

Race screen fitment is looking good Jim.

Unrelated question....I noticed that you have a padded covering on the strut of the roll-over bar. What exactly is this? I haven't looked exhaustively here locally, but the padded 'sleeves' that are available are a mid grey colour. Yours looks a lot better.

Cheers,
Glen

[1795]

Glen,

The padding on the forward brace is SFI rated paling from Longacre racing supply. The race groups here require that any part of the roll cage that can come in contact with your head or other body parts be padded.

Jim

[1795]

I ran out to Time Machines early this morning and picked up the threaded insert tool, inserts and some stainless steel screws. Chatted with Rick for a little bit, looked at the cars that he had in the shop, made plans for the Vintage Grand Prix at the Glen this September and then headed home.

I placed the race screen on the car and laid out where it would rest with masking tape and marked the holes for drilling.



I then carefully drilled the holes, first check underneath the dah to make sure that nothing was in the way, luckily noticed that the oil pressure gauge line could have been hit by the drill bit and moved it out of the way. I then removed the tape and there was no chipping evident.


I then went about inserting the threaded inserts. Rick suggested that I ad a little epoxy to the inserts and try not to expand them too far as to avoid cracking the fiberglass. I checked online and found that JB Weld made a marine weld product which would work on fiberglass, so after comparing it to the other choices at the hardware store went with the JB Weld. It was not difficult, but a little time consuming making sure that I did not over expand the inserts. I did have to grind one down and pick up a shorter screw for that one as the hole came out over the main hoop under the dash. I used 10-24 screws that were 3/4" long for all of the holes but that one and used a 1/2" screw for that one, and the race screen was installed!





I then fabricated a bracket for the rear view mirror and installed a mirror with the convex lens.



Over the next few days I am going to fabricate brackets for the side view mirrors and then it will be tie to start putting the wheels back on, the interior back together and installing the new 14" leather steering wheel.

Jim

[Mark IV]

Jim,

Are you gonna be around Saturday afternoon? We will be on the way back from a PA. delivery and I could stop and pick up the threadset tool.