Superformance MKII, Riverside Racer 289 FIA vintage race car

[CompClassics]

Originally Posted by Morris

OK Jim

Here we go..... I'm only going to suggest things we did when we were racing against the A/P and B/P cars ... like you I didn't have all of the money, so I had to figure out how to do modifications on my own .... As luck would have it, we learned a lot and had much more confidence in the car when we got on the track. It is a great feeling when you win and have built or modified the vehicle you are driving.

Since you showed the Rear End.... here's some photo's of what you may want to consider ....










One of the problems we encountered was filling up our catch can on the rear end .... and we found out that the oil was going out the breather or vent hose into the catch can .... and then would not return to the diff.... then we would damage the differential.....

These are the mods we did to fix that issue...

These are the things we did to KMP259 as well and it has proven very successful.

I just had this same exact issue happen to a CSX6000 Series Continuation Cobra that I completed for a client. The oil pumped out of the differential and out of the catch can and now the the differential has a noise. The car has less than 1500 miles on it and the manufacturer refuses to stand behind their product even though the manufacturer of the differential they installed has told them repeatedly they need to vent the differential differently. Needless to say that my client is not to happy with the way the manufacturer has dropped this problem into his lap on a very expensive purchase.

[1795]

Originally Posted by CompClassics

I just had this same exact issue happen to a CSX6000 Series Continuation Cobra that I completed for a client. The oil pumped out of the differential and out of the catch can and now the the differential has a noise. The car has less than 1500 miles on it and the manufacturer says they are not responsible for the way they assembled the car prior to my receiving it. The manufacturer stated that they had never seen this happen before, obviously not.

Having done the modifications that Morris suggested, no problems at all with differential oil coming out and filling the catch can. Even running at high rpms the catch can is empty.

[CompClassics]

Originally Posted by 1795

Having done the modifications that Morris suggested, no problems at all with differential oil coming out and filling the catch can. Even running at high rpms the catch can is empty.

It was great that you caught this perfect example of poor engineering and design prior to loosing a very expensive component. As I explained to the manufacturer "what good is it that the gear oil is in the catch can (not to mention the oil that spewed out from the catch can) while the differential is operating, doesn't the gear oil need to be in the differential to maintain the proper capacity for operation?" I find it even more negligent that the manufacturer of the differential had instructed the manufacturer of the vehicle how the differential venting system needed to be installed and the vehicle manufacturer neglected to follow the differential manufacturers directions. As the manufacturer explained to me "there is many ways to do something...", well I guess they proved how to do something........the wrong way.

[1795]

Originally Posted by CompClassics

It was great that you caught this perfect example of poor engineering and design prior to loosing a very expensive component. As I explained to the manufacturer "what good is it that the gear oil is in the catch can (not to mention the oil that spewed out from the catch can) while the differential is operating, doesn't the gear oil need to be in the differential to maintain the proper capacity for operation?" I find it even more negligent that the manufacturer of the differential had instructed the manufacturer of the vehicle how the differential venting system needed to be installed and the vehicle manufacturer neglected to follow the differential manufacturers directions. As the manufacturer explained to me "there is many ways to do something...", well I guess they proved how to do something........the wrong way.

John,

What is most disheartening is the lack of culpability. We all make mistakes or misjudgments, honor is in accepting responsibility and making amends.

I will say that just in case there was some differential oil making its way to the catch can, I had the inlet from the differential inserted into the bottom of the catch can so that fluid could return to the diff once pressure lessened.

Jim

[CompClassics]

Originally Posted by 1795

John,

What is most disheartening is the lack of culpability. We all make mistakes or misjudgments, honor is in accepting responsibility and making amends.

I will say that just in case there was some differential oil making its way to the catch can, I had the inlet from the differential inserted into the bottom of the catch can so that fluid could return to the diff once pressure lessened.

Jim

It really doesn't do the differential any good if the gear oil is forced into the catch can while driving for long periods of time as the gear oil isn't where it needs to be to properly lubricate the critical areas of the differential. Once you stop the car and what fluid that didn't spew out of the catch can is drained back into the differential what good does that do, the differential is no longer in use. When you start driving the car again the fluid is again forced out of the differential and into the catch can again, plus you have the added issue of the loss of oil that had previously spewed out of the differential from the previous drive or drives. Not all of the people that drive these cars pay attention to what is going on with their cars And may be oblivious as to what is going on with them. From what I was told by the manufacturer of the differential is that it takes very little fluid loss to start damaging the differential, so now you have lost fluid and fluid in a can where it does not belong especially when driving. In short if your differential has a predetermined amount of gear oil that it requires for operation that oil belongs in a place where it does the most good not in a can on the shelf to be put in later.

[1795]

John,

Point well taken.

Jim

[1795]

Spent the day driving 6 hours each way to pick up the 289 FIA engine from Darryl Fitzgerald and witness a couple fo dyno runs. Darryl had called me yesterday to let me know that they had been tuning the engine on the dyno and that the results were pretty good. He said that the previous engine was more than likely operating in about the 350 hp range based upon the build. He said that they were getting 370 HP and 330 ft lbs of torque on my engine with the Webers, which he thought was pretty good considering it has iron heads, a stock crank and stock stroke. I was hoping for a little more, but that is better than it was. So I told myself that it was making consistent HP as compared to the cobras racing back in the 60's and went to go get my engine.

Darryl and I went over to where the dyno shop was and we got ready for the first pull. The dyno operator ran the engine up to 3500 rpms and then shut it down. He said that the engine was not making power. We became a little concerned and removed the valve covers to check the valve lash. all was in order, there did not seem to be any leaks. They then tested the throttle lever on the dyno and it was barely moving the throttle. The throttle lever for the dyno had come loose. it was tightened and the next run went smoothly. Everyone was happy, and I looked over at the dyno and noticed that with the full use of the Webers the engine produced 362 ftlbs of torque and 424 HP.

We did a second run and got the same results. A nice flat torque curve from 4500-6500 rpms. I am a happy camper! It will be fun getting used to all that power. Love those Webers.

Here are links to the last to pulls on the dyno, crank up the volume and enjoy. The video was taken from outside the dyno room, so it is a little blurred by the plexiglass.

I took a picture of the dyno sheet.



Https://youtu.be/Wgm3LMrQvPM

Https://youtu.be/rHo7ARK3_Xw

Jim