Another Engine

After the disastrous start to my racing career, another engine is the order of the day.

A lot of ringing around to wreckers all over Perth and I finally found a G180, 1.8L Isuzu engine. Its second hand and i wouldn't know its condition until I put it in and turned the key. (not that there a key in my car, more like pushed the button)

Once again it took a lot of convincing Dad to use his shed for the removal and fitting, but after a guarantee it would take no longer than a week, i began work.

Out with the old

Working only after work and late into the night, I got it all done in 2 and a half days! I'm impressed with my effort. I swapped the clutch over and also put on my existing Holley carb and intake as well as the existing extractors.

The hole

In with the new

It started first go, and sounds terrific. A bit of tuning on the dizzy and the new engine is pulling 5500rpm and puring like a kitten. I gave it a drive around the vineyard and the car has heaps of torque. Then issue now is that I have to wait until November for the start of the 08/09 race season. At least this will give me time to freshen up the paintwork and sort out some minor wiring issues.
Cheers. Damon

Race Day, Well sort of

Sorry for not getting back to everyone sooner, but work has been chaotic!

Well Race day came, after some last minute alterations to get the car passed scruitenering. Lots of cutting and welding was done to lower the seat, secure the battery, install new anchor points for the seat belt harness, etc etc.

With Rain looming, the Margaret River speedway club wasted no time in beginning the races. AS my luck had it, I was in the first race of the night. All suited up and ready to roll, we proceeded onto the greasy Margaret River race track. Starting from the back of the rolling grid, the lights went green.

With a roar, we were off. I approached the first corner with caution, which was a good idea as the car started sliding everywhere. I held it together for two and a half laps and then it all went bad.

Coming out of turn 3 and 4 I lost all power. I pulled into the infield and as the car rolled to a stop the engine just died. A Marshal popped the bonnet and told me that there was oil all over the engine bay. Meanwhile the race finished and i was pushed back to the pits area.

Half an hour working on the car and it just wouldn't start. Basically the motor just blew up. I got some other drivers to help me push it back onto the trailer as that was the end of my night. I sat down with my boys and watched the rest of the race program including the 3 other production races that I was supposed to be in.

Well as it was the last race of the season, I have put the car away to concentrate on some other things, but to my surprise Manjimup Speedway is having a meeting on the 1st June!!!

On the phone to some wreckers in Perth and I have found another engine. Therefore this weekend I will be pulling out the stuffed one and putting in the second hand one I am getting next week. Hopefully I have more luck this time and can actually finish a race! Fingers crossed X Damon

Like a kid in a lollie shop

Well things are getting closer. I'm having the car scrutiniered tonight so fingers crossed everything is o.k, and they will let me race this weekend.

My safety gear arrive!, This includes, Racing helmet, new safety harness, Race suit, Nomex fireproof underwear, balaclava, boots, gloves and lots of other stuff.

Most of my gear is RCI brand. (Racers Choice International) and is made in the USA.

I purchased it through Rocket Industries in Sydney. A big thank you to Sam Walsh and the guy's who was extremely helpful in my selections and advise. (check out their website in my links section for all your racing and performance gear)

Gee this hobby is expensive.

On another note, I have received my new car race number. As number 09 is already taken, my new number is 91
A quick trip to the sign writer, and a new roof mounted sign and were almost done.
The car is still at the mechanics, so I hope everything can get sorted for tonight.
Damon

Holy Holley

Well it arrived! The brand new 350 Holley. This is the largest carburettor allowed in Production sedan racing. If only it was simple to install.

Being a bit of a mechanical virgin regarding the engine I ran into a few issues in the fitting.

The space plate provided, didn't match up with the intake manifold. Secondly when the carby was bolted to the plate, it hit the thermostat housing.

Solution?

Mount the carby backwards!

A big thanks to "Holley Carbs Perth" for their assistance and advise with the purchase and the fitting.

I cut out the centre of the intake manifold to reduce the obstruction to the fuel/air mixture. and a bit of TIG welding later and it was all installed.
Now to get the thing running.

Problem. Shes Not A Firing!

No spark at the plugs. Another trip to Auto one and the guys sorted me out with a new distributor rotor, plugs and ignition coil.

At last it started. Running a bit rough though. Time for a real mechanic to have a look. I dropped the car of yesterday at VJ Auto in Margaret River. Two hours later and Vic called to say it was only running on three cylinders. Another set of plugs and a new set of contact points and its all back on track. Now I just need to give it a work out early next week.
The big news now is that I am madly trying to get all my paperwork done so I can race in the last speedway meeting in Margaret River on Sat 26th April. (weather permitting)

I will kept everyone informed of the process.

Damon

Strip those decals

It was messy and time consuming but I've been busy removing the decals. If I'm going to put on a fresh coat of paint, the old stickers have to come off. This also presents me with the opportunity to get my own sponsorship. (stay tuned).

Its pretty simple to remove.
A drill with wire brush attachment and some strong arms and 5.5 hours latter I'm nearly finished.

I've also replaced the battery terminal ends. The old ones looked dodgy and with the inherent risk of a cabin fire, due to the fuel lines running through the cab, it was in my best interest to change these over. When your doing 140kh down the straight you don't want to be seeing blue sparks arcing inside, do you?

I flushed out the radiator and figured that replacing the thermostat would also be a wise move.

When i removed the old one and took it into the local boys at Auto 1 Margaret River, The new one just didn't look right.

The old one had 8 holes drilled into it. A bit of research on the Internet solved this mystery.

The holes serve a couple of purposes. They allow water to pass through to the radiator whilst the engine is warming up. This prevents cavitation of the water in the head and block. But the main function is to protect the Head Gasket from failure. As thermostats get older there chance of not opening increases. Al owing some water to flow past will reduce potential damage to the head and gasket. Also as these cars are raced in 2nd gear, maximum RPM, the increased water flow back to the rear cabin mounted radiator, helps keep the engine from overheating.

Coming up next, The Holy Holley arrives!

Cheers Damon

The start of the makeover

Now that the car has arrived, its time to get busy.

It needs a thorough going over to get it race ready.

Firstly a little about the car.

its a Holden Gemini. not sure of the year, but i think the model is the TX.
its got a 1.8L engine, that's been bored out to 2L.

The crank is over sized and is running a set of extractors. (they don't look like much but they will surely do the job.

The only thing that's missing is the carby. It didn't come with one, so i will have to buy a 350 Holley. This is the largest carby allowed for the class of racing.
That's next on the shopping list!





the list of work seems endless. In order to get it past scrutinering the following needs to be achieved

• Install new carby
  
• Replace racing harness (seat belts can only be up to 5 years old from the date of manufacture)


• Flush radiator and replace thermostat


• Paint exterior


• Add name and racing number to car


• purchase racing suit helmet and safety gear


• get the thing started and tested

Hopefully this wont take too long as I want to get a race in before the end of the season. Margaret River has its last meeting on 26th April and all thing going well, I should be ready to go.

"The car"

After hunting thru the quokka for the last couple of months, i finally found what i was looking for. A second hand Production speedway car. Buying secondhand would save me from the hassles and expense of starting from scratch and welding in a roll cage etc.

The only problem is that most people what huge dollars for their cars.

I finally found the perfect one within my price range. (we really it was the only one in my price range and the first one i ever looked at) Nothing like being spontaneous!!!

Anyway enough talk lets see some photo's

I even got some spare tyres in the deal!

From the cockpit!

"For the Boys"

Welcome to my new blog, dedicated to my boys and our dreams to be speedway racers.
As it says in the title, "For the boys", after Ezekiel (8)and Dante(7) both came home from school one day wanting to have a motor bike, I had to come up with an answer.

Not wanting to get them one, due to the dangers (and that I was never allowed one as a kid), we had to come up with another solution. Then it hit me. The Speedway!

After some research we fond out that kids can start racing in the Juniors at 10!
This was the perfect answer. A sport that involved motors, cars, fuel and speed. Every boys dream.

But as the boys have another 2 years to wait until they can start driving. So what do i do???

Buy a car for myself of course! That way i will be full bottle on whats required to be a speedway driver and have the car side sorted out too. Although i have a pretty good mechanical knowledge, i think my biggest asset is my "I will give it a go" mentality. This scares most people i know, especially when I'm walking towards their car with a screwdriver and spanner in my hand, saying "I'm not to sure whats wrong with it but I'll pull a few bits off and have a look"

Anyway enough about me for the moment lets get into and check out my new toy.