Gormless Racing - MGB GT: April 2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Driver's Notes from first race

One drivers critique of driving the MBG-GT:

1. Car is a blast to race on the track. Great hugging turns which Shenandoah (our next race) has a bunch of.

2. Ran like a top. No real issues that could not be managed easily in the pit. The Dr. on the team has all kinds of simple solutions at his disposal.

3. Sweet fuel cell that holds enough for about 1.5 hours of HARD driving and maybe 2+ hours of fun driving.

4. Has OK brakes, maybe a 6 out of 10. If you can remember to pump then I would give them an 8/10 on the second press of the peddle.

5. Not real comfortable in the seat as it has old style shoulder bolsters that got in my way of steering.

6. Mirrors are horrible but I expect this issue will be fixed. The whole race you will be watching for what is held up behind to get out of the way.

7. Wicked steering wheel wobble with hard brake pressing.

Race Report: The Real Hoopties of New Jersey 2011

We finished 32nd out of 68 cars! And as a bonus, we took home the coveted Index of Effluency award:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/04/and-the-real-winner-is-6/

Forum comments on the IOE Winner:
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=9422
More later...

Some of our drivers' notes from this race:
http://gormlessracing.blogspot.com/2011/04/drivers-notes-from-first-race.html

Alternator

Note: Alternator - MUST HAVE INDICATOR LIGHT wired up for the alternator to charge!

Sunday roundup - Transmission Dipstick!

Replaced the driver’s side droop strap / stop strap that was broken; did not touch the only-wounded one for fear of rusted bolt snapping.
Replaced differential fluid; had to grind a 1/2inch socket adapter down to 7/16 and Bob’s Your Uncle the plugs came right out.
Removed the old 6V to 6V battery cable.
Scot found ½ the bolts on the drive shaft were not Teflon nutted and were loose. DPO (Dreaded Previous Owner)! Replaced those properly; found 2 more zerk fittings in that area as well & greased them.
Spent many hours trying to get the transmission dipstick unstuck. Could not do it with grinder, vise grips, crush, hammer & screwdriver prying, full sized pry bar – that puppy is IN there till she’s towed off to Crazy Rays! We ended up cutting an access hole on the side of the passenger tran hump from inside the car, and then drilled a 3/8^th inch hole in the aluminum transmission case in the dipstick tunnel, at (what we believe to be) above the oil fill level. Worked like a charm, we could then drain out the old sludge and flushed with 10W-40. Unfortunately CARL did not bring enough of the proper 20W-50 to refill the tranny!! (I think some was stolen to put in School Bus a few trips ago).
Greased 5 of the 6 zerk fittings on the front suspension; 6^th fitting is an angled one, pointing directly at the dust shield! DPO strikes again.

Friday Night / Saturday roundup

Made radio holder out of a [company] Radio pouch they threw away
Brake light switch took waaaaay longer than i planned
Mounted transponder pocket (later re-mounted: MUST be vertical!)
I bought 2 nice wide AL rims from junk yard
Lost my bus keys in the junk yard!
Went back to retrace steps, couldn't find keys but found the alternator i had nearly removed 2 trips ago; removed it an bought it
Broke into bus, found keys on floor !
Came home, Bob was already removing alternator from '79 mgb
We spent a good deal of time blowing up the 3 alternators we had - the previous owner had one wire going to ground, shorting out alt, frying the circuits.
Good thing we didn't have the new alt - it would have blown up too.
Worked on door attachments, replaced drywall screws with rivets
Took off rear wheels to replace shoes & hoses... They were fine as is!! Lots of life left in them. Decided to not mess with hoses on back brakes.
Replaced front rotors, hoses, pads, calipers. Well, Bob did - Ray & I watched and got in the way. Thank you Scot for the calipers - one of the old ones had a colony of spiders enjoying the accommodations. Passenger side had at least one stuck piston. Drivers side rotor pretty scored.

Thursday night 3/31/2011 update

Thursday night 3/31/2011 update:

scrubbed off rust & bathed passenger side floor & sills with rust reformer / rust converter
attached a missing crankcase breather filter
mounted brake lights, wired together and up to front of cab, tested (nice & bright)
worked on brake light switch; too sucky, will buy better switch tomorrow... (had one in my hand from an mg in the junkyard 2 weeks ago, but put it back for some dumbass reason i dont remember)
re-engineered the new metal fire extinguisher bracket i bought today - it was for 5 lbs size, needed 2.5 lbs. It is now a "meddle" fire extinguisher bracket. Oh jeeze; send more beer.
mounted said bracket to floor
mandatory "tow" sticker onto front bumper. Front Tow hook is now bright yellow; still no hook on back.
installed safety pin for petrol lid
messed around with radio wiring

Gormless Racing - MGB GT

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Photo Galleries of NJMP Race