History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[911thillclimber]

Sunday and race day.
Killer competition in the class, so came a distant last/4th

Car went well on the first run but slower than my 2nd practice which was irritating.

Second race run felt much quicker, but still just slower than my 2nd practice!

Brakes locked on again after the 2nd run at the top, but just got it down to the paddock with the rear brakes hot. As in hot.

Cracked the rear calliper nipples open and a small amount of fluid came out under residual pressure. Brakes were then free.

Need to tinker a bit more.

Seems like I should get 3 points out of this effort, 7 to go to win the Championship class from 2 more races.

Not at all sure this is going to happen!

(but worth a good try)

Prescott on 5/6 Sept is the next one, so would like to find a test day somewhere to trial the brakes before then.
You need brakes in a few places at the twisty Prescott.

[Alan Morgan]

Delta reckons Llandow is a very good for testing in a friendly environment

[spd(john)]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

Delta reckons Llandow is a very good for testing in a friendly environment

Could meet you there if you wanted a hand, just let me know.

John

[911thillclimber]

Hello John!

Thanks both but that is too far away from me in Wolverhampton, so was thinking Curborough or another place (Throckmorton).

Need to find out what is going on with the rear cylinder, but tempted simply to buy 2 new ones and do the front and rear.

Irritating problem, but will get it sorted soon.

[911thillclimber]

Been delving a bit deeper this afternoon as the rain has stopped me spraying in the garage...

Found a new Girling cylinder with integrated reservoir type. There is about 2mm of free clearance between the plunger piston and the dome of the push rod.
There is zero clearance on the 2 master cylinders 'under investigation'.

I removed the push rods to compare things.

The Lola rods (original to the 1978 car) have a far deeper dome than the new cylinder (about 5 years old). See pic below.
I put the newer rod into the Lola cylinders and there is 2mm of clearance.

Using my trusty Drummond A lathe I turned the Lola rods down and filed a similar dome so to have the same 2mm using the current cylinders.

I've also checked the end of the bore of the cylinders and they are clean and with red grease, so re-packed the ends with red grease along with a good smear on the dome face.

Thus now the rods of both cylinders have 2mm axial clearance in their own right + the freedom of the pedal itself.

This must work now!

Check the rear pads to see they are free in the callipers and have a good rattle fit, about 1mm clearance.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Hello John!

Thanks both but that is too far away from me in Wolverhampton, so was thinking Curborough or another place (Throckmorton).

I wonder if somewhere like RAF Cosford or Halfpenny Green may allow you a run up and down one of their runways or perimeter track. Or maybe Bruntingthorpe?

[911thillclimber]

Half Penny Green is a good stones throw away from me, never thought of them.

could be very quiet mid week too so maybe a chance.
Only need 30 mins, but 60 would be nicer!

I will enquire.

Curb is easy but a drag to get to and get the keys etc off Dave.

Thanks!

[911thillclimber]

Found a test day at Curborough just before Prescott, so hope to do that.

Decided to fit new cylinders and correct pushrods to tidy this lot up, so a trip to PB Braking in Monmouth and a short morning of fitting and a total bleed through the pedal feels good and solid with no loss of the initial free-play during repeated pumping of the pedal.

I think we are ready to go for Prescott 5/6 Sept.

Last but one race and it is all over for another year!

[911thillclimber]

Saturday, and at Prescott for practice.
No time to get a test session, so testing the brakes 'in competition', ideal...

First run on a wet slippy track was a sunday cruise for all.
Second run was dry as a bone and got to 1.1 secs of my pb inc 3 fluffed gear changes (operator error for sure).

Brakes great, smooth and with feel and no lock-ups. Money well spent.

Nearly sold/swapped the car again to another driver, but no permission from the Boss, surprised me.

Class down to 4 so might find 1 point from this effort before the last hill at Loton on 26/27 Sept and it is all over for 2015.

Hope tomorrow is dry.

[spd(john)]

It`s been fantastic reading/watching the story unfold over the years as you have tried to master this Lady, but to let the chance slip by too sell her would be IMO be a mistake, the chance to bring the Grand Old Lady (Porsche) back out and enjoy your retirement.

Hope all goes well today.

[911thillclimber]

As you well know John, there have been times when 'The Lady' was on the transfer list...but not quite yet!
Sunday, cold start, and a practice on a cold track was actually quite good clocking a 50.06. Few were fast.

First timed run and the car went like a rocket.
It was just great, the brakes were perfect and the gear changes the same; just for once little operator error crept into the run and a nice 47.5 sec, just 0.3 sec of my PB.

Oh so nice, smooth, planted and under control! I was faster in every section with a start of 2.16 for the 64foot dash right on par with the Shelsley meeting last time, starting to get consistent!
Just for once I really felt I and this car (lLady?) could go a lot faster.

After a long delay at the track as someone broke the power cable to the hill climb, the second run was a bit protrated, and I so wanted to get into the '46's' and promptly missed a gear change from 2nd to 3rd in my rush to find the speed...

Netted a 47.98. I lost at least a second finding 3rd, would it have been a 46?

Of course it would have! (maybe)

Lovely weekend at the hill climb, it hardly gets any better than this.

Lots of compliments about the car and it's combination esp from a nutter from Australia who is the biggest petrol head I think I've met, and a charming American couple from Florida who happened on the event locally.

They were hardened motorsport people too and off to Goodwood next week dressed as USA Navy officers.

It's been nice here today, hillclimbing at its very best.

One more to go, my favourite hill at Loton Park.

[911thillclimber]

Sent by a friend who looks at Facebook-thingy..

Just off the start line at full throttle in 1st, surprising amount of squat.

[911thillclimber]

We are in for the last Champ round at Loton Park, the last race for us.

This will be next weekend and I hope to bag a pb as I was very close last time. We shall see.

Then thoughts have to be firmed-up for work over the winter, but I can think more imaginatively than injection/ecu/ignition with carbs.

As it is running so well now I'm loath to change much.

Sold the old red body to a chap restoring a real Lola T 492 to race in the sports 2000 series, must have been too cheap as he was delighted.

I had forgotten how battered it was, but this makes for lots of room in the garage with an empty shed.
Hope to sell the Lambretta soon; bit of a clear-out.

[MGDavid]

one for you Graham:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=412&v=-mX4OwAR9ec
:-)

[911thillclimber]

Ha ha!
Oh so familiar through the years, I've done that 5 times since 1993 (not the same engine...)

Fussy engines, lots of bits everywhere, gasket set is 75% O rings and costs £350.
Porsche tax applies to every washer, every part.
He uses the wrong feeler gauge for setting the rockers!

[911thillclimber]

And so to the last hill of the year and the last of the midland's Championship runs.

Saturday is practice day, hoping for 3 runs.

First run was early, about 9.00am and the temp was 5 deg C!
Bloody cold in the car, so a slow climb to see if all is well, 61 secs run, much like several in and around my class (of 2 runners).

Second run was just before 12.30 so a lot warmer, time to stretch it's legs resulting in a nice clean 57.7 sec run, just 3/10's of a second off my PB!
Peaked -in-practice comes to mind..

Car was simply great, all working, crisp controls and no operator errors, what's going on?

My class mate was 3 seconds ahead of me, no chance of fixing that.

Third runs came around at 3.30pm so went for another full run only to have the nipple on the soldered end of the throttle cable come off, accelerator to the floor, carbs on tick-over, 1/3 of the way up.

Returned to the paddock on tick-over and fixed the cable so we can run tomorrow. My class mate lost all his gears on the start line, so we finished the day a bit 'iffy' but tomorrow is another day.

We should be off at about 10.30/11.00 for the first run so I hope we will be warm.

Feeling good, and a new pb just might be achieved? We shall see.

Certain to come second in class (or another way to read that is last in class) so will finish 2nd in Champ class, 5 points behind the winner who crashed-out 1/2 way through the season!

Have no idea what to do to the car over the winter except tidy the scruffy thing up a bit.

Two people told me it looked too good to race today.
Maybe I should take it to a few car shows instead!

[911thillclimber]

Sunday dawned bloody cold, and I was disappointed at a 59 sec climb, sure felt faster...

However, the second run late in the afternoon felt great.
The car pulled really hard and there were very few operator errors for once and this gave me a PB of 57.00 dead, oh, if only it was a 56.99!!

Car was superb and what a great way to end the 2015 season, 2nd in Championship class and a PB at every event venue we did this year.

Chuffed!

[spd(john)]

Can`t ask for much more than that, well done Graham.

[morninggents]

Well done. You certainly seem to enjoy it.

What's the verdict on running narrower wheels/tyres?

[911thillclimber]

Thanks John, it is better than I expected way back in March!

Morninggents:

My previous best was on the wider wheels and fresher slicks, so here I am 3 years older and faster (there's a first).

The car drives to me much the same but it is easier to drive, the steering weight in particular is much lighter.
The car will accelerate off the line faster in 'narrow' form (rears are 4"/tyre narrower) and changes direction much more accurately.

The steering lock improvement is a god-send with the narrow fronts and it is much easier to winch onto a trailer!

The only down-side I see is that I love the wide wheel look. I am very tempted to make over Xmas some fibre-glass arch extensions for each corner to cover the wide rims correctly so to avoid the alum spats of old, but the wife is against it and so many people are complimentary about the car in its narrow/blue/stripes I'm not 100% either.

The one noticeable thing is the braking. I still have never locked the fronts up in a race, only in a red-flag emergency stop with the narrow tyres.

I think next year will see the car essentially the same and I hope I can drive it 'deeper' into the track so to speak.

The other big 'maybe' is to switch to radial slicks from the current X plies and/or to go to the absolute soft compound on the fronts.

I'll need to discuss this with Sean at McClurg motorsport first as this car was not designed for radials. I can get the increase in camber required, but have to think "don't fix it if it isn't broken".

And they cost a LOT more too!

There is another season in the slicks I have now (my wife has found this out...)

[911thillclimber]

Spent a little time looking at the throttle cable and why it pulled out of the soldered nipple.

After some mods to route the cable better I found I have only been getting 3/4 throttle opening all year...
Various reasons for this but I have now re-aligned the cable route at the carb end and have full 90 deg opening and the pedal stopping on a new stop bar at that position.

New cable on the way soon to finish it off.

A few cosmetic jobs to do all over the car, but I will essentially leave it all alone for 2016 as I cannot think of anything I can change that will move me forward mechanically.

Time for the driver 're-map', teaching an old dog a new trick could be demanding.

[MGDavid]

very good news - so you weren't the reason it was slow all year after all ;-)
2016 = PBs :-)

[911thillclimber]

Well, I think I was of course, and mother nature adding the years, an relaxing too much now I've retired, and any other excuse I can muster...

Cable routing now much much better, action smooth all the way to about 89 deg opening.

Pedal bottoms on the bulk-head stop just before the carbs reach their stops.

So, apart from some cleaning the Lola is ready for 2016!!

[911thillclimber]

In my fine tradition of tinkering with something not broken I felt I could improve on the effort to change gear.

Following Graham's (917) lead I have tried to re-route the final shift rod from chassis to box mechanism from its current 45 deg angle to near straight. Must be more efficient for the 6 gearchanges I make on a long hill...

The silencer is right in the way.
I thought I could just get past it looking crudely by eye, but I have to accept defeat.

Sooner the new winter project arrives the better!

[911thillclimber]

Put it all back to how it was this year, but found 2 places where too much clearance was exaggerating slack movement, now shimmed to suit and noticeably better precision to the H pattern/shape.

Stood and stared at the car and cannot think of anything to do to it for next year except a good good clean and just maybe some fresh cut slicks.

also notice the thread has breached the 1/3 million hit mark, unbelievable.