Argh, were fuel lines inside the frame rail a NASCAR regulation? Since they do nearly full teardowns after every race they probably didn't worry about corroded fuel lines 10 years later. Almost think they wouldn't want that due to vibration.
Argh, were fuel lines inside the frame rail a NASCAR regulation? Since they do nearly full teardowns after every race they probably didn't worry about corroded fuel lines 10 years later. Almost think they wouldn't want that due to vibration.
Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a blessed and joyous day.
A quick update: I took the fuel pump apart again and noticed a couple of pinholes in the old metal valve bodies I reused (I'm not sure if that's the proper term here). I didn't see these when I put them in last time, but I suspect that they might be from when I punched them out when I first disassembled it, since they were stuck in there pretty good. Regardless, the new ones that came with the rebuild kit don't have any holes, so I put them in. Everything seems to seal correctly, so I'm hoping I've solved at least part of my problem. I'll put it back in the car and check a few other things before I try to start it up again.
Alright, I finally got a day to work on the car again. I tried to start it again with the re-rebuilt pump but I had the same results. I was able to draw fuel from the tank to the fuel pump with a hand pump afterwards, so there doesn't seem to be a substantial leak in that section. Once I tested that I knew there was fuel in the line, so I tried to start it again. A few cylinders fired off but not enough to stay running, and eventually it wouldn't catch anymore. So that once again points to the pump. Is there some trick to running a mechanical fuel pump for the first time that I just don't know?
I think you should consider investing in an electric pump - you know the engine will run if it gets fuel, so clearly it's either flooding or not getting enough - can you see a level in the glass windows on the carb?
Not quite the update I was hoping to make, at least for now, but I bought a new mechanical fuel pump and fittings, mostly for simplicity's sake. Perhaps in the future I'll transition to an electric pump, but for now there are bigger fish to fry.
I got the pump installed last night, went to start the car, and noticed the master power switch was on. Crap. I looked at the battery tender: it was unplugged. Double crap. I flicked on the fan switch - nothing. The battery was absolutely flat. Normally I'm pretty conscientious about keeping the cars on their tenders, but it must have slipped my mind when I last tried to start the car a couple weeks ago. Oh well. Nothing left to do but to plug it back in and hope the AGM battery wasn't ruined by being drained so thoroughly. I won't have time to do anything tonight, hopefully it fires right up on Wednesday.
Oops.....it's always sumthin, huh?
AMiataCalledSteve said:Is there some trick to running a mechanical fuel pump for the first time that I just don't know?
Nope. No trick. It should pick up and pump right away. Especially after priming the system with the hand pump.
We have fuel pressure! The new pump seems to be doing its job. However, none of that gas is making it to the actual jets, so the carburetor is off and sitting in a bucket of gas for the day. Judging by how green the gas in the bucket turned, I think that was the right decision. Hopefully the blockages were minor and the car starts tonight with no trouble.
IT RUNS!!!!!!!!
I'm absolutely thrilled. It starts pretty easily, idles pretty well, and as you can see, it moves under its own power! It's honestly kind of weird to see it moving in the videos - this thing has spent so long being an oversize paperweight in my garage, to see it driving almost doesn't feel real.
Woohoo!
So cool!!
Needs more cam
JK of course, it sounds great. Congrats!
Yahoo!!!!!
Well done, Reece!
Fantastic!
Now all your neighbors know you have an old NASCAR!
So cool!
this thing has spent so long being an oversize paperweight in my garage, to see it driving almost doesn't feel real.
I lol'd at this part. "so long"? Didn't you get it in January? I think most of us here would agree that you can't complain something has been sitting for "so long" until you start measuring in years or even tens of years.
Congrats on getting it running. Sounds like it's in need of a good Italian tune up. Take it somewhere you can wring the piss out of it and see what breaks next.
Next up - tires!
Thank you all! I really appreciate the help this forum has given me so far, and believe me, I'll be leaning on your collective knowledge for a good while longer. It's time to draw up a new to-do list!
Things I can think of off the top of my head:
-New tires
-Figure out where to mount dry sump tank and begin recreating dry sump system
-Mount seats properly, replace missing hardware, install harnesses
-Change all fluids
-Clean some more: Every time I remove something I find more bits of leaves and acorns
-Fix exhaust
-Refill fire suppression system
-???
-Profit
I would search for tires, what we call take off's or slightly used tires. I have been racing SCCA for a while, never used a new tire. If you can source some without shipping that is ideal, but even with some shipping cost it will still be far cheaper than new tires.
possibly a cool wrap in the future?
What's wrong with the exhaust? It sounds great!
10000% doing a cool wrap in the future, I'm open to suggestions ;)
The exhaust has a pretty major gap between the headers and the boom tubes on one side, probably from sitting on the exhaust when it lived in the parking lot. It should be an easy fix I think. It sounds too good to change anything else, you're right lol
I wonder how this will do as an autocross car?
1. It's big and wide and somewhat heavy
2. Hard to steer? Or does it have power steering that isn't working yet? Looked like a good workout in your vid above.
2a. Turning circle? will it go around a cone or will you have to kick out the back end?
2b. Locking diff? Don't make good autocross rear ends, do they? Easy to break in tight turns has been my experience.
3. Cammy......does it have anything down low or does it come on with a bang? won't know till you can actually get it moving in a parking lot or something....
4. Safety. I know you have the helmet and belts, make sure the fire system is working and you can bail out in a hurry jic.
Of these only #4 really matters if you're on a road course or Nascar roval.
I agree with the idea of finding some castoff tires. Even if they're heat cycled hard as rocks, it will still allow you to get in and drive. I used to beg for end of season cast offs for my Lotus Super Seven, they made great autocross tires!
Lastly, I would invest some serious time in finding out who built it and where, and then see if you can get any info on how it was built originally (ie: the dry sump oil system) and documentation, photos, stories, recollections etc.
I haven't done much with the car in the last two weeks, Life has been very busy on other fronts. I did start it up again and it seemed to be running pretty rough this time, skipping and backfiring out the exhaust (not technically backfiring I suppose but you know what I mean). So it looks like some tuning up is in order. I might pop the cap off the distributor and check the contacts to make sure they're not corroded.
I've been thinking about dry sump systems again. The biggest Issue at the moment is where to place the tank. On many stock cars it's located in a box behind the driver in front of the rear wheels. My car does not have provisions for this. I would like to put it in the engine bay, but what feels like monstrous amounts of under hood space quickly becomes impossibly tight when we're talking about a ~5 gallon oil tank. Most of the ex-NASCAR tanks I see for sale in good used condition are about 9" across. As far as I can tell, the only place that fits under the hood is in front of the passenger tire.
I'm not a huge fan of the idea of putting the life-blood of the engine in such a vulnerable place, but then again the oil cooler is in that spot on the driver's side. What do y'all think? Also, how do you know what size oil tank an engine needs?
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