I was surprised how much air I bled out after the brakes cooled to some degree. I HAD bled them well before. I theorize that moisture in the brake fluid, having turned to steam, is how the "air" got in the brakes? Or, what does happen when you start with no air and then end up with air after track time?
Yup, I'll be moving to high temp fluid as well, but those rear brakes were SO hot I suspect any fluid would have reached boiling point. The rear end area traps a lot of heat already from the engine, trans, rear end and without ventilation it has nowhere to go.
I will be leaving out the ERA rear access panel between the seats at the end of the trans tunnel cover. I'll cover that opening with some kind of wire mesh, fastened in such a way as to make it quick to remove for servicing. I could add some duct work as well but I think just having the opening alone will be sufficient.
Man I was really punishing that side oiler, I thought, well if she blows, she blows, it's time to find out how good it really is. I was running 2nd gear for several corners in a row that I would normally take in third. In 2nd the rpm was staying close to the max range, 5,500-6,300. I DID blow some
oil out the valve cover vent while doing that, which created a bit of smoke from the headers. I was running about a half quart
oil over the full mark so that might have been the primary reason.
Original Le Mans rods, by the way, stock internals like you would have had in the 60's. So much for the theory old parts are no good, as well as the theory side oilers blow up. I'm sure you CAN blow one up, but from my experience to date, your gonna have to really punish it. With my old solid roller cam I've run that engine up to 7,000 rpm before, same internals as I have now. The motor has about 10,000 miles on it from the last refresh, maybe I'll tear it down this winter and do it again. It will be interesting to see what it looks like inside.