Ownership Log – ERA#2124

[wolf k]

Allen, looking good. What size hoosiers do you have in front? Any rubbing? Can you give me your opinion on how the car feels with your different tire combinations. Goodrich, Mickey Thompsons, and Hoosiers. That is, if you had a chance to drive it yet.

[FredBMOC]

I like the black wheels on your car; looks mean!
What Autox class will you be running the FIA in?

[Fullchat289]

Originally Posted by wolf k

Allen, looking good. What size hoosiers do you have in front? Any rubbing? Can you give me your opinion on how the car feels with your different tire combinations. Goodrich, Mickey Thompsons, and Hoosiers. That is, if you had a chance to drive it yet.

Wolf:

I'm running 275/315 front/rear. From the looks of it, I don't anticipate any rubbing. 275 is the widest front recommended by ERA and the backspacing was machined to accomodate the 275 tire on the front wheels, so if there is any rubbing, it will likely be due to suspension compression in cornering as I'm running the stock eibach springs as supplied by ERA, at least for the short term.

I will have to report back on how the mickey thompson s/t feels with the new 245/275 sizing I'll be running on the street. I haven't ordered them yet!

Originally Posted by FredBMOC

I like the black wheels on your car; looks mean!
What Autox class will you be running the FIA in?

Fred:

Thanks for the compliments. I'm seriously contemplating the black powdercoat on my natural cast Trigo FIA style wheels for the street... As far as auto-x class is concerned, when running SCCA classed events, I think I will need to register in XP. As far as my local events are concerned, we just run an indexed time schedule to level the playing field based on weight, whp, and tires. Based on a 40 second course and my car specifics, I would need to give up to 3 seconds to a car with no index penalties (1.07 vs 1.00 index). If I see myself in the top 10 of raw times most of this season, I'll be well chuffed.

- Allen.

[Fullchat289]

I’ve been working on lots of stuff lately in an effort to get the car back on the road by the end of next week. (First auto-x is on the 19th) So here’s a status of current “to-do’s” that I’ll be posting progress on in the coming week or so:

Split trunklid – Bruce C. is finished making the parts for me and I’m heading out to Pittsburgh tomorrow to pick them up along with the reference trunk lid I gave him to use to make the parts. I plan on fitting the new pieces over the weekend, or as time allows. To support the hinged portion of the lower section, I picked up a set of these from Europa Spares in GB:



Wheels – My 15” set of Trigo FIA’s have been taken for powder coat (satin black) early this week and should be finished by tomorrow.

Tires – Ordered a set of Mickey Thompson S/T radials (245/60, 275/60) from Performance Plus Tire. They offer free shipping on these. Should be able to get them mounted on the freshly powder coated wheels by mid next week.

Fuel Filler – this was a fun project to think about and mock up. When first fitting the Lemans Hard Top, I created a temporary fuel filling solution through utilizing the ERA Fuel tank riser on the FIA along with a piece of mild steel bent tubing to connect the roof mounted fuel cap to the ERA tank Here’s a pic:



This was functional, but I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it from an aesthetic standpoint and felt it could be made a bit more robust. My new solution utilizes one of the as-cast and forlorn roller cap components sold for $5 during the recent Kirkham scratch-n-dent sale, a piece of aluminum pipe, and some clear fuel filler hose purchased from a shop I found online. I’ll have some photo documentation of this in the coming week.

Side Curtains. – Over the past week, I’ve decided on a design direction to go with on side curtains. I’m presently in the process of collecting materials and fabricating these. I’ll be documenting the construction and create a separate thread with a link in this log.

- Allen.

[tkb289]

Allen,

Nice plumbing !

- Tim

[Fullchat289]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Allen,

Nice plumbing !

- Tim

Tim:

That's the old stuff..wait till you see the new.

BTW, can you please send me a "new member" application for the "black wheel club"? Maybe Jeffy is the chairman...apologies if this is the case..

- Allen.

[tkb289]

Originally Posted by Fullchat289

Tim:

That's the old stuff..wait till you see the new.

BTW, can you please send me a "new member" application for the "black wheel club"? Maybe Jeffy is the chairman...apologies if this is the case..

- Allen.

Allen,

I would say Jeffy (2131) is one of the chairmen of the Black Wheel Club, another would be Hyde (2088) and others too, no doubt ... you gotta talk to those guys

I would likely be considered a junior member , as I went only for the black web with the polished wheel lip, since I have more of a street car than a race car ... that being said ... a full back wheel on an FIA ... nice

[Fullchat289]

As I mentioned in my previous posting, I took the task of making my fuel filler arrangement more robust and “finished” looking. When I first installed the Lemans top, I was under a two week time constraint before leaving for the Tail of the Dragon trip, so the bent-pipe solution I originally came up with was intended to be temporary. I took inspiration from photos I’ve seen from cars running the Master’s series in Europe while utilizing the existing fuel riser and threaded roller cap base from the ERA fuel tank. Going this route would allow me to easily return to the stock configuration when running the car without the hardtop. Here’s an example of some of that inspiration:



So here’s what the bits and pieces look like. On the left is the ERA fuel tank riser that includes a small neck that a standard fuel cap connects to. In the upper right is the newly fabricated piece that consists of the threaded Lemans cap base purchased from the Kirkham sale, an aluminum plate, and a 2.25” OD aluminum tube. Also shown is a piece of black fuel filler hose from a ’68 mustang that happens to be 2.25” ID, and a rubber seal that is sandwiched between the bottom of the pipe and the top of the small neck in the fuel tank riser:



This next photo shows the top of the ERA tank and the ERA fuel tank riser prior to installation:



This next photo shows the ERA fuel tank riser installed with the 2.25” ID rubber hose and seal in place. The bottom of the fabricated piece that threads onto the fuel tank riser can be seen here as well:



Here is a picture of the final installation ready for the fuel hose:



- Allen.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Allen,

I would say Jeffy (2131) is one of the chairmen of the Black Wheel Club, another would be Hyde (2088) and others too, no doubt ... you gotta talk to those guys

I would likely be considered a junior member , as I went only for the black web with the polished wheel lip, since I have more of a street car than a race car ... that being said ... a full back wheel on an FIA ... nice

Guys - can I get a pin as an 'associate' member of the Black Wheel Club? No car yet, but love the black wheels!
Cheers,
Glen

[tkb289]

Allen,

Very nice work with the aluminum fittings. Did you do the fabrication and welding?

Is the rubber hose over the aluminum pipe just a slip fit? Don't see how a clamp could fit once the filler extension is fitted to the car. I would imagine that the fuel tank would not be filled up so much as to have fuel in the filler neck all the way to the roof of the car, correct?

[tboneheller]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Guys - can I get a pin as an 'associate' member of the Black Wheel Club? No car yet, but love the black wheels!
Cheers,
Glen

Can I join, too? I have not washed my wheels in years.

[Fullchat289]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Allen,

Very nice work with the aluminum fittings. Did you do the fabrication and welding?

Is the rubber hose over the aluminum pipe just a slip fit? Don't see how a clamp could fit once the filler extension is fitted to the car. I would imagine that the fuel tank would not be filled up so much as to have fuel in the filler neck all the way to the roof of the car, correct?

Hi, Tim. Thanks for the compliments. I don't have the equipment to weld aluminum...Larry Casey of Casey Design lives a reasonable distance from me, so I supply him with the materials and cardboard mock-ups of my "vision" and he does the rest.

Yes. Inside the riser, the aluminum pipe is a slip fit into the rubber hose. The rubber gasket that is sandwiched between the bottom of the pipe and the small filler tube inside the riser acts as the seal. The aluminum pipe length is sized such that the seal and rubber o-ring under the threaded lemans cap compress at the same rate, providing a full seal on the fuel fill cap assembly. So once the fuel hose is fitted to connect the filler assembly to the roof cap, there should be no vapor entering the cabin area. It's definitely not roll-over proof, however. For filling the tank, I keep the key in the accessory position and watch the fuel gauge move toward "F" while fueling. The fueling process needs to happen at a slower rate as I don't have a vapor return line. Air escaping the tank needs to come up the fuel filler pipe as the fuel is traveling down, so due care is key.

I picked up my split trunklid and freshly powdercoated wheels over the weekend, and the MT tires are arriving FedEx today, so there will be a flood of updates happening this week...

Stay tuned!

- Allen.

[Fullchat289]

Here are some “pre-mounting” pics of the Mickey Thompson S/T tires in 245/60 and 275/60 – 15. When I came home to these last evening and saw them for the first time, two impressions hit me. The first was how narrow the MT 275 looks relative to the BFG I did a trial fitting of a few weeks back (see post # 15). The second was the difference in overall diameter of the two tire sizes. The chart on Performance Tire Plus’s website indicates a 1.3” overall difference (26.7” vs 28”), but it looks more than that to me… In any case, I’m glad to get those fat and narrow section’d BFG 295’s off of there and can’t wait to see it on the ground once everything is mounted up. These tires should give the “period” look I’m after. One other observation was tire wall stiffness in the un-mounted state. The BFG’s seemed very flappy where the MT’s have greater rigidity. I’m hoping to see this represented in the handling once mounted.





Next is a couple pics of the freshly powdercoated FIA wheels. A local Iron Works (Antietam Iron Works of McConnellsburg, PA) has an in-house powder coating facility and welcomes these sort of one-off jobs. They turned out great and I’m well pleased.





- Allen.

[Fullchat289]

I mentioned earlier that last Friday I was going to travel to Pittsburgh and pick up the prototype parts for the split trunk lid from Mr_Bruce. Here they are fitted to the car with the top in situ:





I’m very pleased with the form and there’s only a little adjustment required to the flange thicknesses and trim lines to get the gaps looking good. In short, another great effort by the always willing, talented, and enthusiastic Bruce Chervenak. Plan for these will be to get the fit adjustments documented and return the parts to Bruce for final finishing so the parts can be sent off to paint in late April time.

- Allen.

[jeffy]

Allen-

Wheels are looking sharp! Also, you've buffed up the spinners. Very nice!

On the trunk, are you going to have the top half (under the roof) blended into the body so it is seamless (and is visually like the originals)? That would be cool.

Jeff

[Fullchat289]

Originally Posted by jeffy

Allen-

Wheels are looking sharp! Also, you've buffed up the spinners. Very nice!

On the trunk, are you going to have the top half (under the roof) blended into the body so it is seamless (and is visually like the originals)? That would be cool.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff. Yes, I did take the spinners up to the kitchen and get out the soft scrub and got quite a bit of the skuz off.

As far as the trunk goes, I'll be following the lead of the car as shown in post #28. If my car represented an earlier competition car with the Jones flairs and slab/spat fronts, a la CSX2138 (Lemans Replica) or similar, I would attempt the upper trunk lid integration, but as this is the FIA/USRRC body style, and one of my objectives is complete and easy reversal of the modifications, I'll be going with the individual upper/lower pieces. I agree it would be a cool idea, though.

- Allen.

[strictlypersonl]

Fullchat,

Let me know how those rear tires fit on the FIA. The O.D. is beyond what we recommend, but the narrowness might get you through.

427 Owners: Don't even think about anything over 27" O.D.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Fullchat289

Thanks, Jeff. Yes, I did take the spinners up to the kitchen and get out the soft scrub and got quite a bit of the skuz off.

As far as the trunk goes, I'll be following the lead of the car as shown in post #28. If my car represented an earlier competition car with the Jones flairs and slab/spat fronts, a la CSX2138 (Lemans Replica) or similar, I would attempt the upper trunk lid integration, but as this is the FIA/USRRC body style, and one of my objectives is complete and easy reversal of the modifications, I'll be going with the individual upper/lower pieces. I agree it would be a cool idea, though.

- Allen.

Hi Allen,
Yep agreement here on the wheels. Very, very nice!
I've seen a pic of an early race car - I'll have to look up its ID - that has a short trunk lid, but different configuration to yours. It's hinged at the bottom and has the handle and a bungey (bungee?) cord at the leading edge. Not sure what use the bungey would be at 150mph though.
Yours is the more practical though as it's easily returned to original config, and authentic too.
Cheers,
Glen

[1985 CCX]

Great progress and gorgeous car!

[Fullchat289]

So last evening, the car emerged from his Winter hibernation in the basement. This past week has been very busy with late nights after work ticking over into the wee morning hours. Sleep? – who needs it! Anyway, my wonderfully supportive wife helped me ease the car out of the 6ft wide basement door and took a ride up to the driveway with me. I loved her comment as we were pushing it outside. She said [referring to the black wheels] “this thing looks mean….like it should growl at you or something…” I LOL’d a bit at that. So here it is:





So this morning after a quick 4.5hr rest, I decided to drive it to work since it’s such a nice day here in the Northeast. My drive is 45mi one way and the car felt fantastic. The Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T tires feel very responsive and “hooked up” in the bends with good lateral stability and grip. The Sparco 375 steering wheel feels great in the hand and the Sweet Manufacturing steering wheel disconnect has negligible play if any. I’m very pleased.

You can see from the rear shot above that I removed the split trunk lid prototype parts and put the FIA trunk back on. After the auto-x this weekend I’ll remove the Lemans top and work on the split trunk a bit more to finalize fit and sort out the hinging and latching.

The late nights this week have been largely due to my scratch fabrication of a set of side curtains. The profile of the side window opening is different enough that a set of soft top curtains can’t be used. I’ll document the fabrication of these in a future post and explain some of the differences, but for now, the status of the curtains are as shown. The concept I followed is as found on some GT40s and Daytona coupes and one that is reasonably simple to make with common hand tools, but more on this later.



- Allen.