Ownership Log – ERA#2124

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Thank you Sheldon.

Chas, I'm not sure anyone else gets "it."

[ERA Chas]

Who cares? Allen does.
And I know Sheldon does.
Of course the real Sheldon (who is fake) would be offended however. I hope he doesn't buy a Cobra (real, with $200K per episode) and log on here and see whom we hung his moniker on...

[patrickt]

Well, I agree Allen's car is nicer without the stripe. I guess that yellow sits between the green and the clear coat, huh? Removing it will not be a weekend job.

[tkb289]

As noted ... the way 2124 sits right now is hard to beat, so leave it well enough alone??

That being said, there is a lot of fun to be had by tweaking things a bit too. So, if you were to change things up paint wise, here some thoughts:

- I like the nose stripe as it's very distinctive, but the yellow seems a bit much and does not quite fit with the overall look of the car. Keep the green but repaint the nose stripe white or silver (a nice combo on a BRG TR250 for example).

- The traditional blue with white stripes and *white wheels is a great look. It has a very Daytona Coupe feel to it, and with the hard top would be a striking combination.

- Keep it green but remove the nose stripe.

---------------

For the dash, the FIA instrument layout has a very 'racy' look to it, and painted or powder coated flat or matte black makes for a purposeful and great looking setup. And since you have the FIA body, it's a natural combination.

---------------


*white wheels - no white wheels on this green car please ...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Keep the green but repaint the nose stripe white or silver (a nice combo on a BRG TR250 for example).

That's not a bad idea -- and it might be easier to change the color of a stripe than to remove it entirely.

[dcdoug]

I like the white stripe better than yellow (actually by a lot), but I'd ditch the stripe all together. I like that vintage, bad-ass stealth look of one solid color. Especially with those black wheels that work so well on your car.

[*13*]

Leave the color! It looks great, it's classic & it's unique. Now you're messin' with things that don't need messin' with. I agree, buy the new ERA slab & put a mild motor, rag top & heater in it for the wife.

[xb-60]

For me, I think there are better colours for a 289 roadster or FIA, but on your car with the hardtop and the black wheels, it looks very period correct. I'm not sure I'd change it if it were mine, and I'm a "blue" guy!
I do like the white strip though; it matches the Cibie covers and the roundels.
I watch with interest!
Cheers,
Glen

[Fullchat289]

Guys:

Really appreciate all the discussion and banter on the color/stripe...really cool to see the alternative photochops. Just for giggles, it's been a while since I've taken any photos of the car with the top removed, and it's supposed to be used in a wedding this coming weekend. The groom is too "large" to fit in the car with the top on, so off it came. I say "supposed to be used" b/c over this past weekend, I also burnt up the stub axle I replaced over the Winter...turns out stub axle bearings don't get "splash" from the main diff casing and you are supposed to "pre-oil" the bearings in the housing before installing the assembly to the differential...well, guess who didn't realize that, fried the bearings, and had to get towed home yesterday - that would be me... So now I'm frantically attempting to reach Coventry West to get a replacement fast-tracked to me so I can replace it before the weekend (their phones were down today???). I'll have more on that tomorrow with a few pics of the fried stub axle housing. For now, here are the topless glam-shots taken earlier in the weekend:



















- Allen.

[ERA Chas]

You need ear plugs wit dat itty-bitty motor?...

[dcdoug]

Is that steering wheel on there for autocross?

[ERA2076]

IMHO - leave the paint and wheels exactly as they are. The picture without the stripe would be fantastic on another car - not yours. You have a classic.

The steering wheel not so much. If functional for sport o.k., but not for show.



chr

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Fullchat289

- Allen.

Allen - what's that thing on the roll bar strut? Looks like a valve?
Bad luck about the stub axle.
Cheers,
Glen

[tkb289]

Allen,

Very nice photos ... beautiful car !!!

Photo tip ... next time turn off the date stamp ...

Keep up the good work !

- Tim

[tkb289]

Glen,

That 'valve' on the roll bar down tube, looks like a camera mount to me.

Nice work Allen!

[dcdoug]

After seeing these pics, which are awesome, I'd change to a white stripe that matches the meatballs.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Glen,

That 'valve' on the roll bar down tube, looks like a camera mount to me.

Nice work Allen!

Ha ha, thanks Tim! Sometimes I maybe overthink a little!
Cheers,
Glen

[Fullchat289]

Doug: Yes, I modified the triumph steering column to add a Sweet Mfg quick release and a Sparco wheel for auto-x.

Glen: Tim's right...that contraption is a homemade camara mount made out of a piece of PVC pipe/cap, some clamps, and a bit of metal.

Thanks for the compliment on the topless pics.

OK, so on to this stub axle issue. I've had some success in contacting Coventry West this morning and they had a re-built unit sitting on the shelf, so I should have it at my door on Thursday in time to (pre-oil the bearings) and install it prior to the wedding on Saturday. I took the afternoon off y-day and went the more efficient route of removing the stub axle with the rear end assembly in the car. A few pages back on this thread, you'll see I removed the entire rear end assembly when I did the repair this past Winter...this time, I just accessed everything from the wheel-well and it took me a matter of minutes to extract the stub axle assembly once I had the car on stands....Strange what you think about lying in bed in the morning, waiting for the alarm to go off...lol

So here are a few pics...

The california car cover did a nice job of shedding the water while the car sat outside waiting for me to organize a tow on Sunday:



With the car up on stands, just remove the upper radius rod, unbolt the axle flange from the stub axle, rotate the upright/rotor outward, and unbolt the stub axle housing from the diff casting - easy-peasy..



A close-up view of the side of the differential showing the remains of the crusty o-ring inside...it wiped out cleanly with a rag.



Here's the heat-affected housing and crusty remains of the o-ring. This thing was smoking pretty good and grabbing a bit by the time I conceded to the fact that something was awry. Thankfully Coventry West has a replacement on the shelf...



...so aside from this drama, the battery went flat, and I also discovered that the negative post on my 5-yr old Optima yellow top was completely corroded...for some reason, this post was loose in the top of the battery..which was likely the reason for the corrosion development and reason for the charging issue I was about to begin troubleshooting. Hopefully a new battery will solve things on this front.

- Allen.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Fullchat289

With the car up on stands, just remove the upper radius rod, unbolt the axle flange from the stub axle, rotate the upright/rotor outward, and unbolt the stub axle housing from the diff casting - easy-peasy..

Dang, that is easy. What DCDoug wouldn't give for that shortcut "rotate and drop" method. His CSX stub axle fix has been much more difficult.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

That's not a bad idea -- and it might be easier to change the color of a stripe than to remove it entirely.

Now, I'm kinda thinking about how it would look with a white stripe and a white hardtop.