Progress of ERA 2139

[jeffy]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Hey Wolf! How hard are you and Jeff driving your cars, buddy? I'm reading a Motor road test from July 1963, and I quote "One carburettor choke per cylinder consumed fuel at Le Mans at around 8mpg".
That's either full throttle or max braking all the time.
You guys are having some serious fun there!!
Cheers,
Glen

Went up to Inglese yesterday and Jim reduced my idle jets by two sizes. Boosted my mileage 25% to 10mpg!!

[*13*]

So what size jets you running now?

[jeffy]

Originally Posted by *13*

So what size jets you running now?

No idea. Inglese keeps all that stuff secret.

[*13*]

It'll take you two minutes. Pull the screen from the top of the carb. Pull one each of the jets & write Down the stampings. Just need a flat screwdriver

[wolf k]

Round two, getting pretty good at this engine installing. Without bell-housing, it is a straight drop.

Changed out the cam with a comp cam XE258, yea I know it is pretty mild. I am trying to beat Jeff's 10mpg.

Tim, the fittings are soldered.

[jeffy]

Originally Posted by wolf k

Changed out the cam with a comp cam XE258, yea I know it is pretty mild. I am trying to beat Jeff's 10mpg.

Checked the mileage again today and it is now actually 11mpg! Who needs a hybrid???

[wolf k]

All my little problems have been corrected. New speedo gear corrected inaccurate reading. A new voltage regulator corrected charging problem (had a bad one out of the box from auto parts chain store). Filling the gas tank completely cured my presumed fuel gauge problem (have to fill well past the point where the fuel handle automatically clicks off).
New camshaft helped in numerous ways. Fuel consumption way down, looks like it is close to 20mpg. Tuning the weber carbs became easier. Exhaust noise is down.
Rerouted heater plumbing did not help the fuel boil problem, but made a cleaner look.
Fabricated a stronger bell-crank stand, which helped in weber tuning.

[Fullchat289]

Well done, Wolf. Congrats on a beautiful car and for getting all the little niggles corrected. Now for some serious seat time!!

- Allen.

[tkb289]

Wolf,

That is a very clean set up ... those webers are impressive. Do you run with the stacks open or is there some kind of filter that is used?

[B.M.B.C]

Wolf
Those seats look really nice, where did you source them from? They dont look like normal ERA seats.

cheers

[wolf k]

They are ERA's standard seat for the FIA. Went for them to get me as low as possible. They are fiberglass bucket, foam cushion.

[wolf k]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Wolf,

That is a very clean set up ... those webers are impressive. Do you run with the stacks open or is there some kind of filter that is used?

No filters yet, just a screen in the hood scoop to keep out the big chunks

[xb-60]

Wolf - I agree with B.M.B.C's comments about the seats. They look really good. I didn't pick them as being the standard FIA seats, probably because of the colour (which looks good, I should add!)
The bare alloy sheet for the top of the trans. tunnel with the carpeted sides looks excellent as well.
Cheers,
Glen

[xb-60]

Wolf - can you give an evaluation of the seats?
Are they comfortable enough? Do you sit low enough, and do you have a figure for how much lower they are than the 'standard ERA roadcar' (ie 427)seats? Are they wide enough? And can you get out of them easily enough?
Cheers,
Glen

[strictlypersonl]

Sitting in an FIA that we have in the shop, it looks like the race seat places me about 3/4" lower than the street seat, measured at the height of my line-of-sight. I only weigh about 160 lbs, so someone heavier might be a little lower in the street seat but, because of the lack of paddling, no change in the Comp seat.

Considering the lack of padding in the Comp seat, your comfort is pretty dependent on your butt's shape and its own natural padding.

[xb-60]

Thanks Bob!
Cheers,
Glen

[Jim Holden]

Part of the "fit" is to determine where your height is located, ie; in your legs or in your upper body. In my case, I have the upper body length of someone who could be 6' 3" and the legs of, say, Peter P.... Thus, in my GT the pedals are set relatively close to the seat just so I can reach them and my head touches the roof. I would like to sit lower and closer.

Jim

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Jim Holden

I would like to sit lower and closer.

Jim

Perhaps a lumbar discectomy to remove some of those pesky discs in your back and thus shorten you down a bit?

[wolf k]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Wolf - can you give an evaluation of the seats?
Are they comfortable enough? Do you sit low enough, and do you have a figure for how much lower they are than the 'standard ERA roadcar' (ie 427)seats? Are they wide enough? And can you get out of them easily enough?
Cheers,
Glen

Glen, I am 6'2" 34" waist and the seats are snug, but just right, have to drop in from the top and exit from the top by stepping on the seat, no sliding in. A removable steering wheel would make a big difference in ease of entry/exit. Seats are comfortable, could use a little more back cushion if anything. So far have driven an hour straight, no problem. Ideally, I would like to sit even lower, my eyeballs are at the upper third of the windscreen. However, I do have it raked back further than stock. I tried sitting without the seat cushion in place, driving position was perfect, but comfort was unbearable. Need to remove those pesky disks that patrickt mentioned.

[xb-60]

Thanks for the seat comments gentlemen (well....most of them anyway)
Patrick - I assume you've had the lumbar discectomy yourself? That's why you describe yourself as "Half-Ass member"?
Back to ERA 2139...I wish you many happy hours in that snug seat Wolf. That's a really nice car you've built for yourself there. Congratulations!
Cheers,
Glen