Superformance MKII, Riverside Racer 289 FIA vintage race car

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Jim, a nice looking set of pipes.
Just wondering, what internal diameter are they?
Will they be coated? This is not my area of expertise ....do you know if ceramic coating does actually make a difference to the power output in race applications?

Cheers!
Glen

2.5" I.D. They are not coated, they are "mill finish" i.e. as the stainless comes from the supplier. I do not know if coating helps power, it does reduce heat radiance but stainless has less heat transfer than mild steel anyways.

Hoping to wrap up work here at Time Machines today so we can transport the car back to Jim's home shop for the minor details completion and eliminate his 3 hour round trip commute to our shop.

[1795]

Originally Posted by Mark IV

2.5" I.D. They are not coated, they are "mill finish" i.e. as the stainless comes from the supplier. I do not know if coating helps power, it does reduce heat radiance but stainless has less heat transfer than mild steel anyways.

Hoping to wrap up work here at Time Machines today so we can transport the car back to Jim's home shop for the minor details completion and eliminate his 3 hour round trip commute to our shop.

Glen,

What Rick said. I am in a hurry to get out the door to do that long drive to his shop so that I can get to work on the car and get it back home. Rick volunteered his shop for the car as he and others would be there to help while I was rehabbing my rotator cuff.

The headers and exhaust pipes are a high quality stainless steel and will not transfer heat as readily as mild steel. I can always have them coated later if I feel the need. Take care.

Jim

[xb-60]

Thanks Rick and Jim. Yes, the thermal conductivity of steel (the "k" value) is around 3 times that of stainless.

Cheers,
Glen

[Mark IV]

The Time Machines FIA Vintage car is off the lift, into our trailer (Jim's new trailer has not arrived yet...like EVERYTHING on order today!) and back at Jim's shop for the final details. Unfortunately, it will not make the Glen HSR race next weekend as the dyno tune cannot be done in time. But we expect this to be a real bear with the new engine and some other tweaks!

[1795]

Started sorting out the new build and some suspension changes at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. The weather was mixed, with a lot of rain and some races cancelled due to thunderstorms. Here is a video from one of the time trials. The first half of the video is the most interesting, after about half way through it gets a little boring, as it is just me for several minutes and then the trip back to the paddock. Also, I need to move the camera as the rear view mirror is in the way.

https://youtu.be/6JhbSBPgpZ4

Jim

[xb-60]

Good to see the video footage Jim.
You'll have to fix that low fuel pressure though!

Cheers,
Glen

[1795]

Glen,

Thanks. I was going to hook up the fuel pressure gauge, but there is no room under the hood to fit the fuel isolator, which prevents fuel from being able to enter the cockpit.

Jim

[PDUB]

Looks like you had a big grin on your face! Nice work! Glad you are up and running.

[1795]

Paul,

I sure did! The fact that I was able to race was amazing. I am 5 months post significant rotator cuff surgery. I had torn one rotator cuff tendon almost completely off the bone (it was hanging by a thread) and had torn the adjacent tendon about half off of the bone as well. They used 3 anchor points and 12 sutures to re-attach the tendons. Most people take 1-1.5 years to partially recover from rotator cuff surgery, to be able to race at this point was a miracle. My right arm did tire somewhat between the racing and carrying two 5 gallon jugs of race fuel from the tanks to my paddock space 200 yards away.

Looking forward to the US Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen this coming September. The shoulder should be stronger by then. Take care.

Jim

[PDUB]

Originally Posted by 1795

Paul, I had torn one rotator cuff tendon almost completely off the bone (it was hanging by a thread) and had torn the adjacent tendon about half off of the bone as well.

Ouch!! How did that happen? Mine is bothering me, but I doubt it is anywhere near what you did!

[1795]

Oh, I tore it in college playing volleyball, and then re-tore it playing softball as an adult. It was pretty much re-healed with scar tissue and then two years ago I was dumb enough to build one last new house for us as we were downsizing and that pretty much did it in. The I first started doing the stucco I could manage a trowel full with just my right arm, by the end I had to support my right arm with my left.

Threw a tennis ball last weekend playing catch with the dog and it was the first time in a long time that I could actually throw; although my shoulder reminded me afterwards to back off a little and let it heal.

I will be much stronger in September. Good luck with yours.

Jim

[PDUB]

Thanks, likewise!

[1985 CCX]

Jim,

Funny as the speedo was not hooked up either??
Low mile car...
Did Rick/Ross ever pull together brackets for the Girling conversion?

Just poking the bear, enjoyed the video.

[1795]

Jeff,

Better be careful of bears

Yes, Rick and Ross did come up with a bracket conversion for the Girlings. I hope that all is well with you.

Jim

[1985 CCX]

Jim

All is well, just dodging rain drops this year and for the first time in 13 years missing SAAC. Seems there is a lean crowd going this year.

[1795]

I hope that everyone is ready for some good weather, driving and racing; I know that I am!

The last time at the track had some distributor problem and it turned out to be a bad MSD distributor gear. It need up ruining the cam as well. John Garuti from Cobra Automotive was there at the track and offered a lot of free help and guidance. We were going to try to switch out the distributor gear and finish the weekend, but once we saw that the cam gear was a little worn we decided to call it a weekend. John said that they no longer use MSD melonized distributor gears as the quality of them has gone down. He uses someone else for the gears.

Being that John spent a few hours trying to help, has done so several times at the track, and Cobra Automotive is only 5 hours away, I decided to have John do the repair. Drove out there on Thursday for the dyno tuning and to pick the engine up. They did a nice job of tuning the Weber's in. Everything is balanced and we were not far off on the jetting initially. I had 165's in and they were a little too lean, we jumped up to 175's and that was too rich, so we settled on 170's and they were just right. According to John and the person running the dyno it can take long days of work trying to find the right jet combination with the Webers. This was about the shortest session that they have had.

Here is the dyno sheet, I was pretty happy with these numbers for a little 289 with iron heads, and while John said that with some changes we could get over 550HP, that increased HP comes at a cost of decreased longevity. In addition, he said that they have found that cobra's with 500HP or more tend to behave poorly on the track.



Jim

[jmarsey]

Unless you have a right foot with a bit of talent, excessive HP will slow you down on a road course. There's a point of diminishing returns in relation to "usable" HP and corner speed / exit-off. The rest is simply drag racing.

[6TNCRZY]

Nice long flat torque curve, should be fun to drive !

[1795]

Yes, I agree. You are faster making sure that you are driving a good line and not drag racing down the straights and then screwing up the corners. That's what John was alluding too, people were having trouble in the corners keeping the car straight. With the current setup I am running at 5 lbs/HP, that is all that I want, especially given a transverse leaf spring suspension with solid rotor Girlings.

What's funny is how we all have different perspectives on things. I was looking at the HP and torque numbers thinking about how they will help getting out of corners and moving faster down the straights. I shared the dyno sheet with my cousin, who helps crew for me sometimes and is involved with the enduros when I run them, and his first comment was, "Look at that fuel consumption, we are going to have to re-think how we run the enduros." I have a 15 gallon fuel cell and at 30 GPH during a 60 minute enduro, that creates a problem. Looks like I will need to look at getting a 20 gallon fuel cell.

Thanks for the comment.

Jim

[PDUB]

Looks good, Jim! Gotta be happy with that! Are those chassis or engine dyno numbers? I am guessing it is at the crank. Bill at Carlquist did the first pass of porting on my 289 Hipo heads.