850 Sport Coupe series 2 track car.

This is Sydney Motorsport Park from a few months ago. Back up there on the 20th of next month if I get the gearbox back in time!
SMP 13feb23a (2).jpg
 
It was an open trackday. They let all sorts there on the day! The meeting after the South circuit SMP next month we are back at Pheasant Wood. When the circuit extension is finished it will be a terrific venue for the Nationals. I can't remember the new length, something like 3.5k. The same bloke owns Wakefield Park too now and that's also going to be extended. Something like 40 million dollars worth of renovations!
 
Made a couple of poly lower gearbox mounts. They are not tightened up yet. Making an engine mount out of the same stuff. Will basically be a tower out of 90mm poly. There won't be much movement compared to the rubber and metal spring set-up
Mounts gearbox 90 grade.jpg
.
 
Sydney Motorsport Park, South circuit today. First chance to drive with the "new" gearbox with the changed over ring and pinion. Final drive now 4.65 with 205 x 60 x 13 rear tyres. Seems pretty damn good. I'm using a mineral EP 90 gearbox oil meant for hypoid gears The really nicely set up ring and pinion plus the gearbox and engine mount seems to make the inside of the car just deafening instead of the previous bloody deafening.
 
This is Sydney Motorsport Park South Circuit the week before I wrecked the clutch. This was the car's first outing with the new final drive ratio installed. This is one of the morning sessions and I made the video for my mate in the Mini to view really. I had plenty of power around the circuit except on the short straight where the bigger-engined cars had the advantage. They held me up [most of them] in the corners and forced me to brake early. The new diff ratio makes the car nicer to drive. It wasn't till I watched the in-car videos that I realised I short-shifted all day and on a couple of corners I should have used second gear!
 
The clutch kit arrived from Germany this morning. Interestingly the clutch plate is noticeably heavier than the stock item but the new pressure plate is obviously stronger but lighter! Overall the new setup
clutch new.jpg
is lighter. The original is 2.742kg. New 2.550.
 
New clutch is installed. Just a few bits to go back on to finish off the job. I hate putting the drive shafts back in. Sometimes they go in fine but this time I kept myself amused for several minutes! I have my entry in for the next track event on the 16th of August but won't get to drive before then. I will run it on the trailer with the wheels off the trailer to set the clutch free play but I'm a little anxious about the sintered plate. When I took the old clutch to the specialist in Sydney he glanced at the plate and said all that damage was done on the downshifts on the circuit. After reviewing my in-car videos I can see exactly where I caused the problem! In the video above at 1.10 you can see where I used the engine for braking. I did that all day and in a couple of other places.
 
This was the event on the 16th of August. The first time I drove the car with the sintered metal clutch was when I drove from the pits to the dummy grid! I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not all that bad driving around slowly. It does grab though and you can see in the video at the start what it's like. It also caused two spins on the day on the same corner when I changed down to second gear and was not smooth enough with the clutch! I would not have one in a road car but for the track it's fine. This video might be a bit long and boring to some people but I made it specifically for a friend driving the red Sprite.
 
When I started to review my in-car videos I was surprised to see sections that were slightly blurry. I'm fairly certain that the new engine/gearbox mounts are allowing too much vibration to the camera mount. I shall have to devise some sort of rubber mount. Also, I mounted the microphone lower on the back of the car and there is a lot more gearbox noise in the video.
 
ramona300 said:
I mounted the microphone lower on the back of the car and there is a lot more gearbox noise in the video.
Click to expand...
I noticed this, especially when you were lifting off the throttle or when setting up for a turn. Sounded like the gearbox or differential bearings were grinding themselves to bits. I was kind of alarmed, to the point of thinking "How can he NOT hear that?". 😬
 
Jeff Stich said:
I noticed this, especially when you were lifting off the throttle or when setting up for a turn. Sounded like the gearbox or differential bearings were grinding themselves to bits. I was kind of alarmed, to the point of thinking "How can he NOT hear that?". 😬
Click to expand...
Could not hear it inside the car.
 
This is my car back on the trailer after a successful day at the local hill climb. First hill climb with the sintered clutch and I took it easy for the first runs as I have the Fiat Nationals next month in Victoria and I won't have time for any major repairs. The clutch is not that flash on standing starts and takes some practice to sort it out. I had 5 runs and each one was faster than the previous and my last run was my personal best!
Huntley Sept 23.jpg
Huntley Sept 23a.jpg
 
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