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Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Hit & Miss and then I was OUT.

The bad day at the office continued but it did get better before it got worse. As I mentioned in my previous blog I eventually narrowed my mis-fire down to being the rev counter and as such from there on it should have been a walk in the park to fix. (Ha Ha). A new rev counter (bigger and better and more expensive) was ordered and duly fitted in the week after the last race of 6 June. All other minor and trivial checks were diligently performed where after on Saturday the 19th 'Mr Datsun' took it to the track to test and only to discover that the misfire was still prevalent above 7000RPM and in addition he was notified that the Datti was smoking unusually. So back to the workshop it went and on the Sunday it was stripped down entirely. The crank was attended to, new bearings, rings and even valve guides replaced. Urrrr.....what has that got to do with a misfire??? Dunno. The carburettors were stripped.....again.....cleaned.....again, serviced and finally put together again. By Wednesday late afternoon all the parts had been returned and assembly could now at last begin. In the interim I had arranged to have a complete new electronic distributor done complete with electronic module and coil, all pre-wired and ready to simply put in. I arrived that Wednesday evening (due to heavy soccer world cup flights already pre booked closer to the weekend) and by 22h00 that evening she was fired up. This time we had now put back half of the mods that were originally put on and then taken off in search for the misfire we had encountered on the 6th June. All satisfied with the assembly we let the engine run hot where after we switch off and went home. Thursday morning at 06hoo the under carriage was washed clean, re-torqued the head and the new electronic dizzy was fitted WITH new plug wires, new distributor cap and a new rotor. New ignition wiring was also done, an additional earth strap was made and attached to the engine casing. Again everything was tested and all sounded OK. What more could we still do. OH yes....fit the new SQP rev counter. Such was done with great attention to detail and great care to the wiring thereof. Once done a further test was again done and you will not believe it, the rev counter after all of this was still jumping erratically as it did before we started this whole effort that we had now gone to. F$%^^&*ck me what a waste of time.

Ok, calming down, we scratched our heads and started a process of elimination. First we also then noticed the alternator charging light not coming on when switching on the ignition. We disconnected the alternator and still the same resulting erratic jumping of the rev counter. Eventually frustration got the better of us and we called upon an auto electrician to provide further assistance. The charging module was subsequently also found to be faulty and was duly replaced. Now the charging light at least worked correctly. We demonstrated the erratic rev counter issue we were still faced with and even he (the sparky) was eventually puzzled by it all after all we'd done. Even the digital Alfano timer which incorporates a built rev counter was now also erratic as was the analogue rev counter. To cut a long story 'square', the 'sparky' then requested that we remove all external attached devices and only connect the timing light which had its own rev counter. We obliged as requested and again fired up. Smooth as can be. We then attached the new rev counter just bought and there it was back again. Final proof that 2 rev counters later, one used and one new, both had the same fault condition. We scrounged an old Mallory rev counter last used in 'Mr Datsuns' oval track days, wired it up and 'wha la'......we're back in business. It was now 16h00 on the Thursday afternoon. I attached the A-frame and hastily took it to the track to do the final test. By lap 3 I finally confirmed that all the gremlins had now been resolved and parked the car at last satisfied, washed it and put it back into the garage. As my tyres were of substandard rubber by now, I did NOT practice on the Friday so as to try and save what I could of the now defunct slick tyres and of which there is simply NONE in the entire country to buy.

Saturday Morning it was up early as per usual and down to the track. The car was fueled (minimally) and the tyre pressures adjusted accordingly. At o8h30 we had our qualifying session and the gremlins of a different nature were still upon me. On lap 1 going into turn 5 the car simply died (mors dood, vrek) and I was not able to restart it. I coasted into the pit and was further pushed to the pit garage. Eventually after a while it fired again and for some unknown reason which I cannot explain it was OK thereafter. I somehow hoped and prayed it was a shortage of fuel although I have doubt upon such theory. Race 1 was off at 10h30 but somewhat delayed due to a huge oil spillage which then first had to be cleaned up. We were then again afforded 2 warm up laps after the oil had been cleaned up and not having officially qualified or having posted a time I was rightfully placed at the back of class B and as such found myself right behind the HUGE back bumper of the V8 Studabaker, that of Andre Mouton, next to him Dave Alhadeff in the 2.0l Alfa GT with both 2.0l Scirocco's ahead of the 2 of them. I was tucked right up to Moutons back bumper and at lights out I nailed the 'loud peddle' and dived in between the Studabaker and the Alfa going into turn 1 and managed to take the V8 Stud before turn 1. Alhadeff in the Alfa held the inside line goinmg into T2 and I took to his outside holding him right through and I managed to take him going through the 'kink' and lead him into T3. At every conceivable corner I was tail sliding into the corner loosing time and feeling somewhat uncomfortable. I simply put it down to the worn tyres. What do I know afterall? On lap 5 I must have over done it going into T3 and the back simply got away having no grip (or so I thought) and resulted that I clipped the new T3 inside 'shark teeth' sidelining me with a damaged left front lower control arm. Although we had spares, the state of the tyres simply didn't warrant that we make all the effort and possibly have a bigger disaster through negligence or poor decision making. (I have also just been informed while still typing this blog that the likely result of my spin in T3 was as a result of either the lock diff or a side shaft breaking with drive now only to 1 wheel as confirmed by 'Mr Datsun.)

That allowed us to then spectate the rest of the day in T3 in the icy cold wind along with some die hard classic car supporters.

The moral of the story is, The Datsun GX and NOT the driver is still BOSS at this stage!!

A huge thank you again to my boet for making all the effort during the week and at night to get my car back on track for which I am forever grateful. Our next race will be the PE Ford & Friends Festival after which we will only be back at Killarney (by forceful persuasion) on 4th September.

Thanks ' Boet'

Sunday, 06 June 2010

A bad day at the Office

It was bound to happen at some point in time. By all counts literally everything has always gone without any major hassle on almost every race day that I've competed in. Well, this one was different. Quite a bit of trick work was done on the Datti between the last race and this one done on 5 June. Nothing out of the ordinary was done either and merely included implementation of a multi spark distributor with rev limiting capabilities and a device to better control carburetor air flow efficiency. At least that was the planned and desired outcome of the modifications done. Fridays weather was overcast with cool air in circulation. We arrived at the track just before noon in order to do final prep for the afternoon practice sessions. The 140Z required a change in tyre from the 10" variety to a more subdued 8" variety. Some minor fastening was required but otherwise was ready to be tested. The Datti was as ready as ever with only tyre pressures and fuel requirements before taking to the track.

Our first session was out 13h40 but was somewhat delayed due to an earlier oil spill on track. We eventually took to the track eventually at 14h30. From almost word go, there appeared a hesitancy at around 7000RPM which has previously proved to have been dirt in the fuel system. After 3 laps it was apparent it was not going to clear and I duly proceeded to the pit complex. Again a strip down of the carbs was done and lo and behold dirt was again encountered in the float bowls but this time none in the needle and seat or banjos. The carbs were drained, cleaned and put together again. The air jets were changed for a slightly richer setting.

The 140Z on the other hand showed it was still well in contention albeit with a smaller foot print. No further testing would be required and the 140Z was put to rest for the day. I again took to the track at 16h00 for our last session only to find the same (misfire) problem still present. Again I returned to pit. This time the plugs were changed, just in case. The timing was again duly checked and the distributor was checked for any excessive wear/play on the rotor. The implemented air flow device was now removed as well. Everything else appeared normal and within acceptable allowances. All checks done seemed fine and she cleanly revved to 7000RPM. We would now have to wait for the morning during qualifying. A traditional 'braai' was had along with a few well deserved beverages.

Saturday morning and we got to the track at sparrows (06h15) and again prepped the cars for qualifying. By sunrise it was blatantly clear that early morning mist was present and resulted that qualifying was eventually abandoned for safety reasons. That left us in no better position for the race. Our first race was at 10h40 and the grid was now determined from our finishing results from our last race on May 8. As such I found I was now the meat in the Scirroco sandwich in class B with Sandro Biccari ahead and Johan Swart behind of me. I was now on new batting turf. A normal rolling start was done in which I got away cleanly and ahead of the class B cars but coming out of turn 2 the misfire was now again there at around 7000Rpm and getting worse by all accounts. It seemed to last longer and was more noticeable. I returned to the pits after the very first lap somewhat dejected by it all. The 140Z on the other hand was not in the same league as the Porsche of Keith Rose this time around due to being on the 8" tyres but none the less still put up another class X time of 1:22.8 thus ensuring his further participation therein. I in the meantime started stripping the carbs again in hope of finding more dirt. The 'Guru' eventually returned to take over from my endeavor and it was clear that ideas as to the problem were now becoming perplexing. We drained the very last drop of fuel, cleaned the tank, checked the fuel filter, removed the fuel header tank, cleaned it thoroughly, and again cleaned carbs which turned out to be perfectly clean anyway. We put that all together again and decided to go back to basics by further removing the newly installed multi spark distributor. We put the standard coil back and now hoped for the best. All our new imposed modification now came to naught after all of that. We now hoped that race 2 would be back to normal in which we would now start from the back of the field in position 23 by my own choice.

Our last race was at 15h15 and all and any pressure was now off me due to our mishaps. Everything seemed OK until I again hit just above 7000RPM when the misfire was again present. Damn, damn, damn I screamed inside my helmet. I tried to now do a final process of elimination and noticed firstly that if I backed off slightly the miss cleared. If I further accelerated it would again appear once reaching just over 7000RPM. Could it be carburation after all of this? I continued until I eventually noticed that as soon as the rev counter went over 7000RPM it suddenly shot to 10000, then back to 7000, again back to 11000. I suspected the shift control and turned this off with no change, then completely on also with no difference. All during this time I still managed to catch the class E and most of the class D guys but was unable to do so getting beyond 7000RPM. In a final and desperate attempt I tried to physically break the wiring going to the rev counter but was unable to reach the wiring sufficiently due to being strapped in and I eventually abandoned the attempt. The positive was that I finished the race and made up 11 places after all of that and still with a misfire. I can now only put it down to being a faulty rev counter which we will replace for the next race. A very frustrating weekend indeed.

The 140Z was having no such problems on the other hand and made a thoroughly enjoyable race with the other class X and class A guys, which from reports received, had the spectators most excited. The 140Z will now undergo engine maintenance for it's next encounter which will be in Port Elizabeth on the 14th August.

We'll show that Datti who's boss next time out Boet, you better believe it!!

Thanks 'Boet'