UKDRN

Do you own or know the whereabouts of a piece of UK Drag Racing History or just want info on a particular machine.

Moderators: timetravel, ukdrn

 #35896  by muddytalker
 
Another one for MisteR Tee.
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 #35931  by MisteR Tee
 
Yes, I spotted that on Facebook, thanks Jerry.
 #36324  by MisteR Tee
 
Nothing of any great import to tell, still searching for period front wheels that will look right, had the replacement Wolfrace rears soda blasted & polished ready to fit the new slicks & then bolt them on using the modifed adaptors.

Here's a before pic of one...
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& here they are finished....
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& these are the adaptors, changing the BMC 4 stud 4.5" pcd down to Ford 4 stud 4.25" pcd, adding 1" of spacer as it does which will help as the new slicks are slightly wider & would have rubbed on the outer chassis rails.
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I had to have these adaptors...adapted(!) because originally they went the other way, Ford to BMC & in my excitement in finding them I overlooked that point! Still my friend Steve the machinist made a cracking job of converting them, can't wait to get down to deepest Kent & start fitting them. However, that may well be a bigger job than you might think, as we need to free off the brakes first so we can actually move the car without having a hernia!

So the hunt goes on for small wire type front wheels although the key point is finding suitable tyres first. Thanks to Scotty Durrant, I have been talking to Steve Field & he's investigating the situation for me. Let's hope we find a solution soon, as the car looks strange without any front wheels (they're on Scott Gibbons's Junior Dragster at present!).
 #36450  by MisteR Tee
 
Further to the above, I've at last found a pair of 12" wire wheels, complete with spindles & steering arms(!) for a bargain price!!! Just waiting for them to arrive, so I can assess what work they need if any & also how much of a spruce-up they'll need to satisfy my "bling" requirements!! So now I just need a pair of suitable tyres & I'm thinking of current JD ones, to replace the moped ones currently on them.

Pics at 11 (or whenever they turn up!).
 #36466  by MisteR Tee
 
Ta Da!! They have arrived & just exactly how they were described & how I thought they'd be. In fact if I didn't know better, they could be the original ones from the car, but they never had full discs on so I doubt they are!!
Those discs will be coming off though as they aren't the prettiest things on the planet (why would you cover up wires?? & yes I know you could need to have a partial disc to trigger the lights!), then a quick spruce up & they'll be good to go (once I get some proper tyres!). I also think they'll bolt straight on as the spindles look very much like the ones I have, so even more of a result!!
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 #36496  by plymoutharrow
 
muddytalker wrote:Another one for MisteR Tee.
DM811.jpg
Wasn't there a sister car like Spirit that ran the same setup? I may be wrong.
 #36664  by MisteR Tee
 
Well fans of the Spirit world, I spent a day down at RDR headquarters on Thursday, mainly to get the car rolling as the brakes were binding terribly! We needed to do this as Dave is taking it to Dragstalgia for me, to be put on display in the marquee there. I took all the wheels & tyres down with me in the hope that we could get them fitted before it went there, however that didn't work out!

The first thing to try were the new wire fronts as the existing wheels are currently on Scott's Junior Dragster, however the spindles & steering arms are all wrong & look more like they were made for a go-kart or soapbox!! However, the spindle sizes were almost identical but the existing spindles have been shortened too much to enable the wheels to fit as the hubs are much wider than the JD ones currently fitted. We have two options here, have the hubs re-machined deeper both sides to enable the bearings & hub nut to fit, if it can be done & without resorting to stripping the wheels down to do it. Or secondly & probably the easiest way, find another pair of original Ford Pop/Anglia spindles & have them machined (the hubs are straight bored, no taper) to suit the wheels. So, the JD wheels stay on Scott's JD for the Summer Nats, then get swapped back onto Spirit for Dragstalgia!

OK, onto the rears. We took both rear wheels off & checked the brakes & found it was the OS caliper that was binding, so eventually decided that the quickest & easiest way to solve the immediate problem was to remove the caliper completely to see if it could be renovated. It quickly became obvious that this wasn't gonna happen!! The pucks are solidly frozen into the caliper, so will need forcing out if possible, otherwise it will need to be replaced. So we took off the other caliper & drained the fluid out, so that if the brake lever was pushed, it wouldn't dump it all over the place! So now we have a car with no brakes but it rolls!
Since I've been back I've been researching these calipers & they appear to be Girling P14, as fitted to MK1 Ford Cortinas with a straight entry port (rather than the later ones with side entry, apparently!), also found on some early Lotus Europas, so if anyone has a brand new pair laying around.....!!

Whilst we had the wheels off, I thought I'd see about fitting the wheel adaptors & checking the fit of the Wolfies. However, this didn't work out well either, the existing studs are way too long even to shorten as the threads don't start until they're almost all the way through the adaptors. But the adaptors do actually fit onto the studs & hubs, so I'm looking to replace the studs with shorter ones in a sensible thread (1/2 BSF ain't gonna cut it!!).

That was it really, did a couple more jobs on the transporter to enable us to get all 3 cars in, waiting for small parts to arrive in order to complete that. So nothing really accomplished apart from a few more jobs on the to do list.

See you all at the Summer Nats next weekend, have a great time at Dragstalgia & have a look at the car whilst you're there.
 #36669  by MisteR Tee
 
Following on from this I put an ad on the "Popular Front" forum on the NSRA website, asking if anyone had any original Pop spindles & less than 24hrs later, had a text from a friend, Geoff Cousins, saying he had several pairs!!! A quick trip down to Dorking & I now have a pair of original Pop spindles (complete with stubs of axle still attached!) which I've now stripped down & cleaned up, ready to be machined to suit the new hubs. :D
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I've just got find a pair of rear calipers or get these ones rebuilt & we're good to go (& stop) as they say! :lol:
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 #36707  by MisteR Tee
 
Well, after a search of t'internet I found a company in Worcester called Biggred who recondition calipers, sent them an email with pics & back came the reply that they are Mk1 Cortina P14 calipers. So after comparing prices with various other companies & having looked at their website, I duly posted them off yesterday afternoon. I got an email notification this morning from the courier co that they had been delivered at 10.00 this morning, I then get a phone call at 4pm this afternoon to tell me they were done & ready to be sent back!!!! If I'd known it was going to be this quick I'd have done it sooner so that I can give them to Dave at Santa Pod this weekend, as it is, they're going to ship them direct to him by Monday! How's that for efficiency & good service? The NOS pads I bought should arrive at Dave's at about the same time, so there's a good chance he can get them fitted before Dragstalgia, saving him having to push it everywhere!!

There's also a slim chance I can get the spindles machined & sent to him as well, so he can get the wires on it, saving "hot-wheeling" the two cars, mine & Scott's.

I love it when a plan almost comes together, as a certain buddy of my alter ego was wont to say!!! :D

Got the slicks mounted on the Wolfies yesterday as well, mainly to save space but also so I can give them to Dave this weekend so that they're ready to fit when the wheel adaptors & hubs have been properly introduced!! Hope you appreciate the personalised slicks I got at great expense!! :lol: Although I think I may re-do the white detailing later, as it's not quite up to my exacting standards!!

Ho hum, may see some of you at SPR this weekend, if so come & say hello & introduce yourselves, I only know forum names!!
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 #36814  by MisteR Tee
 
Well, sadly Spirit didn't make it to Dragstalgia as planned, due to a problem with getting it up into the transporter. We had hoped that it would go up on the wheel stand Dave had made to support his son's Junior Dragster, but it seems there was an issue with a bar under the seat in Spirit fouling the stand & as Dave was on a tight schedule to get it loaded up, there was just not enough time to re-engineer the set up to take it. So it gives us time to get the new rear wheels, slicks & front wheel spindles & wires fitted before it appears in public, although when that may be is a moot point.

As some of you may be aware, after Dave took part in the fire burnouts on Saturday evening, he broke one of the half-shafts on a launch the following day! He's had to order a new one from Mark Williams plus a new chute bag as that got a trifle singed, hopefully all will be here in time to get it rebuilt ready for Hockenheim. Once all that is over, then we can start thinking about doing stuff with my dragster. Really wish I'd been at Dragstalgia as it looks like it was an absolute blast & I would have been all over StripDuster, as mine is basically a copy of that frame & layout. I have requested that James Forster tries to get Dragstalgia 2015 to not clash with next year's Euronats, which is on the 16th-19th July, so perhaps everyone can do the same!!

Pics of the newly machined Pop spindles to follow (when I can be bothered to get them out of the car, it's too hot out there at the moment!!).
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