winton

[another sad 280s]

to those who went how was sundays racing at winton. any picks?

[oscar]

I've been meaning to do an update.  I can tell you my solex shat itself.  I only got one session in of the 5 or so that ran throughout the day.   During my second session the fuel valves for the secondaries stopped working leaving me to finish a lap at 50-60km/hr with hazard lights on.  A previously mentioned plastic cam in that povo build up thread that broke once before, broke again.  It's attached to the secondary air flaps and opens the secondary fuel valves.  What's more is that it wasn't just the cam that broke.  It seems the valves are binding too.  I think I've been struck down by the "warpage" bug.  I've yet to pull it off and investigate fully but for now it's back to the holley for me.

However, that one session was bloody awsome.  It's a fun track and I'm looking forward to doing it again.  Oh, and all that work on the brakes - they were still spongy somewhat but it really didn't take that much to pull povo up or lock the wheels up.  Whilst the pedal is nowhere near as firm as the 350, I was still happy with their performance.

13B and SELfor50 teamed up in Ol Smokey and the car lasted all day save for a dodgy spark lead/plug early on which was fixed and selfor50 had an off right at the end after brake material on the front left had dissappeared.  We're all just waiting for final times to be posted.  Before I left I saw I was 4th last but I was 2nd last at the BMW day at Oran Park at Easter so I'm on the up.  We're all keen to see who was faster between 13B and selfor50.  The big change for povo compared to Easter was going back to the Solex and replacing most of the suspension with ex w126 AMG gear.  Hell of a lot of improvement in reducing body sway.  I'm happy to keep it as is but it's nowhere near as tight and flat as Ol Silver with its modified suspension.  It sits flat and tight as any of the other tricked race cars out there.

Some quick pics - I have to go but will follow up with some vids later.

[13B]

Here I am strapped in ready to rock and (hopefully not) roll:



Sam helping Cam find the engine:



Another shot of TeamW116:



I.

[oscar]

Some in car vids

Cam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rRYQ1VtCRI
Ian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkedWKagDw

and some external short vids
Cam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSknS79JQ9o
Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZIQSIDVnk
Ian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE0P3sGg4qk

[another sad 280s]

sorry to hear about your solex. apparently the new ones fixed the warping issue. good to know that you can get a new one so cheaply, relative to say buying a palace, isn't it?

[craigb]

Great stuff. My trusty W116 will be pressed into service again on fathers day. My only change will be lucas pads instead of standard textar, so by changing just one thing it will be interesting if it makes any difference.

Stupid question time and far enough away that you can't hit me but......... Oscar, do both your spare cars have FI engines? I can't remember what your plans are for them either, but even in standard trim it must be tempting to do a transplant with a hefty boost in HP. And I can't remember the differences, but is the bottom end the same? If so that can stay in place with the manual, but if not I imagine the crank is the same and you could transplant that into the FI block, and a quick hone and rings along the way, if it is out someone local would chuck your flywheel on a lathe and trim some weight out of it, maybe shave the head for a bit more compression, if you have different years, the early ones had nice high comp pistons, you could pick the eyes out of them........... anyway, just thought I would mention it because you have done a good job on the other stuff and I have often wondered what a manual FI would be like, and an opportune time if you are looking at spending time and money on the carb and if you have a complete "template" of a FI car to copy you will only be looking primarily at time and not money to convert. And it is also a stepping stone towards the ultimate of programmable FI, without going down that track with time and expense.

And one last stupid Q, the photo under the bonnet of the 450 shows a yellow sticker on the ally air cleaner. Mine is almost gone and wanted to get another but someone asked me if it had a number on it. Does that one? it looks complete. Better still anyone know where to get one.

And it does look my sec one, but that has a lovely cold air intake right to the front, but you probably know that.

[oscar]

I've got another carbied engine and a k-jet.  D-jet would be my favoured option and there's been a couple floating about but I suppose I've always thought that whatever goes in next I'd do some major work to so I wouldn't have to take it out again too soon. 

But I like your way of thinking Craig.  I do like the idea of changing heads instead.  Why didn't I think of that before, it's a brilliant idea.  Povo seems to blow smoke after overrun but full throttle and full load it burns clean, so I'm suspecting top end there, valve seals etc.  Haven't done a compression test since last year but let's just say that's good still.  The k-jet motor OTOH just smoked continuously as in poor rings.  It would seem to me then that a serviced k-jet head could go on povo's current block despite its low comp pistons.   Could always shave the head like you mention but as is it should provide some boost in performance especially with it's different cam profile too, but the low comp setup will also lend itself well for a future forced induction project.   I'll investigate this, it sounds promising.

BTW, I've also wanted to investigate the idea of thinning the flywheel ever since you first mentioned it.  Povo has a tendancy to run on when you take your foot off.  It decelerates no worries, like any other 280 I suspect, but for racing and changing gears the revs stay too high when I'm changing.  And of course there'd be a noticeable increase in responsiveness from idle one would expect. 

Will have to wait for Cam about that sticker details.  I have no closeups.

[13B]

To give you some idea how well the R-spec tyres worked, the car had 1/3 tank (or slightly over) of petrol, but through a few of the turns you could see the fuel gauge drop to zero and the red low-fuel light come on.

We're getting G-forces out of these cars now that the designers never had planned them for.

I.

[hokman]

team 116 all the way!! I really want to join, too bad I'm in Canada.