Florida State Champs Nov 15, 2004
We competed at the Florida State Championship Solo II event this weekend at Brooksville, Florida. We finished second and third in F Street Prepared. We’re having some problems with inside rear wheelspin. We think we need a larger front anti-roll bar and possibly stiffer springs in the front. This was our first real event on race tires, and thus had more body roll than on street tires.
Race on Sunday, Drive the Volvo to Work on Monday Nov 22, 2004
The 142 had a busy weekend. We dynoed the new engine on Friday at BNO Performance. The newly rebuilt B20e engine with a stock cast-iron exhaust manifold, our cobbled exhaust system and a pair of rebuilt SUs pumped out 93 horsepower at the rear wheels. We were having significant ignition problems above 4500 rpm and we’ve jumped back to our points-type ignition. Since then the car has “cleared out” considerably in the high rpm range. We’ll need to retest to see how this effected things.
On Saturday, we cleaned up a set of tan leather 164 seats. The leather seating surfaces need to be replaced, but we’re thinking about having this done and going with these for the passenger and rear seats. We’ve also ordered a Corbeau Classic II seat for the driver’s chair. It’s a vintage-styled seat that will fit well with our project’s spirit. It’s also priced well at just $199.
On Sunday, we attended the last CFR autocross of the season, finishing first in F Street Prepared. Prior to this event, we cut back the rear bumpstops a little more and removed the rear anti-roll bar to keep the inside rear tire on the ground. We think these changes worked as the car could now power-oversteer without lifting its leg around corners. We’re now considering a larger front bar (to keep the inside rear down more) and possible a higher rear spring rate (too offset the loss of rear bar bar). In addition to handling better, the car was more powerful than last weekend. Much more fun on course.
Unfortunately, our co-driver, Kim, wasn’t able to attend this event as she had to work. Maybe next time!
142 at the Turkey Rod Run Nov 29, 2004
We went to the Turkey Rod Run here in Daytona, Florida, this past weekend. We parked on the show car field and wandered around for hours. It was pretty fun to see all of the hot rods and classic cars. Not many foreign cars, but plenty of well done automobiles.
The car was looking pretty sharp, as we just washed and waxed it. We took some photos for an upcoming lead image for a “Budget Paint” article.
We’ve just received a prototype Tri-Y header from Kirk Racing for the Volvo. We’ll be trial fitting it and then ceramic coating it. We’re also going to be taking the carbs off and starting the car’s transition to fuel injection, using MegaSquirt’N'Spark DIY fuel injection.
142 Work Progresses Dec 3, 2004
We’ve removed the stock fan viscous clutch and fan, taking 4.5 pounds of rotating weight off of the engine. The fan was replaced with a 12 inch electric fan that we mounted slightly offset on the engine side of the radiator (so it would clear the water pump). The fan is controlled by a thermostatic switch that has a sensor clipped to the radiator.
Meanwhile, we’ve installed a Corbeau Classic II seat in the 142. It looks very “vintage” and helps the driver concentrate on driving, rather than holding on. The seat is mounted to Corbeau sliders, which were welded to the stock seat bracket.
We’ve also found a Volvo R-Sport Rally gauge cluster for our 142, which replaces the strip speedometer and cluster with five dial gauges. We’re cleaning that up before it gets installed.
142 Sport Exhaust Dec 15, 2004
We just received a new Sport exhaust that is now being imported by Skandix. It’s a replica of the original Rsport “Sport” exhaust system, with mandrel bent piping and straight through mufflers. It’s very nice looking and inexpensive.
Ours was $180 and it included a new downpipe that mates to the original cast-iron manifold. We installed an 02 port in our downpipe so we can monitor the air/fuel mix; this will come in handy when our new fuel injection system is installed.
Speaking of fuel injection, we’re working with Steve Berry on a MegaSquirt’N'Spark system for our 142. More info on this kit can be found at 1800 Philes.