Introducing . . . Porky

Fueled by Caffeine said:

In reply to Slow_M :

for joints not held in double shear, please start using . . . 

Thanks for the pointer! I looked at those, and selected the simple cones because of the interference condition with the tie rod and with the upper control arm. I can add one, if I lengthen the front sway bar drop link, unfortunately, at the rear upright, there’s just no space. Hopefully, VARA, where I eventually plan to run it, will be more forgiving. I’ve seen a lot of crimes like this on vintage racing cars. Mostly, it’s for driving over cones,in parking lots. 

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Great to see a build thread- I keep thinking about this car with my odd idea of making a Fiat 850 looking DM car.  

I assume you are planning on keeping the VW engine?  Or are you considering going to a bike motor?  The BM rules seem to favor bike engine cars- pretty significantly.  I know this is far off- since you want to get the car back on the pavement first.  

With so much of your work on the rear- do you have similar major projects on the front?

850 silhouette car. Definitely a wonky idea, especially if you keep the 850 power train. 

Porky’s is on a super tight budget. No engine change. If I EVER do, I’d ideally find a Cosworth BD, or similar, or a Lotus Twin Cam. Most likely, I’ll just try to have fun with it, whatever class it ends up in.

There’s stuff going on at the back, in the front, and in the middle. Basically, wherever you look, there’s mission critical work to be done. 

Very cool, when Bill switched to bike power he gave me a bunch of A-series Datsun parts...........whoever had the car after him assulted that poor car. Good to see it going together properly.  Note that car would be fun for vintage racing as well as autocross. VARA would likley throw it into a catchall class but you'd have fun.

Tom1200 said:

...........whoever had the car after him assulted that poor car. 

I’m pretty sure it required the cumulative, concerted effort of most/all of the people involved. 

Slow_M said:

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Great to see a build thread- I keep thinking about this car with my odd idea of making a Fiat 850 looking DM car.  

I assume you are planning on keeping the VW engine?  Or are you considering going to a bike motor?  The BM rules seem to favor bike engine cars- pretty significantly.  I know this is far off- since you want to get the car back on the pavement first.  

With so much of your work on the rear- do you have similar major projects on the front?

850 silhouette car. Definitely a wonky idea, especially if you keep the 850 power train. 

Porky’s is on a super tight budget. No engine change. If I EVER do, I’d ideally find a Cosworth BD, or similar, or a Lotus Twin Cam. Most likely, I’ll just try to have fun with it, whatever class it ends up in.

There’s stuff going on at the back, in the front, and in the middle. Basically, wherever you look, there’s mission critical work to be done. 

Sort if- DM and EM allows for tube chassis and a body that looks like the real thing.  But the engine would be to the rules for DM- under 2.0l, and turbo w/ a restrictor.  A lot of measuring would be needed ot see what would fit, but i would anticipate a Honda 1.6 with a turbo would be the best budget option.

What's cool about your chassis is that it's mid engined, and the rules allow that rear engine cars can be changed to mid.  So the hard part about making an 80" mid engine chassis is done.  Seeing your pictures, the car looks pretty small....

In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :  

What about the 2.0 Subaru boxer turbo, in any older DSR or in a home brew chassis?

• Plenty of aftermarket parts/tuning support. 
• Already @ max displacement. 
• Low CG 
• Matched factory transaxle 

Next, the sloppy steering wheel mount. It was due to a mismatch between the column and the quick-disconnect adapter. 

Made a shim. 

That took care of it. Bit of a tight squeeze, but I managed to wrestle it on.

Love this!   Keep the updates coming.  

While I was working on the steering column, I played with the pedals, a little 

Between the play at the (worn aluminum) shaft, having no bearings/bushings, and completely worn out fasteners, I could wiggle the clutch pedal up/down, left/right more than 1/4”. 

So I gave the pedals a polish, and was happy, that the nickel still looked decent. 

Ordered heavy wall chromoly tubing and brass shim stock from McMaster Carr, along with a box of bolts and grease zerks. 

Whittled them into the right shapes. 

Then I was distracted. 

The control levers mounted to each of the front sway bar blades were too short, bent, installed incorrectly, and poorly made. So, . . . 

While I was at it, I also straightened and painted the link rod. 

Since one good distraction deserves another, I thought I’d take care of rebuilding the leaky master cylinders. Ordering parts was not so easy. I’m pretty sure, that I found the last two rebuild kits, for .70” tin pot Lockheed masters, in the country. Pegasus said they were deleting the part number, because AP no longer produces the parts.  

While those were in transit, I thought I’d do a little scrape and paint. That’s when I realized, that the leaks were probably old when I was young. The tube they’d been dripping on was crunchy, and had rust perforations.  

It’d also seen an earlier “repair.” 

So more parts came, from McMaster Carr, 

and were whittled into shape, using the original as a template, 

welded, 

fit up, 

(While I’m a decent fabricator, I’m also a fairly crap welder.) 

and zapped back into place. 

Squirted on a little battle ship gray, and was happy to have the frame back in one piece.

I’d bought replacement master cylinder caps as soon as Porky came home, because all three of the ones that were in place were cracked. There also turned out to be chunks floating inside them. 

The reason for the cracked caps was that some genius must have taken channel lock pliers to the original aluminum caps, and deformed the reservoir threads. The extra crappy work around, was to slather some caulk on the flange, and squeeze an o-ring into the still wet mastic. 

No, I’m not kidding, but I wish I were. 

Consistency is key. They spread the love across all three.  

Finally got around to rebuilding the M/Cs. 

Some of the plastic parts were deteriorated beyond being reusable. Deleted one, and made a stainless replacement, for the spring perch. 

This is probably the last go-round, for these master cylinders. I like old things, and these were already a superseded style when the chassis was being built, around ‘80. Bill Lomenick told me that the front suspension was Spitfire based, but came out of his friend’s Turner. I can well imagine, that these pulled duty in a ‘50s car, before they made their way onto Porky. I could have replaced them, but this is a budget build. Besides, and, equally important, to me, is keeping as much of the original as I can, that I saw as making the little Porker a real gem. It’s also connective tissue with the past, and part of why I like vintage cars more that current ones. 

Well, that brings us up to date. Next, I’ll slap the nose back on, and order a sheet of aluminum, and some Clecos, and rivet a new floor in place. The old one’s been hacked up a bit, and I think the cost is warranted. 

In reply to Slow_M :

The suspension you currently have on this car has no relationship to a Turner or a Spitfire. The late type Turner and all Spitfire use a trunion at the bottom and a conventional ball joint at the top. Almost identical to TVR. Bill Lomick may have used Turner pieces in the beginning, but they are gone now. Your fabricated (or is it cast?) upright has the general appearance of a LeGrand part, but it might be something else too.

In reply to TurnerX19 : 

Bill, please re-read my post. In no way did I state that the suspension was original issue Spitfire or Turner. “Spitfire based,” to me, means that the upright geometry is loosely related to that origin. 

It’s all fabbed out of steel, and where the paint is flaking off, I’m seeing nickel plating. 

By the way, the other Bill’s name is Lomenick.

As a total aside, you do have me wondering, if LeGrand F5000s used the modified Alford & Alder (Stanpart) front uprights, as seems to have been in common practice, in F1, back then. Interestingly, it’s my understanding, that those were original Triumph castings, strengthened by double-sided gusseting, at the thin top bend. Thinking of TVR, I’m considering modifying mine that way. 

In reply to Slow_M :

With regard to reinforcing the A&A upright, or the control arms, would you rather bend the suspension or the chassis in the event of an overload? Granted the A&A upright is mighty wimpy.

@slow_M if it's any consolation, my fabricator whose welds are absolute artwork says that bird-poo welds are perfectly acceptable. He says as long as they have good penetration who cares what they look like.

The reason I have him weld stuff is because my welds look absolutely perfect, yet have marginal penetration and so I refer to them as snap welds. 

I would love to see this car run with VARA. You'd be in with the wings and slicks group, the car obviously wouldn't give the Pro-Mazda cars any worry but could definitely mix it up with the Sports 2000s as well as any DSR cars. I'm going to be running my 87 F500 in that group.

My favorite bits are the hose clamps ensuring that all fluids remain safely inside the sway bars.

In reply to 300zxfreak :

To its credit, the system works. It doesn’t even show a slow drip. 

In reply to Tom1200 :

Might have to sprout a wing, like this one! 

Still, I think I should hone something approximating skills in solo, before I let myself loose amongst you. 

I like that wing, no clue how effective it was but it looks the part.

The car will be lots of fun at autocross. It's a super cool car.

Luckily, Enrico Benzing, who was in charge of Lancia's LC2 Aero development program, published some of his favorite wing recipes.

There's Tenpura, Buffalo, BBQ, rotisserie, . . . 

http://www.benzing.it/enrico.profili.htm

looks Familiar