Well guys, I am back into working on the 40 this winter. The car has performed great with minor issues that have been overcome. Lost am alternator belt demonstrating to a buddy the awesome power of the car. Noticed a drop in the voltage which told me right away that the belt was gone. Managed to get to my son's house in Woodstock as the electronics finally gave up the ghost. Had to trailer the car back to the house. An easy repair. Later on the water pump gave up as the seal expanded from a low level post overheat on the way to a show. Replaced the pump with a new pump that was a change in design that allowed the filling process to eliminate all air bubbles.
I am working on the cameras at present as they may be in the beginning stages of failure. The front end issues are fixed. I finally got around to taking it to a front end shop that does race cars and they couldn't align the front end. So a new set of adjustable A arms was fabricated for the car. They are very stout and should hold up to anything I throw at it. Here is the old setup which we found out was the early C-4 setups.
And here is the new setup.
The starter raised its ugly head again. I was getting that nasty grinding noise. Hoped it wasn't the ring gear which it wasn't. This time I checked it out and found a broken collar in the starter itself, which was replaced by the shop in California. The car was starting just as it should,,,,, for about 3 starts. Then the grinding started again. Upon inspection the runout on the starter was around 40 thousants which was allowing the nose gear to move away from the ring gear. Bad news is that the movement allowed for the wearing of the ring gear so much that the nose gear was hitting the edge of the teeth and now just spins freely with no engagement. The guys at the shop did only the repair, and didn't check to see what was causing the broken collar. To do this repair the engine and trans will have to be pulled. The distributor is touching the cross member and tilting the trans up over the rear frame member will destroy it. Really didn't want to disengage the motor mounts. They are a bear to line up.
Well I retired on December of 2016,and had my 72nd birthday in December of last year. Have been having a good time until now.
When I retired my wife has constantly been reminding me that we are now on a fixed income and there wasn't any room for repairs that might come along with the car. So I planned ahead and started working again,,,,, in the movie business. Doing background acting. It doesnot pay well at all, but it keeps me busy with something to do and gives me some money to do things with. Have had some good camera time in several movies. "Kevin probably saves the word", "Valor", "The Front Runner"(Gary Hart's run for the Presidency in the 80s), "The Residents" a series about young doctors during their residencies. This one will probably win Emmys or Golden globes. Very well done. Lots of the movies will be filler types for the networks and you won't recognize any of the stars(least I didn't). Got to work with a few names some that some might recognize, like Queen Latifa, and Hugh Jackman, Have dealt with my brother's passing during the last year and have spend some time repairing and rebuilding his two cars. The Audi A-4 has been sold as it was in terrible shape, and a 72 Olds Cutlass Convertible, being restored for driving only, and will be shipped to my nephew this spring in Sweden. Most of the repairs are to make it functional. Tires, steering wheel and miscellaneous other things like getting the top to go up and down. All is almost done, so just waiting on the weather.
Now to the other part. My age is catching up with me. Bad arthritis in my hands and all the manly things that go with old age. Time is beginning to run out for me, as no one in my family(last generation or this one ) has lasted past 75 yet. I am the most fit of all of them as I exercise regularly and still run 2-4 miles a week, so I am thinking seriously of doing something radical as a final effort with the 40. I am toying with disposing of the entire drive train and converting it to electric. Not to putter around in but to build the fastest 40 on the planet. I have thought it out and should be able to do it and with a little luck, break even on the deal. More to follow.
Here are a few teasers.
The Craziest Electric Vehicles | Translogic - YouTube
This Electric E36 Makes 850 lb/ft of Torque at the Wheels! - /TUNED - YouTube
Electric Factory Five 818 Project - Track Shakedown - EV West / 33 Machine - YouTube