ProComp LA Gold

Engine
Formerly a CVH engine when raced by mike Topp
The car now sports a Stanwood Engines 1800 Zetec
No Fan fitted, but I am told they are not needed.  Any thoughts ?
Mega squirt ignition. I have not used this box of tricks before, any help welcome.

Gearbox
Ford 4 speed box.
I am lead to believe this has some upgraded internals

Axle
Lada back axle with disc conversion
Brakes are bias adjustable

Bodywork
With the exception of the nose, cycle and rear wings, everything else is aluminium
This includes the  removable dash which has a rather nice rolled bottom edge return.

I now have the SPA Dash powered up.
It took a complete day to identify the wiring issue the repeatedly blew fuses.
Found to be the wiring to the front right indicator.

If the data on the Dash is correct, Mike Topp implies that it is, then the car has covered less than 800 miles.
The powder coating is in very good condition.

Considering that the car has a narrower track than the Avon the width of the seating area is very generous.
16" on the drivers side and 17" on the passenger side.

The SPA Microdash 2 is the Development model, Trialed by Mike.
I am not sure it is for me though.
All the information on one screen and one fuse can blank all the info out.
Currently wired for:
Speed
RPM
Oil
Water
Lap Times
Front brake pressure
Rear brake pressure
Accelerometer

Jobs to do

Fire extinguisher
This has not had any attention since 2007 so certainly due a service/discharge refill.
I am sure I read somewhere that they needed replacing after 10 years ?

Seat
While the present seat will do.
But, I prefer to sit very low and stretch out a bit with some leg support.

Must look up the article I wrote and placed on the old RAFMSA site.

Belts
These went out of date 2012
When looking for a new set of 5/6 point belts I want to avoid all the slack you often get and then have to spend ages tucking out of the way.
Any suggestions ?

Front Tow Point
I am sure in my box of bits there must be something that will  work.
Or it will be a £12 special from ebay

Tyres
Avon CR28 Sport are the wet of choice with 750MC, need to find a price for these. ?
Car is fitted with 13” A048’s in good condition.
Looking at my selection of 13” spares I will be fine provided I don’t run in a championship/series of any sort.
F3 Wets
Wet cut Kumho V70’s
032R
Acb10

Sounds like a great car mate.

Ok,

It is amazing how simple it is to make catch tanks out of kids aluminium Roary the Race Car drinks bottles.
£2.45 each
1 for the engine, 1 for the gear box.

Fire extinguisher ordered, due for delivery Monday from Peter Llyod Rallying

New belts from TRS due for delivery Tuesday. Excellent company to deal with. Ask for James.

Front tow strap fitted, found in my spares box.

No news on the CR28 tyres, hoping I can use my F3 wets as I will not be troubling the championship leaders.

I have managed to save the leg support part of the original bag seat and will graft it to the back half I will make.
I have found a company that sells expanding foam bags for packaging.
I have blagged a large one as a 'sample'.

Now, I have a noisy fuel pump.
to change or not?
I have had noisy pump last for a year.

Hi Jack

Here's a picture of your car in action, leading a large pack at Mallory.  Further back in fifth is the Hornet Mk3 plus the Hornet Mk2 in eleventh.

This article was out of KitCars International magazine and I can give you a photocopy if you want.  There was also an article from the same event in Men Only!!!!! but I didn't get a copy of that as I thought people were winding me up

Billy, that is a great article.

No doubt your employers at the time were impressed how you used your time and their paint

Busy day.

Nice new 6 point belts from TRS fitted today,
along with a very good price extinguisher fro Peter Lloyd Rallying.

2 x front tow staps fitted
1 bolted on using a pinch plate, the other secured with a caribiner to one of the 4 fitted tow points ProComp fitted.

All the internal tin wear re fitted and the evil black box that runs the SPA dash system is back on its velcro mount.

Fuel to get later tonight

Battery having a quick charge

A bit of admin in the morning, leave at 15:00 for Cadwell, should be in time for beer o'clock

Seat re manufactured out of the old one supplied with the car, I now sit much lower in the car

Quick thought.

Tyre pressure for 13"
185.60.13
205.60.13

Car weighs about 550kg

Any ideas chaps?

I would say 18 to 20 psi all round as a starting pointing and work from there

Sounds about right - good luck this weekend

Your aiming for 20psi warm so 17 or 18 cold. Have fun

The Mk2 Hornet is on Toyo 185/60 x 13 all round and that is 17psi cold all round.

Thanks chaps, will update this on Sunday

A few more discoveries this weekend.

The car appears long and takes up more length on the trailer
measured it at 2300mm between hub centres.

Also got it on the weigh bridge 530kg

I believe the ECU is holding the rev's back, it will not rev much past 6000 rpm.
As Ian is going down the Nodiz route, I may look at this, depending on who locally can use it to rolling road the car.

Tyre Pressure.
The tyre pressure advice worked out. 17 psi in the front and 18 in the rears

Handling
The more I think about this, the more I realise it is the best handling car I have owned.
The feeling is of a very taught chassis.
I kept the roll bar in the first out of a possible 6 positions and only put 25% of the available clicks on the dampers and it was very stable and keen to change direction.

SPA Dash.
The weekend confirmed what I suspected.
I did not get on with the Digi Dash. The whole thing is to busy in a to small a space for my eyesight and brain to keep up with.
It will be much better suited to someone who is a bit of a data fiend

Just found the manual for it here:

http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/spa/docs/SPA%20Micro-Dash%20Logger%20manual.pdf

Don't know if that'll help? Or whether you are too old (I have no advice for that!).

(just kidding mate)

Cheers Frodo,

I have this, hardly bedside reading.

The unit I have is there original development unit, so it has all the bells and whistles.
As soon as I have found suitable good old fashioned round dials they will go in.

The SPA really needs a a tech savvy data collection fiend

Hi John

I am on the lookout for a replacement tacho and Burtons on-line catalogue is currently doing some good deals on the Racetech gauges. £107 for their 0-8000 tacho whereas next cheapest is £128.

Thanks Billy, I will take a look

This could explain 104/105 db at Cadwell

The up side is that no one objected to my 2 smart catch tanks.
One for the engine breather
The other for the gearbox breather

I am looking for opinions on which type of fuel pump I should fit.

I have an 1800 Zetec on twin 40's
Fuel regulator fitted
Currently using a barrel shaped "red top" pump.

The current pump has started to 'Knock', even if the tank is full and filters clean.

Do I replace this with another "red top" or fit a solid state one from Facet?

I remember being told years ago that the barrel red top pumps are more reliable than the square solid state. I would replace like for like

I have taken the bottom of it, cleaned the filter of little bits of metals and crud, re fitted it and the blasted thing still knocks.

Looks like piggy bank time.

Hi John

What do you mean by "knocks"?

Is this the usual clicking sound they make, about once every 1 to 2 seconds when the engine isnt running (about 2 per second when priming the system), or is it a different sound?

If you do need to replace the pump compare the prices at LAS Aerospace to other prices you might find.

The pump is in an advanced stage of "ticking", sounds more like someone using a windy hammer to remove paint during a ships refit.

The awful racket does not appear to disrupt its operation.

But peace of mind and silence may well cost me £58 inc vat and P&P from Peter Lloyd Rallying

Or, £21 for a similar looking 'Albanian' version from ebay

Following on from my photo of rather unpacked exhaust I have exchanged some beer tokens with Thermal Velocoty
http://www.thermalvelocity.co.uk/Silencer-Packing/Acousta-Fil%C2%AE-PTX----800%C2%BAC/p-117-425/

Can length 600mm
Internal diameter 150mm
Baffle diameter 50mm

Can packed with 600mm x 1900mm of Acousta-Fil

After its deafening performance and a very understanding noise tester at Cadwell, this can only improve things.