That's some quality Home Depot Racing supply there in that oil line.
We ran an accusump on the FSAE cars for this reason after competition to let them live that little bit longer.
That's some quality Home Depot Racing supply there in that oil line.
We ran an accusump on the FSAE cars for this reason after competition to let them live that little bit longer.
After some discussion, we decided the best way to solve the issue easily was by throwing an Accusump at it.
Fortuitously, the 460 has a port in the front oil galley, normally covered with a pipe plug. The accusump found a home mounted on the driver's side fender, and a little plumbing brought it all together.
Question, will it be an issue with the accusump valve not being driver accessible? I thought that a car was started with accusump closed and then once up and running with normal pressure the extra volume was added. Shutting down was the reverse, i.e. close valve then shut off car. This allows for the driver to shut off the extra oil from pouring onto the track after a thrown rod, etc.
In reply to hobiercr (FS) :
"Question, will it be an issue with the accusump valve not being driver accessible? I thought that a car was started with accusump closed and then once up and running with normal pressure the extra volume was added. Shutting down was the reverse, i.e. close valve then shut off car. This allows for the driver to shut off the extra oil from pouring onto the track after a thrown rod, etc. "
The accusump valve, according to Canton, is to be closed prior to engine shutdown to retail oil pressure in the accusump. The valve is opened right before starting, to pre-lube the engine and prevent wear associated with start up. There's three ways to accomplish this:
Way the First: Make the valve accessible to the driver, which also means hot oil lines are potentially exposed to the driver
Way the Second: Use a remote cable the driver can use to actuate the valve
Way the Third: Use an electronic valve to control the accusump with a switch
And then...there's the way we plan to do it...
nocones said:That's some quality Home Depot Racing supply there in that oil line.
I mean, it's good enough for...whatever the hell it's supposed to be used for, right? 
We had a hydraulic shop make up that pretty flex hose with the JIC ends. Because I don't trust myself to make my own hydraulic hoses.
Glad to see an update. One of my favorite GRM forum cars.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks. That really warms the cockles of my colon.
The solution to facilitating Accusump access is a little flappy door cut into the hood. This way the cut out cock for the unit can be actuated without having to remove the entire hood. The piano hinge was cut off of a defunct screen door that was laying in my scrap pile, so it was a) free and b) aluminum, so it's ultra lightweight and racecar-esque.
We've been having a more difficult time finding good race rubber, in a size appropriate for the girth of the Plymford, to fit a 16" wheel. One of our teammates found a deal on some clearance 17"ers, so we decided to take the opportunity to upgrade to 17" wheels. The Plymford's bolt pattern is a 5 x 5, and while we could run adaptors to run a 4.5 or 4.75" bolt circle and open up some more options, we knew that Jeep wheels with that bolt pattern were cheap and plentiful. They even come in factory 17's. And they're aluminum, which, as mentioned above, makes them extra race car-ey.
As a bonus, they sure are ugly.
We picked up 5 of these aluminum Wrangler wheels for $150. That's almost scrap value. And they were perfectly straight. The tires that came on them were garbage, and wouldn't even fit under Plymford with the car raised in the air and the suspension at full droop. Although, they gave me sinister ideas about jacking the ride height and building a rallycross domination vehicle...
Bonus, even with the hot garbage A/T tires on them, the wheel and tire felt lighter than the 16" steelies with race rubber we had been running. Reductions in unsprung weight are the holy grail of LeMons racers everywhere, as we know.
I can't decide about those wheels...
part of me, who hates dealing with track brake dust, thinks: "keep them black"
part of me, thinks: "maybe there's a better color that coordinates with the col...o..r of... the..."
and that leads me to think about this:
so... uh, basically... continue on with what you were doing. nothing to see here. go back to your race-car-ing things; and thanks for the update.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
I watched that movie (Muppets) for the first time ever, with the little VCHs last year. Love that car. Movie was...OK. Worth it for the cars. ;-)
The prior owner of those wheels had painted them black...badly. There's some runs and stuff in the paint. But, I kinda prefer it to the stock silver look. Since they're so ugly, the black kindof makes them blend in with the pavement. And hides brake dust. We'd painted the 16" steelies goldish-yellow at some point, and they are currently a very slightly yellowish haze of smoke gray.
The new race tires will end up about 1/2" larger in OD than the current ones, and the clearance in the rear fenders kindof concerned me.
Doing my best impression of a body man, I hammered and grindeded and bent and pressed and cussed and bruised and lacerated my hands, and eventually ended up with:
Which isn't much better, but the wheel openings are embiggered, and the new tires/ wheels do fit.
Aluminum wheels and an Accusump?!
2021 is looking mighty fine for the Plymford!
What a cool build. I've always been far more into street cars, but this thread makes me want to go racing.
volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to BirgerBuilder :
The test drive was encouraging- under the same conditions, the engine barely saw 180 degrees, whereas before it was heading up over 200. As I told the team, all of this was really, really....nice. To be able to troubleshoot and sort the rats out before getting to the track. It felt good. Knowing we'd have gone on the track, green flag would have fallen, and the first driver would have come puttering in after about 4 laps with the temp needle heading up over 220...and then had to fix it in the paddock, with the race going on. That would have been exactly what happened, and it would have sucked.
Now I was driving this thing at least once a week. It was mid-October, the weather was perfect for old car cruising, and the more little niggling stuff I fixed, the better I felt. Plus, I'd spent all summer working on this old girl, and not driving any of my other old rides. It was time to have a little different fun.
One day, after driving it to the auto parts jobber, I made a discovery.
It's really hard to back up. ;-) No, that wasn't it. Hitting a couple of speed bumps in the lot, I noticed that the front wheels were really keen to rub on the front fenders. I'd spent some time on these flares, and actually re-did them both - on each side - at least once. But they were still rubbing. And, I realized, I hadn't been cornering this pig on public roads as hard as it was going to see on a race track. I didn't want to open up the fenders more wth those flares, and I wasn't really keen on how open and light it looked compared to the back of the car.
I did have the tattered and battered front fenders from that Volvo PV 544. All right. Let's go boxing:
Not bad. Let's try the other side!
I was digging this look even more. It balanced the front and rear out, and kept the wheels tucked under metal tidily.
While I was at it, I added some tow points in the front, per the rules:
Hopefully, we won't need those.
Mrs. VCH had been less-than-enthusiastic about the front flares on the Plymford when I'd done them originally. Welding those big fat Volvo fenders on there made her all sorts of happy.
You guys have been all kinds of patient with me on this thread, so here's a full gallery of shots of this thing now:
It's now (by my personal space time continuum hole
) The middle of October. T minus 2 weeks until the rescheduled race. I was actually getting down to the last few things on the TO DO list. I rigged up this "PIT LIGHT" that the driver can switch on in case of trouble, to let us know he's coming in (as long as someone's watching the car on the track....)
One of the spare tires was worn and chunked, so I replaced that with a good spare on hand. And painted on the race numbers
And marked the "Tow" locations front and rear.
Oh yeah- and early voted. The race was the weekend before Election Day, and the whole family was coming along, to spend the week after the race on vacation with Mrs. VCH's family in South Carolina.
I'd even had time, in between test drives of the Plymford, to get my truck fixed. With an overhauled throttle body, new fuel pump, and new plug wires, distributor, module, and rotor, it was running way better than a 230,000 mile big block Chevy had any right to.
We were all excited now. Me, my family, the team...hell even our dog was coming along, and she's always up for a ride in the truck! Boogity Boogity Boogity, let's go racin'!
I hate how much I love this. I don't think my wife would ever let me create something like this.
volvoclearinghouse said:Saturday night after the mini VCHs' bedtimes I went out to rock and roll in the shop. The tunes were on, it wasn't overly hot, and everything went back together fairly straightforwardly. At some point I glanced at my phone and, seeing as it was quarter to 11, decided to call it a night.
When I got inside, Mrs. VCH was in the living room with a beverage, watching You Tube videos on gardening and compost. I grabbed my own beverage and joined her for a few minutes. She mentioned I'd been out in the shop for a bit. "Yeah," I said, "The bolts just kept dropping into the holes so I just kept putting more in." She laughed.
That's a perfect way of putting it. I absolutely love those days/nights.
damarble said:What a cool build. I've always been far more into street cars, but this thread makes me want to go racing.
Thanks. When we started racing back in 2008, none of us had any racing experience, other than a few passes down the 1/8th mile and a few laps around a rallycross course. We learned as we went, sometimes the hard way, and sometimes twice (or three times...). I will say, this is about the most fun anyone can have at ground level and with their pants on.
The interesting thing about building race cars is, the aesthetics of the car are largely driven by function, so you end up with something that's different, in a lot of ways, than if it were a street build. Driving it anywhere on public roads, then, becomes an adventure. I've gotten more thumbs up and camera-phone pictures in Plymford than I have in any other car I've ever driven.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
"I hate how much I love this. I don't think my wife would ever let me create something like this."
"Let" is a strong word. Mrs. VCH doesn't really "let" me do stuff like this, insomuch as she "tolerates" it. Spousal enthusiasm for my racecar shenanigans waxes and wanes; typically the 2 weeks (like, right now) before the race are a bit stressful on our relationship, as I tend to devote hours on weekends in the garage that might otherwise be used for around-the-house chores and family time. Things have gotten short, at times. But I've been trying to be better about it, manage time more effectively, and not make Mrs. VCH into a race widow. And I want my kids to not be race orphans, either. But I also want them to have a dad that has some 'spark' in his life, besides that of being a father. I think the excitement is contagious- they love being out in the shop with me and want to help in all the ways.
volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to Mr_Asa :
"I hate how much I love this. I don't think my wife would ever let me create something like this."
"Let" is a strong word. Mrs. VCH doesn't really "let" me do stuff like this, insomuch as she "tolerates" it. Spousal enthusiasm for my racecar shenanigans waxes and wanes; typically the 2 weeks (like, right now) before the race are a bit stressful on our relationship, as I tend to devote hours on weekends in the garage that might otherwise be used for around-the-house chores and family time. Things have gotten short, at times. But I've been trying to be better about it, manage time more effectively, and not make Mrs. VCH into a race widow. And I want my kids to not be race orphans, either. But I also want them to have a dad that has some 'spark' in his life, besides that of being a father. I think the excitement is contagious- they love being out in the shop with me and want to help in all the ways.
While I think that those who share the racing bug with their spouse are lucky I also think that those of us who's spouses support our racing despite the fact that it's not really their thing are really blessed. Even budget racing is a tremendous time and money suck and it would be easy and probably even justified to object strongly to it. It's pretty significant to support it if you're only doing it out of love.
volvoclearinghouse said:After a protracted winter and some discussions, we finally made a plan to race again in 2021, and began working on some of the things we wanted to address prior to hitting the track. #1 on the list was doing something about the loss of oil pressure in the big 460 on hard turns. After some discussion, we decided the best way to solve the issue easily was by throwing an Accusump at it.
Fortuitously, the 460 has a port in the front oil galley, normally covered with a pipe plug. The accusump found a home mounted on the driver's side fender, and a little plumbing brought it all together.
So, just noticed something, is that upper A-arm bushing crapping out?
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Good eye. We replaced those bushings when we first started racing the LTD; they probably have 10 years and as many races on them now. It's hard to think about having to do that again, but it has been 10 years and they have led a hard life. That said, the rubber peeling off there has been like that for at least 5 years, and it doesn't affect the area that's actually used as a bushing. Still....*sigh* Yeah, we should probably think about hitting all the perishable bits again at some point.
Here's a shot "under the works", as it were, for a Friday afternoon. Just to give you an idea of the cheaty goodness going on with our chassis. In no particular order:
Smell the greatness:
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
I love the smell
In reply to volvoclearinghouse : Clamped springs. “Double nutted for safety!” This is magnificent in all its monstrosity.
In reply to 11GTCS :
We clamped those springs for the first race. Every race we check them, to see if they're loosened. 10 years later, they're still good.
More plugging away on the Plymford...
We've been running wheel spacers on this car for awhile...gives about 2.5" more track and helps with the different offset of the Jeep wheels. Generally they haven't been a problem, however periodically, like any item on a race car, they do need to be replaced. This is/was the right rear wheel spacer:
That stud at the 2 o'clock position had broken. We finished the last race like this, but obviously 5 > 4, so I went ahead and changed it.
New mystery parts!
And some "premium" brake pads for the rear brakes. Nothing but the best! The old rear brakes were worn down to the backing plate, so might as well toss $30 worth of brake pads at it while we're in there, and bleed those rear calipers.
volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to Mr_Asa :
Good eye. We replaced those bushings when we first started racing the LTD; they probably have 10 years and as many races on them now. It's hard to think about having to do that again, but it has been 10 years and they have led a hard life. That said, the rubber peeling off there has been like that for at least 5 years, and it doesn't affect the area that's actually used as a bushing. Still....*sigh* Yeah, we should probably think about hitting all the perishable bits again at some point.
It doesn't really match LeMons racing, but I've recently been intrigued by roller bearings replacing bushings.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
What are they made out of? Who knows for sure but my money is on old toasters!
I have a similar set of 5×100 wheel adapters. They are definitely a non plastic and aspirationally have the PCD and thread pitch stamped in them. They came to me wrapped in brown wax paper and smelling of machine oil and fumigant. I definitely think it will be okay to strap them to the Subaru and go blast around racetracks.
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