Hi Folks, got the latest newsletter today with the stories on the Sept.
30 Maxton Meet. There were many outstanding performances. I was
especially pleased to see Booker Poirier's '49 Harley dirt track racer
at the meet. In catching a glimpse of it at the track myself, I took it
for a KR, but in fact it would be a WR model. The bike broke a hundred
at Maxton, not bad at all.
Thanks to Bill Mackey for the great work he does on the Newsletter!
Got my regulation Master Switch installed on the XXF/GR now, the Flaming
River item. It seems to be good quality, and works as expected.
Nothing much to the installation, just a matter of rounding up the piece
of #2 cable and the right cable ends at NAPA. Since my battery is in
the trunk, all I needed was 2 feet of cable, the existing + line was
long enough to reach the switch which is in front of the pushbar, under
the body, by the frame, where it is both handy and protected. The mag
kill wire was just a matter of extending the kill wire from the cockpit
switch back to the FR switch, then to ground. So now there is the FR
master switch to kill both mag and battery +, and another master switch
and mag kill switch in the cockpit.
Pulled my 3.00 3rd Member from the 9" Ford rear, to replace it with a
2.75 item I got from Currie. Currie gave excellent service and got the
order right. I ran into one snag, one of my axle bearings was "stuck",
until I thought to turn the brake drum around backwards, put the nuts on
backwards, then beat on the drum with a two by four with impetus
provided by my trusty two pound ball peen hammer. This popped it out
without damage. If you do this, don't break the drum!! Or if you do
break it, don't blame me. Keith told me to get a rubber gasket for the
9" Ford from BSR Products in Concord, NC, reusuable indefinitely and it
doesn't leak (for him). So I called BSR at 704-795-0901 and ordered it,
but they said it is back-ordered at the moment, expected in a week.
I removed my street rod brake master cylinder to scope out the situation
regarding installing a pair of Tilton master cylinders, one for the
hydraulic clutch. The Tilton items are so compact it is practical to
install both of them in the space on the frame bracket for just the
original master cylinder. I ordered the two master cylinders, in 1-1/8"
size, as Wilwood items, from the Speedway Catalog, and the kits are
identical to the ones in the Tilton catalog, except with Wilwood all
over them. Evidently Tilton makes them for Wilwood, or vice versa.
Respected authorities on this List say both that hydraulic clutches are
good, and no good, so I hope it works for me, since I really have to do
something about my mechanical clutch linkage. I am definitely going to
get the Tilton pieces for the Super T-10 gearbox I use, but I see that
in order to install and bleed the hydraulic clutch stuff it will be
essential to have the gearbox in the car, and bolt the engine to it
separately, rather than putting the engine and gearbox assembly in the
car as in the past. Can't reach the gubbins through the window where
the original clutch fork sticks out. Before that, of course, the
hydraulic throwout pieces will have to be shimmed to suit the clutch and
gearbox in a trial assembly out of the car. The hydraulic pieces are
said to be self-adjusting and they need to be, because normal wear on
the clutch disc would reduce the original clearance in the throwout
bearing system and if you had to pull the engine just to adjust the
shimming there, it would be a "bummer".
Any comment from qualified personnel, or others, would be welcome.
Cheers from ArdunBill in the Great Dismal Swamp, Chesapeake, VA
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