Dear Don:
Sorry to hear about the head gasket. What type are you using? I hope not
the grey gasket material with a little metal around the bores. You can get
all metal gaskets for the Ford 105, 109 & 116E engines from Dave Bean
(209-754-5802 ask for Ken - he uses a Cortina for a daily driver - what
dedication!) which are all metal on both sides with gasket material
inpertween. This is what is needed for competion work.
I run about 10.6:1 compression in my 105E engine and have only had a gasket
failure when using the above mentioned piece of rubbish. You do need for the
head to start off flat as you have aluded to.
My 4/4 went well at the VSCCA races at Pocono last weekend with a first on
Saturday and third on Sunday. I had most trouble with the 1600 Porsches
apart form a Speedster which was driven very carefully and we actually
lapped twice. A Lister-MG walked away from us all in the Sunday race and I
split the Porsches.
Had a lot of fun in practive drafting a Jaguar 120 with "C" type head down
the sraight away - this gave me an extra 5-10 mph pulling 110-115 at the
end. However was fortunately gridded in front of him for the race and left
him through the turns. What I was surprised about was that the Moggie left
all the MGA's & TD's which give me more trouble at Lime Rock. However some
of my usual prtagonists stayed away because we had Lime Rock the week
before, where I was forth - so maybe I just got lucky at Pocono.
The process of tuning a Morgan's suspension and Ford Kent engine for
competion is a very detailed process and one could probabley fill a book but
Dave Bean Engineering have the engines pretty well covered.
In brief you need to change the valves, valve springs, cam (for the heavy
car but racier than the Cortina GT cam), single double downdraft is OK and
will give more torque than semi downdraft Webers which are not allowed in
VSCCA anyway. Works GT exhaust system is the best. Carefully polish and
fit head, manifolds and gaskets.You must change the pistons for high perform
ance units (the standards are very fragile around the wrist-pin). Depending
on the state of tune and revs you go to but you can get away with standard
rods (thick bolts) and crank if you stiffen the main bearing caps with thick
(5/8" thick) metal straps. You should not exceed 7,000 rpm which is over
the top anyway for that cam I mentioned.
Good idea to fit smaller pulley on front of crank to slow down the water
pump and dynamo - this avoids pressurising the radiator and losing liquid at
high revs. Oil cooler is a must and baffled large sump desirable.
The chassis needs attention to shock absorbers (Konis or equal). In the
VSCCA you have to use original lever arm on the back but fill them with SAE
40 grade oil. Oil and strap springs. Uncoil bind the front springs by
taking 3/4" of the "bump" spring. Negative camber if allowed. Good wheels
and Dunlop Racing tires. Steering needs Gemmer box and collapsible column
(safety).
Roll Bar, fire suppression system, fuel cell etc. Accurate instruments, the
old Smiths current sensing tachs are useless. Smiths now make an accurate
modern electronic tach in "magnolia" which matches the old off white gauges.
Temperature gauge is useful - gives sign of trouble.
You do all that and they won't see you for dust - my 105E 4/4 is quicker
than a standard +4 but has trouble with a Super Sports or equivalent race
tuned car like Tom Fair's old car. A really good 1,500 cc 4/4 like my old
one (OKW 367 now owned by Jim Beast) would see off most of those in the '60s
also but that car was all alloy, hardtop with Austin healey rear axle
weighing only 75 lbs (the Salisbury weighs 140 lbs). I would definetly be
illegal in VSCCA events as it was 1963 anyway. But fun at the time see Ken
Hills book on four wheelers Pg 63/64.
Go to it - lets see more 4/4's out there.
Good Luck, Mike Virr
----- Original Message -----
From: <DGreimel@aol.com>
To: <deemi@juno.com>; <bonnie@vom.com>; <Bill.Dostmann@rmtinc.com>;
<RAGreimel@aol.com>; <GrmpyPrns@aol.com>; <Phil.Meany@grubb-ellis.com>;
<LMR356@aol.com>; <ckchapel@fast.net>; <W3NZL@aol.com>;
<VTang1955@yahoo.com>; <gtutko@mdot.state.md.us>; <Averyward@cs.com>;
<northwards@juno.com>; <fairview@intelos.net>; <BILLCNWEW@aol.com>;
<morgans@autox.team.net>; <vintage-race@autox.team.net>;
<virrmj@prodigy.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 7:53 PM
Subject: VDCA @ VIR
> Greetings:
>
> Mother nature smiled upon the contestants at VIR last weekend. After a
very
> cold Thursday night the sun came out and the temps were in the 70s & 80`s
for
> the rest of the weekend.
> As usual with VDCA the event was well run, things were on schedule and I
> enjoyed working at tech and meeting new people. Entries were up this year
> but still only around 90 cars I believe so we had loads of track time. I
put
> 75 miles on the Morgan on Friday and another 60 on Saturday before a
leaking
> head gasket sidlined me.. I changed it Saturday night but to no avail.
Two
> laps on Sunday morning and we were in the trailer and on the way home.
> Further investigation has revealed that the new gasket was leaking in
several
> areas so it looks like a light head milling is in order. The journey home
on
> Sunday was a "never again" deal. The next time I will wait untill Monday.
> Route 360 to Richmond was a breeze but I-95 was incredible.
> Upon arrival at the track I spotted the McCombers who have raced their
Morgan
> 4/4 since buying it new in 1962. Gene is useing a rather unusual 1300cc
> crossflow Ford on dual Webers and running in the small bore group. The
car
> looked and ran great as usual and they had a nifty new enclosed trailer
and a
> new Durango to tow it with.
> Hank Giffen was there but without a Morgan. He brought his Lotus and
Ryans
> Elva Courier in stead. A half dozen or so racers had come from far away
> places like Wisconsin and Minnesota and a few were from Michigan and Ohio.
I
> had a lot of fun with an MGA from Tenn. untill I told him he could do turn
10
> flat out. After that he was gone. There really we not any cars that were
> closely matched to mine in group 3. Most were faster, a few slower.
> Happily the SVRA has classified me in Group 1F, the slowest of the slow,
> where I will have people to play with. Today I received word that I will
be
> allowed in the Lola Cup for the Jefferson 500. That race is usually
reserved
> for under 1300cc engines but last years lap times made my case.
> Hopefully the head gasket will survive the enduro foamat. It survived six
> events last year without difficulty. Now I know what it`s service life
is,
> right?
> Hope to see more of you at Summit Point.
> Cheers
> Don Greimel
> Yellow Morgan 4/4 #97
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