~ >1960 OSCA Formula Junior.
~
~ I know this isn't a streetable car, but I don't remember that as being a
~ requirement. And I know I grin when I see these little things buzzing
~ around the track!
Well, my personal preference are for sports cars -- Formula cars are
cool, but sports or sports-racing cars have always turned my crank a
little harder. And yes, I *do* know about OSCA sports cars, and yes,
they *are* right up at the top of the list.
However, for the near term at any rate, the Wonderful Car is going
to be British racing green with autumn leaf interior, and have four
new pistons. Once I get that buttoned back up it'll be time to think
harder about the *next* Wonderful Car. But keep coming up with ideas,
it's fun to dream in the meanwhile...
~ On a different note, I think it is great when spouses take a real interest
~ in our cars, and want to help. I do have a word of warning, and before I
~ get into gender trouble, I must add that this is good to watch for in ALL
~ budding mechanics and helpers.
[. . .cautionary tale deleted; at least it was only a Volvo :-) :-) :-) ]
~ Not all people, male or female, are mechanically inclined. Some want to be,
~ but arn't. All new mechanics-in-training need to be watched and their work
~ needs to be checked.
Another cautionary tale, from someone who has taught a number of
disciplines both physical and mental:
Usenet is like life in at least one aspect: What you say has no
bearing on the amount of communication -- it's WHAT THEY HEAR
that matters. Couple this with the fact that different skill
levels have their own inherent assumptions, knowledge, and
experiences learned (usually) from lessons like Julia's.
Case in point: Some kid at Sears Point once wanted to help wrench
on somebody's race car. The people doing crew on my car decided
that mine would be a good candidate; I was in a driver's meeting
at the time. Fortunately, all they gave him to do was put the
valve cover on. He didn't know that MGB valve cover nuts are just
installed finger-tight, and that if you overtighten them they will
leak. Fortunately, the flimsy sheet-metal valve cover I was using
(still am, come to think of it!) bent before the threads stripped
out. But this kid just kept tightening, and tightening, and tightening
the nuts and couldn't figure out why they didn't stop turning.
It's surprising how much of being a mechanic consists of knowing
how hard to bang on something, and what you can use, and when you
have to stop -- and it's also surprising how difficult that can be
to articulate to someone just learning. That's Julia's only
real problem in Ron's story; she knew what to do and did that
fine, she just didn't have the in-the-bones sense of how tight
things need to be.
As a specific note, I've thought of this in the context of having
Kim work on the B. This is one reason I'm going to sit her down
with a box of red rags, a can of Brakleen, and various motor parts.
She's also hell on wheels with a paintbrush, so I may get her to
rustproof the block as well. I will torque the rod bolts, however,
though with the torque wrench that might be something she would
get a kick out of. And I'll bet she'd love installing the wrist
(gudgeon) pins; there's an inherent cognitive dissonance involved
in using an understanding of different coefficients of expansion
of metals to make an aluminum piston expand enough so that a steel
pin will slip in and out easily -- and in using a hair dryer to
apply the heat. Besides, that's sort of an it's-in-or-it's-not
task, though I will either do or at least check the circlips.
~ As an end note, we drove the 1800, with that engine, another 40,000 miles
~ before it was replaced.
As a completely off-the-wall question, did they ever make an 1800
with a B20, and if so, why didn't they call it a 2000? :-)
--Scott "Like the Swedish Chef making steak-and-kidney pie" Fisher
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