Brake lines

After an overland transport by Pete of Midnight Auto to our friend Bruce Whipple's house the first thing was to get the car onto stands and back into "operations" mode. Bruce is attacking the brake lines which will be custom made to feed all four wheels with fluid.

The car seems to have come full circle as Bruce initially undertook the dismantling of our Lola T440 with the help of his class. The car obviously came a long long way.

More to come...

Various Machinery

First Roll Out.

When she first hit the ground I noticed how out of whack the entire suspension set up is and the need to set baseline.What a little cart! Hillclimbs, autocross and track.

New steering arm

After a 3 week break I attacked the steering arms. Pat Prince racing made 2 new beautiful nickel plated steering rods and matching rod ends. Installed. 

Front and rear suspension

This week marked the completion of the Lola's front and rear suspension. All calipers are rebuilt with new pads, every single nut and bolt has been replaced and all bearing and hardware is renewed or reconditioned. We also dry fitted the body panels which will need some fine adjustment to fit perfectly. Next will be the hydraulic, fuel and cooling system plumbing. 

Engine & Gearbox installation

This week concluded the final engine and gearbox installation. Our 4 speed Webster non-synchronized trans axle was meticulously rebuilt by Mark Wehrman of Wehrman Engineering. One lay shaft gear was replaced as we found it to be slightly worn. Peter from Midnight Auto, who rebuilt the Ford 1600 cc engine had to fit another oil pan as the one which was on the engine dd not fit the frame. The final install went relatively smoothly with only a slight mod to the left side engine mounting and the need to acquire a new starter. Next is the water and oil system. The two radiators and the cross connect tube are already in place.

Lola Body - First Dry Fit

Today we dressed her for the first time. The bare frame received the 3 piece body and was checked for basic fit. All but the nose cone are original to the car, which is not surprising as the front piece suffers most from road scrape and the occasional "rub" agains other race cars. The fit of the drivers seat and "reclining" position is definitely on the snug size - but that is how you want it. Tight.

Engine float

The Lola's engine has been completed and is now "floating" in the chassis. Plumbing and engine mount issues have prevented the final install but much progress has been made. Brake calipers are rebuilt, all upright bearings replaced, pedal assembly and master cylinders are in place, steering column and forward shifter linkage assembly mounted as well as both forward suspension components installed. 

Engine Starts Life

Yesterday I called our friend Pete McCarthy from Midnight Auto who is rebuilding our Ford Kent engine for the Lola. What a coincidence - as I talked to him I heard the engine running in the background for the first time. Its alive ! The power plant looks like an art piece in the woods with various pits of plumbing, strange pipes and borrowed radiators from other cars, just to make it run. The plan is to install the unit into the car next week.

Axle Shafts

Today we stripped and took apart the left axle shaft which surprisingly was in excellent condition. The bearings and seating surfaces hardly showed any wear which confirms (just as the transaxle) that our Lola did not see allot of track time. Over the weekend also spoke to the previous owner who told us that he held the track record with this car at Bridgehampton and Watkins Glenn race tracks.

Stripped side panels

Both side panels have been stripped of the old dark blue paint. We used special aircraft paint remover, scotch bride pads and good old fashioned - hours of muscle grunt to remove 36 years of paint. Now we have two beautiful satin polished aluminum panels ready to be mounted. Good news: the 4 Dunlop tires arrived which will be mounted next week. 

Instruments

The dash, basically an aluminum plate with wrinkle finish contains the centrally mounted mechanical Jones tachometer which is flanked by a Smiths water temperature and Smiths oil pressure gauge. All was disassembled and taken apart. We will see what we can clean/salvage and what gauge needs replacement. There is a spiders nest visit in the water temp gauge...so not sure about that one. We will take each gauge apart clean and test them. If you think that the mechanical tach takes up to one horsepower (roughly 1% of the entire power of the car) - it is worth considering switching to am electronic tach.

In the mean time we rebuilt the forward SU carburetor of our Peerless. Now she does not leak anymore fuel. Nice !