Tag Archives: Austin Healey

Sprite Spree 2003, Grantville, PA

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Sprite Spree Logo

Dad and I attended Rick Mose’s fourth five year anniversary event for the Sprite. He says that the 2008 event, the Sprite’s 50th anniversary, will be his last. The Spree was held at the Holiday Inn in Grantville, right off I-81. The Spree was attended by John Sprinzel, famous Sprite rallyist and racer, Daniel Stapleton, noted author of the book about modifying Sprites and Midgets for performance, and several Aussies who flew over including Mike Gigante.

Roses at Funkhana

Roses at Funkhana

Roses at Rally Start

Roses at Rally Start

Our first events on Tuesday afternoon were the Rally School followed by a three hour rally through the Pennsylvania countryside in the rain. With no working wipers!! Great fun- we found almost everything that we were supposed to find.

Wednesday was the Autocross school followed by the autocross at the Penn National Horse Race facility parking lot. It proved to be a great venue. On the first run through, I had the second best time, behind only Frank Clarici in his Speedwell Sprite by one second. Everyone got three runs. My best time was 1:13 – fourth best, but I clipped one cone for a two second penalty. The error knocked me from fourth to seventh. Still a great effort for only my first autocross! I was up against some highly modified racing sprites.

Autocross Lineup

Autocross Lineup

Frank Clarici's Speedwell

Frank Clarici’s Speedwell

The Competition?

The Competition?

I am Ready

I am Ready

Waiting, Waiting!

Waiting, Waiting!

Rick Moses

Rick Moses

Starting Line

Starting Line

Through the Cones

Through the Cones

I am Helmeted & Ready to Go!

I am Helmeted & Ready to Go!

On Thursday, I participated in the Funkhana and placed second overall for a ribbon and basket of Hershey candy! Then return to the Penn national for the panoramic group photo of approximately 40 sprites, a midget or two, one big Healey owned by Gary and Edie Anderson, and Clarici’s A40. Following the group photo it was back to the Hotel parking lot for the Popular Show.

The Thursday night closing banquet at the Holiday Inn was wonderful fun. Frank Clarici’s Bugeye nose for a lecturn and three Sprites in the dining room certainly set the ambiance. Following special recognitions and dinner a fun Chinese Auction was held to raise money for the Sprite Cause. Rick Moses and his family did an unbelievable job in organizing everything, to the benefit of all attendees. Best of all Dad and I had a super three days together!

Moses & Sprite Lecturn

Moses & Sprite Lecturn

Banquet Cars

Banquet Cars

Stapleton & Rose

Stapleton & Rose

John Sprinzel & Me

John Sprinzel & Me

 

The Broken Axle Half-shaft

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I was driving in the countryside near Dayton. Coming back into town I shifted to first gear to accelerate from a stop light only to find that while the motor was running like a sewing machine, the car would not move. The car was towed home. After initially expecting to find a problem with the clutch linkage or the transmission, we discovered the problem was a sheared axle on the driver’s side. Everyone tells you how easy this is to fix, but no one describes that it can be very difficult to get the inch long broken piece of half shaft out of the differential! We got a little help from Jack at Coachworks to remove the broken piece.

Axle in Differential

Axle in Differential

Sheared Half-shaft

Sheared Half-shaft

While under the car we also discovered that the rebound straps were about to go, so we replaced them at the same time.

Hardened steel competition axles were ordered from The Winner’s Circle. Expensive – $249 a piece! They should never break again. We decided to use Bill Perry’s (Rivergate) suggestion and applied Form-A-Gasket to the differential and to the axle hub faces rather than using paper. We will need to evaluate how the approach works. We also replaced the brake shoes because when the half shaft broke we discovered oil leaking from hub on the driver’s side.

 

Anti-sway Bar Installation

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Anti-sway Bar

After waiting for quite a while for delivery of an anti-sway bar, we installed it with minimal effort.  We were somewhat disappointed that the links to the wishbone touched the inner side of wheel when turned to full lock. Called Tom Colby at Speedwell Racing that manufactured the bar to see if we had made an installation mistake. He said, “No, just don’t turn the wheels to full lock position!” Couldn’t believe it because Speedwell Engineering is a very reputable race car prep shop.

Installation instructions were provided by Speedwell. With everything clean, we did a careful visual inspection of the frame rails, anti roll bar mounting pads, and the lower control arms.  It is a very good idea to weld the frame rail seams and also weld completely the mounting pads, which are only partially welded by the factory.  It is very common to have the lower frame rails tear themselves apart from the heavy cornering forces.  With this done, we ran a 5/16 X 24 tap through the mounting pads to insure good clean threads to attach the anti roll bar to the frame.  We then installed the bar to the frame.

The bar may be mounted to the frame with the car raised in the air but the rest of the installation must be done within car at its ride height.  We slid the Delrin bushes onto the anti roll bar and then mounted the bar using the pillow blocks supplied.  We center the anti roll bar and locked down the shaft collars after it was centered.  The anti-roll bar should move somewhat freely in order for it to function properly.   We then installed a rod-end into one end of the anti-roll bar and attached a corresponding bracket.  Then, we swung the bracket up to the lower control arm and positioned it so that the link was vertical.  This is where the 3/8 inch bolt holes should be drilled and bolted to the A-arm.  Now we did the same to the other side.  With the driver in the car the links should be adjusted so that there is no pre-load on them.  Finally, we tightened everything and we were ready to go.

Engine Improvements

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Gear Reduction Starter

Replaced the starter with a modern gear reduction starter from APT Fast. Unlike the old Lucas starter it cranks until the motor fires. Definitely more difficult to install than the original, but hopefully easier starting will make it worth it. Fastening the lower bolt was accomplished by jacking up the right front, removing the tire and wheel and reaching through the hole in the frame wall. The cranking sound is very different than the Lucas starter, but functionality is substantially improved. We chose to continue to use the old pull starter switch on the dash, but could have hooked up the starter to a modern solenoid as well.

Gear Reduction Starter

Gear Reduction Starter

The 2001 Capital Area Classic

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Dad and I attended the Capital Area Austin Healey Club father-son weekend meet at Frederick, MD. It was the first time that I had participated in a show or club event with my Bugeye, so it was pretty exciting. The car broke down in Berryville. After getting fuel it just wouldn’t start again. Turned out to be the starter, but substantial consternation involved before things got fixed by the next day. I participated in my first Funkhana and actually won it!

Just me, or are we leaning?

Just me, or are we leaning?

At Speed

At Speed

I came in second in the popular judging show. Highlight of the event was that Gary and Paulette Lownsdale, The President of the Austin Healey Club of America attended. I drove the Bugeye home from Frederick – about 2 hours.

My First Awards!

My First Awards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popular Car Show, Frederick, MDPopular Car Show, Frederick, MD

This is a pdf file of the report of the event which was posted on the club’s website: Just click to see the four page write-up.

Capital Classic 2001

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Engine Enhancements

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crane ign. The car is running a little rich. I attempted to adjust which became an experience. As the book says, I backed off the jet adjusting nuts 11 flats only to find that the car would not start at all. After a little help from the midget/sprite email list, I backed off the jet nuts one flat at a time until I got to 24 flats before the car began to run well. However, now it runs better than ever.

Hayden Electric Fan

The car is running slightly hot (past normal temp) with just the hayden electric fan. Dad decided to put the 6 blade plastic fan on as well. The two together work effectively. Now we seem to be staying well within acceptable temperature range. I had tried to save the horsepower used by the water pump fan, but oh well.

Electronic Ignition

We installed a Crane XR-700 electronic ignition and had the timing, valve clearances checked by Jack Harper at Coach Works. This is the installation manual for the Crane Electronic Ignition: Crane XR700 Installation Instructions

Began installation of the electronic thermostat for the electric fan, but decided against it. Will just switch it on manually when needed. It’s a little noisy!