Racer refreshed

[Andy8421]

I purchased my S3 in 2000. I wanted to race in the HSCC Historic Roadsports series - I had been to a number of races, I liked the cars and the period (1947 to 1969), and the drivers seemed a decent bunch.

https://hscc.org.uk/championships/historic-road-sports/

The car was highly competitive, in a different guise it had been a championship winning car the year before I bought it. I raced for a couple of years (middle to the back of the running - the car was much better than the driver), then life got in the way. The car's last outing was a track day about 10 years ago, since then it has sat in storage.

I have just completed a new garage to house my Sprint (a project I purchased in 1986 to restore 'the next year'), and retrieved the S3 from storage. My youngest son has shown a lot of interest in the S3 and I have shelved the Sprint (to restore 'next year'....) and I am bringing the S3 back to life.

I have always enjoyed threads on here with pictures, so I will try to post a few pictures in part payback. Any comments most welcome - particularly if you spot something I may have missed.

Here is the S3 before I bought it:

..and here is the engine bay as I retrieved it from storage (not cleaned, and with a missing throttle return spring):

[Andy8421]

There have been a couple of threads about replacing the rubber grease / dust cover that fits on the track rod end.

I guess because of the requirements of the steering geometry, the track rod end is fitted very close to the disc - there is a cut out on the disc backplate to allow it to protrude. When racing, it is common to remove the backplate completely to help with cooling. I found the rubber cover on the track rod end was getting burnt with the heat from the disc, needing to be replaced after each race. Apparently a number of other competitors raced without the rubber covers - which didn't sound great to me. The guy who built the car for me was able to source track rod ends with concentric metal covers instead of the usual rubber boot. He said they were fitted to 26Rs.

Does anyone know if this is true?

[2cams70]

I'm always a little concerned when I see track rod ends where the ball joint nut has a washer under it. You don't need a washer and the usual reason for requiring a washer is to take up clearance because the taper on the ball joint is mismatched or not at the correct angle compared to the taper inside the steering arm. It is not an uncommon situation with the non original poor quality track rod ends that abound these days.

If the two tapers are mismatched you are no longer relying on the taper fit but on line contact at the largest diameter of the taper. I've seen it happen before on other cars.

[bitsobrits]

Or it could be someone just decided to put a washer on it, needed or not.

[2cams70]

Or it could be someone just decided to put a washer on it, needed or not.

Yes that situation is obvious by implication. I am only highlighting another possibility of what it can mean because the alternative situation of unmatched tapers is unsafe. I've seen it before. It's well worth checking to be sure.

[Andy8421]

Thanks for the comments. Just what I was looking for.

I will check the taper and find out why there is a washer there.

Andy.

[batfish]

Hi Andy

I think I was in races with your car back in the early 1990s, attached photo from Mallory Park in 1992, mine was the red over white Elan.

Regards

Andy

[Andy8421]

Hi Andy

I think I was in races with your car back in the early 1990s, attached photo from Mallory Park in 1992, mine was the red over white Elan.

Regards

Andy

Andy,

It could be the same car. I bought it in 2000 from Richard Hayhow, but rather like the workshop broom that has had 3 new handles and 2 new brushes - but still is the same old broom, I am not sure how much of the car you raced against I own.

Andy.

[Andy8421]

Rebuilt caliper, plus Hawk blue 9012 brakepads recommended by Rohan.

[Andy8421]

Got the car sorted (ish), and attended a track day at Goodwood on Friday for a shakedown session. Unfortunately Goodwood has noise limits, so it had to be a 105dBa (expensive) noisy day as the TTR silencer won't pass the 98dBa limit for a quiet day.
Car ran faultlessly, and Rohan's brake pad recommendations worked very well. Picture below of the car in the queue for the track:

[SENC]

Great looking car, enjoying the pics!

[Andy8421]

A quick update, and maybe a useful lesson. I was giving the car a quick 'once over' prior to its next outing (possibly Brands Hatch). It was difficult to see in the nose area, but the air filter looked out of shape. I had removed it and blown the dust out of it prior to its outing to Goodwood last week, and it had looked OK then.

The filter has collapsed completely. I fear parts have been ingested by the engine. The filter was new 20 years ago (!) but had done very few miles (and I had just blown out the dust), so hopefully the bits that got eaten weren't completely full of grit and other abrasives. Not ideal, but hopefully not the end of the world as I guess the bits of foam would get burnt and ejected from the exhaust.

I think it was originally supplied by TTR, but after a bit of noodling around on the web I figured out it is an ITG JC60/86C filter. I have a new filter on order. I will take the carbs off and wash / blow them through in case any bits got stuck in a jet or drilling, but apart from that, I don't think there is much else I can do. The filter looks terrible now, but it really did look alright before Goodwood. I guess it had become brittle and as it is mounted right in the airstream behind the front grill it took a real battering. It wasn't quite as bad as the picture illustrates, it only had a few bits missing when on the car, but fell apart completely when I removed it.

[Andy8421]

The new filter arrived. I purchased it from Merlin Motorsport off their website, and delivery was extremely quick. First time I have used them, and they seem very efficient.

I found the filter part number off the ITG website by comparing dimensions. The spun aluminium base of the new filter is definitely the same size as my old filter, but I can't be sure about the size of the filter element itself. The old filter had fallen apart and was very difficult to measure, but it looks as if the new filter is 10mm or so shorter. The inside of the new filter has a different construction, supported by a plastic cage which looks much more substantial my collapsed filter - which seems to have relied on the foam itself for support.

New filter: