It's Alive!

We started the motor last Tuesday! After 2+ weeks working 16-7 on this car, we think we might actually have a race car. Up to that point in week three none of the stuff we thought we'd have done on the car had gotten done. We kept hitting snags, like the right caliper appears to be from another type of Opel. But none of that matters, because at 10 PM, Tuesday, June 8, the motor ran!

But, it wasn't pretty. The car was backfiring and after-firing. Rust and oxide scale was shooting out the back of the car and at one point a big flake of carbon shot out of the carburetor. At least the exhaust wasn't clogged with rat's nests. On the other hand, maybe it is and we'll find out when we finally get the motor hot.

At first we had the timing 180 degrees off. Fixed that, and it was still coughing and shooting crap out the back. So Geoff grabbed the distributor and I cranked and Alan handled the throttle while Geoff adjusted the timing, and it started and ran! Then we shut it off after about 10 seconds. We just wanted to know it would fire and would turn. We didn't have the radiator hooked up, or any gauges, and the oil that came with the car, which looked great by the way, was still in the crank case.

We've got video of this historic moment and will get it posted soon, or hopefully before the race, or well, soon after the race. There's still so much left to do.

Since that historic night we set about getting the rest of the car put back together. Starting with the brakes, Alan and Zep blew out the brake lines and we found that the rears were clogged at the flexible line. New braided lines were installed front and rear and now all that is good. Alan installed the new 22 mm brake master cylinder then he and Zep got to work on the brake calipers. Zep took the calipers back home to rebuild and soon called back to tell us that the left and right calipers were different, the piston diamters were different. A quick call to OGTS and we heard stories about POs (previous owners) installing calipers from another model of Opel. So we pulled the caliper from the parts car, but then we couldn't get the damned pistons out. After posting this on the OpelGT forum we got a reply saying that what most people did was drill through the back of the calipers and push the pistons out, then plug the hole. We did that, and it worked. Success, minor as it was, and it took all day to do that. But then reassembling them was not going well, so we took it to a shop to let them have a go at it. (On Monday when we picked up the caliper, they charged us 2 dozen donuts and wanted to get a picture of the finished car.) Meanwhile, we ordered rebuilt calipers from OGTS.

I took out the rear deck to get a better look at the rear section, the vacuumed out yet another rats nest, wire brushed the whole area to remove loose rust, and washed it down. It smells much better now. Rat pee pee-free.

I redid some of the engine wiring to make it more robust (soldered the crimp connectors, etc.). You wouldn't believe how little wiring it takes to start and run a 1969 motor.

Continuing with the wiring, I made up a wire bundle and pulled it through to the back, added crimp connectors, and tested the lights. All is good. I ran wiring for all of the lights, even though we won't be using much more than brake lights at the first race, but once in a while LeMons does run a genuine 24 hour through-the-night race, so I wired up the tail and marker lights, too.

We installed the fuel tank bulkhead, 22 gauge steel for the rear, 0.1 aluminum for the bottom, which we will mount the battery on. We still have to find a way to bolt down the aluminum sheet. With the battery on it we can't use sheet metal screws for this.

Zep took all parts off the parts car that we though we'd need as spares at the track. Mostly that was stuff from under the hood. We'll clean and test them next week, when the '69 is in the shop getting its cage. We'll get the rotors later. We still need for the car to be in its wheels. The engine in the parts car (model 1971, block # 19S...) has water in it.

I removed the rear bumpers so I could clean them and prep the car for painting. I broke only one bolt this time. Usually we break 3-4 of those of those rusted-on buggers a day.


We picked up another crew member this week. Bernhard, from Germany, who raced there in his younger days and now runs outdoor kart tracks. He started one in Phoenix and is starting one here in Davis. He was here last night helping put some final touches in the engine bay. He may also drive for us.

We decided to go ahead and hook up the gauges so that when we run the motor longer we can see what's going on inside. I rebuilt our prototype gauge cluster using scrap ABS plastic. Unfortunately, we need metric adapters to install the sensors and by the time we got around to that it the stores had closed, and when I checked in the next morning no one had metric adapters! What, no one works on foreign cars in this country? So it looks like gauge will have to wait until my next Summit order comes in. Meanwhile, we'll use the car's original temperature gauge and tachometer.

Also in the gauge area, it looks like swapping the oil pressure sender is going to be a bitch. Team Tinyvette needs a team tiny mechanic who can crawl in there between the header and the body and wrench it out. Also, where to put the oil temperature sender? I wonder if that plug to near the oil filter will do, or of we need to punch an hole in the oil pan and put it there.

The interior is almost clean. I've been scraping up sound deadening material for a while now. My little detail sander worked wonders for shaving off the sticky tar that was on the tunnel. I followed that with some Brakecleen and a brass wire brush and towels and it's looking OK. I still have the foot-areas to do, and the carpet glue along the sides.

As of Friday the brakes are still not done. Many little things still delaying us. Our guys weren't comfortable with the rebuild of the one caliper we did and so ordered another. OGTS has been great and deliveries are quick.

Geoff dropped by Friday to help with body work. He had rebuilt the carburetor for us and it looks and works great. Well, we only ran the motor for about 10 seconds. But it ran with the carb as-delivered and with a few quickie timing adjustments!

Alan and Zep were here on the car all day Saturday, Geoff brought his wife by for a look, Keith dropped by for a look and to pluck a few parts off the parts car and offered some very useful advice and insights.

Bernhard came by at 9 PM and told me to give him something to do. He replaced the rubber vacuum and fuel lines in the engine bay with aluminum tubing. It looks great. Now we just need a few brackets. (I can't believe how floppy and loose we did these things back in the 60's, with fuel lines and wires and even the in-line fuel filter just hanging loose under the hood.) Between him running lines under the hood, me scraping tar and running wire, and Alan and Zep taking care of the brakes and other items, it was a good week. For Bernhard and I, it was it was midnight before we called it quits that day. So it was along week, too.

Working as late as possible on this car seems to be the best for me. I have trouble going to bed with things still left undone, although I have no trouble getting to sleep when I finally do go to bed. And I've been having stranger and stranger dreams, and as of last night I think I'm having a little trouble figuring out which parts are dreams and which are true. The car is scheduled to go to EGR this week. We all need a break. My hands are sore, and the house is a mess.