Accelerator pedal refurb - another box ticked!

[DJ]

As in almost every other Scorpion and left-hand-drive Montecarlo I've seen in recent times, my accelerator pedal assembly had long ago lost it's internal plastic sleeve and was quite sloppy. Resolving this issue has been on my "do" list for a long time and I finally got around to it while I have the rest of the interior ripped out doing the new rear interior trim panel and mounting the new fuel injection ECU.

My first thought was that I might be able to find a pre-made bronze bushing that would be close to the size I need. However, a check of the local sources quickly determined that I wasn't going to find any that where right for the job. So I headed down to the machine shop at Club Workshop (http://www.clubworkshop.com) to fabricate a new bushing on the lathe and use the other facilities and equipment to refurbish the whole assembly.

Disassembly was fairly straightforward but took a little time and effort. At first I thought it was a completely welded assembly but the end of the shaft that faces the driver's foot was simply mechanically expanded for a very tight fit on the pedal lever. A bit of grinding with a rotary tool took care of that but it still required that I use a two-arm puller to pop the lever off the shaft.

Next, all the parts were cleaned up in the blast booth to prepare them for painting. They were later resprayed with Eastwood's epoxy-hardened Chassis Black paint.

Then, after a few measurements with the vernier calipers to determine the size bushing I needed and a search of the scrap bin for a suitable piece of material, I was off the the lathe to see how much I've remembered about machining from my youth.

After all the measuring, I determined that I would either have to ream out the shaft housing a bit or turn out a VERY thin walled bushing. As I wasn't really that confident in my machining ability on an unfamiliar lathe, I decided to go with reaming out the housing a bit. There was sufficient metal to work with so there shouldn't have been a problem. I was very careful to keep close tabs on just how much I was taking off the outer dimension of the bushing and it should have been just large enough to require pressing into the hole that I was about to ream out in the housing.

Unfortunately, I underestimated my potential for hosing things up. Instead of picking up the correct ream from the work table, in my haste I picked up and used the slightly larger one which I had foolishly neglected to return to the rack after measuring them.

Now I had to either machine an entirely new bushing or figure out another way to fix my error. Fortunately, Steve makes all manner of supplies and materials available for our use at Club Workshop. A quick check of the shim stock revealed a package of 0.002 inch stainless that was perfect for shimming the bushing to the correct size.

I had initially planned to weld it back together but when I finally got to the point of reassembly I decided that I wanted to be able to disassemble it more easily in the future if needed. So I decided to drill and tap the end of the shaft and use a stainless M6 button head bolt and washer to attach the pedal lever. To make sure it doesn't loosen itself over time I assembled it with Permatex High-Strength Sleeve Retainer fluid on both the bolt and the snug fit between the pedal lever and shaft.

In spite of myself, I now have an accelerator pedal assembly that is significantly more durable than it was when it was new. Here are a few pictures of the process and the outcome.

http://lancisti.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=51&pictureid=388

http://lancisti.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=51&pictureid=389

http://lancisti.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=51&pictureid=390

http://lancisti.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=51&pictureid=392

http://lancisti.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=51&pictureid=393

[Will]

Congratulations, DJ- but that looks like aluminum! Now that you have the practice, and it's out already, and you have your dims already, why not go get youself some Oilite or CDA 932 / SAE 660 :D

In other words, I'd grade you a 9 on execution and a 2 on material selection (not that you asked but you know I don't hold back an opinion LOL!) :)

[DJ]

Yup, it's definiteley aluminum. I looked for a piece of titanium in the scrap bin but couldn't find any. :)

I'm sure this fix will probably outlive me. Besides, aluminum holds up a lot better than many people seem to believe, especially when well lubricated.

As I mentioned, I had hoped to find a bronze bush (Oilite) locally but there were none that were suitable and no solid stock available.

[Allen Lofland]

Hey DJ, you should have done what I did :) shipped it to Jim Fierst and let him do it for you .
Jim machined up a real nice one for me from brass and stainless. But no one will ever see it again so it really dont matter how pretty his work was. :(
But i do congatulate you on your "DIYS " ability and tenacity .
I noticed you painted it the RIGHT colour .

[DJ]

I noticed you painted it the RIGHT colour .

Yup. Most of the unseen parts are supposed to be coated in this 85% gloss chassis black. Just not the exterior panels... :)

[Scott H]

You beat me to it DJ. I have all of the stuff here to do it and just have not got around to taking a day to get it done. Too eff'n cold until a week or so ago. I even had picked up a couple spare pedals and was going to just do three at the same time. I thought about doing them on an exchange basis.

>Scott

[DJ]

I even had picked up a couple spare pedals and was going to just do three at the same time. I thought about doing them on an exchange basis.

So you're the reason I couldn't find a spare one to work with and had to wait until I ripped out my interior again! >:D

[Will]

I think it's great that DJ has access to some machinery due to "Club Workshop" and fellow scorp owner Steve Garran. And that he's willing to do it himself!

When I get around to doing mine, I'm going to weld a tube through and use two roller bearings. Overkill? Possibly. But I hate squeaks! :)

You can also get some really awesome plastic bearings from Igus (the cable chain people) that are self-lubricating and damn near indestructible. In pretty much whatever size you want, probably even to fit the stock bush dimensions.

My machining project for this week was converting my manual rotary table to a CNC table. That turned out to be, uh, interesting.

[1,6 HF]

When I get around to doing mine, I'm going to weld a tube through and use two roller bearings. Overkill? Possibly...

Possibly?


You can also get some really awesome plastic bearings from Igus (the cable chain people) that are self-lubricating and damn near indestructible. In pretty much whatever size you want, probably even to fit the stock bush dimensions...

IMHO, a much better idea. Look for Delrin or Acetron GP (and there are other trade names), both of which are tough, low-friction acetal resins.

I know you guys love "engineering" solutions, but I don't know why you wouldn't just source (or machine) a Delrin sleeve the same size as the original, and not worry about it again for another 20 years.

[Will]

Possibly?



IMHO, a much better idea. Look for Delrin or Acetron GP (and there are other trade names), both of which are tough, low-friction acetal resins.

I know you guys love "engineering" solutions, but I don't know why you wouldn't just source (or machine) a Delrin sleeve the same size as the original, and not worry about it again for another 20 years.

I'm guessing you've never tried to turn a nylon, acetal, HDPE, or delrin bushing like the one we are talking about, Ed?

You can't simply turn a bush like that. First, you have to make mandrels for the inside (assuming you turn from a large round) or the outside (for a small round), or a collet, then you have to grind high positive rake tooling, with a huge relief angle if you are inside turning. THEN you have to make the bushing (that's why they are cast rather than machined for most applications) All of which amounts to a big PITA. Not to mention that the flexibility of the plastic makes both dimensional accuracy and finish a challenge.

Yes you can source a "stock" bushing if you are diligent enough- the reason I mentioned the Igus (iglide) bushing is that it's available in something like 10K stock sizes, so you can just order it without any drama and the company is great to deal with. It's just one of the things like buccaneer connectors that guys who only deal with cars don't run across often, but machinery constructors do- I was just sharing a good product.

Delrin, PVC, acetal, Nylon, PE are all on my list of " buy it if you can, turn it if you must".

I also can't say for a fact that a Delrin bushing won't squeak - or any bushing for that matter- and that has been a constant annoyance with the stock throttle pedal setup. That's the primary reason I'm adding $12 worth of Torrington bearings.

If you have better luck or more patience with plastics than me and you have a collet chuck (I don't), YMMV.

[1,6 HF]

Will,

There's no question that buying a polymer bushing of the correct size is entirely preferable to modifying one; turning from solid stock wouldn't be something I could possibly do myself. But then I'd never consider modifying a throttle shaft by welding a tube to be able to add a pair of roller bearings, just on the off chance that a low-friction 'self-lubricating' polymer like Delrin might actually squeak (which it won't as far as I know).

I intend no offense to you or DJ--in the abstract I truly admire the lengths to which you're both willing to go to essentially re-engineer various aspects of your cars, and the quality of the work you both produce. But I do wonder if the desire for perfection doesn't in some sense get in the way of actually using your cars.

I don't really know how many miles you put on your cars, so I may be way off base, but I'd never drive mine if I worried about a squeak in the throttle linkage--it would be in a constant state of improvement, which to say off the road. I did a little over 240 miles yesterday, and I can tell you that I probably wouldn't even have noticed any squeaks in the throttle pedal, as they would have been drowned out by the occasional squeaks in the front transverse leaf spring, one of whose interleaves apparently isn't quite doing its part. But even the occasional spring squeaks tend to be drowned out by the wind noise and the engine noise, both of which make the absence of any radio superfluous. One of these years, I'll take it off the road long enough to drop the subframe, pop out the spring, and substitute Teflon strips for whatever's left of the interleaves, but that won't be until I need to pull the engine; otherwise taking it off the road simply isn't as compelling as driving it with minor annoyances. To say that any annoyances are overbalanced by the enjoyment would be a monumental understatement.

As I say, I may be way off base, for which I apologize in advance. If your answer is that you can't drive in March anyway, I completely concede that possibility; if your answer is that I'm simply too lazy to correct non-critical issues as quickly as others might, I'll concede that too. But I do try not to miss the forest for the occasional squeaking trees.

[DJ]

Well, I suppose I should respond to this.

As odd as it may sound to you, Ed, not all of us care to live in California, no matter how nice the weather. While the weather here in Colorado is certainly nice enough to drive our classic cars during a lot of the winter, most of us choose not to until the pea gravel is gone from the roads later in the spring. This place is hell on windscreens and I really like the fact that my car still has it's original screen intact. Besides, I also have a nice Alfa, a 300 HP Volvo with 3-mode electronic suspension, and a BMW sport tourer to play with on the nice days so I'm not lacking for any fun when I want it.

I should also point out that my car was on the road and driven most of last season and essentially the whole prior season after having been stored for a year while I was living in Scotland. If you were to go back a ways in all my posts here you'd find that my car was only taken off the road early last season because of a badly leaking rear crankshaft seal. That required an engine pull so I also took advantage of that time to install the NOS VX gearbox because my input shaft bearing was getting way too noisy. By the time my schedule allowed me to complete those items, we were into snow and pea gravel season again.

As for the throttle pedal repair, I suspect that you are not that familiar with Scorpions because this is a very typical situation for them. The need for the repair had nothing to do with it being "squeaky" or with re-engineering anything. In fact, mine wasn't squeaky at all. But it was terribly sloppy and imprecise because the old plastic bushing had totally disintegrated. It was simply a repair of a poorly designed part that had become troublesome. And because the pedal assembly was not designed to be disassembled or repaired, there are no parts available for doing so and it's a bit more involved than one might imagine. That's why I posted the info for others to have should they wish to undertake the same task.

FWIW, the original plastic bushing was extremely thin and I defy anyone here to machine a new one from any sort of resin or plastic. As I stated in my post, I even reamed the main shaft hole a bit because I wasn't comfortable trying to machine down the aluminum that thin, either. I imagine that I could print a nice one in ABS on the rapid prototype machine if I had a good 3D drawing but, then I'd only have another plastic bushing.

And yes, I had initially "re-engineered" my induction system because I wanted it to be more drivable in all the various situations we have here, especially when up in the mountains where we tend to do most of our Lancia driving. So I installed a Beta Bosch L-Jetronic system, which really made for a significant improvement in driveability, fuel economy, and emissions.

My plan all along was to eventually move to a programmable FI system for even further improved driveability and performance and that's just where I am today. I could have easily cobbled things together quickly and had a few days of driving in by now but I prefer to spend time to do things right the first time whenever possible instead of having to come back later and correct things. And I can't stand a dirty or messy engine compartment so I also take more time than most to make things neat. However, I fully expect to have the car ready for the road in fairly short order (work schedule allowing) and I expect this season to be the best yet.

With all the time I'll have on my hands this year, I'm looking forward to helping organize that Rocky Mountain ALC event soon. Has that schedule been posted on the new website yet? ;)

[1,6 HF]

DJ,

Having already apologized in advance for the possiblity of being way off base, I won't do so again here. And having lived in places other than California, I understand the idea of enforced (or self-enforced) seasonal use, as I thought I tried to make clear. Further, the circumstances you describe for taking your car off the road are precisely the ones I allowed would cause me to do the same, so I don't believe we have any argument there at all.

And I have no issue whatever with converting for some species of FI set-up for running at altitude; the Megasquirt does sound like a bit of a saga, but I wouldn't consider installing an L-Jet on a Beta engine to be "re-engineering"--I seem to recall my '81 Coupé as having something vaguely similar. In any case, I tried to made perfectly clear my admiration for the quality of your work. It doesn't sound as though we have much of an argument here, either.

I'm obviously not familiar enough with the design weakness of the Scorpion throttle pedal assembly. So I will apologize for dragging you into my previous remarks, as I'll readily say that I consider machining an aluminum replacement for a not-directly-replaceable part, to eliminate slop, as an entirely different sort of exercise than inventing a roller bearing system to eliminate squeaking.

But what's this "helping" organize a Rocky Mountain event? I thought you were going to be the chief organizer...

[Will]

Will,

There's no question that buying a polymer bushing of the correct size is entirely preferable to modifying one; turning from solid stock wouldn't be something I could possibly do myself. But then I'd never consider modifying a throttle shaft by welding a tube to be able to add a pair of roller bearings, just on the off chance that a low-friction 'self-lubricating' polymer like Delrin might actually squeak (which it won't as far as I know).

I intend no offense to you or DJ--in the abstract I truly admire the lengths to which you're both willing to go to essentially re-engineer various aspects of your cars, and the quality of the work you both produce. But I do wonder if the desire for perfection doesn't in some sense get in the way of actually using your cars.

I don't really know how many miles you put on your cars, so I may be way off base, but I'd never drive mine if I worried about a squeak in the throttle linkage--it would be in a constant state of improvement, which to say off the road. I did a little over 240 miles yesterday, and I can tell you that I probably wouldn't even have noticed any squeaks in the throttle pedal, as they would have been drowned out by the occasional squeaks in the front transverse leaf spring, one of whose interleaves apparently isn't quite doing its part. But even the occasional spring squeaks tend to be drowned out by the wind noise and the engine noise, both of which make the absence of any radio superfluous. One of these years, I'll take it off the road long enough to drop the subframe, pop out the spring, and substitute Teflon strips for whatever's left of the interleaves, but that won't be until I need to pull the engine; otherwise taking it off the road simply isn't as compelling as driving it with minor annoyances. To say that any annoyances are overbalanced by the enjoyment would be a monumental understatement.

As I say, I may be way off base, for which I apologize in advance. If your answer is that you can't drive in March anyway, I completely concede that possibility; if your answer is that I'm simply too lazy to correct non-critical issues as quickly as others might, I'll concede that too. But I do try not to miss the forest for the occasional squeaking trees.

No problem Ed, you are absolutely correct on both counts:

Making parts is cerainly relative to the tools available to each individual. DJ and I (and I assume Scott) all have easy access to MIG welders and lathes, so we probably don't fit the "average" demographic. I can make the assembly (with roller bearings) in my garage with roughly two or three hours' work not counting R&R, so it's no big deal (turn both ends of the tube to bearing OD,groove ends for snap rings, turn shaft to bearing ID, drill out old tube, tack with MIG, weld or braze it up). For people without the tools for this, sourcing is the way to go and my personal pref is the iglide bearings, YMMV.

I hardly ever drive my car. I need to get the cooling system straightened out, the double pass radiator installed, and the supercharged engine put together and installed. Unfortunately I lack space since the car has to share the garage with literally thousands of pounds of junk computers I need to get rid of (long story). The car has been out of the garage about twice in the past two years. Also, a couple of years ago I bought and restored a cabin cruiser, and now on a sunny Saturday rather than driving in LI traffic I'd rather be sitting on the flybridge of my boat with a pitcher of margaritas and a couple of friends, anchored off the beach. Even for going down to the boat, there's usually enough bags and gear and coolers it necessitates taking my F250 or my SO's Santa Fe. So, yeah, you are totally right, the car has been a bit neglected of late.

We get stones here too- both our cars just took stone hits in the past months, crack in Dorian's and a chip in mine. Mine was replaced two months ago! ARRRGH! They use salt, sand, and a mixture of other junk on our roads here so I would be reluctant to take the car out from the first snow (usuallly December) until after the first two heavy rains of April (coincidentally about the time the boat goes in the water and that takes a lot of work to prepare for to boot).

If it were my daily, yep, things would be different- my daily has a sharp broken shift knob and I still manage to overlook it!

The scorpion throttle pedal assembly (reference DJ's pictures) is a bell crank type setup where the shaft is simply too far to the right of the pedal for reliable operation the way it's built. This creates a too-big side load on the bushing and causes it to eventually disintegrate. Ditto with an FDM polymer one too DJ, I'm pretty sure- you'll find the limitations of that rather quickly I suspect. The technology is appealing though- what do you guys have, a Stratosys?


Anyway Ed, having a garage queen isn't so much an issue for me, the way I look at it if I get it back together even 5 years from now it'll still be rust free and just that much rarer. I like to tinker and the Scorpion is a convenient platform for that (since so much of the original running gear could use some improvement!). It has also given me an incentive to learn how to do basic machining, build my own CNC mill, learn to use new tools and software that I was interested in but wouldn't otherwise have committed to. After all, if you are going to learn how to make parts, you might as well have something to make parts for, right :)


Best, all: and yeah, I kind of envy you being able to drive your car, Ed- the street in front of my house looks like a Kuwait sandstorm came through followed by a gravel truck with a hole in it. I think the last known uninstalled "correct" Scorpion windshield in the US may be the one in my attic, not taking any chances! :D

[DJ]

DJ,

Having already apologized in advance for the possiblity of being way off base, I won't do so again here. And having lived in places other than California, I understand the idea of enforced (or self-enforced) seasonal use, as I thought I tried to make clear. Further, the circumstances you describe for taking your car off the road are precisely the ones I allowed would cause me to do the same, so I don't believe we have any argument there at all.

And I have no issue whatever with converting for some species of FI set-up for running at altitude; the Megasquirt does sound like a bit of a saga, but I wouldn't consider installing an L-Jet on a Beta engine to be "re-engineering"--I seem to recall my '81 Coupé as having something vaguely similar. In any case, I tried to made perfectly clear my admiration for the quality of your work. It doesn't sound as though we have much of an argument here, either.

I'm obviously not familiar enough with the design weakness of the Scorpion throttle pedal assembly. So I will apologize for dragging you into my previous remarks, as I'll readily say that I consider machining an aluminum replacement for a not-directly-replaceable part, to eliminate slop, as an entirely different sort of exercise than inventing a roller bearing system to eliminate squeaking.

Wasn't looking for any sort of apology, Ed (advanced or otherwise). Certainly not necessary. Apologies if it came off that way. Just providing some expanded explanation and looking for a little understanding. :) Sounds like a song... 8)

I have my own issues with some others (none here) who never seem to actually drive their cars because they started their ownership with the view that it's flawed in most every way (mostly because it's not designed or built exactly the way they would have done it) and set about "improving" every single aspect of it. But I can't really be critical or judgemental because it's not my car and I certainly have my own quirks about things, too. Whatever makes them happy is fine with me. I, like you, just prefer to be able to drive my cars frequently. Besides, I have plans for plenty of other automotive projects down the road and don't plan to always be working on just the one car.

As Will indicated, he has a lot of factors that are preventing his car from being on the road but he's quite content with the situation as it is. His only real "problem" is having a serious case of "Mr. Wizard Syndrome" for which there is no known cure. Ask him about the Home Depot bucket he converted for use as a coolant recovery tank... :) (Not really)

Randy Brown has a different situation in that he embarked on an absolute total (and very high quality) restoration and it just takes a long time when you also have a life to live.

So, as you clearly stated before, there are certainly plenty of variables.


But what's this "helping" organize a Rocky Mountain event? I thought you were going to be the chief organizer...

OK. Let's go! Already got one half-planned anyway because Allen Lofland has been after me to put together another Rocky Mountain Rendezvous. Lots of options for some really great things to do. We might have to suffer a few other marques tagging along, though. Allen will probably show up in his old beater FIAT Spider. :rolleyes: I'll put together some info for you and we'll discuss further.

[DJ]

I can make the assembly (with roller bearings) in my garage with roughly two or three hours' work not counting R&R, so it's no big deal (turn both ends of the tube to bearing OD,groove ends for snap rings, turn shaft to bearing ID, drill out old tube, tack with MIG, weld or braze it up).

Not sure you're going to find enough "meat" for all that, Will but it'll certainly be a "100 year solution" if you can make it work. I only figure I'll be around another 50 or 60 years so mine should be good for now and it'll give me something to do in my 70s to make another bush.


I need to get the cooling system straightened out,

Have you considered adding a second Home Depot bucket? That should increase capacity quite a bit. :twisted:


Ditto with an FDM polymer one too DJ, I'm pretty sure- you'll find the limitations of that rather quickly I suspect. The technology is appealing though- what do you guys have, a Stratosys?

Steve has a Dimension SST 768 (http://www.dimensionprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printing-bst.aspx) at Club Workshop (http://www.clubworkshop.com) as well as a nice Epilog laser engraver. Two toys on my list to learn and play with a lot more. As well as the TIG welder, CNC, embroidery machine, wood shop, etc., etc....


5 years from now it'll still be rust free

Yes but mold-free too? :) Just curious as to whether you've solved that problem yet? I may be living in a wetter (but warmer) climate again sometime down the road, too.

[Scott H]

Hey, I drove my car yesterday... (slightly) sloppy pedal and all :D.

>Scott

[1,6 HF]

OK. Let's go! Already got one half-planned anyway because Allen Lofland has been after me to put together another Rocky Mountain Rendezvous. Lots of options for some really great things to do. We might have to suffer a few other marques tagging along, though. Allen will probably show up in his old beater FIAT Spider. :rolleyes: I'll put together some info for you and we'll discuss further.

Other than the ALC Reunion events, mixed-marques always seem to be the order of the day. Yesterday's drive was organized by a Scorpion group, but consisted of more Fiat Spiders than Scorpions. While there were more Scorps at the ‘Cars & Coffee’ event, on the drive that followed, we only had three, and there were about 4 Spiders plus one X1/9. Conversely, when the Fiat Spider group organizes a run, they always let the Lancias know. Most of the "organized" Malibu canyon runs, on the other hand are with Alfas. There’s a New Year’s Day run down here with the old Lancia crowd (old referring to both cars and crowd...), but usually there aren’t enough lancisti that drive as often as a couple of us do–even with the congenial climate. I love events with a broad range of Lancias and nothing but Lancias–they’re great fun–but if I waited for those, I’d never manage to average 100 miles a week. So I say invite whomever. But all that’s for another thread.

And, Scott, Bravo!

[Will]

Not sure you're going to find enough "meat" for all that, Will but it'll certainly be a "100 year solution" if you can make it work. I only figure I'll be around another 50 or 60 years so mine should be good for now and it'll give me something to do in my 70s to make another bush.

I'll make a new (bigger) tube, dril the old one out and fit the new, hence adding meat. I think there is plenty of room in the "cup", but just going by your pics as I haven't had my assembly out since I changed the carpet years ago.




Have you considered adding a second Home Depot bucket? That should increase capacity quite a bit. :twisted:


Here's my coolant bottle (one of them anyway). It's only 1.5qt so another will be added , probably up front- unless I remake this one bigger. As you can see, it's not PLASTIC like the crappy OEM ones.

http://www.misc.spot-mate.com/pictures/Bottle1.jpg
http://www.misc.spot-mate.com/pictures/Bottle2.jpg


And here's the radiator that's going in- I have to change the tubes because the double pass rad has inlet and outlet on the same side (naturally)

http://www.misc.spot-mate.com/pictures/Radiator.jpg




Steve has a Dimension SST 768 (http://www.dimensionprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printing-bst.aspx) at Club Workshop (http://www.clubworkshop.com) as well as a nice Epilog laser engraver. Two toys on my list to learn and play with a lot more. As well as the TIG welder, CNC, embroidery machine, wood shop, etc., etc....

Never used one of those, but I did run some laminate parts on a Versalaser. Much easier to work in 2D with vector art than in G-code for 3D contour milling! It'll probably take you a couple of days, tops. CNC what? Router? Plasma table?





Yes but mold-free too? Just curious as to whether you've solved that problem yet? I may be living in a wetter (but warmer) climate again sometime down the road, too.

OK, HOLD ON THERE!!!!! :mad: I got some mold in my car and posted some pics on another forum to serve as a warning to others and I have been getting crap for it for YEARS now! A couple of days later I cleaned the car, big deal. I actually used diluted bleach in a bug sprayer and hosed down the engine compartment and under the car, then rinsed it off. The only thing inside that got moldy was the steering wheel. (It was pretty moldy though!)

Some ARSEHOLDS have been making a career of busting my balls about the mold, that ain't right!

BTW, I found the source the following summer- my Pacos has folded up a 20x40' blue poly tarp, but they had dragged it through leaves and folded it up wet. When I opened it up there was mold and rotten leaves and brackish water trapped inside. Needless to say, I am very careful to make sure all tarps are hosed off of leaves and pollen and completely dry before they come inside now.

I also have a dehumidifier and keep the garage at about 40% to save the machine tools- I had one incident where water started beading up on them and rusting them overnight and required a whole day of cleaning. I had another incident where I cleaned the a marine outdrive with muriatic acid and failed to neutralize the acid with similar results (flash rust on everything in the garage). Don't let Steve Garran allow muriatic acid anywhere near your workshop! I keep mine buried outside in - uh,,,, A Home Depot Bucket with a big rock on the lid.

[DJ]

CNC what? Router? Plasma table?

A couple of large CNC mills. He's also looking at building a CNC router for the wood shop.



OK, HOLD ON THERE!!!!!

Gee, Will. I didn't realize you were so sensitive about that. :'( Those pics looked really nasty. I was just curious as to whether it was ongoing or you had solved it. Glad to hear you got it under control.

Mold in Colorado is a total non-issue but if I move back to the South I'll need to be vigilant. I intend to build an air conditioned garage and shop so it shouldn't be too much of a problem but it can get out of hand pretty quickly.

[DJ]

Hey, I drove my car yesterday... (slightly) sloppy pedal and all :D.

>Scott

Yeah but your pedal was still sloppy. People will be agog over my pedal and precise throttle control whenever I take my car out on the road again...someday. :rolleyes:

[1,6 HF]

How well does mold work as a bearing lubricant?

[Scott H]

Yeah but your pedal was still sloppy. People will be agog over my pedal and precise throttle control whenever I take my car out on the road again...someday. :rolleyes:

I picked the best pedal of the three I have so it is not terribly sloppy.

I keep forgetting to ask what size injectors you are running? I have 24# and if you are close you can have my program if you want to use it as a starting point.

>Scott

[davidb]

D.J. needs no defense but to Ed I say you can't imagine how
aggravating Scorp gas pedals are w/o a good sleeve. The
slop is maddening. Feels like a go-kart not a car. It was one
of the 1ST "Oh this is just great" moments I had when I 1ST
drove mine. Still not fixed, one of many things left to do.

[Will]

How well does mold work as a bearing lubricant?

Geez! I was wondering what was in that spray can that says "MOLD RELEASE AND LUBRICANT", thanks for clearing that up for me, Ed!:rolleyes:


Just finished uploading pics of CNC rotary table How-To project:
http://avs.spot-mate.com/rtable.html

One thing off the checklist, 999,999 more to go! :D

[DJ]

Feels like a go-kart not a car.

That's an excellent analogy, David!

[DJ]

I keep forgetting to ask what size injectors you are running? I have 24# and if you are close you can have my program if you want to use it as a starting point

I'm using the stock Beta/FIAT injectors but can't remember their rating. I'd love to have a good starting point to use for the ECU.

[DJ]

Other than the ALC Reunion events, mixed-marques always seem to be the order of the day. Yesterday's drive was organized by a Scorpion group, but consisted of more Fiat Spiders than Scorpions.

I too would love to see a true Lancia-only gathering once in a while but I do love the mixed marque events. The ONLY problem I have with FIATs being included is that it always seems to be 99% Spiders and while there are some beautiful examples around, that just gets a bit old. I'd love to see a bunch of their other models once in a while.

I do things with the local Maserati club here and it's a rare thing to see more than one of any particular model.

FWIW, with the exception of the few Montecarlo Consortium events I've attended in the UK and one local Lancia Club meet up in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2004, the only true Lancia-only event I've ever attended was the 2006 Centenario in Torino.

[1,6 HF]

Geez! I was wondering what was in that spray can that says "MOLD RELEASE AND LUBRICANT", thanks for clearing that up for me, Ed!

LOL; the perfect response.

[1,6 HF]

I too would love to see a true Lancia-only gathering once in a while but I do love the mixed marque events. The ONLY problem I have with FIATs being included is that it always seems to be 99% Spiders and while there are some beautiful examples around, that just gets a bit old. I'd love to see a bunch of their other models once in a while.

I do things with the local Maserati club here and it's a rare thing to see more than one of any particular model.

FWIW, with the exception of the few Montecarlo Consortium events I've attended in the UK and one local Lancia Club meet up in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2004, the only true Lancia-only event I've ever attended was the 2006 Centenario in Torino.

I hope you're making your reservations for the ALC West Coast Reunion in June. It won't be the Centenario, but the only Spider would be an Aurelia Spider America...

[HF Stinger]

So, is anyone up for making an extra bushing or two while they're tool'd up?

My carpeting is out to replace my flintstone floorboard and I'd luve to fix the bushing while it's apart. Im not in a huge hurry, but this would be a good project that I could actually start-and-finish as opposed to the many others on the list.