Electromotive warning! Don't do what I did.

I was up at Lime Rock this weekend with the 308 to run on the newly configured and re-surfaced track. Things started out okay, but as the day went on, the car started lagging, backfiring, hesitating, and generally not running well. I thought it was a problem with the carb. Third session, I went out on the track and the car was running a little strangely, then started missing badly. I decided to head in, but never made it. Just after Big Bend, the car sputtered and died, and was backfiring and as the corner workers told me, shooting flames out of the exhaust.

Well, I pulled off and had to be towed in, obviously. Once I got settled down, I started looking the car over to try to figure out what happened. Poking around, I discovered that the carbs were not the problem. There was nothing wrong with them.

So what was it? The timing ring on the crank damper had come loose. At least one of the set screws has fallen out. I guess the ring had worked loose and must have been moving, which screwed up the timing, causing the lag, hesitation, backfiring, etc. When it finally moved out from under the sensor, the car died. It must have been dumping raw gas into the hot exhaust, which caused the flames to shoot out of the exhaust.

Anyway, when I put the ring on, I tightened the set screws, but did not put Locktite on them. Well, when I reset the ring, not only am I going to use Locktite on all of the set screws, but also I'm going to drill some set holes in the damper so that the ring, once in place, cannot move ever again. I don't want to depend on just those little points of the set screws any more.

So, if you have an Electromotive, check your set screws and Locktite them, if you haven't already. And anyone installing one of these things, be sure to do that. And drilling some set holes wouldn't hurt either.

 

Okay, dug in and put the timing ring and sensor back in place last night. Fortunately, I had marked the damper and ring clearly with a hash mark, so realigning them was not a problem. Red Loctite is now my best friend!

As for Lime Rock, it was hard to tell in the rain on Saturday morning. What is amazing to me, after all this work, the new uphill was unusable because it was undermined by the rain. We used the old uphill, which is better as they have taken off the sharp lip that caused people to go airborne, and rounded it off more. The new paving is nice, especially down the front straight (no more washboarding), Big Bend (no more NASCAR concrete patches), and through the Esses. There is a lot of runout area beyond the downhill, so should be a lot safer.

What I didn't like is the "chicane" in West Bend. Rather than sweeping through West Bend, you go straight, slam on the brakes, make an almost 180 deg. right hand turn, into an immediate left hander. Almost impossible to avoid some really rough rumble strips. Speeds on the downhill will be slower, as you come out of that left hander almost under the bridge, so not much momentum to build speed before diving into the right hander out onto the main straight.

Other changes have not been completed, from what I saw. The pit entrance is still after the right hander after the downhill, not up before the bridge, as it was supposed to be. And for all the regrading and work they did, there was still a lake on No Name straight and in the Esses, plus a river running across the middle of No Name from runoff on the hill. You would think, with all the time, effort and money, that they would have fixed those things. Oh well.

 

Bird,

I was also thinking that two or three little spot welds might work too, but might throw off the balance on the damper. I actually peened each of the set screws as well, so that they cannot back out even if the Loctite decides to let loose.

Regards,
Steve