The Phoenix - The GP Roadster Project

Chris, I heard you were running ads locally, something like "I can fix that pecker for ninety nine ninety five!!!!"

 

Of course, Dick ran the same ad, offering to paint them.

 

Reinstalled my X-brace, found and fixed an exhaust squeak, and lubed my rear suspension.

Then got started on the Howerton Aquamist install...

The star of the show for this system is the custom 3 gallon fuel cell. Jeff takes a commodity cell and reworks it significantly: custom stainless top and hardware, aluminum mounting plate for pump, heavy aluminum base plate for mounting. He adds a plastic baffle system to regulate surging within the tank while under extreme G-loads. Adds pickup, level sensor and roll-over valve. I had him build mine with AN type hardware and lines.

I'm installing this in the right rear corner of the car... the lightest corner. This will add about 30 pounds to that corner when full. Which is about what I lost by going with a lightweight battery last year.

Speaking of the battery... I need to retain access to the battery for maintenance, track inspections, pulling the ground when doing work that requires it, etc. But I don't want to remove the tank every time I need to get to the battery. So I devised a plan for that.

Here's the tank/pump in position. I've removed the plastic boot liner, but the rigid floor panel is in place. If the tank is bolted down, this panel will block access to the battery...


So I cut it!


The tank bolts down through both the plastic liner and the right section of the floor panel. I can flip the liner up out of the way, pull the left section of the panel, and VOILA.




I installed nutserts for the tank bolts, and drilled the tank base plate to match.

I need two outlets for AN lines: one to take methanol to the engine bay, and a second for the vent. This connects to the roll-over vent connection on the top of the tank. If I happen to put the car shiny-side-down, this valve closes so meth doesn't run out and cause a fire.

I purchased AN-type bulkhead fittings, and installed these through the floor in front of the tank. Then I can connect short lines to these inside the car, and can connect to the meth connection under the car to go forward to the engine bay. The vent is just open under the car, over the heat shield. No meth should ever flow out this line, just some air in and maybe a bit of vapor out.



All piped up!


Now to get to the engine bay...
I connected an AN line to the meth bulkhead fitting under the car, then ran through the subframe, around the fuel charcoal canister and fuel tank, then followed the fuel lines to the front of the car, tying to the fuel line brackets along the way.



Routed up through the right side cowl compartment, along with my wideband O2 and EGT wiring.


Tomorrow, will finish the meth hookup and wiring, as well as the wiring for the Zeitronix wideband / EGT / data logger. And will hopefully get to drive some... I was so busy on the lift today, I didn't drive!!!! :sad:

 

The MaxJax is a mid-rise lift, 48".


Perfect height for rolling around on one of these:


I always thought I wanted a 6' lift... but after having this, there's really no reason to have a taller lift unless you're going to store another car underneath. Rolling around on the stool is better than standing / walking under the car - faster and more cozy.

 

So, this happened.



Not exactly what I had in mind today. But stuff happens.

I'm not going to go into a lot of details. Skidded on a corner, dropped a wheel in a ditch with an embankment beside it, and got catapulted back out and over. Road I've driven 100 times.

Bumped my head on the pavement (I think) on the left side while rolling, and have a mild (hopefully) concussion from that, a variety of bumps and bruises and cuts, and a burn on my hand from (I'm guessing) the airbag, but otherwise I'm OK. Head CT came back clear, but I lost probably 15-20 minutes of time... so paying attention for the next few days.

Car is as broken as any MINI I've ever seen. I think the motor will be OK, as is much of the interior, and I think the GP bits are savable.

http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t446/Noncentsical/Mini Pix/05E20052-96E7-4650-BEC5-B3C68F69E539_zpselawcfio.jpg

Every person who has seen the car has said the same thing: "That roll bar saved you"
That, and the harness, did their jobs.


Might take a day or two to collect my thoughts, but I'm probably going to buy the car back from the insurance company, find another cabrio shell, and rebuild it. I'm getting good at that part. So just a temporary setback...

 

I know you did this somehow, Chris. Just to ensure you'll have your car at the track first. :arf:

 

Thanks guys. Appreciate it. I'm just happy to be in one piece... the car did what it should in that regard. I do wish I had been wearing my helmet.

Might be a requirement from now on with top down... or maybe a halo seat...

Bummer, but could have been much, much worse. 16 years of convertible driving have given me good "save your arms" instincts.

Temporary setback. If I do it right, will let me correct a couple of things I didn't love about the car...