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Putting the Race Car back on the street  Rating:  Rating
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 Posted: 09-29-2009 03:09 am
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Greg_M
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Greeting all,  here is the story.  1974 1/2 Jensen Healey 5 speed.  Bought used in 1976 and raced it for 7 years.  Retired the car and fielded a Lola T360 with a Lotus 907/906 engine for another 5 years.  The Jensen sat in the garage until this summer and now is in the process of being put back on the street. 

Here is what I am working with;

Lotus 906 engine, with custom strong block, factory dry sump, custom TRW racing pistons 10.75 compresion, factory 906 compitition head, valves, springs, cam followers, compition cams, factory 906 steel billett cross drilled nitrited crank. Custom exaust.  Currently Weber 48DCOE carbs.  Converting to fuel injection for the street.  Redline 10,500 rpm.

Lightened flywheel with 7" clutch pressure plate and 3 button bronze competition disc.

Custom competitiion 2 piece drive shaft to support the high rpm.

Huffacre springs and sway bars. SPAX competition shocks.

4 speed locker rear end, changing to 5 speed for the street.

4 wheel disc brakes,
Front Formula 2 vented/cross drilled rotors with Volvo 4 puck calipers.
Rear Volvo rotors with Lotus Elan calipers.

SCCA Competion Roll bar and 5 point harness.  Have to go to stock roll bar as the soft/hard top won't clear.

Body has flaired fenders, 12 quart dry sump oil tank in the pasenger fender well behind the front tire.

As raced: weight 1547 lbs, top speed 156 mph.

 

Now a little about me.  I had the Jensen dealership in this area until I closed my shop in 1986, all my Jensen parts went into storage.  Now I have brought them out and those that I won't need for my cars I wil be selling.  Oh, I also have a 1968 Jensen Interceptor FF.

If you have a specific need email me at greg_moore@msn.com.

 

 

 

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 Posted: 09-29-2009 01:18 pm
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Brett Gibson JH5 20497
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Well lets see a picture of this thing

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 Posted: 09-30-2009 12:32 am
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Greg_M
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Here is a picture of us winning at Portland International Raceway 1981

Attachment: PIR 1981 (Small).jpg (Downloaded 586 times)

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 Posted: 09-30-2009 01:08 pm
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chrisl
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Good luck with the project - keep us posted on progress!

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 Posted: 11-08-2009 02:25 am
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Lotusracer
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Hi Greg,

We are just starting the exact opposite project, preparing our 73 Mk 1 Jensen for vintage racing, have you sold your performance parts yet ?

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 Posted: 11-08-2009 03:22 am
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Greg_M
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I've gotten rid of the fiberglass trunk lid and air dam, racing windscreen, tho I still have the patern for it.  Still have the SCCA approved roll bar for sale.  Everything else is staying on the car.   I'm not sure what I am doing with the fiberglass hood.

The engine is a one of a kind, probably can't be duplicated today.  All factory LOTUS 906 racing parts.

I have masters for the camshafts, but I am unsure what you can run in vintage racing.  They would not work well if you had to keep the stock carbs.  They realy come alive between 4500 and 9000 rpm.  Wont't idle less that 1800rpm.

I also have the molds for the front fender flairs.

 

Good luck, when set up properly nothing can beat it.

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 Posted: 11-08-2009 03:53 am
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Lotusracer
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We were hoping the dry sump kit might still be available, the vintage rules for most everything else are strict but they are OK with reliability upgrades such as Dry sump or accusumps.  We are building this vintage racer for the minister of war and finance, as she is sick of hanging around in the paddock while I have all the fun in my Lotus 7.  Your engine sounds radical, therefore totally understand that you would want to keep it dry sumped. I have run my seven dry sumped since day 1 and it really does pay dividends with engine reliability.

We may be interested in the roll bar though, I am guessing it is bolt in ?, do you happen to know tube diameter and wall thickness, I will need to check the regs to see if it complies.

Regards Mark 

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 Posted: 11-19-2009 01:26 am
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Jensenman
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I'd be interested in a fiberglass hood, er, bonnet.

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 Posted: 02-18-2010 01:03 am
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Greg_M
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Update....  I have finally decided on the direction I want to go on the fuel injection.   I will be using a MegaSquirt II for the ECU.  I will keep the Porsche 914 2.0L Bosch fuel injectors, fuel pump, pressure regulator, throttle position sensor, air temp sensor and modified Bosch distributor.  The Bosch distributor has been modified for mechanical advance only and provides data to the MegaSquirt II for ignition and fuel injection.  Eventually the MegaSquirt will feed twin ignition coils and the distributor will be replaced with a crank position sensor in the same location.

The throttle bodies are nearly finished, they are 2 - two barrel bodies machined from a block of aluminium and use Weber 48DCOE throttle shafts and plates.  

 I will be adding a water temp sensor to the rear of the cylinder head for the fuel injection and keep the sender for the Smiths mechanical water temp guage in the stock location. 

I hope the have the car running by the British Car Meet this summer.

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 Posted: 02-18-2010 09:03 am
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subwoofer
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It is quite possible (some say easy) to add a 36-1 wheel and a VR pickup to the front pulley on the crankshaft. Since you will be running an MS2 you can load the MS2/Extra firmware and have sequential fuel (for better pickup off idle) and wasted spark or COP ignition and get a lot better timing than with the mechanical advance. 3D ignition mapping wouldn't hurt either.

http://www.trigger-wheels.com have all the necessary hardware, I doubt it will be more expensive than converting the distributor.

We would love pictures!

--
Joachim

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 Posted: 02-19-2010 12:10 am
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Greg_M
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Unfortunately a sensor on the front pulley is not practical.  The front pulley is a alloy twin grove with a very deep recess for the bolt.  I went to this setup so that one belt drives the water pump and the other drives the alternator.  That way I can tighten the belt for the alternator as tight as I want without putting to much pressure on the water pump bearing.  Also for short races I would drop the belt for the alternator to get a little more power.

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 Posted: 02-19-2010 05:29 am
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subwoofer
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It has been done on a triple groove pulley, and it looks good. Unfortunately, the pictures were missing today: http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/26186-msd-ignition-system/ (User PER).

What he did was to machine a larger hole in the trigger wheel, and mount it on the inside of the pulley grooves. Just a little bit of material had to be removed from the pulley to mate with the trigger wheel, which is held in place with two small screws. It fits kinda like a ring gear on a flywheel.

--
Joachim

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 Posted: 02-19-2010 07:26 am
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Greg_M
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I don't think that would be possible on my engine.  The alloy pulley is just too thin walled to do this to it.  I can see that on a steel version of this pulley I have that it would be possible, but I don't want to change it.  The web site you referenced makes a 2" wheel that I think I can fit inside a Lucas distrubitor housing.  I would remove the cam and counter weights, mount the wheel to the shaft and mount the sensor to the plate the points mount on.  I would just need a cover to enclose  the whole setup. A used distrubitor cap would work until I could find something better.  This would give me a little project to do until the weather improves.

 

Cheers

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 Posted: 04-04-2010 09:48 am
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907heaven
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Greg,  

I use a 36-1 wheel set up on race engines I build and it will fit on the back of a 2 belt pulley.  I am not sure if you can post a picture on this forum, if not send me your email address and I'll mail you a photo.

GARRY

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 Posted: 04-06-2010 09:11 am
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907 heaven
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Greg, 

here is the photo of the missing tooth wheel on the back of the alloy pulley.

GARRY

Attachment: MVC-010S.JPG (Downloaded 316 times)

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 Posted: 04-06-2010 09:16 am
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subwoofer
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Nice one, Garry!

Do you provide these pulleys and trigger wheels to others? I don't have a lathe, so I can't make my own for the time being.

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 Posted: 04-06-2010 09:31 am
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907 heaven
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I can supply the trigger wheels; the alloy pullies are just the OEM Lotus pulley modified to accept the trigger wheel - you need to cut a small rebate on the rear of the pulley, I make the trigger wheel and pulley a slight interference fit.  Then there are 3 small holes to drill and tap into the pulley - the trigger wheel is fixed with countersunk M4 screws - I also like to bond it to the pulley to be 100% sure it isn't going anywhere.  It is simple stuff for an engineer.  I can sell you a trigger wheel for £25 plus postage.  I have two versions - one as shown and one with angled teeth, to allow for a sensor set at an angle like the photo below.

Attachment: MVC-008S.JPG (Downloaded 79 times)

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 Posted: 04-07-2010 05:34 am
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subwoofer
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Garry: It's sort of hard to tell from the photo, and I haven't seen the three groove pulleys in the flesh, but is the outer part of that pulley the same diameter as the single groove pulley on the JH?

There is not much room behind the groove on the single groove pulley, do you think it would be possible to fit the angled trigger wheel to it without interfering with the belt tensioner? The VR pickup looks like the standard Ford part, very cheap and very easy to find.

--
Joachim

Edit for spelling

Last edited on 04-07-2010 05:34 am by subwoofer

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 Posted: 04-07-2010 10:44 am
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907 heaven
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The early Healeys had a steel pulley - I can't say if it will fit on one of those, but I think the Mk2's got the Lotus alloy pulley - which were all the same at the back - they just had 1, 2 or 3 grooves for extra belts; so you can fit the crank trigger wheel on any of the alloy pullies - you are right it is a tight fit - but it will go in.

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 Posted: 04-08-2010 01:18 am
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Greg_M
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Gary,

The Jensen Healeys all had Steel single groove pulleys until the JH5 and GT's, they got a 2 groove steel pulley. The second groove was for the smog air pump.

The only problem I see for my setup is that I have a front housing that surrounds the timing belt.  I'm not sure if there is the room for the timing gear.  I guess I could always machine of a 1/4" or so.

Question;  how is the missing tooth 36-1 indixed in relation to Top Dead Center?

Cheers,

Greg

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