The Jensen Lives!

[JeffYoung]

Motor runs. Roebling in April, possibly. Amen.

[Ron Earp]

The motor has now been pulled from the test mule car and is in the ITS car now. Installed, and running!!! It has as a little oil leak around the sender galley but we'll fix that with a new gasket. I think we can make Roebling in two weeks, I'm going to go ahead and register it for the race.

The motor was suprising. It was rather torquey from 4k to 7k, not as peaky as I thought it would be. It'll be an interesting car, not sure it'll be a ITS winner car, but we'll work on it for a year and see what we can do with it. Still have front springs to sort, oil leak, alignment (actually a big deal on this funky suspension) and a few other odds and ends, but unless something huge comes up I think we'll make it.

I'll post some more pictures when I can!

Ron

[Eagle7]

Way to go guys.

Good luck.

[benspeed]

Keep us posted! We are cheering for that Jensen - may it whip up on Rx7s and BMWs!

[Ron Earp]

It's back, but it runs this time!! This thing has been a bear to build and has driven Jeff and I to basically emulate my avatar. I *might* do something like thid car again, just depends. I'll think long and hard about my ITR car though. There is a big advantage to calling up Bimmerworld, Speedsource, etc. and getting parts. Sometimes even simple parts, like a steering column that is very unique to this crazy setup, can hold things up a long time. But, we've learned a lot and still have a lot of learning to go - finishing it up and then developing the thing to run well!

[JeffYoung]

Guys, that car has been a beeyatch, but I've learned more about race cars from it than anything else I have done. And that motor sounds SWEET right now. We'll see how she does. Very cool car. Ron's got a lot of blood sweat and tears in that thing.....

[AntonioGG]

That's too nice to race!

[Ron Earp]

Thanks fellows!

[Ron Earp]

alright, it is very close to being done!!! Here is Jeff last night about 2am once we got it all down and checked the suspension. The suspension on this car has been a nightmare, with lots of custom springs, shocks, etc. It is low now, and mean, but a little too low. Have to put the taller springs back in the rear to give it some rake and increase the 1/2" clearance between the muffler and ground.



I think we can make Roebling for this thing. I hope. Still have to do an alignment, it needs it badly, and run the motor in since we only ran it 5-10 minutes before due to an oil leak. She has 60lbs of oil pressure at idle, which is unheard of for a Lotus 907 motor, so we did something right. I think.

Word of advice - DON'T look in the GCR to pick your car and do so based on "Hey, that is cool, I'll build one of those". Just kidding, it has been a huge learning experience and will continue to be so I am sure. It might not be fast, it might not be competitive, but there isn't another one like it - probably for a reason! In fact, right now in my garage I have the JH and the TR8,. As far as I know the only two British IT cars in the SE, and in the country, except,for the two TR8s in the midwest.

[benspeed]

Way to go! That Jensen has to make it up north for some racing. PS - love the garage. I need a video game and TV for my beer drinking friends to remain entertained as I scrabble beneath my cars.

I hope that car has some great brakes on it. If you can take track position on guys into the corners you'll have a chance at the short tracks. NHIS and LimeRock would be perfect tracks for your new ride.

Pocono and Watkins Glenn - you might have some hp challenges.

[JeffYoung]

Rotors and pads are larger than a SM in the front, and the car weighs almost 100 lbs less, so I am hoping braking will be very good to excellent. HP will be a challenge, but we think it should make 140-150 at the wheels right now (before serious development) which is pretty good at 2220 race weight. That front suspension though, what a frustrating POS.

Roebling is a long, fast momentum track with lots of sweepers. Should be a good place for it to start.

P.S. that video game is not an ordinary game! It has pretty much every arcade game EVER on it, including my favorit LUNAR LANDER.

We have talked about taking the TR8 and Jensen to Lime Rock at some point in the next few years, that's a cool track I have always wanted to run.

[Ron Earp]

One thing Jeff and I discussed last night was building an ITS car.
This car has resisted all efforts to make it into a race car -
it has essentially been an uphill struggle at just about every step. It
just doesn't want to BE a race car. What it wants to do is lie in a field
and rust away. Don't underestimate the inherient laziness of your
car choice - if it is pre-desposed to oxidize in in front of a trailer up
on blocks then you are fighting an uphill battle!

The only easy thing was getting the car, it cost $1700 and when I parted
it out I think the thing ended up costing me $25 or so. Parted, meaning
selling all the non-ITS stuff like $50 sun visors, $100 seats, etc. since
they are rare on the market. I thought, hot damn, this is going to be cheap!

Wrong. You can't call JensenWorld and order some developed parts. Hell,
in some cases you can't even get something that should be simple like
a water pump. And when you do get it you have to disassemble it and push
the impellor shaft assembly to the right depth because Lotus, in their infinite
wisdom, built no less than three different front dresses on the engines over
three years requiring them all to use different shafts/bushings on the pumps.
There are many other examples of such foolishness.

Since we built this car we've built two SM's and there is just no comparison.
Clearly, you wouldn't expect there to be, but building an "odd" ITS car
and having to make everything yourself is not a thing for the weak willed.
I almost quit a bunch of times, but Jeff and folks on the board would keep
me going and pointed in the right direction. Thanks guys!

Now the real work will start. Development and making it a race car. Right
now we have a car with a cage and a couple of racy bits like cool gauges,
modified suspension, and some race rubber. But a race car we don't have -
yet!

[benspeed]

I put a post on the ITR thread about why I went to SPO and stock cars. I'm the all time worst mechanic - even though I try very hard. I'm hoping my stocker makes the maintenance side/frustration factor of racing much lower.

That Jensen project woulda whipped me.

[lateapex911]

Great project, great garage, and you guys are a great addition to the IT board. Thanks for doing it and sharing. How will you adjust ride height at the rear? If it's by buying springs, would an adjustable collar set up help? they're cheap and make corner weighting a breeze.

[JeffYoung]

Jake, if only...if only.....

The springs ride on a seat about half way down teh trailing arm. No way to make a collar for them that I am aware of, and not sure that would be legal?

But it is easy enough to switch the rear springs, you just jack the car up in front of where the trailing arm attaches to the body and the axle will droop enough to release the spring. 5 minute job really. But it means we both (TR8 is the same way) have to carry around a bunch of springs.

[Ron Earp]

Great project, great garage, and you guys are a great addition to the IT board. Thanks for doing it [/b]

Glad we could provide some entertainment for you folks! Seriously, we appreciate the support and help. I hope we can wrap this thing up Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to make it to Roebling on Thursday night. Still got a lot of stuff to tidy up, although it is basically there. I've got a bunch of pictures of the build from start to finish I'll put up when I get back to a broad band connection. Man, this thing really started out as a piece of crap and $1700 was probably over priced, even though I made that money back on parts.

I'm sure there are harder cars out there to build and my hats off to the fellows that build the Opel, Triumph, or other such assorted Oddites. Variety is the spice of life, but I can say this - my next IT car, and there will be another, will be choosen to win not just be "cool"! If it is a BMW or something everyone else has, so be it, there is a reason everyone else has it!

Of course, I suppose there is still the chance the JH could be the ITS killer.......

R

[Eagle7]

Of course, I suppose there is still the chance the JH could be the ITS killer.......
[/b]

We'll probably all be building one next year.

[JeffYoung]

Hell yeah! Then you can write a big check to us, I mean JensenWorld, and we'll build you one.

They come in one color, white, and one type, non-running.

[Ron Earp]

Damn, don't think we'll make it. The transmission has
sprung a leak somewhere and I am not sure where. I'll
have a look and maybe let the shop it is going to for
alignment have a look whilst on the lift, but that is not
good.

This is our rare 5 speed tranny that essentially unobtainium
in the US, and World actually. We have a four speed, and they
are reported to be bullet proof, but don't have time to swap that
in and attend to details. Something would slip and the car
would not be on the trailer as required by the Wednesday Car
on Trailer Before Racing law.

Dammit.

Ron

[lateapex911]

Laws must be different down there!

Around these parts, the car has to be on the trailer before 10PM the night before the race, (With more things left to do, of course, LOL) and that's because I have to drive it out to the street to load it on, and the noise is, ummmm....disturbing to the neighbors.

Of course, I try to get it done by 8PM....

But Murpy rents space in my garage. He doesn't miss much.

Is it a big leak?