My Boss and Guru

riptragle1953

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My Boss an Guru.jpgLeary: the dog who knew!
 

greg brillus

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Hey there Rip , yes it is a great photo.....if only just a little dissappointing.....i'm sure with a tad better organising that you could have had 10 twin engines on your workbench instead of only 5....I mean, really, what were you thinking ?.....:) Greg.
 

riptragle1953

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The idea was to finish one and replace it with another. If memory serves me right that's an original Black Lightning engine in the middle from a Cooper racing car.
 

Len Matthews

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The Timing Gear Steady Plate on the engine nearest the camera looks a bit strange-there must be a story............
 

riptragle1953

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I don't know in what form Cooper used Lightning engines in his cars ..... no need for cosmetics.
Yes, custom plate from some super-alloy ( I forget alloy #) to fit the spindles exactly including the big idler boss
once the correct position for gear mesh was determined.
 

Big Sid

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The motor sits behind the drivers seat getting very little cooling air , does pretty well on Methanol , poorly on gas . The angle from the countershaft down to the rear axle is steep and can cause complications . This one was originally built for a Mr Abacassis I seem to recall , Irving working on it personally . It ran off the track and received damages at some point . Later to be sold to David Cooper . Cooper brought us the steering linkage which was in beat up shape and our machinest Ron Baralli corrected the damages and beefed it up . Cooper did a full restoration on the chassis and alloy body and she was a polished beauty . Into this then went the rebuilt powerunit , really an honor for our shop .
Rather than polish it I finished it up in a manner I thought would improve the cooling . Using a medium flap wheel I went over the cases and covers carefully to increase the surface area and remove all polished metal . Irving has written that a dull surface radiates 9 times the heat energy of a polished one so I followed his lead . It was stunning , all business , and David never spoke of it overheating . Sid .
 
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