I had sent the Hewland transaxle to Front Range Motorsports in Denver CO for a rebuild. For a 30 year old gearbox, not all that bad. The box is back and finally installed. Can’t wait for the first race. so onwards to complete the maintenance and first race is April 11-12 at Sandia Mortorsports in Albuquerque, NM
Steve over at Santa Fe Classic Cars was able to repair many minor electrical issues and replace all the rubber hoses. Then with a new battery and fuel, it “runs”. Spit and sputter but running! Needs plug wires, plugs and a pertonics unit.
Tarmo S came by to lend a helping hand. Tarmo has 2 Corvairs, 1965 140hp Corsa and a 1966 Corsa Covertible 180 hp Turbo. Beautiful cars and a big help on authenticating my car.
So so next is to rebuild the rear suspension bushings and complete the hydraulic repairs of the brakes.
I inherited my dads 65 Corvair back in 1990. Put the car in storage and now its gets its turn to return to its former glory.
VIN verification indicates the car is a true Corsa 180hp turbo, some 20,000 Corsa’s made in 1965 with a majority the 4 carburetor 140hp version.
Santa Fe Classics in Santa Fe NM will do an evaluation of the car this week, looking at engine/trans #’s, engine status, rust, etc.. If all checks out as then we will begin to try and return it to the road. The plan will develop as time moves forward.
Well the Eldens are on a path to make ready for the 2015 season. The Formula Continental (FC) 87 Van Diemen (VD) takes its turn.
At the end of last year the starter bushing had been damaged and it was very difficult to engage the starter. The hydraulic coaxial throwout slave was leaking and the throwout bearing was rough; 
throwout bobbin/spacer was wore and sloppy; the Tilton clutch disk was cracked requiring replacement. Also the Hewland MK9 has always been very difficult to shift since I 
got it. So I sent the Hewland MK9 to Front Range Motorsports in Denver, Colorado to have J.D.McDermott and his staff rebuilt it. J.D. inspected it found the ring and pinion okay for a 30 year old car. Did find some major wear on the brass shift forks and the shift rod detent’s were “strange”. Pretty sure fixing that will be a massive improvement in this cars shifting. Now we await that to return.
Van Diemen Bell-Housing
Things I can work on: The starter bushing fell out of the Magnesium (Mg) case, a brass bush. This appears to be a bad repair from earlier in this cars life. I would bet that the Mg case was bored originally for the shaft of the starter and since the Mg is soft versus the steel it wore out. So I believe someone put this brass pushing in but with some very poor pipe threads to hold it. So by looking at it I decided to see if the new Mill/Drill I added to shop could fit the bell-housing. On this VD, the bell-housing is also the oil sump and suspension mounts, so it is a rather large assembly. Went to the lathe and created a mandrel to center the hole for the starter versus the face of the bell-housing. Put in mill and bored the hole to allow a “oilite” bushing 5/8″ OD bushing to be pressed into the Mg case.
On the lathe made a new throwout bobbin/spacer sleeve that was wore out. The original was a steel sleeve and I replaced it with a Bronze one.
Talking with J.D. about spares for this FC he suggested Universal Racing Services in the UK:
http://www.universalracing.co.uk/
Contacted them and they maybe able to help on some parts when the time comes.
Well lets update the progress and or plans for the Elden MK10.
Engine was removed and sent to Farley Engines for rebuilding. The existing engine was what I call a “mule” motor. It was a rebuild of the “as-found” with no special effort spent to make horsepower but to allow the shakedown of the chassis. Now its time to have that special motor. New SCAT crank and Tilton clutch assembly are the two big ticket items.
While the engine is at Farley’s catching up on some maintenance chores. 1) Check all rear hub assemblies. 
The Elden uses Hillman Imp stub axles which is a known weakness and I plan to replace eventually with a modern axles from Taylor Engineering. But for now bearings look good. HamFab Inc has completed some new locking washer/nuts for the stub axles. They, lock washers/nuts, were missing on the MK 10 Elden. Regular locking hex nuts and hardened washers were present when I got it and didn’t understand the importance of the locking requirement. Of the 3 Eldens in the shop, one had correct parts. Without the locking washer which is slid over the “D” shape of the stub axle, the large nut the left rear nut will loosen with every application of the brakes. Next a soft rear pedal and time to stop. Tried other mechanism’s to stop that before I went on a search to understand the problem. Now I know some will say the Lotus Elan used the same stub and this problem was addressed by many others, but I am bullheaded to ignore that fact. 🙂
Rear Hub Center Revolution Wheel
2) One of the concerns I have had with the wheel studs is that they are put in fully shear. This car had original short wheel studs front and rear, 3/8″-24. Many people had put 7/16″ dia wheel studs as the MK 8 has. I wanted to keep the 3/8″-24 as the 3 sets of Revolution wheels that came with the car are set up for the 3/8″ studs. So I went on a treasure hunt and found longer studs in the UK for the front, Triumph Spitfire and installed. The rears run a 1″ Al spacer with conversion from the Hillman bolt circle to the Spitfire bolt circle. The a long grade 8 bolt is used for the wheel stud. So when you put the wheels on the wheel nuts are the main centering device to the hub assembly leaving the wheel studs in shear. So the plan was to have made some hub centers for the various wheels I will use:
Existing Wheel Spacer
First is the Revolution wheel. The rear Al spacer has an ID of 2.75″ and the center of the Revolution wheel is 2.5″ ID. So I made on my shop lathe:
Now with this installed the wheel nuts mount very easy and this should provide significant support for the wheel studs. Wheel centers for the Revolution front and for the steel wheels front and rear are next.
Rear Hub Center Installed
So we now wait for the engine and the first April race in Albuquerque, NM.
These are pictures of the H-Mod I purchased from Mike S in IA. (http://crosleyfibersport.blogspot.com/) It appears to be one of the Mays family Fibersports “factory” cars. Sandi F. (John Mays daughter)agreed based on the fact of the 1 1/2″ holes drilled throughout the Hotshot frame.
“Sure does look like Fibersports – and I would think I have more than one of the photos that are similar or the same. But the clincher is the chassis that has holes in it. There is a family joke where someone (?) left a small child’s colander with a card attached that read: John Mays – First Place for hole drilling above and beyond the call of duty! “
Appears to have had the nose and boot bobbed, maybe due to damage? But if if you put side to side with the SIAM, the middle section is identical.
Work on this car is behind the SIAM. I am looking for additional pictures, race history or? Also looking for a Fibersport flatsided mold to put this car back the way I believe it belonged.
A local friend and I are building a 1988 Honda CRX for Chump Car or Lemons Racing. What a pain working on production car. 🙂
Anyway new engine, old one was “blowed up”, and all the safety stuff going in. Just another way to keep from working on the Elden”s or H-Mods. 🙂
Upgrades to the shop include a 1950’s Logan Lathe and a Rong Fu RF31Mill/Drill. Not a Bridgeport Mill but better than the drill press and a grinder. Already making parts.
So back to the toys
1-1-2015
Thought I would send you an update on my progress on the RP16 restoration. I was planning to sandblast the chassis myself, however the person that is going to do the frame repair for me, Mike Henry, suggested that I use a company in Denver, Blast-Tech. They do a lot of media blasting on classic and race car chassis and, based on my conversations with them, are aware of the brazing used on British race car chassis and how to blast them without damaging the brazed joints.
As shown in the pictures, they did a super job. From what I can tell, the rust was mostly on the surface with the tubing in pretty good shape. The price, $130, was right also. They even were able to reach the difficult areas of multiple tube joints/bulkheads and cleaned them really well. A few pictures are attached.
I have also attached 2 pictures of a mockup of one of the radiator shrouds that I will use to make the molds for them (this particular one was a test piece made from scraps as it was a little narrow compared to the actual size). The chassis will go to Mike on Jan 10th, so I will have to see how long the repairs will take. He does super work and I have a lot of confidence in him. I don’t know when I will get the car finished, likely not for the 2015 season.
12-2-14
Hello. MY name is Dana Moudy and I received a email from you about my Elden FF. Sorry for the delay, but I have been super busy for the last few months.
I did own a Elden FF MK10. I bought the car about 1979 or 1980. I was autocrossing with a 67 Shelby GT-350. I decided to move up to run in b-Modified with a FF. I did some research and found out the Elden had the shortest wheelbase of I believe 83”. So it was ideal for B-mod. I won the A-mod & B-mod for 1983 SCCA regional Championships with it.
I finally started racing it in 1985 at Hallett with the COMMA race series in Club FF. I started a string of races with it in which I won 18 straight races with it. I ended with a crash caused by a driver trying to go for first place and he lost control and took off my left rear corner on the car. I repaired it and while leading with 2 laps left the only part I didn’t replace broke and I spun out with a DNF.
I then sold the car to Steve Carbone who bought it for his son to race at Hallett. He owned a Machine Shop for race engines. He took the car totally apart and put it in the back of his pickup truck and on the way to the shop to be painted and chromed he stopped at a burger place to eat. When he came out the truck had been stolen. They eventually found the truck and the chassis and all the parts were still in it. This is where I lost the trail of the car and I don’t know what happened to it.
As far as I know it was never raced at Hallett because I was still racing with a Lola T440 Club Ford. I raced it and a Royale SF with a 2000 Motor and wings. I last raced in Tiga S2000 and I never saw the car back at the track. I quit racing racing at Hallett because for several years I was doing double duty by racing a dirt midget on Friday nights at one track and Saturday nights at another track, as well as the Tiga S2000 once a month at Hallett.
I gave up the road racing and drove the dirt midgets twice a week as well as another car for my son. It was pretty nice to get money at the dirt tracks and they paid nothing for road racing. I quit racing and concentrated on my sons midget. That was around 1995 or so. My memory of racing is pretty blurred with all the races and cars after 20 years. The Elden was a MK10C I think but it had the narrow nose not the wide one which kind of looked like the ones on the Tyrell’s F1 cars at the time it was built. The car came from the Chicago area and had been racing in that region with SCCA.
I have moved and the pictures have all been put away in storage buildings so I would have to dig up some pictures which I have no idea in what boxes they are in. I do have one black and white picture that I have and I could copy it and send it to you if you will send me your address to send it to. It was bright white with a blue Ford stripe and a black stripe down the bottom of the car. It is a picture of the car with the back section of the car removed so we could work an it quicker. It was good to think about that car because I won more races in that car than any others I owned. Between the Elden and the Lola I won 27 races, I 3rd and 3 DNF’s. Quite a lot of winning in that car.
If you have any other questions email me and I will try to answer you if I remember any more. Thanks for bringing up a great time in my life and remembering how all the other drivers with better cars couldn’t believe what that little car could do. Oh, I forgot to tell you I moved the radiators from behind the front tires to next to the drivers seat to get the Transient response better and lose a little weight because I could use less water and lose a little weight at the same time. Thanks for the memories. Dana P. Moudy
Dana, Good Hearing from you and your history with the Elden. I bought an Elden Chassis from a fellow in Ok City and in reviewing the log book you owned the car from Ron Eilken and previously Jay Davis, Jay actually was able to see the car last year and assured it was his as it has special fasteners from a company he represented. Oh so interesting. A couple of pictures I have found of the car and Jay has sent some others from when he owned the car. I don’t have a body for the car but plan on the front radiator position, I Think.
10/30/14
Thought I would let you know how things are going with the RP16. I have not made as much progress as I had hoped. I did find quite a bit of frame damage once I got it down to the bare chassis. In addition to the damaged steering mount tubes at the front, there was a lot of damage to two of the lower tubes, not so much from rust, but just on track incidents. A few other damaged places also. The chassis does look to be pretty straight, however. This car has a hard racing life. I found a local guy, Mike Henry (races a Lotus Twin-cam Formula B) who believes he can repair the chassis for a reasonable amount of money (~$1000). I have seen his work and he is quite an artist on tube frame chassis, both with Tig welding and the silver bronze brazing used back in the day. I hope to get it to him in the next week or so.
I also pulled apart the rear uprights and found one bastardized stub axle that has to be replaced. The other is not in the best shape either. I am looking into converting the rear stub axles and drive shafts to CV joints for both the inboard and outboard since I have to have new drive shafts anyway. There is a guy in the club that has done the same mod to an 1972 Elden MK10 Prototype as he kept breaking driveshafts and RMVR still lets him run vintage. Since Carroll Smith voices serious technical and safety concerns about running CVs and u-joints on the same axle (when articulated, they move at different rotational velocities), the conversion would be a safety improvement.
Everything else is ongoing, just a bit slow. I’m currently working on the foam molds for the radiator shrouds and tearing down the Hewland to see what kind of shape it is in. There was a lot of wear on the bushing, where the shift lever comes out of the gearbox, so lots of gear oil likely leaked there, although the previous owner tried to fix it with boatloads of silicone sealant. Hope internals aren’t overheated and damaged.
LCH Restorations 