Tech Session #2
Fall 2005
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Tech Session #2 was held a John Englehardt's (Little John) place of business in Fountain Valley. John provided the location and Jim Lundal provided the chairs and food for lunch. Four topics were discussed featuring speakers Dan Dempsey (Body work), John Englehardt (rubber seals), Steve Clifford (engine parts casting differences) and Jim Lundal (electrical starting circuitry). |
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The above pictures were taken during tire kickin' time prior to beginning the Tech Session. Since the first tech session the audience is increasing. |
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 Dan
Dempsey has performed extensive C1 body restorations. He
discussed many of the do's and don'ts on bodywork.
Primarily, the bottom line is that it is a different world
working on these fiberglass body's compared to metal car body's.
Dan Dempsey was the first “in the fish-bowl” for the
morning. Dan is a
“Glassman”, which is also his email moniker, and he
began by explaining the characteristic differences in
fiberglass over the C1 years.
Dan then got into body sanding, paint striping,
body strengtheners, cleaning prior to paint, and on and
on. The more Dan
talked the more questions arose.
Clearly, painting a C1 is not for the novice, if
you want to get it right.
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John (Little John) Englehardt, who spoke at tech
session #1 about C1 seat construction, continued with a
discussion on rubber
weather
stripping for sealing doors, trunks, and other
locations.
John is extremely knowledgeable with
materials
as his business is contract work with automobile
companies for show concept cars.
He continued his discussion with noise
reduction, heat sealing, old glue removal and
reapplication.
John has a business called Interior
Concepts and his knowledge is extensive after
working in this field for many years.
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Steve Clifford was the third speaker of the
day. Steve
covered topics concerning C1 bell housings and the
changes of the C1 years, followed by a long discussion
on the C1 clutch linkage configuration and operation,
specifics mounting details on the starter interface onto
the various bell housings and completed the day with the
starter connection to the battery and the support strap
which connects between the starter front and fastens to
the engine block.
Steve provided the audience
handouts
describing the various components of the clutch linkage.
The handouts depicted the removal and
installation of the large spring on the linkage and the
adjustment of the linkage to properly use the spring
with clutch pedal operation.
This topic brought many experiences (story’s)
from the audience on the removal and installation of
this large spring.
The removal process can be dangerous but using a
proper technique makes the task very simple.
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Jim Lundal (right) shares the podium with Larry Pearson while discussing the components of the C1 starting circuitry.
Jim Lundal was the final speaker of the day.
Jim’s topic was formulated around his personal
experience and how a problem was discovered and
repaired on his C1. The
topic was a review of the C1 engine starting electrical
circuit. Jim had
diagramed the starting circuit separately, after
removing all the other circuitry, which tended to
simplify the presentation to the audience.
Jim also provided a handout to the audience and
he explained the circuit component by component
along with the simple diagram.
The problem Jim had repaired, was a 15 year
problem of difficult engine starting.
This problem had
finally got to the level of not driving the car
for fear the battery would “drag” down before the
engine started. The solution was found while removing
the starter for rebuild, it was noted that the "green"
wire going to the wire harness from the starter solenoid, was missing. The "green" wire however did exit
the harness correctly at the ballast resistor. At
the solenoid, the wire lug remained however the wire
must have shorted out 15 years ago (prior owner) and the
bare wires were still taped up in the wire harness.
The explanation for this is the green wire routes
closely to the exhaust manifold and could have shorted
out on starting, or running, and broken the wire.
Since the wire still existed at the ballast resistor one
would conclude that this wire could not be the problem
until it was noted that the wire was missing at the
solenoid. The "purpose" of this green wire is to
put 12V on the wire when the starter solenoid is
energized, for easier starting with 12V on the ignition
points. Once the engine starts and the solenoid is
de-energized, the engine runs on a voltage less than 12V
due to the drop over the ballast resistor. Over
the years of hard starting and the wear on the starter
also contributed to "dragging" the battery down during
starts. The worn starter was requiring more
battery current and dropping the 12V available at
starts. And, since the green wire was missing the
only voltage available at the ignition points was
dropped further over the ballast resistor.
Jim also explained the solenoid internal functions
and how wear can contribute to additional starting
problems.
Jim's description of the C1 Circuitry can be found on this Web Site under TECH TIPS. |
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Southern California Solid Axle Corvette Club