Category: Cars

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Campagnolo Record Brake Arm

When I bought my De Rosa frame in the early 80’s, I built it with Campagnolo Record and Super Record components. When the new C-Record group came out, I upgraded some of the components piecemeal – cranks, Delta brakes and derailleurs. I’ve been riding the same bike all these years and time has transformed it into a “classic,” according to a guy who rode up next to me.

I had the chain off the other day for its paraffin treatment and when I turned the cranks, I heard grinding. I pulled out my Campagnolo bottom bracket wrenches, removed the bottom bracket and saw that the grease had dried out and one of the cup races and one of the axle races had been scored. Deferred maintenance isn’t good.

Instead of buying 20 year-old NOS bottom bracket cups and an axle on eBay, I bought a modern, sealed bearing, Chorus bottom bracket. I just want it to work.

I took a close look at my 28 year old De Rosa, which I had been avoiding for years, and saw the corrosion, rust and scratches that have taken their toll. The chrome on the the drop-outs and the fork crown were now rust. The stainless steel hardware on the brakes and derailleurs had rust. The chrome on the quick release skewers sprouted rust. The braze-on top tube cable guides were rusty.

I disassembled the entire bike and cleaned every part with a wire brush and solvent. I even replaced the bearings in the freewheel. I used Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease in all the ball bearings, because that’s what I had but he viscosity might be a little too high for the freewheel.

I’m not interested in a restoration, so re-chroming wasn’t an option. I just want to do preservation, so I can ride my bike. I used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on the large areas of rust. It’s not pretty but as on my Alfa Romeo, it has been effective in stopping rust from spreading. It’s also a little easier to use than POR-15. For the small parts, I’ve been using Boeshield T-9 for rust prevention. I don’t know yet how effectively Boeshield stops the rust (on the small steel parts) and the corrosion on the anodized aluminum – I live less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean.

Update July 7, 2019: I’ve recently switched to Pro Gold ProLink Chain Lube since I no longer live so close to the Pacific Ocean. Either way, I don’t use Boeshield or Pro Gold on my chain, only on the pivot points of brakes, derailleurs, etc.

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Dakar Rally 2010

Dakar Rally

The Big Picture (from Boston.com): Dakar Rally 2010. (37 photos total)

The 31st running of the Dakar Rally is being held in South America for the second year, instead of the traditional African route, due to ongoing security concerns. This year’s race began and will end in Buenos Aires, covering a looping 9,000 kilometers between Argentina and Chile over 14 stages. 362 Teams began the race with 176 motorcycles and quad bikes, 134 cars, and 52 trucks. The race is just over halfway completed now, the winners expected to cross the finish line on January 16th. Collected here are several photographs from the first 8 stages of this year’s rally.

Photo credit: BuBcSek

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Slot Car Racing at Buzz-A-Rama

A few years ago, I was remembering Buzz-A-Rama, the slot car track in Brooklyn and some of my slot car experiences in New York.

I found this nice video by Rahul Chadha on Buzz and the track in Brooklyn. It looks like it’s still supported by parties for kids. I didn’t see any indication of organized racing, e.g., USRA (United Slot Racers Association) or ISRA (International Slot Racing Association). The track was never on those circuits when I used to go there.

I wondered how Buzz could stay in business all these years until I saw that track time was $20/hr on the Blue King. Maybe Buzz-A-Rama’s longevity is just a result of the interest in slot car racing that seems to have a revival every couple of years.

The Buzz-A-Rama 500 from Gorilla Face on Vimeo.

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Makita Polisher

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Makita Polisher 9227C

When we first got our 1972 BMW Bavaria, the paint was failing. I bought a Makita 9227C 7-Inch Hook and Loop Electronic Polisher/Sander from Amazon to try to save it.

I didn’t know that the paint was already dead. All the Meguiar’s compounds, glazes and waxes couldn’t save it. After hours of work, the paint would look good for a week or two.

Now, with relatively new (single stage) paint on the car, it’s a different story. After washing the car, I’ve been using Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax, Zymol Cleaner Wax or Eagle One’s NanoWax, applied by hand with a foam pad.

1972 BMW Bavaria
1972 BMW Bavaria

Then the Makita polisher, with a wool polishing bonnet or a foam pad, removes the wax easily and leaves the paint nicely polished. It doesn’t take a lot of effort and the paint shines; I’m just trying to protect it. I still dread having to wax the car, but it turns out, with the Makita polisher, it really isn’t a big effort now.

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Pre-Historics

This week is the big car week on the Monterey Peninsula. The weekend before the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, they have the “Pre-Historics.” A lot of racers are already setup in the paddock and anyone can go in and look around if you pay the $6 parking fee, which is about my speed.

We saw some of the practice for Group 7A, 1964-1971 FIA Mfg. Championship Cars: there were two 1969 Porsche 917Ks, a 1970 Ferrari 512S, 1969 Ford GT-40, a 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2 and various Porsche 908s.

In Group 7B, 1973-1980 IMSA GT, GTX, AAGT Cars, there was Henry Schmitt’s (whose father started German Motors in San Francisco in the 60’s) 1974 BMW 3.5 CSL. I saw it in the paddock with hood off and took a piture of the engine. There were also a bunch of Porsche 935s, a bunch of 1977 Dekon Monzas and various Porsche 911 RSRs.

1975 BMW 3.0 CSL
975 BMW 3.0 CSL

There were three Bonhams cars that are going to auction next Friday: a 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL in Taiga (Sold for US$ 150,000, 14 Aug 2009), the metallic green that looked ugly to me; a 1929 Bentley 4½-Liter (the Mrs. said, “This must have been where they came up with the term wind screen”) and a 1939 Auto Union 3-liter V12 Grand Prix Racing Single-Seater. When we went back to the parking lot (we drove the Bavaria), there was an E9 parked behind us. As we were leaving, we saw the Auto Union broken down on the track while doing a demo lap – they were attaching a tow rope the a fire truck.