A Berkeley with Bite! (ccrunner)

[ccrunner]

Liquid Filler..

I've heard it said that products like Evercoat Featherfill could just as easily be called liquid bondo, and I think that pretty much sums it up.. This stuff is viscous and stacks up fast! The reality is we end up sanding most of it off in the end, but it sure is forgiving if your panels are wavy-gravy

What you see in the pics is me forgetting that I had left a bit in one of my mixing cups, and this is the result after only 20 minutes or so left unattended.. I was really surprised by a lack of shrink back.. this product is pretty impressive..

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

August 4-6, 2024

My deadline to take the car up to Reno for my annual Hot August Nights pilgrimage dictated that I get this car back together stat!

These pics show the car all in primer and being put back together for the show- this was a busy, 'fiddley' 3 day thrash..

*Windshield is getting a rubber ribbon to go between it and the body; same treatment for the external door hinges

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

August 6, 2024

Nice to bolt things back together and actually have this thing resemble a car again, insomuch as that is possible

Yes, Eric, I can see the homage to the E-Type grille opening.. Both Brits, but maybe only related through marriage

I couldn't resist the last pic.. it seems we have a thing for small, 2-seat cars at our house

--ccrunner

[JAMADOR]

Looks great in a monochrome finish. And the bubble headlights look great.

[Bent Wrench]

I did not realize scale until you parked it next to a MG.

[SkinnyG]

I haven't sprayed Featherfill, but I have sprayed Slick Sand - they're pretty much the same thing.

You really only want to mix the amount your can spray - if it's not out of the gun in like 15 minutes, you'll never get it out of the gun!

But, compared to spreading a skim-coat of varying hardness filler by hand, this stuff is a godsend. I would have hated bodywork less if I had known about Featherfill and Slick Sand years ago...

Looks sweet!

[ccrunner]

August 8, 2024

The Fun Car Event That Was Anything But..

So I got the Berkeley all back together and loaded it on the trailer to make the trek to Reno, NV, for the Hot August Nights car show (about 7 hours away). I chose to trailer it because it's VERY hot in the CA central valley in the summer (as is Reno), and I just couldn't take 14 round trip hours in this car in 100* temps, so the drive it/ trailer it debate was brief.

All went well until I was about 20 miles out of Reno. I looked in the mirror after a particularly violent bump in the freeway to notice that things looked off. Without much drama, I was able to get off the freeway to check the car, which is when I discovered the passenger side hinge on my trusty Harbor Freight trailer had broken, and things had moved around a bit. I wasn't on the roadside long when a friendly driver stopped to see if I needed help, and between the 2 of us, we were able to make a roadside repair that would be good enough to get me into town. All good I thought, but if I had known what was coming, I would have turned around right then and there and just headed home. More on the real failure of the trip in the next post.

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

Reno, cont'd...

...I thanked good Samaritan Les for helping to get me going, and in short order I got to the hotel and took the Berkeley off the trailer.. Went to park it, and the clutch pedal felt 'off'.... pumped it a few times and it functioned fine, but just felt weird (it is cable actuated).. I was hot and tired, and I convinced myself that it was working fine; stop worrying! The next day I was driving the Berk around Reno and started having a hard time changing gears, like I couldn't push the pedal in far enough to fully disengage the clutch.. It must just need an adjustment?.. So I limped it back to the hotel, and was able to adjust it with the few tools I brought, but I noted that I was now at the end of my available adjustment- strange!.. Fired it up, tried to drive it, but the odd feeling returned in the pedal, and I could not (easily) change gears.. Between the trailer scare, and now this mystery clutch issue (and my lack of decent tools to truly repair it), I decided to listen to what the universe that was telling me: This just wasn't to be my best trip.. I left the Berk at the hotel, walked around the car show(s) on what was left of that Friday, and went home early on Saturday. I wrote the trip off as a failure.. These things happen.

What went wrong with the clutch? Glazed friction plates? A stretched/frayed cable? Notches in the MC clutch basket hanging the plates up? None of the above. After pouting for a few weeks about my wasted trip, over the long Labor Day weekend I did what I was loath to do and tore the car all the way back down: I had to find the source of my problems (which I misdiagnosed a few times before discovering the issue). With tedious effort and an eventual very sore back, I was able to avoid a motor pull and proceeded to dig out my one-off clutch actuating arm (lever), where I found the culprit. A poor design I breathed to life some 5 years ago finally went through it's one last cycle and cracked, taking away all ability to push the pedal and have the clutch fully release. In short, I designed a ticking time bomb flaw into the clutch fulcrum, and in hindsight, I can't believe it lasted this long. Lesson learned- THINK about the stresses a component will endure, and build accordingly! **The reason for the homemade clutch arm is that the donor bike had a hydraulic clutch that needed a redesign as the 'car' driveshaft flange dictated that she get a lever/cable clutch pull setup because the OEM slave cylinder would no longer fit in the stock position.

The next many shots are of the effort to strip the car down far enough to pull the clutch actuator lever out and build it the way I should have done some years ago. The car has been in service for over 5,000 miles, and it's held up wonderfully and has been super reliable.. I can only be mad at myself for this failure.. Since this repair has now been made, I have full confidence in the car again, and I've forgiven myself for not getting things right the first time

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

More of the clutch tear down. The really sad thing about this is that I had the car down to its frame in July- it would have been a cake walk to fix this then unknown issue if only I had been aware of it..

..As long as I'm working on clutch bits, I figured I might as well replace the friction plates.. This didn't really need to be done right now, but I justified the minimal cost and effort on this wear item as something that was easy to do while the car is apart..

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

Not The Prettiest of Parts..

So my clutch lever-thingy isn't the the crown jewel of this build, but if only based on its functionality, it sort of is.. I had to find a way to replace the Honda OEM hydraulic clutch setup with a mechanical lever design that could fit in behind the MC countershaft/ driveshaft adaptor, AND clear the comparatively giant giubo that wants to live in the same space. The result is form following function in this odd-bird cable-actuated mechanical arm acting on a bearing, swing-lever fulcrum. It's very hard to capture in pics, but I found a way to have all of these systems and bits work independently in a painfully small area. My mistake was in not designing the arm to be robust enough to act against my stiffer clutch springs (86#).. These pics show the rework on the arm, and how this should never be an issue again

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

*A Footnote on Reno's Hot August Nights 2024

Unrelated to the content I put on this build log, there was an incident at Hot August Nights this year that may preclude me from going back. I don't want to go into details, but you can Google HAN/Virginia City 2024 and you'll come up with news and videos of the ugly racist incident pretty quickly. Virginia City is a small historic mining town near Reno that is sanctioned as a satellite venue of the HAN event every year.. lots of HAN $$ flows through VG every August.. After the despicable incident this year, I was certain HAN would suspend / withdraw VC's involvement in upcoming HAN events; they have not, and will not. I've been going to Reno for HAN since I was a kid in the bay area in the 1980s, but I think that has come to an end. I'm certain my absence will make no difference to HAN, but does to me. To have a venue (VC) that proactively celebrates its racism, past and present, is something I don't need to be a part of. Now look what I've done- I'm coming off as one of those preachy, "knows better" internet tools.. Not my intention.. I just put this here as my own little one man protest.. Take it, leave it.. Do what you will with it. If HAN changes how they include/ exclude VC, then I'll reconsider my involvement..

Okay- so now I'm looking for some other fun west-coast car thing to to during the summer.. Somewhere where people are nice, and accepting of everyone

--Dean

[ccrunner]

Sept 6-8, 2024

So the clutch issues happened in early August.. then I was mad at myself and at the car for several weeks (we were not on speaking terms), then out of necessity, about a month later, we made up over Labor Day weekend.

I had to get over myself because I needed to fix the damn car; I was entered in the "Faultline 500" car rally to take place September 6-8. I got the car back together and drove it up to our starting point in Hollister, CA (about 150 miles north). The Berk ran flawlessly.. saw some old friends and met some new ones as we zipped around central CA.. One downside: it was HOT.. I mean HOTTTTTTT!! The open, aluminum-paneled Berkeley is not exactly cool, so the event was fun for sure, but quite taxing on my body.. By the end of our 500-ish miles, I was ready to get back home at the cool CA coast.

One nice feature on this rally is that they route us out in the hot, empty central valley roads by day, but by night they brought us in to overnight in Morro Bay, CA, a neat little coastal town that is cool and pleasant (see sunset pic below)..

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

Last few of the Faultline Rally..

Top pic is near Hearst Castle.. look close- the blobs on the beach are sea lions.. If you're ever regional (central CA), seek out the seals and a tour of Hearst Castle.. both are worth your time..

Frisbee Cow can be seen in the tiny town of Harmony, CA (population 18)!.. Hard to get scale on her, but that statue is about 9 or 10 feet tall..

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

Late Summer- 2024

Some recent 'not car' things..

Life can't be all about cars.. other stuff happens too. A few months ago we went to a 'night in the park' showing of "Grease" on the grounds of a local hotel in Shell Beach. It was a nice chance to get out with the family and enjoy a classic film under the stars. Our sweetie dog Ruby took it as a chance to harass all of the people around us, so she found herself in 'arm jail' so that others could enjoy the movie too..

Our hot tub recently died for the last time. It's an older model that has been on hospice care for these last few years; Something would fail, I'd throw time or effort or money at it to keep it going, until this last failure had me stop throwing good money after bad. We took on the big job of carting the carcass out and then with great effort I placed our brand new tub in its place. For the record, I voted to not have a hot tub at all, but I was vetoed, and if your marriage operates like mine, you know why we are now the proud owners of hot tub #2

Finally, several weeks ago Lisa declared that we needed an overnight away (we've both had a rough start with this year's classes/ teaching). Because I'm well trained in how these things work, we did in fact take an overnight trip to a local favorite spot of ours called Ragged Point Inn, located south of Monterey on the iconic highway 1.. We are blessed.... good times

--ccrunner

[ccrunner]

September 21, 2024

Back to the car stuff..

One of our own here on locostusa goes by AGLurker- his real name is Tony; Super nice guy who happens to follow this build. Tony also happens to live and work near me, and occasionally I'll see him at our local cars and coffee. Tony works at Vandenburg Space Force Base, and a few years ago he asked if I would enter my Berkeley in the base's annual "Exotic Car Show." I balked and told him I didn't think my Berkeley qualified as an exotic, and that I didn't belong there. He wouldn't have it.. insisted that by whatever metric, the Berk most certainly IS exotic, and that I should enter the show. That was last year, and a scheduling conflict came up and I didn't enter the show in 2023.. Life goes on..

Fast forward to this past September when Tony again offered to help enter my car in this year's show. He again assured me that despite my car's lack of a V-12 or a prancing horse, I belonged. He thought his Space Force peeps would love to see it, and so I committed and promised follow through this year.

These pics show the result. My primered microcar dwarfed in a sea of some decidedly very high end cars. Just as Tony had assured me, the Berk was well received, if not only for some comedic relief among the much more serious, well heeded hardware in attendance. It was a good time with a very healthy turnout of some amazing cars. Thank you AGLurker for the help getting involved and getting on base

*Sorry so many pics of the yellow Lotus.. I sort of fell in love with that car and neglected to take very many pics of the other amazing cars

--ccrunner