Originally Posted by
Rick Kirchner
Points well taken, but you're talking generalities. Lets talk specifics and go back to his second post (which I missed in all this). The carb was refreshed, fuel put in, and it was started. Fuel cell has deteriorated based on black mush. Also a fuel smell.
So I'll go back to my first experiences with my 94. Bought it in 2002. It had only been sitting for about a year.
Decided to just go racing with it. Put some gas in, took it out to an abandoned airfield and ran it about. Everything was pretty much okay. Loading the car back in, fuel was steadily dripping out of the bottom. pulled the seat out - puddles of fuel on the floor underneath. This was the original beige ATL cell, only 8 years old, and as I found out a few days later, full of holes.
To get a fuel cell out of a 94 you have to get the side panels out of the way. At a minimum, this means removing the sidepods and radiators. With enough fasteners removed you might be able to wrestle the panels out enough to get a 90 degree short drill kit in to drill out the rivits holding the cell cover on. But there are about six that are put in from the engine side of the firewall. Even with a 90 deg short drill, good luck with that. There is a distinct probability that you can't get enough access and the side panels have to come off. That means removing the front suspension and the nose box.
Before you screw up something else trying to drill those firewall rivits out, better to just split the car and pull the motor for access. And if you haven't done that before, best to have someone knowledgable assist before screwing up the input shaft, the inserts in the frame, or the threads in the bell. Its really not that hard to do - if you've done it a couple of times before and the car has no quirks. Lets not forget the funky front engine mount...
This is the time to replace all those fuel cell container rivits with nutserts for 10-32s so you don't have to go through this nutroll again (because you will) - as well as rivit the container on the inside at the bottom so that the little stones that bounce off of you during the race don't drop into the container and wear holes in the cell......cause that's how it starts.
And I guarantee you that once the sidepods are off and the car is split other issues will be found. The good news is that it will be easier to address the hydraulic issues he brought up.
This is also the time to take a look at a couple of other major items. Assess fit issues before putting everything back together and finding them at the track. This will be a concern regardless if it's the 94 he has now or the 95 he intends to buy. Much easier to make a seat with all the claptrap off. On a 90-96 VD, gauge visibility for taller drivers can be an issue as they are mounted behind the main hoop. But the big thing is comfort with the H&N device of your choice. I drove my car for several years just fine as it was made until I got fitted for a HANS. Luckily, it was a couple of years before I needed it and it was done by the HANS people, so they told me what needed to be done. For me at least, the OEM belt attachments were too low and too far outside to work well with the HANS. The belts crushed the device into my collarbones and it was extremely uncomfortable. I had to have new attachments brazed in.
Now if the cell was good, no need for any of this.