Barn find Merlyn

[Velodrome Racer]

Hey gang, I have raced a 1959 Bugeye for a dozen years in the vintage races-prod class, but have longed to race a FF. Well, I have found one that was last raced and then parked around 25 years ago as the owner/driver passed away and his brothers stored the car. I have been working on her since I brought her home the first week of January this year and have made a bunch of progress. I have lurked here over the years-but had no reason to join until I thought I could add to the healthy conversations. I have done my share of searching here and Google too as I go about learning something new on a purpose built race car, but hope I can find another Mk20A Merlyn owner who might share some of the issues with this model of car. I have no spares-gears, wheels, or anything, which isn't as pressing as the need to know simple things like tire pressures, torque values, and gears to run at some tracks. I am open to ideas! Thanks-hoping to have her at Blackhawk in June and then Indy in August and maybe RA in September.

[EricP]

Although I kinda hate you for such a great "find"... congrats!... very cool car.

I don't have enough formula car experience to offer anything but I would say one thing: do it right and don't force/rush anything. June is a great goal but don't compromise to make that date.

[Robert J. Alder]

Wow! Very cool. You came to the right place, ApexSpeed, for input. Don't assume anything is OK on the car. Inspect everything. Obviously new tires (Probably the Hoosier Spec FF tire is the most widely available, reasonable prices, and accepted with most all vintage organizations) and of course seat belts. Fuel cell is probably an issue as the foam no doubt dried out. New fire system probably. Oops, there goes $2,000 for tires, fuel cell and belts.

But.....you will love it!!! Welcome to the FF community.

[Velodrome Racer]

Wow! Very cool. You came to the right place, ApexSpeed, for input. Don't assume anything is OK on the car. Inspect everything. Obviously new tires (Probably the Hoosier Spec FF tire is the most widely available, reasonable prices, and accepted with most all vintage organizations) and of course seat belts. Fuel cell is probably an issue as the foam no doubt dried out. New fire system probably. Oops, there goes $2,000 for tires, fuel cell and belts.

But.....you will love it!!! Welcome to the FF community.

Thanks. Oh-I know the replacement issues are crazy! I've built all new SS hoses, doing Brake calipers tomorrow, carb, changed the fule lines from push on to Dash 6, three new master cylinders, new slave cylinder, new donuts, new fuel pump, the car was running the original fuel cell, now I will get a new one and an enclosure for it as the old bladder was sitting on the frame! I added padding to the seat for now and covered it with nomex fabric, I will do a custom insert next year. I found mirrors, I have new Dunlop tires coming and I had the radiator pressure tested. I have changed all the coolant hoses and the gearbox oil as well as the engine oil, bought two new batteries, and finally-will most likely need to swap out the existing Halon fire bottle with a newer bottle.

[EricP]

Wow! Too bad antique bladders aren't valuable...

Have you tracked the driver history on the car? Could be interesting...

[Earley Motorsports]

Great find, welcome to the madness. Running Dunlops, probably about 14psi to start with and go from there. Congratulations and welcome. Get hold of Mike Weinbrener (mdwracer) on here. He has a couple of Merlyn's going by memory. He lives just south of you in Sellersburg IN. Great guy and very helpful.

[Robert J. Alder]

Sounds like you're doing it right! Don't leave anything to chance.

[Clyde]

I have always respected how long the Marston Fuel cell lasted. The new bred do not last as well.

[mdwracer]

Great find as well as a really great car! The Merlyn 20 in my opinion is really a combination of an improved Merlyn 11A which was very front caster challenged and lacked the ability to get the air out of the radiator. The front suspension is more like the Caldwell D9 which was an improved copy of the Merlyn 11A (Caldwell D9 prototype was actually a modified Merlyn 11A)The Merlyn 20 went a step above the Caldwell with a nose that exits the air out the top.
While most everyone in the United States thinks the Titan Mk6 is the only way to go for the fastest vintage pre 73 car, the Merlyn 20 is the "car of choice" in the UK by looking at their race results.
My recomendation is "spring" the car very forgiving and properly align, get around 4 extra gears, and have a rock solid engine and you will have a blast!
While I agree to take your time with the car, this is the year of the 50th and Road America in September is a MUST DO based on my experience with having attended the 40th in 2009.
I do live right down the road from you and have some FF's (Merlyn,Caldwell, and Crossle)

Mike Winebrenner

[Hawke]

It's going to be probable that the shocks are also shot. Get them dynoed first and report back.

I've seen many people try to race old cars on crap shocks, and get totally peeed off, with unpredictable handling.

[Lola_T360]

Wow! Too bad antique bladders aren't valuable...

Have you tracked the driver history on the car? Could be interesting...

Keys to driver history - I'm guessing it didn't come with a 1970s log book that tells everything - are the SCCA region stamp on the roll hoop and the chassis plate - assuming it's still got one.

CRD still has records of who cars were sold to but for US that usually only goes as far as the agent, not the final owner
I have a reasonably good database of Merlyn users that for UK ties in to chassis observations, and for US that ties cars and drivers to SCCA divisions and regions, so can probably help.

Chris

[Jayeff]

You might also consider giving a look into the Ring and Pinion to at least make sure it's not about to go. It's an expensive fix.

[Velodrome Racer]

Thanks all-Yesterday was a good day to get plenty done. I managed to replace both donuts on the half shafts, and I rebuilt the brake Calipers-even honed them and split the sides to do so. Today I bled the brakes and have solid brakes all around! So a couple of questions-What shocks should I run on this car-keeping it as historical as possible, and with the oil tank-all new oil lines and the fact it has an oil cooler-what amount of oil should I fill her with? Thanks all.

[Hawke]

To keep the car in period, you will probably need some twin tube single adjustable steel body shock. I'm the Australian agent for AVO, but that's probably not going to help you much, as there is not an agent in the US for supply of bits etc.

I've replaced many shocks on these old barn finds, and it is common that the wrong sized shocks were either fitted in the factory, or by someone else. You really need to do some accurate length measurements to get the correct size. Too long is just as bad as too short.

Shocks often come in 1" increments, and top eyes can be swapped to give fractional adjustments.

[DanW]

Doug,

Look up Wes Allen here on Apex. He owns several vintage Merlyns and has solved several difficult to source driveline parts.

Welcome to FF!

Regards,
Dan Wise

[Velodrome Racer]

I spoke with Wes-Great guy, thanks for the connection. SO today, I mocked up a fuel cell that Pegasus sells. The CB301 and the enclosure are listed and have dimensions, so I made one out of cardboard to see if it would fit under the seat and clear the shift linkage. Looks like it will work. Worked a bunch the last two weeks on the car-almost all of the suspension bolts have now been replaced along with the donuts, all brake and clutch lines, bled the new master cylinders and system after rebuilding all four calipers, and carb is almost rebuilt. Only need a fuel cell and fire bottle to get her ready for testing. (and will need some new Dunlops too) I dropped her down from the jack stands and rolled her out of the garage for a picture.

[EricP]

Looks wonderful! Very nice.

(Is the steering wheel reeeeeally close to the wind screen or is it just the angle of the picture?)

[bill oakey]

Hey gang, I have raced a 1959 Bugeye for a dozen years in the vintage races-prod class, but have longed to race a FF. Well, I have found one that was last raced and then parked around 25 years ago as the owner/driver passed away and his brothers stored the car. I have been working on her since I brought her home the first week of January this year and have made a bunch of progress. I have lurked here over the years-but had no reason to join until I thought I could add to the healthy conversations. I have done my share of searching here and Google too as I go about learning something new on a purpose built race car, but hope I can find another Mk20A Merlyn owner who might share some of the issues with this model of car. I have no spares-gears, wheels, or anything, which isn't as pressing as the need to know simple things like tire pressures, torque values, and gears to run at some tracks. I am open to ideas! Thanks-hoping to have her at Blackhawk in June and then Indy in August and maybe RA in September.

I have a complete set of chassis drawings, parts lists, setup values etc in pdf format. If you would like them, send me an email. They are for a Mk11 but I think they would apply to the Mk 20 also.

boakey@design3eng.com.

[marchbmw]

Hey gang, I have raced a 1959 Bugeye for a dozen years in the vintage races-prod class, but have longed to race a FF. Well, I have found one that was last raced and then parked around 25 years ago as the

owner/driver passed away and his brothers stored the car. I have been working on her since I brought her home the first week of January this year and have made a bunch of progress. I have lurked here over the years-but had no reason to join until I thought I could add to the healthy conversations. I have done my share of searching here and Google too as I go about learning something new on a purpose built race car, but hope I can find another Mk20A Merlyn owner who might share some of the issues with this model of car. I have no spares-gears, wheels, or anything, which isn't as pressing as the need to know simple things like tire pressures, torque values, and gears to run at some tracks. I am open to ideas! Thanks-hoping to have her at Blackhawk in June and then Indy in August and maybe RA in September.

Good afternoon sir.
Would the merlyn happen to be for sale I could be interested. Regards Chris. cre133@hotmail.co.uk