@Jon T @Colorjockey another really fun day...blasting in the canyons & PCH...what our toys were built to do...our biggest group yet 8
of us including 1st timer raffi and his 550 spyder...more good times!!
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Nice group!
Very cool!
Looks like great fun, and I'm envious of the cooler weather y'all are enjoying!
Would you know the brand of the Spyder? A couple of clues are telling me it could be a Thunder Ranch.
@Wulfrik (John) not absolutely sure..but i believe so....what a neat car,,,kinda wish i was a bit shorter so i could own one.....a crowd pleaser when ever we stopped
Yeah, Spyders are people magnets.
Oh! I didn't realize it was Raffi's!
Indeed, I know that his is a TR, as he and I have been swapping notes for several months now. Perhaps I do have an eye for the TR details. 
@jncspyder -- thanks for the confirmation!
@jncspyder @Wulfrik (John) @Jon T Yes it is my spyder. Had a great time with all the guys on Sunday. It was my first real long drive in the spyder and everything went well. I guess I do know what I am doing. lol. It felt great finally taking the spyder out. Although i definitely need to make a couple adjustments on it.
If any of the spyder guys want to chime in let me know. Biggest issue is that it seems like the engine is running really hot. Would an external oil cooler help with that? Or anything just to keep the motor cooler. Also, the throttle cable is really hard to push down. I used the correct lubricant and it didn't help much. So I will probably just install a new one. Where is the best place to get it from?
Raffi
It was fun watching @Colorjockey attempting to get his 6’3” frame into Raffi’s 550. He was able to wiggle his way behind the wheel, but instantly knew he would never be able to drive a Spyder, and would likely be picking gravel out of his forehead after a drive. Yet he still developed a strong yearning for hir own Spyder. 
@Jon T posted:It was fun watching @Colorjockey attempting to get his 6’3” frame into Raffi’s 550. He was able to wiggle his way behind the wheel, but instantly knew he would never be able to drive a Spyder, and would likely be picking gravel out of his forehead after a drive. Yet he still developed a strong yearning for hir own Spyder.
It's a tough deal, that.
@ford356outlaw posted:@jncspyder @Wulfrik (John) @Jon T Yes it is my spyder. Had a great time with all the guys on Sunday. It was my first real long drive in the spyder and everything went well. I guess I do know what I am doing. lol. It felt great finally taking the spyder out. Although i definitely need to make a couple adjustments on it.
If any of the spyder guys want to chime in let me know. Biggest issue is that it seems like the engine is running really hot. Would an external oil cooler help with that? Or anything just to keep the motor cooler. Also, the throttle cable is really hard to push down. I used the correct lubricant and it didn't help much. So I will probably just install a new one. Where is the best place to get it from?
Raffi
What was your round trip mileage?
@ford356outlaw posted:@jncspyder @Wulfrik (John) @Jon T Yes it is my spyder. Had a great time with all the guys on Sunday. It was my first real long drive in the spyder and everything went well. I guess I do know what I am doing. lol. It felt great finally taking the spyder out. Although i definitely need to make a couple adjustments on it.
If any of the spyder guys want to chime in let me know. Biggest issue is that it seems like the engine is running really hot. Would an external oil cooler help with that? Or anything just to keep the motor cooler. Also, the throttle cable is really hard to push down. I used the correct lubricant and it didn't help much. So I will probably just install a new one. Where is the best place to get it from?
Raffi
Always analyze first.
Find out why the engine is running hot. Is everything in tune, valves are adjusted, no debris in the shroud? You're sure your gauge is accurate? You're going by oil temp, right? Make sure you have enough in there! Then check it with a long candy maker's thermometer in the dipstick hole.
That said:
Yes, a remote oil cooler is almost mandatory. Get a thermostatically controlled "sandwich plate" to divert oil from your remote oil filter and put another thermostatically controlled fan on it, either pushing or pulling air down and out from under the shell. Mount the cooler at the back of the car on the passenger side. Not on the firewall and not close to the fan shroud.
As for the throttle cable: look at the springs. The return springs on your carbs, maybe another on or near the pedal. Too much spring is too much, but be aware: you usually need a little more spring than you think you should, just to make sure those big Webers go back to idle.
Is it a VW throttle cable, a Morse cable, or a bicycle cable? Does it have a direction-reversing bellcrank or pulley? You may want to re-engineer the linkage.
@Wulfrik (John) I probably had the farthest distance to travel. I think i did about 120 miles total. Not bad.
@edsnova @DannyP thank you for the great info. I will definitely fix it how you told me. You guys have been amazing throughout this entire process. Here are a couple pics of what i currently have. It seems like i need to exert extra pressure to get the pedal to the metal or fiberglass in this car.
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@ford356outlaw posted:@Wulfrik (John) I probably had the farthest distance to travel. I think i did about 120 miles total. Not bad.
Nice! I’ve been more local than that so far, and the weather reality is that we’re in the summer rainy season — hard to count on any day being rain free at this point. Winter will be my time to take it on longer jaunts.
@Wulfrik (John) I brought my tool box with enough spare parts to build a car.
I ended up drilling a hole on the floor by my seat to drain out any rain water just in case. LOL. just kidding. no holes.
@edsnova posted:Always analyze first.
Find out why the engine is running hot. Is everything in tune, valves are adjusted, no debris in the shroud? You're sure your gauge is accurate? You're going by oil temp, right? Make sure you have enough in there! Then check it with a long candy maker's thermometer in the dipstick hole.
That said:
Yes, a remote oil cooler is almost mandatory. Get a thermostatically controlled "sandwich plate" to divert oil from your remote oil filter and put another thermostatically controlled fan on it, either pushing or pulling air down and out from under the shell. Mount the cooler at the back of the car on the passenger side. Not on the firewall and not close to the fan shroud.
As for the throttle cable: look at the springs. The return springs on your carbs, maybe another on or near the pedal. Too much spring is too much, but be aware: you usually need a little more spring than you think you should, just to make sure those big Webers go back to idle.
This is the voice of experience. Listen!
@ford356outlaw posted:@Wulfrik (John) I brought my tool box with enough spare parts to build a car.
I ended up drilling a hole on the floor by my seat to drain out any rain water just in case. LOL. just kidding. no holes.
Every gas station with a canopy is a refuge! 😁
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@edsnova posted:
Indeed, Ed, it a motorcycle with four wheels = gas station canopies and highway underpasses!
You do have an edge, though, in that you've got rubber mats in your Spyder, correct?
Bare aluminum clad floor, mainly.
Yes, and a bare Aluminium floor would seem Manly, too.
At least I have a Manly Speedster-sized windshield, but even with that, unless you're going over 50mph, you're gonna get soaked, sometime on the ride to where-ever.
I remember rain. I just feel for my grandkids. Maybe they can visit Oregon 🙂
@Michael Pickett posted:I remember rain. I just feel for my grandkids. Maybe they can visit Oregon 🙂
Come on up. The fall rains have just started. Today has been typical, don't leave home without your sunglasses and rain coat. You'll use 'em both before you get home.
Can you say coupe?
@Michael Pickett posted:I remember rain. I just feel for my grandkids. Maybe they can visit Oregon 🙂
Could have used some a couple months back. 
We have been crazy dry all year.
In June, I spent almost $1000 trying to keep my yard(s) alive, and ended up giving up because of the expense. The net/net is that I paid for a bunch of water and my grass still died.
We have had almost the perfect Summer and it's continued into Sept. I haven't watered my lawn a single time and even the gardens only a very few times (by hand, no sprinkler needed). It's been hot with enough rain that the gardens and grass have been growing like a jungle all year.
We've had a perfect couple of weeks of 70's weather and heading back into the 90's coming up. And the lake is still 70 degrees 2 hours north of us. Fall colors are popping up and Thanksgiving, at its proper date in October, is looking great.
@ford356outlaw posted:@Wulfrik (John) I brought my tool box with enough spare parts to build a car.
I ended up drilling a hole on the floor by my seat to drain out any rain water just in case. LOL. just kidding. no holes.
If you actually use your Spyder, drill some holes. I'm not kidding. Directly in front of and behind the main cockpit bulkhead are some good spots. 1/4" will do. Toward the center of the car is out of the spray from the tires. Also behind the seats is another good spot.
Right off the bat, I can see @ford356outlaw I can see you are missing the doghouse tin on the air exit of your oil cooler. The missing tin directs the hot air under the car, where driving down the road carries it away. Right now the hot air exits into the engine compartment. Some of that heat is definitely ending up back into the engine through the intake.
https://aapistons.com/products...VEAQYBSABEgLn3_D_BwE
Try that first and see what your temps are.
After that, I highly recommend making your own reverse "sled tins" which directs the hot air from the cylinders rearward instead of straight down. The air stream under the car then carries this heat away. I dropped my cylinder head and oil temps over 10 degrees Fahrenheit by making these tins.
I made mine out of 0.030" aluminum sheet.
@Michael Pickett posted:I remember rain. I just feel for my grandkids. Maybe they can visit Oregon 🙂
Oh! Poor Baby!
Why don't you just drive over to the other side of the island instead of being in that arid wasteland on the southern side? 😉
You know.... Over where it rains for 5 minutes every 30 minutes or so?
As @Michael McKelvey recently found out, it's been raining in New England 3-4 out of 7 days every week since mid May. We have had 3 sunny weekends since the first of June. Mike and his tiny band of leaf peepers arrived last Friday or so and might finally see some sun today for the first time. Everyone living here has moss growing between their toes and there has been a LOT of flooding damage to towns from central Vermont and New Hampshire down into mid-central Massachusetts - It's been pretty bad in places with road washouts and a couple of dams that let go.
My neighbor across the street was seen taking photos of his front lawn in mid-August because in the 23 years he's been in that house this was the first time his lawn was green in the Summer. The good news is that shrubberies ("BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!) have been growing like crazy. I've trimmed every bush in the yard twice so far and need to do them again. Forsythia bushes have grown about six FEET this summer.
What a long, strange Summer it's been!
X2 on @DannyP's advice. Do those things first. You also may wish to extend the oil cooler doghouse tin to a spot below the exhaust pipe to get it into the slipstream under the car. (But then again, since nobody else does this, you could probably skip it).
@DannyP Awesome will order the parts and install. Great info and advice as always.