Ex Patrick Racing Lola T94/00 Build Thread

[Dstarbuck]

Finally got around to doing some work on the Lola. Spent last weekend getting my IMSA RS daytona cleaned up and ready for a trackday I did.

I'm continuing to attack the corrosion around the car in a less the organized manner. Any bracket or bolt that I can get off is being removed, treated for rust, and painted. I purchased a steam cleaner and went to town on the gearbox. Cleaned up pretty good. The tub is next for a steam clean to get decades of dust and grime out of all the nooks and cranies.

I have been mostly focusing on the rear suspension still. Disassembled, cleaned, inspected, and put back together both rear damper pivot assemblies. The bearings were in decent enough shape so I repacked them. They are a Timken standard bearing, so I could replace them down the road if necessary, however they are all etched with thre cars serial number, so I'm saving what I can. Also ended up having to get another set of bushings for the rear damper mounts made. I tried 4 or 5 different sets of rod end bearings, but couldn't find a skinny enough ball to work with what I had around.

Got the ARB rods epoxied in black. Originally I think it would be a black oxide coating, but for now this should be fine. At some point I may gather everything and send it out for powder coat, but that's the least of my worries.

The hardware on the rear is a little mixed and matched between the proper aircraft grade hardware and hardware store stuff. I have access to all of the correct hardware at work, but I've taken the year off. Whenever I go back I'll take a goodie bag home and replace all of it.

Lastly, I addressed some issues in the cockpit. The sway bar control handles are corroded so badly that they can't be moved. I disassembled it as much as I could and tossed it in the evaporust bucket. I'll check in on it in a few days and see if it's worked enough of rust out to rebuild it properly. Also decided to take apart the cockpit boost controller. It was similarly rusted stuck along with its mounting hardware. The inside is pretty gnarly, but I'm gonna try and get it cleaned up. This part will just be for looks anyhow. I do have a brand new spare one, but I'd rather not waste it to just look at if I don't have to.

Cheers

[Dstarbuck]

Battled the ARB controls tonight and threw in the towel after too long. The steel bolts had corroded terribly into the aluminum body, and the steel tubes did the same to the aluminum lower sections. Had soaked it for a day or so in evaporust and didn't have any luck. Managed to wrestle out the bolts holding it together with MAP gas and a lot of patience. If the tubes don't loosen up tomorrow, then I'll put the heat on it and do it the old fashioned way.

Really wanted to preserve the anodized coating, but it got fairly discolored from the torch. Years ago I would anodize paintball gun parts at home, so I might resort to doing it on all the aluminum parts when I'm done to save the expense of sending them out.

[Charles Warner]

I can empathize/sympathize with your efforts. I am rebuilding a Ralt RT4 that sat out in the Canadian weather for at least 10 years. Never knew rust could be so bad. Evaporust, Kroil, WD40. heat. Some things just won't let loose. Even trying to sacrifice allen sockets by using JB Weld to attach them to the cap screws. Still tears the JB Weld up. Cut-off wheel is getting a lot of use.

[Dstarbuck]

I can empathize/sympathize with your efforts. I am rebuilding a Ralt RT4 that sat out in the Canadian weather for at least 10 years. Never knew rust could be so bad. Evaporust, Kroil, WD40. heat. Some things just won't let loose. Even trying to sacrifice allen sockets by using JB Weld to attach them to the cap screws. Still tears the JB Weld up. Cut-off wheel is getting a lot of use.

The best tool I can reccomend (other then a large assortment of very good quality bolt extractors) is a set of Vampliers. I use them on aircraft with stripped fasteners, and they have paid for themselves dozens of times on this project already. The teeth are sharp like knives and fairly hard, which cuts into bolt head and let's you grab it. Even small button head Allen's you can usually grab a hold of. I get about 5 years work out of them, and that's heavy heavy use, before the teeth get worn down to where it's worth the 50 bucks to get another set.

VAMPLIERS VT-001-8. 8" PRO Linesman Pliers, Screw Extractor Pliers to Remove Rusted/Damage/Specialty Screws nuts and Bolts (PRO) https://a.co/d/3VbehhB

Also forced me to invest in good allen keys. I went with Wiha. But have had a set of wera as well. Both outperformed the snapon ones.

[Dstarbuck]

Spent most of today working on the cockpit ARB handle assembly. What a mofo. Couldn't for the life of me get the steel rod out of the aluminum outer tube. Had to resort to the ole MAP torch. Heated up the tube decently hot, then gave the upper bit the ole tap tap taperoo. Managed to get them both dislodged. Then it was back to the evaporust tank for a few hours to break up the rust. Finally was able to extract the springs out of the tubes.

The hammer taps took a toll on the threads for the phenolic balls, so I rethreaded them and cleaned everything up. Some new hardware and a little scotchbriting and it's all working really well. Have to get some new springs for the tubes, and need to gather the stuff to anodize all the aluminum black again since the torch messed up the coloring. For the steel I'm debating how to treat it. Paint would be too thick. I'm thinking I will do a black oxide coating which should work well.

The cabin boost controller has proven to be a huge pain in the ass. Managed to get it all disassembled, but there are 4 detent ball bearings that were corroded in place. Got them out after a lot of struggling, however the springs were rusted to oblivion. Got a few out, but have sent it back to the dunk tank to try and work them a little more.

And finally, Got the rear suspension all back together and the freshly epoxied ARB links put on. It all came out looking great I think. The dampers are basically fully compressed right now to get everything to fit up. If the car ever becomes roadworthy, I will see if I can get proper travel by machining new upper spring perches that are shorter. If not, I will be back on the hunt for a set that works a little better.

Got the front brake calipers and rotors off in preparation for starting the front suspension removal and subsequent corrosion treatment, inspection, and painting. The bolts that hold the hub onto the uprite are impossibly stuck. When I get it off the car I will try and come up with a solution. The bearing seals prevent me from blasting it with heat, and unless I can find some new old stock ones, I'd rather have them intact so I can measure them and find appropriate replacements.

[tlracer]

Couple of thoughts...

Finish on steel parts - Kephos or Parco-Lubrite both give a decent protective coat without major dimension changes

Axle bolts - instead of a torch, is there any way you could get an induction heater onto them? Might allow enough heat without affecting the bearing seals.

[Dstarbuck]

Couple of thoughts...

Finish on steel parts - Kephos or Parco-Lubrite both give a decent protective coat without major dimension changes


Axle bolts - instead of a torch, is there any way you could get an induction heater onto them? Might allow enough heat without affecting the bearing seals.

This is why I love forums! Such a weath of knowledge. I am not familiar with phosphate type coatings, but looking at the kephos it seems like it would be perfect for the suspension, if not plenty of other stuff. Need to do some searching and see if there are any places that do it around here, and how the cost breaks down. One site I was looking at said the coating is thin enough that you can ultrasonic through it. I would almost gamble that it was the correct OEM coating from lola. The resistance to brake fluid is especially appealing!

As for the induction heater, I hadn't considered it for this project, but that's not a half bad idea. I'll see if there's a cheap off the shelf one that would work, and if not it may be off to the depths of youtube DIY videos to Frankenstein one up.

[Dstarbuck]

Busy evening tonight.

Removed the fwd right side suspension. Ended up getting the hub/spindle bolt loose once I had removed it from the car. Stepped up to the big boy dewalt impact and a really long breaker bar on the inboard/bolt head side. Separated out all the parts, including the wheel lock mechanism and bearings. It's all sleeping happily in the evaporust tank for a few days.

The bearings all seem in good shape, but I may go ahead and order all of them and swap them out when it goes back together. Found some NOS ones on ebay.

To get the lower A arm off, I needed to gain some access in the footwell of the car. It had been on my to-do list anyhow, so I went ahead and removed the pedals and brake reservoir. This proved to be a lot more tedious then I anticipated with all the dirt and grime built up down there. Removed the damper pivot assembly as well to clean up.

From Charles advice, I'm gonna probably hold off on putting any of it back until I can find a place to phosphate coat the components. The only downside to this is I'll have to press all the bearings out of everything, which inevitably will lead to having to replace all of them with new ones. I will gather the part numbers and make sure I can get all of them before I commit one way or the other.

And finally, I continued my small project of restoring the AARB and boost controls. Found the perfect springs for the ARB, and its back together and working like new. Found the 1/8" ball bearings for the boost controller, but couldn't find springs small enough. Have them on order and should get them in by the end of the week.

[tlracer]

Glad to read you were able to get the axles, etc apart eventually!

I had a quick 'net search - Kephos (or Fosgard as it is also known) didn't seem to come up, but United Plating in Huntsville list phosphate coating:

https://www.unitedplating.com/phosphate-coating/

[Lastminuteracin]

I played golf in a Scott Pruett celebrity tournament many many moons ago. There was a car on disply. As rough as yours is I wonder if it may be the same car? I think I may have a picture of it ...somewhere. I'll try to find it.

[E1pix]

I played golf in a Scott Pruett celebrity tournament many many moons ago. There was a car on disply. As rough as yours is I wonder if it may be the same car? I think I may have a picture of it ...somewhere. I'll try to find it.

Scott’s awesome and helped me dial in my new Margay-Yamaha at the 1982 IKF GrandNationals at Quincy.

Then I wrote a long feature about him for OnTrack in 1990. I’ll never forget the Editor’s call saying they literally just shut down the presses, because they’d just heard that Scott was badly hurt at Moroso. Article never got published, an hour later it would have been and then immediately be outdated.

I golfed with Price Cobb a few times in 1994. He was hilarious, joking how he was getting “much more value” than my friend Bob Schader and I were. I spent lotsa time looking for his lost balls with him — which was great. His scorecard read maybe 125, but 160 was more like it. His tales of the Le Mans Jag, and his career, were absolutely awesome.

But I trust Scott was a better golfer. ;-)

[Dstarbuck]

After a few weeks of it being in transit and then delivered to my old address in California, I finally got my windscreen in the mail from pitlane Spares in the UK. It was a bit of a gamble as it's actually a T95/00 part, but lucky for me it paid off and the profile is the same as the T94. I have to trim the front slightly and am waiting on some tinnamen washers to come in the mail to get it mounted up.

Also in the package was the adjustable ARB link rod that was missing from the car. I didn't end up getting rod ends from Pitlane, so I have a set coming from summit. The new rod is the correct satin phosphate finish, which will stand out against the gloss black epoxy I used on the other link. I will have to find a good paint that matches, because I really don't want to pull the bearings out of the fixed side to send it out with the A-Arms and stuff.

Lastly, I'm all out of attachment space on my account. I looked all over and can't see where to become a supporting member and go up to 10mb. Am donating via PayPal to the site now. Maybe a mod/admin that reads this could point me in the right direction.

Cheers

[Dstarbuck]

I've removed all of the front suspension and have been prepping it to send out for phosphate coating. All of the righ right side I pressed out all the bearings and removed rod ends. The left side I've been stalling since it was such a pain in the ass.

I went ahead and ordered a lot of bearings to replace the removed ones. I still have quite a few to source unfortunately. The prices are pretty wild for some of them, but I dont want to put in the wrong spec ones.

The bigger issue I see down the road is that the Lola manual calls for all the pressed in bearings to be swedged; post install. I have found appropriate tooling to do it at home, but it is extremely expensive. I'm working on finding a local place that might have the correct dies to do it, but I dont have high hopes.

I think I've decided to powdercoat the uprights instead of phosphate coating them. Before I remove the bearing raves tho I will make sure I can source new ones.

Still working on a decent way to upload pictures.

[Pop Chevy]

Not sure I would powder coat the uprights. Don't think I would want a thick coating put on them at 400 degs.

[Dstarbuck]

Not sure I would powder coat the uprights. Don't think I would want a thick coating put on them at 400 degs.

I'm still on the fence and not 100% sure what the factory coating would be on them. My brief research on phosphate coatings is that above 200°c, they dry out and aren't effective coatings anymore. Not sure what the running temperatures of the brakes are from this era car, but I would assume it wouldn't be crazy to exceed that at the upright/hub, even if its only transient. The other advantage with power coatings that I can think of is the ability to mask off areas that don't need material added, vs the coatings which are done with the part submerged.

I'm not sure of many other coatings that's are practical to achieve that wouldn't be as thick as a powdercoat layer. Ideally it would be a ceramic type of paint used. The only areas with important tolerances would be the bearing surfaces and the mounting flanges, which could be easily masked off.

If anyone has any input on what the correct coating for these, I'm open to it.

[tlracer]

I'm still on the fence and not 100% sure what the factory coating would be on them...If anyone has any input on what the correct coating for these, I'm open to it.

I'm certain it would be Parco Lubrite finish on these originally. With component lifing and the level of stripdown between races, durability of the finish wasn't a concern.

Same with A-arms, etc. - essentially considered disposable items, since a new and freshly-fitted one could be scrap within seconds!

[Dstarbuck]

I've been slowly tinkering with the T94 lately and a few other new projects, and as always, gathering/purchasing parts as they come up online.

Haven't really bothered keeping this thread up to date given how little space for photos the site gives you. Tried doing the donation thing for a few months, but didn't get the upgraded space. Oh well. I'll drop in big updates once in a while, but what fun are build threads with no photos.

[Jerry Kehoe]

While this method is not for alloy parts, it is a simple non plating, non painted finish that you can apply easily to any steel component and you can do it at home. The material needed can be bought at any gun supply shop and it is an oxidizing treatment used to add blueing or browning to gun parts and receivers. It forms a weather resistant finish that is easily maintained with WD40 and adds no dimension to any part and is easily removed with a light abrasive if you need to repair or modify a part. All you do is take a clean part, heat it up mildly with a torch, oven, heat gun then wipe the surface to get the finish. If you want it darker or even it out repeat. I have used this for over 25 years.

[Earley Motorsports]

Love the updates and see what you are doing. Yes there is a ton of knowledge here on ways to do things. Are you still looking for rotors? I have quite a few of them from back in that era of Indycar. I use them for weight in the car when scaling the car for setup. They would be better used on a car like yours if they fit.

Keep up the great work.

[tlracer]

While this method is not for alloy parts, it is a simple non plating, non painted finish that you can apply easily to any steel component and you can do it at home. The material needed can be bought at any gun supply shop and it is an oxidizing treatment used to add blueing or browning to gun parts and receivers. It forms a weather resistant finish that is easily maintained with WD40 and adds no dimension to any part and is easily removed with a light abrasive if you need to repair or modify a part. All you do is take a clean part, heat it up mildly with a torch, oven, heat gun then wipe the surface to get the finish. If you want it darker or even it out repeat.

This sounds like a phosphating/Parkerizing process, so would give a similar finish to Parco-Lubrite. I prefer this type of finish over plating, painting, etc. Any damage to the components themselves isn't obscured and it doesn't affect repairs.

Looks good too, Jerry!

[Dstarbuck]

While this method is not for alloy parts, it is a simple non plating, non painted finish that you can apply easily to any steel component and you can do it at home. The material needed can be bought at any gun supply shop and it is an oxidizing treatment used to add blueing or browning to gun parts and receivers. It forms a weather resistant finish that is easily maintained with WD40 and adds no dimension to any part and is easily removed with a light abrasive if you need to repair or modify a part. All you do is take a clean part, heat it up mildly with a torch, oven, heat gun then wipe the surface to get the finish. If you want it darker or even it out repeat. I have used this for over 25 years.

Looking at yours, I'm fairly confident this is what the rear arms got. I had some speculation that is was chromed, but it doesn't really look like it. Has the same dull polished look like that.

I have a few different oxide/bluing chemicals I've bought to get hardware and other steel parts back to how they should be. Seems like nothing to loose with giving it a shot. Worst case can always go back in for phosphate later.

I did find a shop up in north carolina that will do a Parco (different brand name now I think) coating for a very reasonable cost. I think they do stuff for nascar and other race stuff, and are very familiar with automotive stuff. Still waiting to find a few correct replacement bearings and swedge tooling (or local shop that has it) before I dissasemble them further.

[Dstarbuck]

Love the updates and see what you are doing. Yes there is a ton of knowledge here on ways to do things. Are you still looking for rotors? I have quite a few of them from back in that era of Indycar. I use them for weight in the car when scaling the car for setup. They would be better used on a car like yours if they fit.

Keep up the great work.

I am still looking for 2 rear rotors and rear calipers. I will measure the fronts tonight and see if you happen to have some that might fit.

I did manage to find some top hats at can am last time I was there that seem to be the correct ones. Won't know 100% until I toss some calipers on with the rotors to make sure they fall into the right plane. Any help is always appreciated!

Seeing Rob Dahm working on his indy car on youtube has been inspiring enough to get me in the shop working again. If only I had his budget and ad revenue. Haha

[Earley Motorsports]

PM sent

[Jerry Kehoe]

One of the big problems with plating and in particular here in the Peoples Republic of California is that there are very few plating operations left and trying to find a competent one that doesn't ruin your part or gives back a poor finish at a price point that is acceptable is hard to find. I'm sure there are some left but any I have seen charge a fortune. Even Bahner has searched all over and the electroless plating seems to give the best finish if you can find it. In the meantime for very little cost and effort with good results the method I described is hard to beat!

[Dstarbuck]

One of the big problems with plating and in particular here in the Peoples Republic of California is that there are very few plating operations left and trying to find a competent one that doesn't ruin your part or gives back a poor finish at a price point that is acceptable is hard to find. I'm sure there are some left but any I have seen charge a fortune. Even Bahner has searched all over and the electroless plating seems to give the best finish if you can find it. In the meantime for very little cost and effort with good results the method I described is hard to beat!

Finding anything here in the states is ridiculous anymore. I have a wheelnut that the threads are buggered up and haven't had much luck finding a replacement. I'm a young guy, but still remember being able to walk into most machine shops and would be able to have them weld in some new material and cut new threads in. I've talked to probably 20 shops in town and they all look at me like I'm insane.

[mikey]

Coleman Racing got me squared away for very reasonable prices when I was missing brake rotors for my T91/50.
they made me new hats and rotors.

[Rick Kirchner]

I thought all of Coleman's stuff went to Pegasus.

Part of the OP's problem is location. If you want expertise in race car stuff you have to go where it's made - so Charlotte and Indianapolis. Both have racing plus a huge diversity of Industry That supports stuff like plating shops, small machine shops for prototyping, etc. The cost of shipping is well worth the opportunity to not get something goobered up.

When I was in NC I got tired of all the bare steel on my VD constantly rusting, so the shift linkage, pedals, ARBs, all went to a shop in Indy that did them up in electroless nickel. I prefer electroplated for the suspension, but the electroless is really durable. I worked with it when it moved from being a specialized method for plastics to more general use back in the early 80's.

Two other great resources - the folks on this site who have had good work done literally everywhere, but also, go to a bookstore and buy a copy of Hemmings once every couple of years. There's a lot of specialty car businesses in there, and again, it's a network you can work to find the stuff you need.

Sadly, Race-cars.com is now a total piece of ****. Where there used to be a ton of resources you could reach through there, I did a recent search and found only a handful of small formula car/SR stuff, and their archive was invaluable for figuring out how multiple people did things and it's now gone too.

[Lee Johnson]

...
When I was in NC I got tired of all the bare steel on my VD constantly rusting, so the shift linkage, pedals, ARBs, all went to a shop in Indy that did them up in electroless nickel. I prefer electroplated for the suspension, but the electroless is really durable. I worked with it when it moved from being a specialized method for plastics to more general use back in the early 80's.

Rick --

Can you post the name of the company near Indy that successfully did your electroless nickel plating? (Or, Private Message the info to me!) I had a source in Denver for many years, but they have folded shop.

Lee

[Jerry Kehoe]

While Pegasus has some of Colemans products anyone can order stuff from them. Their catalog is mostly short track/stock car products there is tons of everyday products listed. Hard to beat their brake rotors and hats in about any size and as a matter of fact I think I was one of their first customers for FA rotors many years ago. Used to sell them to Atlantic guys when I raced the series. Very good durability and pricing compared to AP, Brembo,etc!

[Dstarbuck]

KECO coatings is who I found in North Carolina that can do the suspension stuff. They also have a place in indianapolis area i believe. They call the phosphate coatings Kephos and charge 30-40$ per arm.

https://www.kecocoatings.com/

[stonebridge20]

KECO coatings is who I found in North Carolina that can do the suspension stuff. They also have a place in indianapolis area i believe. They call the phosphate coatings Kephos and charge 30-40$ per arm.

https://www.kecocoatings.com/

$350 minimum on the last order I sent them. Really great people to work with.

[Dstarbuck]

It's been a while!

I have been bad about keeping this thread updated, but I have been slowly chugging away at the car.

The biggest update I have is that I now know the actual history of the T94. I had been under the impression the last few years that this was a patrick racing car (hence the thread title), when it was actually a walker racing service merchandise car in 1994 driven by Willy Ribbs in 12 events, and in 1995 it went on to Payton-Coyne AGFA and later Mi-Jack driven by Alessandro Zampedri, Eric Bachelart, and Buddy Lazier.

Aparantly it was also listed as a backup in 1996 for at least one race.

While not a successful car by any means, it's still pretty cool that it was in fact a car that was raced and was in the indy 500! Although i have to say I liked the Firestone paint job more then the others.

I'm still curious about it's time between payton coyne, getting painted as a firestone display car, and the go cart track, but perhaps I'll never know. Huge thanks to Scott Ellison for his services getting the information.