well done on the win Gavin
well done on the win Gavin
Nice one Gavin.
Shame I'm not closer to help with your re-builds
Only 2 months behind, some in car from the Middlewick Stages
Stage 2
Stage 4
Stage 6
Stage 8
GavinR
That's a quick car mate, like the vidoe's and the clean driving
Congrats with the win and hopefully many more to come
"Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races" - Enzo Ferrari
I arrived home tonight to find something rather large and shiny waiting for me
Shouldn't have any trouble with overheating now, I just hope I can squeeze it in as it's a 60mm core...
GavinR
Very nice Gavin. Have you seen your seeding for Woodbridge? The filling in a Focus WRC sandwich!
Since I've had these throttle bodies, I've had a few problems with the linkage and the balance bar slipping. AT Power are going to send me their new design of a slotted tube instead of the current holed tube, but as the balance was fine at the end of the last event, I've drilled and pinned the current bar. I was only going to use one pin but found a couple of cracks (highlighted in black) so added another one
I've also bought a Jenvey Throttle linkage with their DCOE mount (from Balance Motorsport who were a lot cheaper than anyone else) and it fits perfectly with a longer rod between the ball joints
Today I had a look at fitting the rad, without the engine I had to take measurements from Fly and decided there's no way it would fit on the normal mounts without fouling the water pump, so it needed to sit further forward. Trimmed the slam panel first
Then removed the rad cut out and folded the rest flush with the front panel
After a bit of trimming to the radiator sides, it fits perfectly about 20mm in front of the rad mounts and this should give plenty of room for the fan
Also, the oil tank is back in the boot and the pipes laid through the car, I need to make some new mounts for the oil cooler and she'll be ready for the engine to go back in just before Woodbridge
GavinR
what size fan did you go for gav?
Hexham and District Motorclub
Hi,
It's just what Radtec supplied with the radiator, I decided it was easier and would be properly mounted, it's a 12" SPAL fan
Thanks
GavinR
Good choice on the setup Gav
That's pretty much the same setup as mine, 60mm core rad and a 12" Spal fan, both Midsummer Caerwent and Richard Burns were very hot, especially Caerwent and it was good as gold.
Matt
Engine back in and running, started first time
GavinR
Cheers gave ill get mine ordered
Hexham and District Motorclub
So everything was ready for the Huttons Kitchens Woodbridge Stages on Sunday 26/09/11, passed scrutineering Saturday night, met up with Cath who was codriving on this one, and got ourselves organised for the event
Seeded car 2 behind Nigel Mummery's Focus WRC and ahead of Peter Elkins Focus WRC, it was going to be an interesting day with 6 stages planned, each about 11 miles long
Stage 1 started well but when we got round for the second lap the water temp got very hot and water starting coming out of the cap and getting onto the windscreen, I tried the wipers but that made it worse and the windscreen steamed up so we backed off a bit until I could see again. By the end of the stage, steam was coming from everywhere and we were caught on the finish line by Peter Elkins even though he had started a minute behind us
Back in service, we let everything cool down before adding a lot of water and making sure all the air was out of the system. I assumed the head gasket had gone again, but we decided to try Stage 2 to see what happened, but after the first lap the temp gauge was off the scale so we called it a day
Many thanks to Cath for coming down for the day
GavinR
Was it the head gasket then Gavin? Some of my mates did the event and they all said it was hard on tyres.
How did you get on at Fat Albert?
Fat Albert Stages 29/10/11
So after Woodbridge I got DVY back home and did a compression test before taking the head off, Nos 2 & 3 were well down on compression. With the head removed the head gasket was completely mullered, my block's ringed and it had pushed the gasket past the rings and into the water way on 2 & 3
I had a spare standard cosworth head gasket after the earlier problems this year (during the rebuild, Ron head skimmed the head by 10 thou and fitted a 10 thou thicker head gasket, going back to a standard one would increase the CR from 12:1 to 12.4:1 by my calculations, but hopefully it would be ok) so I fitted the new gasket, taxed her and went out driving, did 75 miles in total, some fast, some slow, no loss of water or oil so I was ready for Fat Albert
As the event is run by my motor club, Tavern MC, I was there early Friday morning and 10 of us spent the day laying out 500 cones, 150 plastic barriers, 30 large straw bales and many boards and arrows, before going to scrutineering just as it was getting dark and then met Holly at the hotel a bit later
Stage 1
Although it was a nice dry day, there had been a lot of rain the previous week which meant the "nadgery" bit was very slippery and the new Start location meant the morning stages used this section 3 times in the 10 mile stage, so we were very sensible especially the first time through and by the end of the stage we'd been overtaken by the 1400 Corsa of James Hunt who started 30s behind us, but everything was going well, gauges looking good and just a little water loss from the rad blanking cap
Stage 2
Lap 1 we were flying, the nadgery bit was a lot drier, I was braking nice and late for the chicanes, but half way round lap 2 coming out of a 1st gear chicane I went for 2nd and it didn't go in, had another go and it crunched in (always had a bit of trouble getting in to 2nd) tried to put the power down but just had a lot of clonks and bangs so went into 3rd, slipped the clutch a lot and got going again, tried 2nd again in the nadgery bit but something was broken inside so carried on without
Back in service, couldn't get neutral either as the lock out cable had snapped, so we replaced this but still no neutral. As I wanted to put some mileage on the engine we decided to carry on
Stage 3
No problems on this one, now I knew it wasn't worth trying 2nd it was easier, flat in 1st gave me 5000 in 3rd which was ok on the straights but made the nadgery bit awkward as 1st was too low and 3rd too high. By the end of the stage we were losing some water from the pressure cap (I'd tightened the blanking cap earlier) and after everything cooled in service I added a litre of water
Stage 4
Lap 1 went as well as it could but coming into the nadgery bit on lap 2 I changed down from 3rd and the gear stick locked up in 2nd and we couldn't go any further
So that was it for the day, the marshals pushed us to a safe place where we watched everyone else go through and got recovered back to service when the stage had finished. The engine had also lost some more water, not sure how much though. Looks like it will be a busy winter sorting everything out for next year, if I can afford it I had the gearbox rebuilt last winter but they couldn't find any problem with 2nd gear, I think they'll be able to find a problem this time...
GavinR
Hi Gavin, sorry to read about your troubles with DVY - I am sure you will sort it all out! I just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year and hope you might come and give the hills another go next year... My motor is due 1st week in January (3rd rebuild, 0 miles) and I am currently building a bubble arched mk1 shell for it though it will start off in JAY. Lots of pics so may start a thread on here if I get time. All the best, Steve.
GavinR
My 2012 season starts next Sunday 22/01/12 with the Brands Hatch Stages Rally, but I have a couple of problems
A trip to HT this morning to pick up the engine - taking the head off after Fat Albert showed the head gasket starting to go again and some more detonation damage on the inlet side of the head (but none on the pistons) so Ron's spent some time welding up the damage and skimmed the head again. He's also slightly tweaked the mapping, adjusting the timing, to try and reduce the detonation. Hopefully it will all work and I'll have a trouble free run at Brands
Bolted in, the aim is to get it running tomorrow
No sign of the gearbox though, CTS had ordered the parts from Quaife before Christmas but they never turned up, so they've ordered them again and I'll find out on Monday if it's going to be ready, otherwise I'll have to fit a more standard box...
GavinR
Good luck for 2012 Gavin. Hopefully we shall meet somewhere along the lines!
I certainly admire your dedication to rallying and commitment of time you put in preping your cars - you must clock up some miles in a year driving all over the place both competing and collecting engines etc!!
Paul
Thanks Paul, I'm hoping to have a good year just competing and not having any rebuilds
I got the engine running today, took a bit to get going because it was so cold but running nicely once warmed up
GavinR
Nice one - just the gearbox to sort out then.
Did you do Brands last year? Did you finish 1st overall from memory?
Yes I did Brands in 2011, came 18th I think as the injection system wasn't quite ready
GavinR
Gavin, any news on the gearbox?
Hi Steve,
Phoned them Monday and it was all built up ready for testing, phoned Tuesday and it had tested ok but they were missing an O ring for the gearstick
This arrived yesterday so they fitted it and put the box on a courier and it was waiting for me when I got in tonight
Spent a couple of hours in the workshop and it's now bolted in - just need to tighten all the bolts, fit the stick and prop, fill with oil, then I can test it myself round the yard
I've got the day off tomorrow, so plenty of time to finish it
See you at the weekend
Thanks
GavinR
That is good news Gavin,see you Sunday.
Glad you've got it all back together Gav.
See you Sunday, I'm coming down for a watch.
See you all Sunday shall i bring some T Shirts to sell you boys with the Mk2 Escort silhouette on them???
Going Sideways is the way Forward!
Brands Hatch Stages 22/01/12
A full entry of 80 cars and I was seeded well at Car 7. My brother Derek was codriving on his first stage event and was slightly nervous about feeling ill or calling the wrong way at a split, but the stages were similar to last year so I didn't think it would be a problem
Stages 1 & 2
We started off sensibly on some very soft Dunlop wets as it was so cold, and I was worried about the engine and box, but everything was working well, we didn't meet any other cars and the only minor issue was avoiding some scattered barriers caused by a Mk1 Fiesta who had missed the first corner, ploughed through the barriers and crashed into the armco
Our time left us 22nd Overall, but on Stage 2 we improved by 13s despite being slowed by some marshals when Nigel Mummery span at the end of the pit lane
Derek was calling everything well and enjoting it, finding it not much different to being passenger on a track day
Stages 3 & 4
These were slightly longer using both sides of the pit garages with a tight hairpin at the end. In service we'd fitted slicks as the sun was out and it was perfectly dry. We had 2 good stages, the handbrake was working well, and we made up a quite a few places as other people hit problems and were lying 14th at lunch
I kept a close eye on the gauges and checked the oil and water every 2nd service, but the engine bay stayed clean and everything looked good
Stages 5 & 6
The afternoon stages were a reverse of the morning ones, so the hairpin was the other way round, but we didn't make any mistakes getting round it well every time. With another few cars retiring we were now up to 11th, but having a very close battle with James Slaughter in his Historic spec Mk2 Escort, we were 2s behind at lunch, made up 2s on Stage 5 to draw level, and then set exactly the same times on Stage 6
Stages 7 & 8
During service we had some time to wander round the paddock and see a few friends. A lot of crews were busy fitting lamp pods or spot lights to their cars as the final stage would be in the dark, but I hadn't even brought any, being confident that having been through the chicanes about 20 times already I'd remember where they were
Stage 7 went well, beating James Slaughter by 1s and with John Indri retiring from the lead this put us 9th
Stage 8, in the darkening light, we had our best stage of the day, braking nice and late into the chicanes, nearly clipped a couple but got away with it, and we were 5th fastest. We still finished 9th but were only 5s off 7th, so a great way to end the day, and picked up the 3rd in Class trophy
The engine ran perfectly all day, difficult to say if the remapping had made much difference to our times, but I was happy with the result and the gearbox was changing gear better than it ever had before, so I can now plan my annual trip to West Cork in March
Many thanks to Ron at HT for the engine work, Bernie at CTS for the gearbox, and especially Derek for a faultless job codriving, even when the intercom failed on the last few stages and he had to shout and use hand signals
GavinR
And some in car
Brands Hatch 2012 SS2
Brands Hatch 2012 SS3 - overtaken by Jeremy Straker's Darrian which won the event after John Indri retired
Brands Hatch 2012 SS4
Brands Hatch 2012 SS5
Brands Hatch 2012 SS6
Brands Hatch 2012 SS7 - chasing the Aston Martin who finished 7th
Last edited by GavinR; 29-01-2012 at 00:34.
GavinR
some nice clean driving there mate... well done on a goos finish.
Well done Gav, great result at a well supported event.
Great neat driving as always. Must pull my finger out and add it to my To Do list for next year.
West Cork Rally 17-18th March 2012
Back to Clonakilty once again in St Patrick's weekend, this time with George on the notes as Cath was unable to make it. Carrie and Guy came along to service as usual and brought their Road Rally Sierra for us to use on the Recce. A day and a half of recceing and we were happy with the notes so headed to scrutineering which was passed without any trouble, fitted the wets as it had been raining on and off, and left DVY in Parc Ferme overnight
Saturday morning was brighter but the roads were still damp so we left the wets on and headed off to Stage 1 - Ring which is one of my favourites. A bit slippy in places but everything was going well, George was reading the notes well, just a fraction late in places, but for her first time with notes on Tarmac it was very good, and our time was about 70th out of 130 starters
Stage 2 - Inchy Bridge, I remembered this one from last year, quite short at 6.5 miles, very twisty at the start but a nice flowing section in the middle, we had a good run, passing an ailing Ford Ka before catching a Nova at the finish, 54th quickest. This was the closest stage to Service, so Carrie walked up to do some spectating and took this video
Back in Service, nothing to worry about, just some fuel and the usual checks, not completely dry yet so left the wets on and headed out to the second run through Ring, this time 22s quicker
Over to Inchy Bridge again but unfortunately this time it was stopped about 10 cars before us due to an accident so it was cancelled
A short service and with the sun out we fitted the slicks. Onto Stage 5 - Ardfield, extended this year to the maximum 12.5miles with a big jump near the end, it took us 11:31 which was about 70th quickest again. George was improving all the time, but as I was going faster on the slicks she was finding she had to talk a lot quicker as well
Stage 6 - Clonakilty Town, very short this year at 0.9miles with about 5 chicanes, we didn't really enjoy it but hopefully the spectators did!
In service we had about 40 mins, so checked all the link bars, added some fuel and emptied the catch tank which was about 1/3 full, but nothing unusual
We were now 62nd and headed off to Stage 7 for a second run through Ardfield hoping to make up a few places, but a couple of miles in a vibration started - difficult to tell if it was the engine or box - so we carried on but on an uphill section it suddenly got a lot worse, very loud clattering and soon the oil light started to flicker so we pulled up in a convenient junction. The marshal came running over to say we'd left a trail of oil behind us and I opened the bonnet fearing the worst, oil covering the sump guard by the starter and I could just about see a hole in the block behind the engine mount. A call to Carrie and Guy and they were soon on their way to rescue us with the Sierra. When they arrived Guy had a good look round and found this on the sumpguard
So that was it for this year, towed DVY back to Clonakilty and went out for the night. Sunday we spectated on Stage 9 & 11 before loading up and heading for the evening ferry and home. So a disappointing end to a good week, George enjoyed what she did and gained a lot of experience, and many thanks to Carrie and Guy as always
My next event was going to be Middlewick Stages in May to defend last year's win, but it could be 6 months before I'm out in DVY again
GavinR
Sorry to see the engine failure DVY sounded good on that video as well!
http://escort.accelerator.org
1968 MK1 Escort 1300GT
1969 'Big Wing' MK1 Escort
1972 MK3 Cortina 1600XL
1984 Sierra XR4i
And other junk I don't like to talk about!
Unlucky mate...at least you got to the event and did a few stages......Good luck with the rebuild.
Mark
Aussie Taffy
Keep your chin up gav these things are set to try us
Hexham and District Motorclub
I had some spare time over the long weekend, so decided to take the head off to see how much damage there was...
Difficult to see in the pics, but all 4 valves on No 3 Cyl are bent, but at least they're not snapped and there's no noticeable damage to the head
Piston twisted in the bore - I've seen a lot worse and it still moves freely
When the rod exited it took a little bit of the block, and even split the starter motor casing on the way past
Not much left of the sump either
But the engine still turns by hand so maybe some of the bottom end is salvageable
GavinR
What a nightmare Gavin - do you know what would have caused the failure? Will you be rebuilding it yourself or taking it back to HT's?
We think a rod bolt let go first and everything followed from there
It'll be going back to HT - in January Ron suggested it might be an idea to change the rods as we couldn't remember the last time they were renewed, they definitely need doing now
GavinR
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