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Thread: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

  1. #241
    Bodger Tazman's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post

    Saw the picture and had a mild heart attack.......................then I read the report

    Good to hear you had an enjoyable event, bet getting out and spectating a few stages made a change

  2. #242
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    In car from West Cork, first one starts off a bit slow, but the other's look good - I think the camera movement makes it look quicker

    SS11 - Rossmore


    SS12 - Sams Cross


    SS13 - Ardfield


    SS14 - Hayes Cross
    GavinR

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  3. #243
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Loton Park Sun 4th April

    A few days changing the springs, removing any unnecessary weight, including fitting a 2.5 gallon fuel tank, and DVY was ready for the first hillclimb of the year

    I was in a class of 6 this time, 3 Peugeot 205's including Ralph Pinder who normally does the National A meetings, and the usual 3 of us in Escorts - Karl in his Mk2 and Steve in his Mk1, both unchanged since last year (Steve was hoping to be out with his new engine, but the engine builder melted a piston on the dyno while mapping it so this has been put off for a bit)

    1st Practice - The weather was good but with a cold wind resulting in not much grip on the hill and a few damp patches under the trees although that didn't stop Ralph setting a time of 59.32s Steve was on 60.68s, Karl on 61.93s and myself on 61.86s

    2nd Practice - Everything was dry by now so it was time for a proper run, Ralph went up first in 59.87s, then Steve with 59.63s and then Karl left the line so I warmed the tyres and lined up on the Start line only to be shown the Red Flag
    Karl had reached the first corner, a square left, and the throttle stuck open so he locked everything up, narrowly missed the armco and headed towards the escape road before it came unstuck, the marshals said everything was ok and removed a cone from his front spoiler and he carried on up the hill and was given a time of 125.76s
    So after this slight delay I did a run of 59.72s which I was happy with

    1st Timed Run - We all went down to the start apart from Steve who's engine wouldn't fire up, he traced the fault to a loose wire on the alternator but unfortunately the wire had shorted out and melted the ignition module and he didn't have a spare so his day ended there
    Ralph was up first and set a new PB of 58.69s, but Karl was even more impressive with a new PB himself of 58.40s, helped by some new front tyres bought during the lunch break after finding flat spots on the previous ones when the throttle stuck earlier
    I got off the line pretty well and round to Triangle in 22.95s, about 0.4s up on Karl and Ralph at this point, but I had trouble getting the power down out of Triangle and also out of Keepers so by the top of Cedar Straight I was behind and finished with a time of 59.15s

    2nd Timed Run - Ralph went slightly quicker with 58.60s and Karl was very similar on 58.44s, I got off the line even better but had too much drift round Loggerheads and slower to Triangle and despite keeping a tidy line out of the next few corners I could only manage 59.52s so I finished 3rd in Class
    GavinR

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  4. #244
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Loton Park Mon 5th April

    There were 6 of us again today, a slightly different mix of cars, Ralph deciding not to take part as there was a slight rattle from his engine, but Steve had arranged for an ignition module to be delivered in the morning, Karl was aiming for another class win, Simon and Bernard were there in their usual MGF hoping to break 60s with some Avon slicks and slightly lower gearing than last year, and Phill Skipp was out in his Astra

    1st Practice - This was a question of who was ready to go, Steve was having a bit of trouble fitting the ignition module so did not do this run, the MGF's electronic cut out had packed up so they were busy removing it and Karl had been helping Steve so went up a bit later, so I lined up behind Phill and did a time of 64.81s, some overnight rain leaving the track a bit slippery

    2nd Practice - All the cars were running by now so we all went up in the right order, Steve with 60.00s, Karl on 59.58s and myself on 59.73s, the track having dried out completely

    1st Timed Run - Karl did another serious time of 58.49s and Steve had a good run to 59.38s, I made a good start and had my best run of the weekend to Triangle in 22.80s, kept it tidy and powered up the hill, flat over the crest before standing on the brakes into Fallow hairpin left, or that was the plan, in reality I had a big moment under braking, DVY going sideways one way then the other then back again and by the time I was back in control I'd nearly missed the corner and probably lost about 0.5s so the resulting time of 59.28s wasn't too bad, but I wasn't happy as it could have easily been a 58s run

    2nd Timed Run - Karl missed a gear going into the final corner at Museum but still did 58.98s, Steve was slightly slower on 59.59s, I'd wound some more brake bias to the front but was slower to Triangle after trying a bit too hard and getting on the grass but there were no dramas at the top of the hill this time and I finished on 59.18s to get 2nd in Class

    Well done to Karl for his four 58s runs over the weekend, very impressive

    So an interesting and enjoyable weekend, slightly frustrating that I couldn't get back into the 58's, difficult to say whether it was a lack of grip due to worn rear tyres, the cold track temperature or just that I couldn't string a good run together but we'll see what happens next time I'm there in July - by then I should have removed another 5-10kg from DVY and the weather should be warmer

    In car from the weekend
    GavinR

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  5. #245
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    A couple of pics from the Monday

    Coming out of Triangle - maybe 20psi in the rears is a bit too low


    Keepers Corner
    GavinR

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    Bodger Tazman's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post

    Nice report as normal Gavin, could you have got the back end any lower

    I reckon you need to put the old fuel tank back as the weight might help with traction out of the corner

  7. #247
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by Tazman View Post
    I reckon you need to put the old fuel tank back as the weight might help with traction out of the corner
    I did think about that

    And the next lot of weight will be coming out of the boot as well

    Maybe I'll swap the tyres front to back next time and see if that helps
    GavinR

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  8. #248
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    I didn't have much planned for May but then I found the Middlewick Stages at Woodbridge next weekend so I put in an Entry

    Not much to do on DVY except for sorting out a quieter exhaust (last year's is on Fly) and try and work out why it rattles a lot on the overrun

    So yesterday I took the rear box off and welded a bigger silencer in, but the old one didn't rattle so I checked the centre pipe by pushing an old broom handle up it, and felt some resistance, so I took it off and it was rattling badly from the Cherry Bomb

    A few minutes with the angle grinder and I could see the problem


    Not a lot of wadding left in here


    20m later I'd cleared the inside and welded the end back on


    I'll try and get one next week but if I don't this one can go back on, she's quiet enough with the rear silencer so I don't think it'll make much difference
    GavinR

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  9. #249
    Bodger

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Good luck this weekend at the middlewick stages Gavin, i know you will do well

  10. #250
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Middlewick Stages 9th May 2010

    Instead of getting a new centre pipe I bought a couple of universal sections from Merlin Motorsport and welded them together to the right length and angle. By Thursday night everything was ready, including new TCA's and a replacement steering arm after I found the incident in Ireland had bent one. I also found 2 broken link bar bolts, the front lower one on each side so these were replaced.

    Friday lunch time I headed off to Ipswich for scrutineering which was passed without trouble and met up with Holly Bailey who was codriving on this event - we'd never done a rally together before but I remembered her from Stage and Road events about 10 years ago after which she went on to do the British Championship for a couple of years - this was her first event for 2 years though so she was a bit nervous and excited at the same time

    Saturday at Woodbridge it was a bit chilly and damp, passed noise at 92dB, put some petrol in and checked the tyre pressures on my best set of PB20 wets

    SS1 - Woodbridge is a mixture of loops round hangars and sections of the old runways following paths cut through buddleia bushes and small silver birch trees, all on good tarmac, each stage was about 8 miles over 2 laps, so SS1 was just a case of being sensible and finding our way through the stage and relating it to the diagrams - one section was quite confusing, the organisers had drawn some quite tight corners in but the road was wide enough to straight line everything so I was already into the next section before Holly finished calling them
    On the first lap we'd passed John Indri's new Darrian who had slid off into some bushes and as we came round the second time he got going just in front of us, covering my windscreen with muck for a couple of corners before he got away
    The time of 9:56 was good enough for 18th out of the 50 starters, 1s ahead of Jon Segger but 23s behind Terry Luckings' 2.0 Golf who we were parked beside

    SS2 - We'd sorted out the diagrams and everything went a lot better, 36s quicker than SS1 and equal with Terry, I'd even remembered to turn the camera on

    SS3 & SS4 - Some slight changes to the stages but the sections through the bushes were the same and there were some longer straights, on SS3 we pulled back 3s from the Golf but by the end of SS4 I was having trouble keeping the back end in line and we dropped 13s to them
    During lunch I checked the rear tyres and they were not far off being slicks so I put another pair on (it was still damp and drizzly) and checked the suspension, nothing had come loose though
    Holly checked the results and we were 15th, still making up time after the slowish first stage

    SS5 & SS6 - After a slight delay while the stages were switched direction we were off again, the tyres were working a lot better and I was pushing hard reaching 6th on one of the straights and we were 6th quickest through SS5 just ahead of the Golf and similar on SS6. With a couple of retirements from the top 10 we were surprised to be up to 8th

    SS7 - There was a bit of rain during service so we sheltered under Terry's gazebo, but we didn't think much of it until a few corners into the stage it was a lot slippier so I said to Holly that this one could be interesting
    A couple of miles in we were caught by Pete Rayner's Mk2 who was leading the event so I let him past and gave chase. About a mile further on, Pete lost it under braking for a SqR and span off onto the grass so we shot past
    Nearing the end of the first lap we came round a corner in the bushes and suddenly the Golf was there in front of us having had a few spins himself, but he got going before we could get past. On the next straight Pete had caught me up so I let him past again and then on the next one he went past the Golf, both cars throwing up so much spray I had to back off slightly as I couldn't see anything.
    We followed the Golf round the second lap, he would get away round some of the fast corners but we would catch up down the straights and through the bushes, I nearly lost it in one place on a particularly wet patch but no harm was done
    Coming up to the last corners before the Flying Finish, a 45 right and left through some bushes, the Golf didn't quite make the 45 right and went straight on into a 10ft high silver birch tree, which luckily for them uprooted and they went over the top of it. We were laughing so much that I nearly missed the corner as well
    The Golf span round and followed us over the finish, having lost 34s to us on the stage, which we thought might put us a couple of seconds ahead overall. The only damage to the Golf was a dented front bumper and a few twigs sticking out, but the in car of this stage is very enjoyable

    SS8 - Similar conditions to SS7 but this time I caught a car on lap 2, the Anglia of John and Louise Cooledge (who I know from years ago) and they pulled out of the way. A couple of corners later on the same patch of water as SS7 Dvy suddenly swapped ends and we were going backwards rather quickly in 2nd gear. I remembered to dip the clutch, stuck it in first but couldn't quite get going before John came back past so we had to overtake him again.
    I pushed hard to the end of the stage to try and make up lost time but we had dropped 5s to the Golf

    When the results came out, we were 8th, just 1s behind the Golf, who was 1s behind the 2.1 Mk2 of John Legg
    Pete Rayner had been leading going into SS8 but a puncture a mile from the end lost him 23s and the lead so he ended up second, effectively winning our class but his 2nd Overall pot gave us 3rd in Class
    Jon Segger finished 15th and 7th in Class, having trouble getting the power down in the tricky conditions while Tudor and Ashley Davies finished 24th and 11th in class, Tudor giving their new engine it's first test

    So a very enjoyable event at an interesting venue, well organised by Green Belt and Middlesex County Clubs, and many thanks to Holly for sitting in with me

    Next event should be Caerwent in June

    Stage 2


    Stage 4


    Stage 6


    Stage 7


    Stage 8
    GavinR

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    World Champion Decade Plus User exboyracer's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Great write up Gavin, some nice pedalling too
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    well done gavin, great vids looked very wet

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Great write-up/footage as ever Gavin and a great result

    (Watching the videos, I really can't believe how much more grip you had than we did - even on SS7 you look to be going less sideways than we were on any of the stages. We were running cut Dunlop slicks, x12s on the rear and x22s on the front. I thought they'd be a lot better than they were.)

  14. #254
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Thanks - it certainly didn't feel like we had much grip, I was trying very hard not to go sideways and feed in the power gently, didn't always work though

    I'm down to my last few PB20's now and none of them have much tread left (and they're not made any more) so I'm going to invest in a set of x22's cut into full wets - I remember Windy at Millbrook a few years back going very well in heavy rain on x22's all round

    Maybe the x12's were too hard to work in those conditions?
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Made me chuckle at the end of Stage 7 .. well done to you both

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post
    Thanks - it certainly didn't feel like we had much grip, I was trying very hard not to go sideways and feed in the power gently, didn't always work though

    I'm down to my last few PB20's now and none of them have much tread left (and they're not made any more) so I'm going to invest in a set of x22's cut into full wets - I remember Windy at Millbrook a few years back going very well in heavy rain on x22's all round

    Maybe the x12's were too hard to work in those conditions?
    Yeah, I guess x22s on the back would have been better. My throttle linkage is quite 'snappy' too - i.e. pretty much on or off. I need to gear it down a bit somehow so I can be a bit more gentle with it I think.

  17. #257
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Midsummer Caerwent 20th June 2010

    After going to Caerwent for the first time a year ago I fancied another go, and was hoping for a more successful event without any incidents

    Holly was codriving again and there was a full entry of 100 cars including 20 F1000 Juniors, so our seeding of Car 51 was a bit disappointing, just behind a Quattro and ahead of a couple of Impreza's. There were 7 stages, each 10 miles long. I went over to scrutineering Sat afternoon, the only comment was about the front towing eye not being that obvious, so a small arrow was stuck on the front spoiler to keep everyone happy, and I collected the stage maps so Holly could have a good look at them - they looked very similar to the previous year but the stages are so long I couldn't remember much, and Holly had never been there before

    Stage 1 & 2
    Everything started well, keeping neat and tidy and after about 4 miles, exiting the tight quarry section for the first time, we spotted the Quattro not far ahead. A couple of straights later and we got past. Into another narrow section a bit too fast I went wide onto some gravel and up a grassy bank before regaining the road - Holly thought this was good technique, but I'm not that clever
    With 4 miles to go, the engine started misfiring slightly, not pulling smoothly all the way to the limiter so I started changing up earlier, and then all of a sudden it cleared and the last 2 miles were good, overtaking a 205 just before the finish
    Back in service I checked everything under the bonnet, but it was difficult as we'd finished ok, so we got ready for the next stage. Nothing happened when I pushed the starter button so I grabbed a few people to push and we were away. Once again the first part of the stage went well until the misfire returned a bit worse but it had cleared again by the finish. Our time was 1s slower so it was definitely a problem

    Stage 3 & 4
    During service I removed the sumpguard, changed the starter and refitted it, but didn't have much time left to look at the engine so we carried on. Stage 3 was better with only an intermittent misfire but on Stage 4 it was worse again.
    A long service after Stage 4 so I removed the spark plugs - the front 2 looked good but the 2 rear were a slightly different colour, possibly pointing to a fuel problem with the rear carb. I took out all the jets to make sure they were clean, then a chap next door having similar problems with his Escort suggested fuel vapourisation, so I found some heat wrap and tied it round the dry sump pipes which run just below the rear carb. It seemed to make sense that it was a heat problem as we were finishing the stage with the oil at 110 degrees and the misfire was worse after a shorter service as the engine had less time to cool down.

    Stage 5 & 6
    It was all going well again until about half way through when the back end started getting a bit loose and I realised we had a slow puncture on the back right. We carried on for a bit being gentle round left handers and normal speed round the right handers but when the tread flew off with 4 miles to go I thought we'd better stop and change it. I don't normally carry a spare but with the length of the stages I thought it was a wise move. We found a good place to pull over and jumped out to change it, but a combination of everything being too well strapped down in the boot and me forgetting the best place to put the jack, we ended up dropping 7 minutes on this stage, finishing 2 seconds under the Stage Maximum
    In service we just had time to change all 4 wheels and sort out the boot (the other wheels had small dents in them and the one that had punctured had a bigger dent but nothing too bad) and it was off to Stage 6. Still misfiring on and off, we persevered, not going that quick but not getting caught by anyone either

    Stage 7
    The last one and on the road section before it the misfire had started. There was a bit of a delay at the start so I turned her off to try and let everything cool down even more, but when we got going she was only running on 3 cylinders and stayed like that all the way round. But we still managed to overtake the Impreza in front of us

    When the results came out, we were 32nd overall and 9th in class - about 45 cars finished the main field and 15 Juniors. Without the puncture we could have been just outside the top 20

    I started her up to drive back to the trailer park, and Holly kept her running while I pulled the plug leads off in turn and it looked like No 1 had a problem - when I unloaded the other night I changed No 1 spark plug and everything is running sweetly now, but I'm still not 100% convinced that it was the cause of the problems all day

    So a slightly disappointing day, not even getting through one stage cleanly, but many thanks to South Wales Auto Club for running the event so smoothly and of course to Holly who did an excellent job on the diagrams all day - I promise DVY will be running perfectly for our next event and I'll try not to hit any kerbs

    No in car as its MOD but there are some pics on the EDP Photo website
    GavinR

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  18. #258
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User cossie matt's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Well done mate it's a frightening venue for sure, there are so many Kerbs, and obstacles to hit or take your wheel off.

    I remember bricking myself on the start of SS1 only to see an escort with it's rear wheel ripped off after about 6 corners to boost my confidence!!! Neat and tidy is definately the way to go there.

    Be great to do an event together soon? We've put an entry in for the Richard Burns, John Segger, Ashley Davies and Paul Alex (if he pulls his finger out Hint Hint) are doing it too.

    Matt

  19. #259
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    I'm sure we'll meet on an event soon - I'm not doing the Richard Burns but might be over that way in September

    My next rally is Fat Albert at the end of July but I'm back at Loton Park in a couple of weeks so today I made a start on some more weight saving mods

    1. Empty engine bay of everything not that important (expansion tank, catch tank, air horn compressor) and reroute wiring out of the way


    2. Fit dry sump tank, bought from HT 18 months ago


    3. A bit tight to the alternator but I can get my fingers in between


    Tomorrow I'll be doing some plumbing, need to cut a slot / hole in the slam panel to route the return pipe into the tank
    Last edited by GavinR; 26-06-2010 at 19:21.
    GavinR

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  20. #260
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    A bit more progress today - air horn compressor mounted in wheel arch


    As the tank has 5/8" BSP connections and my current system is 3/4" BSP, I removed the rad to access the oil cooler and swapped this for one the same size but with 5/8" connections

    Cut the slot in the slam panel and routed the first pipe


    More to follow this week - I want to be out testing next weekend so I can make sure it all works before Loton Park the week after
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    good stuff mate

  22. #262
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    More progress today

    Feed pipe installed




    Twin scavenge into a single pipe to the oil cooler. Bit of a tight fit so I moved the pressure pipe and sandwich plate round. As there's no fitting for temperature in the tank, the sender is mounted at the back of this union. Hopefully it'll be immersed in oil all the time




    Catch tank squeezed in next to the oil tank, I could do with a smaller one but it'll do for now. And some heat shield round the alternator and throttle cables


    Radiator back in, no expansion tank anymore so I've connected the water pump back to the cylinder head


    Just got to fill with oil and see if everything works
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Nice one gavin, looking good

    With the missfire, is there a chance it could be the coil pack breaking down by not liking being above the hot exhaust?

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by dangerousdave View Post
    Nice one gavin, looking good

    With the missfire, is there a chance it could be the coil pack breaking down by not liking being above the hot exhaust?
    Possibly - the coil has always been mounted there but I cannot remember when I last changed it so it's probably worth changing for a new one. Just got to find the bit of paper which tells me which car it's off, I think it's something French
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Got to be worth a try, could also be the wiring getting hot too?

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Got down to the workshop today, filled her up with oil, no leaks, started her up, dripping from the oil temp sender

    Took the union off, covered the nut I'd welded on with even more weld, squirted some 3-in-1 oil into the union, covered the holes and blew into it - no leaks this time

    So all back together and running sweetly. Oil warms up after a few minutes (used to take 10) so I went for a drive, did about 20 miles, some fast some slow, no problems though except for some water coming out of the radiator overflow so I'll get a higher pressure cap

    No trace of the misfire but obviously driving on the road is nothing like doing a stage, so I've got some new spark plugs to go in and I've just ordered a new Bosch coil - it's off a Peugeot 106 from 1993
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Loton Park 10/11th July 2010

    During the week before Loton I'd removed all the old dry sump pipes and tank and weighing these against the new bits I'd put in, I think I've saved 12.5kg

    And I spent 15min in Halfords opening every radiator cap box until I found a 20psi cap, much to the confusion of the shop assistant but now the temp gauge goes well over 100 without any water loss

    Saturday

    There was the usual entry of Escorts in my class, Karl going even quicker this year in his Mk2 having done a 57.99s at a recent National A meeting, Steve out for the first time in his Mk1 with his new N/A Cosworth engine looking very smart on throttle bodies, fresh from a dyno run where it gave similar power to mine, and Stuart in his flat front RS2000 and the weather was very hot, hardly a cloud in the sky

    1st Practice was a good sensible run to 60.60s but Steve was in trouble with clouds of smoke coming out from everywhere, he pulled off near the top and pushed the car down the old return road through the woods back to the paddock while the marshals cleared up the oil slick which had started at the first corner.
    Further investigation showed that a core plug at the front of the dry sump pump had been blown out meaning that oil was being pumped everywhere except round the engine Steve phoned a friend who turned up with a selection of core plugs, some sealant, a lot of rags and some brake cleaner and during lunch all the oil was cleaned off, the dry sump pump removed, a new core plug fitted and lock wired into place and the engine was run up to check for any strange noises. It sounded ok, but after 5min the core plug was weeping oil so Steve sensibly called it a day.
    That night he drained the oil to find quite a lot of swarf so the engine is going back to the engine builder for a bottom end rebuild and the pump (which was brand new) will go back to the manufacturers to be sorted / replaced. What none of us can understand is why there is a core plug there at all - it's on the nose of the pump opposite the pressure valve???

    2nd Practice started well but half way up Cedar Straight the engine went flat and then picked up again once I was going straight, I assume due to lack of fuel, although she started up ok to drive back to the paddock where I filled up the 2.5 gallon tank. One problem I have with this small tank is that it's foam filled and doesn't have a sight gauge so I'm finding it difficult to tell how much petrol is in it - apparently I need a sharp stick to poke in it

    1st Timed Run - An amazing start of 2.24s due to the hot weather, round to Triangle in 22.74s, about 0.1 off my PB, up to the split before Fallow in 41.99s, but was a bit tentative over the crest remembering the problems I had under braking there in April and set a time of 59.46s. Stuart had gone up before in a 62s, followed by Karl who always struggles to get off the line, was a fraction behind me to Triangle but then got to Fallow split in 41.38s and crossed the line with a 58.74s to lead the class at this point. When I got back to the paddock, Steve said that my engine didn't sound quite on song, although it felt ok inside I fitted the new coil and 4 new spark plugs in case it was the misfire returning

    2nd Timed Run - Stuart did a similar run but his Pinto started rattling just before the finish so he shut it off and coasted round to the holding paddock worried he might have damaged it. Karl couldn't match his first run, the track having cooled down and did a 59.42s. I felt I had a lot better run, although still tentative over the crest into Fallow, I got her drifting nicely out of Museum and crossed the line only 1/100 quicker in 59.45s which was disappointing.
    Back in the paddock, Stuart started up his Pinto and the rattle was coming from the top end, so we took the rocker cover off and found one rocker stud had come loose giving a clearance of 1/4" instead of 10thou. This was adjusted but when he started her up again it still didn't sound right, so Stuart and Karl went through adjusting all the tappets (a lot of them were too tight) while I went to collect the awards for Karl and myself

    That night I stayed with Dave as usual and was wondering whether to do the next event in August as I didn't feel I was making any progress. I don't mind coming 2nd but I want to feel that I've gone the best I can and to be over 1s behind my PB, similar to what happened in April, was not good. Dvy was handling a lot better as I'd swapped the tyres corner to corner so the slightly less worn ones were on the back but the times just weren't there

    Sunday

    Another lovely day but a bit more cloudy. Karl and Stuart were out again and Steve was there spectating and supporting his partner Lucy who hillclimbs a 106 Rallye. When I'd got up that morning I decided that maybe it was just me not driving hard enough and not being committed enough at the top of the hill to get a decent time

    1st Practice - As conditions hadn't changed overnight I thought I'd better start off quick and see if I could get quicker through the day and back down to a 58s time. This one was 59.81s. Sturat was going better today after Saturday night's tune up and was down to consistent 61s

    2nd Practice - After the first one I'd taken the plugs out and 3 & 4 looked quite sooty whereas 1 & 2 looked the correct colour, so I had a quick fiddle with the balance lever between the carbs to reduce the throttle on the rear one. This run was better again, not that quick to Triangle with 23.11s but got to Fallow in 42.13s and was more committed over the crest, finishing on 59.27s

    1st Timed Run - I'd taken the plugs out again and still wasn't happy so I had another play with the mixture screws but when I started her up to go and line up she was sounding a bit rough so I adjusted them again until it sounded better (can you tell I don't really know what I'm doing? ) and went like that. I couldn't get the start quite as good as Saturday, maybe because the revcounter had given up, but I got to Triangle in 22.81s, Fallow split in 41.62s, completely flat over the crest, under braking sideways one way, then the other, then back again, luckily just at the right moment to turn into Fallow, so I dropped her into second and floored it up to Museum, nicely round there and over the line in 58.59s, my 2nd quickest run ever
    I got to the holding paddock and there was Karl looking very happy having done a 58.03s so I was still 2nd. He'd decided that the 10" slicks on the back weren't working that well as he couldn't get enough heat into them, so he'd gone back to some 8.2" ones (the same as I use) and done his best ever start of 2.27s, Triangle in 22.25s on his way to the 58.03s

    2nd Timed Run - I checked the plugs again and they looked ok so I didn't touch anything this time. Karl was fired up for the last run because he's been .5s ahead of me before and I've pulled it off on the last run, but I couldn't see any way of getting down to his time. He went up first but couldn't match his first run but still got a 58.52s
    I did an intensive tyre warming session, got a superb start of 2.23s, braked nice and late for the SqL at Hall, just held on through Loggerheads as the back end started to drift out, cut the edge of the grass into Fletchers Dellow, getting a bit sideways and having to put on some opposite lock to narrowly avoid clipping the bollards on the inside here before lining her up and blasting down the straight to Triangle in 21.57s my best ever time to here, braked late again and locked everything up but got out cleanly, through the Right Left at Keepers and early on the power up Cedar Straight, through the split in 41.27s well on target for a new PB, completely flat over the crest before it all went wrong under braking
    The problem is that if I take the crest flat I have to brake hard before Dvy has settled so the back end always locks up and we go sideways, sometimes I get away with it, sometimes I don't, but if I don't take the crest flat I cannot seem to get under 59s
    Anyway we went very sideways, got a couple of wheels onto the grass on the inside, full opposite lock in both directions, heading onto the grass a bit more on the inside of Fallow, then the grass ran out and I was drifting sideways across the exit of Fallow, found some grip and in amongst all the chaos I'd changed down to 2nd (not sure how) so I floored it and we were away up to Museum, tidily round there and over the line in 59.11s
    On reaching the holidng paddock I was greeted by Stuart and some other drivers from the Roadgoing classes who had seen it all and thought I was going to have a big off at any moment

    So 2nd in class again, but a lot better day than Saturday, now I'm confident that I can go quicker than last year and I've entered the August events. Hopefully it will be another sunny weekend and I can see if I can get a 57s run

    Before then I've booked a session on HT's Rolling Road to get the carbs set up properly and check the timing as she hasn't been tuned for a couple of years now, and then we're off to Fat Albert at the end of July, trying to avoid any bushes this time

    And finally, some in car from Loton, just the 2 Sunday afternoon runs this time as the consistent 59s runs aren't that interesting after a while

    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Spending time in Halfords Gavin, you feeling ok

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Halfords is useful occasionally, £3.49 for a radiator cap instead of £10 for a competition one

    I had a day trip to HT yesterday, and after a slight delay while Arron found the software and an old laptop that would talk to my Lumenition ECU, we had a few power runs, balanced the carbs, changed the idle jets, tweaked the timing, swung the cams and gained about 10bhp from 5k all the way up to 8k rpm, back up to the power she always used to give

    Just a few days left to Fat Albert, we're seeded Car 16 out of 85, really looking forward to it as its run by my motor club, Tavern MC
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Good luck with the Fat Albert Gavin.

    I have joined Basingstoke MC now.................trying to get back into 12 cars

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    Way too much free time Decade Plus User Retromotorsport's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Great write as always Gavin, and good luck on the Albert

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Fat Albert Stages 31st July 2010

    As this event was being run by my motor club, I'd volunteered to help set up the stages, so I arrived early on the Friday, spent a few hours pitching the tents for Rally HQ and Results before heading out on the airfield to drop hundreds of cones, barriers and a few round straw bales at the junctions and chicanes, leaving the final positioning to the Clerk of the Course and his Assistants. It was all pretty much done by late afternoon so I got DVY ready for scrutineering which was passed without any comments. Holly arrived a bit later so we signed on, got all the Stage Diagrams and heading off to a B&B in nearby Trowbridge. There was almost a full entry of 82 cars with 34 in our class!

    Stage 1 & 2
    There had been some rain overnight but it was dry again by the time we started Stage 1. I'd bought 4 new tyres for the event from Steve Harkness but unfortunately Hankook were out of stock of the mediums so we were running hard all round. We had a good first stage setting 12th quickest time but I didn't feel she was turning in that well, so back in service I had a quick squint at the tracking. It looked to be towing out slightly so I tweaked one side and we were ready for Stage 2.
    This was a lot quicker, improving by 27s, but everyone else went even quicker so we dropped back a bit. Going through the nadgery bit for the second time, we were waved down by some marshals who were trying to extricate the Aston Martin from some bushes where he'd missed a corner

    Stage 3 & 4
    A minor change to the stage layout with a loop down an old runway to a hairpin left and back up again. Coming into this corner the first time I turned in as usual, there was an almighty bang and we were up on 2 wheels, I could see Holly's head move sideways and there was a straw bale rolling along side us. I assumed I'd cut the bale a bit tight which had flicked us onto 2 wheels and the bang I heard was Holly's helmet hitting the roll cage
    I asked if she was ok and she said just to get on with it so I did and a couple of corners later an Impreza WRC dived up the inside into a chicane, nearly went straight on through it before leaving us behind. The rest of the stage passed without incident
    Back in service Holly went off to find the Competitor Liaison Officer to complain about the Impreza, while I borrowed Hugh and Andy (who were servicing for another Tavern crew) to help sort out the damage - the rear arch was badly dented along with the rear quarter but the wheel, suspension and axle were fine, so I left them to it and went to see how Holly was getting on
    After some confusion on my part, Holly explained that the almighty bang had been the Impreza hitting us at the hairpin and not me hitting a bale, and this was why we had a large dent in the side. There wasn't much the organisers could do as none of the marshals had reported the incident, but they did everything they could within the rules and had a word with the crew of the Impreza before the next stage, which was more than the Impreza crew did, never even coming over to us to check if we were ok
    Anyway, Hugh and Andy made the arch look more like an arch again and secured it with a couple of brackets, so we went out for Stage 4. This went smoothly, on our second lap we were catching a different Impreza in the nadgery bit when we were both slowed by the marshals again as a Mk2 had tried to take a 45 right flat out and gone off into some other bushes on the outside and didn't make it out again. Soon after the Impreza pulled over to let us past and we set a time slightly quicker than Stage 4.
    After all this we were about 16th overall and 3rd in class, 11s behind 2nd in class

    Stage 5 & 6
    Another slight change to the layout, this time a chicane on a junction was switched to be a hairpin so we used a different bit of the airfield. Shortly before this new corner, we were overtaken by the Stojanov's in the ex-Peter Lloyd Subaru S12 WRC, but when they got to the junction, they drove it as a chicane, ending up in a pile of cones, so we carried on past and didn't see them again
    We had a very good run through and it went even better on Stage 6 and we moved up to 2nd in class, although a long way off 1st in class

    Stage 7 & 8
    After a brief lunch break, the 4 afternoon stages ran in the opposite direction. On the first one we caught up a BMW 325 coming into a hairpin, who spun it on the way out and we ended up facing each other, Holly shouted to go past on the grass so I did while he sorted himself out
    Stage 8 was good as well, we were overtaken by the Mk1 Escort of Adrian Brown and followed him for a bit, gaining slightly under braking but getting left on the straights, his 2.5 JRE Vauxhall engine giving a lot more power than my Cossie. Out of the hairpin at "Dingly Dell" there's a bump on a left hander before a sqaare right back on to the perimeter track. I thought I'd try a different line cutting the grass a lot, but it didn't go well, ending up with 2 wheels on the grass the other side, nearly hitting a fence before getting it back together, but no harm done in the end
    After these we were 11th overall and 2nd in class

    Stage 9 & 10
    The last 2 of the day, just had to make sure we didn't do anything stupid, Stage 9 went well, nice and tidy everywhere
    Stage 10 we were overtaken by the Impreza WRC of the Furzelands (not the people who hit us earlier) and then a bit later caught up the Rotary powered Mk2 of Steve Hopewell who had been having a gentle first lap to try and cool the engine, but got going again for the second lap and even though we were slightly quicker, we were never close enough to be held up.
    Coming out of the nadgery bit for the last time the rear end was a bit twitchy, so I took it gently down to "Dingly Dell" hairpin, thinking we might have a rear puncture, but we got round ok and through the finish
    Back in service, no punctures but we found a broken top link bar bolt. Apart from this, DVY ran well all day, we finished on the same tyres we started on and just had to add petrol during the day

    Holly checked the results and we were very pleased to finish 10th overall and 2nd in class
    Many thanks to Holly for sitting in with me again and doing a good job reading the diagrams, despite having a stiff neck after our incident. Also to Tavern Motor Club for a very slick event which ran like clockwork all day with no hold ups

    Tavern member Jim Munden was 1st in class, just over 3 minutes ahead of us, in a very similar spec Mk2 to DVY, but he's a bit more talented than I am, and finished 3rd overall

    The event was one by the Impreza WRC who had hit us with Adrian Brown just 31s behind in 2nd

    I did the in car every other stage, so wasn't recording the one we got hit on

    SS2


    SS4


    SS6


    SS8


    SS10
    GavinR

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  33. #273
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    A few pics taken when I got home - the black mark is from the Impreza's front tyre




    Back in the workshop, removed the old arch and side window, hammered it as straight as I could and pulled the quarter panel out




    With the window out I could that the seam had split so this had a few spots of weld


    Trial fitted the new arch - luckily I had a spare one for this corner




    Loads of filler


    After a lot of sanding and about 50 rivets the new arch was on today




    Some more sanding and 3 coats of primer, top coats will go on tomorrow
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    2nd in class from over 30 cars was a superb result Gavin

    Your incident with the Imprezza is really annoying - you can bet that the driver isn't doing the repairs himself, and really ignorant not to come over and apologise to you both.

    Keevil is a great venue, and I'm sure we'll be making the long journey from Manchester again next year. Tavern did a really good job.

    I meant to come over and say hello, but I was kept busy in between stages!!

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Quote Originally Posted by GavinR View Post
    we finished on the same tyres we started on and just had to add petrol during the day
    My kind of rallying nice Gavin

  36. #276
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Well done Gav Great result. Shame about the damage but glad it didn't effect your performance.

    Cheers

    Matt

  37. #277
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    All finished and ready for tomorrow...

    Paint


    More paint


    Arch guard


    Stickers and mudflap and repainted the light guard
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Superb result well done, we were car 30, a red 205 with a yellow sun strip, we had never done the event before and didnt have a clue where we were going, then the front wishbone bushes wiped out, so game over....,will be back next year to try and make up for an awful account of ourselves this year lol

  39. #279
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Loton Park 14-15th August 2010

    Just a brief report this time...

    Saturday was damp first thing, 2nd practice was dry (60.80s) as was the 1st Timed Run (59.03s) but we had a heavy shower while lining up for the 2nd Timed Run
    Karl's 1st Run was about 0.3s ahead of me so he won the class from myself and Steve Bailey's Mk1 which was now back to Pinto power while he waits for the Dry Sump Pump manufacturer to pay for his Cosworth rebuild - the previous outing's oil pump failure had left it needing a new crank and rods

    Sunday was dry and warm all day although 1st Practice was a bit iffy after some overnight rain
    2nd Practice I had a very good run up the hill, stopping the clocks on 58.41s, very, very close to my PB of 58.37s set last August
    1st Timed Run I tried a bit too hard and could only manage 58.94s, which left me 3rd behind Karl on 57.80s and Tony Hart on 58.31s in his freshly reshelled Renault 5 Turbo after an incident at 3 Sisters last year
    2nd Timed Run I decided to take a gamble and borrowed Karl's slightly harder compound 10" wide rear slicks that he only uses for practice to see if it would keep the rear under control. They only just fitted under the arches despite my very narrow Atlas (Karl has Monte Carlo arches which are a lot wider) but it was good enough for one run
    I was a bit slower off the line and a bit nervous round to Triangle not being sure what the handling would be like, but she came out of Triangle very well (the tyres up to temperature now) and going out of Keepers I could get the power down earlier and by the time I reached the crest at the top of Cedar Straight the shift light was on in 4th which I'd never seen before, and a speed trap which was set up there showed 87mph (Saturday's best was 84mph) and I crossed the line in 58.55s, still in 3rd place

    I wasn't too worried about being 3rd as doing 3 58s runs was the best day I'd had all year, and the experiment with the wider slicks was very interesting. At the moment I'm not sure whether I'll be hillclimbing next year as I'd like to do more rallies, but if I do then I'll be trying 9" slicks all round

    Two weeks earlier, there had been another National B meeting which I couldn't go to because I was doing the Fat Albert. Karl was there though and did a 57.74s on the Saturday which was only 0.04s off the Mod Prod Class Record held by Mark Waldron in a Turbocharged Lotus Elise 1.4 back in October 2001
    But then on the Sunday, Ralph Pinder was out in his 300hp Mi16 engined Peugeot 205, sporting bigger arches and brand new 10" slicks all round, and he obliterated the record with a time of 57.19s

    So back to rallies, and after a few days of fettling Dvy, she's ready for the Mewla Rally over the Epynt Ranges this Sunday
    GavinR

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    Mechanic BDA_IT's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

    Saw that you were out on the Mewla! Looks like you had a good day! Maybe next year we will attack the tarmac raods of Epynt, we have been over the ranges in the forest and that is some of the best stages in the UK and i loved it! Was it hairy in the Wet? can you just buy notes and check them on the wrecky or do you have to make your own?
    Going Sideways is the way Forward!

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