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Thread: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

  1. #1
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    As some of you know, I've spent 18 months turning a neglected 1971 Scimitar into something I could use for Historic Road Rally's

    Scimitar Restoration

    After a slightly rushed paint job, everything was ready for my first event last weekend...


    Leukaemia Historic Road Rally - 12th May 2012



    Historic Road Rally's consist of Special Tests on private land, and slow speed Regularity's on the public road where the aim is to maintain a constant speed such as 20mph for 4 miles and at any point you can come across a control where they check this. I'd entered this event with Cath Woodman as she regularly competes on Historic events, but she had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances, so my regular Road Rally navigator Georgina Clark stepped in. As it was her first Historic we found a few quiet lanes the weekend before and did 6 miles practising the Regularity sections which involves Speed tables, an accurate TripMeter and 2 stop watches, and it all went well

    On the Friday I bought some secondhand forest tyres from Steve Harkness and had them fitted as I was expecting some forest tests. Later I headed over for scrutineering which was passed without any problems and came back for the night. On Saturday we got there nice and early to have some breakfast with the other 50 crews before collecting the road book an hour before the start. The Leukaemia has been running for 20 years and often uses Caerwent for Special Tests, but unfortunately this year there is no rallying at Caerwent so they were using various car parks and just a few miles of forest for the 21 Tests, and there were 7 Regularity's to plot - we managed to get 6 of them down before we left the start

    The first Test was just down the road round a rather mucky recycling plant, which was ok apart from one very tight hairpin round a line of metal skips where I had to do a 3 point turn. The next 2 were on an industrial estate and a bit more open and our times were better. Soon it was onto the first Regularity and it was going smoothly until we got held up in a narrow lane by some traffic and dropped 36s in total, but still a good start. Some more very compact tests around car parks followed (which were hard work in the Scimitar - she's got a good turning circle but the handbrake's not good enough to lock the wheels and there's no LSD yet) before a rather brief coffee stop mid morning

    Back on the road it was straight into Regularity 2 over some open moorland roads, we did well again although the results show us dropping nearly 4 minutes due to the clocks being miles out A couple more tests followed before 2 in a forest not far from Usk. The first one was 0.6 miles, nice and open and reasonably smooth and we were about 18th quickest, but the next one was 1 mile long and started with a very tight hairpin through a deep ford which caused problems for a lot of crews. I did a 3 point turn round the hairpin, took the ford slowly and got through ok and the rest of the test was good, just a couple of bumpy parts and trouble getting traction in places, we were well off the pace on this one. A few miles down the road was the lunch halt which they had extended to give crews some more time - we arrived with the engine rather hot and everything sounded a bit louder than when we'd started

    After a quick lunch we were surprised to find ourselves in 20th place but I was worried we'd have to call it a day if I couldn't fix the overheating. The electric fan had packed up, presumably through the deep ford, but luckily it was just a blown fuse. I looked underneath and found one rear silencer was gone (the car behind us came across it in the forest) and I tied the remaining parts to the chassis and hoped they would stay there for the rest of the event. Meanwhile Geroge had plotted the last Regularity

    Regularity 3 followed only dropping 13s although we thought we were lost at one point, we seemed to go a long way to the control but it turned out to be correct and this looped us back round to the 2 forest tests again. I took it a bit easier this time (and turned off the fan to go through the ford) but set very similar times although everyone else got faster. Regularity 4 we had a slight issue with a Discovery doing 15mph past a reservoir which made us late at one control but only 12s in total dropped on this one which was as good as the top guys were doing

    3 more tests mixed in with the last 3 Regularity's took us round Newport Steelworks, we were improving all the time on the Regularity's and only dropped 3s on the last one - only one other crew matched this There should have been 3 more tests on the way to the Finish, all ones we had done earlier but the rally was running an hour behind so the organisers took the sensible decision to cancel these. After a nice buffet there were some results up which showed us in 19th but with quite a lot of dodgy times - Regularity 2 we had over 10 min of penalties which was clearly impossible, and Regularity 5 was 2 minutes out. A few queries later (not just from me), Regularity 2 was down to 4 mins (still wrong but I couldn't prove my point well enough so it stood) and Regularity 5 down to 9s which was correct

    All this brought us up to 14th Overall and 4th in Class - we were both very pleased, the car ran well and has plenty of power when I get a chance to use it, and George did an excellent job all round doing a lot better than some of the regular Historic navigators. Some tweaks are planned before the next event in June
    Last edited by GavinR; 15-05-2012 at 23:53.
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    nice one and a great write up gavin, glad you got a decent result with no real issues, look forward to reading your next report

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    World Champion Decade Plus User exboyracer's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Nice one, good result on your first time out in the car!
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    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Get the lsd in gav
    What are you doing about the h break
    Will you be allowed a hydro ?
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    When the exhaust came off, it damaged the rear valance, but luckily nothing fell off, so it was just a case of glassing it back together
    This is how it looked after the event, but it looks a lot better now and the rear silencer has been replaced thanks to a spare from a fellow Scimitar owner



    As my next event is in 2 weeks, I've been back working on the axle again, cleaned up the other tube and cut the new brackets to shape



    With the help of some wood and exhaust clamps it was easy to line up the tubes and diff housing



    After some research on the web, it looked like the best method was to stick the housing in an oven and the tubes in a freezer before knocking them together. The housing just fitted in the oven, but the tubes didn't fit in the freezer and after heating the housing it was still very hard to knock the tubes in so once they were in about an inch I left it at that, not wanting to distort the housing



    Today with the help of an old pulley, a very large socket and lots of extension bars, I managed to support the bearing face through the other tube while I used a FBH to knock the tubes in. It took about 3 hours but they're both in the right distance and very solid. Tomorrow's job is to plug weld the tubes and also weld the brackets in the right place before trial fitting the diff...
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    have just read through the resto thread great to see something a bit different out on historic events

    good result on its first real test

    did a couple of historic road rallies last year in my beetle building a mk2 four door now for the same

    cheers dan

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    Racer Decade Plus User tim's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    just saw your name,well saw Scimitar first on the entry list for the East Anglian Classic Rally,good luck this weekend

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Quote Originally Posted by tim View Post
    just saw your name,well saw Scimitar first on the entry list for the East Anglian Classic Rally,good luck this weekend
    Thanks - had a busy few days getting everything ready...

    Rear valance glassed up



    Used the lathe bed to line up the brackets before welding them in place and plug welding the tubes



    So that's what a Thornton "Powr-Lok" diff looks like inside - slightly different to a ZF LSD (which I run in the Escorts) as the bevel gears and the side gear ring are separate, and also there's an axle shaft spacer in the middle as the shafts run in taper bearings so need a certain amount of end float



    Nearly forgot to make some handbrake cable brackets



    Now it's all done and fitted and seemed to work on the test drive last night, I've no idea if the CWP mesh is correct but it seems quiet enough at the moment and the acceleration is definitely better (the original diff was 3.31 and the Jag one is 3.77 ) The LSD plates were replaced with new ones so it's a bit tight but that should help on the tighter tests. I've also fitted some Mintex Competition brake shoes to try and improve the handbrake but it hasn't made much difference.

    Full report next week...
    GavinR

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    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    In the regs for historic road rallying would you mot be able to convert the standard hbrake to hydraulic using one of those kits?
    I know i can in my escort but are you allowed in the scimitar ?
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Hi - unfortunately hydraulic handbrakes are banned. I think the problem is the angle of the brackets not lining up with the handbrake lever in the back plate. I'll have to cut off the brackets and start again but that's a job for the next event. This one I'll just have to boot it round on the diff
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    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Are they banned completely now ?
    I thought it was ok if you retained the standard lever ?
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    And yeah just give that clutch some abuse that will get it round
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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Quote Originally Posted by mexicotait View Post
    Are they banned completely now ?
    I thought it was ok if you retained the standard lever ?
    Hi,

    They're illegal for Historic Road Rallies as they were never used in period, but ok for Road Rallies using the standard lever and pivot point
    GavinR

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    East Anglian Classic - Sunday 17th June 2012

    This event runs in Norfolk and had 35 entrants following a 160 mile route of Regularities and 11 Special Tests. I was worried that the self-built LSD axle would give problems and my navigator Cath Woodman was feeling rusty only having done 1 rally so far this year

    We started with a 25 mile Regularity and Cath was on the ball from the start, we only dropped the odd second here and there, then it was off to a short Test run twice at Larkshall Farm - it was a bit rough on one track but the other tracks were smooth enough and the LSD was working well

    Back on the road for the second Regularity, another few seconds and then one control where the organisers mileage was a mile out (caused by a mistake in the navigation so this control was scrubbed). Then we arrived at Old Buckenham Airfield for 2 Tests before a lunch halt

    Queuing up for the start, I pulled forward, there was a tiny clonk, the gear stick went all floppy and we were stranded in neutral. The box has 2 external linkage rods - after spending 10min dismantling the centre console to check the gear stick end they were ok, but the side rod was not attached to the box as a clip had come off somewhere in Norfolk. After getting underneath I managed to reattach it with 2 tie wraps on both ends and we got out for the 2 Tests just in time but I took the gear changes gently in case it dropped off again. Then we waited for 10min to get back across the live runway which left us 6min for lunch before leaving MTC2 back on our due time, so no lunch

    Back on the road the gear change was as good as ever in the Regularity, we dropped only 1s at the next 3 controls then arrived at Thorpe Abbotts Airfield for 2 Tests run twice each. I stopped worrying about the gear box and went for a play - the second Thorpe Abbotts test was excellent, smooth and gravelly, I was finally getting the hang of dipping the clutch and booting it round the cones as the handbrake is still useless, we just missed all the cones but some were very close, the Scimitar's a bit bigger than Fly and without a quick rack it gets a bit frantic going from lock to lock

    Afternoon tea and fruit cake at the Bomb Group museum next door was very welcome and made up for missing lunch

    Another Test, another Regularity and then 2 Tests at Hethel next to the Lotus Test Track (we're not allowed to use the actual Test Track) - these went well, 6th fastest on one was my best time for the day. The final Regularity was Plot and Bash - Cath plotted it in the first 2 miles while I averaged 29mph watching the clock and tripmeter on my own which worked very well, and again we were only the odd second out

    Back at the Finish for a buffet supper, we were pleased to be 8th overall, only 25 seconds off 4th, Cath did very well to make us 3rd on the Regularities, but I need to drive faster as we were 10th on the Tests...

    Photos to follow

    Thanks
    GavinR

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    Racer Decade Plus User mexicotait's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Great result
    I had a friend who had loads of trouble with the linkage on his scimitar
    In the end he had them remade by tapping the ends and using rose joints

    Thanks for clearing the issue with the handbreak
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Pictures, courtesy of Andy Manston M & H Photography

    Parked in the sunshine at the start...



    Did I mention the first test was a bit rough...



    Stopping at a marshal for a signature...



    Best test of the day at Thorpe Abbotts...





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    World Champion Decade Plus User alladdin's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    well done gavin
    with regards to your test times, i have no idea what machinery your up against but i have never thought of a scimitar as a potential class winner ? then again ive not spent much time thinking about scimitars at all

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Quote Originally Posted by alladdin View Post
    well done gavin
    with regards to your test times, i have no idea what machinery your up against but i have never thought of a scimitar as a potential class winner ? then again ive not spent much time thinking about scimitars at all
    Neither had I until I bought one

    The event was won by a TR5 and their Test Times were as good as any, there were also 6 Mk1 Escorts, all either Mexico or RS2000 spec, some quicker than others, a 2.3 Vauxhall Viva, and a few Minis near the front of the field. I've no idea whether I can get quick enough to win anything, but I'll have a lot of fun trying
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    excellent stuff, looks like a lot of fun

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    I had some spare time last weekend so thought I'd start by removing the handbrake lever and cables

    The cables moved reasonably freely but are well greased now so they slide even better - they are a good design with a grease nipple half way down the outer casing

    Looking at the lever itself, there are 2 holes for the cable adjuster and I've been using the bottom one, changing this to the upper one should give more leverage but I will reinforce the hole with some washers first as it's a bit close to the edge and already worn



    I also removed the gear linkage rod and discovered the pins were too hard to drill into, so I ordered some 3/8" x 1.1/4" clevis pins off eBay which arrived yesterday
    This is the current arrangement that proved unreliable and the new pin alongside



    The original pins are welded in from the outside, but after grinding off the welds I could knock them out. I then enlarged the holes to just under 3/8" and hammered in the new pins. I was going to weld it in place but I don't think it needs it as it is a good tight fit. Next job is to machine some more nylon bushes and it can go back together



    One other problem I had when fitting the axle was the thread pulled out of one nut when I did it up with the torque wrench which made me realise how short the rear studs are, so I got some nuts of eBay and some longer studs from a Scimitar specialist which arrived today, that's another job for the weekend
    GavinR

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    I'm rather behind with this thread, but here's a report of a rally I did in July...

    Ross Traders Historic – Saturday 21st July 2012

    Based around Ross-on-Wye, the organisers had devised a route with 125miles of Regularities and 15 Tests. George(ina) was navigating this time so we were in the Novice Class, seeded 38 out of 44. Since the last event I had modified the gear linkage with bigger clips and altered the angle of the handbrake cables to try and improve the leverage.

    The event is known for having tricky Regularity sections and the first one we were given the navigation as we left the start, it looked quite simple with just a few map references and directions. Unfortunately the first junction had 2 roads going in a similar direction and George had plotted the wrong one and we did an extra loop arriving 2 minutes late to the first control. There was more confusion as we continued through this Regularity dropping 3 more minutes but we managed to get the last one only 2s out so we were happy when we arrived at the first Tests.

    Tests 1, 2 and 3 were held on the Whitfield Estate, a mixture of tarmac roads and dusty concrete areas which we had both been through back in April on the Ross Endurance event. They all went well, George was impressed by the improved speed since the Leukaemia Rally, and even the handbrake was working on the dusty concrete!

    Back out on the road for 2 more Regularities which went a lot better, the first one was already on the map and we only dropped 13s over 6 controls, the next one George had to plot as I tried to maintain the correct average speed, she did an excellent job getting the route plotted within a couple of controls, and we managed to arrive at the first 6 controls very accurately dropping 10s in total. Unfortunately driving to the final control we were stopped by a member of the public who had been upset by the speed of an earlier competitor. We chatted to them for a few minutes before driving slowly to the last control – the times here were removed from the results as most of the competitors had been affected.

    We were now back at Whitfield Estate for 4 more Tests, similar to the first ones they went very well with some more quick times. Then it was off to fill up with petrol and the lunch halt, but when I tried to start the Scimitar in the petrol station there was no life from the starter motor… Unperturbed and quite hungry, we pushed her into the car park and walked 100yds to the lunch halt in a pub next door where Ross Motorsports Club had laid on a barbecue. We had a quick lunch, checked the mid morning results which saw us lying 27th, surprisingly high up considering our poor start, then we went back to the Scimitar to see if half hour cooling down had helped. There was still no life from the starter, but a passing motorist offered to help and we tow started her.

    The next Regularity went well, only dropping 11s, but the one after was ‘plot and bash’ with a lot of junctions close together and we dropped 30s after pulling over to plot some of the route early on. This took us down to Chepstow Racecourse for some more Tests in the Car Park and on some gravel tracks inside the racecourse which were great fun. Back out on the road for the final Regularity which was a tough one, with many speed changes and 8 controls saw us lose 1m 40s after a few mistakes. Then we arrived back at the Racecourse for the last 4 Tests before heading back to Ross-on-Wye for a buffet at the finish

    When the results came out we were surprised to find we’d set the quickest time on Test 1 and were consistently quick throughout the day, which moved us up to a very good 11th Overall and 2nd Novice, we even beat all the Experts and a few of the Masters

    Many thanks to George for her efforts and to the organisers and marshals for an enjoyable day, we drove home without further problems after a tow start at the finish and a new starter has now been fitted
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    nice one well done gavin

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    well done mate

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    After the Ross Traders last year I did one more event, the Vale of Clwyd Classic in September with Cath Woodman
    We didn't have the best of events, being held up on a few regularities by other competitors who were lost, and finished 13th overall

    I haven't used the Scimitar yet this year as the Escorts have been taking up too much time, but I've entered the East Anglian Classic next weekend so I've spent the last 2 weeks sorting a few things out...



    I'd bought new longer rear studs last summer, but had been unable to fit them as the rear hubs are very difficult to remove from the axle shafts. Eventually, after borrowing a 12 ton hydraulic puller, I got them off and also removed the hubs from 2 spare shafts while I had the chance. Because of the forces involved, the thread on the end of the shaft can get damaged so I put them in the lathe to rethread them, only to discover the drivers side shaft was very slightly out of true

    By eye, it looks dead straight, but it seemed sensible to fit a spare one. While I had everything apart, I fitted new wheel bearings and set up the endfloat to 5 thou, something which is also a lot easier with the hubs off which allows the back plates to be removed and the shims replaced as required



    I also wanted to fit a roll cage for added safety, but you cannot buy a Scimitar cage off the shelf and after receiving a few quotes of around £1k just for a rear cage, it was time for some lateral thinking

    After some careful measuring, a search on eBay and a trip to South Wales, I ended up with an old Safety Devices rear cage for a Mk1 Escort for £75



    The paint wasn't good, even the diagonal was welded on the wrong way, but perfectly solid

    First job was to remove all unnecessary bars such as the rear stays and the diagonal, leaving the main hoop



    Remove all old paint, shorten the legs by a few inches, add new 4mm base plates, make new back stays from 2m of roll cage tube, and a couple of B-pillar tags - this is before final welding, everything just tacked together



    After carefully welding all the joints, apply 2 coats of smooth hammerite and leave to dry for a few days



    All bolted into place



    Under the body at this point is a nice flat plate forming part of the chassis and the original seat belt mounting point, so very strong



    The rear stays are lined up with the main rear chassis members, so the mounting plate has to be quite wide to get bolts either side of the chassis rails. The rear coil over mounts are also a few inches behind here adding to the strength



    I'm pleased with how it's come out, total cost about £125

    Next job is to fit some bucket seats
    GavinR

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  25. #25
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    I tried the bucket seats in but the subframes didn't line up with the cross bars I'd fitted to the chassis for the normal seats, so I removed the floor for better access



    Welded some longitudinal strips of 4mm flat bar to bridge the gap



    Ally sheet to reflect heat from the exhaust and provide a solid surface to lay the new floor on



    First layer of fibreglass added, a few more layers to follow



    I've got to the same point on the passenger side as well
    GavinR

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    More progress...

    New floor painted



    Carpet fitted and cut round where the seat subframes will sit
    Also showing my modified throttle pedal - I'd never been happy with the pedal sitting 4" lower than the brake pedal as it doesn't feel natural there, so I'd bought another pedal box earlier in the year, bent it to a better angle and welded a plate across the bend for strength



    With the seats out it was a good opportunity to lie upside down in the footwell and swap over the pedals - it now sits level with the brake so I can heel and toe
    The throttle stop used to be the bulkhead so I made a new one out of threaded bar and 5mm ally plate



    As I was fitting bucket seats, a better set of harnesses seemed appropriate, so I added a couple more eyebolts for a 6 point harness. Under the floor they are bolted to a 12" length of flat bar which spans the new seat rails



    Seat and belts installed, passenger side was done a few hours later - the harnesses are out of DVY, but as they expire at the end of the year, they will end up in the Scimitar permanently next year



    Finally, rear end finished, the new studs are a perfect length, flush with the end of the nuts



    The last few jobs were to try and make it cooler inside the car, so I cut away the splash shields from the inner wheel arches to let hot air escape from the manifolds into the arches, and also wrapped the exhaust from the manifold to the first silencer which is the section under the footwell

    By 2pm Friday it was all done and I drove her up the road for the first time this year - the brake pedal was going too far and the handbrake was not doing much either, but I was already late for meeting George so I loaded up, threw some tools in the van and we headed off to Norfolk...
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    3rd overall well done!

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Good results! What kind of weight are these machines?

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    East Anglian Classic – Saturday 22nd June 2013

    Organised by Chelmsford Motor Club, this event runs in South Norfolk. There were 41 cars competing on a route comprising 14 Tests and 5 Regularities, George and I were seeded Car 8. I hadn’t been out in the Scimitar since last September and George hadn’t done a historic since last July, but the long journey from Bristol gave us time to remember how to do Regularities!

    At the start we were given an hour to plot the first 2 Regularities for the morning but the event started with 3 Tests run twice at Thorpe Abbotts airfield, home of the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum who were based at his airfield during WW2. The tests were more open than the previous year, a mixture of concrete, gravel and some very muddy and slippery bits, but reasonably smooth and long. We didn’t have any problems and made up some time on the second runs to be lying just inside the top 10.

    Onto the first regularity where everything went very well, only dropping 6s over 4 controls was amazing. The route brought us back to Thorpe Abbotts for a coffee halt before 2 more Tests round the airfield made up of the 3 earlier tests joined together and run in the opposite direction. These were great fun but I’m still not quick enough to keep up with the top crews.

    The 2nd regularity started well but about halfway through we met a pony and trap on a narrow country lane. By the time we had reversed back a few hundred yards to let them past, the next car had caught us up so we were a minute behind schedule, and we had forgotten to reverse the tripmeter so our distance was completely out, so it was just a question of guessing the time and distance. When we came across the next control we thought we were still late but were actually 19s early, although it could have been a lot worse. The final section went well – as everything is reset at each control, the earlier mistake didn’t affect this.

    After a short road section we filled up with petrol and arrived at the lunch halt at an American style diner. Soon results were up from the morning tests and regularities and we were surprised to be lying 4th overall. As we left lunch, we were given navigation for the next 2 regularities, the first one starting 5 miles away, but George managed to plot and check it before we got there. We met quite a bit of traffic on this long section which took us across to the next test venue at Metfield airfield, but managed not to lose too much time, just 13s over the 4 controls.

    There were 3 tests run twice at Metfield and they were even more slippery than Thorpe Abbotts, weaving in and out of muck heaps and straw bales was exciting at times, I only slid past one cone and into a soft earth bank, luckily no damage was done.

    There were 2 final shorter regularities to finish the event – the first one went smoothly, although by now there were some strange noises coming from underneath the car…
    The last one was the hardest as George was given the route when we left the start control, but had it all plotted within a mile and could start checking the speed and distances again. The middle section was difficult with a couple of speed changes and I got one of them slightly wrong meaning we were 15s late at that control, but it was good apart from that. Near the end we passed Car 4, a Mini Cooper, parked up as they had unfortunately run out of petrol – as we’re not allowed to carry spare fuel cans we couldn’t help and left them phoning for assistance.

    At the finish we were surprised to have moved up to 3rd overall – having been 4th at lunch we were expecting something to go wrong at any moment, but our test times were good enough (7th on test times) and George did an excellent job on the regularities (4th) while other more experienced navigators made mistakes.

    Gavin Rogers & Georgina Clark

    Photos to follow next week...
    GavinR

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  30. #30
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    After the event I spent a few hours cleaning the car and had a look underneath and traced the strange noise to a knackered prop U/J, so we were lucky there were no more tests

    I got a couple of new U/J's off eBay for £7.50 each and fitted them last weekend - I think the prop was all original as the joints had no grease nipples - half the needle rollers had gone rusty and started to break up. So everything is ready for the next event, the Ross Traders, on Saturday 20th July

    And I also found someone in Merthyr Tydfil selling some Scimitar parts - I went to buy a spare prop and ended up with the prop, a complete gearbox / overdrive and 2 new ball joints for £65

    Quote Originally Posted by Benzo View Post
    Good results! What kind of weight are these machines?
    The early 70's Scimitars are about 1100kg, very similar to a Mk1 Capri

    Thanks
    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Nice to see something different, I am in the process of building a rapier H120 for the northern nescro series and the rally of the tests later in the year, i always marvel at peoples fabrication and welding skills I have to rely on others to do mine !

  32. #32
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    another good result and great write up gavin, well done

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Pictures of us enjoying ourselves









    GavinR

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Hi gavin

    Where did you get you uprated brake shoes from ?
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Quote Originally Posted by mexicotait View Post
    Hi gavin

    Where did you get you uprated brake shoes from ?
    Hi,

    They were TR6 ones from Cambridge Motorsport

    Thanks
    GavinR

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    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    2013 Update

    Ross Traders Historic
    After a great result on the East Anglian, I was looking forward to the next event, the Ross Traders.
    Unfortunately a mixup with the dates meant George was on holiday so after a few phone calls I found another navigator, Worth Birkhill.

    He is a successful driver on Historics in his Mini, having won the Ross Traders 3 times, but his car was not ready so decided to navigate instead.
    The event started in the Forest of Dean with a short test on a forest track with a lot of tight slaloms to slow everyone down before we headed out on the first Regularity. We had already been given the route for this one, but an early wrong slot caused a bit of panic and we were rather late at the first control. After that things improved, Worth was doing well keeping me at the correct speeds, but another wrong slot near the end saw another minute dropped. Back to the forest, we did the first test in the reverse direction, it went well but I have trouble getting the Scimitar through the cones as quickly as the smaller cars. At the end of this Test we were 16th overall out of the 50 starters.

    The second Regularity was a short one and went very well, we only dropped 8s over 4 controls. This took us to Chepstow Racecourse for 3 tests, some on tarmac in the car park and some on gravel on the infield. A third Regularity, a short loop, saw us have to stop and look at the map a couple of times at tricky junctions and we dropped some more time. Back at Chepstow for 2 more tests similar to the previous ones before the lunch halt. By now we had moved up slightly to 11th.

    The afternoon was made up of 10 more tests and a harder Regularity - this went well until another tricky section where we had to stop and work out where to go so dropped quite a bit. Surprisingly at the afternoon halt we found we had moved up to 7th as other crews had bigger problems!

    The final section was the sting in the tale, a 2 hour long Regularity covering 50 miles with 14 controls to finish in Ross-on-Wye for a buffet. We had been given some of the route earlier on so this was plotted on the maps but we were given the rest of the navigation as we left Chepstow. Worth then had the very difficult task of navigating me on the route he'd already plotted, keeping an eye on the time, distance and speed and trying to plot the extra navigation. I tried to help by remembering some of the route and keeping roughly to the time schedule and it all worked for the first 20 or so miles, but I was gradually catching up to where Worth had plotted and eventually we had to pull over. There were some forms of navigation that Worth hadn't seen and it is difficult to explain whilst keeping an eye on the road and driving at a steady speed! Having stopped, I plotted the rest of the route as quickly as I could and we set off again but had dropped 5 minutes here. The organisers had also put a trick at the end - a simple map reference to define a layby which needed visiting halfway through the 50 miles, but it was at the bottom of the sheet so by the time we saw it we had gone past the layby and it was too late to go back, resulting in a 10 minute penalty. I did complain to the organisers about this as I thought it was a bit harsh and was liable to put off some crews from doing the event in the future (33 out of the 50 crews were caught out by this), but the organisers were less than sympathetic...

    After all this, we had dropped to 14th but got 3rd in Class. Many thanks to Worth who did very well, not having navigated much before, the only problems we had were due to difficult navigation, his timing was very good. We were 15th on the Regularities and 10th on the Tests, our best time was 5th quickest in the Car Park at Chepstow.

    National Weekend
    My next outing was to the RSSOC (Scimitar Owners Club) National weekend at Curborough. I hadn't been before to the National Weekend before so wasn't too sure what to expect and could only come up for one day so decided to go on the Saturday and I entered the Autotest the month before. To cut a long story short, I enjoyed a good thrash round the Autotest course but was disappointed by the standard of organisation.

    Despite entering before the event, I hadn't seen any regs and it was only when I signed on that I was asked who my navigator was...
    Navigators/passengers are not allowed on an Autotest but are required on a Production Car Autotest - all the documentation said the event was an Autotest. However a quick call to a Scimitar friend Jim who was there with his family for the weekend as he is every year, and he volunteered his son DJ to navigate so I was sorted.

    I span on the first attempt at Test 1 but my second go was a lot better. Next was Test 2 and I got confused by the instructions (it was different to any Autotest I'd done before) and went through the same gate twice getting a 10s penalty. After chatting to DJ I knew what to do on the second run, but there was no second run, we just had one run at Test 3. There was a large entry so I wasn't too surprised we only got 4 runs, but as most of you know, you always have a minimum of 2 runs at each test and the fastest time counts, it's defined Blue Book and was stated in the event regulations as well, but it didn't happen on this event

    Anyway, after the Autotest I bought some parts, looked at some of the other Scimitars and then went to see Jim who invited me to join their party for Christmas dinner which was excellent and I was very grateful to be included (the theme for the weekend was Christmas). Later I headed to the marquee as the schedule stated the Autotest results and awards would be given out Saturday night, this schedule was enlarged and posted by the door to the marquee. A few minutes past the allotted time I asked the RSSOC Chairman Kevin Cooper what was happening and he said it was a mistake and as happens every year they would be given out Sunday evening and he couldn't tell me when the results would be out, so I headed home.

    I expected a bit more from a large club such as the RSSOC - if you're going to charge £25 for an MSA Autotest, at least have the decency to run it properly...............................

    On a final note, when I saw Jim a few months ago he presented me with my award for 2nd GTE, a 'Sword on a Board', which is now on the mantlepiece, and I finally saw the results in Slice at the beginning of December.

    2014
    I have a few winter jobs to do on the Scimitar, change the coolant hoses to silicone, swap the 3.77 CWP for a 4.55 CWP out of a 2.4 Jag, either fit the spare gearbox or fix the current one where the overdrive has a mind of it's own and it's leaking a lot of oil, and hopefully paint her a bit better than I did last time!

    Plans are similar to last year - it looks like my first event will be the East Anglian in June - George has recently started a new job and is very busy until the end of May.
    GavinR

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  37. #37
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    well done, and great read as always gav

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    World Champion Decade Plus User alladdin's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    Quote Originally Posted by Graham View Post
    well done, and great read as always gav

    X 2

    i think i had (still have somewhere !) a novice pot from the ross traders circa 1985

    no, thinking back it was the hereford hospital rally, started in ross
    Last edited by alladdin; 23-01-2014 at 20:04.

  39. #39
    Pit Crew Decade Plus User GavinR's Avatar
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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    I've now entered the East Anglian Classic, which runs on Sat 21st June 2014, so time to get her ready for this year's events

    I'd never been happy with my previous aerosol paint job, so this time I wanted to try and do a better job

    First, I had to clear some space in the workshop by stacking 2 cars at the back...


    Then partition it with a large tarp to try and stop the dust getting everywhere


    I started sanding down and investigated a crack in the front wing which has been there for a while, and the wing has bulged out. The inner wing has come away from the outer wing and underneath I could see where the fibreglass had separated, and it didn't take much force to push it back to where it should be, so I rigged up the portapower to hold everything in place while I added more fibreglass mat to reinforce the inner and outer wing joint


    Left it a couple of days to set and it stayed in shape after releasing the hydraulics It's a fraction further in than required so I can build it back with a little filler


    The roof is probably the worst area with hundreds of blisters, so I spent 2 days sanding through the top coats to get back to the factory green primer, or so I thought. Only the front section to the b-pillars had this green primer on it, everything else was a mixture of fillers under a few layers of red paint and other primer. Curiously the roof above the green primer was pretty good with most of the blisters over the filler. Presumably it didn't come out of the mould too well, so Reliant had to skim the roof with filler before painting it Anyway, it's a lot smoother now and just needs a bit of filler in a couple of places where I've reached the fibreglass


    Plenty more to do on the rest of the body, mainly around the front where I believe she has been repaired previously, but I won't need to sand all the paint off like the roof, just add some more filler
    GavinR

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  40. #40
    World Champion Decade Plus User alladdin's Avatar

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    Re: GavinR's Scimitar Historic Rally Car

    fussy git

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