shame about the axle, but glad its not turned out too bad, great write up as always
shame about the axle, but glad its not turned out too bad, great write up as always
Gavin what pressure you running in the dmacks
I tried some the other day and didn't seem to have much grip
They are softs as well so I expected them do be decent
Hexham and District Motorclub
Hi,
I run 25psi all round whatever the tyre. When I first used the soft Dmacks on the Bath in 2016 they seemed bad for the first few sections then a lot better as they wore down a bit. I've got some new ones for the back this year, so will put some miles on them before the event!
GavinR
I think me an gavin are talking about gravel tyres John.
Are you using them on the track
Hexham and District Motorclub
Bath Festival Road Rally - 25th/26th February 2017
After the axle problem on the Carpetbagger, I fitted new diff and pinion bearings, machined a solid spacer for the pinion and used a new pinion nut to hold everything together. I did 30 miles on the road and everything seemed fine - I also used this time to "wear in" a pair of new soft Dmacks gravle tyres on the rear
This helped a lot and they were gripping well from the start
There were 63 entries and George and I were seeded at 16, a bit lower than usual. The event had a similar format to previous years with a lot of forest sections in the first half followed by some lanes and whites to the west of Bath in the second half, giving around 150 miles.
After a few hours plotting at the start, we headed off towards Warminster and the Longleat Estate for a 2 mile section in the woods. It had been raining all day, stopping just before the start but this had left the tracks very slippery. Down the first straight the throttle started sticking a bit which was slightly disconcerting, pushing us on into some of the corners, but we still set a good time. On the next road section I stopped to have a look – everything looked fine, so I just sprayed WD40 (the only thing I had handy) round the linkage and cables and moved the cables slightly to get a better angle to the carbs.
Next we had 4 sections in a nearby forest, still mucky and slippery but going well. Another short link section took us further around the Longleat Estate and a long section with a mixture of lanes and forests, a lot of these familiar from previous events. The first two parts we took 35s out of the car in front and they kindly let us past at the next control which led into a section around Frome Showground which was run as a regularity. Back onto the lanes for a few miles before heading into my favorite forest, Kingswood Warren, nice and fast, flowing and smooth! We crossed a road into Alfred’s Tower forest, notable for it’s multiple hairpins, some of which aren’t on the map, and we nearly caught another car here. Another road section took us to a white and a byway, both very muddy. Halfway down the white, looking for the turning for the byway, I spotted a likely looking slot with fresh tyre marks and turned in, only to find ourselves in a field. There was a faint track across it but it didn’t seem right so I carefully swung round and back out, and found the byway 100 yards further on – a lot of crews made the same mistake here! We were fastest on one part of this, and 2nd fastest on a couple more.
The next section started on an undulating yellow down to a slot left which I usually see too late, but this year the photographer had helpfully put his Photo board just before it so I got it right and we headed into the forests again. The final section before the Petrol halt was down a private tarmac road through a farm. This is very quick so the organisers put in chicanes to slow us down, but we’ve down it a few times before and were 2nd fastest here. At petrol we were surprised to be 4th car on the road, having overtaken a few and various cars had retired. We didn’t know where we were lying overall when we left but thought we were doing ok (later results showed us 2nd, 32s behind the leader and 26s ahead of 3rd, with 4th a couple of minutes further back).
The 2nd half started well with us cleaning the first few sections easily and only dropping a few seconds on the others. We then reached a section round Semley Hill – George remembered we’d missed a tricky slot here a few years earlier, but unfortunately I drove past it again and by the time I’d turned round and gone back we’d dropped 2 minutes. There followed some very muddy whites and I was struggling for grip, so it must have been really difficult for the Novices on more standard tyres, and we dropped some more time.
There was one section with a Quiet Zone manned by a DSO at the beginning and this made me think it was a slack section – by the time we’d realised it was tight, we’d dropped another minute. Back into the forests nearing the finish, we were back on the pace, but caught the car in front and couldn’t get past.
With the time dropped in the second half, this pushed us down to 3rd overall, nearly 5 minutes behind 2nd, but still the best result George and I have had on a night event
My next event will be the Somerset Stages in 2 weeks, using the forests of Exmoor which I know reasonably well after organising a few events in there over the last few years
GavinR
Good result and good write up
Did you get the throttle sorted?
Hexham and District Motorclub
Yes - one of the cables had started to break as they go through the bulkhead and the frayed ends were causing the problem
Fitted a new cable and it's all fine now
GavinR
Somerset Stages Rally - 8th April 2017
A round of the BTRDA forest championship, I'd done this event once before in 2013, and have been out marshalling the past few years.
Fly is due for a major rebuild this summer, and this event was 2 days before the MOT ran out, so I asked George if she wanted to sit in with me for a final one before the rebuild.
The event is based in Minehead and uses the Exmoor forests and Porlock Toll Road, both areas I know pretty well having organised the Exmoor Targa Rally in 2015 & 2016.
There was a smaller entry than usual with 100 cars and 7 in our class.
I went down on the Friday for scrutineering - and nearly failed, the first scrutineer not impressed with some rust on the inside of the A pillar, worried that in the event of a roll the foot of the cage might go through the floor, despite the very large 3mm steel plate on the floor. The chief scrutineer agreed we could run, but as I was going home anyway, I welded a plate over the rust.
We started with 6 forest stages, the first one delayed by an hour due to a couple of incidents. Once we were going, everything was working well, I remembered some sections but was mainly listening to the pacenotes - it's a lot faster than doing course car on the Targa when there are a lot of cone manoeuvres to slow the cars down! There were a few rough sections where the bedrock is the road surface so cannot be graded, but Fly was bouncing along quite well to George's amusement
After these it was back to Minehead for a quick tyre change service where we fitted very soft X22 wets for the 2 runs up Porlock. Even though it was dry, I knew I wouldn't be going quick enough in Fly to overheat them! We had 2 good runs, slightly quicker on the second one, but not enough power to set a good time.
A longer service this time - Richard and I checked Fly over and refitted the forest tyres, while George got us some Ice Cream for lunch - it was a hot day by the sea, so why not! The afternoon consisted of another 6 forest stages, some the same as the morning, but we did have the longest stage of 8.2 miles in Croydon. There were 2 stages in Chargot forest and these were quite rutted after being used in the other direction in the morning - I stayed in the ruts slithering along on the sumpguard and exhaust. After that the exhaust was blowing from the centre silencer as the rear end plate had been pulled back. The long stage was smoother and the final one in Timberscombe was good, so it didn't get any worse.
At the finish in Minehead we were surprised to be 2nd in Class, although 3 minutes behind the class winners in a Sunbeam.
It was a very enjoyable day and great to be back in the forests, many thanks to George for co-driving and Richard for servicing
This pic (from Blueline Photography) is at Chargot in the afternoon.
Next event will be September providing everything is rebuilt in time - I dropped the engine off yesterday and Fly is stripped ready for a new front end...
GavinR
Pictures...
Did I mention the exhaust had got battered on the Somerset...
At least I now know where I need to make a recess in the floor for the silencer!
Decided it was easier to remove engine, box and cross member in one piece, but forgot just how tall a Pinto is!
When I took the suspension off, I found a leaking insert so removed it to find the cap had come off
Both front chassis rails and inner wings will be replaced - the damage / rot here comes from having the sumpguard bolted through the chassis
The sumpguard has a thick rubber pad between it and the crossmember which has pushed up the bottom of the crossmember
Although I didn't expect to find a distorted engine mount on the passenger side - it was still bolted solidly to the engine, but must have bent after a heavy landing
The driver's link box is still solid, but everything around it is going - this is after I've been poking around with a large screwdriver!
The bottom of the windscreen is not good, but it's only the outer skin so can be welded up easily
I've got all the bits now, mainly from Tim at TJ Motorsport.
James (Oddy) will do the front end for me, and I'll repair the back end, floor and link boxes as required...
GavinR
Good to see her getting some love
Have you moved workshops
Looks nice a bright in there
Hexham and District Motorclub
I've been in that workshop for just over 2 years now - it has some good clear panels in the roof so is bright in the summer
GavinR
So I finished fully stripping Fly - it hasn't been this far back to a shell since 1993!
Just before Fly went down to James, I got on with welding the kick panels, bulkhead (inside and out), screen pillars, transmission tunnel (cracks around the gearstick hole).
In the engine bay, I welded up some obsolete holes and cut out the wiring hole, turned it upside down and welded it back on. This should lower the wiring loom and make it come through the bulkhead underneath the air box - it was a bit tight before.
Quite a bit of welding on the rear panel, around the rear screen and where the quarter panel joins the bottom of the rear screen on one side.
I've modified the new inner front panel to match the old one - cut out for the rad, holes for the oil cooler and air flow to the air box.
The driver's door also needed work on the front and rear corners, and there were cracks where the frame joins the door skin at the front.
On both doors, the hinge pins were loose - after 3 days of soaking in oil, I knocked the pins out with a variety of punches and a large hammer! Not sure how to fix the loose hinges, I found some 3/8" x 16swg stainless tube on eBay, which works out to 8.1mm ID and 9.5mm OD. I drilled out the worn hinge parts on the doors to 9.5mm, knocked a small piece of tube in and bolted them up with M8 x 75mm Allen Bolts and nylocs. This has eliminated the play in the hinges, and I readjusted the doors to line up with the rear quarters. It should make it easier for James to line up the front wings when that part is completed, and will make the doors easier to remove in the future
It is also repeatable - when the tube wears, I can just fit another bit
GavinR
wow she has seen some work Gavin! dare i say is it not time for a reshell?
Fair play for sticking with it though, you've alot of fabrication ahead looking forward to the updates
I've had a spare standard shell for years, but would rather keep that as a spare until I really need it!
GavinR
I collected Fly from James yesterday - here are pics of the work he did
Loading onto the jig
Front end is a bit twisted
Driver's side was 15mm up and passenger side 10mm
Cut everything off
A bit of a mess where the bonnet hinges meet the inner wings and other panels - one of the resons I knew it needed doing was trouble welding to rust here!
New chassis rail clamped into position. These came from Motorsport tools and are folded and welded instead of being pressed. All the bolt holes are in the right place, but the holes for the jig mounts were too low, so James had to pack his brackets up to make everything level. The tubes for the cross member are threaded to take the standard 3/8" UNF bolts.
And they supplied me Mk1 legs instead of Mk2, the only difference being the bumper iron reinforcements so I didn't bother getting them changed.
Removing the old rails showed how much the floor had been patched before. James took the sensible decision to cut it out and replace with thick steel plates so there was something solid to weld the new rails to.
Although the new inner wings came built up, they were just spot welded as a standard car would be, so James stitch and seam welded them for extra strength
The chassis rail and inner wing didn't quite meet, but another plate and all was well
One side done
And the other - a standard front panel used to align everything. My inner front panel had twisted when I'd modified it for the radiator.
Nearly there
All back together and ready to come home. James added some primer over the welds before I collected her.
So back to me for some quick welding on the rear chassis, then hopefully she's being painted in August
Many thanks to James for his hard work over the last 2 weeks
GavinR
triggers broom but i love it
good to see the old girl getting another lease of life should be good for a few years now
Onto the back end...
Dan Stone lent me a spit so I mounted Fly on it, after reinforcing the bumper mounts
It seemed very top heavy and I wasn't convinced there was enough clearance to go upside down, so I made some 5" drop plates and now it's a lot better balanced and will turn a complete 360 without too much effort
Chopped out a large section of rear chassis and floor, from in front of the spring hanger up to the turret, and also for the silencer tunnel
"New" floor, chassis section, skid plates and silencer tunnel welded in, and also another small section behind the axle
Inside needs a bit of finishing off - original red paint gives a clue that the chassis section came from a 4 door I chopped up in 2007 !
Next week I've just got to do the same to the other side
GavinR
Good progress gavin
Are you aiming for any event or not set a deadline?
Im staying with friends in Carno this weekend and going to sample my first bit of proper Welsh Road rallying
Hexham and District Motorclub
Hope you enjoyed watching the Barcud
I've entered a Targa in Suffolk on 24th Sept and also need her ready for the Exmoor Targa Rally on 7th October - I'm Clerk of the Course for the 3rd year and always go round as Car Zero to "wake up the marshals" and "check the bogey times" I have a back up plan for both events if I don't get her finished in time!
Onto the other side - cut away the floor and chassis section
Replacement section in place - not quite long enough!
Next 18" needed replacing as well due to big cracks and past repairs - when I removed it I found it was full of mud contributing to it going rusty!
Section finished with skids
And more repairs around the panhard rod and added a notch above the axle to match the other side
After refitting the suspension, etc, she went to the paint shop this morning - there's a chap who has a unit with a paint booth in the same complex as mine so I thought I'd give him a go, and he says he'll get her done in a week
GavinR
Good new making good progress
The barcud was unreal
Couldn't believe the pace of the top boys and the amount of people out spectating
And the amount of mk2s out as well!!!
Hexham and District Motorclub
looking good Gavin! making some great progress
what would be the best event to pop over to wales and spectate on, from an escort point of view chaps?
https://youtu.be/0vfS11YSY2Y
Watch this onecam
Hexham and District Motorclub
The paint was done in a week and a day, but as I was out on the Mewla in DVY, it was a few weeks until I could start putting her back together.
Firstly, I finished welding inside, patching the floors above the chassis rails and also the A pillars on the inside.
Once done, I painted the footwells in a good coat of Chassis Black before running out of paint when I went to do the rest of the floor!
Then I collected the engine from HT a couple of weeks ago, complete with a skeleton flywheel, a fresh head as Ron found a crack between the valves on No 2 cylinder (he showed me the old head and even I could see the crack!!!), steel rods and forged pistons to raise the compression, their usual bike plug conversion, but still the same HT1 cam, valves, block and crank. He also tuned it on the dyno so it saved me time having to run her in. Got a bit more power now and plenty of torque
I booked a week off this week to finish her off and she went through the MOT this afternoon. A few jobs left to do then a shakedown on a Targa Rally on Sunday...
Had a quick test drive tonight and she's going well
GavinR
Looks great
The engine looks smart too
Hexham and District Motorclub
looks great gavin!! ready for more abuse!
p.s what front damper/spring combination are you running for targas Gavin?
Looks really smart Gavin! Good luck for the events over the winter
Great thanks, that confirms my exact thoughts I'm running the very same damper but with 180lb and it seems a tad soft so I was going to try 200's, but this confirms, thanks Gavin.
I'd say your cosworth is a similar weight to the xe. Are you still running an arb or compression struts?
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Good luck for tomorrow gavin
Hope she goes well
Hexham and District Motorclub
Well that went surprisingly well
The CRS Targa Rally was run for the first time near Thetford in Norfolk. Organised by Chelmsford MC, there were 95 cars entered, split into Vintage, Classic and Modern by reg date, so Fly was in the Classics. It was a multi-venue Targa with 50 miles of Tests using farm tracks, yards, grass and a lot of stubble fields, luckily dry ones! I'd entered with Carrie and we were seeded at Car 6.
Knobbly tyres were not allowed but a lot of crews were using winter tyres. I'd gone with new A021R's which I had in stock (and will probably be illegal on Road and Targa Rallies next year, so a good chance to use them up).
The first Test was in the grounds of the Start Hotel - this was the muddiest one, even running near the front of the field.
The stubble fields were great fun, once we'd worked out there was no need to keep to the tractor tram lines, so where there was enough room we could drift quickly round the corners
In the afternoon, some of the Tests were reused in the afternoon and the fields were cut up a bit, so it was difficult to choose a good line.
We set some quickest times and were nearly always in the top 5, except for losing 45s on one Test when the car in front stalled at a control and I had to get out and help push it out of the way!
At the finish, we'd won the Classic category by 6 minutes and our times put us 2nd Overall out of the 95 cars
This doesn't tell the whole story though...
The alternator light started flickering on Test 9 but everything looked ok under the bonnet, then on a 200yd road section between Tests 11 and 12 there was a clonk front under the bonnet and the light came on permanently. We got to the next Test but the temp gauge was climbing so we pulled over to have a look. The fan belt was hanging round the fan, but the alternator pulley was missing
Carrie and I walked back along the road but couldn't find the pulley or the nut - there was a washer on the sumpguard, but it wasn't much use on it's own!
Back at Fly, I worked out I could adjust the alternator enough to tension the fan belt on the shaft and this worked well enough to turn the fan and pump, so we could limp back to the Hotel. It was 11:30am on Sunday and we were 5 miles from Thetford, and the local farmer, who had stopped to help, suggested we try Thetford Auto Parts. A quick phone call established they had an A127 type alternator on the shelf, so we headed there...
We got there driving slowly, and I was amazed when they brought the new one out and it was identical to Fly's one, and even had a pulley attached and the same connections, all for £60 exchange.
Five minutes later it was fitted and we were back on the road
Carrie checked the time schedule and we realised we were just under an hour behind, but with 95 cars and 1h 15m for lunch we might have time to go and do the last 3 Tests before lunch and get back on time. This worked and we completed the Tests and got to lunch with 15min to spare
GavinR
another excellent writ up and a great result make all the effort worth while bet you wouldn't find an alternator for a modern car that easy on a sunday
Brilliant what rallying is all about
Well done gavin!!
Hexham and District Motorclub
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