my road rally mk2

[GavinR]

Re: my road rally mk2

Group 1 papers have the standard Weber 32 DGV carb
I think most of the HRCT website is talking about rules for Historic Stage Rallies and not Road Rallies

You'll have to request a waiver for an event and see what happens

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Group 1 papers have the standard Weber 32 DGV carb
I think most of the HRCT website is talking about rules for Historic Stage Rallies and not Road Rallies

You'll have to request a waiver for an event and see what happens

it is but i have asked several clubs and scrutineers and they are happy to use those as a guide.

i still have a My twin choke if not allowed but im confident they will be.
at most events i have seen there isnt a single car that follows the regs to the letter as its near impossible. So a degree of common sense is applied as long as noone is taking the mick.

I still have to use two choke rule for most road rallies anyway.

When its finally back on the road i'd like to compare the single 40 and the twin choke and see which is better.

although i still prefer the 40 for the noise

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Well i thought now we are back into another lockdown and i am working from home once again that id have loads of time to get on with this old yoke but work is keeping me very busy.

Still managing to make some progress though.

After struggling to get gearbox in and out with a standard tunnel and the fact the original tunnel was in a bad way i decided to bite the bullet and fit an auto tunnel. Using this tunnel gives me enough room to get the box on and off but means i can still run a heater and i prefer the shape of the auto tunnel to the group 4 one

floors all in good condition





much easier to face cutting this out when i realised the join to the bulkhead was made of rust probably due to the heater leaking when i first bought the car



A much easier job than I first thought, this tunnel came from motorsports tools, really good fit.





then once that was done I sealed it all up and chucked some primer on the engine bay to keep the tin worm away. Much nicer looking at it in one colour


Then onto the next Job


whilst doing that I found a small hole in the rear floor which steadily got digger



at least im getting plenty of practice



this bit looked a bit harder to repair!



managed eventually after a couple of attempts to make a strong repair.
Can anyone recommend a finger sander I think they are called or another tool I can use to dress this area off?





Luckily the drivers side was much easier. The original jacking points weren't in good shape on either side so I have replicated them with the tube going through it so its now tied into the chassis.

It feels much safer being underneath the car now rather than using axle stands.



The front passenger side is in now but unfortunately when i started on the drivers side i round most of the sill bottom and door pillar is rotten which means i have to take the wing off.

at least im not going to be bored in lock down.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Never a job I like doing but after poking around at the bottom of the wing I found the hinge panel and front of the sill to be a bit crumbly

So there was nothing for it but to take the wing off.

I did the other side when the car last had some work and really I should have investigated this side as well.

I managed to unpick the wing carefully and like the other side I to hope I will be able to reuse it.



At least now I know why i was getting cold legs on night events
going to stock up on cutting discs!!



more soon.

[GavinR]

Re: my road rally mk2

That's looks familiar for rot!
Hopefully the A pillar is ok

And good choice fitting an Auto tunnel

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi Gavin

Funnily enough i was looking at how you did the same repairs on fly many moons ago to try and see what shape this part of the car is meant to be.

I definitely think the Auto tunnel is the right choice.

Hopefully it will make refitting the carpet easier too. My original carpet is a bit tatty but useable and has to be cut around the seat bars etc. so I'm a bit reluctant to buy a new one to cut up.


As for the rot yes its gone in all the usual places.

Luckily the A post is sound just a small amount of surface rust. I am leaving the remains of the hinge panel in for now so I can repair the splash panel first and keep the line correct. That's the theory anyway.



Not helped by a large plate welded over a small rust hole on the wing top. I wasn't happy with this so I cut it all out. I've bought a Flitch panel which turned up today but the rest I will make my self.




I'm impressed with whoever did the previous repairs on the car not only did they plate over rust they also glued in this strengthening joint.



Lesson learnt, should have taken this side apart in the last rebuild. I have been lucky that this was a mostly unmolested shell. Only bodged in a few areas.

more soon.

Luke

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi folks

After cutting out some more bodges including a lovely bonded in panel i started cleaning up the splash panel. It didn't take long for me to realise although it was solid it was quite ropey, so for the sake of £40 i cut it out and ordered a new one.

After strengthening the inner door hinge panel and the bottom of the inner sill I then welded the new splash panel in. I then had to make up a new hinge panel which was seam welded round the outside and plug welded to the inner a panel. this is now nice and strong and the door no longer drops when opened (which I thought was worn hinge pins but was the door pillar moving )





I then moved onto making the top of the wing which was fiddly and took several cardboard templates to get right. Eventually I managed to get it to a shape i was happy with


Then fully welded it in.



I started to shape the top to match the flitch panel had to stop as it was 11pm at night. Keep finding that with my headphones in and a podcast on the hours seem to slip by easily in the garage!

still no rush as most events keep getting cancelled at the moment!

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi Folks been squirreling away trying to get as much done as possible.


After all the welding I ground it all back and dressed it. Gave it a coat of etch primer.

Before seam sealing, stone chipping and then finally painting it in topcoat.


Then i set about trying to get the wing back on. I had made a bit of a mess of the wing rails when I took it off so these needed a fair bit of work before t would go back on.



The wing gaps have never been great but after much fiddling and fettling I managed to get the gaps where I was happy with.




Then i welded the wing on fully I also welded around the front seam where it had split before to try and strengthen it.



Although ive still got a bit of work to do on the front corner. I could just cover it with filler like has been done previously but i might try getting it to line up a bit better here.



Then I chucked the engine and box back in. So much easier with a big tunnel. Took 5 minutes to et the box on rather than hours its taken previously!!



Then set about making some new exhaust mounts. the exhaust looks ropey but its solid and quiet enough an more importantly it fits. Apparently they are a better fit these days but i remember the buggering about i had to do to get this one to fit in the first place. My friend who runs a blasting company has been doing odd bits for me FOC he's said to drop it off and he will clean it up along with the axle etc. Tempting to get him to do the whole car



hen when that was done a started on some gearbox mounts I will box these in but being 3mm steel it seems fairly strong anyway. But id rather they didn't get filled with mud or bend when I inevitably throw the car into a ditch again




Ive put an entry in for a first event in July hopefully it will be ready and the event wont get cancelled

More soon

[garageman]

Re: my road rally mk2

Interesting read as always, I am surprised you found so much rust after removing the wing, car looks fairly clean nice to see you getting stuck in

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Interesting read as always, I am surprised you found so much rust after removing the wing, car looks fairly clean nice to see you getting stuck in

Just shows how these old cars can hide the rot

I’ve been lucky very little rust compared to some
And now hopefully none!

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Another day another few jobs done!

Got back under the car and boxed the gearbox mounts in. This added a lot of strength and stops them from filling with mud. I also took the time to move the tunnel strengthener back so the RS box doesn't hit it. Now i can fit both a 5 speed and an RS box depending on what events I'm doing.



I bought a gaiter surround to try and tidy up the tunnel joins so trimmed to fit and welded in.


Then after all that i got on with painting the engine bay. After a final rub down and it had three coats of red followed by three coats of lacquer. Hopefully the paint will stay on this time. Its not a perfect job but looks tidy and is definitely red! All in all its cost me £30 quid to paint the engine bay so for that price i am happy.


First event is The devils own Targa on the 22nd of May (hopefully it wont get cancelled ) so I need to keep at it!!

[GavinR]

Re: my road rally mk2

That looks very good

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Once again I have fallen behind with the updates.
whilst the engine bay paint was hardening off I got on with the lovely task of painting underneath. I then chucked the axle on.



Once the engine bay had dried it was a simple matter of bolting the Crossmember, engine and box all back in. this was an easy job thanks to doing a dry build a few weeks before and luckily i didnt damage the shiny new paint.


I then built up the front and rear suspension and brakes. This was two weeks before the first event!



Then I got on with tidying up the front end



Then finally I was able to roll it out of the garage and start it for the first time.



Unfortunately the lack of door stopped me going any further than down the street on the test drive.



I added all the under bonnet extras including the washer bottle etc



And then onto repairing the door. this was two days before the first event. I had hoped to just use the door as it was but after a gentle poke the whole bottom of the door fell out. There was no way I could compete like this so there was only one thing for it.



After cutting out all the rot i set about making a new bottom for it whilst leaving the remains of the old skin on. This meant I had something to work towards.
After making up a folded repair section as work and i had it all welded in by midnight ready for some grinding and filling the next day.



All dressed back ready for filler



Not the best job as you can see but it was 1am at this point so it would have to do.

I then spent another hour getting the door fitted before finally calling it a night. Turns out fitting a door with still wet paint is trickier than I thought.



but this meant that the following day I was able to take it on a brief test drive before loading up for the event the next day.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Devils Own Targa rally

Test drive completed with no problems all we needed was an entry! We had been 6th on the reserve list when we entered but I had been told by the organisers that there was a high chance of other people not being ready. All week i had been watching the entry list and come Friday morning we were 2nd on the reserve list. The organiser rang and told me that if i could get over for the start there was a good chance of taking the place of a non starter. I told them i was happy to come and if not id go and Marshal with my dad who was already going. I would be happy just to have a nice run out in the car. However ten minutes later they rang me back saying i had a run. A competitor had pulled out and the reserve in front of me had just rang to say his engine had seized.

so bad luck for them but good for me. In a bit of a rush I headed towards my Dads where we loaded the car onto the trailer and had an early night ready for a 5AM start the next morning for the journey to Cockermouth.

Arrived at the start did all the usual signing on etc before sitting down for breakfast and chatting with fellow competitors. After such a long lay off it was brilliant to be back out with rallying folk!





As we were the last reserve we were given the number 66 and seeded at the back of the field we had to wait until everyone had gone before setting to the first set of tests at Broughton moor. After heavy rain the day before everywhere was very wet and slippery with lots of ‘mud’ all over the road.

Having not done an event in this car in 4 years I was a bit nervous and having no proper test didn’t help either!

We set off on the first test with very little grip but managed to keep it down the middle of the track.




The second test I got a bit carried away and slid wide up a bank and stalled. Luckily it restarted and we carried on. After some words from my navigator Josh I was calmer on the next test!
Then a small road section to Mary port speedway which was good despite getting caught out by the lack of grip and stalling again

Then a further road section to the disused Arcan factory which was good fun blasting between the buildings and big potholes!



Then onto a motor cross track before heading back to the start venue for lunch. Unfortunately Due to getting stuck at a railway crossing twice we only had 8 minutes for lunch so wolfed down our pie and chips before doing the same loop of tests again.
These had a few changes in but were largely the same and were drying out nicely in the sunshine so we were getting quicker and I was remembering how to drive. However I started getting over confident and made a few stupid mistakes like over shooting a stop box!!






On the next road section we noticed a slight knock on the front of the car Despite stopping to investigate we couldn’t find the cause so carried on.

We completed the next tests despite the knocking getting worse! We were having a good battle with Darren and Nicole moon in their mk2 escort with next person in our class a few minutes behind. Unfortunately this ended when Darren and Nicole got a wrong test incurring a test maximum.

This meant that all we had to do was not make any stupid mistakes and we could win our class. Even though I did destroy a cone on the last test we maintained our class lead and finished 20th overall.



After stripping the front of the car on Sunday I Found the cause of the knocking to be the brand new top mounts on the suspension struts have disintegrated!!



I need to get this sorted along with a few other jobs before rally East Yorkshire in two weeks time. The car felt great. Handing well and the engine although still in need of setting up was pulling really well.

Most of all I was just happy to finish after fully rebuilding the car and only doing a gentle 10 miles before the event.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Rallye East Yorkshire[img]

After rebuilding the front suspension with new Top mounts from GRP4 fabrications the knocking was gone and the steering felt lighter and lovely and smooth. Avoid the rally design style ones at al costs!!

I redid all the setup of the suspension and went for a nice test drive on one of the lovely spring evenings we've been having. I stopped by a classic car meet that i found by chance where the car got lots of attention and no-one was too unkind about the state of the paintwork and dodgy filler!



This meant that the car was ready for Rally East Yorkshire. This was a new event ran by a newly formed Club the Yorkshire Wolds motorclub. Both the Clerk of the course and his assistant are regular competitors and had promised a good event with good varied tests and minimal road mileage.
Another early start and we headed down to Yorkshire for the start. it was a lovely sunny day and looked like it would be hot and dusty in the car.

The first Test was at the start venue. A flat out drag down a field to a 90 left then a small crest into an open chicane a few more 90s round the perimeter of the field before a very slippery stop astride to finish.

This was a good way to get started followed by a small road section to test 2.



There was a short delay as the clocks had crashed but quickly fixed and we were away. We were warned in some of the test there would be manned stop boxed where we would be held for ten seconds. This seemed like a lot but once onto this test it became clear why. The test started on grass before switching to a gravel track then into a large gravel car park where a few cone had been laid out to slalom round before a stop box, to our left was another stop box where the previous car was just setting off. Now the ten seconds made sense because even when we left ten seconds later the dust was still hanging luckily Josh saw where we needed to split Hairpin left at the end of the hedge. I just chucked it in on the handbrake! We saw the Photographer at the end of the day who looked like he'd been tunnelling he was so dirty!



Now out of the dust we were flying following the track with some lovely sweeping corners and a brilliant open hairpin round a pond! before coming back to the stop box we'd seen earlier. No other cars in sight meant we must have been going ok and down the long straight we caught the car in front just as he was splitting left we carried straight on round a series of fast sweeping bends before a tight 90 right through a gate to the finish.

Then onto the road again for a nice road section. All the windows open to try and get some air into the car. Test three was a short tricky little test but we set a good time. Test 4 was on tarmac and i was gentle away from the start, bravery and some late breaking into a hairpin right nearly backfired but we got away with it to once again set a fast time.

after this set of tests we were lying 4th overall but on test 5 it was all to go wrong!

We pulled up to the start to see the car in front set away (a fwd proton) he struggled to get round the very tight cones and i knew with no run up id struggling too. I tried my best but when i went to handbrake it just understeered wide on the dusty concrete and i had to reverse to get round. Same at the other end of the cones but we managed to get round after a bit of faffing, after this there was a small drag to an uphill hairpin left. There was a big rut on the outside so i cut in tight to try and avoid it but there was an even bigger rut on the inside. The back end of the car took off an landed heavily with me having full throttle on at the same time this was enough for a halfshaft to snap with a big bang! We tried to climb the hill but 1 wheel drive wasnt enough so we rolled back down. Luckily the start marshal had heard the bang so held the next car which meant we could roll to the bottom of the hill and out of the test.



So that was the end of that. I managed to get through to my dad who had just finished marshalling the morning test so he went to collect the trailer and come and collect us.
Whilst we were waiting the farm residents came and asked if we would like a coffee so we went to join them in their front garden to watch the rest of the competitors and enjoy the sunshine which definitely cheered us up.


then not too long after The cavalry turned up


so that was a good if short lived event. We went and marshalled on the afternoon tests before heading home.