my road rally mk2

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

So back home I stripped the rear axle hoping we hadn't done too much damage.

The shaft came out easily enough but part of it was still in the diff.


I tried to pull the remaining part out with a large magnet but it wasnt strong enough instead i managed to push it in to let the diff come out.


unfortunately it had also damaged the internal plates in the LSD. Nowhere could get me any plates in time so i had to pull my entry for the Hall trophy Road rally which i had been looking forward too for a long time

In the mean time i pulled this out of storage so hopefully it wont happen again. Im going to build a group 1 baby atlas which should be more than strong enough for my power and use.




I cut all the brackets off ready for narrowing.

I still had an entry in for one of my clubs 12 cars so I rebuilt the English axle ready to go back in and bolted the spotlights to the front. Unfortunately Im now having to isolate as one of my students at work has tested positive for Covid. Hes ok and even though i have tested negative three time since there's no escaping the rules so another event missed!!

[alladdin]

Re: my road rally mk2

great write up

[Forest_rallying]

Re: my road rally mk2

great write up

I'll second that.

[Graham]

Re: my road rally mk2

shame about the DNF, but great read

[headbolt]

Re: my road rally mk2

great write up glad you back out competing again shame about the axle but onwards and upwards am sure the atlas will be well on top of the job for you

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Finally after ten days isolation i was free!!

so celebrated by taking the old mk2 for a run out to a club members coffee shop where they had planned a small Cars and coffee style meet.



The weekend after i had to start getting ready for a demonstration run at Brunton Airfield on the North East Coast. This was similar to a stage rally but with no timing and the emphasis on fun rather than competition. For lots of people this would be their first event since Covid so there was emphasis on the social side and camping. We had a good group of 5 escorts and lots of happy campers.





The onto the 'stages'. The event featured the same stage ran 3 times one way then 3 times reversed. It was a mixture of old airfield concrete and gravel. Its normally used as a silo for the local farmer so quite mucky in places.

i had dug out some rock hard tarmac tyres for the rears and softs on the front so we could just see how sideways we could go.





i was getting really confident in the car managing to brake later and later into the chicanes


and still managing to slide around most things with only one spin



And a few small cuts



on the last run we were going really sideways everywhere even on the straights! i thought the tyres might be overheating but they were actually down to the canvas and as we pulled back into the service area one of the rears burst

The obligatory sweaty pose at the end of the day



this was followed by a BBQ and more camping to finish off a brilliant stress free weekend.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Then after that it was time to bolt the gravel tyres back on.

Our club has ran a Production car autotest for the past couple of years at and old cement works.

I was asked to be safety officer and as part of the gig got to be one of the course openers.




The car was faultless apart from chucking oil everywhere. It has been leaking oil from the rocker cover since the rebuild. When i took the cover off i found it was badly warped so i skimmed it on my milling machine and made a splash guard for the breather pipe.

I think i also need to modify the sump so it has a better baffle and windage tray in it as its fine on the road or fast stages but in autotests its struggling being chucked about so violently.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

The weekend after was a Targa ran over Catterick Army ranges. Most entrants were trying to work out what tyres were allowed (no forest tyres even though they test tanks up there ). I used some cheap winter tyres on the rear and some Turbospeeds on the front which work on most surfaces. It was forecast to be a wet day but the sun shone all day meaning it was dirt dusty and sweaty in the car and tyres were wearing very quickly.

At the start enjoying the sunshine



The first test started well with some lovely sweeping corners on gravel but then entered the cone maze. The cones and tests bore little resemblance to the test diagrams. We were going quick where we could and careful to get the route right. The organisers had never ran a targa before and i think the kindest thing to say would be they have a lot of room for improvement.

The venue it great but too many tight cones which needed shunting round didn't make for an enjoyable day. what was more annoying was to find a competitor had been allowed to run on forest tyres! We had used two pairs of tyres on the rear and had to do the last two tests on slicks.

we had good result on the day finishing 6th overall and 2nd historic. Annoyingly someone ahead of us had been given false time that was two minutes quicker and despite us querying it it stood.





Then after Catterick i had a few weeks spare so decided to try and tidy the drivers door up. I had rushed the filler and paintwork last time but made a much tidier job of this time.




Then after that i had a nice run up to the scottish borders to set my lights up ready for the Harry and Ivy Road rally in Cumbria.



This was the first night event since rebuilding the car i was a bit nervous but with regular navigator Josh Davison alongside i was happy we could be on for a good result and if nothing else an enjoyable night.



Parked up at the start ready to plot.



We had a small run out to the first TC. It had been raining heavily the whole day so the lanes were very slippery. We set off from the first TC on a small yellow, slot left on to a small very twisty lane. The car was handling perfectly despite the slippery conditions. We cleaned the first section the only slight worry was an occasional wheel wobble. . We had a quick look on the transport section but everything felt tight and correct so just chose to ignore it. into the next couple of sections we were on good pace and cleaning all the sections. Only worry was a NAM layby where a camper had decided to park but the code board could just be read from the outside.

We were really happy loving being out in the lanes again and comfortably on the pace. Unfortunately on the last section before petrol it was all to go wrong. We had caught the mini in front of us on the last competitive section. When we got to the nest transport we pulled over to plot before the control (we were a few minutes early). The mini went off on his minute followed by us, within a mile and a half we had started to catch him again. He was braking for a crest into a 90 right when a sheep walked into the road. He slowed further and sheep ran away unfortunately at the last miunte the sheep darted back into the road in front of us. I managed to swerve to avoid the sheep but this unsettled the car over the crest, i locked up the brakes but managed to chuck the car into the 90 right.

i thought we had gotten away with it but we just ran out of room on the outside and were pulled into the bank. The results are shown below.



We were wedged into the bank and despite all our efforts we couldn't free it. We stood on the crest with the ok board to warn people. The closing car pulled us out and we headed to petrol. Unfortunately it was obvious the tracking was a mile out and i could barely keep the car in a straight line.

We handed our paper work in and drove slowly back to the trailer before loading up and heading home.



After a few hours sleep i got up on sunday and started stripping the car. The wing and front panel beyond repair. I wanted to replace both anyway over the winter but removing them using an earth bank isn't recommended.

The worst of the damage is the kink at the crush hole pulling the anti roll bar back.



using a porta power i've got this back straight now. It hasn't damaged anything further back so i think i've been lucky.

I'm not sure what to do next. i think this part of the chassis is now weak and needs to be replaced but i'm unsure if i should strengthen it or not.

Anyway it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad i took the time to build a good strong shell.

[GavinR]

Re: my road rally mk2

I heard a few similar stories about the event at Catterick, you had a good result though.

When I had a similar encounter with a bank on a snowy event in Wales in Fly, the chassis leg folded over itself at the crush hole. I couldn't pull it straight enough and was also worried about it being weak, so I converted to compression struts and got rid of the anti-roll bar.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi folks

After much faffing ive finally been making some progress.





managed to get all the front end cut off and stripped.

Apart from a small bit of rot behind the front panel its now straight and solid.

I made a repair section of chassis and cut out the damaged outer skin.



Then got on with repairing the front section of the inner wing which is now fully welded.



I just need to finish bottom of the inner wing and im ready to fit the new wing and front panel.


Then as the car wasnt ready i decided to do our club 12 car in my fiancees mini cooper.

went well in the lanes even though we had to be very careful on the bumpy lanes. Even so we managed to finish 4th overall.




more soon folks

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi folks


I've been struggling for time and motivation at the minute but finally getting some time on the car.

Managed to get the front panel clamped in place.



Before getting the wing on



The first wing i tried was a bad fit so i bought a new Magnum panel which was slightly better but still needed some work to fit.



The worst was non existent door gap and the wing sitting too high at the front. The drip rails weren't in the best state so i cut it of and replaced it.




I've made the wing bolt on and managed to trim the back of the wing to fit the door as well as round the scuttle.
Next event is in three weeks so i need to get a move on.



More soon

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

After a bit of fiddling and faffing i finally got the wing somewhere close
Its not perfect by a long shot but now its bolt on i can easily play with it when i have more time.
I then got it in primer which looked very odd as it was drying!



But turned out ok and three coats of top coat it looked presentable.

I still need to give it a polish and try and get more of a shine but it looks good enough for now.



Then the fun stuff of bolting bits back on.



And a much needed tidy up in the garage.





Then after a few miles on the road i redid all the suspension setup. This was reassuring after the chassis damage that it lined back up quite close. All that needed changing was a bent steering arm.

Then it was back out into the lanes for one of our clubs 12 cars. The night was wet and slippy but the car was superb and we cleaned the whole route to finish 2nd. We were only beaten on the regularity where we dropped a few seconds being held up by a slower competitor.


It was great being back in the lanes again and having the mk2 fighting fit. The only problems i had was a slight wheel wobble now traced to the rack mounts and a exhaust manifold cracking near the join.



mucky after the event and then clean again.



Not much planned for the end of the year so going to try and get it prepped ready and hopefully on the rolling road to see if we can get some more pace from the old crossflow.

[mexicotait]

Re: my road rally mk2

Hi folks

Had a bit of trouble with the old mk2 recently. Had been busy with work so didn't manage to do much apart from clean the car after the last event. However a couple of days before the next 12 car, i changed the coolant and thermostat as the crossflow hadn't been getting up to temperature.

I then took it for a run out which is was fine holding steady temp and even the heater was working nicely, but on the way back home it developed a misfire at idle. I got it home and cleaned the carb out to find it full light brown bits. These turned out to be the filter element in the filter king i managed to change this for a spare and clean out the whole fuel system.

A couple of nights later i turned up at the start of the next 12 car. A young novice Nav Dylan has sat with me for the last three and he is doing very well. Unfortunately on this on i managed to completely cock up the first regularity section which put us back and then once again the car started playing silly buggers.
It would be find on throttle but wouldn't idle and if it cut out would take an age to start again. We managed to only drop a minute because of this and on the next section we kept up the pace (i would have to dip the clutch, knock it into neutral then brake with my left foot whilst keeping the revs up with my right) and got to the next control a few minutes early. I jumped out and managed to pull the idle jets out which once again had blocked up. We managed the rest of the night trouble free to end up 4th. Without me messing up the maths for the regularity there's a chance we could have finished 2nd or even 1st but as i always say if my auntie had bollocks she'd be my uncle!



Anyway after that i cleaned the fuel system out again and gave the carb a full rebuild.

I then booked in into motorscope rolling road for it to be setup.




It was given a clean bill of health but was far too rich at the top end and needed to go up a size in the pump jets. I was just glad it didn't blow up



I wont say what power it made but im significantly underpowered compared to most cars i compete against but its very good for a xflow on a single 40. The operator said it would gain everywhere with a single 45 or better still a set of splits. ill have to see what i can find!


more soon.

[onecamohv]

Re: my road rally mk2

Nice update Luke.

Modern fuels play absolute havoc with filter elements and hoses etc.

I had the exact same issue recently, car was sitting for a few months, then day before a targa i took it for a test drive and had a massive misfire on full throttle over 5k revs.
after checking the fuel was gone dark yellow, and the filter element was eaten to bits, and it was only recently changed.

[beeRS]

Re: my road rally mk2

This is an excellent read