Pushrod kings MK1 Escort race car

[david_white]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Just plod away at it. Its taken me 15 years to get were i am now

Exactly Nick, and he still qualifies last

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Exactly Nick, and he still qualifies last

And then romps away in the race

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Spent some time on the car today,took the engine out removed the sump,flywheel and clutch.
The oil leak was caused by a small split in the sump Easily fixed anyway

The clutch is more of a worry,looks like I need another friction plate and a new pressure plate in the cover assembly If you look at the pictures you can see that the cover hasn't been contacting the centre plate (1/2 black 1/2 shiny bronze) this is because the face hasn't worn level so the assembly doesn't sit flush!

Also had my tyres checked with a durometer and not good news there either,they're alot harder than my mates year old ones that are the same compound and are nearly worn out.(mine were new this year)

So before I race again I need an oil tight engine,a new clutch,new set of tyres,bigger balls,and an fia approved race suit.

[david_white]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Keep at it though mate, it will get easier as you go on, it will just take a while to get the car exactly how you need it for racing with a setup that suits you and is reliable.
Andy has broken every part of his car over the coarse of a season but gradually you iron out the problems so they're not repeated and the car also gets quicker. Andy's is a lot quicker than a couple of seasons ago but sometimes you don't realise cos everyone else ups their game too

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Thanks Dave It's the cost that's bothering me,I've just ordered a new clutch cover assembly and another plate (£500 +) got to buy some overalls and ideally non wooden tyres and get it rolling roaded to find/cure the misfire and see if I fixed the oil leak.

[Graham]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

i wouldnt worry about the clutch too much, they can take a long while to bed in fully, if it wasnt slipping before it had oil dumped all over it it should be fine

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

i wouldnt worry about the clutch too much, they can take a long while to bed in fully, if it wasnt slipping before it had oil dumped all over it it should be fine

TBH It didn't feel right from the start,I couldn't get a new plate for the cover until after Silverstone (on back order)so I've ended up buying a complete new clutch,at least I've got some spares now. It's the tyres I'm really pissed off about they were new and should of been better

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

I managed to race in the DMN at Lydden yesterday and actually finished qualifying and both races
In qualifying I elected to go out on slicks and although it was slippery managed to qualify 4th in class,10th overall and was the 1st rwd with the Brents pug 205s and a nova(.013sec) in front and Russell Turners big power arched mk1 behind.
Race one:it's starting to brighten up a bit so I decide to stay on slicks and alter the pressures to try and get more heat into them,I do this and it starts to rain again Gerald Gale (parked next to me)rushes about changing his tyres and I start to think I'd made the wrong choice but didn't really have time to change tyres (Gerald had borrowed my nut gun) so I got in the car went to fire it up but it wouldn't start as the battery was flateverybody had gone to line up on the dummy grid so my 12 year old daughter had to push the car to bump start it I took my place on the grid (alongside Gemma morris) and had to keep the engine running while everyone else lined up behind Graham in his BMW 635csi who was acting as pace car.
We complete a very slow (almost) lap behind Graham and then we're off and I get baulked by Gemma and Paul Goddard but manage to stay infront of the rest at the 1st corner, by the devils elbow I'm on the back of Paul who inturn is on the back of the Nova which is understeering wildly up the hill I manage to get alongside Paul who is trying a pass on the Nova we go into the hairpin three abreast with the nova actually physically (you should see Paul's door)pushing Paul across the track into me I decide to back off with only milimetres to spare until I'm off the track on the grass and probably the barriers,paul gets infront and I spend nearly a lap behind the Nova until he leaves an escort sized gap into the Devils elbow and I'm past we then spend a lap or two with him trying to get inside on the corners with me in turn making sure there a wasn't enough room for him to do the same to me as he did to Paul I then start to pull away in chase of Paul but the car started to misfire a little and he was too far ahead so it finished with Paul 3rd in class behind the Brents and me 4th in class and 10th overall, I'd finished where I started dispite getting past the nova but had had a great 1st race in 10 years. I got back to the paddock switched the fan on and the car died!! the battery was totally dead (explained the misfire) I run an alternator so was scratching my head a little as both wires were still connected I fiddle about and find that one of the terinals is broken inside the insulation so borrowed a battery charger off of Gerald,extension lead off of the team next to me and charged the battery whilst I put a new terminal on the alternator lead,(burning my hand in the process) I flick the ignition on to check the connections and nothing happened the battery was still dead,did a quick check and the charger's not working so I ended up fixing that too After all that it was time to drink the very welcome cuppa that my daughter had bought.

Race 2: Before I went to line up I made sure that there's somebody there to push start the car if needed but when I flicked the ignition switch and pushed the starter button the engine spins over and fires up.
we do another slow almost lap behind the pace car, make our way down the hill to the start line, the lights go green and we're off,this time I made absolutely sure that I wasn't baulked and actually made up a couple of places so was 8th overall by the time we came out of the 1st corner! The race continued with me catching and passing Paul goddard for 3rd in class only to make a mistake on the next corner so he got it back and started to pull away paul passes a blue mini, I look in my mirrors and Russell Turners catching up as we go into the Elbow I get inside the mini as we get to the hairpin and I go infront and accelerate down the hill expecting Russell to be right behind me but he was still behind the mini as I went into paddock, I decide that as the track was now nearly dry it's about time I started to really push and set about catching up with Paul and just as I started to apply some pressure he went off at the Elbow,clouting the tyre wall hard. I carry on but the back end is starting to get loose ( I didn't change the tyre pressures back form earlier)and I get caught by the escorts of Andy and Alex so I wave Andy through and he's followed by Alex,I tried to keep up but my car's just not letting me get the power down and I eventually spun and stalled the engine under braking into chessons and got passed by Russell turner, the blue mini and the novaI eventually got it restarted and gave chase to Eric False in his fiesta catching and passing him into the hairpin finishing 7th in class and 11th overall.

[david_white]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Well done Nick, very good driving and decent results in very tricky conditions.

Lets hope its dryer next time out and the escorts can give the pugs a run for their money

[Ken Welch]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Well done Nick. I was behind you when you spun at Chessons. It was quite interesting, I was not sure where you were going the end up.

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Well done Nick. I was behind you when you spun at Chessons. It was quite interesting, I was not sure where you were going the end up.

I wasn't sure either I'm just glad I didn't get collected or hit the barriers.

[SnappyRacers]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

I'm waiting on getting the pictures of your spin from another snapper... They're on his memory card!

[lee 1]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Well done on the resuls and the write up

[Pushrod King]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

Well done on the resuls and the write up

Thanks I'm now looking forward to the next race

[carl_harker]

Re: Pushrod kings MK1 Escort hillclimb/sprint car

very nice car in the flesh