My MK2 Rally car

[para144]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

He's bought the blue escort that is in some of the pics & clips with XEP. Belonged to my mate Dai

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

What spec is that then Mike?

[para144]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Suspension & brakes the same as XEP.
Bowyer red top with Elite 6 speed sequential.

Les always hated the colour of XEP

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Well small update.

I did Abingdon the other weekend. i was seeded at 79 out of 100. My regular co driver wasn't available so someone step in and it was his first rally so i was pleased to give him a chance.

The first stage we both set off blind. It was the first time at the venue for me so had no idea what to expect. Started off as my over cautious self. All was going well until the Nav got lost on the maps, so i had to follow the stage on the orange arrows whist calling out junction numbers.

By stage 2 we knew where we were going and i had a fellow car club member seeded about 3 cars infront an a 1275 micra and i was determined to catch and overtake her. We nearly caught her on stage one and just finished a few seconds behind. Any way we over took her on stage 2 on the first lap. By the end of the stage we were upto 39 which i was pleased with considering the number of top notch escorts with sequential boxes. I've decided that i need to stop asking to be near the back and actually go up a bit higher as we got held up so much by cars in front. At one point there was three 205's all side by side along the runway, and i was trying to squeeze through them!

Off we went on stage 3 and i was determined to get into the 30's and i was pushing hard (for me!!). Then on the first loop i kept selecting 4th and it wasn't there. it took me quite a while to work out that it wasn't selecting so we hobbled round thinking the worst.

I decided to retire after some advice incase of floating bits in the box which would cause more damage.

Gutted.

Anyway i've taken the box out which was just hanging off the engine with loose bolts and it turns out the plate that bolts over the input shaft had come very loose and 2 of the 4 bolts were missing so after buying two more bolts and some locktight 4th gear returned So i was very lucky, very jammy and very very pleased .

I was told by some spectators that it didn't like it handled too well and its far too soft. So i might have to look into that soon as it was understeering like a bitch as well

I've got to re fit the sump guard, exhaust and adjust the clutch cylinder this week and then i'm off to Smeatharpe on Sunday. Seeded at 29 so looking forward to it.

So a few questions, what poundage spring do people run on the front for tarmac? How can i stiffen up the back on leaf springs? and How much oil can you put in a dry sump tank???

Cheers

[para144]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

XEP did have stiffer suspension when it was built. It had coilovers at the back.

The car was taken to Escort Guru Mark Solloway who softened up the rear suspension & changed it to leaf springs. He prepares cars for the likes of Hannu Mikkola & his Escorts start at about 80 grand!!

Anyway the stage times were quicker with the new softer set up. But I suppose it's down to driving style.
This is a photo of XEP when it was on coilovers.......

[GavinR]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

So a few questions, what poundage spring do people run on the front for tarmac? How can i stiffen up the back on leaf springs? and How much oil can you put in a dry sump tank???

Cheers

Front springs - I've used from 200lbs - 325lbs depending on what sort of events and how stiff your rear springs are - if you've got soft rear springs then 200lbs on the front, hard rear springs then go harder on the front

And generally harder for flat airfield events and softer for hilly events - Epynt, etc

Dry sump tank I fill to just below the top baffle which is normally 2/3rds of the tank

[waynemk2]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

I used to own XEP. No1

[waynemk2]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

He's bought the blue escort that is in some of the pics & clips with XEP. Belonged to my mate Dai

What has Dai got now??

[para144]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

What has Dai got now??

Nothing, he's not rallying any more He comes & services for us some times

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Well i did Smeatharpe a few weekends ago. Its not a great venue, and the night before i said i would never do it again as its so boring!! I only do it to support my club.

However, after the first stage i was having a great time. So much so i went and bought a pair of new tyres as it was still understeering. I was catching the Scooby infront as well. Stage 2 we went out and i was pushing hard. By this point we were 19th overall and 2nd in class

Stage 3 we went out and we had a bit of confusion on the splits and ended up arriving 1 split too early and picked up a maximum which dropped us to second to last. Gutted

After the air had cleared between me and my co driver i decided just to keep on pushing and compare stage times with the top 20. As a result of trying too hard, i clipped a lot of tyres and twisted the end of the steering column at the splines . We retired gracefully at stage 8. At least i am showing some improvement with the new car.

I've changed the column this weekend and found that the steering cross member bolts were loose and i also bent a TCA adjuster so changed that and i'm ready for Fat Albert next saturday

I need to get the front geometry set up before next weekend. I noticed there is a lot of difference between the lengths of the TCA's. Measuring between the same points on each side, there is 30mm difference . This might be a big contributing factor to my understeering. Can anyone recomend what settings i should be using?

Gavin and Barney have got a good seeding for next weekend and i'm a bit lower than i'd like at 60 . I'm behind a ford KA, which i managed to catch at Abingdon on stage 2. Just hope i don't get held up in the nadgery bit otherwise i should be ok. It would be nice to have a finish at least.

[GavinR]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

I need to get the front geometry set up before next weekend. I noticed there is a lot of difference between the lengths of the TCA's. Measuring between the same points on each side, there is 30mm difference . This might be a big contributing factor to my understeering. Can anyone recomend what settings i should be using?

Gavin and Barney have got a good seeding for next weekend and i'm a bit lower than i'd like at 60 . I'm behind a ford KA, which i managed to catch at Abingdon on stage 2. Just hope i don't get held up in the nadgery bit otherwise i should be ok. It would be nice to have a finish at least.

Sounds like you're going well with the new car

As for the TCA's, just make sure you've got the same length each side to start with, then adjust slightly to get the same camber each side if required

30mm sounds like an awful lot though, are you sure nothing else was bent from hitting the tyres?

See you Saturday

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Blimey, i haven't updated this for nearly a year

Well July last year was Fat Albert which was a good event for me, I was please with my speed and overall performance. I over took a few cars, one of which was a Scooby.

The gearbox started playing up just after lunch. It started jumping out of 2nd gear. Guess which gear i needed most through the tight and twisty bit? Yep 2nd. After some advice from Barney on short shifting we managed to finish 19th O/A and 6th in Class only 13 seconds off 3rd in class. Time we easily lost through the naggery bit with no 2nd gear.

So after this event out came the box and dropped it off to tran-x for a full rebuild with a new alloy case

Some more advice from Dan at tran-x was not to use the clutch and keep the revs nice and high and lift off the accelerator and just bang it in gear. Easy

After letting the box sit next to the car for a few months i started to fit it back in the car on Christmas eve after 4 days of lying on my back in a puddle of oil, fighting with the soddin thing balancing it on a trolley jack, i finally fitted it back in on my own. I completed the job on the night before the Longmoor Loco, and in true rally style and no time (or enthuasium (SP!)) to try and sort out my tracking, or even wash it.

Off we went the next day to Longmoor with a few of my mates for servicing, went through scrutineering with no problems. Next worry for me was how frosty/ icey/ slippery the stage would be. I did it the year before in my old car, so i had a rough idea of where the slidey sections were.

I was trying my new gear changing technique with no clutch and slowly made it round the first loop untill the merge. Then my co driver told me another of our club memebers we now behind us in his crossflow powered MK1. Not what i wanted to hear as he is always competitive and keen to beat me! So i started to panic now, and the result was i got the wrong gear, threw the alternator belt off which took the dry sump belt with it. The result was lots of lights on the dash and no oil pressure - game over

That was the end for us. Next day took the engine out and and dropped it off to my mate for a bottom end rebuild. Luckily the crank just needed a regrind and a polish. I was very lucky

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

While the engine was out i thought i'd give the car a good clean up and where the engine has been weeping oil from the rear main it had covered the whole of the underneath in an oily mucky and crappy film, which was about an inch thick!!





That was the start of it! Then for some unknow reason i started taking bits off and eventually ended up with a car like this ................................



and this



and boxes of bits




Its amazing that the whole rally car fits into about 6 boxes

[jonboy]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Just read your whole thread and very impressed.

Well done on the results.

I so want to sort my act out and do some rallying, looks brilliant and some good advice in this thread

[Paul C]

Re: My MK2 Rally car

Thanks Jonboy. i'll carry on with the update in a bit.