GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

4th one down.... that will be your 2009 christmas cards then

[Sparcoxs]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Just had a quick read through both this thread and the FLY thread.Interesting read and some cracking pics.Do recognise FLY from the local road rallies such as the Bro Caron etc but was even more suprised reading this.

I was out co-driving on the Midsummer Caerwent stages with a mate in an Escort Mk2.Can't remember seeing your car though.The Escort I was in was a red one with the Honda S2000 engine in it.Not sure if you heard it going at all.But even more wierd is that I was out watching the Wexford rally last year in September with Gary and Islwyn's sons.Pretty sure we watched every car through at least 2 or 3 stages that weekend and again, my memory's crap and I can't remember seeing your car.Ha ha.

Keep up the blogs as it makes for an interesting read.When you out in FLY next?Bro Caron???

Chhers,
Rob

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Hi,

Don't remember you at Caerwent either, and Wexford we probably wouldn't be memorable due to my tidy driving style

I'll be out on the Bro Caron in FLY, the last road rally I did was the Bro Caron 2007, retired at halfway with a broken exhaust so I'm hoping to get round this time

And we're off to West Cork again next month in DVY

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

10 days to go until I catch the ferry for West Cork and Ron had finally finished rebuilding the Cossie

When I'd picked up Fly's Pinto, it was all stripped and the head had been sent off for some new valve guides to be fitted (I don't remember this being done since I've had DVY) which delayed everything slightly, then Burton's had the piston rings on back order (my 90.93 pistons which make the engine 1999.7cc are quite rare now as it's so hard to find a block good enough to build a proper 2 litre engine) but Ron had sourced some in Germany and had them shipped over this week

This morning I collected it and this is how far I got this evening



It went in quite easily despite the gearbox being left in, hopefully she'll be running tomorrow night

[david_white]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Burton's had the piston rings on back order (my 90.93 pistons which make the engine 1999.7cc are quite rare now as it's so hard to find a block good enough to build a proper 2 litre engine) but Ron had sourced some in Germany and had them shipped over this week

Tell me about it, I had the same thing with my pinto which is on 90.93 still. Not may genuine 2 litres in competition I bet
I got my new rings from Steve at Vulcan BTW

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Sunday I finished the engine bay off then Monday night swapped the fuel tank back from Fly and left the dry sump tank draining the old oil

Tonight filled with fresh oil, fitted the battery, checked the fuel system, got some oil pressure with the electric drill and an old dry sump pump belt, and after a bit of cranking she was running

Let her warm up for a bit and checked for leaks (couldn't see any) so switched her off and called it a night

Few jobs left - exhaust, footrest, sort out boot, change suspension (the front inserts will be with me tomorrow after being rebuilt by Bilstein)

MOT booked for Saturday and I'm collecting a heated screen at the same time - thought it might be a good idea after the problems at Longcross last year

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

The inserts arrived as promised on Thursday and I got them fitted that night, changed the front springs and set the ride height

Friday night I swapped the rear springs, set the spring height and fitted an old exhaust after lengthening the over axle bend to stop it hitting the panhard rod. No worries about noise in Ireland as they don't have noise checks

Saturday took her for the MOT, couple of minor issues - I'd forgotten to swap the wipers from Fly so turned up with no wiper blades - luckily there was another Mk2 there being repaired so I borrowed some, then the washers didn't work so they were sorted with an airline, and finally both rear hubs were leaking oil, not badly enough to affect the brakes but need sorting out but got a Pass

I think they're the original hubs that came with DVY in '97 and there's been some bearing play for a while now, so when I collected the heated screen from West Wales Rally Spares I bought a pair of new hubs and also a spare exhaust

Today I fitted the heated screen and wired it through the spot light relays, difficult to tell if it works but the voltmeter drops when it's turned on so I assume it is

And changed both rear hubs, fitted the foot rest, boots all sorted and had a little play with the gear stick position, not really sure which way to adjust it but at Longcross I had to pull it a couple of times for each gear as if the stick wasn't moving the selector far enough - I'll check this Tuesday when i go for a test run, got to tax her tomorrow first

Entry List has been published for West Cork, 150 entries + 10 reserves, we're car 81, one of 41 Mk2's and there's 21 in our class

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

All ready now

Tried the gears in the garage and I'd made it worse so adjusted it the other way, had a quick run up the road and now it changes smoothly up and down

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Tried the gears in the garage and I'd made it worse so adjusted it the other way

If at first you don't suceed.... try it t'other way ..

Said a wise old yorkshire man.

Best of luck out there, and don't come home without any silverware..thats an order

[Tazman]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

Good Luck Gav,

look forward to hearing about it all on your return.

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

West Cork Rally 20-21st March 2010
Gavin Rogers / Cath Woodman – Mk2 Escort “DVY”

It was that time of year again for a trip across the water to Clonakilty for the West Cork Rally. I hadn’t done much work to DVY over the winter but the engine was rebuilt, the gear stick adjusted and a heated screen fitted. After last year’s problems with a loose seat these were checked thoroughly and I found a bit of movement on each so the rear side mount setscrews were replaced by bolts which solved the problem

I had the usual team of Cath on the Notes, with Carrie and Guy servicing. We travelled over on the Weds and then spent the next day and a half recceing the 16 stages in conditions ranging from sunshine to heavy rain and mist on the higher sections. Some of the roads were in bad condition after the winter so we made some extra pothole notes, some fog notes on the longer straights in case it was misty and even spotted the rock I’d hit on the first stage last year and got a puncture (so changed the notes to Caution 5 Left Don’t Cut Puncture ). Scrutineering was passed without any comments Friday afternoon and DVY was parked up in Parc Ferme overnight.

Saturday morning and the sun was out, we left Parc Ferme and had a 30 min service to change to the slicks and then it was off to SS1. We got into the groove quickly and after about 5 miles we had nearly caught the car in front when going round a 6R there was a bang from the front and the right front wheel locked up. Luckily there was a big gateway just after the corner so I pulled up off the road and got out to see what had happened



I looked under the front panel and the TCA and compression strut were on the ground – the bottom ball joint had sheared off
I signalled to Cath that we weren’t going any further so she got out the OK board and showed it to the next few cars until I stuck it on a handy fence post. The gateway led onto a track where a farmer and his son were spectating and they said that the track went through their farm and down to a public road and that we could bring the trailer up there. So I phoned Carrie to explain what had happened and where we were and about an hour later Carrie and Guy turned up with the trailer. Before this we had all the course cars through for SS3 including the Motorsport Ireland Steward who decided DVY was in a slightly dangerous position so the organisers had to put some bunting round her before they were happy
We dragged DVY through the gateway, strapped the front strut straight and winched her onto the trailer, then watched the top 40 cars go past before heading back to the B&B.



When we got there, Cath headed off to the Rally HQ to put our entry in for the Sunday Run while Guy and I repaired DVY. I was a bit worried how to extract the remains of the ball joint, but Guy hit it with the large hammer a few times and it popped out, and everything was fixed by 2:30pm



Having a few hours to spare, we went off to spectate on SS7 and stood on a bank overlooking a couple of uphill hairpins and saw about 80 cars through. As it was still a nice day, we went to Inchydoney beach which was very picturesque

Sunday morning was another fine day and we got DVY down to Parc Ferme early for re-scrutineering. Of the 151 cars which had started the rally (including 41 Mk2 Escorts and 22 Civics) only 82 were left in the main field and there were 33 of us in the Sunday Run (which caused the organisers a few headaches as they had only expected 20 at the most). Once again we went to service but when we left we were told that the Sunday Runners could not do the first 2 stages so we went straight back in to service and sat there for the next 2 hours – we found out later that a girl spectator had fallen off a wall and landed heavily on a man standing below, which caused a 20min delay as the ambulance was sent into the stage, so to make up the lost time we had to miss these 2 stages

At about 1pm we finally made it to SS11 and this time everything went well, no problems with the notes, we didn’t get caught or catch anyone and I even did a couple of nice handbrakes. SS12 was even better, going a lot faster now so Cath had to speed up her note calling!

Back in service, a slight oil leak from the block breather hose was the only concern but it was not leaking enough to cause a bigger problem, checked the tyres, put in some petrol and it was back out to the next 2 stages

SS13 was around the coast and was very fast and flowing in places with long sections of wide roads interspersed with a few nadgery bits and we had a great time. SS14 was slightly further inland but still fast and flowing, very enjoyable

Last service, nothing needed doing, a few clouds around but it was still good, so we headed off for the final 2 stages, a repeat of SS13 & SS14. As we lined up for SS15 there were a few spots of rain on the windscreen and by the time we started the stage 20min later it was raining steadily. I switched on the heated screen and headed off steadily – the last time I’d used these slicks in damp conditions was when I’d gone off into the bushes on Fat Albert last year, so I wasn’t taking chances. On a few parts of the stage it was raining so hard the wipers were having trouble keeping up and about ¾ of the way through I was caught by a 106 who I let past and then gave chase as the rain was easing. This gave me more confidence in the tyres, although after the stage Cath did suggest I was driving like an old woman!

So for the final stage SS16, still raining hard in places but I managed to push a bit harder prompting a few big slides and cries of “Well Held” from Cath and we finished with big grins on our faces. The final road section was through Clonakilty and it was complete chaos so the organisers scrubbed any road penalties, then the 106 who had overtaken us earlier broke down in front of us, so we stopped and towed them to Parc Ferme where we got the usual Finishers award of a pair of Mugs (sorry Gary, not quite silverware)

All in all, we made the most of a bad start and thoroughly enjoyed the 6 stages we did on the Sunday, finishing 11th and 2nd in class. Many thanks to Carrie and Guy for servicing and a speedy recovery job, Kathleen and Gerry at the B&B for opening especially for us, and to Cath for a professional job on the Notes. We’ll definitely be back next year!

Near the start of SS13 with Inchydoney beach in the distance


In car to follow of SS11-14 when I get round to it

[Retromotorsport]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

A mugs a cup where i come from mate ..

[4drmatt]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

good write up as usual. sounds fun!

[team_zi]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

How old was the bottom ball joint?
Maybe you should consider 'lifing' them, and replace them every year?

[GavinR]

Re: GavinR's Mk2 Stage Car - DVY

How old was the bottom ball joint?
Maybe you should consider 'lifing' them, and replace them every year?

We had the same conversation after it broke and I realised it was on DVY when I bought her in '97, so was probably a new part from Gartrac when she was built in '93

I've never had a ball joint shear before in 20 years of rallying, on Fly the ball joints get worn and fail the MOT every 4 or 5 years depending on how many events I do

But as the other side is of the same vintage, a large package arrived from Gartrac yesterday with a new pair of genuine Ford adjustable TCA's - I'll change them in 10 years

I don't think there is anything else on DVY that hasn't been replaced over the years, or rebuilt recently