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Hi guys
Some of you will know the car from Britishrally and a few other forums I'm on; most recently PassionFord but I thought I'd whack a summary thread up on here to show how far the car has come, because I know there are a fair few motorsport fans on TS.
Nutshell:
I sold my race-prepped XR2 with a view to swapping seats and driving a rally car this year (I co-drove last year alongside my hillclimb/sprint activities in the Fiesta). I had a rough idea that I wanted a 1400 class fwd factory built rally car, but in the back of my mind I had always wanted one of the Boreham Challenge spec KAs.
This one came up for sale on the Isle of Man, where it has enjoyed a lot of success following its retirement from the Ka Rally Championship in 2002. Among its accolades is a win on the 2006 RBS Manx International, and I even have the trophies to go with the car!!
Anyway - after viewing a couple of KAs that had, over the years 'lost' a lot of the works bits (999/909 parts), this one ticked all the boxes and came with literally a transit van FULL of spares, including 28 Speedlines with P Zero slick and intermediate tyres (most new or nearly new), and a spare engine; which would come in useful in the not too distant future - read on...
Having had no sleep since the Thursday (due to the annoyingly unsociable crossing times to the Island) we departed for England on the Saturday afternoon. The car made it all the way from the Isle of Man back to East Yorkshire, but unfortunately melted 3 pistons on the Ouse Bridge, not more than 10 miles from my house. Bugger.
So to cut a long story short, I decided to undertake the engine work myself, with the help of my mate (a qualified mechanic - so cheating a little!). The engine was well and truly screwed, having run lean and made a mess of the block. Cue spare engine, which happened to also have all the Ford Racing bits and next to zero miles on it. We used the best bits from both engines, along with getting new valve guides pressed into the (very trick!) Endura head.
Meanwhile, with the engine in bits at my mate's workshop the car was sitting looking a little used and sorry for itself in my garage at home. While I had sternly promised myself (and my girlfriend!!) that I wouldn't go to the lengths I had on the XR2 build for fear of not daring to use it for its intended purpose, I just had to pass the time while we waited for pockets of time here and there to build the engine back up. So, pretty much a full shell rebuild ensued (mainly a tidy up from top to bottom, but you get the idea), with new parts on the outside, inside and literally everything inspected, cleaned, tidied and replaced if necessary.
The engine, as of the end of January is now in, and I'm awaiting an appointment with Bogg Brothers in North Yorkshire for a proper rolling road set up and a full suspension service for the Proflex. But at least it runs and is looking the part.
I didn't plan a project as much as this one had been, but at this stage I find it easy (and somewhat relaxing) to sit back on the sofa as I write this and think "I'm glad things turned out the way they did". The engine failure has given me chance to check everything, tidy everything up and learn a hell of a lot that will no doubt come in useful when I'm competing, and generally maintaining the car.
Anyway, without further a-do; and sorry that took so long, I fully intended it not to - some pictures to document my life (!) over the last few months...
Some of you will know the car from Britishrally and a few other forums I'm on; most recently PassionFord but I thought I'd whack a summary thread up on here to show how far the car has come, because I know there are a fair few motorsport fans on TS.
Nutshell:
I sold my race-prepped XR2 with a view to swapping seats and driving a rally car this year (I co-drove last year alongside my hillclimb/sprint activities in the Fiesta). I had a rough idea that I wanted a 1400 class fwd factory built rally car, but in the back of my mind I had always wanted one of the Boreham Challenge spec KAs.
This one came up for sale on the Isle of Man, where it has enjoyed a lot of success following its retirement from the Ka Rally Championship in 2002. Among its accolades is a win on the 2006 RBS Manx International, and I even have the trophies to go with the car!!
Anyway - after viewing a couple of KAs that had, over the years 'lost' a lot of the works bits (999/909 parts), this one ticked all the boxes and came with literally a transit van FULL of spares, including 28 Speedlines with P Zero slick and intermediate tyres (most new or nearly new), and a spare engine; which would come in useful in the not too distant future - read on...
Having had no sleep since the Thursday (due to the annoyingly unsociable crossing times to the Island) we departed for England on the Saturday afternoon. The car made it all the way from the Isle of Man back to East Yorkshire, but unfortunately melted 3 pistons on the Ouse Bridge, not more than 10 miles from my house. Bugger.
So to cut a long story short, I decided to undertake the engine work myself, with the help of my mate (a qualified mechanic - so cheating a little!). The engine was well and truly screwed, having run lean and made a mess of the block. Cue spare engine, which happened to also have all the Ford Racing bits and next to zero miles on it. We used the best bits from both engines, along with getting new valve guides pressed into the (very trick!) Endura head.
Meanwhile, with the engine in bits at my mate's workshop the car was sitting looking a little used and sorry for itself in my garage at home. While I had sternly promised myself (and my girlfriend!!) that I wouldn't go to the lengths I had on the XR2 build for fear of not daring to use it for its intended purpose, I just had to pass the time while we waited for pockets of time here and there to build the engine back up. So, pretty much a full shell rebuild ensued (mainly a tidy up from top to bottom, but you get the idea), with new parts on the outside, inside and literally everything inspected, cleaned, tidied and replaced if necessary.
The engine, as of the end of January is now in, and I'm awaiting an appointment with Bogg Brothers in North Yorkshire for a proper rolling road set up and a full suspension service for the Proflex. But at least it runs and is looking the part.
I didn't plan a project as much as this one had been, but at this stage I find it easy (and somewhat relaxing) to sit back on the sofa as I write this and think "I'm glad things turned out the way they did". The engine failure has given me chance to check everything, tidy everything up and learn a hell of a lot that will no doubt come in useful when I'm competing, and generally maintaining the car.
Anyway, without further a-do; and sorry that took so long, I fully intended it not to - some pictures to document my life (!) over the last few months...
Gary
hi look forward to following this. that pic of the front with the spot pod on is meeeeen 
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