| Everything Takes Longer Than One Expects |
[May. 2nd, 2008|07:02 am] |
The gearbox has arrived and is scheduled to go into the car next week. We’ll be reinforcing the gearbox mount and rear crossmember at the same time.
As for painting the car, well it never made it back to the paintshop as they completely cocked up a job on a Mark I Escort which was returned to them for repainting. We’re now a bit concerned about what sort of job might be done on the Alpine.
Meanwhile next week we’re off to New Zealand to compete in the Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago, based in Dunedin on the south island (http://www.otagorally.net/). It’s the biggest classic rally in the southern hemisphere and the roads look fantastic. This year we’re leasing a Mark I Escort from Bryce Biggs Motorsport, but I’m hoping that next year we’ll be able to take the Alpine across. Michelle Mouton, a former Alpine driver and the most successful female driver in the World rally Championship, will be competing in a Mark II Escort BDA, and I’m looking forward to meeting her.
Erin will be looking for a better result than the DNF she and Deon had at Targa Tasmania when the Lotus hit an oil patch at 120kph and they crashed out of the rally. Although damage to the car was extensive, thankfully neither of them was hurt.
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| Another Milestone |
[Apr. 9th, 2008|07:20 am] |
It's been an encouraging week, with the news that the gearbox is finished, and on top of that, work has begun on the new paintwork. The car's had seven (yes, seven!) layers of Mexican paint stripped off it and is now back in the workshop with an overall coat of polyester. While that hardens, work continues on the seemingly endless mechanical things necessary for a modern gravel rally car. The brackets that have been fabricated are truly impressive and look to me to be indestructible.
The car goes back to the paintshop this Friday. |
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| Getting into Gear |
[Apr. 9th, 2008|07:16 am] |
After a huge struggle, Rob Sealey has finished the five-speed gearbox and it’s on its way from Melbourne to Brisbane. The problems thrown up during the build were typical of those we’ve encountered with this car since the outset.
The gearbox started out as a Renault 10 4sp converted by David Hicks in Adelaide to 5sp using an R16TX crownwheel and pinion and an R5T/R20 gearset. Unfortunately, it had been allowed to run dry and all that we salvaged from it were the casing and CW&P. Another R20 gearbox was found and a 5th gear housing ordered from Mecaparts. As you’ll read below, the Mecaparts component needed considerable work. Rhys Nolan in New Zealand provided the shifter forks we needed from an early R8 box, and Richard Mann in Melbourne was most helpful in sourcing parts and getting them to Rob. Many thanks to all three of these gentlemen.
Here’s a list of what Rob had to do to make me a five-speed gearbox:
Casing
Mill out to accept the reverse guide pin, same as 353 gearbox.
2 x extra boltholes on the top edge to suit R16 bellhousing.
Clear casing to allow R16-type bellhousing.
Side spacer to accept the larger crown wheel.
Grind out housing to accept crown wheel.
Circlip groove to accept cluster rear bearing.
Gearbox
NG5 crown wheel and pinion.
NG3 cluster and ratios.
NG1 bellhousing.
Mecaparts extension housing re-machined to correct many manufacturing problems, ie pin hole bushed, selector holes reamed, seal faces re-machined, ockout pin made, plug made, plug modified, cover seal plate modified with selector stop added.
385 spacer plate, heavily modified to 353 shape (new holes added, and welded up holes; special selector retainer pin made twice)
5th selector fork made.
5th selector shaft made twice.
3/4th selector shaft made with modified forging added (selector actuator).
330 selector shafts and selector forgings.
Main input selector shaft made.
Main selector made from 330-type selector.
Shims specially made to set pinion depth (no adjustable width spacer on this type of assembly).
New bearings, gaskets, and seals.
Pinion speedo nut (wrong direction as this pinion has special thread)
Cluster shaft re-machined to suit bearing position.
Special end housing gasket made.
NG1 input shaft used (no spigot)
Special adaptor for attachment to input selector.
A million trial assemblies and mods to get it all working!
And here’s what we’ve ended up with, ratio-wise:
Gearbox ratios
1st 3.46:1 (11x38) 3.45
2nd 2.24:1 (17x38) 2.24
3rd 1.48:1 (23x24) 1.48
4th 1.04:1 (28x29) 1.04
5th 0.91:1 (35x32) 0.91
Final drive 3.875:1 (8x31) |
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| Progress Report |
[Feb. 1st, 2008|09:07 am] |
The new 1800cc engine has been assembled and is now being test-fitted to the car, with mounts and stays being fabricated in the KCF Rallysport workshop. I am indebted to Renault Car Club of QLD’s Alan Moore for putting it together for me and I was impressed with his knowledge of and experience with these engines.
The motor is certainly a hybrid! We have an R15 block, machined to take the Mecaparts 1800cc liners. It has an R18 oil pump; a baffled R15 sump; a Ducellier distributor with an R5 Turbo cap; R16 water pump with R15 pulley; hi-torque starter motor; and we’re using an R17 bell housing to mate to the R10 4-sp gearbox, but with an R15 spigot shaft. The flywheel has been lightened from 7.6kg to 5.7kg.
We've calculated the compression ratio to be 12.4:1 which is a little higher than I'd wanted, but Alan assures me that it should be fine. We'll be using ELF102 fuel.
The head is R16, ported, with custom-made lightweight stainless steel valves. The double valve springs are RR4 with Datsun L series retainers with the tops machined down which are much lighter than the standard Renault ones. We’re using phosphor bronze valve guides for better heat dissipation and gentleness on the valve stems.
The valve spring pressure will be in the area of 100lb on the seat, and around 240 on the nose.
The camshaft is Waggott with a Collier R12 Gordini grind. Although not a particularly high-lift cam, it is long duration.
Carburetion will be twin 45mm DCOE Webers.
The exhaust will be custom-made, with the rigors of rallying in mind.
Other work on the car is proceeding apace with the “big brake” package going on the front with a Mecaparts 22mm dual master cylinder.
All the trim etc and old stickers have been removed as we prepare it for its new livery which is based on Bernard Darniche’s 1973 Rallye du Maroc car. He won the event, and then in 1974 the car came out to tour Australia to celebrate and promote Alpine's victory in the inaugural World Rally Championship.
We’re hoping to have the car finished and ready for the first rally of the Queensland season on 9 March.
In this pic, note the front and rear sumpguards leaning against the bench, and the hole in the back of the car through which we removed and replaced the camshaft in the R12 engine.
And here's the Darniche/Mahe car on its way to victory in Morocco in 1973:
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| 1300 Engine Update |
[Oct. 3rd, 2007|08:34 am] |
When the motor failed in the last rally, as we crossed the finish of the second special stage, I assumed we’d lost all our water and blown a head gasket again. But I was wrong. In fact, we’d dropped a valve, which in turn caused the other valve to fail, and they both then proceeded to destroy the head and punch out the top of the piston. The bore liner was cracked, and the metal filings went through to damage the crankshaft and cam, and all the bearings. Exit one engine.
So, on that news I decided to abandon the 1300 and move ahead with the 1800.
A combustion chamber shouldn't look like this, and most pistons don't have big holes in the top of them like this one! Click to enlarge.
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| More Team News |
[Oct. 3rd, 2007|08:22 am] |
Erin and I recently competed in my Subaru WRX STi in the Allstars Tuning Services Queensland Challenge touring road rally, which was a fun day out that took us through the countryside to the west of Amberley on several navigation stages, with eight speed tests at Willowbank and Wivenhoe Dam thrown in. It was a cold start at dawn at Willowbank, but then the day turned out bright and sunny as the 47 crews set off to test their driving and map-reading skills. We finished 2nd in the speed tests, 5th in class, 7th outright and =20th in the navigation tests. In addition we were the highest placed crew from the Northern Districts Sporting Car Club team competing in the Sherrin Motorsport Interclub Challenge. If only we could get that sort of performance and reliability from the Alpine!
Meanwhile, Erin’s entry in Targa Tasmania next year is confirmed, riding with Deon Attard again, this time in his 1964 Mini Cooper:
http://www.targa.com.au/Competitors/Entries/Profiles/DeonAttard.html
And a couple of weeks ago up at Jimna, Mick and I manned a roadblock and SOS radio point at the season's final KCF Rally while Erin called the notes in the sweep car. |
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| They're Taking Me To Marrakesh |
[Sep. 9th, 2007|03:23 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Marrakesh Express - Crosby, Stills and Nash | ] |
Well actually, from Marrakesh. I’ve often been asked what the meaning of the “Marrakech” sticker on the door is, and I’ve finally found out. In the Monte Carlo rallies of old (and our car is in the 1971 livery) cars would start from all over Europe and converge on Monte Carlo on what were known as concentration runs. In 1971 248 cars started from 11 locations as far apart as Glasgow, Athens, Oslo and Warsaw. Alpine Renault chose to start from Marrakesh in Morocco. The cars carried door stickers indicating where they’d started, hence Marrakech (French spelling) on the Alpines. Why start in Marrakesh? - I understand that it was an attempt to beat the weather.
I suppose that worked for them, for it was atrocious and the snow and blizzards resulted in just 22 entries being classified as finishers, with Alpines filling the top three spots.
Here are Ove Andersson and David Stone in Car 28, winning the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally:
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| Team News - A Potpourri |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|03:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Who Let the Dogs Out - Baja Men | ] |
Sunday
Whilst the Alpine might be off the road, we’re still active in motorsport. Erin recently competed in the Suncoast Classic, a four-day tarmac rally based at Noosa Heads, calling the notes for Mackay driver Deon Attard in his supercharged Lotus Exige Cup (see pic). The following weekend she was in Rockhampton in the hotseat beside the state’s fastest female rally driver Melinda Both in her WRX, contesting a round of the Queensland Rally Championship. Next weekend Erin and I will be in my STi in the Allstar Tuning Systems Touring Road Rally, taking in the roads and circuits between Willowbank and Toowoomba.
Meanwhile Mic (my service crew chief and Erin’s brother) and I went out last Sunday morning in a WRX Club nav run and brought home the trophies for third place. All good fun.
This week I’ll arrange a few things for the Alpine in its journey towards Group 4 spec. I’ve decided to send the gearbox down to Collier’s in Sydney for the rebuild, so I’ll get that organised, and I’ll also be talking to Jim Berry about a new clutch for it. After that I can see to getting the flywheel lightened, then balanced with the crankshaft and new pressure plate.
I’m also looking for new front shocks as the Koni road sports just aren’t up to the job - they’ve failed in less than 150km!
The camshaft came back from Waggott’s last week, and as it turned out, it didn’t need any work, as it was a brand new Waggott cam with a Collier-spec Gordini grind. Not so high lift, but with long duration. I think I can be happy with that. |
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| Can Can, Garlic Snails, Baguettes and Berets |
[Jul. 13th, 2007|06:05 am] |
Sunday 8 July 2007
It was great day at the annual Grand Display of French Cars at the University of Queensland with plenty of Citroens, Peugeots, Renaults and Simcas as usual. I displayed my Alpine as it was at the end of our last rally, covered in mud and dust, and complete with dented bumper and door stickers and numbers. That was quite well received and served to get across the point that it is actually a gravel rally car. Many thanks to my Renault Car Club colleagues who helped to push it on and off the trailer.
I bumped into two old friends from the past at the Grand Display, both former members of the original Renault Car Club of Canberra (as am I). Peter “Flash” Flanagan is now retired and living up here, and yes, still wears shorts in the coldest of weather (he was renown for wearing shorts at rallies in the middle of a Canberra winter, in the middle of the Brindabellas - perhaps it’s the beard that keeps him warm!). John Thorne was up from Canberra buying a Peugeot. Some years ago, John bought Wayne Morgan’s blue R1135 R8 Gordini, an ex-factory car built by Bruce Collier reputed to have competed in, if not won, the BP Rally of South Australia back in about 1970. John still has the car and is about to start restoring it. Wayne was a close friend of mine in the 70s and 80s and rallied the car in Canberra after buying it from Bill Diamond. |
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| Five Gears At Last |
[Jun. 21st, 2007|01:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | ecstatic | ] |
Thursday
I've finally managed to secure a five-speed gearbox, and I'm rapt. I was on the verge of ordering one from Quebec for US$7000 (sorry Michel), when a converted R10 box with R16TX internals became available in Adelaide. It'll need a rebuild, but it's pretty-much just what I want (well, a factory 364 box would be nice, but one has to be realistic).
Meanwhile here are links to two sequences of photos taken at the March KCF Rally. Yeehaa!
http://www.suddenlysideways.com/gallery/KCF12007?page=9
http://www.suddenlysideways.com/gallery/KCF12007?page=18
Thanks Steve - great work. |
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| Six Rallies, Four DNFs |
[Jun. 17th, 2007|07:11 am] |
Saturday
Today we competed in our sixth rally, and had our fourth DNF (Did Not Finish). I cannot believe so much can go wrong with such a mechanically simple vehicle! First, the starter motor failed before the start, despite having been rebuilt twice in the last eight weeks. We worked around that, although I nearly stalled it on a tight turn in the first stage. But late in the second stage it lost all its water again and blew the head gasket as it crossed the finish line. Once again we ended an event on the end of a towrope.
We enjoyed it as far as we got though, and I started committing to corners and crests on the basis of my pacenotes, which was quite exhilarating in places.
That’s it now. The next time we go rallying, it’ll have a five-speed gearbox and an 1800cc engine. I’m really looking forward to being able to accelerate up hills!
Here’s a short video shot at the spectator point by my service crew chief and nephew, Mic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksHlNCHabn4 |
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| Second Anniversary |
[Jun. 17th, 2007|07:08 am] |
Friday 15 June 2007
Today is the second anniversary of the arrival of my A110 in Australia. It’s now on its third engine (which itself has had five head gaskets, three clutches, two heads, two camshafts and two oil pumps), and I’ve driven it about 500km, of which just under 130 have been in rallies. We’ve started five rallies and managed to finish two, just!
And yet I persevere. Why? Because it’s my dream car. I may get sick of working on it, and spending money on it, but I never get sick of looking at it, or driving it. It’s a beautiful little car, and to me it’s very special, something I’ve wanted for a very long time. I’m not going to let a few gremlins get in the way of living out one of my dreams. I know there will come a time when we’ve ironed out the bugs, and when that time comes, it’s going to be great. |
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| Five Rallies, Three DNFs |
[Jun. 1st, 2007|06:18 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | At my desk, drinking beer | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  energetic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sealion Woman from "The General's Daughter" soundtrack | ] |
We competed recently in the Philcomm Rally at Benarkin, but before I tell you about that, let’s look at the days leading up to it.
The loss of water at Urbenville had in fact caused a head gasket failure, and the new one was fitted on Tuesday. On Wednesday I went up to the workshop to do a little work and test-drive it and the clutch failed! We were able to adjust it up, but I had grave misgivings about it. Sure enough, it failed again not much later, at scrutineering! With much grating of gears I was able to get it back onto the trailer, and then “home” to the shed at Burpengary.
On Thursday morning the motor came out and we discovered that the thrust bearing had seized and disintegrated. After a frantic search, I eventually secured a couple of replacements through the good graces of Bob Gray, again. But when I took them up to the workshop on Friday, I found that the pressure plate had been damaged, and had to take that away for a while-u-wait rebuild. The car finally went on the trailer, ready for the rally, at about 8:30pm. Phew! Not quite the leisurely week I’d planned. A big "thank you" here to the guys at KCF Rallysport who put in such a huge effort during the week.
Up at Benarkin on Saturday morning we drove the car around a bit before the event, then did the 32km transport section up the d’Aguilar Highway towards Nanango, all without incident. Then it happened: 300m into the first special stage, on my fourth gear change, the clutch failed again. I was able to drive another 6km, but our rally came to an end on a “Turn very hard right uphill.”
The problem turned out to be pressure plate-related this time, and I wonder if it was rebuilt properly.
Anyway, our next event is just two weeks away, another KCF Rally at Jimna. The car will be ready…………
Meanwhile work has begun on the 1800cc Group 4 engine, with Alan Moore kindly providing the leadership on that. Tony Melcer has kindly donated an R16TL gearbox which will now go to Collier’s in Sydney along with an R10 box for the conversion necessary to take the power of the bigger motor. I am so looking forward to that. |
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| Fourth Rally, Second DNF |
[Apr. 30th, 2007|02:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
Monday. On Saturday morning we left on schedule and journeyed down the Mt Lindesay Highway, through some spectacular scenery into NSW, through the sleepy towns of Woodenbong and Urbenville to the Urbenville showground where, with practised ease, we set up our marquee and service area under a threatening sky.
There was a full field of 45 cars for this increasingly popular event, and we were number 39, so there was a bit of waiting before we started at 3:30. At the crew briefing we were told that recent rain had damped down the dust and made parts of the course slippery. I was looking forward to seeing how much the weight over my rear wheels would help in those bits.
One of the big attractions of this event is its use of shire roads - smooth, wide and fast. The first stage was just such a road, so imagine my frustration when I discovered that the engine, once again, wouldn’t go past 4000rpm!
Special Stage 2 used narrower and twistier roads, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I now had access to 6500rpm! The car will be going back to CNJ for a solution to this annoying intermittent problem. We had a great time in here, but I’m still braking too early, not yet used to the grip the rally tyres have. Poor Myles Frost rolled his brand new Gemini twice after taking a tricky crest a bit too fast.
At the beginning of the 12km SS3 we were warned that it was slippery after the first 2km. Apart from understeer on a tight “turn hard right, caution stump on exit” I felt the car was handling it well. But then, after 7km, I started to lose power, the cabin started to fill with oil fumes, and the water temperature was over 100. And that was our rally. At first I thought it was a head gasket, but it now looks as though we had a cooling system failure again.
Despite our DNF, Erin and I enjoyed the event (especially the party afterwards in the bowls club!), and we’ll be back next year. For now, I think it’s time to fast-track the 1800cc engine, with the stronger gearbox and diff, and bigger brakes, but meanwhile we’ll be back on the gravel with the 1300 for the second KCF rally on 26 June.
My thanks to Noel Caplet from French Car Care for his help on the day and with recovery of the car from the forest, and of course also to my hard-working service crew and extremely efficient co-driver.
This video clip was shot at the spectator point (“turn left at T onto bitumen”) and although I set the car up beautifully for it, my judgement was about five metres out, and it then became a salvage operation. Erin thought we were going to hit the guide post, but I was determined not to…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH20mf67ny4 |
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| Raring To Go |
[Apr. 27th, 2007|07:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
Friday evening before the rally.
It’s been a hectic week, with far more work to be done on the car than I anticipated - mostly electrical. But it’s all done now, and I have XenonOz HID globes in the Oscars, mounted on the Group 4 brackets that arrived from France on Monday, and the parking light switch no longer turns off the tacho and temp gauge nor turns on high beam!
It proved impossible to get the Terratrip working! I was advised by the local distributor that there is no solution, so we pulled it out and substituted a 30-year old Halda Tripmaster. I wasn’t overly unhappy with that, as at least it’s contemporaneous with the car. Many thanks to Alan Stean of the Z Car Workshop (who supplies our Silverstone tyres) who has lent me a full set of Halda gears so that we can get it calibrated tomorrow down at Urbenville.
While I was pretty despondent late yesterday afternoon with the car still not ready and scrutineering looming, a couple of things happened later on to lift my spirits and make me feel that it is all well worth the effort. On the way home last night at the lights a towtruck driver yelled excitedly out his window “Hey, I’ve got a model of your car - it’s even the same colour,” and brandished his 1/43rd scale model A110 at me. And this morning at Queensland Transport (documenting a new engine number) a young bloke asked me if he could take a photo of the car, then proceeded to take about six, inside and out, as he talked about his love for the classics. So the car generates a bit of interest, and it’s good to know that other people enjoy seeing it.
Well, the car’s on the trailer, and everything’s packed, so it’s time now to relax and just be a bit excited about tomorrow’s rally. |
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| Seven Sleeps To Go |
[Apr. 21st, 2007|06:17 am] |
Saturday. Our next rally is just a week away, and the car is all but ready. The two pressing tasks are to look at the lighting, and to get the Terratrip working. As the mounting brackets have yet to arrive from France, I’ll fit the Xenon HID bulbs to the Oscars. I can always put them in the Supers further down the track.
The Terratrip is a bit of a mystery. It’s been in the car for more than a year, but has never worked, and no-one seems to know why. Yet, it works perfectly in my Subaru WRX. I’ve run a separate earth wire for the probe, and rewired the power and earth cables to the battery using shielded cable, all to no avail. A borrowed Terratrip exhibits the same symptoms, so it’s something in the car, rather than the Terratrip. There’s a solution to this, but it’s proving elusive.
On the dyno last week we saw almost 20% improvement in power at the rear wheels: from 38.6hp to 45.9! Still hardly a powerhouse, but a step in the right direction. |
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| What a Bind! |
[Apr. 14th, 2007|12:15 pm] |
Saturday: I put the Alpine into French Car Care last month for a dual brake master cylinder, and some other stuff. Ironically, the master cylinder was the only thing that didn’t get done, as sourcing one with a 19mm piston proved somewhat difficult.
So on Wednesday I picked it up, and didn’t it sound sweet! Now with 10:1 compression and a competition cam, it sounds much crisper, has a “lumpy” idle, and is somewhat louder. It goes on the dyno next Tuesday, and we should see an improvement on the 38hp it recorded in August last year.
I mentioned that we couldn’t get it to rev over 4000rpm in the last rally, and on the way home on Wednesday, I discovered why. The brakes were sticking on! I managed only about 5km before I had to park it and get it towed back to French Car Care. Denis got stuck in straight away, and when I picked it up yesterday, it had a newly reconditioned (but sadly, still single) master cylinder. The trip home this time was thankfully uneventful.
Our next rally is in two weeks at Urbenville on the NSW border, and as it has night stages, I’m upgrading the lights by fitting a pair of Xenon Oz HID H1 bulbs into either my Cibie Oscars or Super Oscars. The choice depends upon how they look when I mount them on the Group 4 light mounts I’ve ordered from Mecaparts in France. At the moment the lights are bolted to the fibreglass overrider mounts and that’s unsuitable because they’re exposed to contact with the ground, and there’s not enough adjustment. |
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| Caged Beast |
[Mar. 27th, 2007|02:05 pm] |
There has been a bit of interest in our rollcage, so I thought I might cover it here.
Body preparation: We first prepared the area behind the seats for the main hoop by adding fibreglass then an 8mm aluminium load spreader that was bolted to the body.
For the rear legs, sections of fibreglass were removed to expose the 25mm square section subframe which was reinforced and had mounting points welded to it. The area was then re-fibreglassed. Similarly, we exposed the outriggers under the driver’s and passenger’s floors, welded brackets on and re-glassed them. Note that the front and rear legs bolt to their respective brackets which have nuts welded to them. We had bolts coated in Vaseline in place when we did the glassing.
The main hoop is 44.45mm cold drawn seamless (CDS) steel tube with a 38.1mm CDS cross brace. All the other components of the cage are 38.1mm CDS and it all has a 2.6mm wall thickness. There are two rear legs with a horizontal brace between them that also serves as a mount for the shoulder straps of our 6-point TRS 75mm WRC-spec harnesses. The main hoop is bolted through its baseplates, through the stiffeners, and through the reinforced fibreglass floor to the 6mm aluminium undershield. We used high tensile tapered-seat allen head bolts passed through from the underneath. The custom-made Velo rally seats and the mounts for the harness side and crotch straps are also bolted in a similar manner to the undershield. (A few millimetres of fibreglass just doesn’t cut it for mounting safety devices these days.)
The whole main hoop and rear section is one piece and it was a bit of a test to get it in there.
Parts of the front of the cage are bolted together. There are the main legs which follow the doorline and A-pillar. These are joined together with crossbraces that run above the windscreen and below the dashboard. The front legs are also joined to the main hoop with horizontal and angled side intrusion bars which then extend as a single bar up to the back legs. In addition, there is a brace that runs forward along the car’s centreline following the roofline between the main hoop and the windscreen crossbrace. We’ve clamped the intercom and interior light to that.
There is a total of 19 metres of steel tube in the cage, weighing approximately 43kg.
The upshot of all of this is that in a worst-case scenario, Erin and I will be sitting strapped into our seats, inside a steel cage attached to a large piece of aluminium at the end of a long trail of pieces of blue fibreglass. In other words, the body of the car is there just to keep the wind, rain and dust off us! |
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| Getting More Power |
[Mar. 24th, 2007|05:26 pm] |
Three Weeks Later....
The car’s back with French Car Care in East Brisbane where Denis and Noel Caplet will replace the rear wheel bearings, fix some oil leaks, fit a baffle in the sump, raise the compression to 9.5:1, fit a sporty camshaft, fit a twin brake master cylinder and extra reservoir and adjust the clutch. Once they’ve finished with it, I’ll take it down to CNJ Motorsport in Slack’s Creek for a tune on the dyno, and see if we can discover why it wouldn’t rev over 4000rpm in the last rally. After that, Ken Graham at Accurate Suspension will get it for a wheel alignment, and then at the end of April, we’re off to NSW for a rally at Urbenville.
Oh, and why did it lose all its water in the last event? A poorly secured water hose under the car had come adrift. Simple as that. We were fortunate that it held on for as long as it did. |
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