| Doing it in the Dust |
[Mar. 11th, 2011|07:45 am] |
I’ve finally managed to get hold of some video of our last rally, which was a year ago! The nature of spectating at a rally in a forest is that one gets to see a car for just a few seconds every minute or two. So it is that this video is all of 11 seconds long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NzKRJOexOA
You can see and hear it run out of puff coming out of the corner. This was our third run through the stage and the air filters were absolutely clogged with dust and the engine was being starved of air. Having now fixed the throttle problems, we’re turning our attention to getting clean air to the motor.
This will involve fitting a roof vent (and then repainting and re-stickering the roof) and running a duct from an airbox over the ram tubes on the Webers through to a large air cleaner in the cabin. That in turn means re-engineering accelerator linkages and maybe re-locating the remote oil filter. Once that’s all done, we’ll give it a test-run in a dirt sprint event, and all being well, we’ll be back in the forests. |
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| Happy Fifth Anniversary |
[Jun. 17th, 2010|05:45 pm] |
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| | Drive - The Cars | ] |
Wow – five years since my dream car arrived on our shores. I can’t help but think that if I’d known what lay ahead, I wouldn’t have bought it. But in the words of the immortal Sir Humphrey Appleby, “there are some things it is better not to know.”
In early 2005 when I told Rod Browning (former Queensland Rally Champion and R12 Gordini pedaller) that I was buying an Alpine A110 to rally, he remarked that it could easily turn into a $100,000 project. I found that hard to believe, and as it turned out he was wrong. It’s cost much, much more than that! I could never have imagined the cost, the time, the heartache, the challenges and the highs and lows that the project would entail. And it continues…
Still, when we get there, I’m sure it will have been worth it. Meanwhile I’m celebrating the end of another year of owning such a special vehicle. |
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| Plugging Away |
[Apr. 15th, 2010|05:58 pm] |
Although my budget at the moment doesn’t stretch to the bigger engineering jobs like a new exhaust, clean air intake and revised throttle, I’m trying to keep the momentum going by spending one day a week up at the workshop, just pottering away on the little things, and brainstorming ideas with the guys up there.
Today I replaced a mudflap chain. Sounds like a simple enough task, except that it was tied to a bumper bar mount that had been lost because the bolt/nut attaching it to the car had vibrated free. Like so many things on this car, the mount is hand-crafted and I had to hand-craft a new one. This time it was attached with a nyloc nut.
I replaced the right-hand front bumper and over-rider, and removed the remains of my Cibie Oscar, all damaged or lost when I understeered into that log; and removed the window winder mechanism from my door. It failed during the event and after much consideration, I decided simply to have it repaired. The consideration was whether to go to fixed windows of 3mm polycarbonate rivetted into an aluminium frame, like the one below. But I’d like to try to stay more or less true to the look of Darniche’s 1973 Morocco car.
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| Finally Got to Live A Dream |
[Apr. 9th, 2010|01:55 pm] |
I finally got to live a dream as I lined up on the start of the first stage of the Albion Motor Sport Rallysprint at Yarraman, 150km northwest of Brisbane on Saturday 27 March. I was sitting comfortably in the left-hand seat of my replica Group 4 Alpine A110 1600S, six-point harness holding me in; Erin on my right talking over the intercom. Ten seconds – engage first gear; five seconds – build the revs; 3...2...1...then go, go, go. Not too hard on the clutch – get it moving, then flat through first, second and third. Yee-haa. I’d finally done it.
Of course it wasn’t plain sailing, but the car’s still on its development path and we expected to find a few things that needed doing. By the middle of the second stage the air filters were clogging and even after trying to get the dust out at service, they were beyond the job. At the end of the third stage, with the throttle sticking, the engine losing power, and Erin and I suffering from dust inhalation, I decided to withdraw. That decision was vindicated when I was told the car was spewing white smoke from the exhaust and it was using oil.
Back at the workshop we ran a compression test on it (180/190/190/190) and inspected the chambers and bores with an endoscope. Everything looked fine, which was a huge relief – I’d feared we’d done another engine. But the dust in the air filters! It had to be seen to be believed.
So with the oil-soaked sock-style filters shown to be hopelessly inadequate my view will finally prevail and we’ll take clean air from the cabin. But first we have to get clean air into the cabin, and I’ve reluctantly decided to spoil the classic Berlinette lines and fit a roof vent. There’s also work to be done on the throttle assemblies so that I can get full throttle, and so it doesn’t stick. I also want a “proper” Alpine exhaust.
It’s too low and the sumpguard under the gearbox is well scarred. Going from 165 to 175 tyres will help with that.
Here’s a link to a few pics of the car in the event:
http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s230/alpine_al/Yarraman%20Rallysprint%20March%202010/
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| Thank God for Rev Limiters |
[Mar. 23rd, 2010|08:05 pm] |
Another long day on the car. Today I fitted the now-painted “sacrificial stone guards” (see below) to protect the leading edge of the rear mudguards, fitted gaskets between the ram tubes and the Webers, and pottered about doing a few minor things. It never ends – now the reversing light’s packed it in with a dead short frying fuses. The simplest fix will be to rewire it back to the relay. I said “simplest” not “simple.” To remove the light I’d need first to remove the oil cooler (well, this is OVE-28). I’ll work around it.
Oh, and the auto electrician who tried unuccessfully to fix my under-reading tacho has left me with no tacho at all. At least when it was reading 4500rpm I knew I was doing 6500! Now it’s all aural. He said the tacho’s stuffed, even though it’s almost new. In fact there are few components in the car that have travelled more than about 600km, so that’s rather disappointing. But this is, as I say, OVE-28.
We go rallying on Saturday, just four more sleeps.. |
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| It's Driving Me Nuts |
[Mar. 19th, 2010|06:52 pm] |
I’ve just spent an 10-hour day at the workshop with the Alpine, and the “to do” list had a couple of items struck off, and a couple added.
Who would’ve thought a simple task like “fit rally wheels” could turn into a week-long quest and half a day in the workshop? But this is OVE-28. The original wheel nuts were mislaid during the 2½ years the car sat around while engines and gearboxes etc were cobbled together and fitted. The nuts I eventually obtained through Autobarn weren’t quite right and there was a bit of lathe time while I machined the shanks down and put a rebate inside so they’d fit over the shank on the wheel studs. And there are two different types of wheel stud on the car. Anyway, all done now.
I also cleaned the air filters and, rather disturbingly, found grit on the inside of the ram tubes, after just nine kilometres of dirt work. The filters are the oil-soaked “sock” type. We think the dirt may have got through between the ram tubes and the Webers, so I’ll get some gaskets for them. Apparently running them without gaskets is normal and problem-free, but this is OVE-28. |
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| Finally Doing it in the Dirt Again |
[Mar. 2nd, 2010|03:01 pm] |
On Sunday 28 Feb 10 my Alpine passed another milestone – on the dirt in Group 4 spec (more or less).
Endeavour Rally Road Boss Jamie Lawson ran his annual Ride of a Lifetime event where intellectually disabled people get to ride in a rally car on a one kilometre dirt circuit, and I was invited to bring the Alpine along. The purpose was to provide the clients with a thrilling rather than a fast ride, which is why I’m out in the loose stuff rather than on the line (that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it!).
It was the first time on the dirt with the 1800 motor, five-speed box and big brakes, and it was a hoot. Plenty of traction despite being on road tyres on the dirt, but plenty of oversteer if I wanted it, and good braking. Turn-in was fine. I think a bit more torque would help third gear, but I’m happy to drive the car as it is in the KCF Short Course Rally coming up in less than two weeks on the 13th, in the forests around Benarkin northwest of Brisbane.
Photos courtesy of Bob Gray.
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| Aligned and Tuned |
[Mar. 2nd, 2010|01:58 pm] |
Thursday 25 Feb 10
Over the past couple of months I’ve pottered away and with the help of family and friends, we now have reverse gear, and a few other things have been tidied up.
It’s had a wheel alignment and we’re running with just half the caster it should have with four rather than eight degrees; zero toe in/out; and 3.5 degrees of negative camber. With all that and the quick rack (2.5 turns lock to lock) the steering’s very direct and responsive.
It’s also been on the dyno and with proper jets we saw 96.7hp (72.11kw) at the wheels although with the throttle not opening fully, I’ll have to live with just 93hp or so. It’ll be quick enough to start with I think.
The sumpguards are now back on it and it’s as ready as it’s going to be for Sunday’s test.
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| My Baby’s Back Home |
[Jan. 13th, 2010|02:44 pm] |
With the workshop closing for a Christmas holiday, I brought my baby home and it’s now sharing the garage with my Suby. Every time I open the garage door I feel a bit of pride and excitement at seeing a factory Group 4 Alpine in there. Okay, it’s really just a replica, but it still looks the goods.
Alan Moore and I have been pottering around on it, tidying things up, sorting out the reverse gear problem and so on and it should be right for a test drive soon. Stay tuned. |
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| I'm not the only crazy person out there |
[Jan. 13th, 2010|02:36 pm] |
In November-December 2009, two A110s ran in what is arguably the toughest classic car rally in the world, the 10-day East African Safari Classic Rally. Prepared in Italy by ex-F1 test driver Eric Comas, the two cars managed to finish, albeit well down the field. I’m sure many lessons were learned. But here’s an interesting thing: look at the undershielding on this Comas car, and compare it to mine. Coincidence? That pic of my car by Red Hot Shotz photography has well and truly done the rounds in Europe…
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