Mods 11
16/03/09
Oh well, so much for the regular updates! I have a bit of excuse, as I was unable to work on the car for three and a half weeks. For the first week, I didn't have all the parts necessary as they were delayed by the bad weather. The next two and a half weeks I wasn't able to do anything due to another injury. This time I somehow managed to damage my right sacroiliac joint, making it painful to sit, kneel or bend.
Over the last two weeks I've been working gently and carefully in the garage and the engine and car are now back together. The work included: new seal plate labarynth seals, new gaskets for the VVC mechs, new timing belts and tensioner, new camshaft oil seals and new gaskets for the cam cover and plenum chamber. All fluids and filters have also been renewed. I'm very pleased with the results. The engine is much quieter than it was before - probably not as quiet as Ken's new engine, but certainly a huge improvement.
The car is currently up on axle stands, so I can get underneath to prepare and paint the rusty chassis tubes. The first outing for the car has now been booked - Colerne on the 18th of April with Motorsport Events. I'm also going to Cadwell Park on July 6th with Easytrack. It's a new circuit for me, but has been recommended by several people.
29/03/09
The rusty chassis tubes have been rubbed down, primed and painted with POR15. I had to take the rear panel off the car to get access to the bottom boot chassis tube. While it was off, I painted the the top half in Radiant Red with a couple of aerosols:
The car is just about ready now for another season of abuse. Next weekend I'll get it off the stands and give it a good wash. It's surprising how dusty it gets in the garage.
05/04/09
The car finally out in the sunshine - washed, vacuumed out and ready for action. This photo shows the new radiator's plumbing. I've used new black silicon hoses and replaced all hose clips with stainless JCS Hi-Grips.
I've read on various web sites that fitting a remote thermostat is a good mod for any K-series engine used on track. Although I've never had any cooling issues with my engine, I'm keen to minimise any risks - especially with regard to the dreaded Head Gasket Failure. When I changed the engine on Ken's Marlin, I fitted a Pressure Relief Remote Thermostat (PRRT or PRT) that came with the engine, as shown above. This seems a very good idea (full theory here), but unfortunately there isn't enough room for one on my car.
The next best thing to a PRT is a remote thermostat on the front of the engine, that responds solely to the hot water coming out of the engine. QED sell one, but it's £125.00 plus VAT and carriage, which seems a bit steep to me. Instead, I used the thermostat housing from Ken's old engine. It cost nothing and works a treat! I removed the old thermostat from the housing on my engine, cut out the working parts so that it resembles a large washer, then put it back in the housing along with its sealing ring. I then bought a new thermostat to go in Ken's housing, pictured above. Before fitting it, I drilled a 3mm hole in its outer flange to aid filling and bleeding.
To keep an eye on the engine oil temperature, I've fitted this VDO gauge.
The VDO sensor for the oil temperature gauge. You'll notice it's fitted to a new filter housing/adaptor. I needed one from a later K-series engine, which have oil temperature and oil pressure senders as standard. I tried one of the on-line breaker services for this part and got four quotes ranging from £25.00 to £126.50! This brand new one from SMG Rover cost £24.00 + VAT.
18/04/08
Another very enjoyable day at Colerne with Motorsport Events. I know I always say that, but it is a great circuit and Ed, Natasha and all at ME do organise and run their events very well. It was a dry but cold morning, so I started out on road tyres. It took me a while to get back up to speed, but after an hour or so, it all began to flow again. On went the slicks and I gradually increased my pace. The car's running very well - it may be my imagination, but it seems more eager to rev after the top end rebuild and it's still nice and quiet, even after a damn good thrashing.
On this circuit is a fast left hander, which I was convinced the car could take flat in fourth at about 100mph. However, the chicken in me always lifted for a couple of seconds, just before the turn in cone. When I next visit this circuit, I'm determined to nail it!
I had one slight mishap - I clipped a large, heavy cone that had been dislodged by another car. It hit the N/S/R wheel arch causing a big dent and damaging the bottom mounting point. I managed to bash and pull it back into shape, then about an hour later I ran a bit wide on the exit of the hairpin, throwing up some stones, which put a few more dents in the poor battered arch.
The weather improved steadily throughout the day and by mid afternoon it was pleasantly warm. I monitored the oil temperature and it didn't get above 110 degrees, even during a very long final stint on track, so no worries there. I did 152 miles on track during the day, which has just about finished off my slicks. I'm going to get another four wheels refurbished then fit the slicks Ken and I collected from Chesterfield. Next track day is at Donington Park on May 8th, so it'll be nice to have some fresh rubber for that circuit.
19/04/09
The N/S/R arch was beyond repair, so I've made a new replacement. While I was fitting it, I noticed that the grease nipple for the trailing arm pivot was missing. Closer inspection revealed that part of it was still there, but it was broken off flush with the end of the threaded part of the pivot. It must have been hit by the cone or one of the stones. Removing what's left of it is going to be a bit of a challenge. Fitting one new rear wheel arch made the other side look very tatty, so I made a new one for the O/S/R as well.
The battered old arch and its replacement.
26/04/09
The remains of the broken grease nipple came out without too much trouble - Rod came to the rescue with a small tap extractor, which worked a treat. I'll get a new nipple next week, then the car will be ready for its annual trip to Stoneleigh on May 3rd.
Stoneleigh. Parked the Onyx with Ken's Marlin in the shed marked for Individual Entries. That way we didn't have to worry if it rained (it didn't). Met Paul from Northern Ireland who'd parked his car (my old Xtreme) in the same shed. The main halls seemed a bit sparse compared to previous years, but there were a lot of visitors and a huge number of kit cars outside on the club stands. For the first time, I didn't buy any parts, fasteners magazines etc, just food and drink.
08/05/09
An excellent track day at Donington Park. Run by the circuit's own TrakZone organisation, this was the first sessioned track day we've done - all others have been an open pit lane format. We did wonder if we would get less time on track, but it was a good price (£145) and we wanted to do the National circuit before it all changed to the new Grand Prix layout.
We set off at 5.50am, stopped for coffee on the way up and arrived at the circuit at 8.15. By the time we'd unloaded the van and trailer, it was time for the drivers' briefing then the sessions started at 9.00. We were in the intermediate group, which ran every hour from twenty past to twenty to. During the first session, we just wobbled around learning the track and the correct lines. It was immediately apparent that it was a very fast, flowing circuit. It felt very safe though, as there are huge run-off areas, should something go wrong.
After the second session (I'd put the slicks on my car and Ken was using his 888s), we were really getting to grips with the circuit and going pretty well. Just before lunch, at the end of our third session, we had a shower of rain, but not really enought to slow us down. During the lunch break, we met up with Gary Marsh, one of the regular instructors at Motorsport Events' track days. He was there doing a one to one instruction day with a lucky lady called Dawn in her Honda S2000. Ken and I joined them in the cafe and Gary kindly gave us some tips on the best lines for a couple of the trickier sections of the track.
After lunch, we filled the cars with fuel at the on-site petrol pumps (they only sold Premium Unleaded at £1.30 per litre - ouch!) and we were ready to go again. Like the morning, the afternoon sessions ran like clockwork with no stoppages for red flags and we really had a ball. Gary's advice helped get our lap times down and in what we thought was our last session, we had an excellent dice for the whole 20 minutes and nothing passed us!
As we came in at the end of that session, the marshal asked us if we'd like to go out once more. Silly question! Off we went again but eventually got behind a line of cars stuck behind an old Aston Martin. It was a lovely car but the driver wouldn't let anybody pass him which was a bit frustrating. I backed off to open up a gap then went for it again. Just as I caught the Aston again, the chequered flag came out for the final time.
We each did a total of 160 miles on track, which is about what we'd normally do on an open pit lane event. This 3x20 minutes per hour format worked well - 20 minutes is a good time to be on track without wearing out the car or driver too much, followed by 40 minutes for a rest, chat, cup of tea etc. We both thought it was probably the best value track day we'd done - a proper racing circuit, no need to stay away overnight and plenty of track time.
We got home at about 9.00pm, so it was a long tiring day, but we then had the weekend to recover. As we both enjoyed it so much, we're going back there again - probably in early September.
Pictures from the day can be seen here.
20/06/09
Another Auto Challenge at Chepstow Racecourse, run by the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club. These are really enjoyable events and no competition license, fire-proofs or helmet needed. At £25 for the whole day, they're excellent value too. This was the third one I've entered and I seem to be getting the hang of it - I finished 1st in class and third overal, out of 22 starters.
Pictures from the day can be seen here.
06/07/09
A frustrating track day at Cadwell Park, organised by Easytrack. This was another circuit we've been keen to try. Due to the distance, we travelled up the day before and stayed at The Green Man Pub close to the circuit:
Our time on track was very limited - a combination of too many cars (about 65!), torrential rain showers that caused the track to be closed on several occasions, lots of stoppages for red lights and long queues to get on track meant we spent a lot of time waiting to get onto the circuit. I managed to get one decent session on the slicks on a drying track and the circuit really is a good one, with all sorts of challenges. We'd certainly go there again, but we'll have to pay a bit more to go on a day with fewer cars and we need to be a bit luckier with the weather. We stayed at the pub again after the track day, then the next morning had a late breakfast and an unhurried trip home.
Pictures from the day can be seen here:
15/08/09
BPMC Track Day at Castle Combe
That's more like it! A warm and dry day at Combe, with only eight cars on track per session. This was the first time I've used the slicks at CC (I'm usually unlucky there with the weather), so I had a great time and finally got to grips with the dry lines around the circuit. As it's my local circuit (only 20 minutes away), it was good to finally put in some quick laps around it. Great fun!
Unfortunately, when unloading the van in the evening, I injured my back again. Without thinking, I quickly bent down and to one side to stop one of the wheels toppling over. I felt a sharp pain and knew that I'd damaged something. Sure enough, a week of pain ensued, followed by several visits to the chiropractor and 6 weeks of taking things very gently. I'd booked another track day at Colerne on September 14th, but had to cancel it. Thankfully, Ed and Natasha at Motorsport Events were able to sell my place and they let me use the payment I'd made as a credit for another date.
14/11/09
Keevil Track Day
Another very soggy day, this time at Keevil with Motorsport Events. When I arrived at 9.00, the weather was very windy but dry. The track was very wet from the overnight rain. By the end of the drivers' briefing, the rain arrived.
The first session was very tricky - lots of standing water, driving rain and a very strong cross-wind. My long second session was slightly better and I was getting the hang of the new layout - ME were using the second track option at Keevil, which I'd not driven before.
Ken arrived at about 11.00 and jumped in the passenger seat for a few laps so I could show him around the new circuit. We then swapped places for a long session. He soon got up to speed and despite the conditions, we had a good time out on track.
The rain did stop a couple of times and the sun made a few brief appearances, but the track never dried out. The weather forecast had said things would improve after midday, with bright sunshine by 3.00pm, but that never happened - just more afternoon rain and the very strong winds never subsided. Being an optimist, I had bought my slicks, but they stayed in the van.
By mid afternoon, we were both flying - overtaking anything from hot hatches to Ferarris! We were even taking a few liberties with the car -provoking some lift-off-oversteer into the right hander at the end of the long straight. Despite a few lairy slide angles, we didn't spin once between us and we were getting out of the car with huge grins on our faces.
The only problem I had was visibility. The strong side wind was blowing the rain though the gaps around my visor, meaning I had to pull into the pits several time to wipe the inside and outside of my visor. Ken's helmet was better sealed and he didn't suffer the same problem.
The car is absolutely filthy inside and out, but as usual, it didn't miss a beat all day. Our waterproofs kept us mostly dry, but by the end of the day at 4.00pm, we both had rather soggy bums and thighs. I had the heater in the tow van on full blast on the way home, so by the time I got in, I was dry again.
16/11/09
Fed up with getting wet, I went to Fowlers in Bristol and bought one of these. It's a proper one-piece motorcycle rain suit, guaranteed to be waterproof for one year. Made by Weise, it cost £30.00 and is much thicker and stronger than the "hiking and walking" waterproofs I've had before. Let's hope this finally keeps all the rain out. Wet track days are great fun in my car, I'd just like to stay dry whilst doing them.
22/11/09
My annual trip to the Exeter kit car show. As the weather was still mild and no salt had yet been spread on the M5, I decided to drive down. I'd taxed the car for 12 months in April, so it was still road legal. The trip down was dry to start with, but from Weston-super-Mare onwards it was very wet. I had the new rain suit on which was keeping me dry. Traffic was very light (I left at 8.00am) and I had to wait for half an hour at the entrance to the parking area, as it didn't open until 10.00am. Next time, I'll leave at 8.30.
The show seemed smaller than usual, with not many kit cars in the outdoor display area. I had a good look around inside, saw several familiar faces and bought a few bits and pieces for the car and my tool box. The weather was much better at the showground, but by 3.00pm there were some very dark clouds approaching. I made dash for home, hoping to beat the rain, but failed miserably - it chucked it down all the way back to Bristol. As soon as I got in the house, I carefully removed the rain suit and not a drop of water had got past it. Success!
02/12/09
That's it for this year. The car needs a damn good clean and I'll change all the fluids and filters as usual. There's a couple more areas of exposed chassis that need touching up, but nothing major needs doing this winter. I've sent the tax disc back to DVLA for a refund of the remaining four months' tax. Next year, the Exeter show is in October, so I'll go back to taxing the car for just six months, from the beginning of May. That'll cover Stoneleigh and Exeter, the only shows I go to nowadays.