My mk2 Rally car - Duratec power

[SHIFTY]

Stunning car, looks well under bonnet too!

[mk1gaz]

Cracking job John , much toooooo nice for a rally car .

[oldskooljoe]

This looks stunning

will be nice with the stickers on

[Nipper]

Gorgeous

[marky4]

how did it go at goodwood????

[Jon Segger]

Cheers all for the comments

Well... we travelled down to Goodwood on Friday evening, staying at a Travel Lodge near the circuit. Saturday morning was very cold (there was ice on the inside of the windscreen) and the car didn't want to start - but we eventually got it going.

Scrutineering and noise tests were fine and it was time for the first stage.

Stage 1: The engine was spot on. We did however still have problems with the brakes and the drive-train vibration was still there from around 70 mph.

Stage 2: While we were waiting at the start there was a strong smell of petrol. Once on the stage the engine started losing power and then picking up again. It only did it a couple of times and by the end of the stage it was fine.

After the stage I found one of the fuel line fittings was weeping slightly so I tightened that. We also tried adjusting the diff angle in case it was the mis-match between the angle of the diff and the gearbox that was causing the vibration. We checked all the electrical connections to the engine and could see no problems. It was time for stage 3.

Stage 3: Even while waiting on the start line the engine wasn't running properly. We cruised round the stage slowly with it popping and spluttering. On the positive side though the smell of petrol had gone, but we couldn't get enough speed to find out if the vibration was cured.

Back in service we pulled the plugs out. 1 and 4 looked fine. 2 and 3 were wet. We plugged the laptop in and ran fault diagnosis tests. The outcome was that the coil pack was faulty and we had no spare. I did have a look around to see if anyone had a new shape Mondeo that I could borrow one from, but the only one I eventually spotted was the paramedic car - I doubt he would have lent it to me.

We retired after stage 3. Its a shame, but realistically I was expecting to have teething problems.

So, things to sort out before the next event:

1. Coil pack
2. Brakes
3. Drive train vibration
4. Oil getting too hot/water getting too cold

The next event will likely be the Spring Stages at Sculthorpe on 5th April.

[marky4]

shame you had to retire jon (at least nothing major)

hopefully they will all be ironed out for the next event

[Jon Segger]

Here's a few pics from the weekend courtesy of Graham Robins... He managed to get these in the 3 stages we completed:

[SHIFTY]

Cool pics John
Sorry to hear you had a few hiccups with car, good to know it can all be sorted tho!

[Tongy]

Well done jon and best wishes for april event

[Jon Segger]

Update time...

So there were a few teething problems to sort out after Goodwood.

First off I fitted a new coilpack and I had the propshaft balanced. That left brakes and oil/water temperatures to sort out.

Next, we changed the rear master cylinder from a 0.7 to a 0.75 (the front is a .625) and fitted a bias proportioning valve in the rear circuit. We had a bit of a play on the road and the rears no longer locked before the fronts - but the fronts still don't seem all that good.

Then there was the issue of oil and water temperatures to sort out. At Goodwood the oil had got too hot (around 110 degrees in the tank) and the water temp was too low (around 50 degrees). So, I did a bit of research into heat exchangers. I ended up opting for a new one that Brise are making:




It was designed to fit nicely into the bottom pipe:




We then needed to test it. So, we did a track day at Snetterton on Monday. Here's a few pics: (I could have held the funnel in this first one, but I thought it'd be much better use of my time to take photos )














A good day all in all. The heat exchanger worked beautifully - the hottest we saw the oil was 90 degrees and most of the time it was around 85 which is exactly what it should be. We did have a problem with a cracked injectoin rail, but luckily Mr Dunnell had popped over for a look and went back to Stowmarket to get us another one.

We did the morning on road tyres (which were awful) and then the afternoon on some fairly worn slicks. I didn't want to kill off a set of decent slicks just for a track day. It handled superbly on the slicks.

The brakes were OK, but not great. I definitely need to spend more time on them...

Then on the way home I dropped the car off to have its stickers done. I picked it up a couple of days ago. I think it looks pretty good:


















The next event for us will be the Spring Rally Stages at Sculthorpe on 5th April.

[grum]

that looks a nice bit of decor Jon

[Jon Segger]

that looks a nice bit of decor Jon

Cheers

(They went and put a sticker on the bootlid where the rallyesportescorts one was going to go... so I've got one on the back window and the two small ones under the mirrors.)

[Jon Segger]

So.. apologies, its been far too long since I updated. Here's a breakdown of the year so far:

In April we competed in the Malcolm Watson Spring Stages at Sculthorpe. This was a great event, but a tyre killer. We got through 2 sets of tyres during the 8 stages. We had a problem with the throttle cables getting too hot and resulting in a sticking throttle, but apart from that it was all pretty good. We finished 8th overall and 3rd in class.

A check over after Sculthorpe found cracked front discs - which we replaced. I also had the exhaust manifold ceramic coated and added some more heat shielding.

Then we did the Richard Burns Memorial Rally in August at RAF Marham. This was a 2 day event with some long stages. We struggled a bit with the handling throughout the weekend and lost the front brakes in the last stage (the pads wore out completely and one of the pistons came out of the caliper letting the fluid past). We finished 15th overall and 7th in class - which I was happy with, considering we were seeded 46 and there were 100 competitors.

Here's some footage from the Richard Burns Rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhW2yW8XOGs

And then recently we attempted the Lynn Charity Stages, again at Sculthorpe. We were hoping for big things, but it was not to be. On the first stage while coming out of a sharp corner, foot to the floor, there was a small bang and suddenly no oil pressure.

I killed the engine pretty quickly. The alternator bolt had sheared off at the bottom, and the casting of the alternator had snapped. The alternator fell forwards, taking the alternator belt with it. This wouldn't have been such a disaster, apart from the fact that the alternator belt then snapped the dry sump pump belt as it came off - hence a sudden loss of oil pressure whilst flat out.

So the engine has gone back to Paul Dunnell for a check over. It needs new big end bearings - but the main bearings are OK. The clutch plates are also very worn, which is a worry as they've done very little work really. And there is some oil in the bellhousing, so it looks like a seal on the input shaft of the gearbox is leaking.

I hope to get the engine back fairly soon an in the car again over Christmas.

We've booked in for the Bentvvaters Stages on 24th January and the South Downs Stages on 6th February.

[Dave1800BDA]

nice update jon, bad luck with the engine, glad its nothing major. Looks great in the vid
good luck next year