Skoda Rally Blog

…MOT?

This weekend has been a good weekend. Most of it has been spent on the car, and all of it has been productive. The tankguard is fitted properly at last, all the hoses have been secured and covered in spiwrap for extra protection, the seats are in. The harnesses are in. The fire extinguisher is in, with pull cables. The hand-held is mounted. The dashboard finally fits. The rev counter and clock work. The electric windows have switches in the dash instead of lolling around in mid air. All the things needed for the MOT seem to have been done, and it’s booked for 10:30 on Tuesday. Doubtless it will fail on something, but it’s at least ready for it to a degree. And what’s the best thing of all?

It’s finally starting to look like a rally car. This is probably stupid, but given the immense amount of work I’ve had to put into building the car, and the huge amount of trouble and frustration to finally see it looking nearly usable is hugely satisfying. I just hope that it’ll repay all my hard work by being reliable!

Since the last entry, the entry list for Wales Rally GB has been posted – look here if you fancy a look. Yes, we’re on it. Yes, we’re last, and yes, we’re the only A5 car, which I think sadly means even if we do finish (which would be a miracle, given what’s gone on recently) I don’t think there’s a trophy for us. Which kinda sucks. But at the moment, just getting to the start line will be an achievement as there’s still a LOT to do!

Today I finally had the moment I’ve been waiting for for months – I drove R477 KRU. OK, only up the road due to various legal issues, but enough to find that it has all the gears it should do and goes OK. Maybe the nightmare is coming to an end. Jobs completed today include:

• Final check of all levels, etc before takeoff.
• Fitted bonnet pins
• Fitted harness eyebolts
• Fitted drivers’ seat
• Fitted exhaust
• Tested all electrical mods (all working OK)
• Fitted air horns, compressor and relay
• Various odds and sods

So, that means I actually have a car that could be usable in a week’s time. I have the MOT booked for next Tuesday morning, and this weekend there will be lots of other things to do to get it ready for that, but the handy thing is that there’s not a lot to do to get it totally ready, aside from sorting out the engine mapping, which with a wideband O2 sensor, some careful driving and the handy DTA box I’ve made (more on this later) means that it won’t take me long at all. Cool. Finally.

…my fist down the fat cow’s throat to keep her quiet for a bit. (fat lady, previous entry)

Got up early (well, clocks and all that), and got everything bolted up and connected, put oil in the ‘box and so on, and it seems like it might be OK. All 5 gears plus reverse, all select OK and drive the wheels round. Got the Nav footrest in with Paul, bonnet, bumper and grille on, and it looks like a car. But it’s chucking it down today, and to be blunt I am so tired it’s untrue – again I didn’t sleep well because I was worried about the ‘box. That coupled with the rain meant I will only be making mistakes, and we can’t afford any, and I don’t want to get a cold back and suffer from that again!

If it goes well, then on Tuesday the car will be all in one big piece and drivable (MOT-able and nearly logbookable, only the sumpguard mount and a pull to do). If not, who knows. I’ll probably be found down Hengistbury Head.

If I pull this off, this will be legendary. I’m hoping it goes that way, ‘cos the other way doesn’t really bear thinking about at the mo!

OK, there hasn’t been a lot of updating this week, despite me taking the entire week off to do the car.

And there’s a good reason for that. If I was a religious man (I’m not) then I would be totally convinced that God hated me, and wanted me to suffer. Why do I say this? Well, basically, if it can go wrong, it has done, and even if you wouldn’t think it could, it has done. Let’s look at some of the highlights of the build of R477KRU, shall we?

• Custom Cages send me a cage kit with no diagrams or pictures (saying there were none), and offer very little help with the build of the cage. This was bad enough, but then compounded with the paperwork that turned up having what? Yes, diagrams and pictures. Thanks a lot, idiots.
• The cage profiling tool took 5 weeks to turn up
• I lost 3 weeks of working time in the summer due to the wettest summer on record
• I lost 2 weeks of solid work due to my back injury, followed by another 3 weekends with a relapse.
• The engine I bought couldn’t be rebuilt in time due to the pistons taking over 3 months to arrive.
• The brake hoses I ordered took 2 weeks longer to arrive than promised

etc,etc,etc.

So, this week I hoped all that would change.

How wrong I was.

Upside first – I have completed the electrics on the car, for the most part – the extra fuse box and relays are fitted, with switches neatly done in the dashboard, FIA-spec isolator fitted to the car, etc. The extinguisher is mostly fitted, with one more nozzle to be fitted and another pull to be ordered (they supply a 12′ and a 6′ and the 6′ is never long enough). The back suspension is fitted. The front suspension is fitted. The brakes now work (thanks to next-day service from the excellent Speedflow, who were a pleasure to deal with and I should have gone straight there), and the fuel lines are inside. The new engine now runs well on the original manifold.

But the gearbox, oh the gearbox.

For those of you who don’t know, I gave someone I know ?800 and my ‘box with LSD for a C/R straight-cut box. That was in January. Since then I have had silence and excuses, and despite being told it would turn up twice (weeks ago), it didn’t. But it DID turn up on Wednesday, after me fitting a spare so I could at least get things running.

So I fitted it on Thursday morning, and then found out…. It didn’t have any gears. Where 3rd should have been, there was a neutral, and where neutral should have been, the entire box locked up. I only did this turning it over by hand, not on the engine, as I am not crazy. So, out it came. I split the box and found the selectors were wrong, and used the other box (which was only duff as the diff gears had dropped) to model the selectors. It worked fine after 4 hours, so I refitted it and had to work on Friday (as I need the money and also needed a break from 8-hour fruitless days on the car).

Come this morning, I connected the gear linkage and it seemed OK, so I connected everything else up (manifolds, etc), and ran the engine. And was greeted by a hideous screaming sound – loud enough to bring my Mum out from the house! So out it came again, this time for good. I have removed the LSD from the box and put it into the standard box (which then needed to be rebuilt again, twice as the selectors moved during reassembly), and finally (with some help from Paul who has been here all afternoon) got the box back in the car and bolted in place. The lever and linkage are in place, but the gear change seems very notchy, which I can’t account for other than the gears being dry, so hopefully when I put oil in it and run it tomorrow it will work OK. If not, I can’t see what else to do – I don’t have a spare, and I have even less energy.

Oh, and if anyone wonders why the blog has been down all week, it’s ‘cos even my Internet went wrong all week. If anyone has a Felicia or Favorit gearbox that works, please let me know. I’m thinking the box in the car is done in too, and I am, frankly, at my wits’ end. I am tired, sore, and I can barely feel my right hand most of the time. I think my nails will never be clean again. And I have only 4 weeks to get the car running, sorted, MOTd and logbooked. Nothing like a challenge, eh?

… Nightmare.

I’ve got an engine and box in the car, but the engine isn’t running well (even on standard management), and the gearbox is knackered, so I’m reliant on Chris Bennett turning up with the C/R gearbox. Which was promised for tomorrow, and clearly isn’t going to happen as he’s gone quiet today.

I would say “on the upside”, but there doesn’t seem to be an upside. I have another 6 days left to get the car in an MOT-able state. Oh dear, oh dear.

OK, no ‘progress’ report last week, and for the simple reason that I had ‘a bit of an accident’ so I couldn’t type. Actually I couldn’t do a lot last Sunday.

But there has been progress of a sort. When you’re under the cosh and not getting the job you’re doing done, what’s the best thing to do?

That’s right, kids, take on another one!

Yes, I’ve bought another car. Now this might sound like the plan of an idiot, but there is some logic behind it. I’ve bought a brand new shell with a weld-in cage, a donor car, a group A engine on Weber management, some proflex (in need of a rebuild), sumpguard and 2″ exhaust.

Now, you might think “what has he done this for?”, but it’s fairly simple. The pistons looked not to be arriving, and that would have meant I’d have been back to running a standard engine, which would have sucked. So, the idea is to build R477 KRU using the engine I’ve just bought (but running a standard inlet manifold to be Group A legal), and use this for Rally GB, and probably the Sunseeker ’08 too. After that, build the other car, and sell one or the other to recoup the investment. It’s obviously a lot of work, but it was that or do WRGB on a standard engine, and that wouldn’t have been much fun on the hills.

So, I’ve spent a day getting the donor car and then stripping it (240 mile round trip, plus 5 hours from start to finish getting the car down to a bare – and I mean bare) shell, and it being removed. This Tuesday will be another trip, this time to pick up the brand new shell (by putting the suspension from the donor car on to keep it rolling), and then putting the doors/screen/etc into the new shell so it’s a rolling shell and not too much of a mare.

But back to the build – some progress has been made – front and rear suspension is now on, the handbrake works, the tankguard is made and fitted, the cutoff plate is made (just need some screws and it can be fitted), and the pulls for the extinguisher are fitted. Radiator and headlights are back in, and most of the loom is now re-plugged. I’m told my gearbox will be here this week, but then I’ve heard that for the last two. Fortunately I have next week off, so I should be able to get it all together, running, MOTd and maybe even logbooked. If not, I’m screwed, ‘cos we’re confirmed as running on WRGB.

Today I’ve also painted the front and rear bumpers, something that I was quoted ?160 for doing. And I managed it using about ?5 worth of paint, and in about 45 minutes, in my garden. Yes, really.

Oh, the title of this refers to the fact that up until about midday today, this week has been a complete disaster. I’ve got lots of work-related trouble (none of it my own doing), and everything just seems to be going wrong.

Any offers of help, money or sympathy will be received with pleasure at djaychela (at) hotmail (dot) com.

… another minimal tale of progress.

Today’s task list was wiring and dashboard. The wiring mods are fairly straightforward for the most part – provide a switched feed from the main beam for the relays that will power the pod, provide a switched, permanent and light-fed power supply to the roof (for the navigator’s lighting), wire in the cut-off switch (which means breaking into the standard loom in a number of places) and also tidy the standard loom up whcih looks like an old mummy after a few years, cloth tape which rips really easily, plus provide connections for the navigator’s horn and washer buttons. Just re-taping it took a while, and the rest of the mods took a long time, most of the day. And then there was fitting the dashboard, which predictably took more cuts than I’d expected (I’d done it before, but only in two parts, when they were screwed together it took more to make it fi), and then modding the glovebox lid to open past the rollcage (amazing what you can do with an angle grinder and plastic). And that, for the most part, was the day done. I know I worked all day, but it seems that nothing got done really.

In addition, I’m STILL waiting for the pistons to turn up, and tomorrow is supposedly the day that the gearbox gets finished. I just have no idea how it’ll all get done in time – at this rate it won’t be ready for WRGB 2008!

…. So I’ve eschewed such things as a social life, and spent the entire weekend working on the car – started at 8am yesterday (til about 8, on and off), and all day today too, pretty much. However, what’s been done has been frustrating – it’s taken what seems an age to achieve not very much. All four doors are “complete” – i.e. the windows how have the window film on, they’ve had all the overspray removed, electric window mechanisms are now fitted (don’t moan, kids – with the cage in, you can’t use the front winders at all, so I thought I’d do that instead. I know this means you couldn’t open the windows with the cut-off pulled, but then you wouldn’t be able to open them anyway….), and so on. Plus I’ve fitted the fuel pipe as much as possible (I didn’t have the right size cutter for the front bulkhead), and de-taped the wiring loom for the main feed to be connected to the cut-off switch), plus getting the cable for the cut-off (welding cable, 35mm stuff) and cutting it to suit (although crimping the terminals on will be an achievement in itself). The rear lights and loom are re-fitted, and the loom has been cleaned up and put back where it should be. I did want to get the wiring mods completely done and the fuel tank back in, but I’ve got Tuesday off, so maybe then….

Anyway, here’s what it looks like today….

…. progress is being made.

On Tuesday, something monumental happened – Paul phoned up, came over, and sprayed the car! He’d never even used a spraycan before, so it was a learning experience for him, and painting the inside of a car with a cage in isn’t easy. But he soldiered on….

… and finished the primering, and then we went off to pick up the new sumpguard – designed by me. I say “designed”, I mean drawn on a bit of paper and handed to someone to make. One week and £250 later, I have a 6mm sumpguard, with reinforcing strips and angles.

The downside of owning a new sumpguard is that you don’t want to scratch it – when we tried it under the car we were really careful with it. No need really, is there?

Paul then proceeded to put a coat of white on, although it was very hard work – definitely not a job I’d take on again, EVAR!

Today the weather has been poor – early (7am), Kev was going to come over to paint, but it was all foggy which wouldn’t have been any good at all, but around 3pm it cleared up, but Kev’s at a wedding today, so I soldiered on and put another coat of white on. And now it looks like this:

The engine bay is all painted (although there will need to be more work once the sumpguard mounts are done), and so is the rest of the cage.

Unfortunately it’s not a great paintjob, but hey ho, etc. It’ll do. The old car was a right mess inside, and next summer I can strip it out and do it really well. Or something!

In other news, the brakes are re-conned (calipers re-worked and painted), and after one more coat (and some touching up) the interior of the car can be done, with the wiring being the next job – all the bits to do it properly have arrived. Splendid.

Sunday saw two momentous things happen.

Firstly, I finished welding the roll cage up – a truly great moment

Secondly, I did my back in again. Just grinding off a pointless bracket to get the car ready for paint, and I’ve been really done in since then. I write this on Saturday and I’m still unable to bend properly, I have to ice it every 2 hours, and it’s generally poor. Driving is painful and work isn’t on the agenda. Which is a total nightmare – it’s looking almost impossible to get the car done before WRGB entries close, and that’s the only way I’d enter – it has to be logbooked and largely complete for that. I have a week off (half term) in October, but I don’t think that will be enough.

The only upside is that I mentioned on the phone to a friend (Kev, who used to navigate “back in the day” with me) about painting the car. One of those moments where you say something as a joke and hope they’ll say yes. And he did!

So, although I’m unable to do much at all at the moment (and certainly won’t be for at least a week, if not two), the car has progressed – it’s now primered inside.

Kevin James Jackson. Legend.