Skoda Rally Blog

You know when you go on holiday, then think “ooh, I’ve left the gas on”? Well, I had a car equivalent. The other day when I put the LSD in the gearbox, I got a bit distracted while putting the ‘box back together. And a couple of days ago I thought “Did I do the nuts up properly at the end of the gearbox shafts? You know, the really important ones that hold fifth gear on?”, so I thought today I’d better check them out.

Good job I did. Fortunately the Felicia’s design makes it dead easy to do – probably 10 minutes to get the end cover off, and then a further, oooh 10 seconds or so to realise that they were now finger-tight, and I really hadn’t done them up tight or staked the nuts in place. Idiot.

So, there they are, all done up properly and staked in place. Refitting was easy, and filling the ‘box up with the suggested Castrol B373 had an upside and a downside. The minus was that it stinks. Even more than EP90, which is hard to believe, but when Mum came in she thought that some Tomcats had got in the house! The plus is that it’s made the diff’s action even more progressive, so it’s easier to drive. Splendid.

Got a few other things sorted on the car today – rollcage padding (the FIA stuff that is mandatory for WRGB, and that’s cost me ?80 as I needed two different sizes), rear hatch safety clips (which you need in Group A, for no good reason), Fuel pipe (it had been bodged before, so I’ve done it properly now with metal couplings), and then another horror hit me around 5pm – the extinguisher pull (which worked fine last weekend) had rusted and seized. So I needed to order another one. Except it’s Friday night and past last post, so I won’t be getting it until Monday or Tuesday, so I’ve had it sent to the B&B, and I’ll fit it on Tuesday afternoon. What was it they say about Planning?

Finally, I’ve replaced the front wishbones. Again. The other ones I’d fitted were new, but one had a jack-related bending accident, so I’ve fitted new ones again, having strengthened them first with some extra welding. And also shown that it’s possible to change one in 14 minutes, start to finish, so if we do bend one, it’s possible to do it with hand tools and keep going. Not easy, but possible. Hopefully all of this will be unneeded, but best to plan ahead.

Tomorrow should have been an easy day, but there’s still lots to do. And another bonus – I fixed the broken Terratrip, so the recce car will have a trip meter in it. Not sure how much that will please Paul, but we’ll see!