Skoda Rally Blog

…. Having dismantled the first gearbox, I decided that there was too much to do to rebuild the Estate one, as I’d need some more specs than I have (i.e. any) and there’s a shim for the input shaft play that would need to be correct and I don’t have the shim or the sizes. So I managed to get a gearbox from an M-reg estate car, with a 90 day guarantee (although I think that it might not cover use in a rally car!), so that can be fitted at some point – it turned up bright and early this morning. However, there is work to be done before that. The original engine mountings have a lot of air gaps in them, so the engine can move about a fair bit. I got an “uprated” one from Chris Bennett, which replaces the mount with a Ford leaf-spring bush and uses an aluminium sleeve to reduce the size down to fit that. I think the gearbox needs that doing to it too, so I’m going to get one made for the end housing I’ve already removed and then put that on the new box. Finally, I’ll make up a new tie-bar (at the bottom of the engine) which controls how much the engine moves under accelerating and braking torque – again at present it’s about 50/50 air/rubber so that can be improved; I’ll make a new piece for that from some parts I have in the garage, and hopefully things should move around far less – at Fat Albert the gearlever was moving around a fair bit and making selection difficult, although the demise of 2nd might have had something to do with this…..

Otherwise, the rest of the car is looking OK. We’re looking to rally next on September 5th at Longcross (I heard a rumour that it might not be used after this year; I don’t know how much truth there is in that, but I would be kicking myself if I didn’t take the opportunity to rally there), and hopefully 26th at Caerwent, which apparently features over 100 turns per 7 mile stage. That should keep Kev busy! The kerbs there are supposed to be 11″ high, and if you go mental it’s a car wrecker, so a ‘slow’ pace for a finish would definitely be in order. Oh, that was what I was doing anyway. Well, sort of!