Pauls Astra Mk2 rallying adventures...

[RallyMarshal]

The Astra-Mk2 trackday at Blyton on the 11th served as a useful test to shake the car down and set up the suspension ready for the next few events. Ive borrowed a few of Harveys photos as I didnt get any on the day but a group of us from the forum camped the night before and a couple more came on the day.



We had significantly changed the spring rates on the car to 340lb front, 255lb rear and also removed the front ARB but hadnt changed the damper settings to suit. We therefore spent the morning making changes to rebound, high and low speed bump on the rear which took the car from being snap oversteery to being very predictable through the corners. Didnt

Then spent the afternoon doing some passenger runs to build up confidence in the car and myself.



We did however get a nasty noise from the box when we pulled in after one of the runs - 4pm ish so we put it on the trailer after a little diagnostics. When stripped I found one of the diff bearings was very tight and gritty and needed replacing. This is the bottom of the diff cover - lots of metal paste - and the bearings were covered in it too.



Bearings changed, new oil seals, various bits cleaned up and refitted..



Then (with some help) cracked on with spanner checking, engine oil change, sealing a few holes, quick clean and got her ready for next weekend.



Next stop, Donington Park on the 25th October for the Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally - http://www.dukeries-rally.co.uk

[RallyMarshal]

Very mixed weekend for us at the Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally at Donington Park.

Took the car to scrutineering on Saturday and wasnt happy with the noises coming from the box so made the decision to swap to the spare box. Only problem was that it was at home and still fitted to the 1400 car. So off home we went, and 90 minutes later we had this...



Then back to Donington and started work on the 2000cc car at 8.30pm - an hour later we had this..



Then by 10.15pm we had this... all refitted and pretty much ready for go for the Sunday.



We also stripped the cluster out to see what the issue was and found this under the mainshaft bearing



Seems like the bearing surface case hardening has gone, its now very pitted. Also allowed some end float and we think the noise was the 5th gear touching the end casing under load.

Anyways, no point worrying about that at this stage. Onto the actual rally. Tested the box on stands at 9am in the morning (due to noise curfew) and all seemed OK.

First stage started fine. getting used to car again when this happens.



Also caught by the TV crews - see https://www.facebook.com/specialstag...1914744836021/

Got out of the narrow section as quickly as I could as the car filled with smoke and pulled onto grass. Straight out and grabbed handheld extinguisher and put out the oil fire which hadnt taken hold of anything luckily.



Towed back to pits area and investigated what had happened. Harvey and Iain stripped the bumper, rad fan, rad out of the way and found the oil cooler pipe connection had broken and lost 4 litres of oil. Lots of cleaning up ensued, the pipe and connection temp repaired and the car just about made it out for stage 2 as the last car on the stage. We were out of the competition at this point due to taking a stage maximum on the first stage, but wanted to keep going. Slight problem with the fan cabling being damaged from the first stage issue meant we missed stage 3 as car wanted to overheat but that got sorted and we then did stages 4 till the end trouble free as a superb test.





Next event is Rockingham in early December.. New oil cooler lines to be made up for then and we might look at box options and/or rebuilding the boxes and diffs. I also have a 4.5 CWP and output shaft here which will give slightly longer ratios than the 4.8 currently fitted.

Have incar from some of the stages which will be posted on Youtube when I get some time to edit them.

Paul..

[Iain]

Nice pictures Paul, the oil smoke was quite spectacular from the grandstand. Glad we managed to rescue some driving time for you in the later stages.

[Harvey]

Lots of this on Sunday but we made it to the end

[RallyMarshal]

Stage 1 incar with the oil cooler blowup..



Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Stage 6 incar once we got everything right again



Enjoy! Have another couple from Stage 7 (in Twilight) and Stage 8 (Dark) to post tomorrow

Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Stage 7 - Twilight..



Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

and finally Stage 8 - Dark with spotlights fitted (but not quite properly set up)



Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Had a couple of weeks off doing House stuff after Donington and then Harv came up to help so we cracked on with dealing with the various issues needing resolving..

1 - Removed the (spare) gearbox from the car. This is actually a newer gearkit, but the wrong diff is fitted. Going to be checked over, synchros checked and the correct TranX diff fitted and then back in the car as the main box.



Its actually an F16 casing but works fine and no issues at Donington.



2 - Removed the front bumper, cooling system (for access) and oil cooler and pipes



These pipes are going to be remade with swaged fittings so they cant come off again..



We also removed the aircon compressor, drier unit, condensor and piping to save a little weight (and allow easier access to things) as theyre not needed in the UK.

3 - Removed the Exhaust system. We barely passed noise test at Donington and I struggle to hear the codriver so needed to try to resolve that issue



Took it back to John Ashleys in Wallsall to discuss options.John thought the sizes should be OK and then tapped the side of the boxes and they sounded hollow so we opened them to investigate..



... and found that 2/3 of the wadding had already burnt out meaning little silencing. So we decided to repack the box with a denser wadding as the first step.



Then rewelded the boxes back up. If this quietens it right down then we know the sizes are good and we can make the system repackable..



Next job is to check the box then we can refit things to the car!

Paul..

[RallyMarshal]

Update time...

We swapped the "spare" box in prior to Donington. Thats now been checked over - a little synchro wear but nothing major and swapped to a 4.5 CWP and swapped back to the TranX diff.



We will see how that pulls / manages at Rockingham. Refitted the box with the help of Harvey and Paul last week..



Also refitted the oil cooler with new swaged pipes, swapped the dashboard petrol gauge as it was a 60- litre Calibra one so swapped to a 50 litre one, fresh oil, coolant and ran it all up on the stands. Sounds a little quieter but difficult to tell in the garage. Now sitting on roadwheels so it can be test driven this week and spots set up..



As we managed to finish earlier than we thought, we put the 1400 car in the garage and started work on its transformation.

We had already removed the gearbox to use at Donington so we set about removing the engine and ended up with this..



"Old Faithful" removed. Now up for sale!



Engine bay needs a good clean / maybe partial repaint but have a long list of things to do.



1 - Carb fuel system needs removing,
2 - New injection fuel system and return pipes making up and new box in spare wheel well to accomodate the pumps.
3 - Moving the gear stick position to raise it plus new cables with rose joint linkages and quick shift
4 - Front suspension being converted to adjustable bottom arms,
5 - Rear suspension off, check, rebuild and powder coat
6 - Fit new 1600 16v engine on TBs once its ready
7 - Fit new Quaife SCCR box once built up
8 - Various other small jobs to tidy up certain bits that Im not happy with now..

Xmas break is going to be busy!

Paul..