Breaking stuff

It's always a good idea to go over the car the day before any sort of event, so that you can break all the things you would normally have broken when it really mattered.

Saturday was spent in the workshop, which is something I haven't done for a while. The idea originally was to just go over the car with a spanner and find anything that had worked it's way loose. It turned out to be a little more than that. Interestingly, whilst a lot got done on the car, very little of it was done by me....

First job of the day was the halfshafts - these are the bits that come out either side of the diff and go out to the wheels, and provide the drive to the rear. They weren't seated properly in the diff, which whilst wasn't a terrible thing, meant that the diff would throw a little oil out. This eventually would be a bad thing. So it was out with the tyre lever and a bit of leverage later, one was in. The other required removing the rear wheel, putting a long piece of wood against the CV joint, and whacking it as hard as possible with a hammer to get it seated in. Now both are clipped into the diff. This has also made the speedo a little more reliable - the speedo works off a hall sensor that 'reads' the number of bolt heads that go past it in a second. These are now closer to the sensor, so that it gets fewer false readings. So I no longer do 80kph sitting at a red light....

One of the characteristics of my car has always been a heavy clutch, heavy accelerator, and a sticky gearshift. I've always just taken this as part of the car, but apparently, these are bad things ;-) It got to the point where someone was testing out the accelerator pedal - and broke the pedal. Yes, you had to press hard enough to bend a 4mm ali plate. This probably indicated a problem.

It was at this point that my car became cause celibre for others for the day. I had at least three people working on it, with me sort of spectating, as the entire throttle cable was removed and replace (somehow the outer sleeve had been damaged), and the link to the throttle bodies themselves was re-engineered. I have to say the change is dramatic - the pedal throw is longer by about 30%, but there's a massive reduction in effort required. Not that it was hard work, it's just that you can't control things as well when the pedal movement isn't progressive.

The other area was the gearbox. Ever since I've had it in the car, the movement has been really, really heavy. We put a short-throw lever on it which probably just made it worse. So Frank re-worked the gear lever, making the throw a little longer, which has again made it a lot easier. It's still some way off what it should be, and perhaps the next time I have the engine out, we'll take the gearbox apart and see what's what. Perhaps a selector fork is bent, or something is causing excess friction somewhere.

There's a list of tasks for me to get on with over the coming weeks - I'm down to part time again at work, so I'll have a few days to spare to focus on the car.

The things to do are:
1. Pack the gear lever forks with grease - hopefully this will make the throw easier still
2. Redo the diff mounting plate - the mounting bolts keep working loose. These need an allen key to tighten - but the mounting plate covers the bolt head. These are coming out and are getting replaced with hex heads, but it does mean taking some of the back end out
3. Sort out the engine bay - put in the engine breather tank to take oil off the top of the engine

And, of course, what-ever else turns up, as it seems to do every time I look at it ;-)

New Tyres, New Brakes

I had the car in the workshop yesterday, and did a few small tasks.

First up was to replace the rear brake pads - not because they needed it (1200km only), but because they weren't doing much. The compound in there was too hard, so gone with a Mintex racing pad to try and get them to contribute more to the braking effort. Might help with the locking of the fronts if the rear is helping to slow the car more.

I also found a few more loose things to tighten, which to those who know me will come as no surprise. The clunk from the rear (which I thought might be the rear sway bar) turned out to (probably) be the rear sway bar, as I hadn't done up a locknut. Wouldn't have caused a serious problem, but nice to have it squared away. Also retorqued some of the diff mounts, checked over the suspension bolts, and noticed an oil leak from the diff.....

It seems that the half-shafts aren't sealing into the diff, so there some small weeping going on from where the shafts enter the diff. I've cleaned it up, and as soon as the car is down again I may look at topping the diff up.

The gearbox is also weeping oil again, probably from the top plate. I'll keep it topped up as well, then when the engine is out next I'll have to redo the seal on that. Just another step in the process of improving the car incrementally....

The wheels are off to the tyre guy today to have their new rubber fitted, so I'll have the car back on the road this Saturday. I'll be heading up to Barbagallo to see everyone else tear around the track, but I've missed out this time.

Another Green Birkin in Perth

Yup, another Birkin is on its way over from the east (something of a pattern lately), and this one is Damien Glass' car, which is where I got the idea for hothouse green.

As you can see, this one comes with the full wet-weather gear, certainly a first for the Perth market. I think it actually looks pretty good with the roof on. I'm also interested in seeing the doors, as I reckon a pair would be useful for running around the streets and freeways - might help preserve the ears from the wind a bit more.



The number of Birkin's in Perth is swelling by the month - we've had quite a few come from over east recently, and five under construction at the moment with a couple of those heading for rego either this year or early next. The Birkin grid is certainly filling up.

Perhaps a round-up of Perth Birkins is in order - would make a really good photo ;-)

Superkhana Results

The results for the weekend's run are in. I cam 14th out of 50, with that little spin knocking me out of the top 10 once more, dammit.

Lap times were:
Round 1 44.78
Round 2 56.31
Round 3 44.85
Round 4 44.4
Total 190.34

So ignoring the spin, times were getting better, and I still reckon there's a few tenths to be had just in my basic driving, let alone mechanical stuff like tyres and suspension. Lots to aim for next year.

Results etc can be found here:
http://www.classicrally.com.au/Speed%20Dome%20Day.htm

Next year's calendar is out as well, with 6 superkhana's planned, plus perhaps a fwe one-day specials as well. Should be fun ;-)

Vale Tyres

I think I need new tyres. At least, that's my latest excuse.


Anyway, this weekend was the Last Blast Superkhana, again organised by AEM and run at the Midland Speed Dome in the carpark. The circuit was the same as one of the rounds in the one-day challenge, so we could get some comparison times.


The circuit itself is pretty good - for me, it's mostly first gear still. There are only a few tricky points with this one, including a sharp left right which, as you'll see in the first video, caught me out.


So, Round 1 went fine, usual sort of testing run to make sure everything is OK. The surface was reported to be quite slippery, which it was. I think the pines were shedding a lot of needles, and these were creating a lot of dust which needed to be swept off by the front runners. Unfortunately, once more the video decided not to play ball and start, so Round 1 was missed for the cameras.


Round 2 was a different story - I got the camera working early, and I've managed to capture a small mishap for posterity, which I shall share with y'all. Coming into the left / right turn, I've somehow managed to completely understeer off the road - whether this was old and cold tyres, a bit of sand on the road where others had cut the corner, or just the car not being setup right, I somehow manage to understeer off at around 20kph, then lose it when I hit the grass. Cost around 12 seconds all up. No damage (which is one of the nice things with this circuit), just a bit annoying.





To be honest the car was pushing wide all day - you'll note from the first long left-hander I'm having trouble putting power down without the car pushing wide. As Gary and Frank pointed out afterwards, I should have backed off at that point, straightened up, then put my foot down, as going wide here cost a few tenths. The understeer at the bottom corner (sharp right-hander) occured under brakes this time - my fault. I know better than to do that now.


Round 3 was again a problem for the camera, but it was a neat run with no excitement. I think I ran around a 44.7 or thereabouts.


Round 4 was captured, which was good as it was my best run for the day. Still taking the sweeping left-hander wide, but I took the left/right a lot better this time.





I note that I'm still treating the corner with the tree with too much respect, but with the car understeering like it is, perhaps that's wise at this stage.

Ultimately, I think I do need new tyres. The ones on at the moment are three years old now, which is ancient for a soft compound. Looking at the surface of the tyre, they're shredding quite badly, even if there's some tread left. As luck would have it, Frank rang this morning, and he has some Kuhmo V70 195/50R15 in a medium compound that are looking for an owner. They're a bit of a compromise - a full soft compound would be better for most things I do, but probably won't last the year, whereas the mediums will. In addition, if I do decide to do a few hundred kays just for fun on the roads, I won't be feeling guilty for shredding race tyres. But reading the various forums, these tyres seem to be pretty popular.


So one day after deciding I need some new tyres, four new tyres turn up. Nice. Now I just need to completely shred the tyres I have now, and get the new ones on for next year's events.

Fabcar - Final Results

Time 626.54
Overall 25th
Birkin Rank 3rd

A result of 25th out of 60 isn't bad given its my first attempt at anything like this. Certainly a few lessons:
1. Attack the damn corners - trust the brakes and the handling more
2. Read the map - one small mistake costs a lot of points. Better to be slower and more precise than faster and make mistakes
3. Drive around the course - throwing the backend out is fun but slow

I think the first one is the most telling. Looking at the results, the spread of times near the top is fractions of a second, so each tenth can put you down 10 places or more. So being more attacking in corners is going to help a lot. In the videos I can see that I'm really quite tentative on corners, even though at the time it felt like I was pushing it. But the tyres aren't being stressed, no squealing under brakes, so I'm not anywhere near the edge of the car. I need some more time in it to find it, I think.

Next attempt will be another superkhana at the Speed Dome, then its on to Barbagallo for some real race track stuff, none of the car park malarky!

Finally, at the start of the event, Dad asked what my objectives were for the day. They were:
1. To finish
2. To have nothing fall off the car
3. To have fun

All three objectives were met. To be honest, I think as long as I go into every event with these objectives in mind, it will be a good day. Winnning, top 10 and the rest of it can follow if it works out that way. But damn it was a lot of fun ;-)

Fabcar Rounds 15,16,and 17

Round 15
Time 47.06
Overall 17th
Birkin Rank 2nd


Round 16
Did not compete! Luckily, this round was cancelled from a results point of view ;-)


Round 17
Time 55.71 (garage infringement)
Overall 55th
Birkin Rank 4th


Rounds 15 and 17 were on the same track, but I stuffed up the last garage. Each round has you finishing in a garage made up of four traffic cones - you must stop with all four wheels inside the garage. I just slipped past the end this time, which cost a lot of points....I've cut the swearing out of the video....

Round 16 was cancelled - this was the paddock circuit on cut grass. Looks fun in a big car, a disaster for a low-riding clubman.

Anyway, here's he video from Round 17...