Had a good day, and the car performed faultlessly. In the end I finished 6th in class, and showed improvement every time I went out.

As a bonus Russel Brookes was there competing in his ex works Manta, so I can genuinley say I have competed against a British rally champion!

Photos:

I also have an in car video of one of my runs, that I am editing, and will upload shortly.

Still bricking it too! Sure I’ll be fine when I get going!

Anyway, since my last update I have done the following:

Made and fitted the mudflaps for the front and rear, and also the sill stand covers. These stop them filling up with mud and crap whilst driving.

I also fitted the interior door handles, using the Burp method of beeting the door in so that they fit flush. Unfortunately the Renault Sport spacers are no longer available apparently. I also fitted a pair of interior grab handles won from eBay, which look smart!

I have also finished off the roll cage padding, which took an age to look right!

Then last night, I removed the front bumper and nearside headlight. A quick modification of the headlamp bracket made enough room for the cold air feed pipes to the standard airbox. I know it’s the norm to feed this from the fog light holes, but I wanted to use these for the brake duct feeds. Instead the air box is fed from the grille below the bumper.

On Friday night, I drove the car home for the first time, which is the furthest I have driven the car. My god is it quick! Really raw as you would expect, but it sounds awesome. The Carbon Lorraine brake pads are good, but I couldn’t live with them on the road, as the squeeking would do my head in! All in all, I’m really happy with the performance, which bodes well for the future.

I’ve also sourced my tyres for the event, Kumho C03 moulded slicks. I’ve started fitting these to the rims, but forgot to take photos, so you’ll have to make do with this for now:

Also with the no photos yet excuse are the front fog light blanks. As mentioned above, at a later date I will be fitting brake ducts to these.

On the to do list before the Rallysprint is:

*Raise the front and re do the tracking to suit
*Fit new rear brake pads
*Try and complete more road miles in the car
*Fit the slicks to the car
*Clean and polish the car, and clean the glass. If I have time, I probably should clay it as well, to try and remove all the griding swarf, before it all goes rusty!
*Fit the new nearside wheel arch liner (on order)
*Take some exterior shots and post them on here!

If you are interested in coming along to watch the rallysprint, it is on Weston Airfield on the 31st of January. Strictly speaking spectating is not allowed, but you could always sign on as a marshall to get closer to the action!

Firstly I spent a day under the car and fitted the exhaust, and adjusted it to fit the 182 manifold. We also removed the crap Renault exhaust mounts and came up with something a little sturdier!

Whilst the exhaust was off, I fitted the quickshift:

Looks a bit Max Power, but the feel is loads better than the worn out standard part.

Also finished off the door cards and fitted them:

Got some Clio Cup door handle spacers on order from Renault Sport, but they are taking ages to come through.

I then turned my attention to the rear suspension, and removed the Bilsteins to paint the wheel arches and rear beams, then refitted along with a stud conversion kit. Need new rear pads though, and keep forgetting to order some!

And then onto the fronts. Stripped the whole lot down, and fitted Brembo Sport Max discs, Carbon Lorraine Pads, refurbed lower wishbones with Polybushes and Gp N ball joints, Stud conversion, Billies, K-tec solid top mounts and painted the arches and hub carrier for good measure! Spent LOADS more than I should have, but it all looks shiney!

Which pretty much brings you up to date. Still got loads to do, and the first event is on the 31st. Best I pull my finger out!

Anyway, just the rears fitted at the moment:

Don’t worry though, they’ll be coming off again when I paint the arches and rear beam

My ARP bolts turned up from K-tec last Saturday. Top service again.

Been busy at work, so not had time to do anything with them until today. Despite my fears, removing the sump with the engine inplace was fine. Took just over an hour to do this lot…

Whipped the sump off:

And the crack

Fitted the ARP bolts as per the supplied info, and bolted the new clean sump on with fresh gasket. Filled with oil, and tried to start it.

Unfortunately it spins over fine, but doesn’t even try to fire. Whilst the engine was out I took the opertunity to replace the TDC sensor with the new blue version, and I think the wires on the modified loom are the wrong way round. The wire colours didn’t match the fitting guide I had. I’ve soldered yellow to yellow, and the 2 other colours together but this must be wrong.

Last time I worked on the car, I noticed that the Powerflow exhaust mid section (that was on the car when I bought it) had a very restrictive bend up over the rear beam:

Difficult to tell in this shoddy photo, but it’s only just over an inch diameter, so must be robbing me of some power. Anyway it looked cobbled together, and was blowing, so rather than fit my newly aquired 182 decat to a reducer, I bought a new centre section. The back box was fine, so is staying for now.

We deal with Mongoose alot with work so I called them up, and they did me a storming deal on the centre section on it’s own and got it too me in double quick time.

I’ve also booked the cars logbook now. The scrutineer may be out tomorrow to do it, or if not Wednesday next week. Looks like I am going in early tomorrow to sort out the TDC wires!

Should be running again in no time.

Firstly a bit of an update… The box was stripped by one of the guys in the workshop (20+ years of Renault experience, and I’m pretty sure he can strip and rebuild a Renault box in his sleep!

Anyway, we found some wear in the box, but nothing like it should at 76k miles. There were paint marks on some of the gears in the cluster, so we think that it’s a service exchange box and definately no wear to worry about. How many events it lasts remains to be seen, as these boxes aren’t the strongest! :S In an effort to keep the diff where Renault intended, I got another of the techs to weld up the gap in the circlip. Fingers crossed! I intend to do 4 or 5 rallies next year, and hopefully the box will cope. Meanwhile I plan on getting a 172 Cup box and rebuilding it with all new parts and a slippy diff, ready for 2011.

So, my Helix paddle clutch turned up after a 3 week wait. I bolted it on the flywheel during the week, so that this morning my first job was to bolt the gearbox back onto the engine. With the engine on the crane (about 3 inches off the ground) I was wriggling the box onto the block when disaster struck. the webbing strap slipped on its knot and the engine made the short journey to the floor. Unfortunately this has put a crack in the sump, so I now need to replace it. On the bright side, it provides me with a good excuse to replace the big end bolts with ARP’s.

I decided to plough on, and get the lump back in the hole!

Lump:

Hole:

I’d already slotted my 182 Manifold into place, and replaced the standard engine mounts with the K-tec Grp N ones that I’d bought.

I managed to drop it in without further drama.

It was then just a case of sorting out all the spaghetti like hoses and looms, and run them round the bay in the right place and connecting everything back up. Also fitted was a new ali rad.

And all done:

Next time I’ll be fitting a new sump, APR bolts filling the box, engine and cooling system with the required fluids. In the mean time I have to organise getting an MSA scrutineer round to log book the car. This is where the cars safety items are checked over and the car is deemed fit to rally.

Anyway, started bright and early yesterday and by lunch time the engine was on the floor.

I then spent the rest of the day cleaning up the engine bay, and the engine ready to go back in. Unfortunately the paddle clutch didn’t turn up, so it’s all in bits again.

There was a bit of bronze swarf in the N’S drive shaft boot, so to be on the safe side (and because I’ve come this far) we are going to open the box up, and check and replace any worn syncros or selectors. I’ve also put my name down as a possible for a slippy diff group buy.

I’ve nearly had the car a year now, and I’d thought th car would be finished by now, so I’m making a concerted effort to get myself in the workshop and get it finished before the year is out.

Oh, and today, my Renault Sport Grp N ball joints turned up earlier than expected.