Bandit2 - Page 15

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27 February 2014

Matt came over again the other night and we were going to sort the axle out, but some bits still hadn't turned up. So we moved the engine onto the stand instead. Then started to pull it down. Its a grubby old thing, but hopefully it'll clean up ok. I need to grab Trev's parts washer to get things cleaned up a little. I also started working out what bits I need, and how I wire up the thermo fan on the alloy radiator. I think I've got that sorted, but need some bigger wire. Also, a massive performance improvement, my front spoiler arrived. Gotta be worth at least 2 seconds a lap! Got it attached on the ends, but need to take it off again to paint it. Probably black. Also grabbed a valve spring compressor to get the head apart. But buggered if I could get it to work. More investigation needed there. So there is just a few jobs on the go: fuel gauge needs fiddling with to calibrate it; rear axle needs putting together, but need backing plates off axle in car; alloy radiator to go in and wire up the fan; continue pulling engine down and clean things up. I should actually try and finish a job before starting another one.

3 March 2014

I finally managed to tick a couple of jobs off the list. I had a fiddle with the slots in the back of the fuel gauge the other night. The tank is just about empty now, so I set it just above the empty mark. Now I just need to chuck some fuel into it and see where the needle points when its kinda full. Saturday and I managed to spend a whole afternoon down in the shed. Got the old radiator out and the new alloy one into place. During the week I'd made up all the wires that I needed for the fan and thermo switches and the relay as well. So I just ran the wires and plugged it all in. Then I had to modify the bottom radiator hose to fit. Its all hooked up now, apart from the overflow hose. Then I need to fill it with coolant again and give it a run to see if the fan actually works. After that I had more of a fiddle with the head. There were still 2 studs I couldn't get out no matter what I tried, so I cut them off. Then tried removing the bits left with an easy-out. But it snapped off. So I drilled through again, and then tried to make the hole a little bigger and snapped the dill bit off in there too. So I gave up then and tried my new valve spring compressor, a cheap 6" clamp and a nut cut open. Works a treat. Lastly, while I sat and looked and finished a beer I took a couple more pics of the front spoiler. I love it.

5 March 2014

Got some pictures of the valve spring compressor in action. All valves are out now. Time to start cleaning things up. Must borrow Trev's parts washer. And then to work out what to do with it all. Do I go crazy with bigger valves and new guides, or just do a bit of porting and refit the standard 1600 gear? It would make sense just to use the bits I have without spending a fortune on getting things machined. Just get a half decent crossflow going and then spend the money on a Zetec or 4AGE conversion instead. Better crack on with the rear axle too.

10 March 2014

A bit more fiddling. I grabbed some correct battery terminal lugs from town the other day. Got a minute in the shed and cut the old -ve battery cable in 2 and soldered the new ends on them. Then stuck the switch panel in the car next to the battery. Need to test that it all works now. Was going to fill the radiator and start the car to check the fan and switch wiring, but couldn't find a cap that fits. I wrecked one brand new one cause it got stuck on and I had to rip it off. Looks like the old one is the right size, so I'll stick it on and see how it goes. Then I got to pulling more bits off the old engine, and cleaning and bagging all the bits I've pulled off so far. Need to get the car started and turned around so I can pull the axle out of it. Also made room in the shed to stick the Laser back in out of the weather. So the room down there is very scarce at the moment.

2 April 2014

I took the car out of the shed for some reason, can't remember what it was now seeing as it was a month ago that I took these pics. Think I took it for a drive to hockey on Saturday. But thought I'd get some pics of it out in the open with its new high performance front spoiler on it :)

8 May 2014

Getting things ready for the hill climb down in Cooma that I'd entered I tracked down the rattle in the front struts to the bearing in the top mount. Not sure if its a cheap one or not, but the inner part of the bearing is moving a little bit, which is enough to cause a rattle over the bumps. Finding a decent one in the right size was a bit tricky. Finally found CGB Products in Melbourne who were very helpful and have ordered me some from Germany. Hopefully in a couple of weeks they'll be here. And in rear end news I have acquired another major piece of the puzzle for the back end. JP in Adelaide is upgrading his mk1 to 6 links, so didn't need his 50mm wide lowered and reversed eye leafs any more. So I jumped at them when they came up for sale. Matt came to delivery rescue cause his company flies planes to Adelaide, so he teed it up with a mate over there and the pilots and they did the old Lear Jet courier back to the east coast. So now I can crack on with building the axle (I have the new bearings and wheel studs for that now) and then replacing the whole rear end.

18 May 2014

And then the weekend arrived. Friday the trailer was loaded up with race car and the wagon was loaded up with kids and bags, and off over the mountains we went. The old 3L VE struggles a bit on the hills but cruises nice on the freeway. Got in to Cooma late, so Saturday morning was unloading time. After running around town a bit I checked the car over, sprayed on some degreaser to clean up the gearbox a little (that's the pic with the wheel disappearing up under the guard. Super lows!) and then took it for a drive to fill it with fuel, and did a lap up Yalakool Rd and back just for fun. Its all tar now, not dirt like it was at school. Then all set to go for Sunday morning.

There was no frost Sunday morning again which was good, but the car was still very cold and took a bit to warm up. But I got up to scrutineering at about 7:15. It was weird driving into the old indoor centre where we used to play cricket and hockey as kids. Got the car checked over and grabbed some numbers, then it was out to the hill. The pits were at the top so it was a good chance to have a look at the course and try and remember where the road went. Car unloaded, wheels swapped over, it was time for a bacon and egg and a dodgy coffee. After the briefing things started to move towards action. There were 3 groups of about 12 cars. I was in the 2nd group. Lining up for the first run was very nerve wracking. I couldn't really remember where the road went, and wasn't sure how hard I could go. But into it and roared to the top. 54.11, not too bad, but much room for improvement, plenty of places to push harder and not lift off. Next run was much better, a 52.19, but still room to push some more. Next run I had a great start (the clutch did smell a bit after that), got through the chicane great and didn't back off too much towards the top. But I went into the last turn a bit hot and got some understeer and ran fairly wide. Still my best time so far, a 51.84. The last run I went too hard into the chicane and locked a front, managed to clip a cone on the way out, and then I think I just went a bit too hard at the top and lost time there. No improvement, a 52.22. As we lined up for our 5th and last run thing had to be cancelled cause an old TA22 Celica had a pretty good off. Lucky everyone was ok, but the car was not so flash.

So then it was packup time. Quick swap of the wheels again, then the front right slipped off the jack and I pulled the rod end out of the compression strut. Bugger. The threads were stuffed, so I just jammed the two together to get me back to town and onto the trailer. There was much swearing as it meant I missed the presentations and put us behind in leaving, which meant it was going to be a late night.

Here's a link to a short video that mum took of the last turn.

28 May 2014

Got the jobs stacking up now. Need to sort out the rear springs, put the rear axle together with its new bearings and wheel studs, put all that into the car. Then my new bearings for the strut tops arrived, so I need to pull them out and get someone to press them in. And Grp4 Fab in Ireland sent out some new compression struts to replace the broken one. They're a little bit longer than the old ones, so the threads should screw all the way in and be heaps stronger. And then I can try and decide if I push on spending money on rebuilding a xflow, or put that money into sorting out the 4AGE.

1 June 2014

Got some time in the shed over the weekend, and had my little buddy helping me out. Flynn loves the spanners so was busy putting them all over the shed. Kept him busy for ages, and then we put Turbo on the DVD player. Pulled the old compression struts out. The one on the passenger side was tricky cause the exhaust is so close. Had to pull the extractors off and drop the exhaust down to get the bolt out, and back in. Bit of a pain. But the new compression struts are in now. When it goes back on its wheels I need to check the measurements to make sure the wheels are somewhere near the right spots. I also pulled the strut tops out so I can take them to town to get the new bearings put in. Then I thought I'd double check the brake backing plates on the axle. 2 of the holes on the 2L axle are different to the 1300 one, so I measured them up and drilled some new ones. Need to hit them with the wire wheel and then whack some paint on them before putting it together.

11 June 2014

Got distracted one lunchtime last week and went and wire wheeled and cleaned up the new springs and the backing plates. Took a bit of work and the wire wheel was cactus by the end, but they came up pretty well. And then it took a week for me to get back down there to whack some paint on them. Did that last night after wiping all the bits down with some wax and grease remover. Another job ticked off. Then I pulled 2 axles aside and knocked the old wheel studs out of them. I'm hoping MattyJ's dad can help me out with pressing the old bearings off them. Slowly making progress.

28 August 2014

Wow, June was the last update. That's bad. Nothing much has happened on the car. I stripped the paint off the roof gutters to see what was going on under there. Its a bit of a mess, but I have a bit of a plan to sort it. I need to steal Matt's welder again. Tonight I was having a look at the pistons to work out how much to bore the block. The standard bore looks to be 81mm, and the spare 1300 pistons I have seem to be 81.9mm. But then the 2 different sets I have, one is stamped 100, the other 040, but they both seem to be the same size. Time to ask the experts what they reckon.

9 September 2014

Had another attempt at getting something done on this rear axle now that I picked up the axles, with their new bearings on, from MattyJ. Got all the bits together, but then thought I'd better stick a bit of paint onto them cause they look a bit grubby. So I cleaned up the ends of the axles. I need to clean up the diff housing now and then stick a coat of paint onto them. I'm just finding it hard to get down to the shed these days. Need to pull my finger out a bit.

18 September 2014

I'd managed to get a coat of paint onto the ends of the axles. I found another spare 5 minutes in the shed, so I managed to get the diff loaded into the axle case. I hope the seal is OK, I used my gasket silicone, but of course the nozzle kept blocking and giving trouble. Its on now though. I tried using a wheel nut to pull my wheels studs in, but that didn't work. So Matt came to the rescue again and got his mate Brendan to use their works press to get them in. Thanks guys. I had more of a dig at the gutters too, cleaning out the sealant that holds the roof on. Need to get them sorted now that I've started, its all starting to rust again now.

23 September 2014

I managed to find a few spare minutes on Sunday afternoon while hanging in the shed with Flynn. He played nicely so I put the axles into the casing. They seemed to go in nice and easy, once I worked out the right way to put the drum backing plates. I put a smear of silicone around the bearing too, hopefully that's the right thing to do. Then I looked at the brake lines and handbrake gear on the old axle, that's another thing that will need working out. I might have to weld the bracket for the handbrake onto the mk2 axle. And Aldi had a little video camera for sale, so I blew $50 on the off chance that its any good. Its cheaper than a $450 GoPro! Also need to sort out the stripped exhaust stud. Will try some Loctite before drilling and re-tapping.

30 September 2014

I took a brave pill and arced up the welder to have a crack at the gutters the other night. Was very tricky, but I think I've got one side sorted. I used a bit of copper behind the weld, and had to go nice and slow so I didn't blow too many holes in the thin bits. I'm sure its better than it was anyway. So after grinding it all off (no pics during as it looked very messy) I drove the car out and turned it around so I can have a go at the drivers side next. Not sure if I'll get it done before heading off camping on Thursday morning.

22 October 2014

So because I'd made a start on the gutters I had to get them finished before heading off to the hillclimb in Cooma. Not really what I needed, I should have been doing other things to get the car ready, but ah well. After welding up the drivers side (again no pics cause it was very rough once more!) I treated the cleaned up gutters with KBS rust converter. It did a great job, but then I used their Rust Seal paint. Not so successful. Only because it ran a bit where I didn't want it to, and didn't stick well to the paint that I hadn't really sorted. It was a bit messy and basically it looked crap. Bit deflated, but got the sand paper out and cleaned it all up. I stuck a skim of filler in the larger holes, and then got to sanding that, then priming it. And then finally I could mask everything up and get the orange onto it. And after all that hard work, the orange is nowhere near the colour of the rest of the car (apart from the odd patch here and there). Bugger. But again, no matter, its not a show car. Just good to get it all done.

23 October 2014

So with the gutters done and cut and polished (it actually looks ok, apart from the mismatched colours, and cause I polished those bits the rest of the car looks like it needs a going over too) I could get on with getting the car ready for Cooma. Did the nut and bolt check on the front end. There were a couple of loose nuts, and the drivers side stub axle needed a nip up too. Checked the rear and all looked ok. I had heard the exhaust blowing a bit, and on looking underneath there was a fair old split in the front of the muffler. So the good blokes at A1 Exhausts in town fitted me in and welded it up. Sorted. Then on the way home there was a major banging from the front right strut. Jacked it up when I got home and bits of plastic fell out everywhere. The spacers between the springs and helper had blown itself apart. Bugger. So off with the strut top and out with the helper. I'll sort that out after the event. Might take the one out of the other side too. Drained the oil out. Just need to change the filter and fill it back up and we'll call it done, I reckon. Then load on the trailer and head off tomorrow.

27 October 2014

After a week of nights sorting the gutters I could finally spend Friday night getting my gear organised and packed. I collected the trailer and loaded the car up with its track tyres. It was a bit of a slow start Saturday morning and by the time the car was loaded on the trailer, filled the wagon with petrol and oil, it was 10am already. Maya came along for the drive with me, and we met Steve at Goulburn and headed on to Canberra to have a quick look at the Capri muster show. I wanted to catch up with Winton, but I only found him as we were about to leave again. Then it was on to Cooma, dodging storms and hail along the way. Unloaded and then we were ready for the Sunday.

Was up bright an early Sunday and was the first one to scrutineering. Which may have been a bad idea. The guy came and looked over the car before the sheds were even open, and he decided that I couldn't use my formula ford tyres cause they weren't road legal (it was in the regs, but didn't bother them last time). So I was cranky at that and the day hadn't started yet. I waited for Nick up there, then went and dumped the tyres and jack back at mums. Met Nick down town for a coffee and sat and watched the world go by for a bit. Was nice. Then up to the hill and unloaded. Set up was easy this time cause I didn't have to change wheels over. Then we waited, and waited and finally the drivers briefing happened. And after 10am the first group of cars was waiting to start. They waited some more, then off. I was in the 2nd group and Nick the 3rd. I pushed the car hard from the first run cause there was only 4 on offer so had to make the most of it. The road tyres just didn't have the grip of the FF ones, and the car moved about a bit and understeered in the hairpin. Managed a 53.34. Thought I might be able to get back to the 51 of last time. But as hard as I tried it was to be 53's each run. Best of 53.07. Ah well, I blame the tyres, and the fact I didn't get one run in that I didn't make a mistake on. Still fun, but frustrating that we only got 4 runs in, and even more so because they called it quits with an hour to go before the 4pm cut off.

So it was back to mums, load the car on the trailer, then start the trek home. Met dad at Queanbeyan for dinner, then onwards home. Lots of fog over the highlands, but thankfully virtually no traffic. Home at 10:40, so a long 2 days. Not sure I'll head back there in a hurry. I love the hill, but its just too far to go for only 4 runs, there has to be better value events out there.

Here's a link to the in car video from one of the runs. I had 4 attempts at getting some footage but only got 1 result. I struggled to get the thing turned on while strapped in.

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