Well, after rust repair (it did get painted black)
got the car back out on the road, to find the driving experience somewhat wayward. the Diff didn't pull the steering AT ALL to the point I had to turn the PAS off to see if the Diff was working!
after this I started down a route of cursewording about with some AVO 3 way adjustable struts I got off a mate....
you all know how this goes by now.
"..should bolt right on says I.."
Well they do, but I had to make some more lower ball joint pins (I run a spherical lower ball joint)
and turn some bosses up to make the steering arms usable as said mate decided to open them out with a drill to an odd size so he could use a rose joint for a track rod end (I have no idea why)
So now I cant use normal track rod ends.
cue a phone call to another ate who has some bits in storage in the workshop.
"..Aidy, you still got them spherical joint offset trackrod ends you got from Captain Ukraine?.."
".. lol ye, yes you can have em for a £10)
"..Done.."
refreshed and rebuilt with new sphericals, new custom steering arms, turned some adaptors so I could run 2.5" springs and I got them all fitted & set up.
took car for a test drive / blast,
Oohh these Avo's are Nice, bit understeery, need to check the tracking, I'll stop off for a pint, whilst the car cools down and ill head back to the workshop...
starts the drive back....oh thats a new missfire.
quick spanner check on the ramps tells me ive got a Fubar'd wheel bearing.
oh and the dampers wont adjust, they just spin.
oh and the Navigators side is leaking..
and a misfire.
cut to a miffed but productive 2 weeks of striping new struts off, taking dampers out, turning adaptors so I can run "normal" ø40 Bilstein dampers, build it all back up again, fit an elderly 8v coil pack and leads, using the Ugly bracket**
**the Ugly Brakcet was fabicted in a hurry to test a theory that the 8v coilpack would and could indeed fit a 16v engine if I used Ford Zetec leads**
So Finally on the 7th November 2021 we made it to the 1st competitive event in the 106 in 2 years..
Guy Fawkes AUtosolo at Curbrough.
AND we finished!
drove the car on the trailer and everything.
was miss firing like hell though above 4.5k rpm.
plopped a new coilpack on and all was well, or so I thought...
next event a mere 2 weeks away was the Knutsford Targa Rally @ 3 Sisters Circuit.
we Started well, was slippy as hell in the morning and did a bit of impromptu landcaping with 2 half spins which ended up with us on the grass.
Dropped the tyre pressures in the rear after the 1st run of tests which improved things no end.
then the misfire returned but higher up the rev range.
but drove round the issue, and was going ok, a few Navigational errors. and a few cone & stop astride the line penalties, then we had to miss a TR7 that was doing its best to spin, and TW@ed a rumble strip (the wrong direction) but carried on, handling was a bit different but put it down to tyres getting hot and track being dry and damp in patches.
WE FINISHED!!!
Chuffed to say the least.
Drove the car on the trailer again.
that was Sunday 21st Nov.
weds 24th was a Scatter Rally run locally to me (sheffield) by Matlock Motorclub.
shoved the spots on, adjusted them up, cleared out any curse word from the car and away we went.
handling was iffy,
"..something's not right here, must have mullered the tyres at 3 sisters, odd tho as they have minimal tread wear.."
"..is a bit slimy tonight.." Says Richard, (my long suffering mate & Navigator)
we turn a downhill 90 left hander under trees,
proceed to have a mighty lock up and career towards a tree/fence/bank.
Thud.
we were fine, tree/fence/bank was fine, car was missing headlight glass, but mercifully the radiator & spotlight survived, but it pushed the wheel back into the arch a bit more.
as it should be
as it ended up
