Where next??

BRP has been running really well and has plenty of go about it.

Unfortunatley it's also been burning oil on the inlet manifold and rattling alot.

I checked the cam cover and found a bolt missing which has allowed oil to seep past it onto the inlet manifold so that is probably sorted.

I then noticed though, a missing bolt holding the exhaust manifold on! Not good and after looking for another one and being unsuccessful I decided to make sure the others were not loose. The result was stripping a helicoil out - not good at all. So that means taking the head off again for this reason alone.

Then what about that rattle? Bryce and Harvey, my brother who were over for a family do and had a listen and they don't think it's the cam, could be the jack shaft or could be a little end.

Whatever, I think it's time to stop fannying about. Once and for all I think I need to rebuild an engine right from the start, after all I have enough spares to select the best bits from and then build from there. Whilst the engine is out the engine bay can also be cleaned up and some seam welding done.

The thing is though, should it be an engine for BRP or the original engine for the 2000 that I/we build first?

If the 2000 is worked on first that can be ready for road use winter of 2012 and then work on BRP for it to be used in 2013/2014. After all I am not going rallying in a big way anymore and if I select the right road/social events the convertible and the 2000 will do just fine.

Much to ponder over.

After the Little Devils!

Well, we didn't cover ourselves in glory on this one coming 15th out of 15! It still means I am in a clear 4th place in the Club Triumph Driver Challenge though and as my aim is to be in the top 5 I am pleased enough with that.

The car was fine and very quick really but needs setting up or a service. It also rattles a fair bit and is burning oil off the exhaust manifold/down pipes so really needs some fettling.

This weekend though all I have done with it is get it up on ramps and hose all the muck and bullets off the underside. Next weekend I'll start the service and investigations although it might be wise to go round and touch up the paintwork where necessary first at the earliest opportunity.

Meanwhile, UNJ is at the front of the queue for use and will be the car Mrs R and I use in the next challenge round, the Club Triumph 3 Counties Rally in October.

Speedfair and prep for the Little Devils

Well, the Speedfair rally was really good actually.

10th out of 17 on day 1, ok 15th out of 20 on day 2 wasn't so good but our day one performance put us into the "Shoot out".

This was a bit of a surprise and given that we had a 4 to 5 hour drive home in some ways wasn't all that welcome!

The format though was that the top 12 cars from day 1 (and that included us!) took another run through the test and the top 6 would then run again. OK, let's have some fun we thought and set our fastest time of 92.3 seconds whcih amazingly got us through again.

Now the top 6 were to be narrowed down to the top 4 and of course we wanted to see how well we could do and we really attacked the test but right at the end we drifted off slightly onto some gravel and our time was 94.3 seconds - oh well, time to go home.

Great fun all the same and I'll post up the in car footage soon.

Today though I worked on BRP with a mind for the Little Devils next weekend. This is an all together rougher event which has included farm tracks in the past so with this in mind 2hours workl this afternoon resulted in the sumpguard back on.

More to do but so little time - what will next weekend bring I wonder?