Hi guys

Some of you know the car from Britishrally and a few other forums I'm on, but I thought I'd whack a summary thread up on here to show how far the car has come.

Nutshell:

I sold my race-prepped XR2 with a view to swapping seats and driving a rally car this year (I co-drove last year alongside my hillclimb/sprint activities in the Fiesta). I had a rough idea that I wanted a 1400 class fwd factory built rally car, but in the back of my mind I had always wanted one of the Boreham Challenge spec KAs.

This one came up for sale on the Isle of Man, where it has enjoyed a lot of success following its retirement from the Ka Rally Championship in 2002. Among its accolades is a win on the 2006 RBS Manx International, and I even have the trophies to go with the car!!

Anyway - after viewing a couple of KAs that had, over the years 'lost' a lot of the works bits (999/909 parts), this one ticked all the boxes and came with literally a transit van FULL of spares, including 28 Speedlines with P Zero slick and intermediate tyres (most new or nearly new), and a spare engine; which would come in useful in the not too distant future - read on...

Having had no sleep since the Thursday (due to the annoyingly unsociable crossing times to the Island) we departed for England on the Saturday afternoon. The car made it all the way from the Isle of Man back to East Yorkshire, but unfortunately melted 3 pistons on the Ouse Bridge, not more than 10 miles from my house. Bugger.

So to cut a long story short, I decided to undertake the engine work myself, with the help of my mate (a qualified mechanic - so cheating a little!). The engine was well and truly screwed, having run lean and made a mess of the block. Cue spare engine, which happened to also have all the Ford Racing bits and next to zero miles on it. We used the best bits from both engines, along with getting new valve guides pressed into the (very trick!) Endura head.

Meanwhile, with the engine in bits at my mate's workshop the car was sitting looking a little used and sorry for itself in my garage at home. While I had sternly promised myself (and my girlfriend!!) that I wouldn't go to the lengths I had on the XR2 build for fear of not daring to use it for its intended purpose, I just had to pass the time while we waited for pockets of time here and there to build the engine back up. So, pretty much a full shell rebuild ensued (mainly a tidy up from top to bottom, but you get the idea), with new parts on the outside, inside and literally everything inspected, cleaned, tidied and replaced if necessary.

The engine, as of the end of January is now in, and I'm awaiting an appointment with Bogg Brothers in North Yorkshire for a proper rolling road set up and a full suspension service for the Proflex. But at least it runs and is looking the part.

I didn't plan a project as much as this one had been, but at this stage I find it easy (and somewhat relaxing) to sit back on the sofa as I write this and think "I'm glad things turned out the way they did". The engine failure has given me chance to check everything, tidy everything up and learn a hell of a lot that will no doubt come in useful when I'm competing, and generally maintaining the car.

Anyway, without further a-do; and sorry that took so long, I fully intended it not to - some pictures to document my life (!) over the last few months...



























































































































































































And a few pics of the car in action on various rallies over the last few years; believe me these served as great motivation during the 'dark hours' of the rebuild!









Sorry if some of the pictures are out of sync - that's roughly chronological! Didn't realise I had so many if I'm honest, you don't notice it when you're only posting a couple a day oops!

Hope you like - comments and questions welcome.

Cheers

Paul

 

Nice. Looks like a fun toy

 

Looks like a fun little car! Nice work too

 

i like the r5 in the back ground nice little ka

 

Great work

 

Looking Good now Paul!!

You have wayyyy too much attention to detail though!! lol

 

good work

 

great little motor, get it in the forrests !

 

Mark - tarmac first, but I do have forest gearbox settings and a bigger tank guard should the need arise!

Getting used to LHD is proving a mission at the moment!

Rob - attention to detail is both my strength and my weakness - HELP!

 

nice car mate

 

Some will remember the wiper mod I made to the XR2 - well it's even more important to have effective windscreen wash/wipe on a rally car, so I've also done it to the Ka...





Also looks cool!

 

just a tube with the end blocked a regular perforations tie wrapped along th wiper blades?

Neat!

 

No - it's windscreen washer tubing with a washer jet on the end, pointed where I want it. Connected via a non-return valve and a t-piece to the original tube. Makes the jet very precise where you want it, making windscreen washing quicker on the move!

 

New brakes came today...



My Dad also dropped off the strut brace and master cylinder brace bar he's been painting...



Fitted...

 

I've been sorting out the aux fuse panel tonight, working out what does what and making diagrams. Nothing has changed to look at, but a quick driver's eye view...

 

stunningly well built little ka!

 

Great project mate.

 

Nice build

 

Stunning


Brian

 

Neat build

 

Lovely stuff mate, up to your usual standards and nearly as pretty as speedfreaks butthole!

Hope it goes well out on the stages

Matt

 

Cheers guys!

At Boggy's on Thursday getting it set up - looking forward to that!

As I don't have a speedo (proper rally car), I went out at the weekend with my co-driver (Mike) and did some speed/rev tests. There is a speed readout on the trip computer but I'm not going to be looking across there when I'm on the road.

SO...introducing my speedo lol!!

 

Today was the day we’ve been waiting for – we took the car to Bogg Brothers in East Lutton and got the engine set up properly and run up on the rolling road.

Firstly a massive thanks to Rutty (aka Darren) who as usual was on hand to provide good company and a massive helping hand with various issues throughout the day.

The car had an adjustable fuel pressure regulator fitted and the fuelling set up before a session on the rolling road to determine the power output. The car is putting out 85bhp @ the wheels at 6500 rpm, which is only part way through the cam’s power band so at some point I’ll raise the limiter and see a bit more. I am over the moon with that – I wanted over 80 @ the wheels and we’ve achieved that, and the car is a hoot to drive! First time I’ve been able to fully open it up and experience the full package.

It’s very, very twitchy to drive fast, and together with the fact that I don’t know the car and haven’t yet got used to being on the wrong side of the road (Rutty had some scary moments sat facing on-coming traffic, so he says lol), I’m a bit nervous behind the wheel. Confidence will come though.

We had a couple of fuel leaks to sort from the fuel rail, but luckily I have a few spare inlet manifolds so we sorted it.

Anyway, a few pics here to make my waffling a bit more interesting. Enjoy!











Suspension remote canister relocated to allow for fuel pressure reg
















It’s dirty now – proper rally car

 

Hi,

Car looks great! I have a brand new 909 KA lampod with PIAA lights if you need one as a spare.

Mark

 

Hi paul its Tom turns out i already had an account on here but never used it lol

 

Nice one Tom - I'll post pics up of both our cars in a min.

 

 

Small update today, I've fitted rear mudflaps to the car. For cars logbooked in 2009 it is mandatory to fit flaps to the rear. Due to the fact that I will have to have the logbook updated shortly it seemed the best idea to make sure I'd covered all bases!

It will come as no surprise to some that I spent longer than the job might have suggested, measuring and ensuring that they were fitted properly...







Oh, and some graphics to promote the new website, which will be launched in the next few weeks!





I love the rear flaps, can't believe I didn't do it to begin with!!

 

And the money shots

 

nice pics,top work

 

Bit of an update...

First off, we have fitted new slimline mirrors to avoid clipping bails or corner markers.





Rear suspension is back from Proflex and refitted...







We also have an ASBO orange van (LOL) and a trailer to kick off the new look team properly. Not sure my Dad prefers these to the Mini but at least it's the same colour!

We've got loads to do before the rally on 9th May. The car is booked in for an MOT on Monday, after which it will be registered with the DVLA and back on UK plates. I have to do that and get the MSA logbook sent off and back all in time for the Jack Neal Memorial Stages.

In addition we have a lot of work to do on the car and sorting through the spares to figure out what we need to have with us on the rally.

Exciting though, and we have some very strong people with us in the team for the first rally so we're all buzzing about it!

 

Progress update...we're now back on track.





Proflex back and fitted
Rear wheel bearings and brakes renewed/set up
Plumbed in extinguisher system refilled and control unit renewed
New n/s driveshaft fitted due to a broken CV joint
New ball joints

We now have the DVLA inspection next week to get the car registered on UK plates, then the week after the car is being set up and corner weighted for the rally by our new sponsor, WRC specialist RASP.

A few quick pics of the car from yesterday after a quick wash down; it was splattered with oil and dust after the last few weeks' work.





Brawn GP copied us btw 8)



We're getting really excited for Blyton on the 9th of May now - see our website @ www.teamwoodspeed.com for more details if you fancy a trip to Lincolnshire to see the car in action.

Cheers for looking!

 

looking very nice, should be a fun piece of kit

 

Fun car, Top job.

 

Awesome little car, really cool.

Good luck on the rally

 

ace car mate i may have to venture to the rally and look out for you

 

looks fun, nice ka

 

Disaster!! See the website www.teamwoodspeed.com for a full event report and photos etc.

After the disappointment of retiring 1 mile into the first stage in the back of our minds, we set about stripping the engine down today. What a mess! Basically, the Cam shaft has failed - the teeth on the pinion that drives the oil pump had broken off, causing the oil pump to stop and the shells to eat themselves. Ouch!

Anyway, the damage in there, and the mess that was floating around, together with the fact that Ford charge Ł400 for a new crank (!) means that we have bought a fresh engine to use the bits we need from. We pick it up tomorrow, so the bottom end from that will be used, along with the performance bits and a Kent 12 cam which should actually give more power than the Ford Racing one anyway, or at least bring the band in sooner.

We need to source a LHD steering rack for less than small mortgage money so if anyone can help with that, please get in touch!

As usual, we are constantly updating the website at www.teamwoodspeed.com so please take a look if you get a minute - because of the amount of contact we have been getting through it, we've decided to add a 'Your car' section for those people building/running a competition car - why not check it out and submit some pictures and a spec

Anyway, a few pics from the day:

The guilty cam gear



Funked bearing!













Big thanks to Ben and Tom for their help today - legends!

I'll keep the updates coming, next event will hopefully be the Armstrong Massey Stages Rally in Yorkshire on the 5th July.

Cheers

Paul

 

At the moment no, it's all go.

The engine is built and ready to go in when we can get the car across.

Luckily the rather special and expensive head wasn't damaged in the failure...



We do have a spare Ford Racing cam but I think we'll Ebay that, certainly for now we've gone the Kent route...







Paul power!!



Also, I'm replacing the steering column because of some play in the one that's on the car - we got hold of a RHD one and there doesn't seem to be anything different between the two...





So by the end of next week we want to have the engine in so we can run it in and get ready for an entry at Driffield.

We're still learning loads, and this car just keeps getting better. I'll update soon!

 

noticed your post on myka, such a shame but onwards and upwards