Yes another......My Ring Trip Story!!! UPDATED.....now home!
12-04-2007 | 12:22 PM
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From: Liverpool :o)
Yes another......My Ring Trip Story!!! UPDATED.....now home!
I’ll try and keep it brief…..but its going to be difficult as of what exactly went on during the trip!!!
Left Thursday afternoon at 7pm ish headed for Derby to meet the NMS lot - I managed to do virtually all the jobs I had planned for it & I had made sure all the important mechanical stuff was done anyway.....
5 miles down the road & for some random reason the top header hose bleed screw made a bid for freedom & pissed out a load of coolant all over the bonnet & windscreen....good start!! With that fixed & zip tied in place we carried on.
Made a nice easy run down to Derby with the car behaving itself very well so all was good!!! I was quietly confident!!!
Left Derby & headed for Dover - got down there with no problems at all except when we were queuing outside the passenger side window refused to go back up so we stripped the door card off on the ferry & fixed it.
Off the ferry and head off to Nurburg, again got there with only a couple of stops to try & find out why the hell the temperature was randomly shooting up to 100deg after being sat quite happily at 81degs - removed the thermostat which seemed to help. Bit pissed off that the exhaust had moved & was now annoying resonating against the subframe & driving me round the bend - still Lambchop & Ben werent bothered by it as they were asleep!!!
Got to the hotel & unpacked the car ready for a couple of afternoon laps....unfortunately it wasnt to be as the car decided to start to smoke 100 a day just as we reached the Nurburgring roundabout!!! So I turned round to go back to the hotel & it suddenly stopped so I decided to brave a lap.....managed a casual sightseeing lap as I was 3 up & didnt want to push it as it upsets the handling, got back & for some reason I could hear the turbo spooling louder than usual - looked under the car & the carousel must have split the exhaust joints apart as the system was hanging off & the car was now smoking worse than before.....Turbo had thrown its towel in good & proper!!!
So the next day I set to swapping the turbo over - fortunately Mark (NMS painter) had brought along a spare cossie turbo so I butched the core out of that after which wasnt without its problems as the old oil feed adaptor had been sheared off in the core....big thanks to Nutter for managing to remove it by hammering an allen key in there!!! Removing the old turbo wasn’t too much of a problem but we did have a bit of a head scratcher when I pulled the old turbo clear of the engine and the horn decided to randomly start going off (bloody French electrics). Then we had a bit of stress splitting the core & the exhaust housing due to hardened bolts - again thanks to Nutter who seemed to have the nack of doing these!!! Then I had the task of lining both the housings up as on the cossie they are in a completely different place!! I was knocking the core round with the aid of a hammer which in turn bent the thread where the oil feed bolts to.....which then meant I needed to get it re-tapped - thanks to Nutter driving me there & a local garage with the equipment sorted this job out!!! Finally managed to get the turbo fitted on & exhaust fixed, ran it up to make sure there where no leaks etc - all was good. So still dressed in my oily shit off I went for a quick evening lap - the marshall looked at me a bit funny when I pulled upto the barriers I must admit. Managed a good lap with no problems so I was in high spirits for the following day hoping to now get a few laps in now the car seemed to be ok!!!
So the following day I came out to the sight of a flat tyre, a small pool of oil & coolant - hardly a good start!!! Pumped the tyre up, nothing obvious causing the flat so I decided to monitor it over the day....now onto the leaks - coolant leak was coming from the water feed to the turbo leaking as I had to seal it with a bolt because the water feed fittings are different sizes between the cossie & the Renault cores so had to run it without water cooling. So wrapped some PTFE tape round the bolt & refitted it - job done. Oil leak I couldnt find the source and presumed it had just dripped off the block when I'd changed the turbo and the oil feed had leaked a bit.
So thinking all was good I decided to go and do a lap with Ben. First half of the lap & all appeared to be good, second half - well the old coolant bleed screw problem came back to haunt me and loosened off leaving coolant all over the bonnet and windscreen - so I slowed down and ambled back to the car park trying to stay off the racing line and went back to the hotel to sort it once & for all!!! Fixed it up with sealant & a load of tape - that wasnt going anywhere anymore. Then I noticed that whilst I'd been fixing that the oil leak had returned also & it had left a large pool under the car - well that was it - wasnt going to go out knowing that I had that leak as it would be risking too many lifes out there on the ring so the car got dumped as I wanted to have a good chance of getting home!!!
So onto the trip home, the tyre had not gone down overnight so I presumed someone had been arsing around the nite before, I had lost hardly any oil - think it was only leaking when the oil was very hot so as long I regularly checked the level on the way home I thought I would be ok. Then just as we were leaving I checked I had my passport – couldn’t find it anywhere in the car as that was the last time I saw it – never mind driving license would have to do!!
First half an hour home was fine, no problems - well until the drivers side indicator decided to disown the car & fly off behind me & smash into a million pieces on the road....never mind if thats the worst that was going to happen then I could live with that....
THEN......another half an hour down the road & suddenly the oil light lit up & the pressure dropped - I slammed the anchors on & pulled over & stopped the engine!!! Thinking that I had probably ran low on oil & checked the level - it had hardly used a drop - so I wondered was it a wiring fault that was just bringing the oil pressure warning light on - I decided to start it up & attempt to drive off - just when I started to drive off it was very obvious that something was wrong as the engine held back & nearly stalled - time to call it a day!!!!
Phoned the RAC straight way so they could get things in motion. 30mins later they phoned back & told me that they couldnt find any record of my European Cover.....BOLLOCKS.......I told them to go away & look again - in the meantime I remembered that I'd got the cover with the AA & not the RAC so got on the blower to the AA instead & they started to get things sorted....about 1hr or so later the recovery truck pulled up and started to winch the car on when a second recovery truck pulled up to do the same - madness!!!
So the recovery truck got us to (funnily enough) a Renault garage in the deserted town of Prum. Where I was then instructed I had to phone up the AA & organize getting the car back & myself, Lambchop Ben home.
The AA offered to sort out a hire car & flights home which was all good until I told them that I couldn’t find my passport and they then told me I would need a document from the police or relevant authorities to get me home stating that basically I wasn’t a terrorist!!! Then we got onto the subject of getting the car home where they started mentioning scrapping it – at this point the converstation between myself & Nicki (firstname terms with the AA bird – good eh!!! NOT!) went from very friendly to very heated – turns out that the AAs policy is that if they do not consider the car to be worth recovering to the UK then they will just scrap the car & get you home!!!!! So after lots of phone calls my case was considered to be borderline as to whether they would ship my car back over!!!
I wasn’t happy with this & wasn’t prepared to leave my car knowing that there was a good chance I wouldn’t see it again – especially due the time, money & effort I’d put into it over the past few weeks and the fact that there are only 46 Quadras left in the UK!!! So it was time for an attempted Plan B.
I have a friend in Belgium so gave him a ring to see if he had any suggestions – he didn’t have a trailor but he went away & made a few phone calls to see what he could sort…..30mins later I got a phone call back telling me that his friend from Holland (who ran a Renault Racing team) had just left from Holland & would be with me in approx 4 hours to pick the car up!!!! AWESOME……big relief there!! Anyway – onto how we would get home.
I rang the hotel we stayed in on the off chance that they may have found my passport, they hadn’t but they said they would go & look for me & for me to phone back in 15mins time. This I did & it was good news – they had found it – one less hurdle to get over – now all we had to do was get it!!! Couple of phone calls to AndyR – and both him & StevenRW were on their way in the hired Mondybus to fetch the passport to us. Top Top people. Anyway whilst we where waiting for them a few more phone calls to the AA and they had sorted a hire car out for us which we would then drive to the airport to catch a flight – this was 50kms away though so we asked could it be delivered. Then the next nearest flight to get us home was at 19:45 the following day so we agreed with the AA that we would spend another night in Nurburg and travel back via Rotterdam/Hull with the remaining ringers – least then we could have a laugh with people we knew.
So when AndyR & StevenRW arrived we packed everything in the MondyBus & they took us back up to Nurburg. I then had to be back at my car when my guy arrived so we could help him load the car & see him off so StevenRW volunteered to drive me back in the Golf to Prum later on that evening which we did at 7:00pm – again – very much appreciated Steve, the drive back to Adenau was very entertaining – we managed an hours journey in 40mins! LOL!
Everything then from this stage on was fine, well it would be with no car to worry about I suppose.
Once back on British soil, a bit of swapping cars between The Diva & StickerPaul got us home safely from the ferry & Lambchop & Ben then drove off home to Scotland where I believe they got home at 8pm last nite!!!
I just want to say a BIG BIG BIG thank you to everyone who helped me in my hour of need from PassionFord especially AndyR, StevenRW & StickerPaul its times like this when you are glad to be in a community such as this, with people willing to go out of their way to help you. I hope that someday I can repay the favour in someway.
Apologies to my passengers Lambchop & Ben for all the cockups during the holiday and for getting them home 2 days later than expected…
As for the car….well at the moment its in Holland waiting to be taken to my mates garage in Belgium where he has offered to strip it & repair it for me and I will go over & help him do this & hopefully bring it back in working order!!! We think its done either a mains or big end bearing.
Roll on the September ring trip!!!! LOL!
Left Thursday afternoon at 7pm ish headed for Derby to meet the NMS lot - I managed to do virtually all the jobs I had planned for it & I had made sure all the important mechanical stuff was done anyway.....
5 miles down the road & for some random reason the top header hose bleed screw made a bid for freedom & pissed out a load of coolant all over the bonnet & windscreen....good start!! With that fixed & zip tied in place we carried on.
Made a nice easy run down to Derby with the car behaving itself very well so all was good!!! I was quietly confident!!!
Left Derby & headed for Dover - got down there with no problems at all except when we were queuing outside the passenger side window refused to go back up so we stripped the door card off on the ferry & fixed it.
Off the ferry and head off to Nurburg, again got there with only a couple of stops to try & find out why the hell the temperature was randomly shooting up to 100deg after being sat quite happily at 81degs - removed the thermostat which seemed to help. Bit pissed off that the exhaust had moved & was now annoying resonating against the subframe & driving me round the bend - still Lambchop & Ben werent bothered by it as they were asleep!!!
Got to the hotel & unpacked the car ready for a couple of afternoon laps....unfortunately it wasnt to be as the car decided to start to smoke 100 a day just as we reached the Nurburgring roundabout!!! So I turned round to go back to the hotel & it suddenly stopped so I decided to brave a lap.....managed a casual sightseeing lap as I was 3 up & didnt want to push it as it upsets the handling, got back & for some reason I could hear the turbo spooling louder than usual - looked under the car & the carousel must have split the exhaust joints apart as the system was hanging off & the car was now smoking worse than before.....Turbo had thrown its towel in good & proper!!!
So the next day I set to swapping the turbo over - fortunately Mark (NMS painter) had brought along a spare cossie turbo so I butched the core out of that after which wasnt without its problems as the old oil feed adaptor had been sheared off in the core....big thanks to Nutter for managing to remove it by hammering an allen key in there!!! Removing the old turbo wasn’t too much of a problem but we did have a bit of a head scratcher when I pulled the old turbo clear of the engine and the horn decided to randomly start going off (bloody French electrics). Then we had a bit of stress splitting the core & the exhaust housing due to hardened bolts - again thanks to Nutter who seemed to have the nack of doing these!!! Then I had the task of lining both the housings up as on the cossie they are in a completely different place!! I was knocking the core round with the aid of a hammer which in turn bent the thread where the oil feed bolts to.....which then meant I needed to get it re-tapped - thanks to Nutter driving me there & a local garage with the equipment sorted this job out!!! Finally managed to get the turbo fitted on & exhaust fixed, ran it up to make sure there where no leaks etc - all was good. So still dressed in my oily shit off I went for a quick evening lap - the marshall looked at me a bit funny when I pulled upto the barriers I must admit. Managed a good lap with no problems so I was in high spirits for the following day hoping to now get a few laps in now the car seemed to be ok!!!
So the following day I came out to the sight of a flat tyre, a small pool of oil & coolant - hardly a good start!!! Pumped the tyre up, nothing obvious causing the flat so I decided to monitor it over the day....now onto the leaks - coolant leak was coming from the water feed to the turbo leaking as I had to seal it with a bolt because the water feed fittings are different sizes between the cossie & the Renault cores so had to run it without water cooling. So wrapped some PTFE tape round the bolt & refitted it - job done. Oil leak I couldnt find the source and presumed it had just dripped off the block when I'd changed the turbo and the oil feed had leaked a bit.
So thinking all was good I decided to go and do a lap with Ben. First half of the lap & all appeared to be good, second half - well the old coolant bleed screw problem came back to haunt me and loosened off leaving coolant all over the bonnet and windscreen - so I slowed down and ambled back to the car park trying to stay off the racing line and went back to the hotel to sort it once & for all!!! Fixed it up with sealant & a load of tape - that wasnt going anywhere anymore. Then I noticed that whilst I'd been fixing that the oil leak had returned also & it had left a large pool under the car - well that was it - wasnt going to go out knowing that I had that leak as it would be risking too many lifes out there on the ring so the car got dumped as I wanted to have a good chance of getting home!!!
So onto the trip home, the tyre had not gone down overnight so I presumed someone had been arsing around the nite before, I had lost hardly any oil - think it was only leaking when the oil was very hot so as long I regularly checked the level on the way home I thought I would be ok. Then just as we were leaving I checked I had my passport – couldn’t find it anywhere in the car as that was the last time I saw it – never mind driving license would have to do!!
First half an hour home was fine, no problems - well until the drivers side indicator decided to disown the car & fly off behind me & smash into a million pieces on the road....never mind if thats the worst that was going to happen then I could live with that....
THEN......another half an hour down the road & suddenly the oil light lit up & the pressure dropped - I slammed the anchors on & pulled over & stopped the engine!!! Thinking that I had probably ran low on oil & checked the level - it had hardly used a drop - so I wondered was it a wiring fault that was just bringing the oil pressure warning light on - I decided to start it up & attempt to drive off - just when I started to drive off it was very obvious that something was wrong as the engine held back & nearly stalled - time to call it a day!!!!
Phoned the RAC straight way so they could get things in motion. 30mins later they phoned back & told me that they couldnt find any record of my European Cover.....BOLLOCKS.......I told them to go away & look again - in the meantime I remembered that I'd got the cover with the AA & not the RAC so got on the blower to the AA instead & they started to get things sorted....about 1hr or so later the recovery truck pulled up and started to winch the car on when a second recovery truck pulled up to do the same - madness!!!
So the recovery truck got us to (funnily enough) a Renault garage in the deserted town of Prum. Where I was then instructed I had to phone up the AA & organize getting the car back & myself, Lambchop Ben home.
The AA offered to sort out a hire car & flights home which was all good until I told them that I couldn’t find my passport and they then told me I would need a document from the police or relevant authorities to get me home stating that basically I wasn’t a terrorist!!! Then we got onto the subject of getting the car home where they started mentioning scrapping it – at this point the converstation between myself & Nicki (firstname terms with the AA bird – good eh!!! NOT!) went from very friendly to very heated – turns out that the AAs policy is that if they do not consider the car to be worth recovering to the UK then they will just scrap the car & get you home!!!!! So after lots of phone calls my case was considered to be borderline as to whether they would ship my car back over!!!
I wasn’t happy with this & wasn’t prepared to leave my car knowing that there was a good chance I wouldn’t see it again – especially due the time, money & effort I’d put into it over the past few weeks and the fact that there are only 46 Quadras left in the UK!!! So it was time for an attempted Plan B.
I have a friend in Belgium so gave him a ring to see if he had any suggestions – he didn’t have a trailor but he went away & made a few phone calls to see what he could sort…..30mins later I got a phone call back telling me that his friend from Holland (who ran a Renault Racing team) had just left from Holland & would be with me in approx 4 hours to pick the car up!!!! AWESOME……big relief there!! Anyway – onto how we would get home.
I rang the hotel we stayed in on the off chance that they may have found my passport, they hadn’t but they said they would go & look for me & for me to phone back in 15mins time. This I did & it was good news – they had found it – one less hurdle to get over – now all we had to do was get it!!! Couple of phone calls to AndyR – and both him & StevenRW were on their way in the hired Mondybus to fetch the passport to us. Top Top people. Anyway whilst we where waiting for them a few more phone calls to the AA and they had sorted a hire car out for us which we would then drive to the airport to catch a flight – this was 50kms away though so we asked could it be delivered. Then the next nearest flight to get us home was at 19:45 the following day so we agreed with the AA that we would spend another night in Nurburg and travel back via Rotterdam/Hull with the remaining ringers – least then we could have a laugh with people we knew.
So when AndyR & StevenRW arrived we packed everything in the MondyBus & they took us back up to Nurburg. I then had to be back at my car when my guy arrived so we could help him load the car & see him off so StevenRW volunteered to drive me back in the Golf to Prum later on that evening which we did at 7:00pm – again – very much appreciated Steve, the drive back to Adenau was very entertaining – we managed an hours journey in 40mins! LOL!
Everything then from this stage on was fine, well it would be with no car to worry about I suppose.
Once back on British soil, a bit of swapping cars between The Diva & StickerPaul got us home safely from the ferry & Lambchop & Ben then drove off home to Scotland where I believe they got home at 8pm last nite!!!
I just want to say a BIG BIG BIG thank you to everyone who helped me in my hour of need from PassionFord especially AndyR, StevenRW & StickerPaul its times like this when you are glad to be in a community such as this, with people willing to go out of their way to help you. I hope that someday I can repay the favour in someway.
Apologies to my passengers Lambchop & Ben for all the cockups during the holiday and for getting them home 2 days later than expected…
As for the car….well at the moment its in Holland waiting to be taken to my mates garage in Belgium where he has offered to strip it & repair it for me and I will go over & help him do this & hopefully bring it back in working order!!! We think its done either a mains or big end bearing.
Roll on the September ring trip!!!! LOL!
Trending Topics
12-04-2007 | 12:54 PM
#12
See what happens when you put Ford parts on your car mate 
I wasn't about to leave you in Germany matey, you'd do the same for me (I hope ) Just glad the car is getting sorted and your home safe.
Well done to Andy & Steven....TOP BLOKES
I wasn't about to leave you in Germany matey, you'd do the same for me (I hope
) Just glad the car is getting sorted and your home safe.Well done to Andy & Steven....TOP BLOKES
12-04-2007 | 02:29 PM
#15
Originally Posted by Shorty
What a hurt, you looked gutted on the ferry Lee 
Sticky
Nice to meet you mate and cheers for the lift
12-04-2007 | 02:40 PM
#16
Jesus 
Alls well that ends well i guess.
I know exactly how you felt when the AA said they could scrap the car as they said the same to me when my cam belt snapped in france on my cossie. Needless to say i got it home after having major rows with them and explianing that my car left the factory as a cosworth and wasnt some chavved up chav mobile from halfords
Alls well that ends well i guess.
I know exactly how you felt when the AA said they could scrap the car as they said the same to me when my cam belt snapped in france on my cossie. Needless to say i got it home after having major rows with them and explianing that my car left the factory as a cosworth and wasnt some chavved up chav mobile from halfords
12-04-2007 | 02:40 PM
#17
I've found that life I needed.. It's HERE!!
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,381
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From: Yeovil, Somerset
Gutted for you Lee after all your hard work getting the car ready for the trip in the 1st place!
At least the cars safe now and you have made it home in one piece
Roll on the next trip eh?
At least the cars safe now and you have made it home in one piece
Roll on the next trip eh?
12-04-2007 | 06:19 PM
#19
a long journey home Lee.
could you not of been towed to the boat though.
at least once you are on it you are ok then from the port etc....
Ring trip part 2 comming up soon......
13-04-2007 | 10:16 AM
#26
Originally Posted by Benny
Brill weekend lads many thanks to all that helped us lot gettin home,
Lee glad it all got sorted in the end dude and cheers for the run back to pool sticky!
Lee glad it all got sorted in the end dude and cheers for the run back to pool sticky!
09-05-2007 | 11:58 AM
#27
Thread Starter
PassionFord Post Whore!!
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Well…..after all the problems I had at the Ring back in April….my car is finally back at home again complete with a freshly rebuilt engine, new T34 turbo, large intercooler, 270deg cam plus a few other goodies.
I flew over on Friday morning to Belgium and spent all bank holiday weekend with my friend over there rebuilding & fitting the engine. The plan was to also remap the car but we had a few issues which prevented us from completing this so that is still to do….still it runs ok for the time being albeit with a high idle @ 1400rpm & 11.4 AFR and bad low down cruising. Covered 540miles home with no real issues.
Reason for my old engine failing was a faulty NEW oil pump, we believe it had seized when it had got warm (due to incorrect tolerances) & because of this it had also it had managed to shear the hexagonal drive going from the front drive to the pump
Couple of pictures of the rebuild & knackered parts …..
Anything to declare sir....my luggage contents on the way out...seals, camshaft, pipes etc etc
Old & new turbo...
Something missing...
Engine nearly ready to fit....
Engine refitted...(05:30am Saturday morning.... YAWN!!!)
Ancillaries fitted with new intercooler etc
Nearly finished...
Knackered oil pump drive...
Bits of thrust washers on a mains cap that wore due to no oil pressure for a matter of minutes....
I cannot thank my Belgium buddy enough for all the help I had off him over the past few weeks....we were up every night till the early hours of the morning just to get it completed so I could get home again!!!
The bad news is the European flywheel & ECUs are different to the UK versions so at some point I need to pull the engine out to change the flywheel etc so I can get the ISCV working & to sort out the mapping!! Ah well...bring on the next Ring trip!!!
I flew over on Friday morning to Belgium and spent all bank holiday weekend with my friend over there rebuilding & fitting the engine. The plan was to also remap the car but we had a few issues which prevented us from completing this so that is still to do….still it runs ok for the time being albeit with a high idle @ 1400rpm & 11.4 AFR and bad low down cruising. Covered 540miles home with no real issues.
Reason for my old engine failing was a faulty NEW oil pump, we believe it had seized when it had got warm (due to incorrect tolerances) & because of this it had also it had managed to shear the hexagonal drive going from the front drive to the pump
Couple of pictures of the rebuild & knackered parts …..
Anything to declare sir....my luggage contents on the way out...seals, camshaft, pipes etc etc
Old & new turbo...
Something missing...
Engine nearly ready to fit....
Engine refitted...(05:30am Saturday morning.... YAWN!!!)
Ancillaries fitted with new intercooler etc
Nearly finished...
Knackered oil pump drive...
Bits of thrust washers on a mains cap that wore due to no oil pressure for a matter of minutes....
I cannot thank my Belgium buddy enough for all the help I had off him over the past few weeks....we were up every night till the early hours of the morning just to get it completed so I could get home again!!!
The bad news is the European flywheel & ECUs are different to the UK versions so at some point I need to pull the engine out to change the flywheel etc so I can get the ISCV working & to sort out the mapping!! Ah well...bring on the next Ring trip!!!
09-05-2007 | 01:44 PM
#30
Originally Posted by StickerPaul
Buy a cossie
Lee
PMSL@luggage! Bet they scrutinised that?
Cant wait for my next spin in the beast
When is the track day in france? Or did you miss it?
09-05-2007 | 02:28 PM
#31
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Didnt scrutinise it at all mate....although the woman did give me a funny look when I lashed it on the conveyer belt and the bag clunked then weighed in at 18kg!!! LOL!
I got stopped at customs on the way home though as they didnt believe my story as to where I'd been & what I was doing...wanted to see receipts for the work that had been done which was a bit tricky seeing as I'd done it myself.....they virtually ripped my whole car apart trying in vain to find something....needless to say they didnt find anything as there was nothing to find find other than a load of car parts......couldnt help but laugh & shake my head at one of the women customs officers lifting a couple of flywheels out of my boot!!
I'm leaving for the France trackday a week on Friday mate!!!
I got stopped at customs on the way home though as they didnt believe my story as to where I'd been & what I was doing...wanted to see receipts for the work that had been done which was a bit tricky seeing as I'd done it myself.....they virtually ripped my whole car apart trying in vain to find something....needless to say they didnt find anything as there was nothing to find find other than a load of car parts......couldnt help but laugh & shake my head at one of the women customs officers lifting a couple of flywheels out of my boot!!
I'm leaving for the France trackday a week on Friday mate!!!
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