Arwel

I haven't put much time into the little Fiesta lately but we cracked on with it on Saturday and got the engine out as it needs a rebuild. It always had a little rattle from the top and we found a loose timing chain follower which solves that. However it used a lot of oil on the rally we did in April and a compression test showed that cylinder 4 was 50psi down on the others so we decided to give it a refresh now and add a few more goodies for some more power. Im hoping for a quickish turnaround to get the car back up and running and put some miles on it before its used in competition again.
P.s, Sorry about all the other photos, Photobucket has had a meltdown so Im starting again on Imgur.

Arwel

Some more updates over the weekend. Engine now completely stripped down and the clean up has began. The big end bearings were toast and we were very lucky not to have a really broken engine on our hands. So new parts will be ordered this week and hopefully next weekend we can start putting it back together.

Arwel

The engine has now been fully rebuilt and is back in the car. We've done some modifications to the head and exhaust so we are hoping for a little bit more power. Initial start up was fine with no nasty noises any more so its a case of so far so good. There's a few jobs left to do before its ready for the running in period but all being well it will be on the road by the weekend.
My plan is to break it back in gently for a few hundred miles and then begin testing as we are doing a road rally on the 4th of November.

Arwel

Quick little update. Did a very gentle 10 miles on Sunday afternoon and on return to the garage we had a little oil leak. More concerning however was a rattle coming from the head. We are hoping its a clearance issue with the valve buckets but will need investigating to find out what it is. Not ideal but rather it happen now than in 2 weeks when the rally is. More updates to follow once we've got to the bottom of the problem.

Arwel

Problem solved last night, turned out the noise wasn't coming from the head but was actually coming from the waterpump. A bolt had worked its way loose and was allowing it to rattle when warming up. A quick adjustment and re tighten everything and all is well again. Couldn't find any signs of an oil leak so it could just be some old oil dripping off the bottom of the engine. Everything was cleaned up and we shall keep an eye on it. But now I can carry on with some running in and then some testing.

Arwel

Had a bit of a productive week so far. Put some good mileage on the car and done some testing in the local lanes ahead of the road rally this weekend. All is well so just an oil change, swap wheels and a wash and a check over and we shall be all set to go. We've been seeded car 50 on this weekends Powys Lanes road rally and we are first away in class. Quick snap below of it in standing out in the works car park.

PaulinhoT

Looking good, and have a good weekend

gcfcos

Looks great, have a good time bet your excited about getting out there

Arwel

So the weekend didn't quite go to plan. Started off very well in what were very challenging conditions. I've never driven on surfaces so slip as they were covered in hail stoned, leaves, mud and water. Despite this we set a decent pace and caught the car ahead of us during the first section.
Unfortunately the second section didn't go so well. We got the car stuck in a ditch which cost us 10 minutes in trying to escape it. In an effort to try and claw back some time we pushed on hard over the next few miles which included going through a farm yard and down a farm track. The farm track was to be our undoing as it proved to be quite rough, combined with my extra enthusiasm behind the wheel trying to claw back time, we hit a large rock or a step in the track which bent the suspension arm. With one wheel pointing in the wrong direction we limped to the end of the section and retired.
Not the way it was planned to go but that is rallying for you. We shall replace the damaged parts and some strength to the new ones to prevent it happening again and we are aiming to compete in December on Jaffa Stages in Pembrey.

Arwel

Had a quick clean and check over the weekend. Found the culprit so will get some replacement parts this week now and get it all sorted. One or two little jobs to do as well so it'll all be sorted before the next rally. Will be possibly doing a test day with a friend of mine next month to get some more seat time as im still a little low on mileage in the car at the moment.

Arwel

Finally managed to spend some time on the car over the weekend. Steering arm now replaced and all is well again. A quick spin down the road just to confirm everything was straight and job done. It will have a proper deep clean in the next week or so now and a spanner check ahead of the WWRS Jaffa stages at Pembrey on the 30th and we'll be hoping for an enjoyable trouble free day.

Arwel

We started at car 29 on the WWRS Jaffa Stages on the 30th of December. Conditions were very tricky with not much grip and lots of standing water. Added to that we are using a standard gearbox with no LSD we knew we would struggle for pace.
SS1 was taken cautiously to suss out the conditions and it left us down in 41st position and 10th in our class. SS2 we upped the pace a little and climbed 10 places one stage to reach 31st and 6th in our class. I was getting more confident and set my self a target of top 20 overall and try and crack the top 3 in our class.
Unfortunately it all went a bit wrong on SS3 where a little too much speed through a rough section saw us puncture the front right tyre, I didnt notice until attempting to slow and turn for a tight right hand corner where the car didnt want to do what I wanted it to do. All I could do was grab the handbrake and attempt to turn it in but we ran out of road, hit a kerb and bent something on the rear. Hoping its just a stub axle but could well need a new rear beam. A strip down will start in the next week or so.
The car was crying out for a LSD in the slippy conditions so the plan is to source one sooner than intended.
Here is some incar form SS2 which give a good indication of the conditions.

Arwel

Just a couple of images from the last rally. Due to spectator safety, the movement of speccys is very restricted so we have lost some of the more picturesque photos that we used to get from other locations within the venue.

Arwel

New rear beam has been fitted, I also collected a front bumper over the weekend which will get prepped for paint this weekend coming now so the car will be all re prepped and ready to go again by the end of February. Not sure on what event will be next as we are still deciding what to do.