Shroud

Once again it's been a while since I've posted, but then nothing much has happened car-wise. I've been on two holidays, my marriage has all but broken up twice & I've met my long lost son - but not much to report car-wise.

However, when I have used the car, I've noticed the oil light come on under hard acceleration, Distressing, as I thought I'd cured this with the sump mods. On the up side, whenever it happened I found the car was low on engine oil & a top-up cured it - for a few weeks.

So why was it using so much oil & where was it going? It wasn't dripping, it didn't seem to be smoking, then I checked the catch tank, it was about full. The catch tank has never filled, even when the car had a cross flow.

Thinking about it, I had removed the enormous Ford oil separator & replaced it with a plate & a banjo fitting, so I looked at that & found a lot of oil inside, could the oil be splashing into the vent & being carried up to the tank by the pressure? There is only a gentle up-hill in the hose, so it was possible.

I thought of putting an expansion tank in the hose run, but that would achieve no more than the catch tank, I thought of another couple of ideas, but went off them. Then I remembered a similar blanking plate for the crossflow. The cheap ones are just a plate, the more expensive ones have an "oil deflector" presumably to stop the oil hitting the seal directly & leaking. What if I put a "shroud" over the vent, to stop the oil splashing onto it directly, only the fumes would get to the vent.

So I found some very thin titanium sheet in the garage & drilled it for the  vent size, then wrapped it round as you see here:-

The fitting is still wire-locked inside the sump so can't come apart, so I'm hopeful this will fix the problem I gave myself (sigh).

Show Business

The Fury's been in three car shows in about a fortnight, the first to by invitation!

There was the Clandon Classic Car Show (in Aid of MacMillan) A baking hot day & I got bored by about 2:00 & left, but there were some interesting cars there including a very standard looking 109e Classic with a Rover V8 superbly engineered into it. Then there was "Wheels Day" at work (in aid of the teenage Cancer Trust) where I gave a very nice young woman a ride round the Research park, she was petite & fitted perfectly in the Fury & giggle appreciatively when I briefly floored it in second. Made an old man very ........ ratty that he's quite so old.

The third show was the "Summer Action Festival" at Castle Coombe race track, the Fury has only been on a race track once, for some slow parade laps at Brands Hatch - & then we were taken off after only two laps when a guy lost the back of his MkII Escort, so this was to be mine & the Fury's first foray.

I arrived way too early, went & got some petrol & when I went back Crunchie had arrived & had made a new friend - a guy who was hard put to believe the Ultima's engine was 7 litres, then enquired if it was a diesel & finally told us that a while ago - some time ago - maybe last year, he'd seen a Ferrari (spoken in hushed tones as if he was describing seeing a dragon).

So, in for breakfast & await the others, the breakfast was good, the café was VERY Irishwith green painted walls & Gaelic proverbs, Guinness posters Leprechauns etc. Strangely the music was mid 50's pop & rock, not the "diddly-diddly" music I would've expected from the décor.

Arriving at the track, Crunchie & I parked on an empty stand next to some other kits. When Neil arrive he commented that we were on the wrong stand & after a short investigation I ascertained that we were, in fact, on the Caterham club stand. We decided that was OK & re-arranged some signs to make it look like we were in the right place.

I took the Fury down for a sound check & was told that it had "just passed" which I took to mean it had just failed but they weren't going to make an issue of it, back to the stand only to realise time was short for my track session, so off to the driver's briefing & dash about to get the car into the queue - where we sat for 40 minutes wondering how they had got so late when they'd only been running for 1 3/4 hours. Perhaps the time slots were organised by a team of doctors?

The track session was OK, quite slippery, but there were only a couple of opposite lock moments, the R888Rs coping admirably & I did get up to 90 at least once (only looked at the speedo once). However, on looking at the video when I got home, it shows me in the wrong bit of the track, in the wrong gear most of the time .

More photos:-

I like 100es - generally I like them more subtle than this one which was a drift car.

 

 
 

An Evening In The Meon Valley

A call went out on the SKCC forum - there was to be an evening blatt, so having got the route I took the long way round to the Shepard & Flock roundabout where Crunchie was already waiting, his newly returned Ultima sitting at the kerbside ticking as it cooled. After a chat the other two in our party turned up & we set off. Luckily I was at the back as my satnav immediately told me to go the wrong way. I ignored it & followed the light-aircraft-grey Ultima.

There was a fair bit of traffic about & it was mostly dawdling, but occasional gaps gave the opportunity to open the car's up a bit. We stopped on a country lane high on a ridge with the sun setting - it was a beautiful spot, but soon enough we were zipped up & back in the cars. there wasn't far to the Pub-With-No-Name (it's called the White Horse) but there was no traffic as we swept through the villages & countryside, the Ultima in these settings looks like it's just arrived from another planet & locals were looking at it bemusedly as it rumbled past.

Then some bikes came from the other direction & in the middle of them was a red Ultima, guess who'd just turned the camera off & thus missed the chance to have a photo of the back of one in focus, with the front of the other blurred - RATS.

We pulled up in the pub car park & went it. I was last in this pub 30 years ago, it seems to have quietened down a little, though maybe that's just because it was a Wednesday. I said to Crunchie that the Ultima sounded really good, when we were accelerating hard I could hear the high pitched whine even over my own car - he said "I wasn't accelerating hard" - Ah.

Was'apnin

Not a huge amount to report, today I went on an SKCC run from Newlands Corner to a pub called "The Bull" near my Dad. They are trying to establish a "breakfast club" type event, so there were a bunch of Hot Rods & yanks from the "Blood sweat & gears" group, four kit cars & a TR4. As the TR4 was being driven by Matt's Dad, the pace was more relaxed than can be the case. The route was pretty good, considering we traversed the South East of England, there was little traffic & plenty of thatched cottages. If it wasn't for the pot-holes I would've thought we were in Devon. Well, the pot holes & the hoards of Lycra Louts cycling four wide & getting in the way. But the pub was good & the car park looked like this:-

Having some time to spare when I got back, I decided to tackle the high idle. The car idles fine when it’s cold, but at about 1200RPM when it’s hot. I’d faffed with things a couple of time with no success & had tried to balance the throttle bodies only the other day, but found that No4 was screwed right in. Thinking about this, I wondered if the wildly over-complex throttle linkage was holding No.4 butterfly slightly open, making the idle screw redundant & meaning there was too much air getting into the engine when all the screws were adjusted to balance No.4. This did indeed seem to be the case, but the engine was still running too fast. Doing a similar adjustment to No.3 made all 4 idle screws effective & had the engine idling nicely at about 900RPM. When I make the new throttle linkage, all this faffing will be a thing of the past – Hurrah!


 

HillClimb!

The forecast hadn’t been good – heavy rain overnight & showers on the day I was booked into the Gurston Down hillclimb school. When I got up the “heavy rain overnight” was just starting & coming from the west – the direction I was going in.

By the time I’d put the soft top & side windows on I was running a little late, by the time I’d turned round & gone back for my wallet & phone I was very late, the SatNav forecasting my arrival time as 09:15 (“Arrive at -8:30 for 09:00”). I decided to dump the plans for a scenic ride & let the SatNav take the direct route, but when I was sat in stationary traffic on the A331 with the car steaming up in spite of having the windows open, the wipers & screen heater on & trying not to breathe I came to rue my decision.

I shall gloss over the hell that was the M3 roadworks in heavy rain, by jiggling the route, I’d got the ETA down to 09:00, which was OK, but hadn’t read the last paragraph of the “GETTING HERE” instructions, which wasn’t. By the time I’d driven through Broad Chalke three times, found the small sign for Gurston Down farm & arrived properly it was 09:10.



Race number & a crash hat!

This didn’t seem to matter to the jovial old sort in a dayglow sou’wester who greeted me in the car-park, waved me into the assigned parking bay & showed me to the official shed for signing on. He even taped the race numbers to the side of the car to save me time. I was asked for the car’s MoT which I’d seen moments before when I got out of the car, but couldn’t find it, fortunately the glowing yellow chap found it still in the car & bought it over.

I was provided with a rather natty multi coloured crash-hat & pointed in the direction of the restaurant where the hill climbing sales pitch drivers briefing was happening. A couple of folks arrived after me, so at least I wasn’t the last.



In the '50s they did kit cars properly ......

....... here's another.

After a detailed description of the track, we were split into groups & taken on a walk along it, with the instructors telling us which cones to aim for, where to brake, where the car should be at any particular point, as well as what ridiculous speed the record holder was doing at that point. After this & another couple of showers, we got in the cars - myself & the ex-colleague I’d gone with struggling to get in wearing a helmet - & followed an instructor car along the track at about ½ race speed, desperately trying to remember where I should be & when. What did bother me was the oil light coming on while accelerating up Deer’s Leap, if this carried on the sensible thing would be to abandon & watch from the side-lines. After arrival at the top we all processed back to the bottom & did that again but faster, again the oil light came on. I thought the problem was the oil was being held in the baffled compartment, but the amount of time I was accelerating uphill meant the engine was using all the oil in that area & the rest was staying at the back. In theory, doing it faster should cure the problem. Hmmm

Then we were let out for real.

Suddenly it all looks different, but I fumbled the car through the bend, & was relieved when the oil light stayed resolutely off. Up at the top I parked in the wrong queue & waited. The car had felt very stable & would carry a lot more speed yet. Convoy back to the bottom & form up (in the right queue), move the GoPro positions, take a few photos, talk to the others a bit, then engines start & we go again.

This time I was able to concentrate on some of the finer points & tried to put the car where it should be & again, the oil light stayed dark. Park at the top, convoy to the bottom, form up. Then the instructors walked the line of cars & gave advice, I was OK through Hollow Bend, good through karousel, not so good through Ashes – but I attributed that to staring at the oil light, not through the screen.

Another couple of runs saw me gaining in confidence, especially round Karousel, which the Fury seemed happy to take in one long drift (or so it felt to me). I still wasn’t getting Ashes quite right though. Back at the bottom & park up in the pits as Lunch was ready. Lunch was good with a choice of puddings (I had TWO) after which with the car slightly heavier we headed back to the track where the sighting & braking cones had been removed. The instructors were still at their vantage points, but now they weren’t looking to give us advice, they were looking to give us points.



Yes, a Panamera.

Well, the last four runs saw me increasing in confidence – even when the door opened at ashes - & having chatted & picked up my certificate (72% - no idea if that’s good or bad), I handed back my crash hat (the woman behind the desk checked it of with my name & "large helmet" which I felt was un-called for) I rushed home to look at the video. The runs aren’t timed, presumably because that would make it a “competition” but I could get a reasonable approximation from the GoPro.

So my run times looked like this:

45s 43s 44s 44s 45s 42s 43s - & the last run wasn't recorded by either camera. So in spite of trying harder & feeling like I was going much much faster, I wasn't. I guess the reason would be I was just trying too hard at times, the earlier runs were smoother, particularly round karousel, where on the last four runs I clipped the curb with the inner rear wheel & set the car wheelspinning.

 

But, the main thing was it was a good experience & the Fury was 5sec faster that my friend’s 1800 MkIII MX5. Looking at some of the previous competition day results, if I could shave another 3 sec off my fastest time, I’d be in among the hill climb Caterhams, which feels about right.

Rogue Runners 2017 Day 7 - Welsh Loop

Another fine sunny day, this has never been known on a Rogue Runners jaunt. Like a twit I didn't make my usual notes when this day was fresh in my mind, so this account might be - short.

We set off from the Hotel & headed south, there were two options, long & short, I think everyone chose the short, since it was still quite long & the sun was already beating down. We headed off into the wilds & were soon passing through wide open spaces & wide blue skies that bore little resemblance to the "normal" idea Wales conjures up.




Next was the Elan Valley. Always an enjoyable road, I think this was the first time I'd seen it dry & by now the sun really was getting hot.

We headed for a lunch stop we've used before at a steam railway. The café is small but busy & has good cake. It also has good plaques - simple things with phrases on, not the usual "You don't have to work here to be mad....." type thing, last year I got my wife one that says "I only have a kitchen because it came with the house" which neatly sums up her attitude to cooking, this year's said "I can't speak Italian, but I'm fluent in Prosecco" - well she liked it anyway.




Quite a lot of protein on the front of the fury

The next thing that stands out was a military road over moorland. It had very good smooth tarmac & for the first couple of miles was dual carriageway. It was only spoiled by the pick-up sticking to the rather low speed limit. After quite a long way it pulled over & the rear mounted camera recorded it turning & going back the way it had come, so whether this was an official rolling road block seems a reasonable question. Then we headed back to the hotel & a cold beer or two!
 



Nice place, it was.........

 






.......... no, we couldn't pronounce it either




 

 

Rogue Runners 2017 Day 6 - Into Wales

Having had trouble sleeping, I then slept through the alarm, but still had time for a breakfast before bidding the folks in the hotel farewell & hitting the road.

The sun was shining brightly as we headed south through some of the places we’d seen on the southern loop & were soon entering one of the Cumbrias - we saw at least three signs welcoming us to Cumbria, all 20 miles apart. Don’t know where we’d been the rest of the time.

Somewhere in this part of the trip (again with me leading) we rounded a corned to find a young woman in HiViz waving her arms above her head. I hit the brakes hard & the cause of her waving turned out to be a junior school sponsored walk - along a B road with no pavement. She waved us forward, I didn't move, she waved us forward again, I pointed out that her colleague at the other end of the troupe had just waved a seven tonner towards us. What I thought had been damsels in distress, turned out to be damsels in dispute. As we passed the class of 8ish year olds they were all quite excited.

We stopped for “lunch” in the same ice cream parlour as we did on the southern loop (the one with THIS castle in the back garden) & headed for the forest of Bowland. This was good news as by now it was hot & some time spent under trees would be welcome, except that “forest” is something of a misnomer as there really aren’t many trees at all. We did find a shady spot for a rest at one point.

At another rest, we pulled up in a village that could’ve been the set for Coronation Street. Solidly built houses with the front doors opening onto the pavement & the locals standing at the front doors chatting.

 

 

 

 

 

By now it was three in the afternoon & really quite uncomfortably hot, so a while dicing with death on the M6 increased the airflow & was quite welcome, we were not so happy about the traffic jam afterwards. Sitting next to a hot transmission tunnel with the sun beating down is not a good place to be.



Ribblehead Viaduct on the horizon.

At one stage the traffic moved from two lanes into one. Cars were queuing on the inside lane, the outside lane was shorter. One of our group went up the outside lane – sensible in my opinion as it keeps the tailback short & not blocking any previous junctions. I went to follow him, quick-as-a-flash a guy in a non-descript rep-mobile moved into the outside lane to halt my progress. Not to be out-done I mirror-signal-manoeuvred into the space he has vacated & wouldn’t let him back in.

He wasn’t a happy bunny, but I was the one complying with the highway code after all.

By the time we reached the hotel we were all rather overwrought – except for the man in the air-conditioned Toyota of course. We were given our keys & as seems to be some kind of rule in the hotel industry, I was given a room in the eves up three flights of stairs & through at least 4 fire doors – by the time I got to it I’m not sure I was still in Wales.

Being in the eves, under a dark Welsh slate roof, my room was stifling, but I opened a window in the corridor, the one in the room & propped the room door open & a breeze soon flowed. A cold beer helped too.