The Build
Preparation
Getting Started
The Chassis
The Bodywork
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
RSS feed
Racing
Anglesey June '08
Cadwell July '08
Click here to receive automatic notification when the site gets updated.
Wednesday 9th April, 2008
Been away on hols so no progress for a while till this evening. Before I went away I spoke to Pace who confirmed that the kit TTS supplied (i.e. mine) was made by them and that they do a direct bolt-on replacement -16 spigot for the sump pan, So I ordered one of those which arrived the next day. I also had a reply from Neil at Muffett telling me how to identify the gears I have in the diff - just need to remove the front inspection cover and identify the markings. Also called in to JTs and ordered the gear position switch, new banjo bolt and a couple of aluminium washers.
Now back from hols I have the replacement spigot from Pace, the bits from JTs and some helicoils from a seller on eBay, also a set of stainless engine casing screws from someone else on eBay.
This evening I fitted the gear position switch, securing all the bolts with some threadlock, then fitted the 6mm helicoil to the clutch cover. I also tapped the cylinder head where the engine mounting bolt had stripped but when I tried to improvise by fitting the coil with needle nosed pliers the tang at the end broke off prematurely so I had to pull it out again. I'll come up with another cunning plan before I have another go.
Here's the shiny new gear position switch:
There's another Motorsport Events trackday at Pembrey at the end of the month and it would be really nice to get the car ready in time for that ...
Thursday 10th April, 2008
After a chat with Andy I cleaned out the threads and had another go with the pliers. Nearly got there but then it broke off again. Down to my last 8 helicoils now ... so decided to cut a slot in the end of an 8mm bolt and this worked a treat. I then reattached the engine mount bracket and tightened the bolts up.
I need to get the replacement gear set ordered for the diff tomorrow, so I set to on the diff next. First had to remove the tunnel panels, then remove the propshaft which was of course a bit of a bugger. The bolts won't slide out because of the UJs getting in the way, you you need to slacken them all off at once and gradually pull the shaft away from the diff flange. Also can't get at all the bolts without turning the thing which means rolling the car back and fore so it took ages.
Once the prop was off I removed the flange nut and flange then had to work out how the diff front cover comes off. Turns out it's 10 tiny studs and nuts and my 1/4" drive socket was too large an external diameter to fit in the recess. Fortunately the new 3/8" drive set I bought had a 7mm socket with a smaller OD and this fitted nicely. Fiddly getting them all out but got there in the end. It looked like it should just slide off but it of course didn't want to budge. After a few gently persuading taps with the rubber hammer I heard the sound change and sure enough I could just move the top edge with my fingers. By now the bottom edge was swimming in nice smelly diff oil so it was dificut prising it off. After cleaning it up a bit I finally managed to get it to move and could slide the front cover off the shaft. Sure enough the gear on the input shaft came off freely, its partner stayed put as it was held on by a circlip. Neil at Muffett had said it should have a marking on it, he expected a 3 which meant a 3.38 ratio. In fact mine has 4A stamped on it, presumably it's a higher ratio, meaning lower gearing on the road. I'll give him a bell in the morning and see what the situation is regarding availability and pricing of an alternative set.
The diff business probably took me the best part of 2 hours unfortunately so that was that for the night. I can carry on over the weekend getting the engine rebuilt, I think it's probably best to get the valve shims done first. Partly because it's generally best to get the jobs you don't want to do out of the way first and partly as it's easier turning the engine over without the clutch attached. Once the shims are done there isn't much left - refit the clutch, then starter motor, then replace the sump. Should all be fairly straightforward. Famous last words ...
Here's the freshly helicoiled cylinder head engine mount:
Friday 11th April, 2008
I was hoping to get a bit of work done early this morning but ended up with a plumbing leak which needed over an hour and a trip to B&Q to sort. I was done by just after 9, so I gave Muffett a ring but Neil was with a customer so I left a message for him to ring me back. Then I had to go to the dentist :-(
After a missed call in the dentist I rang Neil back when I got home which was a bit interesting with a numb mouth. He was very helpful and said the ratio I had in there was 3.6 which explains my low gearing. Ratios available include 3.38, 3.25, 3.06 and 2.7 and he had them all in stock. Apparently I should have had a set of 4 pairs with the diff but obviously Martin never passed them on to me which is a real pity. Neil reckoned at most circuits the RGB Class A Busas were using 3.25 but I opted to go for the 3.06 as I'm not really that bothered if I can't quite max out top gear. It's difficult to say what speed I was doing at Llandow but I'd guess probably about 110mph, and based on that the 3.06 should give me just over 130 which should be fine. Sadly it's £80 for a pair of the gears but to be honest I'd expected a bit more so not too worried. I also ordered a new gasket since the old one came apart when I pulled the cover off. They should be here tomorrow or Monday. I'd been a bit worried that they might not have had them in stock which would have meant either foregoing Pembrey or sticking the old gears back in.
I stuck a spreadsheet together with the primary drive and gear ratios from the Haynes manual which with the calculated wheel circumference from the DigiDash calculator worked out at a top speed of 112 at 10krpm with the 3.6 diff which confirmed my guesstimate. According to this the 3.06 should give me 132 in top with an increase from 44 to 52 in 1st gear so not really compromising first gear getaways too much. My R1's geared to pull 100 in first!
I only managed an hour or so in the garage - got the camshafts off again. It only took half an hour or so second time round. When I measured the clearances I wrote them all down on a piece of paper, I brought that out and stuck them all in a spreadsheet so I can measure the shims and stick their thicknesses in the table to work out which ones I can move around to solve the problem. Looking at them the exhaust valve clearances are all 0.23 - 0.25mm (supposed to be 0.2 - 0.3) and the inlets are all 0.1 - 0.18 (0.1 - 0.2) so I do wonder if when the engine's manufactured the inlet shims are all one thickness with the exhaust all another. Hopefully I've just transposed an inlet shim for an exhaust shim.
I also had a quick look at the diff. The front cover's held on with 10 nuts on studs and one of the studs had come out with the nut still on it so I cleaned that up, stuck some threadlock on it and tightened it back in again. Hopefully it'll set overnight and the nut will come off.
Saturday 12th April, 2008
Nice early start in the garage this morning. Took out the offending shims to find indeed that the exhaust shim on No. 4 that was tight was indeed 0.28mm and the intake on No. 2 was a 0.262mm. All the remaining exhaust shims were between 0.258 and 0.262mm, so I stuck the 0.28 shim in the No. 2 inlet and juggled a couple of the exhaust ones round to optimise all the clearances.
Once this was done it was a matter of going through the routine of aligning the timing marks, replacing the camshafts and their holders, torquing down all their bolts, and replacing the camchain tensioner. I then rechecked the valve clearances and all are now comfortably in range. Well pleased! I then replaced the cam cover and timing inspection cover and went inside for breakfast and to warm up - it's pretty cold this morning.
With the top end done I could now get on with the rest of the bits. Reinstalling the clutch and starter gear and starter motor was all straightforward. I then turned the engine over and replaced the idle gear cover inside the sump, then replaced the sump. It's already got 2 gaskets, one either side of the mesh plate, but I decided to add another one. The replacement oil pump pickup tube seems slightly proud and it seems the sump pan has to flex slightly to tighten the screws all around which can't be a good thing.
Next job was to swap the inlet spigot over which I thought would just be a case of unscrewing the old and screwing on the new, but sadly it wasn't to be. The flanges are actually different with different hole spacing. So I had to carefully mark, drill and tap 2 holes to suit the new one. This took a little while but the end result was OK. The pics below show the old one, the new one and with one of the Pro Gold fittings attached - much less likely to leak than the previous push on hose with a jubilee clip.
With the sump done it was time to refit the oil scavenge pump and clutch slave cylinder. These have to be done together as you can't get at one of the pump screws with the clutch cylinder in situ. Previously I'd had a problem with the clutch, when I put it together originally I was never happy with the way the cylinder met the pushrod - the pushrod had a convex end which met a convex ball bearing type thing in the middle of the piston. The replacement pushrod Powertec supplied has a concave end which then locates much more securely on this. It was a bit too long though so I temporarily took the piston out, removed the spring then replaced the piston and fitted the cylinder with the old rod so I could measure the correct length. A couple of minutes with the grinding wheel had it chopped down and the end rounded off and I could replace the spring in the cylinder and fit the thing.
Last job here was to refit the metal pipes between scavenge pump and sump which went without problem. I then refitted the throttle bodies, coolant hose and the oil hose. Pretty much ready to go back on. I still need to block off the PAIR ports but otherwise the engine's ready to go back in.
Sunday 13th April, 2008
First job today was a bit of vehicle juggling. I needed to get the Aprilia out to give it a wash as it's currently up for sale. I also wanted the Ferrari out of the garage for access for the engine crane.
I was thinking of trying to block up the existing PAIR tubes, or making aluminium plates to go under them to block off the ports. then had a cunning plan - I could tap the holes and stick a screw in. A quick inspection revealed that they're already threaded! So 5 minutes later each port has a 6mm stainless button head screw in it. Job done! Blocking them off means I also get to ditch the associated gubbins.
After a bit more clearing and sweeping I jacked the chassis up and stuck it on axle stands - it makes for less bending over and means I can get underneath more easily to connect up the bottom oil hose, propshaft etc. David gave me a hand lifting the engine off the bench and once it was strapped to the crane he gave me a hand guiding it into the engine bay. This all went pretty smoothly and soon all the mounting bolts were secured.
I started connecting up the various electrical connectors, hoses etc. I wanted to fit the Pro Gold fitting on to the end of the bottom hose but couldn't get the aluminium olive off it without wrecking it, so I'll need to order another one from Rally Design.
I managed to get most of the rest of the work done - sensors connected up, clutch reconnected and bled, throttle cable refitted, manifold refitted, fuel lines reconnected etc. Basically I got everything done that I could - I can't do any more till I get the braided hose connector olive (ordered one online from Think Automotive), the gear set from Muffett and more oil and antifreeze. Pretty pleased with the weekend's progress, should only be a half day's work now to get it completed.
Sunday 20th April, 2008
No updates since last weekend cos I've been working away. I got back from Croydon latish last night so couldn't get on with anything till this morning.
Assembling the oil hose didn't take long and it was easy enough to fit. I then stuck some oil in and turned the engine over without spark plugs in. I couldn't see an oil pressure reading cos the voltage drop from the starter was killing the DigiDash which kept rebooting. I could see oil recirculating through the sump tank though. I stuck some coolant in and had to nip out to get the jerry cans full of petrol - having a teenager with a moped and an off-sroader means my jerry cans mysteriously seem to empty themselves.
With some petrol in the tank I fitted the spark plugs, switched the ignition on, took a deep breath and pressed the starter button. You never really know what to expect - having had the engine completely in bits all over the garage floor you can't help feeling that there are so many little things you could get wrong that it would be a miracle if it all just worked. But it did! No throttle, fired immediately and settled into a lumpy tickover. I increased the idle speed a bit and she seemed fine. Oil pressure 65 psi at 1200rpm. As she warmed up I reduced the tickover back down and watched the fluid temperatures rise. There was a bit of smoke as all the bits of oil on the exterior of the engine and manifold burnt off but no visible oil or coolant leaks. A few gentle blips of throttle and the engine responded nicely, running very smoothly and quietly. Oil pressure fell at idle as she warmed up but it looks like everything's fine. Well chuffed!
So by mid-morning all that was remaining was to fit the diff gears, refit the propshaft and tunnel panels then lower her off the stands and get her out onto the drive to make sure everything was working OK. This is where things started to go wrong. First I struggled for ages to get the circlip holding one of the replacement gears on. My circlip pliers are for internal circlips and this was a circlip going onto a shaft. In the end I gave up and went to Halfords for another set of circlip pliers. With these it went on OK but I couldn't get the sliding gear back in properly - the fork that slides it between forwards and reverse seemed jammed. Its shaft goes into a hole in the diff and I guessed the detent mechanism had got jammed. It turned out this was the case - I ended up having to pull it out completely and saw that there was a spring jammed in there. The shaft runs in a longitudinal tunnel and on top of the diff overlying this there's a threaded plug with a locknut so I figured that was the where the detent was housed - probably a spring and ball bearing. The shaft has 2 grooves around it for the detent to engage in. What had happened was that I'd let the shaft come too far out, the ball bearing had been pushed down by its spring behind the shaft then when I'd tried to push the shaft back in it had pushed the ball bearing further in along the tunnel and jammed the spring. I poked an allen key down the detent hole which managed to dislodge the spring but it went the wrong way down the tunnel and neither it nor the ball bearing that I presumed had to be there were anywhere to be seen.
An inspection with the torch revealed that the tunnel ran straight back into the main diff housing, so I not only had a non-functioning detent but more worryingly a loose ball bearing and spring rattling round in there. After a bit of head scratching I realised there was no alternative but to remove the diff and partially dismantle it to get the ball bearing and spring out :-( There are no drain plugs or inspection covers on the main section of the diff. No golf for me this afternoon then ...
Getting the diff out was a real pain. I had to take the wheels off, undo the top wishbones and coilovers, get the handbrake cable out of the way and undo the lobro or cv joints or whatever they are at the diff end of the drive shafts. Getting the threaded bars holding the diff in was difficult too mainly due to the restricted access - when I fitted it originally there were no wishbones in the way, no fuel tank, fuel hoses etc. It was late afternoon by the time the diff was on the bench.
I was quite worried about dismantling the diff to be honest, I had horrible visions of slackening bolts off and spring loaded parts pinging out everywhere. First I had to remove the flanges holding the output shafts/flanges on. There were 6 hefty allen bolts and 4 nuts on studs holding the main diff body together and when they were undone it came apart quite easily. Fortunately both the drive flanges and the main joint had recessed rubber oil seals so no gaskets to worry about. There wasn't a lot in there really - a big single differential unit with a big bearing on each side which engaged with a helical gear on the front end where the input shaft came in. And of course a little spring and a ball bearing. With them removed I cleaned the mating faces and refitted the diff halves back together and torqued up the bolts/nuts, followed by refitting the output flanges with a bit of silicon sealant.
With the diff on the bench refitting the change gears and selector fork assembly was easy enough and I refitted the detent ball and spring and adjusted the threaded plunger to get the right amount of resistance to the shift. I refitted the front of the case followed by the input flange with a bit of sealant in the splines and some threadlock on the retaining nut. I'd made a tool to hold the alternator rotor and used that to hold the flange so I could torque up the nut then refilled it with oil.
It's quite a heavy unit and getting it back into the chassis was hard work and required a bit of help from David. With the diff bolted back in I reassembled the suspension and loosely fitted the drive shafts to the diff flanges. I'd run out of time by now and had to tidy up. Most of the work's done though and all I need to do is fit the 3 studs and nuts securing the drive shafts each side with some threadlock, refit the handbrake cable, then refit the propshaft.
I'd noticed a slight leak of petrol from the breather outlet on the fuel tank, it's a 90 degree threaded union and when I tightened it the leak got worse! On closer inspection the threads were knackered and when tightened the nut was twisting. I'll need to order a new union, just need to look through my invoices to see what size it is.
Monday 21st April, 2008
I got the driveshafts bolted back on tonight, then refitted the propshaft, reverse lever, handbrake cable and rear wheels. I also refitted the speedo sensor which had stopped working at Llandow as one of the plastic nuts had vibrated off it and it had fallen off its mount. I used the DigiDash calculator to work out the correct settings for the speedo and while the engine was warming up at idle I input the correct settings. All looked OK and I took it up through the gears while still on the axle stands. The speedo readings looked much more realistic and I definitely had 6 gears, they were also being displayed correctly by the dash. I don't seem to have a neutral light but I'm not worried about that for now - I maybe don't have it connected up as I knew I had a non-functioning gear position switch.
I couldn't get it to come back down the gearbox as the lever had slipped on the splines but that was soon fixed.
So, all seems to be functioning OK, but when I got out and had a look there was a bit of oil under the car. After cleaning it up I couldn't really see where it was from and it was time to go in so I decided to leave that for tomorrow.
Tuesday 22nd April, 2008
Well, bad news and good news this evening. The bad news is I'm a cretin. The good news is I got under the car to find that I hadn't tightened any of the alternator cover screws! I then remembered that I'd only loosely fitted it in anticipation of getting the replacement stainless screws. A few minutes later they were all tightened and I had the engine running to get it warmed up. Meanwhile I cleared the bikes from in front of the Fury and made room to get it out of the garage. Checked underneath and all was looking good so I switched off and lowered her off the axle stands. I'd forgotten how much of an on/off switch the clutch is, made worse by a very sensitive throttle, so I stalled a couple of times till I got the hang of using quite a lot of revs and gently easing the clutch out. No dramas after that though, I happily took her up and down the drive a few times making sure the reverse worked OK etc. The speedo still isn't calibrated right though, I even wondered if it's actually showing double the true speed. The DigiDash has 2 numbers to input, one for speedo calibration the other for gearbox. I fiddled about with them a bit but it's difficult to see exactly what the relationship is. I'll give ETB a ring today and see what they say. Interestingly she still seems quite low geared, but at least now second gear gets her up to what feels like maybe 35-40mph with about half revs which is much more usable. It's actually geared a bit lower in reverse, quite fun getting into 3rd gear in reverse on a 100m drive! Quite interesting too when you're a bit clumsy with the throttle in 3rd gear in reverse and getting wheelspin!
Wednesday 23rd April, 2008
I checked the DigiDash settings this morning and it looks like I've been putting the wrong ones in - the software had the wrong tyre sizes in. I do remember putting the right ones in but must not have saved the configuration. I corrected that and tried connecting the dash to the laptop but with no joy. Spoke to ETB today who confirmed the serial to USB cable I'm using should be OK. Looks like I'll need to send the dash back, they'll also update the firmware for free, I'll just need to pay the postage. They have a turnaround time of about a week so I'll hang on until after the weekend at least.
I didn't get much else done this evening - I still have any annoying little oil leak. Nothing at all when cold but when hot there are a couple of drips.I'll need to see if I can get the offending cover off and reseal it with some silicon. I did actually use new gaskets so I'm a bit puzzled as to why it's leaking.
Thursday 24th April, 2008
My cunning plan last night was that I was going to tackle the oil leaks this evening by simply whipping off the starter clutch cover and the alternator cover, clean u the surfaces and reseal with some silicon gasket sealant. Sadly I realised there was a flaw - the alternator cover is about an inch away from the passenger footwell bulkhead so no room to actually remove it. And because of the magnet it won't be possible to just pull it away an inch - it's quite difficult to move. It's only a tiny drip of oil but I decided it needed tackling for several reasons. One, I'm simply not happy with it leaking. Two, even a small leak is bad news at a trackday. For some reason they aren't keen on people dribbling oil allover the place. Three, a tiny drip when the oil temp is 30° becomes a much bigger flow when the engine gets hot and oil temp is getting towards 100°. So I decided last night that I had to bite the bullet - the engine needs to come out. That way I can see the mating surfaces properly and get the joints securely sealed. So at lunchtime I popped to the motor factors for some more sealant, some threadlock and some more diff oil - I was about 100mls short when I refilled it.
By the time I got into the garage and got the Ferrari and stuff out of the way it was 8 o'clock already. I got the car up on axle stands and set about draining the oil first. Then disconnecting electrics, oil hoses, manifold, gear linkage etc. Once the oil was all drained and the hoses out of the way I drained the coolant, then disconnected the fuel lines and plugged the ends with 10mm bolts. Disconnect the clutch hose, undo the engine mounting bolts then get the strop on for the crane. David came out just on cue to help me guide it out of the engine bay and we rested it on the floor behind the car so I could get all the other stuff back in. Done and tidied up by 9.30pm, not bad. I'm off tomorrow so plan an early start - the Motorsport Events website is still showing spaces available at Pembrey on Sunday and once I'm confident I've got the leaks sorted I can commit myself and ring up to book in. The forecast's pretty crap but to be honest, I don't care :-) My mate James was round last night and he fancies coming along. He noticed something I hadn't consciously been aware of - the engine was sounding much better than it was before the rebuild. Smoother and no popping or banging any more. I suspect that's to do with the PAIR system being removed and the ports blocked off.
Friday 25th April, 2008
I was out in the garage at 6 this morning. I started with the starter clutch cover, removing it, cleaning up the mating surfaces and the gasket before putting a bead of silicon sealant on each mating surface with the gasket between. The crankcase mating surface at the bottom has signs of damage, presumably from some oaf prising the cover off with a screwdriver instead of using the tabs that are cast into the edge of the cover. Once that was done I turned the engine round and did the same with the alternator cover.
Installation was the reverse of removal, as they say. It all went pretty well and by just before 10 I had the engine reinstalled, all the plumbing and wiring done, fluids in and fired up again. All seemed dry underneath. I nipped in for a while and rang Motorsport Events to book a place on Sunday.
Funnily enough I umm'd and aah'd a while when I bought the engine crane -they aren't cheap and they're big and bulky and take up quite a bit of room even when folded, but they make very light work of manoevring a heavy lump into and out of a confined space. Fabulous bit of kit.
I then got on with a few other jobs. The postman had arrived with the fuel tank breather union from Think Automotive along with a packet of stainless buttonhead screws I'd ordered from Tifosi - I was a bit short on the 5mm screws for the tunnel panels. After fitting the fuel union I connected up the neutral light wire to find that it still didn't work, despite having a brand new gear position switch in there. I tested out the wires in accordance with Mr. Haynes' finest instructions to find it wasn't working. I'll have another look in the manual, maybe there was another it missing between the switch and the selector drum. I managed to get the brakes bled - I can't remember why I had it on my to do list from months ago, I suspect because the only fuid I had when I first did it was some cheapo Carlube stuff. Also checked all the tyre pressures, labelled the switches on the dash discovering in the process that the horn didn't work. That was mostly to do with the earth from the horn button not being connected ...
I then left the engine running for a while to get it up to temperature - it takes ages. The water gets to temp within a few minutes but the oil takes forever - there's about 8 litres or maybe more swiching round in there via the oil cooler, dry sump tank etc. After 15 minutes or so it was up to almost 40° by which time there were a couple of spots of oil on the floor. Grrrrr ... the starter clutch cover was fine, there was a tiny drip from the 1" hose from tank to sump and a little drip again from the alternator cover. The sump hose was soon sorted by just tightening up the connection a bit more. Looking at the alternator cover the oil didn't seem to be appearing from the joint but from the bottom screw hole. One of the screws on the starter clutch cover has a sealing washer but there's no mention of one for the alternator cover. I removed it and stuck a load of silicon on the threads and refitted it. All dry until the engine was run again when it seeped a bit again. I gave up at this stage, I'll have another fiddle tomorrow - if it is coming via the screw hole it can't be too difficult a fix and won't require removing the cover again. I'll try sealing it with some hylomar and a washer.
So, we're almost good to go. Apart from the screw I just need to refit the tunnel panels, check the trailer's all OK and get all my tools and stuff together tomorrow ready for Sunday morning. The weather forecast's terrible but I'm not bothered. I need to bed the engine in anyway and being wet will keep the speeds and temperatures down.
Saturday 26th April, 2008
Just tinkering mainly today. Sealed the casing screw first, then topped up the diff oil. I'd noticed a bit of play on the rear hubs the other day and decided the hub nuts needed tightening. Only problem is I don't have a 41mm socket. Which is probably why they weren't tightened in the first case. Rang round a few local places and the only place that had one was Swansea Fasteners - they only had a 3/4" drive version - £23 + VAT, and £17 + VAT for the 1/2" adapter. So it was an easy decision to nip to the local garage and borrow one instead. The left side one took almost a full turn, the right half a turn.
Before refitting the tunnel panels I adjusted the handbrake, then redid a couple of rivnuts that had pulled out or stripped. Once the panels were done it was back in with the harnesses and seats. I tidied up a bit of the under bonnet wiring, refitted the bodywork then got it out onto the drive for David to have a go. He stalled it. Lots of times. In fairness, I still do - the best way to do it is with lots of revs, slip the clutch a lot then dump it when you're rolling, which is fine when you aren't in a confined space. It's very dusty after sitting in the garage for months so it got a quick wash, then I stuck on some of the decals I bought off eBay a couple of months ago.
She's all set to go now, the trailer's out ready, just need to load up the tools etc into the Cayenne in the morning.
Sunday 27th April, 2008
They seemed to have got the weather forecast right - the day started very grey and damp, quite still but with a light rain and very low cloud. Signing on was from 8am so I was up at 6 getting everything organised - jacks, tools, jerry cans, spare screws/nuts, oil etc. I'd got the trailer out onto the drive the evening before and at 7am I got the Fury out of the garage and onto the trailer as quietly as I could. But it's difficult! At 7.30 David and I set off to pick up James (my mate with the GSXR 1000). We got to Pembrey at about 8.15 and James and I signed on - David was apprehensive about driving I think mainly because of lack of familiarity with the car. Also the go he'd had on the drive yesterday to familiarise himself with the clutch hadn't helped!
After Ed Moore's usual fairly length briefing (we all accept that it needs to be aimed at the lowest common denominator) we went out and got the car ready. The first hour was split into 3 sessions, each of which had 3 familiarisation laps behind Ed's van. We were in the first session so I drove and James passengered. The rain had stopped but the track was very wet and as soon as the pace picked up a bit there was loads of spray. I was really taking it very easy as it was very difficult to know how much grip you had and the Yokohama A048's aren't known for their progressive nature in the wet. It was just as well I was taking it easy as after a few laps I was coming into Esses, went for the brake to find it wasn't there. Just a big space where the brake pedal should be! I banged it down a gear and got round the corner with no problem, stuck my right indicator on and limped my way back around to the pit lane. Later in the day Esses would be well up the rev range in 4th gear, probably around 70-80mph. Back in the paddock I peered down the footwell to see the pivot bolt had come out. It has a nyloc nut on the end and I guess there wasn't enough thread in the nylon bit. I didn't have a longer bolt that size so I stuck some threadlock on and tightened it right up. I hadn't tightened it right up before to avoid it binding the pedal but the spindle the bolt goes through is actually a bit longer then the bush so I tightened it right up as hard as I could.
By the time I'd done all that the third session as out so I got ready to go out again. Once they came in the day was open pit lane, meaning you could come and go as you pleased, traffic allowing. Last time we were here there was quite a bit of queueing but there seemed to be less cars here today, probably 40-odd, so when they opened it up I went straight out. The car was going great, engine fine, handling and brakes fine. The track was still very wet and I was taking it very easy, short shifting to let the engine bed in a bit. I'd set the DigiDash shift lights to turn red at 7,000rpm but I have trouble seeing the shift lights as they're obscured by the steering wheel unless I try to slump down in the seat a bit.
I was letting a lot of traffic past me - there were some quicker cars out, including a pair of GT3s, one a white and red RS. The driver of the RS clearly knew how to pedal it but was a bit on the aggressive side and had a habit of suddenly appearing right up behind you and starting to look up the wrong side as if to overtake up there. Overtaking's strictly on the left at Pembrey - and supposed to be by consent. I always let folks through as soon as I see them - apart from good manners I can do without the added pressure of someone right up my chuff when I trying to keep an eye on my rpm, oil temp and pressure etc. By the time I came back in the oil pressure was still under 50°. I checked the brake pedal bolt again which was fine.
By my third session I was starting to relax and enjoy myself. The line was starting to dry out a little bit with no more standing water and out of the hairpin at Hatchett's it was quite good fun giving it a big right foot in 2nd and drifting it out sideways. I was still being very careful round the faster part of the circuit. During the early sessions there were at least 3 spinners at the Honda curve onto the start/finish straight.
Lunchtime seemed to arrive quite quickly and by now the cloud was lifting and there was a definite dry line appearing. Over lunch the sun came out and by the time we went back out it was nice and warm and the track was dry. James decided to have his first drive. He could barely reach the pedals so we had to stick some padding down behind him. He's an experienced superbike rider but has never driven a car on track, and driving a bike engined car for the first time is a tricky enough affair anyway. He was going relatively slowly and was concentrating on driving so wasn't quite as aware of cars behind him as I was which resulted in Ed having a little word as we came off the circuit. I was surprised how comfortable I was in the passenger seat - I suppose not being near the limit helped a lot but the foam seats certainly work well with the 6 point harnesses.
As the afternoon went by I was going progressively more quickly and the weather opened up - there was still a cool breeze but it was a gloriously sunny afternoon. I reset the shift lights to 8,500rpm which by the late afternoon gave me and indicated max speed of 121mph. I was managing the gentle right hand curve of Woodland either flat in 5th or short shifting into 6th at about 105mph and was managing 75-80mph around the apex of the Honda curve. I was wondering if I could carry a bit more round there till my last session when Alan was behind me in his TVR - he said my inside front wheel was airborne around there. So probably not much more speed to be had then! I stayed out longer this time which resulted in the oil temperature peaking at 80° with fairly low pressure at low rpm on the way in.
James had a final session at 4.30 which I think he enjoyed much more - he was taking much better lines, using all the track and went very well. This was only 10 minutes after I'd come in and from the passenger seat I was watching the oil temp and pressure which were absolutely fine - the oil temp actually came down during the session as the car wasn't being driven so hard.
We then got the car back on the trailer and headed home. I was very pleased, it had all gone very well and the car works well and is very quick. There are a few things I need to sort. I need to be able to see the shift lights and the DigiDash is as close to the steering column as it can go so I think the easiest fix is actually a slightly larger steering wheel. I need to sort out the left hand side rear wheel arch which is just touching the tyre at the back - though this didn't seem much worse even when we were 2-up. I also need to raise the engine in the chassis - it's ludicrously low and any kind of excursion over a kerb would be likely to turn out very expensive. There's also still a tiny amount of oil seepage from the alternator cover which I can fix when I get the engine out to do the mounts. Apart from that she's good to go again so I need to get my ARDS sorted out.