Ben's second-car thread - MR2s and Westfields inside...

[Draven]

ooo exciting

[Ben]

Well, I suppose it’s about that time!

The westy hasn’t turned a wheel since last November (well, until this week. But more on that later) as I’ve been busily beavering away at the long list of jobs needed to bring her back up to scratch. I say beavering away, I’ve actually been busy with such trivialities as work, Christmas, house improvements etc, but I’ve managed to disappear off into the garage here and there. As ever, it’s not yet finished, but hopefully I’ve broken the back of the work needed. It’s almost ready to go sprinting again, at least!

First job (and the one that took the most time) was to get the chassis and various suspension components back up to scratch. It’s all 27 years old now and the original paint isn’t up to much, so my habit of driving it in winter lead to some pretty crusty looking surface rust:



The rear end was definitely going to need some attention – the wishbones were particularly grotty and the diff was also making some unpleasant noises, so apart it all came…





I also discovered at this point that the rear ARB was practically seized!

First step, attack it all with the rust proofer:







Then, once dry and left for a few days to cure, attack with a wire brush drill fitment…





And break out the POR-15:





Not a professional job, certainly, but it does the trick.

Job number two was to fit a pair of flared side panels I purchased recently. This purpose was twofold: partly as an aid to cooling, but mostly to give me better access to the sides of the engine so I could find where that xxxxxx oil leak was coming from. Unfortunately it was pretty soon clear that it was from an earlier car and wouldn’t fit without a bit of bodgery, so I turned to plan B.

Break out the Dremel





I can see things!



Old girl was looking a bit sad at this point.



So, time to start putting a few bits on. I was a bit limited at this point as the diff was off with Tracsport having a rebuild, so I started with a few cosmetics. Firstly, fitting of a new set of front wings (after I botched the existing ones trying to get them so sit straight) and the Flared Side Panels 2.0:



And then I got a shiny thing back!





I’ve finally also been able to confirm that it does indeed have a Quaife ATB diff.

It was a proper xxxxxx to refit though, but after much swearing…





It took a bit of fettling to get everything lined up and the speed sensor working again, but we got there. Final touches were to get the wings a slightly better colour, and give it a good service:





(no pics of the servicing, but you all know what oil looks like? All over the garage floor? Yeah, that.) I found out where the oil leak was coming from though – turns out a few of the sump bolts weren’t torqued correctly so some oil was seeping through and dripping off the bottom of the sump.

Finally, new driver’s harness:



Put it all back together…



Out of the garage (leaving behind a bit of mess!)



Et voila!







It had a lovely run out last weekend. Loads of fun! A few little niggles here and there, but nothing major. All I need to do now is a couple of fiddle bits – replace the choke cable, refit the rear ARB – and give it a run on its new rubber:



First sprint is a week on Sunday. Definitely nervous now!

[Magic Beans]

You've still go enough time to do that engine swap

[Ben]

Suuuuuuuuuuure

[Lauren]

Nice work, Ben.

[pistol pete]

Can i have a go

[Magic Beans]

Can i have a go

And me!

[Ben]

I did a thing!



And how did I achieve this never-seen-before and never-to-be-seen-again (probably) feat, you ask? Well, I’m not altogether sure really.

This weekend just gone was the first Javelin Sprint Series event of the year. A wonderfully varied field of 80-odd cars rocked up to Snetterton, a good mix of previous competitors and new entrants. Cars ranged all the way from a Smart For-Two (yes, really) to a 458 Scuderia.

My winter preparation complete the morning before I drove up on the previous day – by way of an el cheapo fibreglass rear diffuser in an attempt to curtail the parachute-like tendencies of the rear end – I was more than a little nervous. I reckon the car had done less than 30 miles since the last event of 2016 (also at Snet, as it happened) and I’d not had time to book in a corner-weight or alignment since I’d taken all the suspension to bits. Three times.

Loaded up (note new diffuser):



My main objective really was to beat my time from last year – a 2:17.63 lap, 2nd in class and 18th overall. I also wanted to not break the car! I had to come to terms with the new staggered tyre setup – I’ve gone wider at the rear with my new R888Rs on recommendation of another competitor who pointed out I had a pretty wayward read end (snigger). Plus I have the novelty of a limited slip diff which isn’t totally knackered.

Scrutineering was over with the evening before without too much fuss:



Fortunately the weather the following day was about as perfect as we could hope for in March – dry overnight, sunny and temperatures in the high teens.



Weighing up the competition was interesting at this stage as well. Two drivers who beat me consistently last year (a Caterham R400 and a Locost bike-engined kit) were back in pretty similar spec (although a new engine and set of lairy-looking cut slicks set off the Locost nicely!), and there was a newly-purchased Caterham RoadSport as well. Confidence at this point was pretty low in obtaining anything other than last place in class! However after the usual sighting and practice runs I was already impressed with the new tyres, a confidence which was confirmed when I pulled a 2:14.something on my first timed run. Result!

I was even more pleased upon finding out that my run was enough to put me first in class and in the top 10 overall, and what followed was a fantastically fun and close-fought battle for class F2. After flirting around the 2:13s for a while and losing the lead I was disappointed to drop to 2:14, but my fifth run started really well and as I entered the penultimate corner I thought I was aiming for a 2:12. Unfortunately the car before me had had issues causing them to almost lose a rear wheel, so I caught them on the last corner and had to slow. Fortunately the Javelin team were on it and I was called forward for a re-run, and managed to get down to 2:11.35. I was pretty chuffed with myself, but with one run to go (which I voided after running off track twice) I was nervous about the competition!

As it happened, it was all rather close...



Best of all, I even managed 6th fastest overall which is far higher than I’ve ever managed before!

Video of my best and worst runs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELR9VzjKLo

As you can probably tell I’m still getting to grip with the car’s new dynamics (I certainly need to work on that understeer!) but overall I’m hugely pleased with the progression. Next round is Blyton in 3 weeks time, and there’s already seven cars in my class alone.

Until next time!

[Lauren]

Well done, Ben!

I really wish the TSS would use the full track at Snett rather than the 100, much more of an interesting challenge.

[Magic Beans]

Skills, MR E

[Ben]

Round 2: Blyton. Bit of a different story!

Basically, it rained at the wrong time. That't my excuse. I stuffed up the first (and only dry) run so had no hope of even a half-decent result, and then spent the rest of the day in these conditions:



I also managed to void my first three runs (a personal record!) and spin a grand total of five times during the day

Somewhat frustratingly, my untimed practice run was on par with my previous personal best, and had it rained earlier my (one good!) wet time would have put me in a fairly reasonable 13th place overall. Ah well - we can drop two rounds during a season so I think this'll be one of them!

It also gave me the opportunity to willy around with some video editing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dot41Jk0VUc

And a couple of stills from the most frustrating day's sprinting I've ever had:







Next up for me is Croft in a couple of months. Need to sort out the replacement gearbox and a corner-weight/alignment session. And also have a stern word with myself