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Comments
Love the lens thickness!
Terratrip all wired up and working on both probes.
Map light in and working.
Oil & filter changed.
Driving lights wired up. Need to sort out the stays yet.
Sump guard fully designed in my head.
High beam HIDs in.
Billion other little jobs done.
Cam cover gasket replaced.
Has developed a misfire under full throttle. Feels like ignition, but I am a bit worried that the ABS delete has upset it.
And entered the Bega Rally next weekend!
Getting close, but still have a lot a lot to do in the next few days...
Rear brakes (have pads, waiting for rotors to turn up);
Bleed brakes;
Exhaust (being done tomorrow);
Fit more roll cage padding when it arrives;
Get Amsag log book;
Swap rally tyres onto rims;
Get rego papers re-issued (I bloody well lost them, and they are always checked at the event).
Also have installed the RallySafe wiring (Google it - it is a pretty cool bit of gear), foot switch for the trip meter and mostly installed the intercom.
So the drill comes along for the ride. It also spins the wheel nuts on and off more quickly.
Big thanks to my workmate Shane for welding the mounts into the crossmember.
El Wifeo impressing the sheep:
Photos I took for the CAMS logbook:
Photos I took for my own amusement:
First one shows the $7 LED torch working quite well as an interior light.
Handles beautifully. Goes better than expected. Doesn't stop as well as I hoped.
Much fun to drive. If you want to drive it straight, then it is happy to oblige. If you want to hang the bum out, then it is also happy to help you out there too.
Big fly in the ointment is that it has some sort of limp home mode that cuts the rev limiter from 6400 to 5300rpm. It occurs intermittently - including in the photo above. Only one stage out of seven where it didn't happen at all.
It will be a very good thing once it is sorted.
Low rev limiter was mega frustrating, but car is still fun to drive.
Had an issue with one rear shock punching through the shock mount. Bodged it, and it failed within 50m... Drove 20km to the stage start, with the shock rattling its head off, then bodged it better. No more dramas after that.
Probably going to fit the Autronic SM4 into it. Bit of overkill but I own it, and the Autonic guru is enthused about the project.
That last image is a hoot :P
Also love the sheep in the cams photo for the log book.
Hit a big rock in the middle of the road, halfway through the 5th stage. Like basketball sized, but more of a cube...
I tried to minimise the damage by putting it directly under the chassis rail (ie: away from the sump/gearbox/diff) - not sure how successful I was but I don't think that I made things worse.
Snapped the tie rod, bent the control arm, put some dents in the floor. So we DNF'd then and there.
Tried to bodge it up with a spanner and some hose clamps so that we could limp out of the forest - it held for about 5km, then we just drove with one wheel flapping about, which was interesting.
Still has the low rev limiter, despite me swapping AFM, crank sensor, cam sensor and coilpacks. Autronic is definitely happening!
But I love it. Such a fun car. We ran above our seeding (car #28) from the start, and were 15th outright when we DNF'd. No bravado, no moments, just a good car that I am learning to trust.
DNFing always sucks, but this one was less painful than most - we were on the pace, having fun and only had some shitty luck bring us undone. And it is a cheap/easy fix.
Sounds like it's going well though! Yes
I think that I will make up some sheet metal guards to clamp onto the tierods - mostly to spread the load if there is another impact like that. And hopefully hold things together for a long enough to pull up if need be...
Bowie, I will be taking a spare tie rod end and rack end from now! Mostly using the theory that if you have it, you won't need it!
The stuff in the bubble wrap is the quad throttle body kit.
There are two flywheels because I ordered the new one with the ITB kit. It takes a slightly larger six cylinder clutch (228mm vs 215mm).
Then the aluminium one came up with the clutch kit for $170 inc post.
At this point, the aluminium one is going onto the rally car, and the chromoly one will go into the road car.
The two FWs weigh about the same, but the smaller 4-cylinder clutch makes the aluminium one lighter overall.
Also researching 6-speed conversions for both cars. Stupid wreckers are wanting too much for the boxes though - best price so far is $1200 for box with shifter. Bit hard to swallow the usual quotes of $1500+ when dealers are advertising tidy, low kay 120s for $4400 negotiable.
So I probably won't do the gearbox coversion on the road car - it's a $1500-2000 car to sell, so another ~$1800 to convert it to 6-speed gets me most of the way to buying a 120i, with all of the expected benefits of a newer car.
And here's a photo of the road car, just for context/proof of life.