altezzaclub Posted October 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) Well, back up here almost a week now! Fought my way through the piles of KE70s all waiting to become paddock bashers and spent more hours on the re-wire. We have to leave tomorrow for a rally on saturday 850km away in Tumut, and yesterday morning it looked like this... We had just got the motor and box in on Tuesday, and fitted the bumper and spots. I needed the motor in to chase the instruments and find out if the highly modified wiring actually worked. The usual indicators/horn/wipers were all easy, but the engine stuff had changed. The first problem was that out temp gauge woldn't screw into the head, the probe was too long. We found a spacer in an odd place... That was cut down to a few mm and fitted. The gauge is an adjustable warning type, so it earths out a light and a buzzer at whatever temperature you pick. Inside I was proceeding at snail's pace, it was taking forever to re-route the stock wiring and modify relays and stuff to do new functions. Edited October 31, 2013 by altezzaclub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted October 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 Then we got distracted because Nell ran out of water in the farmhouse. She takes water from the high tank on the woolshed, beside the workshop. That only fills from the high roof, so the two tanks that fill from the main roof don't get used. We took her pump off the windmill well and pumped the water from the low tanks up onto the high roof and let it fill her tank. Nothing like a couple of radiator hoses to make things work, although the pump did suck the intake one flat! So by the late afternoon we had one door and one guard on, and in a stroke of genius I donated The Girl's dash-mat for this rally to make the dash look more civilised... Inside I had managed to get all the wiring AND the lights working, so we have an oil pressure gauge, a water temp gauge, (both are capillary direct-readings) ) an ammeter, an oil pressure/ water overtemp combined light and a charge light... information overload for a rally driver, they can't handle complicated things.... Today we finished the assembly, and although there is more I'd like to do, it has to be in Tamworth for scrutiny in the morning and in Orange by tomorrow night! I'll get pics before we load it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 just read the whole thread over the past week, when I really should have been doing so much else. great work guys, the work you are doing is sensational, in such a rustic manner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted November 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Well, travel day has arrived! Amazingly its as good as what we can get it in the time... The Big Girl may be battle-scarred and pretty rough, but she's a goer! The inside is just what I wanted, plain and simple, and lightweight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted November 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 He was even allowed to take it for a paddock-bash before it went on the trailer. No Mothership this time, so we're rolling with a borrowed trailer and a borrowed ute... They headed off to scrutiny while the Girl's KE70 headed off to gate-opening duty for the big truck. ..and I'd better post this and make a move to Orange. We will see how tomorrow goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Not the Woolshed rally car... but... Still an RA40 with an 18R-G... Look at those revs! This is to all those saying they're too fat and that the 18R-G's too old! EPIC. whos driving this? awesome video! and better information from the driver then than there is now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 good luck guys! a pre race paddock bash, thats the closest you guys have got to testing isnt it? :P Cheers, Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67Rolla-Ken Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Well done! As always, I'm amazed how much you guy's manage to get done in the 11th hour! All the best for the rally! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted November 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 Well, that wasn't too bad.. Pete couldn't come as he was feeling crook, so he'd loaned us his Slowdeo and a mate of Steve's came to do service. Up at 5am Saturday to drive the 300Km to Tumut, arrived in time to catch half the driver's briefing, and straight into the hot seat. Seeing he hadn't driven it since rolling it in May he was taking it easy, a good idea as it was a high-speed blast around wide smooth roads in the mountain forests. Sadly not suited to The Big Girl, flatout in 5th is not her scene. Still, Steve ran around 16th for most of it, then the terratrip died halfway through a stage and there was still another stage to refuel. We couldn't find anything wrong with either probe and put it down to overheating, and sure enough it was working again for the next stage. It dropped him to 19th there but he finished at 14th overall, with not a mark on the car. Amazing really, all that wiring and rebuilding worked perfectly! We had a beer afterwards and grabbed the results, then I hauled the Slowdeo back up to Orange and we hit the pit at about 1am. Took a 'roo on the way back, they are Aussies greatest road danger, but luckily the Boss' ute didn't get marked. Yet another new navigator, but this time he is really good. Josh has driven in motorsport as well as navigated before, so maybe now we can really get organised! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted November 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 Naturally they couldn't excape without some garden work, I needed a bean frame pipe welded. After the usual arguments about who was the best welder, it was shared! Then into the Slowdeo and a 550km drive up to Walcha. Meanwhile, I'm in for a quiet afternoon in the garden and an early night! ... then the plans for going faster start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InSaNiTy Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 Booh yeah was a great weekend! 14th out of 28 wasn't too bad for Woolshed Rallying's first run in 5 months! As Keith was saying, too fast for The Big Girl- Rallying shouldn't be about holding it flat in 4th and 5th over blind crests, as adrenaline filling as it is :P. Josh is a great addition to the team and should be sticking around, he's just as mad about rallying as we are haha. :) As usual big thanks to all the team; Keith, Dad, Matty and Josh - that's 14th place for Woolshed Rallying, not me. :) The Big Girl will be getting a good pressure wash and clean tomorrow. Then onto tidying up the Woolshed and then investigations into 18R-G to Altezza 6 speed bellhousings! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InSaNiTy Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 whos driving this? awesome video! and better information from the driver then than there is now! No idea who's driving, maybe it's in the description on YouTube or something? good luck guys! a pre race paddock bash, thats the closest you guys have got to testing isnt it? :P Cheers, Andy Haha it actually is the closest thing we've ever got to testing! It felt strange driving the car before the first stage! :P Well done! As always, I'm amazed how much you guy's manage to get done in the 11th hour! All the best for the rally! It's all team work Ken! Keith and I have been working on it since last Saturday all day everyday. Dad actually keeps the farm running while we're in the woolshed haha which allows us to work 24x7 on the car. Josh came by Thursday to lend a hand and Matty dropped by Friday morning. There's so much dedication and preparation by our whole team to makes it all come together in the end. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted November 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 investigations into 18R-G to Altezza 6 speed bellhousings haha! Strange you should mention that, I've just been thinking the same thing. I don't think we can do a job like TRDKE70's though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InSaNiTy Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Photos! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted December 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2013 (edited) Well, update time... The car was fine after the rally so of course it got pushed off to another shed and ignored! I was due a trip up to Kingaroy to fit a new water tank, so I dropped in to see what was up on one cold and windy night in the pouring rain. Pete said Steve had taken the Slowdeo to Sydney to pick up engines and was due home later, but while we were having a cup of tea the phone goes... The Slowdeo had lost 3rd gear and was making a terrible noise in the Gloucester mountains. So we got The Mothership out of the shed and headed off into the night. Sure enough, the Slowdeo was found in a narrow winding bit of mountain and we all got soaked loading it on. The next morning we drained the oil, (basically none in there) and refilled it. Didn't help, it definately had no 3rd gear and you could hear it howling miles away! It was taken up to the Woolshed and we found out that .... all Rodeos leak straight from factory, everyone knows this, Steve was told to check the oil before he left, (which he didn't of course!) ...and now he's out $1500 for a reco unit. I left for Kingaroy that day and spent a week away. Back down, and nothing had been done of course. Too much farming! First job was to get the box out, it must weigh close to 100kg and is giant! Then he started seriously chasing replacements, which are difficult to find because everyone has them blow up! So we started on building a new motor for The Big Girl. We've been running a stock 18RG all this time, and we now have four of them. One was in Grumpy, his road Corona from the Speedhunters picture, and he had... you guessed it, blown it up doing doughnuts with other idiot mates in the car! Another is a so-called race motor we bought from down country and it doesn't turn over, so its been on a stand for over a year, and the last one he bought in bits recently from someone who seems to really know what he's doing. Grumpy's was the pick, we figure we'll rebuild that as a practice. Seeing it had been spewing litres and litres of oil out ever since he'd done a head job, it was not pleasant. By the end of the day we had found the rattle... Number 3 big-end bearing had spun on the crank, grooving the crank and allowing the piston to smack into the head! As a side deal both #3 and #4 pistons had the top compression rings fall off in pieces, explaining the oil spraying everywhere. ..and as a final clue, all four pistons showed old marks of having hit the head, and all 4 combustion chambers showed matching signs of being smacked by pistons. Three were carboned over, so it hadn't hit except for the first time, perhaps when someone was pulling over 7000rpm... From the web we learned that the rod bolts stretch under high revs, and you mustn't skim these heads. From the head we learnt that the waterways had been welded and the head had been skimmed to death by the engineer! Measuring a spare head we reckon it lost about 1.5mm!! So probably the pistons relieved the combustion chambers the first time he started it, or at least gave it some high revs, the rings gave up from being thrashed under very high compression and the rod bolts in #3 stretched enough to let one big end bearing shell slip under the other. That gave the rod enough slap for the piston to hit the head again. Mind you, doing doughnuts with a motor known to suffer oil starvation from a poorly-designed factory system is liable to starve crank bearings of oil and cause them to strip... Anyway, we hauled an old Corona in from the parking lot of paddock-bashers and pulled out the motor. The crank from that, Grumpy's block and pistons all headed off to an engineer to be measured, and seeing the #3 conrod was marked also we were back the garage with the Corona AGAIN the following day to get the pistons and rods out. Head was next- Edited December 15, 2013 by altezzaclub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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