 The
rally for us started on Wednesday. We did not want to take out
the old engine until 16 valve engine was in our possession,
which was delivered to AutoZone on Wednesday. The engine went
in on Thursday along with suspension bushings and brakes. The
gearbox had to come back out on Friday to sort out the release
bearing. We started the engine late Friday night after some
jerry-rigging to by-pass things which the ecu would normally
take care of. The brake lines and pressure regulating valves
had to be re-done to give clearance for the carb trumpets. At
1:30 am we decided to leave this for Saturday.
Saturday - The inlet manifold had to come off to drill and
tap for a vacuum line for the brake booster. Putting it back
on we found that it was fouling the alternator, so we hacked
off the offending bit of said alternator. Put back together...ok.
Fit carbs and now the alternator was fouling the carbs. Some
more hacking and they finally fit. Some re-wiring to take
care of the jerry-rigged bits was done, along with re-plumbing
of brake lines. Engine started around 8:00 p.m. Various adjustments,
brake bleeding and tidying up later we went for a test drive
at 11:00 pm. Problem. Electrical short and burnt wires. (note-seat
belt shoulder pads are non-conductive )
Got everything sorted, test drove again and headed home
at 2:30 am
 Sunday
- The car ran reliably all day, no major issues showed up.
There is a minor oil leak we need to fix, the carbs need setting
up properly and we need to do some adjustments to the front
suspension. The rally itself was great. The car ran well but
is a little down on power. Getting the carbs sorted will cure
this. The LSD took a bit of getting used to and was quite
nervous on some of the bad surfaces. Front suspension work
should help this. Brakes feel really good now. We decided
before the rally to take it easy and get to know the car and
feel it out. The times were not fantastic but we achieved
what we set out to do.....finish. The car has a lot of potential
for improvement, and we will be working on this over the next
few events leading up to the Rally Barbados.
There were some late night and long hours to get the car
ready, but we feel that it was well worth the effort. I would
like to thank my sponsors AutoZone (especially Leslie Alleyne
who was supposed to be home sick but was working with us until
the wee hours of Sunday morning), Crane and Equipment and
Williams Trading Inc. Without their support and assistance
entering the rally on Sunday would not have been possible.
Yours in Motor sport
Adrian Linton
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