Rick pulled the water pump, and the bearing - although not seized - is shot. We looked at the one off the old engine, and that's the same, plus it's leaking through the seal. Between them they've only done about 9000km - which is singularly unimpressive.
I've looked into electric pumps. A so-called 'high performance' electric water pump is available as a bolt-on replacement for the standard mechanical one, but it only shifts 55 galls/min. This compares with 85g/min on a stock mechanical unit, and 100g/min on the high-flow one. Of course the electric will pump 55g/min at any revs, whereas mechanical ones are rated at around 3000rpm, so the electric probably has the edge at idle. However, at (say) 4500rpm a mechanical one is pumping three times what the electric can manage, so it's pretty clear to me that electric is not a viable option for our sort of usage.
Word from the Autodrome is that they had the same problems with mechanical water pumps on the V8 Luminas - one actually exploded (the pump, not the Lumina)! So now they've gone over to the pump used on the Corvette which has double bearings, and this appears to be reliable. So that's what we're getting.
Rick has fabricated a fan box to fit to the radiator, and the fans (ordered yesterday) are being collected from the Pacet factory today. How's that for customer service? Now I just have to hope TNT don't lose them....
These are the voyages of the starship 'Newtrix'. Its multi-year mission: to compete in any rally within striking distance of Dubai, and to acquire shiny trophies. To boldly go wherever this quest may take us, as long as we can be home in time for tea.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Shakedown Blues
So, the washers are in, the front axle is once more complete, so it’s time for a blat! Except that us rally types don’t just go for a blat – we go for a ‘shakedown’. Now in other circles, a ‘shakedown’ has a different connotation, involving extracting money from people by dubious means. We do that in rallying, too, but we call it ‘sponsorship’.
The purpose of a shakedown is to test the car in a semi-race scenario, and iron out those annoying gremlins which might just stop us from finishing a rally. And if something falls off or breaks, we can grit our teeth and sound happy about it, because it’s ‘better to happen now than in the rally’. However, equally important in this case was to give Ian Rodgers an opportunity to get to grips with the vehicle, and to show me that he could navigate.
So I spent Friday fabricating a mounting in the rear door for my new toy from the States, a 24v rattle-gun, and another for the hydraulic jack. Oh, and trying to find someone to run as chase car with me, because if something does go horribly wrong it’s good to have someone in the vicinity to bail you out. Failing to find anyone else both (a) free and (b) willing, I persuaded Sheila to be our support crew.
Saturday dawned. Well, I suppose it did, but it’s hard to be sure when the country is covered in a thick grey duvet of fog. By 8.30 we were on our way, peering through the gloom and dodging the heavies down the truck road leading to the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain road. Here starts the old SS6 of the Desert Challenge –a 166km route ending just outside Dubai, and therefore not used since the DC became an exclusively Abu Dhabi affair. Soon after 9.30 the fog had thinned enough for us to get moving, and Ian managed the tricky navigation around the farms and tracks pretty well, considering he’d never done the stage before. The car was pulling strongly, the engine temperature was fine, and as the sun gained strength the new roof-vents brought a cooling breeze into the cockpit.
50km into the stage, on a rather flat section with no real challenges, the steering became suddenly heavy and it was obvious that we’d lost power steering. Knowing that the belt that drives the power steering also does some other more mission-critical jobs, like powering the water pump, fan and alternator, it seemed a good idea to stop before anything bad happened. But a quick glance under the hood showed that something bad had, in fact, already occurred. The serpentine belt was off, but the fan and its pulley were also lying in the bottom of the fan shroud. The massive shaft – ¾” I guess – which should connect it to the water pump had snapped like a twig. ‘Oh, bugger’, I said. I may have said it more than once.
Sheila was waiting for us to come through Nahel Town, some 50km from an underpass which was our nearest road access. She negotiated the 10km of tracks and low dunes between that point and our location, and we soon had the race car hooked up to our faithful road-going Patrol. So now I had to tow the race car out, while Ian drove it without much in the way of brakes or steering. After a couple of minor dramas we reached the underpass and – having enough problems already – we decided not to risk the attention of the law by towing it back to Dubai.
That meant 150km back to Dubai, pick up the trailer, back to the underpass, load up the race car and back again to Dubai. By which time it was dark, we’d covered well over 600km and we were knackered.
So, with only three weeks before the ‘Highway to Hail’, we have a broken car. Again. Now the questions are, what caused the problem, and how can we avoid a repeat? Should we change to an electric fan and/or even an electric water pump? The recommendation from Kolby at Turnkey Engines in the States was always to go for twin electric fans of 1600-1800cfm each, whereas the gurus at Marks 4x4 in Oz said to stick with the mechanical fan. However, it looks as though the heavy load on the shaft from the fan may be at least a contributory factor – although until we dismantle the water pump we won’t know if the pump bearing has seized.
After further discussions with Rick at Carwise, we’ve decided to go for the electric fan option. We can fit twin 13” high-performance Pacet Pro-Fans into the available radiator area, which each shift close to 2000cfm, and we need Kolby to ship us another high-output water pump. Hopefully within this week these two items will be winging their way towards Dubai – TNT permitting.
But let’s look on the bright side – it’s ‘better to happen now than in the rally’. There, I said it – through gritted teeth.
The purpose of a shakedown is to test the car in a semi-race scenario, and iron out those annoying gremlins which might just stop us from finishing a rally. And if something falls off or breaks, we can grit our teeth and sound happy about it, because it’s ‘better to happen now than in the rally’. However, equally important in this case was to give Ian Rodgers an opportunity to get to grips with the vehicle, and to show me that he could navigate.
So I spent Friday fabricating a mounting in the rear door for my new toy from the States, a 24v rattle-gun, and another for the hydraulic jack. Oh, and trying to find someone to run as chase car with me, because if something does go horribly wrong it’s good to have someone in the vicinity to bail you out. Failing to find anyone else both (a) free and (b) willing, I persuaded Sheila to be our support crew.
Saturday dawned. Well, I suppose it did, but it’s hard to be sure when the country is covered in a thick grey duvet of fog. By 8.30 we were on our way, peering through the gloom and dodging the heavies down the truck road leading to the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain road. Here starts the old SS6 of the Desert Challenge –a 166km route ending just outside Dubai, and therefore not used since the DC became an exclusively Abu Dhabi affair. Soon after 9.30 the fog had thinned enough for us to get moving, and Ian managed the tricky navigation around the farms and tracks pretty well, considering he’d never done the stage before. The car was pulling strongly, the engine temperature was fine, and as the sun gained strength the new roof-vents brought a cooling breeze into the cockpit.
50km into the stage, on a rather flat section with no real challenges, the steering became suddenly heavy and it was obvious that we’d lost power steering. Knowing that the belt that drives the power steering also does some other more mission-critical jobs, like powering the water pump, fan and alternator, it seemed a good idea to stop before anything bad happened. But a quick glance under the hood showed that something bad had, in fact, already occurred. The serpentine belt was off, but the fan and its pulley were also lying in the bottom of the fan shroud. The massive shaft – ¾” I guess – which should connect it to the water pump had snapped like a twig. ‘Oh, bugger’, I said. I may have said it more than once.
Sheila was waiting for us to come through Nahel Town, some 50km from an underpass which was our nearest road access. She negotiated the 10km of tracks and low dunes between that point and our location, and we soon had the race car hooked up to our faithful road-going Patrol. So now I had to tow the race car out, while Ian drove it without much in the way of brakes or steering. After a couple of minor dramas we reached the underpass and – having enough problems already – we decided not to risk the attention of the law by towing it back to Dubai.
That meant 150km back to Dubai, pick up the trailer, back to the underpass, load up the race car and back again to Dubai. By which time it was dark, we’d covered well over 600km and we were knackered.
So, with only three weeks before the ‘Highway to Hail’, we have a broken car. Again. Now the questions are, what caused the problem, and how can we avoid a repeat? Should we change to an electric fan and/or even an electric water pump? The recommendation from Kolby at Turnkey Engines in the States was always to go for twin electric fans of 1600-1800cfm each, whereas the gurus at Marks 4x4 in Oz said to stick with the mechanical fan. However, it looks as though the heavy load on the shaft from the fan may be at least a contributory factor – although until we dismantle the water pump we won’t know if the pump bearing has seized.
After further discussions with Rick at Carwise, we’ve decided to go for the electric fan option. We can fit twin 13” high-performance Pacet Pro-Fans into the available radiator area, which each shift close to 2000cfm, and we need Kolby to ship us another high-output water pump. Hopefully within this week these two items will be winging their way towards Dubai – TNT permitting.
But let’s look on the bright side – it’s ‘better to happen now than in the rally’. There, I said it – through gritted teeth.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A New Year's Resolution
I've resolved to get the damn race car back on four wheels. However, six washers have stood between me and accomplishment of this dream since early November.
The washers are for the ARB front diff lock, which is made in Australia. Four of them are hardened conical washers, unique to ARB. Their agents here neither had the parts in stock nor showed any inclination to obtain them, so I contacted a mate in Sydney, Jon Harbour. He duly ordered them from his local ARB dealer (who had to order them from the factory) and two weeks later they were collected by TNT for shipment to Dubai. TNT then promptly lost them.
So I mailed Jon and asked him to repeat the order, and sure enough, two weeks later another set were with him. By that time, his planned visit to Dubai was only a few days away, and rather than give TNT another opportunity to lose them, we decided he should hand-carry them.
Well, you know how it is when you’re going on holiday, you always remember something that you should have packed, just after the plane takes off. In this case, it was the bag of washers, which were left sitting on his hall table in Sydney. They sat there undisturbed as Christmas came and went and the New Year was celebrated, until finally Jon bade his farewells to Dubai. By 7th January, the washers were once again on the move and, miracle of miracles, TNT delivered them in record time.
So now the front axle is being re-assembled by Rick at Carwise, and I should be able to get the car back at any moment. Friday is taken up with the Gulf New Fun Drive, for which we are Rear Sweep, but maybe Saturday we can take the Beast out for a blat.
The Saudi Hail Baja 2010 looms ever closer. Once again the Saudis have refused to allow Sheila to compete, so Ian Rodgers will fill the co-pilot’s seat for this event. Ian navigated for Ramesh Pereira in his ill-fated Patrol, which burnt to a crisp during the 2009 DC. Our two-day road-trip (a.k.a. ‘The Highway to Hail’) starts on 13th February.
Meanwhile, I’m still trying to sell my old T2 Patrol which came 2nd in class at the 2009 Hail Baja. I have a customer who plans to compete in it at Hail, but as yet no actual money – and the clock is ticking. Watch this space.
The washers are for the ARB front diff lock, which is made in Australia. Four of them are hardened conical washers, unique to ARB. Their agents here neither had the parts in stock nor showed any inclination to obtain them, so I contacted a mate in Sydney, Jon Harbour. He duly ordered them from his local ARB dealer (who had to order them from the factory) and two weeks later they were collected by TNT for shipment to Dubai. TNT then promptly lost them.
So I mailed Jon and asked him to repeat the order, and sure enough, two weeks later another set were with him. By that time, his planned visit to Dubai was only a few days away, and rather than give TNT another opportunity to lose them, we decided he should hand-carry them.
Well, you know how it is when you’re going on holiday, you always remember something that you should have packed, just after the plane takes off. In this case, it was the bag of washers, which were left sitting on his hall table in Sydney. They sat there undisturbed as Christmas came and went and the New Year was celebrated, until finally Jon bade his farewells to Dubai. By 7th January, the washers were once again on the move and, miracle of miracles, TNT delivered them in record time.
So now the front axle is being re-assembled by Rick at Carwise, and I should be able to get the car back at any moment. Friday is taken up with the Gulf New Fun Drive, for which we are Rear Sweep, but maybe Saturday we can take the Beast out for a blat.
The Saudi Hail Baja 2010 looms ever closer. Once again the Saudis have refused to allow Sheila to compete, so Ian Rodgers will fill the co-pilot’s seat for this event. Ian navigated for Ramesh Pereira in his ill-fated Patrol, which burnt to a crisp during the 2009 DC. Our two-day road-trip (a.k.a. ‘The Highway to Hail’) starts on 13th February.
Meanwhile, I’m still trying to sell my old T2 Patrol which came 2nd in class at the 2009 Hail Baja. I have a customer who plans to compete in it at Hail, but as yet no actual money – and the clock is ticking. Watch this space.
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