FTO AUSTRALIA

Fixed the sh*t out of it.

*cough* replaced the stepper motor *cough*

Went to take the racecar to the auto cross on a farm abour 30-40 minutes away, we thought it would be an eventless day, just drive there, possibly blow the engine, and drive home.

We were wrong....

After three laps in indian file to learn the course, and mark the course, I got out of the car and handed the keys over to my friend Sam who was also racing in the FTO.

After 3/4 of a lap:



Woops....



The wheel nuts worked themselves loose and then snapped/bent the remaining studs..



It also wrecked the inside of the wheel bolt wells in the wheels, making them ovals, so they're now destroyed.

A couple of my mates who came to watch, drove back to Dunedin (40 or so minutes away) and purchased some new studs, and grabbed the remaining stock wheels from home.

2 and 1/2 hours after the incident we were back up and racing and catching up on the laps



After we had finished our laps, and got our times ( I did a 2:09, 3 seconds faster than the M3 in front of our car in the above pic) we headed back to our tow car (Peugeot 607) and realised something..

We couldn't find the keys...

We searched everywhere and still couldn't find them, so we turned around and in another car, headed home (30 Min) to grab the spare set of keys.

Another issue.... They weren't there...

After talking to the parents we thought that another set of keys may be hidden in the car, so we called the roadside assist and headed back to the farm where the car/trailer/racecar was parked.

Once we got there we waited in the pouring rain and waited for the guy to come and break into the car, after a while he arrived and we got the car running and started on our way home...

Which thankfully wasn't eventful and we got it home safely:




What a day, the racing was really fun though!

Sounds and looks like fun and horror all in one

It's a fine line between pleasure and pain.

Haha yup, in the end it was all awesome!
The feeling of fixing the car on the grass in the pits and then joining back in with everybody else was amazing!
Such a great feeling of accomplishment when everybody had thought that we were out for the day before it even started!

The joys of racing

Nice.

Rolled the bitch to the back coz she's being naughty and doesn't wanna start.

Washed and fueled it!

Replaced blown fuse in head unit on RX7.. Bought some good high quality wax cleaner to fix up Daihatsu's paint and prep RX7 for bonfire.

Replaced the front drop links on Rowans new FTO (my Son).
Did his lower rear engine mount at the weekend, just got brakes and seat bolsters to do now for the roadworthy.

Replaced front and rear discs and pads, sadly not on my car working on Rowans again, mine are in need of doing but will have to wait.

Well my FTO is off the road as it was leaking oil like a sieve, coming from 3 places i think.
Sump
rocker cover
Pressure sensor

pulled off the intake checked all spark plugs, some have oil in them so i will get new seals (MD198128, can someone double check for me?) and the plugs looked like they havent been changed in a while.

next step is rocker cover removal and clean.

I demounted my side skirts to check for rusty bits( found none. Yay )
I prepared 3 holes in my car for welding.
I installed 20mm wheel spacers ( looks way better now )
And I wanted to polish my headlights, but I forgot the polish kit at home.
All in all a succesful day

Swapped over my crossmember.......

Vectose wrote:Swapped over my crossmember.......

Probably a good thing you did that :lol:

Not liking your crack, good job you sorted it out.

I've still got a spare poly rear engine mount if you want it.

Weekend - got on with replacing Rowans cambelt and water pump and this is what I came across after I removed the crank sensor (quite easily I might add bolts wern't tight or anything), not looking it's best


Didn't fancy putting that back and luckily Mr Stocks has one and is yet again sorting us out with replacement parts.
This car has been a real eye-opener as to what can go wrong/get neglected/bodged.
I'm hoping we can save the engine and think it's worth a try for no extra cost just time, if it's still screwed I will swap the new water pump, cambelt and pulleys onto a replacement engine. We have a virgin engine hoist and engine stand here waiting to be used.
While i'm at it i've started to degunk the 6 hydraulic tappets in each bank and will adjust valve clearances too and check for missing collets as it was quite tappety.

Bennoz wrote:I've still got a spare poly rear engine mount if you want it.

I'll take it. How much you want for it?

Vectose how the hell did you do that

Yeah, that's crazy....
Since I've been back from the Bonfire I've thrown my headers and Y pipe on, and purchased a VR4...