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Shark506

Miami Blue 205 Mi16

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welshpug

my xu10 died on a lh bend, it had the steel sump and baffle with the plate on the pump too.

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Tom Fenton

Update time. After the latest mods (diff, dampers, baffle) the first use in anger was a local motor club point to point event. The lad navigating hadn't really done any in anger before, so we went out a few days before for a blat about locally with him getting used to plotting on the move. Luckily I didn't scare him too much as he did show up for the event proper.

The car was transformed to be honest. It was a cold but dry night so I'd left the 888's on, changing direction was mega, and the car mainly stood up to 2 hours of me leathering it about very well. The only casualties was that I discovered the reverse light wasn't working, then shortly after that the indicator stalk threw a wobbler and got stuck indicating left constantly. This was annoying and probably misleading so I pulled the relay to stop it, then drove like an Audi driver for the rest of the night!

In fairness to John he did very well. He knew where we were on the map all night and didn't get lost, and for a total beginner thats definitely sign of someone who can do the job very well with practise and experience. Unfortunately our random start point took us through 3 or 4 points in a built up area and then took us to a bum location where there was no board for the onward route. After 15 min of searching we had to cut and run to a rejoin point, this cost us another 10 or so min, and so with 25min out of 2 hours wasted we were never going to trouble the engravers, but we weren't last (just).

After the point to point I put the car away for a few weeks, nothing on the horizon to use it for, and had some work being done at the house so it was in the way. I ordered a new indicator stalk as well!

Fast forward and the next event was a Matlock 12 car this Tuesday just gone, so on Saturday I went and got the Miamished out. Set about a few jobs, indicator stalk, make the reverse light work, and adjust up the handbrake cables. I also dug the road tyres out as Autumn was now upon us with slippy leaves everywhere, I didn't think the 888's would quite cut the mustard.

Stalk was an easy enough swap, reverse light proved more difficult, the lamp itself wasnt bad, but the wiring down to the lamp was well rotten. I started cutting back to try and find some good copper but is it got shorter and shorter eventually I had to admit defeat and pull two new cores in through the back panel to the NSR cluster and re wire it. With this done I'd ordered some LED bulbs from ebay and hey presto we had a working reverse lamp. Handbrake cables adjusted up easily enough, and swapped the tyres over, all ready, or so I thought.

Monday was the PSCUK Yorks meet, so I took the car for a quick spin out there just to give it a run before the 12 car on Tuesday. Straight away up the road it didn't sound quite right. It has always had a feint tick from the exhaust when cold which soon quietens off as it warms up. However now it sounded much more pronounced and didn't go away as it warmed up. Allied to this it definitely felt like it had knocked its cap off power wise. Having previously retired from a 12 car due to issues I was determined not to let this happen again.

So Tuesday after work charged home and set about the exhaust manifold. Anyone who has tackled an Mi manifold in the car will know what a ball ache it is. Anyway to cut a story short in 2hours I had the manifold off, welded up, new gasket, better second hand wire ring donut, and better joint springs. The state of my arms afterwards told their own tale. For info it is possible (just!) to get the manifold out of the car underneath with the subframe and shafts still in. Getting it back in took a few attempts of different manoeuvers but its possible.

So to the 12 car, a bitterly cold night with snow forecast! Allan was the lucky passenger this time, the navigation for a 12 car needs a little bit of knowledge and experience, John hasn't had that yet, but he is keen to learn. With the preplot down we could guesstimate roughly where we were going. Had a decent enough run, no major diasters, overshot a few code boards and had to reverse when I discovered my super duper LED reverse bulb was about as good a birthday cake candle in a force 8 storm. The diff did a sterling job, even impressing Al who to be fair is usually not a great fan of the Quaife ATB. Lots of bits on slippy leaves etc which would have had mass wheelspin with an open diff, the Quaife just quietly did its thing without trying to drag the car over into the ditch as a plate sometimes can. The dampers also a massive success, a few big compression bumps that had me having a big lift in fear of bashing the sump on the road, in fact could probably have been done flat, the ability to control the weight transfer of the big insert billies is very impressive. Oil pressure not a problem all night, the 10/60 Millers Motorsport I think has also helped a bit when it gets the oil temperature hot.

The last section of the night started us on a wet lane just above Ladybower Res, took us up over the tops and then back down towards Hathersage. Set off steady for the first 1/2 a mile whilst Al quickly plotted the route then pressed on. As we started to climb all of a sudden the rain turned to snow and the road went white, I was quite glad not to be on the 888's! Going as fast as I dared with poor visibility and not much grip (about 35-40mph) I have to say it was quite a relief to see the finish time control!

Back to the finish, apart from the reverse light being useless the car was a success. After a much needed pint and chip butty it was results time, for the two nobends in the miamished 2nd overall! And as it turned out only 8 seconds off the guy that won. Really very pleased with that.

So next up, another point to point and then 12 cars again. And some research into the best reverse lamp bulb I can get which will fit in the standard lamp, any pointers gratefully received on that!

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allanallen

My advice re: reverse light- fit better tyres so you can stop sooner and not miss board ;)

 

You did good mate, only 1 'moment' all night and to be honest I think it did you good, it was a good lesson on how deceiving road conditions can be and how quickly you sometimes need to react when the unexpected looms around a corner.

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