Our arrival at the Galina Hotel on the back of a flatbed truck was definitely not as per plan.
Having met up with Thanos, I was anxious to get on with getting the car sorted, it came as a very big shock to find that the cylinder head suitable for the carburettor conversion was not assembled, in fact there were no valve springs or collets, the "carbs" I had been expecting, turned out to be a single twin choke Solex, this was obviously a misunderstanding on my part. As a "bonus", however there was a second cylinder head from a diving pump engine with a tiny little carb on top. What possible use we were expected to make of that I just didn't understand. To say that I was a bit miffed was a serious understatement. I had also been led to believe that there would be help available to change the head.[another misunderstanding]
I had wanted to try to do a compression test before I took the head off but Richard's search failed to find a tester. He did however bring Francis Tuthill back with him & after listening to the engine turn over, came to the same conclusion that I had earlier. Possible head gasket failure.
There was not a lot that Richard could do to help, so I sent him off for a bit of R&R in the hotel, while I set about taking the head off.
When I eventually got the head off, there was absolutely nothing wrong, no sign of gasket failure, no valve damage & most important of all no piston damage, something I had been most afraid off.[Francis & I later suspected that the problem may have been as simple as a closed up tappet keeping a valve open.]
At this point, I didn't think to bolt the head back on and change the fuel pump, I was fixated on fitting the new head with the Solex carb.[Iffy Decision No 2]. What I did instead was to strip my original head & fit my springs etc to the Thanos supplied head. As the ERA web report stated, I built the head up on the area outside the hotel reception, where there was better light.
Having had a quick break for a bite to eat, it was back out to fit the head. By the time I had the head back on & was ready to start on the inlet manifold it was about midnight.
Around now Thanos asked if I would like a bit of help. I was struggling by this time, cold & tired and was only too glad of a bit of help, especially as my understanding had been that the carb & manifold would be ready to bolt on, not items which needed to be assembled a linkages made.
It took until 5am to actually fire the car up, there being so many issues regarding the carb,manifold & low pressure pumps. With a start time of around 7o'clock I was sent off to get a couple of hours sleep while "Motorman" set up the carburettor.
Richard & I got up at 7.30 for our 8 o'clock start. Motorman & his guys had apparently finished at about 7. We had a slight exhaust blow as I hadn't been able to get one of the bolts back in but otherwise we were assured everything was fine.
Our second hand un assembled head & valves, carb & manifold set us back €1000, demanded in cash before we left, so Richard had to try to find a cash point before our 8 o'clock start. Our help then wanted €600, Had I have known that we were having to pay for that, remembering being asked if I wanted a "bit of help", not these guys will help for €200 each, I would have carried on on my own & taken a time penalty in the morning. Add all that to the £540 for the tow truck & it made our trip to Greece very expensive in deed.
Both Richard & I felt that we had been taken for a bit of a ride & not just on the tow truck, but were extremely grateful all the same. We were back in the rally, so thank you Thanos.
We even managed to start on time, despite the rushing around for the money & made it to the days opening WRC section on time.
It was Richards turn to drive the stage & all was going well until about half way through the stage, when we came across a load of cars stopped blocking the stage. Crews were turning round, a car had apparently gone off & blocked the stage making it impassable. We followed suit & then our inexperience as navigators cost us dear. We made our way to stage 2 but didn't realise that we had gone OTL. Then on to stage 3 which was closed. We did drive the stage before cutting to the final control.
We made it to Piraeus & the ferry which had been a must do, as the ferry was a private charter & to miss it would have meant not getting to Alexandria, so exclusion.
The 4 course meal & as much wine as you wanted, was just what the doctor ordered after the night before. A car, that although seriously down on our previous power, was at least trouble free. Things were looking up at last, just need to get our heads around this navigation business.
