Ti Motorsport

Finishing Touches

It was finally time to get rid of TopFry stickers ready for the Roger Albert ones, which we would get at scrutineering.

While I struggled, Andrew made light of fitting the spots. He was a little concerned as the alternator pulley was a bit small and wasn't giving a lot of grip area. When I had it made, there was never a thought of lots of lights & heated screens. A triffle foolish in hindsight and certainly something I will address shortly.

With the car ready, we turned our attention to the van & what spares to take. 

We would take front & rear suspension, an alternator, the spare fuel pumps, and a radiator, just in case. The Pug is fairly bombproof after all. It's usually driver error that stops it. [I know about these things]. 

I had arranged a supply of DMACK's from Dan at Mr Tyre and had 10 bare rims ready to be fitted up on Thursday morning. Richard had arranged for Owen Turner, who looks after his Mini to bring up 5 snow tyres, just in case.

After quite a few false hopes we had  settled on a crew of 4. Myself, Andrew, Jonathan [the old guard] and a brand new recruit, Jaimie Davies, who is one of my sort of relations, studying Mechanical Engineering at Telford.

Jonathan & Jaimie would run the van, Andrew & I would run chase in Andy's 807. In order to get everyone in the right place at the right time, I would take the van with the rally car on the trailer up to Penrith, where we had overnight accommodation. Andrew would collect Jonathan and then go up to Chester to pick up Jaimie and join me in Penrith. 

The plan was made. Now we just needed to execute it.

 

 

A Bit of Synchro Action

Next it was time to have a look at the gearbox & the troublesome 4th gear synchro. As were were planning to run in the Safari class, we would be using the 5 speed box instead of the Historics 4 speed version. This box runs a wide fork clutch release bearing and it would come back and bite us later on. The 5th gear is housed in a casing basically bunged on the back of the four speed box [tech speak you understand], so the first job is to remove the casing and 5th gear assy. The housing can then come off, and the 2 halves of the main housing can be split.

 

With the casing apart I was able to remove the input shaft. It was immediately clear where the problem lay. The synchro hub was worn smooth. One good thing about Peugeot is that they often use the same part over several models and as luck would have it, I had a brand new hub for a 205 box which was the same as the one I was taking out. As they say in all the best manuals reassemble in the reverse order and all being well, you end up with no parts left over.

And this is where that release arm issue came up. I hadn't been able to find a new bearing, so used a different arm and bearing. Sadly I didn't think it through. There must have been a reason for the wider arm.

Some time later and everything was back together. Time to run it up and give it a test. Splendid. No Drive

The narrower arm fouled the nose of the box casting. The clutch was engaged all the time. Swear, Swear &

more swearing.

We [Andrew & I ] decided it would be easier and quicker to pull the engine forward to put the original fork and noisy bearing back in. After a quick road test, it was back into the workshop to fit the heated screen.

With that fitted and tested, we were ready for another visit to Phil Prices.

Gearing Up

Having completed our test, it was time to build a new 4.9:1 diff for the car. I had managed to get a brand new 'old stock' one from a contact in Holland. It has been one of those must get it built but no time situations. 

The spare diff, a 3.9 was the sacrificial lamb for the occasion, the 4.1 currently in the car would become the new spare. As I didn't want to damage any of the bearings, I had to modify my bearing splitter. With the bearing off, I was able to remove the crown wheel. This gave me access to the LSD, which I checked over. 

The Peugeot manual diff section is a nightmare of special tools and measurements and while I had been able to recreate some, most of the set up uses old fashioned tooth marking & backlash measurements. With the new crown wheel fitted, it was time to turn to the pinion set up. First job was to measure the old pinion height using one of the pieces I had made, then using a couple more Ti made parts, the pinion and it's bearings and spacers were removed.

Making sure my new pinion height was correct, I then installed the crown wheel, locating it with some more Ti made parts.

The trick then, is to use shims to arrive at the correct mesh and bearing pre load.

Eventually you are looking for an even tooth marking and the correct amount of backlash. Then the diff cover can be fitted, ready to fit in the car.
 

 

 

All's well that ends well.

After breakfast, we made our way to The Phil Price Rally School, a venue we have used before, not as challenging as Sweet Lamb can be, but ideal for our purpose.

Richard and Stefan went off to do a few sighting laps and to make some notes. Andrew & I did important things, like boiling the kettle for coffee.

With their notes done, they came back to the garage. water for the washers & battery for the intercom, and off they went, only to return a few minutes later. The intercom wasn't working. Another battery and the same problem. This later turned out to be some undersized batteries. Had we have sussed it at the time, we could have packed it out. Time for a bit of shouting from Stefan and some sign language.

By lunch time, Richard declared himself satisfied and we started packing up, ready to head back to the workshop.

Unsurprisingly, there was a list, but for once it was minor items. Mainly cosmetic.

 

A Testing couple of days.

With a morning test session booked at Phil Prices' facility near Knighton, our plan was for Richard and Stefan to take a cross country route, via Earley Engineering in Herefordshire, to check the progress on Richard's Alvis, before joining Andrew & myself at Knighton. We were about a mile from the workshop when we got a phone call from the boys. They had stopped to fill up with fuel and couldn't restart the car. A bit of telephone diagnostics didn't help and Andrew and I soon found our selves on the way to a BP fuel station of the A417 near Wantage or some such place. 

As is so often the case, as soon as a mechanic touches the car, the problem disappears. That was just what happened this time. It seemed that the fuel pumps were not working. Stefan had checked all the fuses and connections to the pumps & they hadn't worked. When I turned the ignition on, the pumps came on & the car started. A look of disbelief from the crew but a cause for concern for me. Switching on and off and restarting was not a problem, so off they went again. Andrew & I resumed our journey wondering what had caused the problem. It wasn't long before we had another chance to find out. The car had stopped, once again the pumps had stopped.

This time, we were able to find the problem. One pump had died completely and the other one was in it's death throws. Luckily, we weren't that far from Raceparts at Wallingford and while Stefan & I started trying to get the 504 back in action, Andrew & Richard went to pick up a couple of replacement pumps.

The car finally died mid way between a garden centre and a pub. I can heartily  recommend The Packhorse at Milton Hill, Abingdon. OX13 6AG, I'm sure the garden centre would have been OK.

Richard & Andrew joined us for lunch, before we fitted a pair of new pumps and once again set the crew off westward.

Feeling a little more confident, Andrew & I also headed west. This time, we had Stefan turn on his GPS and we were able to keep an eye on them via 'Friend Locator'.

We were stopping overnight at The Horse & Jockey, in Knighton. It's only a few miles from Phil Price's and having stopped there before, we knew we would eat well. Richard and Stefan arrived about 20 minutes after us, having enjoyed a trouble free remainder of their journey.

Getting Ready for Testing - 3

The repaired TCA's have arrived from Mr Skitt, so the front suspension has gone back together. 

As always, the TCA is then wired to the front chassis sub frame, in case of a ball joint breakage.

With the suspension now sorted, it just remained for the seats and belts to go back in. Final adjustments would be made when Richard and Stefan came to collect the car. The plan was to drive the car to Wales, Andrew & I would travel separately. I  just love a good plan.

Getting Ready for Testing - 2

While I waited for Jeff to perform his magic, I had plenty to be getting on with. The heated front screen was going to need it's own loom adding. At the time, I didn't know whether the screen was going to feature a split heating system or a single one. Working on the split screen scenario, I planned the wiring accordingly. As you can see from the wiring diagram, we would need 2 x 25amp circuits. That might need a bigger output alternator. The installed switch featured 2 poles to cope with it. As the screen is being made to order, I am waiting somewhat anxiously. The other piece of additional loom was for Stefan's interior light. The Don Barrow one, inherited from the wrecked Honda.

With the switch panels ready to go back in, I decided to go a little bit retro and label everything with an old fashioned Dymo machine, so embossed lettering rather than the printed one I had originally used. More in keeping I think.

One more thing to look at was lighting. Although the wiring for spots was in place, we had never had the need while the car was in Kenya. For the RAC, that would be very different.

What we needed was a light bar. Enter a length of aluminium tube that I had laying around. Introduce it to a tig welder and you have mounting brackets. Add a couple of M8 rivnuts and you have the makings of a lamp bar.

The mountings for the actual lamps will be made when a decision is made as to what to use.

 

Getting Ready for Testing

In due course, the replacement electric extinguisher system arrived. There were a number of differences, the FIA ensuring that we have to pay out more money & the makers were able to profit from the poor old competitors pocket. The bottle replacement was straightforward enough, after that things became a bit more challenging.

Now we have two 10mm pipes going forward, one feeding four nozzles to the interior [previously 2] and one going to the engine bay, once again 4 nozzles replacing the previous 2. In order to replace the the under dash nozzles and with the need to add a few bits of wiring, I took the dash apart, revealing a lot of Kenyan dust. Working with the 10mm pipe made life a little harder, especially when working in tighter spaces. The engine bay was a little easier, installation requiring one nozzle in each corner. The handhelds would wait until after the seats have gone in.

One other long outstanding job that I have been able to do, was a fix to the speedo drive. When I had the new cables made, the drive end for the gearbox drive, was too large and needed to be reduced a little to fully engage. An easy enough job, a quick touch with the Dremel on each face of the square and the job was done.

My plans for adjustable TCA's went out of the window following a visit to Jeff Skitt Engineering down in Aberporth. He was however able to repair the damage to the ones we brought back from Kenya. As you can see, they were heavily ovalised. The plan is for Jeff to make some tapered inserts & tig them in place.

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Some Additions

Those of you who have been here before, will remember that before the 504 went to Kenya, we had Bremax make us a bespoke competition wiring loom. This followed a few minor problems with the original 1974 Peugeot loom. At the time, I spec'd it to cover all that I thought we would need. This was based on the prospect of the car remaining in Kenya long term. For various reasons that has ended up not being the case.

A deal struck with Richard Phillipson, to contest some British Historic events, culminating on the Roger Albert at the end of the year, has necessitated a couple of additions.

The prospect of frosts on the Kenyan events, was something I hadn't thought of, but November in the UK is a whole different ball game. At the best of times, the heater in the 504 could be described as inadequate, so one of the add-ons is going to be a heated front windscreen. The other one is one of the Don Barrow LED lights, in fact the one that Stefan liked so much in the Honda

A 3 way [on-off-on] switch was fitted next to the fuse block. The 2 'on' positions putting on either the red led or white light as the need arises. Final location on the cage will be left to Stefan, when he comes in for a seat fitting.

 

As the heated screen is a one off special order, I am waiting for it to arrive before laying in any wiring, so watch this space, as it were.

Extinguisher Woes

As all of my extinguishers in the 504 needed new stickers, I took the bottles off to Raceparts and that's where it all went to the dogs. The Lifeline electric bottle was too old [over 10 yrs old], so too were the handhelds. It would have been nice to have been able to just replace the bottle for the electrical system, that would have been easy, but NO. The entire system has to be replaced. New nozzles & pipe specification, don't you know. The only saving grace was that I could retain our Bremax loom wiring for the system. Now, instead of 4 nozzles in total, we now have eight and instead of 8mm pipe we now have 10mm. sadly they didn't have one in stock, so while I waited, I tidied the floor pan and having filled the odd hole or two, gave it a lick of paint. The first aid kit went  in and  then  I turned  my  attention  to  the foot brace.

Historically, we have had a problem with keeping the washer bottle in place behind the foot brace, so time to do something about it. The addition of a removable strip sorted that out.

The new extinguisher system turned up a couple of days later, which timing wise, worked out very well. Working with the 10mm tube, was a bit of a struggle in places, much more so than the previous 8mm tube. The new

system runs 2 completely separate circuits, one for the 4 cockpit nozzles and the other for the engine bay. For the inside, I fitted one nozzle by the cage and one near the centre of the dash. You can see the blue nozzles here on the co-driver side. Drivers side is a mirror image. For the engine bay, I have one nozzle at the rear of the engine bay pointing at the carbs, one at the front of the inner wing, again pointing to the carbs, the drivers side is covered in the same way,  one by the master cylinder and one by the coils. As mentioned earlier, all of the firing mechanism from the original system was retained. This time I used 3M's Dual Lock to locate the control box. It's in a slightly different location this time.

With those jobs done, it was time to move on to a little bit of wiring.