Death rattle?

I really shouldn't have rattled the cage of the Gods of Reliability in an earlier post...

Out for a drive and after pulling out from a junction and nailing it, an ominous rattle suddenly started up. I pulled over, assuming something had just come loose in the engine bay but nothing obvious. I slowly drove home - the rattle sounds like the same noise you get on cold starting, before oil gets round the engine. Only seems to happen over 2000 rpm and on gentle acceleration - hard acceleration doesn't seem to be a problem, weirdly.

A post on a forum brought forward ominous warnings of terminal bearing failure caused by petrol in my oil because I'm running too rich. OK, yes, I am running rich but not excessively, I don't think, and even if it was, could it cause that much damage in just 3k miles?

While looking for the problem, I also noticed that I was leaking coolant from the temp sensor in the top of the thermostat. I took it out and found that the plastic adaptor the sensor plugs into has cracked! Wonderful...ordered a couple from Emerald (1 for a spare).

I've been thinking about getting a wideband lambda sensor for a while now; ordered one and will see how that goes (specifically, will I be able to get the bung out of the exhaust). I've specifically ordered a Spartan2 because Richard L has one and he posts lots of very useful detail about it and I may need all the help I can get.

Next step is an oil change to look for metal particles, which will help tell me if there is any physical engine damage. I would like to also change the coolant - it's a horrible rusty colour - but I've got enough to do.

While I'm wiring in the lamdba sensor, I've also got a couple of other jobs I could do at the same time:

1. Get the water washer working.
2. Move the main beam switch away from the headlight beam switch, so I don't mistakenly turn off ALL my lights when trying to get main beam on.
3. Fix my USB charger port on the aux panel - seems to have stopped working (I've checked the fuses).

Not happy times....

Stoneleigh me

This weekend was the kit car show at Stoneleigh. I went as a member of RHOCAR as I was nominated for magazine editor. As I was the only nominee, I was duly elected. Only afterwards did the outgoing editor tell me he had been trying to find a replacement for 3 years! Sounds promising...

The drive up was fun - I drove past the scene of my off-road incident (see last post) and the bollards are still missing. The weather all weekend has been amazing, almost too hot and I almost put my roof up just to keep me cooler.

The RHOCAR stand was pretty full:

Worryingly, the show halls were quieter than last year, less people and exhibitors which is not promising for the future. Hopefully a one-off..

Still lots of fantastic vehicles:

I camped overnight and had my usual solid 2 hours of sleep - i don't know why i persist with camping, I never sleep well.

On the way home, it was even hotter and, while stuck in a slow queue, I decided to switch off the engine. The temp gauge was fine but I thought it was a good idea. Nope, wrong. After a few minutes, the queue started moving and Zedster wouldn't start! Everything seemed to work; lights, hazards, fuel pumps but no starter motor. After a bit more panicking, i remembered reading that some people had issues with hot starter motors, so i sprayed water over mine and left it for 5 minutes (with cars crawling past me). Amazingly, it worked but a useful issue to remember for future.

Also, hopefully, another RHOCAR member has offered to do my doors. I left all the stuff with him at the show so hopefully I might have some doors in the near future.

Crashy and Cheesy

Well, it's been a busy few weeks...

Firstly, I had a great day on the Stilton Classic Car Run on Sunday, with several members of the RHOCaR club. The weather was amazing and I had planned a slow, B-road route for most of the 130 mile journey to Uppingham in the northern (well, to me - more like Midlands) wilds of England.

Scarily, I had my first real 'incident' in Zedster - while it was hot on the day, there had been huge thunderstorms the night before and the roads were still slippery (building up the excuses). Coming off the motorway, I joined a large A road and came to a huge roundabout. Forgetting the wet roads, I hooned around the roundabout and nailed it on my exit. The rear end decided it wanted to see what the front of the car looked like and slid round for a nosy. I happily slid sideways up the dual-carriageway and onto the grass verge, taking out 3 plastic (thankfully) bollards and breaking my drivers-side wind deflector. Thankfully, it was 7am and the roads were empty, so I didn't hit anyone and, more importantly, no-one was able to see my driving ineptitude. Apart from the wind deflector, a slight graze on the right panel where I took the bollards out and lots of grass, there was no real damage. After I gave myself a good talking to, I was soon away, much more cautiously now.

Later on in the day, while accelerating in a straight line (!) on a damp-ish road, I almost lost it again. I could feel the back-end twitching as the rear wheels spun - in 3rd gear! Luckily, I eased off in time.

All in all, some harsh lessons learned, not to take Zedster for granted - he still has enough power to ruin your day, despite the humble underpinnings. Interestingly, I watched a YouTube video today of supercar 'fails' and a common theme was someone using too much power round a bend and losing the back end - made me feel a bit better that it wasn't just me.

The rest of the day was great fun - amazing weather, some great cars, beautiful scenery, quaint towns, a delicious lunch:

A continuing highlight (and surprise) is Zedster's excellent reliability (touch wood). I did over 300 miles on Sunday, some of it at motorway speed and all in high temperatures and, despite my earlier off-road excursion, Zedster never missed a beat. Coolant temperature never went above 95 degC (on the gauge which I think under-reads a little, so more like 100 degC) and no hot-starting issues, which affected 2 or 3 others in our group.

I had played around with the injection map, in a bid to improve the 20mpg I normally get. Without a lambda sensor, I cannot easily tell if the adjustments are doing any good and I should really go on a rolling road to do this properly but I just cannot justify £350 for this. Also, almost everyone who has been on a RR seems to have damaged their car in the process - it is quite harsh on the cars and I don't want to ruin Zedster's reliability.

Interestingly, the run itself from Uppingham to Stilton was very sedate - rarely exceeding 40mph for 40 miles. When I filled up, I had managed 30mpg!! But I'm not sure if any of this was due to my map changes. Maybe I just drive too fast all the time?

I mentioned the RHOCAR club - I have volunteered to edit their quarterly magazine and I believe I am the only volunteer, so should get the job at the AGM at Stoneleigh in 2 weeks. Really looking forward to it and I've already started on the work. You can see from this blog that I really enjoy writing, so it's right up my alley. Unfortunately, the club is a little in disarray at the moment, with the current committee being attacked by certain members for not doing enough etc, etc. Hopefully, the club will survive long enough for at least one edition of the magazine.

And finally today, I've found someone who may be able to do my doors for me - I go to see him on Saturday.

Apologies for the long post - Stoneleigh in 2 weeks - should be fun as I'm camping overnight.

The Sound of Combustion

After a short break in the wilds of Cornwall, i needed a Zedster fix so I popped out for a short play.

I've talked before about the great noise Zedster makes so I thought I'd try record it. The following is a very bad video and although it sounds OK, it still isn't as bat-shit loud as the real thing - but enjoy:

'Tis the season to be jolly...

... because the ice age is finally over and the roads, they are 'a calling...

Took a drive out to the The white lion antiques car meet (last Sunday of every month) - a great selection of cars:

Strangely, Zedster was the only kit there - expected a few more. Despite all the  lovely Cobras and TVRS, the DeLorean still looks amazing,  if you don't look inside and ignore it's humdrum mechanicals and engine, especially from the rear. It's difficult to believe its a 30+ year old design - still one of the most futuristic looking cars around.

I haven't got round to my doors yet - the materials are all here but I'm just too scared to make the first cut. My wimpy sewing machine was not up to the job (already sold on eBay) and I thus still need to find someone to do the sewing. There's a repair shop on my local high street who said he would but i don't have much faith in him - he has absolutely no idea what a kit car door looks like and even after I showed him a picture, he still looked confused.

I went through a short tunnel on the way home and the NOISE from Zedster was awesome - i must try the Hindhead tunnel on the A3 one day. I also had a couple of oversteer moments today; one i planned but the other caught me out - uphill, right-hand bend in 3rd gear (!) , booted it a bit early and out came the back. Paniced, lifted off and oversteer the other way! With a car coming the other way! Luckily, it probably felt worse than it was but it slowed me down for a while.

Grin just about faded away now...

Kitted out

Finally got the wheelarches back on, a mere 2 months after they did a Burton - I'm not exactly a fast worker, am i? I actually really like the colour contrast between the blue and black:

They look good from most angles but they are not as well aligned as when I first did them which is annoying. The nearside is worst - at least i can't see it from the drivers seat.

Just waiting for the material for the doors to arrive...

Underneath the arches - again

Time to try refit the front wheel arches - first, some gunk on the underside of the arch as a first fix, arch positioned, tin of paint on top to weigh it down and left overnight. Annoyingly, it hasn't dried in exactly the right position but it's not miles out and, as you may have guessed by now, I'm no perfectionist.

Next stage was to fit the stronger brackets I made a few weeks ago - a bit of final tweaking, an excess of gunk and clamps:

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any more clamps, so I'll have to do one bracket per. night.

I trial fitted the upper door frame - looking pretty good:

A bit concerned how the sewing is going to go...well outside my comfort zone.