Bell's Banter 2021

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

If your charger doesn't have a trickle charge option, you could always use a car battery as a buffer. Connect the charger to your larger car battery, and use jump leads (or something much lighter, there won't be the amperage) from that to your mini tractor battery.

Thanks Viva. My charger claims to be for all 12v batteries but does not appear to have a trickle function. Since neither the battery nor the tractor are mine, I'll withdraw my offer to charge it!

[Gerard C]

Wise decision, John. I thing all chargers have a built in trickle function but dont take the risk if all the stuff is not yours. If everything goes wrong for your mate, you can consider a jump start using your car battery.

[morninggents]

The latest Project Binky episode is now up on YouTube for those of you who, like me, are addicted to it.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by morninggents

The latest Project Binky episode is now up on YouTube for those of you who, like me, are addicted to it.

I am the same, however the sun is shining and the garden looks inviting and I'll take a look later, Cheers Peter

[grantp]

And for anyone into Scooter racing - or even if you're not - whilst playing with YouTube you might enjoy this on-bike capture from Cadwell Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcUSKaUtPK8

[andy97]

Very happy to have finished 65th out of 71 finishers, 96 starters (I was seeded 95) on today’s Snetterton Stages rally. Was absolutely bricking it in advance, and that feeling did not dissipate when I arrived and saw the number of recent WRC type cars taking part, probably more than on any recent WRC rally!
Happy with that for only my second ever rally and first time out in my (budget) Escort. 14th out of 17 in class, think there were about 22 in my class at the start.
Had a few driver errors! One co driver error when we ended up “wrong slotting” and doing an extra lap! And the car was very down on power on the third third stage as the throttle cable melted and we only had part throttle.
Good fun but I am shattered now as I hadn’t realised how absolutely knackering it is to drive cars without power steering through loads of successive hairpins and tight corners. And all the driver errors were caused by just simply not being able to wrestle the wheel round quickly enough through some very tight sections.
(Might have to look in to a power steering modification!)

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by morninggents

The latest Project Binky episode is now up on YouTube for those of you who, like me, are addicted to it.

I "might" be able to see when they actually get it driving on the road before my 80th birthday, it's only taken 11 years so far

[Gerard C]

Well done Andy, glad to hear you had fun and finished you first rallye. I dont know what exactly "melted throttle cable" means but it sounds like an earth is missing.

Power steering assist, now??? Its for old puny pensioners! Learn the good use of the handle brake first, adjust the driving posture, fit a large diameter dished steering wheell (like the Avo or Springalex) and test again. Rompez!

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Well done Andy, glad to hear you had fun and finished you first rallye. I dont know what exactly "melted throttle cable" means but it sounds like an earth is missing.

Power steering assist, now??? Its for old puny pensioners! Learn the good use of the handle brake first, adjust the driving posture, fit a large diameter dished steering wheell (like the Avo or Springalex) and test again. Rompez!

Thanks Gerard, the melted throttle cable was the sheathing that the cable runs in, it melted due to the engine heat and the steel cable was restricted in its ability to move within the sheath so the car drove like it the brakes were stuck on!
We will improve the heat protection and cooling within the engine bay and fit a larger diameter steering wheel in the first instance but several companies do a power steering kit modification for Escorts and I may fit that. I am not yet a pensioner but maybe puny! There is a market for the kits so presumably plenty of puny drivers about!
On a normal circuit, or even a little sprint circuit like Curborough (for those that know it) the steering is fine but on these sorts of single venue tarmac rallies there are usually lots of very tight, 1st gear, hairpins in succession and they become very hard work without power steering. I didn’t have a problem with the MX5 on a similar rally back in December.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by andy97

Thanks Gerard, the melted throttle cable was the sheathing that the cable runs in, it melted due to the engine heat and the steel cable was restricted in its ability to move within the sheath so the car drove like it the brakes were stuck on!
We will improve the heat protection and cooling within the engine bay and fit a larger diameter steering wheel in the first instance but several companies do a power steering kit modification for Escorts and I may fit that. I am not yet a pensioner but maybe puny! There is a market for the kits so presumably plenty of puny drivers about!
On a normal circuit, or even a little sprint circuit like Curborough (for those that know it) the steering is fine but on these sorts of single venue tarmac rallies there are usually lots of very tight, 1st gear, hairpins in succession and they become very hard work without power steering. I didn’t have a problem with the MX5 on a similar rally back in December.

Run the throttle cable round the engine bay away from the exhaust manifold. You may need a longer cable. We did this with the Capri which had a similar problem. We do the same with the MGB.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Run the throttle cable round the engine bay away from the exhaust manifold. You may need a longer cable. We did this with the Capri which had a similar problem. We do the same with the MGB.

Thanks Peter, we actually managed to borrow a spare cable from another competitor - the cable was for a Millington engine and that was much longer and we did as you suggest.
I am also starting to get a list of spare parts that I need to take along, a spare throttle cable being one of them! It’s a big learning curve.

[Peter Mallett]

You may want a.clutch cable too unless you've converted to fluid.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

You may want a.clutch cable too unless you've converted to fluid.

Good point, thanks

[Gerard C]

Hope Peter will agree, on Escorts and Capris, if you keep the cable operated clutch, take care, there's a plastic at the top of the clutch pedal meant to retain the cable. I think this part together with the cable clutch end is specific to those Ford models. It does'nt wear of course but after some decades the plastic becomes brittle.

And because I've been caught, in spite of many warnings given by myself to my club fellows, have a look to the wiring loom. On any post '70 carburetted Ford, there's a "built in" ballast hidden in the loom, not far from the pos pole of the coil. Very important when you change the coil… The best we found to "fix" that is to bring a positive wire to feed the coil, after the ignition key. If you keep the ballast and put a racing coil (even a 3 Ohms one) the car will start but after few minutes the coil will receive 9 or 7,5 V instead of 12! Dont ask how I know…
So it could be the coil, but not the coil itself!

[Gerard C]

Before the PAS, change your track habits, driving position first. You're the boss, show her who you are, you dare to take the bull by the horns!
After that, depending on the profile of the stages and you budget, you might think about a first gear giving you a high speed. The Rocket gearbox whatever the syncs, baulk rings or pinions is really bullet proof, you can use the first when you like/need. You paid for four speeds, use all of them.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Before the PAS, change your track habits, driving position first. You're the boss, show her who you are, you dare to take the bull by the horns!
After that, depending on the profile of the stages and you budget, you might think about a first gear giving you a high speed. The Rocket gearbox whatever the syncs, baulk rings or pinions is really bullet proof, you can use the first when you like/need. You paid for four speeds, use all of them.

All good stuff, thanks guys. The gearbox already has a long first, very useful yesterday. It is a 5 speed type 9, though, not a Rocket box. I was in 4th in parts yesterday but not 5th, too many “tyre wall chicanes” for that.

[Gerard C]

If possible go for a 5th giving 1:1 ratio. Dunno if this calculator is the best of the world, but for a dum like me works fine: http://www.catherineandken.co.uk/sti/tyres.html

The word I'm missing, sorry again, is for the 5th "surmultipliée", something like 0,725 for example.

[Gerard C]

Do you know what kind of lsd dif' you have? ZF, Tran'X, Quaife or Gripper? I appreciate the last one but if you want to keep it compliant you must go for the ZF I think.

[Gerard C]

Because it's for rallye purpose I recommend to stay away from big values of neg castor… Unless you do appreciate a massive understeering…

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Do you know what kind of lsd dif' you have? ZF, Tran'X, Quaife or Gripper? I appreciate the last one but if you want to keep it compliant you must go for the ZF I think.

Not sure on the LSD make, the gearbox is a type 9 with a quaife clubman gear kit and 4.4 cwp.
The car isn’t “historic” compliant for the events I hope to do but I would describe it as compliant with a good club level spec from back in the day!
Escorts in U.K. rallying are now often very highly developed with sequential gearboxes and modern Millington race (or Duratec, Honda, or Vauxhall) engines. They are “Special saloons” really and, more rudely, facsimiles of Escorts!!! That’s because U.K. rallying rules are much more “libre” than in racing and whilst historic rallying is a thing, I would suggest no where near as popular as historic racing in the U.K., and sadly we don’t have the equivalent sorts of rally series/classes to things like CSCC or CTCRC or 750mc race series where oem engines and gearboxes are mandated in age related classes.
As a result of all this, yesterday, the class of 22 cars that I was in included a Darrian mid engined fibreglass sports car with a 300 bhp Millington engine and sequential box, several “modern spec Escorts with similar modern drivetrains etc compared to my 150 bhp Pinto!
Nevertheless, I had fun and benchmarked myself against the one very experienced competitor that I knew had a Pinto Escort. I was only 3 places behind him at the finish and only 6 minutes down. Now I know that 6 minutes is a long time but seeing as we wrong slotted on one stage and did an extra “lap” (about 3 minutes worth) and had the throttle issue on stage 3, plus a couple of other driver misdemeanours I was quite happy with that!

[Gerard C]

You can be proud and happy! Good to have a good competitor using a comparable car. Another time, well done. Its for fun after all, keep safe and happy.

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by andy97

Not sure on the LSD make, the gearbox is a type 9 with a quaife clubman gear kit and 4.4 cwp.
The car isn’t “historic” compliant for the events I hope to do but I would describe it as compliant with a good club level spec from back in the day!
Escorts in U.K. rallying are now often very highly developed with sequential gearboxes and modern Millington race (or Duratec, Honda, or Vauxhall) engines. They are “Special saloons” really and, more rudely, facsimiles of Escorts!!! That’s because U.K. rallying rules are much more “libre” than in racing and whilst historic rallying is a thing, I would suggest no where near as popular as historic racing in the U.K., and sadly we don’t have the equivalent sorts of rally series/classes to things like CSCC or CTCRC or 750mc race series where oem engines and gearboxes are mandated in age related classes.
As a result of all this, yesterday, the class of 22 cars that I was in included a Darrian mid engined fibreglass sports car with a 300 bhp Millington engine and sequential box, several “modern spec Escorts with similar modern drivetrains etc compared to my 150 bhp Pinto!
Nevertheless, I had fun and benchmarked myself against the one very experienced competitor that I knew had a Pinto Escort. I was only 3 places behind him at the finish and only 6 minutes down. Now I know that 6 minutes is a long time but seeing as we wrong slotted on one stage and did an extra “lap” (about 3 minutes worth) and had the throttle issue on stage 3, plus a couple of other driver misdemeanours I was quite happy with that!

Well done on getting the finish . One of the most important things is experience , so learning your car & small improvements as you go will all help .
I ran a RS2000 in Gp A on tarmac Internationals .
The nylon lining in the throttle cable can melt , but usually some heat proof sleeving can cure that problem .
Tarmac tyres will make the steering a bit heavier , but setting the front up right will make it better .
2.5 to 3 degrees castor , around 1 degree neg camber & about 3mm toe in is usually about right .
Some of the rallies I did had 100 to 120 stage miles in a day , and I got through them alright without any power steering , but perhaps I was younger & fitter then .

[delta]

I needed cheering up.Andrew Kitson painting of Jim's Westminster at Goodwood 2018. Just wanted too share with you.

[Peter Mallett]

So, you've been "Kitsoned". Happy days.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

The word I'm missing, sorry again, is for the 5th "surmultipliée", something like 0,725 for example.

We would generally refer to a higher than direct 1:1 drive as being an "overdrive" top gear - as opposed to the earlier style Overdrive gearbox which would have a switchable auxiliary gearbox to raise (typically) 3rd and 4th gears on a four-speed box.


As for power steering - I think we've all got soft as a result of using PAS cars all day. I remember when I used to think power steering was for wimps. I even had a landcrab Morris 1800 which had a 13" motalita steering wheel fitted when its power steering worked. It failed when I had it and I kept using the small wheel right upto the point when I sold the car - when I fitted an original wheel as the new owner was a little more lightweight than me!