E5TUS - 2023: Some turbo tinkering & Hillclimbing
Turbo Mini Forums

Hello all. What a weekend! Decent weather and some actual motorsport. It was great to get back out. The restrictions were adhered to and it was a sensible middle ground to operate events.

Thought the day may be off to a bad start when one of my trailer wheel arches started twitching on the way to the venue. I was slowing down for a layby on the dual carriageway when the rear mount fully let go.



Another job for the list!

We got setup and scrutineered from afar without contact by officials, just needed my HANS to be checked and stickered as that wasn’t a thing in 2017!

So to recap, my best timed run here is 50.12, with a practice run (pre-crash) of 49.89. Last clean event here was recorded in 2016, the two attempted events in 2017 did not go well.

I’m not going to lie, I was shitting myself before the first practice. Google had reminded me on the 22nd that 4 years ago I ended up on the tyre wall, so that was freshly planted at the front of my mind. First practice was good, not blistering pace, 52.56, but happily 3rd fastest classic mini of the 10 in our club, 2nd if you don’t count the maguire spaceframe as a mini. Really helped shed the nerves, car felt great, it’s hard to compare to previous runs, with new gearset ratios and final drive as well as newly mapped ignition. Power came on well and I didn’t need as many gears as previous runs, which is not what I expected as I’ve got a higher diff ratio now. But the power is there and useable so no complaints.

There were pheasants everywhere due to the cancelled shooting season last year and they would sporadically fly across the hill, one of our boys collected one and the subsequent mess had to be swept up. Marshall involvement becomes a bit of a theme for the weekend…

Second practice saw improvement, inching towards the sub 50 goal with 50.67. I was also 4 tenths quicker than my dad, which has only happened at Combe and Loton where I can stretch the legs on the turbo, so the new ratios were obviously working.

First timed run, I had a couple of things I wasn’t happy with on the lower section (ironically the split ended up being quicker than the morning runs!) but was red flagged before the first hairpin. My first thought was “great, can try that bottom section again and not do the same”, but you quickly remember the reason for a red flag is an incident involving someone you know.

I was turned around and sent down the hill. Waiting for a restart, but seeing the doctor and recovery head up, we knew it would be a while. John was ok, bruised and aching but very lucky considering it was a pretty big incident, especially for someone in their 70’s! We think the steering rack internals went, the wheels went their own way and sent him into the bank at the end of the straight approaching the last corner.
Corner dug in and pushed him both over onto 2 wheels and all the way round. Ended up on his wheels facing the right way, but the below pic shows him halfway round, facing down the hill.



All four wheels have picked up damage, the majority of damage is offside, subframe may have twisted. The seat mounts bent too so no wonder he was feeling it.



When I was allowed to restart, I pretty much replicated all the things I wasn’t happy with on the bottom section (within 7 hundredths) and then fudged third gear on the straight. 51.13. I’ve got history of getting a slower first timed run that practice. I’m convinced it’s all in my head, something to work on. My dad increased the pressure by banking a 50.69.

Final timed run and I managed to pull my best launch and split together, not miss a gear on the straight and finally officially break the 50 barrier with a 49.88. New PB and a very welcome end to a clean day for the first time since 2016! Dad replicated his first timed run with a 50.70 so I thought I’d earned the night off cooking, but he drove John’s camper and wounded car home for him, so I was reinstated to my usual duty of chef! My class 8a competition was playing too, his best time was 50.48 so I establish the current class record, to be challenged for this year until it becomes part of the regs for 2022.

Sunday first practice went well, I bettered my launch and first split over the best time from Saturday, bit slippy on the straight under the trees but happy with 50.05. Asides from the maguire I was quickest classic mini, ahead of dad on 50.77.

Second practice was still nice and cool so turbo was loving it. I was slightly down on launch and split but made it up in the esses and straight. I was buzzing to see 49.62 flash up at the top paddock. Directed into position and turned round to let my dad know, but he didn’t appear. The paddock marshall knew he was my old man so came and said he was alright. Seemingly stoved into a bank in the esses. Some more brush work for the ever hard working marshalls!

Sounds like the tie rod snapped and the wheel opened up and into the bank. Tie rod looks like it was cracked for a while before letting go. Never found the other part to see what that looked like.



Apart from some tie rod, some fibreglass damage and a bent steering arm, should be ok.

I couldn’t replicate the practice runs in the first timed session, my speedwell gearstick extension came loose and I was chasing the bastard thing round in circles during the run. Finally got it seated up the straight. 50.66.

Lining up for the second timed session, long afternoon, they’d been a couple of incidents to be recovered and cleared up. One of our club cars was being double driven, the first driver goes in the batch before, so we usually see part of the run as we line up at paddock exit. We were all lined up watching him go up the first half, he’d said he was going to be braver into the gate and brake late, he certainly did, ran up the tyres until he met the oak tree and it rolled him.





Again, thankfully driver ok, but another big incident. It all takes time and with another batch to go after us, made it a long day for all the officials.

I baulked off the line and it cost me a decent time for the final run. Disappointing, but as usual, only myself to blame. 50.20, which I’d have been chuffed with on the Saturday, but I’d tasted 49!!
By the time we’d finished the batches, packed up, loaded the cars and towed home it was late. Have grabbed the gopro today but won’t get a chance to look for a couple of days. I’ll report back with the quickest run and probably the comedy of me trying to screw the gearknob back on during a run!

Things to note, I’m fatter than I was, and hence had to adjust the harness, which subsequently didn’t want to sit as well in the HANS device. It was a massive pain in the arse. I have 3” shoulder straps and the FHR/HANS specific harnesses are 2”, so that’s something I need to change. Also, my old balaclava, I’m sure I was going to replace it in 2018, it’s gotten a bit baggy and as such bunches up in places under the helmet. Gave me a massive headache first day, so binned it off for the remainder of the weekend. Then the helmet strap and overall velco rubbed my neck raw. So looking for a balaclava that doesn’t have the centre seam and dents my head!

Apologies for the monster post. Congratulations if you made it to the end!
Stu

A successful weekend for you. Pretty damaging elsewhere, plenty of damage to be repaired. Stripping a steering rack is certainly a concern, and odd to see a tie bar go like that.

Nice write-up
Sounds like a very fun weekend after a long time waiting.

Dazed and Confused....

Excellent write up , thank you .

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Enjoyed that read. Cheers!

Interesting read and glad you kept it in one piece.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Here's the 49.62 run from Sunday, practice 2. I probably need to upgrade my gopro at some point it's the first generation HD Hero, done me proud, but not brilliant definition.

https://youtu.be/jgDM8QHy9Uc

I can definitely gain time by not lifting over bunny leap and there's lots to gain from later braking for the gate, but I haven't gained the balls to do it yet!

I've spoken to both the guys that had big incidents, John is still pretty beat up and Zac is ok. Dad's car is stripped and a replacement tie-rod and geometry setup would probably render it useable. We're going to change the rack tomorrow as we have one to hand and seeing John's failure we decided it was worth the extra labour!

We've got some KAD tie rods to go on, nice bit of kit and feel very solid.

Oh and I will do something about that switch that's dangling under the dash. Never noticed it, but I can't unsee it now!!

Looks pretty rapid that! Nice one.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Got some great shots sent to me by 569 Motorsport Media from last Saturday. First time I’ve ever seen the back end lifting a wheel.





The further investigation on dad’s steering rack was worthwhile..



I looked through my notes and saw that we went to fit a quick rack in mine April 2017 after my run up the tyre wall but didn’t, we fitted it to his car then and I used his standard rack in mine. So I think the damage was done in September 2017 during the argument with the oak tree. Least that answers why the steering seemed heavy on the Saturday. New tyre on order as the sidewall got cut, all our spares are 195 not 215.

Alignment is booked in for Wednesday then all ready for Wiscombe again 15th/16th May.

My ACW polycarb windows turned up. Very well packaged and great looking slider kit.

Went 4mm to meet Motorsport UK regs so a little heavier than a few people would have used, but worth the extra weight and cost for the little sticker that will please the scrutineers!
I have weights as: Front (with slider) 1.7kg, Rear side (openers) 1kg, and Rear 1.5kg

Opted to keep the rear quarters as openers to allow some airflow when needed. Not looking forward to fitting the rear screen, I have a nice new supple seal for that one and I’ll wait till its a touch warmer.

For the doors, I drilled and tapped the polycarb and bolted from inside, tapping meant I could adjust the position of the window within the door then lock it off with nuts. I’m still using the standard seal and outside trim, in a bid to reduce weather ingress. Not the lightest option, but I’m shifting plenty of weight with removal of winder and door internals. I measured the glass at 4.425, winder at 1.72 and took nearly a kilo and a half out of the guts of the door. About 6kg saving per door.





Got the rear openers off the car and managed to extract the chrome trim without drama. Used some silicone to take up the place of the weird seal that’s between glass and frame. Rear openers were 2.82 without the surround. 1.7kg saving a side.



Bit of a faff to get in solo, owing to new seals that were fighting me all the way. But pleased with the outcome.

Race weekend approaches, weather not looking as favourable as last event, but nothing I can do about that. I guess I’ll soon see if the polycarb mounting is in anyway waterproof!

15.5kg off the car from the switch to poly, with rear screen still to do.

Gave a quick look over everything, rear offside has a bit of movement, can’t decide if it’s a wheel bearing or shite bolt-on-tab camber brackets that seem to be deforming or both. Gave it all a spanner check and it’ll do for the two days, it’s all getting changed after this weekend anyway.

Rubber is now on the wheels and think I have everything else I plan to change.



Yoko A032R 165/70/R10 is 5.4kg if anyone cares.

Depending on where you were in the country this weekend, you’ll have enjoyed one of the three categories of rain: Heavy/Monsoon/Biblical, interspersed with bouts of bright sunshine to nearly convince you it might dry up.

Wiscombe Park was no exception, providing all ranges of British weather. The hill is not the issue, the track mostly takes care of itself, but the paddocks are another story. Top paddock and camping field were slippery on arrival Friday and doesn’t take too much traffic to make the gateway impassable for anything but 4x4’s.

I got there early Friday afternoon, one of the first in the top field, van managed fine, chose a spot and unloaded the car. Loaded it up with all the gear for the lower paddock and took it down ready for the morning. We had some rain overnight that was nothing short of impressive, and as many of us were kipping in panel vans or car trailers, there was some bleary eyes first thing. Rather predictably, the top paddocks were a mess, we had to push a few of the competitor vehicles out but ever hopeful for changing weather.

We had our first practice in the dry, and asides from the start line and a couple of areas in the trees, it wasn’t too bad. Once I eventually got traction off the line I ran a 56.81. Then the rain came…



Lower paddock got chewed up very quickly and those with gazebos became very popular. The pace of running dropped as it was taking longer to get the batches to the start line. The rain stopped and sun came out before our second run, enough for us to dry the cars off and get a second clean run without the need for wipers or snorkels. I matched the same wheel-spinning-for-days launch to within 3 hundredths and once the traction reappeared I knocked some time off down to a 55.07.

Then the rain came back, heavier, with hail to boot at one point. They abandoned holding the last batch practice before lunch and took the break to let the rain ease. It was heavy enough to be breaking the beams and playing havoc with the timing system.

By this stage the top paddocks were flooded and now washing gravel, mud and other detritus onto the top hairpin and down the straight. The marshals and organisers set to digging relief trenches for the streams and drainage channels to divert the water.

It was decided that only one timed run would be taken due to length of time getting the cars out of paddock. No pressure then… Cue the rain. There was standing water along the lower section of the track and not many places I could put the power down. Slowest time all day 58.48. Despite being quicker than my dad in the two morning runs, he pulled it out the bag on the last run and beat me by half a second.

Looking at the forecast and considering my kit was wet I decided to come home Saturday, the event got cancelled on the Sunday morning so was the right call.

Needed towing out of the camping field and nearly lost the car off the trailer loading it. It wheelspun on the top of the ramps and slipped left, luckily not all the way and some very kind gents ran over and pushed me back on. Added stress with loading on the trailer, now I can’t get my head out and look at alignment it’s either a two man job or a hope-for-the-best. It’s the final straw with that trailer, served me very well and perfect entry level but I’m going to bite the bullet and get a new one. Credit card is going to love me this month!

No footage from me I’m afraid, apparently didn’t charge the gopro and got all of 10 seconds at the startline. But got Dad’s final run:

http://youtu.be/kosw_xBGxEY

Nice write up, even if the weekend was a write off.

I got the four corners stripped down. Radius arm brackets bolts all came out without a fight, which was a pleasant surprise. Rear doughnuts were squished, but not as bad as others have had.



Stripped and rebuilt the top arms, not too bad a job but mine weren’t too badly worn, I can see how the job can be an arse.



New red dots, hi-lo’s and the arms are back on the front. Just waiting for hub outer seals to arrive and I can throw the brakes on too.



Got as far as refitting O/S/R and was then working on N/S/R before thinking it would be a good time to consider tubbing arches, as it’s only fuel tank and bits of interior away from being entirely accessible (want to change fuel pump pickup sock anyway) and there’s always bits of interior to attack with angle grinder.

Ordered some new rear shocks, I changed the fronts in 2016, maybe laziness with regards to the tank at the time stopping me from doing the rears?

So, some work lined up for the bank holiday weekend, Missus is taking nipper to the in-laws, so it’s garage time for me!

Mixed bag of progress…

On Friday I stripped the OSR suspension back off the car, fuel tank and interior to give me a good chance of not setting fires. With the tank out, I took the opportunity to strip pump, clean out tank (surprising amount of crap in there!). Another job I’d wanted to do for ages was replace the rear lamp seals, again with tank out, it was a good chance. Lost the rest of the day assembling an aircooled VW engine before breaking out the grinders!

Looked after my son for the weekend as my wife drew the short straw for weekend shift, waved them off Sunday evening and headed off to the unit to cut the arch lips off.



I bent the new return in, first time I’ve done anything like this, so took my time, quite pleasing work. I’ve nothing but respect for bodywork guys who do this day in day out, I’ve not got the patience or stamina for this kind of thing, but in isolation with some tunes blaring and a beer on the go, it was a peaceful evening. I wasn’t sure what to do with the ends, so slotted the inner arch and formed the return with existing material, just needing to seam up the slot later. Maybe not the neatest but it seems to work.



I walked the dog to the workshop early doors Monday and cracked on with the tubbing. In hindsight I did the first one in the absolute wrong order, but nothing new there! I cut the infill piece, with punched holes for both inner and outer lips to be plug welded from underneath.





I got carried away and just started plugging the outer lip. I used damp rags on the outside and it managed the heat well, air gun on hand to cool everything down too. Wasn’t till I’d done all the outer plugs I realised all the adjustment for fitment was on the outer lip and I then struggled for a long time to bring the inner skins together to fit nice.

I learnt from my morning of struggle and did the other side inner first then could close the two outer skins with plenty of clamps, weld and then trim back any excess. I also stitch welded the inner join on the inside.



(actually the same side is shown in photo, but I’d clearly got bored of documenting by the afternoon!)

When I was cleaning up inside, the grinder slipped and I had an accident with the rear seat overhang and companion bins. Unfortunately, they did not survive, but I suppose all I can do is accept the weight saving.

Once it was all tidied up, undersealed and painted I think it is passable, I guess it should look like nothing was done.



I took Tuesday off too, so I had a chance to throw the car back together… Haha, how foolish!

With the new hub seals in hand, the FOS went together beautifully and I finally got a wheel on the car.



Onward I thought. Then remembered I hadn’t got the FNS upper arm off and I needed to refurb that before I could reassemble. Queue the issues..

Couldn’t get the compression tool into the spring, just would not have it, so had to cut the cone. Being replaced anyway, but it didn’t have to fight me. Then the upper arm wouldn’t play ball. Took a long time (several hours between fits of swearing and cups of tea) to get out. Then one of the bearings would not come out. I’d modified a screwdriver as a cranked punch on the previous arm, and it worked well on the first bearing, second one said no. Top edge of race ended up chewed up, took the needles out and the bottom edge soon broke out too. Had to grind out a split on the race to then collapse it inward.

Anyway, annoyance and hissy fits aside, I’d lost most of the day getting nowhere. Decided to carry on and get the brake line out, the fitting on the link pipe looked like it was one attempt away from rounding, which it promptly did. So had to cut the line to remove. That meant going back to the completed side and going backwards to get the other end off to replace the link pipe. Made a new one and got it on and that side back together (again).

I thought I should do something else to feel like progress was being made. Got the new rear shocks on, lights in and tank installed. I was just tidying the wiring and noticed there was a spliced tail that went nowhere, cut into the light wiring. Looked like trailer connection that was long abandoned. Thinking back, the subframe in it when I got the car was toast, did have lots of holes in it. Must have had a tow bar in the 90’s!

I thought you’d like to see how the wiring was connected…

Yep, just wrapped round a bare section!

I tidied the wiring up and retired home fresh out of enthusiasm. Maybe head down this evening and get the back corners together to make me feel better, then just FNS to assemble before bleeding the brakes and I can finally get wheels on and on the ground to see if this was worthwhile or not!

Nice work, could you have got any more clamps on that arch?!

I forced myself back into the garage to rebuild the top arm the other night. Got the suspension all back together and the new brakes on. But not for long as I’d left the locking nut on the hilo that side, so it all ended up coming back off!

Whilst I had a willing assistant on Friday, we fitted the Polycarb rear screen. Fought us a little, but we got a good technique sorted in the end and nobody lost a finger or scratched the paint. Used the old filler strip and it was so much easier to fit that a new one as the corners are already formed.

Again, whilst a willing assistant was on hand, we bled the brakes. Now just needed to throw the seat back in, get wheels on and start working out heights. We remembered we had a brand new seat for the R1 project that had been sat under a cover for 4 years, dug it out and I managed to fit in it (not the case for the Sparco Sprint as I found out the other week), so decided to put that in mine.

I lost most of Saturday morning, getting it in the right place and mounted, then easily an hour trying to sort the new harness lengths out on my own. But happy with the new lower and rearward position. I’d like to maybe drop the column a bit more, but we’ll see.



Then it was time to finally fit the wheels!





Haven’t gone mad with the rear hilo’s as I’m expecting the red dots to settle. Just need rear alignment and I can get some miles on it, check over everything again, and should be good for the trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon in July.

Took the car out for a test run last night. Had a nightmare day with some emergency plumbing required in the house, so thought it would be nice to put some miles on the mini.

Did 20 miles with only the grease caps popping off the rear hubs then rattling round in the alloys, like an expensive metallic baby rattle.

The way home was a bit different, noticed my AFR kept popping up with the “POO” it does when you turn on the ignition, loose connection I thought. But it was getting dark and soon noticed the other gauge backlights were flickering when it happened too. A little further down the road and I realised my lights were also on the fritz, so looked for somewhere to pull-in. Before I could find somewhere the ignition was cutting in and out, and eventually died. I rolled to a stop on a lovely country road to find the earth red hot and smouldering, the car behind said I was sparking underneath every time I hit a bump. Exhaust had melted/worn through the battery cable near the front subframe.



Great news: It didn’t catch fire and could have been worse!



Good news: All the lightening work so far meant I could easily push it up the road to somewhere safe before I lost the light.

Annoying news: I had already decided on a new battery, to be relocated inside and new re-routed cables. It arrived today to rub salt in the still painful wound.



Bad news: I have to wait for the cable before I can remedy the dead car.

Have alignment booked for Saturday, so tight deadline as always!

Again a great read, cheers!
Pics dont work for me tho.. not sure if its my end tho?

Keep up good work!

Cracking read 👍

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.

Thanks guys, glad it’s of some interest. This serves me as my notes to come back to, my attempts at notebooks in the past have been hit or miss. The pictures do take a while to load, I’ll use a smaller format, see if that helps.

Car has been pissing me right off since the battery cable incident. I fitted the new battery on passenger side, can still fit the passenger seat if needed and nice short runs to the cut-off on the way through to the starter.





Pottered down the road to get it aligned, thought it was a bit off, but was off boost the whole time so didn’t think much of it. Alignment claws wouldn’t grip tight enough fully wound up on the 10” wheels. We were able to hold one each on the fronts to verify it was still ok, I did the rears by measurement.

I drove the car home, but it was running like a pig. Didn’t want to pick up the revs. I assumed the on/off/on/off of the power before it died had killed something electronic. You’ll have seen on the other thread that I went through everything, in turn suspected the next item, replacing it and then still having the problem.

I did find that the alternator voltage regulator was toast and was putting out too much charge. Not wanting to kill the new battery, I got a new one. I did get persuaded into a powerlite one, not due to the weight saving (28%) but the space saving. I’m very tight for space with the intercooler piping and oil cooler in that area.



The saving is not inconsiderable, even with standard 813mm belt. I’ve got an 800mm belt to bring it into the block more, and convinced it can go tighter still, but not sure how much smaller I can go on belt to allow fitment over pully and adjustment, but I’ll keep up the trial and error. It’s a big improvement on the standard unit, not having the cooling fan, means I don’t have to run my homemade guard as insurance for the piping.

I tried new coilpack, leads, plugs, EDIS. But still the same. Timing was confirmed with light, and output of MJ matched the physical reading.

Still able to start and run, but not normally. Measured fuel pressure and even did compression test in case I’d done damage in the last moments of life before breakdown.



Pleased to report that everything checked out ok, which left me no option than start tearing down.

Took inlet and carb off, no air leaks, cracks or abnormality. When I started removing the dash pot, it felt and sounded like the piston/damper fully returned home once load was off the first screw. Hoping that was the issue, but I don’t understand how it got stuck.

I dug through my notes and I had a problem with rough running and rich when I threw it back together last year. Remember taking carb apart and refitting, nothing obvious and the problem went away. Ditto, I had an issue on the rolling road when the dash pot came off for needle adjustment. Can they go out of shape, or wear to the point of being shite?

Going to strip it and have a proper look this week. Hopefully have access to an ultrasonic bath to throw the bits in at the weekend. Odd one, and it’s very annoying. Supposed to be driving it 125miles to Caffeine and Machine next weekend for my birthday but have no faith in the bastard thing at the moment!

Hope you have your gremlins sorted. Just some random thinking in regard your alternator. N.A. Race cars often use oversize pulleys to assist reduce hi voltage at mega revs- not the same as your set up - but that and the comment about your shortish fan belt might be worth a thought. Please disregard if utter rubbish. Cheers Darryl