Maiko the Road Rally Car

[Jordan27]

Okaaaay so the road rally car is finally complete! Complete meaning "fit to rally"... No rally car is ever complete!

This isn't strictly in the order of completion but just using whatever photos I took at the time.

It's been a busy 3 months building the car on the drive in the winter weather so I'm doing the blog all in one now that it's done. I can then blog rallies, damage and repairs through the year

Started with a 1.0 P reg prefacelift rolling shell, bought from a friend that started preparing the car for F1000.
A few jobs were already done including a full Safety Devices cage fitted!
The interior was stripped, the dash had been cut, and there was lots of work to do.

This is once the dashboard had been swapped over to one that wasn't cut.

Underneath was looking sh*te and the standard brakes and suspension came off to be replaced by the Spax coilovers and Almera brakes. Arches were painted white.

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[Jordan27]

The stickers were removed from the panels, leaving faded paint and marks all over the car. Then the rain came down and lots of the Porsche paint done by the previous owner (that had been indoors for 4 years) started to fall off onto our drive. So paint was on the list!
Also repaired the rear of the drivers cill.

New wishbones fitted(this was before the coilovers.. Woops)

Engine, where's the engine?!
The 1275 came out of the stage rally car to go in. £120 off eBay with Tomei Poncam fitted. Competition engine mounts, fuel pressure regulator, Ashley 4-2-1, stainless catback, 1.6 injectors, Group A airbox, and not much else. All running through a 5 speed dogbox with gripper LSD and lightweight flywheel!
Also the Saxo electric power steering pump went in.

Now that the engine was in, the sump guard could be mounted and fitted whilst simultaneously strengthening the front cross member.

I haven't done much welding at all but it survived bashing down a few whites and through farmyards fine!

Next was some interior! Compulsory for road rallying.

Seat bars needed welding in... Along came my dodgy welding again!

Inconsistent... Laugh away hahaha

Seat bars painted white, door cards in and carpet fitted!

Then came seats and harnesses! Quite a bit of progress this day.

The donor car now looked like this inside.

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[Jordan27]

Dad made a switch panel to go where the radio used to be.
Navigator light switch, fuses, spot lights switch and electric power steering switch.

Painted the crossmember and sump guard mount to stop rust. Nice camber bro.

Nav foot rest, nav clock and switch panel fitted.

Now it was time for paint... The cheap way.
Filler primer on the ruined paint where the stickers were.

12 spray cans of Calsonic Blue later...

Definitely not the best job, but a lot better than it looked before! Still waiting on a decent polish.

Also got the PIAA 80 Series lights fitted. Outstanding lights! They use a H4 bulb so they can be either main beam for spots or dipped to make them fog lights!

Week to go until my first road rally!
MOT passed, taxed and insured(for a few £100 less than my road car.....)

Insurance photos

Pretty much ready to go! Spent the week driving the car getting used to the LSD and dogbox. Few tweaks and the handling was spot on. Almera brakes are outstanding.
Warning triangle, spill kit, first aid kit, spare wheels and straps, tool kit and other essentials put in the car.



21st February at the start of my first road rally!

105 miles later and we finished 3rd/17 in class and 44th/90 overall in very icy conditions.

There we have Maiko complete!
Three months written in a hour!

Next rally is mid April, but I'm sure there will be some updates before then.

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[Huggy444]

Looking good

 

[Jordan27]

Looking good

Could be a lot lot better especially outside... But the rallies are in the dark anyway

 

[Huggy444]

Could be a lot lot better especially outside... But the rallies are in the dark anyway

Meh, doesn't matter about appearance if it works, it's good haha...

I've given up on making mine cool, I'll spend money elsewhere

 

[Jordan27]

Slot left Maiko!

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[Jordan27]

Did a nav scatter event on Wednesday night.
Finished 3rd of 11.. Loads of fun for the £5 entry fee

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[Jordan27]

Gave it a wash because it was still filthy from the nav scatter.

Then painted the spoiler that Ben gave to me.

That can go on soon, but got plenty more important things to do first!


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[Jordan27]

Got MAIKO out for some lipo suction!

Dad took the back window out.... sort of.

But a nice lightweight replacement has been waiting to go in.

Doors are nice a light now.. No need for the window stuff now that the Perspex ones are going in, and no need for a door bar with the roll cage in.

The pile which doubled in size by the time we finished everything!

Side windows in, rear window sealant setting.

Maiko looking slimmer having lost many kg's


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[Huggy444]

How much roughly has it lost?

 

[Jordan27]

How much roughly has it lost?

Not a clue.. It was a hefty weight though... Got to lose every last thing when you have to keep the interior intact.


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[Jordan27]

Night Owl rally complete!
Finished 47th(of 90) and 11th in class(of 23).
Both spotlights stopped working after 30 of 110 miles so that held me back but I got used to it.

Picked up one fail for the sake of 3 seconds but still only on the beginning of our learning curve!

The whites were majorly rough, and spent miles on them. Was like driving on a dried up river bed!
The Nankang NS2R tyres were outstanding but managed to pick up a very slow puncture with what looks like a metal rod.

Lost 4-5 minutes by making the tiniest mistake (conveniently right by my dad and navs dads marshal location.....They weren't happy haha!) so dropped us down a bit along with our fail.

This red Micra did a shaft within the first couple of miles which was sad to drive past!


Car is all washed and ready for a check underneath.
Unfortunately not doing the Border 100 next week as a navigator (not my normal one) pulled the entry without much discussion or reason.. Now he's ignoring me. F**k you very much


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[Jordan27]

The caffeine pills were at their peak at this point... Not taking those again

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[Jordan27]

Entry is back in for Border 100 thankfully!
Found a local navigator and some people dropped out, meaning there are entries again


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[Jordan27]

Oooo I never wrote up about Border 100!

Managed to finish 38th/75 and 15th/23 EXPERTS(Yeah I had an Expert nav this time!)

We managed to pick up one fail and we're not even sure why.. But it was 5 in the morning and we both didn't fancy waiting ages for it to be sorted out.
Without the fail we would have finished 21st overall, (equivilant of 1th novice, 2nd semi-expert and 1st under 1400!) But oh well...

Car was superb all night, managed to lose the rear bumper in a farm... Front tyres (part worn 48's) did go off pretty bad towards the end due to 100 miles flat out with a 15 minute break and no time to check pressures.
Nearly put the car on its side and had a few moments but was very fun!

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[Jordan27]

Since the last rally, a replacement bumper has been pained and bolted directly onto the mounts this time.
Not much else has been done apart from trying 14'' wheels to see what the gearing is like with the dogbox.

Got an entry in for the Pacemaker on the 11th July, and the Barcud on 8th August.
Rallying MIGHT take a break for a bit around the second half of the year due to starting an apprenticeship, but at the same time I'll want to spend all money so who knows...

 

[Jordan27]

Seeing as I have a rally in less than two weeks, went to get the car for some maintenance.
Checked the cam timing and bolts first.

Then drained the gearbox oil(all over the drive).
Took the front discs off to be replaced.
Cleaned dizzy contacts and opened spark plug gaps a bit.



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[Jordan27]

Ready for the Pacemaker tonight!

Seeded at car 32 with two BMW's behind me and a 1.9 205 in front.
Lowest capacity car on the whole entry list so I'm not expecting much haha!

Will update tomorrow


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[Jordan27]

Pacemaker was a varied rally!
Did 10 miles of driving before bending a bottom arm, so went to do some spectating and marshalling! Did a bit of everything!

Overshot into "long grass" slightly which bent the bottom arm and the tyre into the arch so couldn't drive any further.

But luckily missed the telegraph pole by millimetres!

I wasn't majorly happy with the car anyway so glad that the damage was only a £30 wishbone and nothing worse later on.
Most of the lanes were covered in a light dust of gravel and the LSD kept pulling me all over the place so it kept my arms alive!


But that's my first DNF in 4(going on 5) years of rallying!


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[Jordan27]

Wishbone replaced last week, just need to get tracking done, fit spotlights, change headlight bulbs and she's ready for Barcud in 2 weeks!


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[Jordan27]

Barcud rally complete!
Managed to finish 28th (of 75) and 2nd in novice class(of 18) so really happy with that!

One mistake heading down a Welsh lane in the wrong direction lost us 5 minutes which could have seen us at 21st overall and just 6 seconds off the 1st Semi Expert time

No damage at all so just need to wait until the next rally!

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[Jordan27]

No major updates!
Entries are in for 3 rallies in 3 weeks.
So Autumn, Mynydd Du and 1000 Lanes one after another.

Fitted mudflaps to the car because the arches are getting destroyed slowly.
Also fitted my grandads old number plate.

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[Jordan27]

Rally tomorrow! Took the car for a little test and all seems to be fantastic!
Also got the Rev counter clocks in.


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[Jordan27]

Well the Autumn rally was brilliant!
Finished 15th overall(of75) 7th semi expert(of 21 I think) and picked up best Mixed Crew award too!

Need to clean the car off, spanner check and bang the floor back straight from hitting so many stones, then get ready for Mynydd Du next weekend!


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[Jordan27]

Mynydd Du... Ended up starting car 12!
Was a novice event but still had 10 experts and 25 semi experts.

Used a combination of roads I'd never been down and roads I know very well, so was carrying some fair pace all night, cleaning every section apart from the very last section in which we got stuck behind the car in front and dropped 5 seconds(so one minute) over 90 miles.

Had plenty of moments including one with fresh air on my side and nearly hitting a gate post.
Also a mistake with timing in petrol(of all places) meant we picked up two fails for booking in two minutes early.

Without the fails and getting stuck behind a car, we would have cleaned the whole event, finished joint 1st with two other cars and won due to having the lowest capacity engine.

Also would have beaten my grandfather who was navigating for the first time in 2 years, DAMN! Lol

1000 Lanes road rally tomorrow... Local event using roads that hopefully I will be familiar with!



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[Jordan27]

1000 Lanes rally complete!

Everything went as it should have. Managed to finish 16th overall(of 68) and 1st semi expert(of 15) so very happy with that considering the competition for the little 1.3!

Definitely made another good impression. People are starting to remember the "crappy blue Micra" now.

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[SuperUno]

Good results there, what tyres are those you used last night?

 

[Huggy444]

Good results there, what tyres are those you used last night?

Believe he use Nagkangs, NS2R's?

 

[Jordan27]

Good results there, what tyres are those you used last night?

They're Nankang NS2R's.. Lots of people are taking the p**s out of me for using them but seeing as Yoko 21's in 13" are getting quite scarce, they're a good option.

The other options are Turbospeeds or the new moulded slick DMAC which are £100+ each.....nope.




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[SuperUno]

Thanks, yes been looking at the DMack's but at £100 a corner...!

 

[SuperUno]

BTW I presume they are good (for you) given the results?

 

[Jordan27]

Thanks, yes been looking at the DMack's but at £100 a corner...!

Exactly! No chance of that happening haha!
These tyres have lasted 4 events now and they feel really good. Don't think they would be any good in the wet though.


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[Jordan27]

BTW I presume they are good (for you) given the results?

Yeah I like them. Need to keep an eye on the pressures. Had them on 24 cold last night and they got to 29 warm by petrol but as long as they don't go over 30 they're not bad at all.
Give them a go see what you think!


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[SuperUno]

And which compound?

 

[Jordan27]

And which compound?

Went for the hards which are apparently equivalent to Yoko mediums.
Also have 2 mediums to try in the rain.


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[Jordan27]

Powys Lanes rally tonight!

Starting car 42 and 3rd semi-expert


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[GeorgeG]

Are you trying the mediums yet

All the best for tonight.
I ll see the results tmr morning

 

[Jordan27]

Are you trying the mediums yet

All the best for tonight.
I ll see the results tmr morning

Got 21's on the front and softs(mediums...this is confusing me now) on the back!!

Cheers dude!


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[SuperUno]

Good luck!

 

[Rowlly70]

Great blog put unfortunately the first post pictures do not work for me ? Anyone else got this problem?

Good luck for the Powys lanes

 

[Jordan27]

That was a long night....
Started car 43 and 3rd semi.
Passed our friends in the first few miles that had dropped 50ft down into a river and had injured themselves(if we had known how bad we would have stayed with them) in the process.
That pretty much tamed us up for the night to find that the rally was stopped at half way due to the petrol pumps not working!
So 40 miles was the lot for us.

Spent the rest of the morning getting our mates car up a 50ft near vertical drop and onto the trailer.
That was the last championship round of the year and one that made me step back and think of the big risks involved.

Oh yeah we finished 36th overall and 10th semi by the way.

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[Jordan27]

Mel Harries rally on the weekend! Car 39, 8th Semi-Expert to start

Need to put the new Spax replacements on the front and the car is ready!


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[Huggy444]

Just got the nangkangs on from your recommendations, seem like nice tyres so far!

 

[Jordan27]

Just got the nangkangs on from your recommendations, seem like nice tyres so far!

Nice, glad someone else is trying them!



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[Huggy444]

Nice, glad someone else is trying them!



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The shop ordered in the wrong size (185/60/14 ffs) but I had some rims laying around... They're huge, but the garage paid for the tyres so can't complain

 

[Jordan27]

Forgot to update after the Mel Harries! Haven't logged in once since then..

Second DNF in road rallying.. Had a case of ill navigator!
But what a great event up until then.. Was nice to get back in the car again!

Here we have the main danger of road rallying... Other cars! Haha




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[Huggy444]

Some poor bastard, bet he had no clue what was going on!

 

[Jordan27]

Some poor bastard, bet he had no clue what was going on!

All land/home owners are aware it's happening and sign to agree to it, so there's a high chance they know it's happening.
But the 1000 Lanes for example, same night as the rugby.. P**sed up bloke completely forgot and before we know it he's stopping cars and doing damage and trying to strangle me through the window haha!




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[Huggy444]

Haha, I guess you don't expect to see an escort sliding around a corner - I don't in boring old England anyway....

One day I'll come over for a road rally, haven't got a clue how they work but I'll give it a shot