yorkshire_spam

There's been a lot of talk about what faults/issues caused retirements on this year's run. Alternators seemed a very popular topic! Previous stats (which I think Martin Raider Randle used to maintain) suggested that wheel bearings, water pumps, fuel pumps were common causes of retirement on small chassis cars. But it got me thinking that there's another way of looking at this - what did you fix at the roadside that would have taken you out of the event if you hadn't had the parts/tools to tackle it?

Car: Spitfire 1500

Problem #1: Ignition failure

Car just died on the highland roads on Saturday morning. Took the lid off a SU float chamber and plenty of fuel that - so not that. Took a spark plug out and checked for spark under cranking - nothing.
Pulled the electronic ignition unit and swapped to a spare and the car fired back up.
Tools Used: Spark plug spanner, flat bladed screwdriver, cross head screwdriver
Parts Used: Spare ignition module

Problem #2: Wiper failure

Wipers stopped mid-sweep on the M6 southbound on Saturday night. Even with rain-x we weren't going any further without fixing it.
Co-driver noticed that washer motor had also stopped working, checking the wiring diagram suggested the fuse. I jumped a piece of spare wire onto the motor terminal from the battery and the wipers completed their sweep, double checked with a multimeter - no voltage at the motor.
Unfortunately my custom fuse box isn't labelled! So at this point we started pulling fuses and testing continuity - found the dead one and replaced. All good and back on the road.
Tools Used: Multimeter, long nose pliers (pulling/replacing fuses with my fat fingers), jumper wire.
Parts Used: 1xblade fuse.

Without the parts/tools to repair either of those faults could have left us out of the run. 

My Powerspark Simon BBC ignition unit failed on the RBRR about 1 month after purchase. As it was purchased through eBay I tried to request a return, which has been declined. In addition to the unit failing prematurely the magnetic ring was so poorly made that I had to use the old one from a previous unit to get it working.

I've contacted the supplier to ask why the declined my return and request a refund, I'll see what they say.

In the mean time it's important that you all know that a supplier and product I've previously recommended is no longer a "quality item" and that the supplier's customer service is (so far) seriously lacking. 

Should they rectify the matter in a satisfactory way, I'll obviously post an update/correction.

For anyone (like me) with cheap-ass TomTom SatNav that doesn't do routes - I have a .ov2 POI file with JUST the Controls/Stops in. (And also a csv file)

Message me if you want a copy

47 minutes ago, Stuart Wilson said:

For those who have only ever done that route in the dark in the RBRR you should try and return and to it in the daylight 

We did exactly that in 2021 - the whole "top half" of the 2014 RBRR route, but over 2.5 days and stayed over at the Sea View in JoG!

18 hours ago, Boxofbits said:

Rocking the engine, I noticed the fan assembly moving slightly on the hub, so somehow the 4 bolts retaining the fan had loosened over a period of time.  I was relieved to find tightening these another turn each resolved the issue and noise gone.

I had a slightly similar experience today when I started to panic about the wheel bearings on the Spitfire... until I realised I hadn't done the wheel nuts up properly yet. Time for a checklist for me!

Just bunged a request to join in.

Very generous @McJim ! Maybe we should all chip in for some wine as a thank you? 😉

It's usually the first full weekend in August, but I'm sure @reychris or @Velocita Rosso will know better than me the 2024 details. 

Not 100% sure about Heralds and their ID plates, but paint and trim are not (to my knowledge) part of the commission number, but (on some vehicles) separate on the ID plate:

Prologue: 

In 2012 my Land Rover 110 (CSW, 300TDI) is sitting in the driveway rotting away due to a lack of usage and it being too expensive to use as my daily commute car. My wonderful wife suggests selling the Landy and getting something we can enjoy as a fun car that will fit in the garage. Something where I don't have to worry about it being back on the road for the commute on Monday morning. The Landy was duly sold and the hunt for a "fun car" starts, MGs, Triumphs and even MX5s were considered and inspected, eventually I put a bid on a Spitfire 1500 on eBay and bought the car!

And so I joined the CT forum, started to attend the Pendle and Pennine area meetings and in due course joined the Club.

The First RBRR:

And so, in 2013 with the car becoming a bit more reliable, rewired and various parts replaced. We start to think about how to mark my 40th Birthday in 2014. It is suggested that we do something as a bit of a one-off and enter the RBRR. At that time with bills to pay and a young family the expense of doing the run was seriously daunting, but with a year to plan and save it seemed do-able.
Time flew past and all of a sudden there we are at the Plough with all the other entrants. My mum and step-dad are down in London staying with my aunt and uncle, so they've taken the tube up to the Plough to see us off! Feeling a bit like a fish out of water and wondering what we've got ourselves into I make a point of speaking to @Tim Hunt as I know from the forum that it's the 40th anniversary of his first RBRR and it's my 40th Birthday year!
And off we went, heading for Blyth through the north London traffic.

The whole event was hard work. Seriously. I found it almost impossible to sleep in the car and by the time we reached Tebay it was a case of "I sleep now, or we can't continue". I managed to get enough rest to keep us (safely) in the event. The charge south through Wales re-energised me and on we went. The next big issue was as we approached Bude, my wife's health issues started to really affect her and I had to take over and drive the rest of the event. We made it back to the Plough at around 6:30pm after fighting the traffic around the M25.

I would have loved to stay and watch the other crews arrive, but was worried about driving back to the hotel, so we headed back. I slept for 14 hours. 

At that point we concluded "glad we've done it, but never again", but Martin's passing changed our minds so in 2018 we came back for another go, this time as a 3 person crew in the Dolomite.

Sadly on that occasion illness got the better of one of our crew just before we reached John O'Groats forcing us to bow out and turn for (the long journey) home. 

Which brings me to 2022, I'm musing on Facebook about whether or not I'll ever complete the RBRR again and an old University friend pipes up and wants to have a go... so here we are, 2023 a new co-driver and another go at the event. 

Learned to Love the RBRR? Not sure, but very much want to address the unfinished business of 2018 and give it at least "one more go"

I wouldn't 100% trust my list, but my generic bearing number for the inner bearing in my parts notes is B-168. That might allow you to shop around for a branded replacement not part of a kit? But look the bearing specs up and check them against the measurements from your bearing before you trust that part number!

Edit: There seems to be plenty of places online stock "KOYO" B168, but can't see much in the way of alternatives.

22 minutes ago, Wendy Dawes said:

the centre bearing is oval so we are off to see Alun in Stourbridge

Alun is "the man" for Dolomite stuff. I might have a usable centre bearing somewhere, but no idea where with everything packed up and in storage

11 hours ago, Darren Sharp said:

Just when it was going so well ! 
Marmite aka the flying log has developed a terrible shaking . Wheels all run cool and gearbox changes fine . Overdrive works but the whole car snatches on taking up drive and this has developed into a shaking on driving which feels like a failing UJ ( it’s very loud) I put the snatching down to a tired clutch but looks like I’m going to have my work cut out or start getting Olaf ready 

Sounds like something propshaft related?

1 hour ago, McJim said:

Sam - your links don't appear to work.

Jim.

I'll fix it when I get a mo, tried pasting a photo from my Google photos... It pasted a broken link instead! 

3 hours ago, McJim said:

Here's hoping there's no more nasty surprises. 

I had a Monday with those... car went "bang" on the dyno tuning run. Fixed and back on the road now, but a bit of a heart stopper!

2 hours ago, Tim Hunt said:

since 1974

A splendid year. 

I got a similar one with a plan to do the same... it's still in a box in storage. "one of these days" I'll get around to it!

What sort of driving do you do? To be honest I'd consider swapping to a 1500 for a bit more torque. 
For cams, I haven't had a 1300 one, but I've been happy with the one I have from Newman cams

11 hours ago, TimW said:

Well....the GT6, that I've booked in to do the RBRR, has suffered a major engine failure.  I was getting abnormal crankcase pressures and a dip in hot oil pressure.  Results of a compression test revealed 60psi on no2 cylinder and 0psi on no6 cylinder.  I've noticed a drop in performance but convinced myself it was my imagination.  Turns out not so much!

Both bad timing and bad luck there @TimW, hope you get it sorted!

@logicaluk any ideas? 

Bad luck with the Dolomite, hope you get to the bottom of it!

4 hours ago, Wendy Dawes said:

MOT passed 👍

Good news, it must be the week for it, Binny the Dolomite passed on Thursday!

That's great news @Dannyb! Before stiffening/lowering the front of our Spitfire it was pretty skittish and frightening at autobahn speeds - the change was a similar positive experience to what you describe and being able to throw the car into the bends with confidence made it great fun to drive.

I run TT4301 that I got from Moss in 2017 (I think). I found they were slightly too low as standard and added spacers.

Moss describe them as "Road Spring Set, front, fast road uprated 330lbs, lowered, silicon chrome, pair" (For P/N TT4301PR)

They give great handling and a sporty ride, but for "pootling" about they are a tad low and a tad harsh. 

6 minutes ago, chris2 said:

Leyland reiver truck 6 wheel made in 50s to  70s

Albion Reiver! 🙂