Silverstone Festival

WSCC had organised a pitch at the festival so I booked up for the weekend with the group from Dorset.  We left early from the SW meeting up on the A34 just short of the M4 and heading up in a car/camper van convoy to the campsite at the Silverstone Golf Course.

We set up camp and then walked over to watch some racing and get our bearings for the drive on to site the following day.

Saturday and Sunday were excellent days good racing, access to the paddocks and meeting up with other WSCC members who'd made the trip.

Must have Eleven photo

Beer on a bus

The Dorset Tour 2022

The Dorset Tour was planned for the Bank Holiday after feedback that the National Kit Car Show was moving to Lincoln and later in the year which turned out not to be the case - once we were booked and committed.

The core attendees camped near Blandford Forum setting up on the Friday, waking up to a ground frost on the Saturday morning! Undeterred we headed off for breakfast, via Zig Zag Hill, meeting up with the day trippers.

The day that followed covered the South West of Dorset with a coffee stop at Langham's vineyard

and Casa Lovell for high Tea.

Overall travel 

As ever, Colin couldn't pass a ford!

The temperatures overnight were a lot warmer but the weather changed with rain on the way to Haynes Motor Museum for the Breakfast Club, over the Day we covered Eastern Dorset even venturing into Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire during the day.

Overall an excellent weekend - hopefully the sign of things to come ......

2022 Starts

 The weather is slowly starting to improve and so it's time to get the cars out.  Santa bought me a portable hydraulic lift which made prepping the car much easier, work included replacing the fuel hoses, the cycle wings after 'The Anglesey Incident' and a servicing.

All fuel hoses replaced with R9 for E10 compatibility and fuel filter also replaced.

Big Heads bonded to the cycle wing  (studs at top/nuts at bottom) and LED side repeater fitted.

Carbon fibre sheet for load sharing.

And a nice sunny day run to the Jurassic Coast

View over Lyme Bay

And the blog is now 10 years old...........

Stoneleigh 2021

After cancellation in 2020 the 2021 show was delated to the late August Bank Holiday weekend (but not the BH Monday) and significantly reduced in scale.  As a result the Dorset WSCC group decided to make the effort but limited to a dat trip.

I left home at 05:30 in to the darkness and fog meeting up with Dave & Adge at Sparkford.  We headed off to meet those travelling from Dorset at the Warminster Services on the A350 after an uneventful journey we arrived at Stoneleigh well before 09:00 and parked up on the WSCC stand.

Cars lined up and Adge just finishing off a quick polish!

As expected there wasn't the usual breadth of show stands and it didn't take too long to see everything of interest and meet up with other WSCC members, Westfield Sports Cars had a selection of Chesils, SEIWs and was co-located with ecoclassics.co.uk who had the electric Eleven that I'd seen at Kingswingford a couple of weeks ago, £22k for the electric kit plus the Eleven Kit at ~£12k and the MG Midget axles/wheels/steering rack so ~£38K on the road - awesome power and ~100miles range. Time flew and before long it was time to head home,  after stopping for lunch/dinner on the way I got home just before 18:00 so a 12.5 hour round trip.

Fat Rack

The later 1275 MG Midgets were fitted with a Triumph steering 'thin' racks as part of rationalisation of parts across British Leyland's products. The consensus of Eleven owners is that the earlier Midget 'fat' is better suited to the car as it has a faster ratio giving sharper response.  Changing between the two requires the rack, mounts, track rod ends and steering arms as well as adjustments to account for the narrower Eleven chassis.

I was checking over the car and noticed that the front tyres were slightly worn on the inside edges and a check with my alignment kit confirmed that the tracking was 20' toe-out.  An attempt to adjust confirmed that all the adjustment range had been used so I had two options (1) remove the track rod ends and cut them and the steering rack arms down (2) fit the 'fat' rack - I opted for the latter.

To gain access I removed the bonnet, the cooling radiator top mount, jacked/axle stand the front of the car and removed the front wheels. I unbolted each of the steering arms (2 x bolts) and steering rack mounts (3 x bolts) and slide out the steering rack complete with track rod ends and steering arms.  Fitting was roughly the reverse but I assembled the components on the car having cut 10-12mm off each of the track rod ends and rack arms.  I also needed to trim the track rod/steering arm bolts to ensure they cleared the alloy wheels as I'd needed to do with the originals.

While I had the wheels off I fitted the Mintex M1144 brake pads having given up on the ECB 'green' when I experienced significant fade around Exmoor/Porlock/Lynton.  The final step was to reset the front wheel alignment which I set to 10' toe-in, as most of the driving is done with 2 up I didn't bother ballasting the car with the driver's weight.

I went out for a drive and quickly confirmed that the 'fat' rack is much better suited to the light weight Eleven and M1144 are excellent pads; I'm now looking forward to the weather improving over the next week so I can get some more miles on the car.

Run Out Over Exmoor

Going through a bit of dry weather phase and with the forecast ahead not looking quite we planned a day trip.  Tricia and I had an early start and headed off to Exmoor.  Lots of B Roads between Taunton, Lynton and the back home, stopped off in Porlock for a coffee, 160 miles in all and back in time for a very late Sunday lunch.

Dunkery Hill looking over towards Minehead

An unplanned stop at the top of Porlock Hill to reconnect the cutch pedal and once we got home I readjusted/threadlocked it and then changed the differential oil to EP90 in an attempt to quieten it down and, whilst there gave the back end of the car a good check over.

Garage Doors and Flooring

 It's now close to 20 years since we bought the house as a new build and for almost 20 years we've had to live with the constant risk that the wires that control the garage doors will jump off their spindles, usually when it's late in the evening or raining. Well now this is no longer an issue as we have two new electric roller doors

Halfway through

Finished (close out panels to be fitted once I'm happy that they're adjusted)

Once the doors were fitted it was on to the flooring - this required the entire content of the garage to be moved so I did it in quarters.

Just about 1/2 done

Nearly finished - need to build up some enthusiasm to clear the racking! 

Getting Ready for 2021

 On the assumption that 'things can only get better' I've been getting ready for 2021.

First the Eleven, I've fitted a Cobra immobiliser as I noticed that my insurance disclosure assumed it had one; it's the same one fitted to the SEIW that has worked well over the last 8 years and was straight forward to fit.  Whilst I had the scuttle off I also fitted the 10.5V regulator to the fuel gauge supply in order to reduce the over reading.  Final thing was a service and off for an MOT, the Eleven's 1st,  passed with no advisories (after I'd tightened up the front disc bolts).  First trip out for the year was trip to meet up with the new WSCC Somerset and Devon Area Organiser; having met up at the Royal Oak in Over Stratton we headed off down the A303 then on the A30 followed by a pint and chat before heading home.

With the Eleven 'on the road' I focused on the SEIW, over the winter I swapped the rear springs for some 160 to 210 lb progressive ones supplied by Spax, fitted a new starter motor find that the starter solenoid connection stub on the old one had become loose - hence the occasional no start issues on the Anglesey trip and replaced the rear brake callipers for Golf Mk4 ones to resolve the hand brake effectiveness issues I'd been living with since being really exposed in the Alps.  Whilst bleeding the brakes I sheared the bleed nipples on both the front callipers so took the opportunity to overhaul them with all new seals, I now own a 7mm tap set!  Last of all was an MOT, again passed with no advisories, and now the wait until next month to start the road tax.

We're currently on a phased exit from COVID 19 lockdown so it's not clear what events will be going ahead this year.  I've pre-booked a couple of Haynes Breakfast Clubs in June and July, they're no longer a turn up on the day event, I assume a combination of the issues they were having on numbers attending and COVID.  The first Dorset Area monthly meeting is planned for 20 May after the pubs are properly open and Colin has tentatively arranged the Devon Run in mid-July.  Dodging between showers Tricia and I have now managed to get out for a couple of blats around Somerset and Dorset largely missing the rain.

Whilst the car was up in the air I noticed a star craze under the rear body by the diffuser so have repaired it but the gelcoat isn't a good match, I've now tried RAL 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2009 and none are a good enough match for a repair on a visible panel so I've ordered some gelcoat direct from Westfield.

Westfield announced that they were no longer going to supply AP Racing brake components so I ordered one of the last master cylinders at the same time as I ordered the gelcoat.  I'm reasonably happy with the current front callipers but the AP MC is supposed to improve the instantaneous feeling as the brakes are applied - we'll see if it's worth the £330....

MSE sent me an email advising that they now have 3 dates at Keevil so I've booked for the end of July with the usual Dorset Area suspects, hopefully some of the Devon & Somerset Area will also come along.  I've changed the Differential oil to EP90 GL5 and so far the slight n/s output shaft oil leak has stopped, my intention is to strip the back of the car over the winter to treat any rust and replace all the fuel hoses with ethanol 10% ready R9 specification.

Anglesey

 The summer Euro Tour and Le Mans trip was cancelled so a long weekend in Anglesey with a track day on the Monday was substituted.  We met up a various locations in Somerset and headed up to the Gloucester Services on the M5 for breakfast and fuel.

We pulled off the M5 at the next junction and ambled up to Anglesey stopping at the Ludlow Brewery for lunch and at Demon Tweeks to see if they had some offers.

Over the weekend we drove around the island and took a 70 kt Rib ride along the Menai Straights.

South Stack Lighthouse

On Monday we drove to Trac Mon, about 1/2 hour from the accommodation for an excellent track day.  Due to COVID the cars were split into 3 groups and had 7x fixed 20 min sessions from 0900 to 1700; we had excellent weather for late September, sunshine and low 20 deg C.  In the morning the layout was the International and in the afternoon the Coastal, slightly shorter and incorporating the tricky 'Corkscrew' corners.

Distanced Paddock

Corkscrew

GPS Track 745 miles, nearly 18 hours driving

First COVID19 Blats

With the relaxing of the C19 Lockdown we managed to get out for a blat around Dorset and South Somerset - great to get out in the Eleven with everything working after the engine/gearbox removal/refit - I still need to make a slight adjustment to the clutch pedal but the speedo no works using the magnets on the prop shaft flange and there's no leak from the gearbox input shaft immediately apparent.

Not the best picture but looking out over Weymouth Bay from the Hardy Monument at the cruise liners parked up.

On the 1st June I taxed the FW and repeated the last blat in the Eleven but extended.  New R888Rs are now scrubbed in and almost every thing is working, I just need to reconnect the wiper switch illumination.  We stopped off at Cerne Abbas for some photos.

Aerocatches and Carbon Fibre Flared Side Panels and Headlights

Due to COVID-19 the cars are both in extended lockdown, me working from home and the Easter holiday trip to Berlin cancelled I've managed to get out to the garage and complete some upgrades to the SEIW.

Headlights

First was the headlights, the shells needed to be finished off with fittings

and once the LED headlight had been bonded in place I fitted them to the car using new 6 way econoseals and the same wiring as the previous lights

Aerocatches - (note photos from either side)

Next was the Aerocatches, I'd had these and the flared side panels for a couple of years but never plucked up the courage to fitment - I now know why.

Step 1 - decide where to fit them and make a template so that both sides are in the same position.

Step 2 - cut out the mounting hole

Step 3 - sand down the thickness of the panel/trim the Aerocatch

Step 4 - bond in the aerocatch

Step 5 - cut slot and shape the lower edge of th e bonnet to clear the pin

Step 6 - make a bracket and mount the engagement pin (note after fitting the flared side panel

Step 7 - repeat on other  side


Flared Side Panels (removable)

Step 1 - drill out the current side panel rivets and cut the panel just in front of the footwell bulkhead - I took the opportunity to clean off some slight rust and repaint the chassis 

Step 2 - cut the top edge of the new panel to length/shape (including ARB cut-out) and drill the upper mounting holes using a 'hole finder' and 'clecos'

Step 3 - drill the mounting holes out to 7mm, countersink and fit M5 rivnuts

no photo

Step 4 - drill the lower mounting holes using a 'hole finder'

no photo

Step 5 - mark and cut the side edge of the flared panel following the angle of the scuttle



Step 6 - make a template for the grill - using the profile of the old/new panel at the new cut angle

Step 7 - mark out, cut and form the grill, then touch up

Step 8 - bond the grill to the flared panel witk sikaflex - use self adhesive foam to protect the inner panel (following the masking tape)

Step 9 - repeat with n/s needing the exhaust & exhaust manifold removed and extra cut out.


Now just need to get the car out of the garage for a good clean and polish.