General Waffle and Lack of Rallying
What I nearly did, then didn't, and bought and didn't use
After a rather abrupt end to the Twighlight Rally in 2005, the Welsh Road Rally Championship was lost for the year. The car was fixed but has been sat gathering dust in the garage. In the meantime however, a few plans were made - the first was to transplant an Mi16 engine into the rally car to get more competitive on the Welsh Road Rally scene. A 205 Mi16 was purchased, but the engine turned out not to be as advertised, so I used it as his road car for a while. It then sat on the drive for 2 years!! Its now blown its head gasket making it even less saleable than ever.
The Endurance Rally Car class was invented for the 2004 season, and this looked like good fun - a nice cross between road and stage rallying with the Lombard Rally to finish the season.
I'd been keeping an eye on this, however the Endurance events are limited to 1400cc, so either a downward size engine transplant would be needed or another car! Having decided to give it a go, and not wanting to downgrade the 205, I located a Peugeot 106 Rallye in need of some repair in early 2005. This was a bit chavved up, but generally in good shape aside from it's engine having half fallen out. Rather predicatably it ended up sat on axle stands in my garage for 2 years. It was then actually fixed and then provided nearly a year's service commuting to work.
A decision was made to go and do the 2009 championship, so in preparation, Eddie and I went out to help on the EAC Endurance to weigh things up and get a look at how things worked. The 106 passed its MOT with no problem, so we set out across the country, set up a couple of tests, then acted as start control on one of them.
Of course we had a little play as well, and got the car a bit dirty!. It was very cold at the start control, but very interesting seeing how the cars were prepared and performing. We then went on to run as course opener on the night route, and also ran another test on Sunday morning. The event was very friendly with crews helping one another with running repairs where necessary. The best bit was how competitive and close the competition was, it really looked good.
My 106 ran really well, but it does need suspension work - nothing that some proper Bilsteins, springs , and bushes wouldn't sort. Popular opinion was that the Rover 200s were faster than the Peugeots, and the results seemed to reflect that. I couldn't help thinking that perhaps the fastest drivers were in the Rovers, and a properly sorted 106 would be right up there.... well that was my theory anyway!
In order to get the 106 ready for 2009, I had to get the 205 Mi16 back on the road in order to free up the 106 (and garage) for preparation. 2 years on the driveway hadn't been too good for the 205 though, and although it started at the first turn of the key, half the buttons don't work anymore, the fan was on full speed all the time, and rust is appearing in various places! So it took a couple of months to get that back on the road, and then it went through three oil coolers in as many weeks, only solved by me biting the bullet and putting a brand new Mocal one in...
Then the big house extension started which was supposed to finish early November 2008, but at the time of writing (March 2009) is still ongoing! This messed up the 106 preparation schedule totally to the extent that we were wondering if we'd ever make the start of the 2009 season. Drastic action was needed and I went out and bought a Rover 214 ready prepared just in time for the Great Bustard which meant a lot of effort, only for the event to be postponed - never mind its given me chance to do a bit more fettling.
The 106 is now for sale, along with various bits that I'd gathered to prepare it inc GpN bottom arms, sump guard and a few more bits and pieces. It's already got GpN engine mounts, so would be a good base car for anyone wanting to build an Endurance car - no rust.
The 205 Mi16 maladies, just for the record! This is what happens when you don't garage your Pugs.
May 2008 - Minor valence repair turns into large lumps of metal needing to be cut out and replaced. The rear wing was an even bigger job, and requiring various plates putting in and welding up of doily like metal. 2nd June 2008 - The 205 Challenge car has been relocated to my brothers garage, and the 106 is on the ramps. No work has been done yet, as the 205 Mi16 still isn't on the road. 30th June 2008 - The 205, all back together and looking nice failed it's MOT, nothing major though, just washers, handbrake, headlight aim and an indicator which stopped working on the way to the test... 4th July 2008 - 12 Months MOT. Hopefully this will mean work can start on the 106 - just got to change the Radiator switch (and thermostat for good measure) to stop it overheating and make the interior blowers work... 7th July 2008 - Coolant switch fitted, so it now stays cool - too cool in fact as the switch doesn't switch off. Also I've now remembering all the other things that were wrong with it - engine mounts, rear wiper, inteference on the radio, poor running (not revving well either). 10th July 2008 - Disaster already - its only done 90 miles since it's MOT and the oil cooler let go dumping all the oil on the dual carraigeway - an effective way of keeping the oil cool but not the bearings.... hopefully the engine is OK. Will I ever get onto the 106? 17th July 2008 - De-ja-vu. Failed replacement oil cooler (2nd hand). 205 off the road and in the way again. 9th Sep 2008 - Having fixed the air flow meter, it was running great but yet another oil cooler has started leaking. Time to actually buy I new one... 10th Oct - 205 all fixed with new Mocal cooler. Ran great around Woodbridge airfield with the brakes cooking nicely. Came back with a failed starter and alternator though. 27th Feb 2009 - blown head gasket.