Update May 2017

I have neglected this blog for long enough, time for an update.

We are now known as Team Dadzenlads, and still racing at Hunmanby in Class One and Junior Saloons with the S99Y Micra. We have however had a change of livery, no longer blue and white, now black, amber and white, and we will shortly have new sponsor stickers for our sponsors Resin & Lining UK Limited ( R & L UK Ltd)
First meeting at Hunmanby for 2017 saw us trailing at the back for the three heats, and myself also coming home last in the final. The car was down on power and just not performing. A downpour in the Junior final and some very tactical racing saw Thomas bringing home his first ever winners trophy though.
Round two brought more engine woes, with the engine performing badly and overheating through heats one and two, and even half time fettling failed to resolve this, the engine just lacklustre and limp, despite my efforts to eke a little more from it, my heat three was a last place finish, although we had fifths and fourths in the earlier heats. Then disaster struck in the Junior Heat three with Thomas retiring on the fourth lap, the engine knocking badly from the bottom end. We didn't make the finals, the engine just about pulling the car back to the trailer.
Engine out and a quick examination shows almost no oil remaining. The oil was there at the start of the meeting, and as there is no oil on the garage floor I can only assume a seal failed somewhere and it bled all over the track - it certainly wasn't burning it.
R & L promptly agreed to pay for our replacement engine and Coniston Bills Racing fitted one up and the car is now back home and purring like it should. With all new oil and filters, a good service and luck on our side we should see some results now. New tyres all round help the grip, and the only issues to resolve is the wayward steering. Since a heavy collision last season that took out our nearside strut the steering has been toeing out a little - I've tried to sort it but run out of threads on the track rod ends to do any more. I am going to have another look at this tomorrow, because ideally we want the steering toeing to the right a little for best grip
Once that's sorted there will be no excuses for not having trophies on the shelf.

Update - now racing

I appear to have rather neglected this blog, what with one thing or another.

As previously posted our first outing was in June 2015 and we managed another two race meetings before I stupidly broke my leg and tore all the ankle ligaments - not racing, but repairing the trailer, which collapsed as I was welding it and it fell on me. That put us out for the rest of the season.

Today however saw the start of the 2016 season and we were back. The car had lived outside over the winter lay up, and had suffered a little from the weather with electrical gremlins affecting the brake light and causing a breakdown for Thomas in Juniors Heat 1. The car was also using rather more fuel than previously, so that merits some investigation before our next meeting - we had to purchase a few litres off a fellow competitor who had suffered a roll in his mini to make sure we had enough for the finals.

Thomas managed 2nd place in heat 2 after his DNF in heat 1, with a 4th and 6th place in heats three and four and a fifth place in the final.

For myself, I earned a 4th in heat 1, a well fought battle for 3rd in heat 2, fifth in heat 3, a disappointing 6th in heat four, and a sixth in the final.

   
The Micra was originally purple, it is now Screwfix Blue and adorned with stickers Thomas collected from various sources, including the Autosport International event at Birmingham in 2015. Our latest stickers are for the North Humberside motor Club, who we have been following at various Autotest events since January. It just so happens I have a Citroen Saxo sitting on the drive with no MOT, which just might find itself pushed into service for autotesting at some time soon.

Meanwhile we need to find out why the Micra is eating so much fuel (suspect brakes may be sticking a little as we seemed a little down on the pace), an oil and filter change might be in order along with a new air filter, and I'll probably reline the brakes and have new cables for the handbrake while I'm at it. Then there are the electrical gremlins that plagued us today - hopefully they have been sorted by remaking a few connections and liberal dousing of WD40, but only time will tell.

Jobs to do list

Having had a quick inspection of the grass track car tonight after our first race meeting, I can add a further couple of racing driver excuses to explain my poor performance. Firstly the nearside rear brake was binding on, which would cause drag and slow us down. Secondly, the nearside front brake pads have almost no friction material left, meaning they overheat the moment you use them and are somewhat ineffective. I have freed off the sticky brake and taken off the handbrake cable for now to stop it sticking again. (A chock off wood will suffice in the meantime - no MOT standards in autograss racing) i will be replacing it once I've freed it off or renewed it though, as I think a handbrake might give a little advantage at times in those corners - keep the revs up and flick the back end round with the handbrake. 

My shopping wish list now includes 4 x M&S tyres, brake pads, brake shoes and a handbrake cable, or work to free of the existing cable. That is the essential list. We are on a tight budget for the year though, with just £133.61 left to pay for entry fees and fuel for the remainder of the year, plus any repairs. A decent set of four tyres will eat up almost all of that, although I might settle for two up front and leave the road tyres on the back. 

Tyres of course make all the difference - being on road tyres last Sunday meant we were at a real disadvantage. Standard fitting is 155/70R13, but I think I can get M&S or proper Autograss tyres in 175/65 R13 size, which will give a 5% advantage in the gearing as well as better grip. That should put us up 1 or two places in the finish order I reckon.

On the if we can still afford it list we have a new nearside CV joint and boot, as it is worn out, but still works. It is only worn out to MOT standard, so I will probably run with it until it fails completely then stick a second hand driveshaft in it. I have a source for these things now, so it should be cheap enough. 

On a positive note I have fitted a large Caravan/towing mirror inside the car, so we can now see who is about to overtake us and position our car accordingly to block them, not that that is the sporting thing to do of course, no. (I was just taken the racing line, Mr Stewards-Enquiry, honest!) It will be nice to see other cars though, it don't half make you jump when they suddenly appear besides you, particularly if like me, you have been road driving for 30 years and are used to having mirrors. 

Our first outing - and a Trophy!

The boy Thomas and I finally made it to our first race meeting, with "Dennis" our racing Micra cutting his stuff at Hunmanby Autograss track. A big thank you to those who have helped along the way, in no particular order Lee and Andy Metcalfe at Boyes Lane Engineering for attempting to resolve the troublesome Nissan Anti-Theft System, Luke Sparrow at Sparrow recovery, who donated race harnesses, (time expired for other motorsport but fine for autograss racing)  James Hesleton for the rollcage welding and Lynn Dent who sponsored our race entry fees for Sundays race meeting in memory of her dad Reg Dent who passed away earlier this year. 

Thomas raced in Juniors, and heat one saw him "blood" the car when he took a spin into the armco barrier, leaving us a minor flesh wound under the redundant fuel filler cap. After that DNF he came home with a third place in heat two, being lapped, but improving as the day went on. Heat three saw him trailing by only half a lap coming in third. In the final he came in third which means he brought home a trophy on his first race meeting. I perhaps ought to point out that for some reason whilst juniors normally run a full grid of 8 there were only three runners in his class, so as well as being third he was also the loser.

This is not to pour scorn on his achievement though, he has had about 15 minutes driving experience prior to the race meeting including the autograss driving test and up until then had never driven anything with a clutch before, although he has driven a Kart once. For a twelve year old he has done remarkable well, and already has excellent car control, managing front wheel drive understeer with aplomb.

As for myself, heat one saw me coming home third out of three, or last if you prefer. And by about a half a lap. Not too shoddy for first time out. This is where I throw in my racing driver excuses. Firstly all our competitors are on proper autograss racing tyres or decent mud and snow tyres, whereas we are on well worn road tyres which have about as much grip as a billiard ball on ice. This means that whilst I could keep up with the others and even catch them on the straights as soon as I reached a corner I lost all grip. I have discovered that a Micra understeers like a really really understeery thing, but then snaps into oversteer without warning. My second excuse is about the driving position. The seat is fixed for Thomas who is about 4 feet 8 inches tall. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall, and consequently was driving with my knees around my ears, which does not make for easy steering response. This is something we need to address before the next meeting - I really need a tad more arm and legroom, so will have Thomas on the rack every night until he grows another foot.

Excuses apart, my second heat saw me home either 4th or 5th out of 7 starters (Thomas lost count and we didn't get the official result before race control closed) Those ahead of me were about 1/4 lap ahead as I crossed the line though. Race three was much closer racing, and I was only inches behind the pack coming home 6th out of 7th - and 7th was well behind.
True to form in my final it was a repeat of race three, even though it was 6 laps instead of 4, 6th out of 7th, and again a really tight race.
The car is well splattered with mud, as am I. The closer you are to the pack the more mud you get thrown up, and the only way to stop it is get even closer!
This was a great day, and I urge anyone to have a go, for £15 entry fees 

for the two of us, plus a gallon of petrol it really is good value fun for father and sin, and the cheaper than a mudpack beauty treatment.

Painting!

The car is back from Full On Fabrications with the roll cage complete. Well it's been back a couple of weeks or more to be honest but as ever time is short and work gets in the way. It just needed the seat frame fabricating and one tube welding in to take the harness at the right height to feed it through the slots in the seat, which I have done myself. The welding isn't half as nice looking as James Heselton has achieved on the main roll cage, but I'd happily hang my hat on it.
I had taken last Sunday until this Saturday as leave from work, originally to go away with the family for Easter, but that fell through so I had time on my hands - time to crack on with the car then. after all the season start deadline is long past. Unfortunately on Saturday I came down with the great Granddaddy of all man flu's which has knock me for twelve.
Today however the eye bolts arrived for the harness, so I thought I'd just fit that in. I was feeling up to that at least. A word of thanks at this point to Luke Sparrow of Sparrows Recovery at Brough. Sparrows are one of a number of recovery agents I come across regularly in my day job, and it was whilst chatting to Luke I discovered he does a little Autocross racing. More importantly, I discovered that due to different rules he has to change race harnesses regularly as they are date expired under AutoCross regulations, but are still fine for Autograss. Worth knowing, as he had a couple of harnesses lying around surplus to requirements which I was able to grab gratis. Anyhow, as ever things are not simple - the offside strap is no problem, the eyebolt screws in the existing seatbelt position. The nearside for some reason is a different thread size, so I need a different eyebolt. There is nowhere to screw the crotch strap eyebolt so I'll either have to weld it to the seat frame mount (whcih in turn is welded to the floor and frame) or I'll have to weld a anchor plate with the screw mount into the floor. The rear shoulder straps meanwhile are of the wrap around the rollcage type, and as my rollcage has no suitable tube it's either weld a new tube in, or weld a short tube to some angle iron and bolt it into the rear seatbelt mounts - which is probably my favourite idea. The shoulder straps would then fix around that. Should satisfy the scrutineers.
Faced with nothing more I could do on that for now, I figured that even with my head spinning and losing my balance from an inner ear infection I ought to be able to paint, I set about making things look pretty. When I say pretty, that is to a certain value of pretty. I see many autograss cars that people must have spent many hours and much money on with beautiful paint jobs only for them to be trashed first time out. And I have noted that the shiny mirror flecked paint does not make them go any faster. With that in mind my plan is black hammerite for the interior and a simple plan to paint the exterior using a roller. Looks are not at the top of my agenda, ease and convenience of repair is. The rollcage is now looking good in black hammerite, as is the drivers floor area - but then I ran out of paint. The rest will get done ion due course.
Exterior wise I have gone for "Toolstation Blue" for the main body with roof and detailing in "Toolstation White." Some motorsport disciplines make novices paint the roof a specific colour - i.e white, but this is not the reason I have done it. The colour schemes for Autograss are entirely open, provided they are not deemed offensive. No there is a personal historical reason, plus of course aesthetically it looks good.
Back in the early 1990's when the Berlin Wall came down a friend of a friend of my sisters boyfriend at the time rescued a Wartburg Knight from a fate worse than death - well death at least and brought it to England. Originally mustard coloured many panels had been replaced with spare dull red coloured parts when it came into the possession of sisters boyfriend, who planned on making a three wheeler out of it. Always a sucker for the word and unusual, I bought it for £80 and saved it from a fate worse than three wheels. I ran it for two years until it succumbed to my yearning for an American car, and it was sold on. But in the meantime I had painted it (with a roller) blue, with a white roof and with a little thin pink heartbeat pinstripe down the side. If you lived in Hull in the early nineties you may remember it. It was certainly unforgettable, smoking around in it's little cloud of two stroke. Anyhow the racer will be a tribute to that little Wartburg.
The car now also has a name - Dennis, which was my late fathers name. Dad used to tell an anecdote: He served with the RAF in Germany in the late 50's and early 60's. Whilst out driving on one of their challenging mountain roads in his Borgward Isabella estate car he was giving a flashy Italian sports model a good run for it's money, and when he eventually stopped to allow the Borgward to cool down he was approached by the wealthy owner of the sports model who offered him a trial as a racing driver with a professional racing team. He apparently declined as with a young family to support and motor racing being much more dangerous in those days he did not want to pursue such a risky career - he remained a fast driver though as I recall from my young childhood, and he later mellowed and became a professional driving instructor, passing on those skills to many. I dismissed his anecdote as one of his many tale tales - until after his death two years ago, when amongst his treasured possessions I came across a photograph of him with the Borgward, and a mystery gentleman in an early Ferrari in the background. It doesn't look like Enzo Ferrari himself, but could have been one of the many drivers who worked for him - or maybe just a punter in a flashy car, but it might lend a little credence to what I always thought was one of dads Tall Tales. Either way, in honour of dad, the car will henceforth be known as Dennis the Datsun.
The body needs another coat of paint before I can finish off with stickers and the race numbers, but S99Y "Dennis" should be ready for action very soon - pictures to follow.

Progress report

Okay, so the first race meeting was cancelled due to weather and I didn't make yesterdays meeting as a driver either, although I did go to watch as a spectator - and to pick up a few pointers as the build reaches it's conclusion.
So where are we with the build? Well the rollcage is in and completed, with thanks to James "Hessy" Hesleton at Full on Fabrications. The only part missing is the tube the harness runs over which he couldn't fit as he didn't know what seat I was using. Not a problem, I'm sure I can weld that single part in place.
The doors are now welded in place, as is the boot lid, and switchgear is in the advanced planning and partially fitted stage. The battery box arrived today and has been fitted. I'm not too happy with it though - it was supposed to fit with the standard Micra battery, but there is insufficient height to clear the terminal posts. It's supposed to have a lid that makes it spill proof but if you can;t bolt the lid on without shorting the battery it's hardly fit for purpose. I have padded the posts out with foam rubber and packed the top of the box with more rubber, so it is sealed down, but not metal to meal - I just hope the scrutineers see it is leakproof. If not I'll have to look fr a smaller battery.
Still to do - paint the roll cage and interior, install the ECU and wiring, paint the exterior, add the roof numbers and door numbers and all the stickers my son Thomas has been collecting. Shouldn't take long now.

Things are coming together ....to do list

So, with just nine days to go before the start of the race meeting, we still have no race car. This does not present a major problem because I am working that day anyway. That gives me an extra 14 days before I can actually race, but will it be enough?
I have the car booked in for the roll cage fitting next week. You may recall that whilst I can weld, it is only pigeon shit welding, and I wouldn't trust myself to fix something as important as the roll cage, so it is being sent to Full On Fabrications in Pickering to get fitted out. Let's hope they live up to the reputation the recommendation suggests. They need the bare shell, so the doors and bootlid need to come off, and the seat needs to come out so they can weld the cage in without anything in the way.
The seat - oh the pains that has given me - literally. The car has to fit my 12 year old son as a junior, and myself as a 6 foot 1 inch adult, and as the seat cannot have a sliding adjustment mechanism and has to be firmly bolted in place the seating position has to be a bit of a compromise. After trying several ideas with the original seat base frame and a quick release bolt mechanism i eventually welded a mounting system in place.
The doors meanwhile have been skinned - i.e basically reduced to the outerskin, which reduces weight as well as freeing up room for the roll cage side protection/door bars. The hinges have to be retained (regulations) and at present the door locks are in pace simple to keep them shut, but once they are refitted they will be welded closed and the locks can be removed too.
So, in the remaining two weeks or so, we have the following list to complete;
Brake light (easy enough)
Towing point to be added front and centre (easy enough)
Battery box to be added (spill proof and secure) - costly in Aluminium, might come up with an alternative.
Seat belt harness (hopefully I have a date expired FIA harness being donated for free, which is adequate for autograss)
Door numbers and roof numbers - Vinyl numbers and a pucker roof pod are about £50 - I may have a cheaper solution - watch this space.
That just leaves the wiring to sort out and whaddya know - What was a runner with the replacement ECU and harness has now decided it doesn't want to run again - damned NATS system.
However, I'm confident that with a mix of the ECU's (3 off) and wiring harnesses I can make it go again.

Licence and number

Work on the car progresses slowly, mostly planning and preparation due to the weather, and also due to a really tender finger end which now has no fingernail on it where I managed to trap it under the trailer ramp.  It's the second finger of my right hand, so it looks like I tried to say goodnight to the boss whilst standing too close to a ceiling fan. Also it's bloody cold and wet outside.
Still, last night was licence night, so I am now £85 lighter in the wallet, for a junior and a mens licence for our team of dad and Son.
And we now have our race number S99Y. Thomas is working on fantasy paint schemes. At present the car is purple, but I'm fairly sure it will change to something lairy once he's finished with his felt tip pen sketches.

We Have a Runner!

With the correct fuel pump arriving today, even though I had just finished a night shift I couldn't resist going and fitting it on and trying to start the little Micra. How rewarding it was to hear the old girl chug into life for the first time n months, with the little 1.0 litre power plant revving like a good 'un. Young Thomas has been through a tough weekend due to problems at school, but at least I can cheer him up with the news his car is now a viable race car once more. So, after a little tidying up of the wiring loom and fixing stuff down it will be ready to go for a roll cage very soon.

Under pressure

The title sort of reflects the fact that the new season starts in just over six weeks and at present I still don't have a car ready.
But I think I have finally diagnosed the problem. The wiring is all replaced and correct but the car will only tick over for a few seconds and refuses to rev at all. This strongly suggests that not enough fuel is getting through. A quick check on the fuel pump and my original bargain buy proves to be a bit of a error. Somewhere in translation (I bought from China - big mistake) 0.3 Bar has become 3 Bar. The Micra fuel system runs at 2.5 bar, so a 3 bar pump is just fine, but one that can only provide a tenth of the fuel required is not. No wonder the poor thing wouldn't run, I had it on a weightwatcher diet. The new part should arrive Friday from a reputable UK supplier, and I expect the engine will then roar like a lion.

Progress at last

At last a little progress on the Micra Autograsser. You may recall that I had some major wiring issues resulting in what Rolls Royce engineers would undoubtedly call a failure to commence. The troublesome NATS was removed, but still we had a refusal to start, probably due to me using my fists of ham to cut out what i thought were unnecessary parts of the wiring loom.

In desperation I decided to start again from scratch and bought another Micra, reasoning the the first could be used as a donor of spare parts, such as wheels and body parts as and when the shell inevitably took damage. I bought unseen off Ebay, always a good idea (not!) I then realised I had bought more trouble, in that not only was the car rotten in the rear sills and both front wings, but more seriously the front crossmember had more holes than a Swiss cheese. To cap it all the cut off date for Autograss Micras is January 2000 and on receiving the V5 I found this one was registered in May 2000. striping back some of the interior trim showed a date coding of around September/October 1999 so I could probably have argued the date of manufacture prior to January 2000, but the general state of the car meant it probably wasn't worth it.

So plan C came into play. This meant stripping all the useful parts of the second Micra and scrapping the remainder, the most useful part being the wiring harness and ECU, which have now been transplanted into Micra number 1. I ran out of daylight tonight, but first impressions are good with the engine now starting but running rough, probably down to the air filter system being off the car and it being very damp, plus the petrol has probably gone off.  Tomorrow we'll see if we can get it running right, and if so I then need to find the man to build the rollcage.

Still stalled but a little progress.

The racer project is still stalled. But a little progress has been made.
The engine starts but only if the engine is primed with a little fuel poured down the throttle body. Then it runs roughly for a short while. I think it is a wiring problem somewhere, any suggestions welcome.
Meanwhile Lee at Boyes Lane Engineering has worked magic on the Engine Management Unit and removed the troublesome NATS system. This will make things a lot simpler, once I find the other wiring problem.
Then it will be a race on to get the roll cage in and the paintwork done before the new season starts.

Stalled project......

Quite literally the autograss project has stalled. We were about to remove the fuel tank the other night and decided to check the engine one last time before we removed the fuel lines and replumbed them to the new small underbonnet tank. Well the car fired, ran for about three seconds and died. Investigation showed a good fuel supply and a spark at the plugs, albeit a weak one, but it just would't fire. Suspecting an immobiliser or electrical fault I checked through all the wiring joints we had moved and else everything I could think of, but came up blank. Then in a back to basics attempt I removed the distributor cap to discover it was held with only two screws instead of three, and had been on at a slight angle, not seated properly. The rotor arm had been mashing away at the contacts and I presume had eventually worn to the point where it no longer made good contact, hence high resistance and a refusal to start. As the cap looks fairly new I'm guessing the previous owner had it replaced by a lazy mechanic who didn't bother with the awkward to reach bottom screw.
A new arm and cap have been acquired, and just as soon as I get chance after our holiday I'll replace them and see if that fixes things.

Wiring and fuse box

Thomas and I spent an hour tidying up the race car wiring so it will hopefully all sit away behind a dashboard cover, yet to be fabricated. We also  mounted the fusebox and drilled a few drain holes in the floor to get rid of excess rainwater. The BIG RED SAFETY Cut off button will sit on a panel just in front of the gear lever. 
I'm waiting now on a quote for the rollcage parts, I might be able to get them ready bent and prepared to weld straight it, which will save a lot of measuring and fettling, although it will doubtless be more expensive than bending the tubes myself. Otherwise I have a choice to make - round tube which is preferred and stronger, but a pain to work with, or square tube, which is lighter, but not as strong, although easier to work with. 

The wiring may not look the prettiest, but it is functional. I dare say there is more I could do away with, but in the absence of a wiring diagram I dare not cut out any more. I don't want to damage the ECU or immobiliser circuits, and really don't know what is what out of what is left!

Ignition and wheel arch repair.

A little more done on the race car this morning. The wheelarch is now repaired with plate and weld, skim filled and sprayed to keep the water out. Not my usual perfect six/seven day body repair because it doesn't need to be flawless. And before anyone points out the colour match being off, yes I know, I haven't gone colour blind it was what I had on the shelf. The whole car will get a flash over once it's complete, so colour isn't important right now, just sealing it from the elements. The other pics show the new location of the ignition switch, with the new bracket welded to support it. Other jobs today included welding two additional anchors on the trailer for lashing the car down in transit. I have also cunningly recycled the old seatbelt mounting rails which will become the rear most anchor points on the trailer. Clever huh?

Ignition Lock and safety switches.

Back in the '80s smashing an ignition lock off a car and hot-wiring it proved a simple challenge, achieved with little more than a length of scaffold tube and a penknife. Not that I would know anything about that of course. Of course not. No not even a little bit. Well maybe a very little bit. Okay I wired a few cars - well more than a few. But all for legitimate reasons.
So why did it take me so long to get the lock off the Nissan Micra racecar? Well I didn't want to smash it, that's why I suppose. I needed it undamaged, so it was a lot of cautious grinding and levering to remove it intact. Regulations state that the steering lock must be removed so there is no risk of the wheel locking during a race. The Micra has an immobilizer as standard, and not knowing at the moment how to overcome this I have elected to keep the original ignition switch, but it needs to be relocated so that it is still within the reach of the driver when belted into the seat in a harness. My arms are longer than those of the boy child Thomas who will also be driving, but some careful re-routing of the existing wiring should allow it to mount on a bracket welded to the transmission tunnel by the handbrake for left handed operation. The BIG RED BUTTON will be fitted alongside - this is the kill switch for emergency engine stops. This isn't a requirement, however I think that it will be easier in the event of a problem, for Thomas to hit a big red button than to worry about shutting down fuel pumps, ignition circuits etc.
Regulations do however require a kill switch mounting outside of the car on the scuttle panel, so that the car can be shut off by the track marshalls in the event of a major crash or rollover, so one has been ordered off Ebay for the princely some of £3.49.
I have also ordered the petrol tank. This is a bespoke 5 litre aluminium tank, which at £65 has cost me almost as much as the car did, but worth every penny as it will bolt straight into the gap where the wiper motor used to sit, saving a lot of time and hassle.
Next job tidying up the wiring, then the old fuel tank can come out. Things are progressing nicely.

MOT failure restore - I doubt it would pass now though.....

I put another couple of hours in on the Micra Race Car. All the windows are now out and the wiring harness is half out but I need a wiring diagram before I dare chop any more - I've already lost the battery warning light system by cutting something I shouldn't have done, fairly confident I can put that right though. So tonight was a chance to do the structural repair that caused the car to be an MOT failure, the holed inner wing close to the rear seat belt mounting. The repair ain't pretty but it should be structurally sound, the original metal was like lace, and very thin to start with except where it was factory reinforced around said seatbelt mounting. The metal I have welded in is about three times as thick, and links to the seatbelt mounting, reinforcing the reinforcement as well as filling the MOT failure hole. I also tacked a repair patch onto the wheelarch, and tomorrow Thomas will be learning the noble art of plastic body filler to make it look reasonable and prepare it for paint. Theoretically it would then pass an MOT on that point, but as it's now sans glass, lights, wipers etc etc I somehow doubt it will ever pass an MOT again. It will however be fit for racing. 

Next step will be to do a couple of remedial jobs on the race trailer before I can take the car to the man who will be bending the tubes for the roll cage.

Electrical wiring - bomb disposal

Electrical wiring - bomb disposal - do I cut the blue wire or the red??????

It's blooming nervewreckingly complicated without a wiring diagram. 

The car has an ECU, which needs to remain, and an immobilizer, which seems to need to remain.

But surely all this spaghetti is superfluous? 

I'll keep on cutting until the car stops then rejoin if necessary.

Glass out.

Found a little time this afternoon to remove all the glass from the racer.  Door glass was easy enough, I've done loads of roll down windows before so knew what to expect. simple nuts and bolts. Side windows refused to come out with the string method I've used in the past, just too tight in the seals, so as it's not likely to ever need them again I used a Stanley knife to cut the rubbers and pop the glass out neatly.
The front windscreen proved to be even more awkward, a bonded in windscreen was new ground for me. The correct way to remove it involves a cheese-wire saw which I don't have. Attempts to slip a flexible blade behind the screen to cut the bonded seal cracked the glass, so it was then a case of be damned and use brute force. In a scene worthy of Hollywood I kicked the screen out from inside. Sadly it doesn't work like in Hollywood, where the screen would readily pop out in a single albeit cracked chunk. Instead it shattered to bits held together by the laminate, and took a lot of cleaning up afterwards.
The rear hatch glass is even trickery, being curved much more towards the edges. But then inspiration struck - a gas torch and a flexible wallpaper scraper later and the glass reluctantly let go.
So now we have a glass free car ready for a rollcage and some remedial repair welding. And that damned wiring harness to finish with.

Boys and their toys

They say that men never stop playing with toys, the toys just get bigger and more expensive. This may be true. I have just acquired another car. But this time instead of a daily driver, or a classic this time it's a racing car......in my mind.

It's an MOT failure Nissan Micra, bought off Ebay for the princely sum if £100. The plan is to turn this into a Class One Autograss racer for me and my son Thomas to play in. This will be done on a very limited budget, hence our temporary team name of Budget Autograss. I'll probably think of a better name later.
If you are new to the Autograss racing world, as I am, then a simple explanation is as follows.
Class one is entry level racing and the cheapest way into motorsport I can think of for a Dad and his soon to be 12 year old son. In a Class one car Dad can race in the seniors, and son can race (from age 12) as a Junior, using the same car, which has to be of a certain type and built to rigid specifications. The choice includes the original Mini, the Micra, Citroen Ax, Toyota Yaris and some small peugeot or other, I forget which, all of which have a 1.0 litre engine.
Racing takes place on an oval 1/4 mile dirt track, so whilst a 1 litre motor might not sound fast, it is fast enough, I doubt the cars ever go beyond second gear, and because the cars are so evenly matched it's close racing. I have watched for a couple of seasons, and no Thomas is old enough to join in, we've decided to give it a go.
Having spoken with a few drivers they all advised as a novice, I should buy a car ready built. Well I looked around and watched a while on ebay with cars coming and going, but they were either prohibitively expensive, or tired looking wrecks. So I ignored all advice and bought a car to build myself. And hence this blog, a diary of the trials and tribulations of a first time racer building his own car from scratch, and hopefully going on to race it in the 2015 season. That gives me around 7 months to build it, and as part of the team building exercise Thomas will be helping too.

The first hurdle was obtaining a reasonable size and reasonable price trailer - ebay again. A trailer was located and purchased for a bargain £200, but needed new brakes, a new jockey wheel, a lighting board and corner steadies to stop it tilting or putting excess strain on the tow car when the race car is loaded. It also needed some lashing hooks welding on and new mudguards fabricating. All of that plus a set of four wheel straps to hold the car on burst Mays budget, totally up to just over £350 all in. This is a recoverable expense however, as the trailer would now sell for much more, and will always hold it's value.

For the car I spoke with a couple of friends in the motor trade and asked them to keep an eye out for any MOT failures or trade ins, of the right sort of car. I could expect to pay £150 they said, as that is scrap weight value. I was well chuffed to get the bargain £100 Micra then, even if I did have to drive to Manchester to collect it.

Striping the non essential parts of the car comes next, and the lights mirrors and various other parts were immediately put back on Ebay. So far both rear lights have sold, plus a door mirror and the number plate plinth, recouping a few quid (although postage eats the profits) I could have got more for the parts I suppose, but I priced them to sell quickly, and so far parts to the value of £35 have sold. Coins to the value of 65 pence also turned up in the car, so it now stands me just £66.15.

So far, the seat and interior have been stripped out, lights and wipers removed along with their motors. I am slowly stripping back the wiring harness, which is an incredible weight, to the bare essentials. Without a wiring diagram it is slow work - I feel like a bomb disposal officer every time I cut a wire. Once that's done the glass can come out. I'm trying to keep it water tight as long as possible, as it's more pleasant to work in the dry. Then there will be a couple of welding jobs to do before the build starts. More soon.