sorry for the lack of updates. im not really liking my subaru at the moment. the simplest job turned in to a major ball ache.
not having a ramp in my garage is a major stumbling block but its not the cause.
i went at the clutch last a full week before the last Night Nav in west cork. plenty time. armed with a full new set of gaskets, new studs and nuts thinking i would have it sorted in about 4 hours (thats about 3 nights) . well **** me i was wrong! i have never before in my life had to use a hammer and prybar to separate a gearbox from an engine.
anyway that turned out to be the least of my problems. of the 6 exhaust studs, 5 of them sheared off . which went from bad to worse as i tried to get them out. now i was expecting to replace all six but god . no matter what i tried no shift. I reverted to drilling out the studs at 4pm on the day of the event. come 6 it was becoming evident i was not going to be heading out that night. so i sent a text to the buddy's to head away with out me.
much to my surprise they had organised a back up car for me. she was well rattled. but it was a great car. 97 RX wagon. complete with bilsteins . forestry tyres. sump guard and all the nav bits. when i picked it up it wasnt charging the battery and only had 1 front lamp working. buy the time we arrived in Leap most things were fixed but it developed a more serious problem. just pulling in to the event the power steering stopped working. unfortunately it was the pump that decided to work intermitantly.
now as everyone knows.. working power steering = no problem not working power steering = awkward, but manageable
but intermittent power steering . god. as soon as you think your used to it, it tries to kill you!
The night nav its self was a mixture of highs and lows. we missed a time point early on which worked in our favour. we ended up running with the top boys and made fantastic time though out the night. it was a taxing night getting all the aproches and departures right but we were doing very very well. but true to form we made a big mistake. ended up going down a road that was marked as a no go. and it took us over 20 min to get turned around and back out on to the road
By the time we got on the right track and found there the control point was ment to be it was gone. so that was us out.
all in all it was an enjoyable night. we learned alot, i was bitterly disapointed for a few days as we would have ended up second in class. we know what we have to do for the next night so all was not lost.
i spent last weekend down at the historic rally servicing on a very special Talbot Sunbeam.
again very stressful but also very enjoyable.