Whew, long time no post! Funny how that happens when I'm out enjoying and using the car, vs. building it.
A few days after installing the Remflex gasket material, I was heading over the Duffy Lake road on my way to The Thunderbird Rally. I was almost past the point of no return when I smell alerted me to a problem. Yup, burned out number 4 again...and this time it was the Remflex that was 100% gone. Clearly my issues were bigger then just the gasket material. I checked my watch, and was a little over 40min away from the closest town...and it was 4:40pm on a Friday night. Not good! I hammered down the road, and into a tire shop and general repair shop to peruse their gasket selection. I found a few that were close enough, and then hit the local snowmobile shop for a roll of header wrap. A parking lot backwoods repair was done, and I was on my way.
Since I'll forget to update it later, it turns out the issue was not the gasket materials, but that I had overtightened the flange when I last had the motor out and they were no longer mating flat. With the pressure localized on the ends, the gasket would blow out in the middle every time. I have since repaired it and enjoy leak free driving without issues...
For Thunderbird, I was serving the role of "Chief Steward", which is to say that if there were any protests, or issues with the rally I was the guy who would make the final call one way or the other. This also allowed me to checkpoint the rally, and run the whole route without competing. I figured after the last event having a few more 'shakedown' events on the car wouldn't hurt. And, as it would turn out, I was 100% correct. The next morning I was heading off to my first checkpoint, on regularity (stage) one, without a co-driver. I was probably...okay, I was definitely...going too quick. What can I say, I was having fun in the light dusting of snow and loose gravel. I came around a right-hander and saw three yumps which were definitely far too large for the speed I was going. With little time to react I opted for ensuring I didn't end up in the ditch or a tree, car be damned. Coming down off the first one, I was landing on the second. The rear went clean through to the bump-stops, and then I was hitting the third. Instantly I knew there was an issue, but kept the car pointed in the right direction and slowed down until I could pull off safely.
Crawling under the car I was met with a rather interesting sight, which I'll admit took me a few seconds to figure out:
The observant amongst you might notice that something is missing. I could see the shock body, I could see the spring. I could see the lower spring perch but oddly enough there was no shock shaft joining the upper and lower halves of the assembly! Now, a normal person would probably look at this and think "call a trailer", but rally people have never been accused of being normal. I could see from the way the shock body was wedged, and how much movement it has
without a spring, that there was very little risk of losing the spring out of the assembly. The embarrassment of not making the finish of another event was too much to consider, so I jumped in and began to figure out the new handling characteristics.
By the end of day one I was getting pretty comfortable with the car, and I had pushed it enough to know that I wasn't going to be at any real risk of losing the spring. I could take it easier on the gravel sections, and go with a much heavier foot in the snowy sections. By the end of the event, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Sure, I had heavily damaged my car (who knows what else went with the shock), but it held together and I had figured it out enough to have a tonne of fun driving it. I drove home over the Duffy, which was snowy by this point, and I found that special bond you hope to build with a car. That moment where you can't wipe the smile off your face, that point where enjoyment and experience outweighs the build, the cost, the headaches and everything else. That spot where the car I imagined on paper was finally materializing in experience.
Of course, one still has to fix the damage.
Upon teardown of the rear suspension the first thing I noticed was there was no longer any bump stop attached to the trailing arm. My best guess, based on the experience is that I lost the bump stop on the first big hit, which then allowed for the shock to bottom out completely. The shocks haft snapped off right at the lower eyelet, at the beginning of the threads which are a stress-riser. Initially I was concerned that the shock was getting a side-load under full compression, but the missing bump stop (and cycling it through without a spring), points to a simple bottom out failure.
Both the upper and lower hardware had the faintest of bends in the bolts (visible only when rolled on glass), so they were replaced. The load travelled through the Kafer bar to the right-hand side, where the upper bar mount snapped clean off at the weld. Needless to say, it had to be a big hit! While technically the QA1 shocks are rebuildable, and all parts are replaceable, for time sake I picked up another unit and installed it. The Kafer brace was removed, a new stronger mount welded up, and replaced. Sorry, no photos as I was trying to get the car running for work the next day!
The upper shock body received some damage from leaning against the body all weekend.
More updates coming, but I think this one is probably long enough…
-Dave
