rogue runners 2018

[zxr400]

Well that was epic glad your all safe home ,what memories you have

[Stevo]

Just to echo the comments by the other runners it was a great trip, very grateful to Tony for his meticulous planning as well.

There did seem to be more car trouble than previous years and an awful lot of that was down to the shocking road surfaces in some areas. You can’t really plan around that unfortunately.

I had the my car illuminate the MIL on the way to the Isle of Bute but didn’t manage to get the code read until we were in Ullapool. Whilst at the garage we also grabbed some fuel hose so I could balance Woody’s itb’s although it later transpired that the cause of the rough running was a much bigger problem.

Fortunately for me the MIL was an emmission related code and didn’t affect the running, I just needed to know what it was. In typical Lotus fashion it has resolved itself now - I suspect it’s the maf sensor.

After leaving the garage in Ullapool Woody and I were playing catch up to meet the others when we were on a single track road and he suddenly lost power, quick check under the car and the fuel pump wasn’t running. He found the fuse and it had melted, we assumed cheap Chinese fuses.

The following day the fuse went again - same failure,melting not blowing.

On Thursday ( I think?) we then discovered that the alternator had a cracked mounting bracket and was also overcharging, consequently melting the fuel pump fuse. We managed to locate an alternator at Demon Tweeks and luckily for us was 11 miles from our final destination.
So we left the Glen at Selkirk (highly recommended) having mucked in and fixed Linda’s wing bracket - T did most of the work

Unfortunately for T that’s the same morning he had his suspension failure which he has already documented. I followed Woody to Tweeks and then onto Llangollen.

Saturday morning and Woody and I got the alternator off and found a great little garage who are Caterham service agents. The owner buzzed the pulley nut off for us and we were off after getting a tour of his showroom.

Two Elans
One Europa
Two Lotus Cortinas (mark 2)
One XR3 (carb model and 20k miles from new)
One UR Quattro

To be continued in the AM...

[DJ.]

Great selection of cars there

Strange the overcharging just chose to blow the fuel pump fuse.

[Stevo]

So to follow up from my post yesterday.

We left Llangollen with the intention of heading home but still following the route that Tony had made. About 15 miles or so out of town having just driven the Horseshoe Pass and having pulled a “epic” overtake the clutch cable snapped on the Westie.

Now Woody carries a lot of stuff in the car but the donut had forgotten to pack his spare cable...

RAC were called in the hope that the van may have the repair kits that I know the AA use - an ex patrolman gave me his kit. Sadly they don’t use them and we were faced with a potential four hour wait for a patrol to arrive.

We tried to locate a cable locally with no success and then Woody called a friend who had keys to his house and then went and collected the cable.
We got the car back to Llangollen and left it in the previous nights hotel and then proceeded to drive to Henley in Arden to meet Kevin.

Cable collected we then drove back to Llangollen and fitted the cable.

Made a new friend on the way back

We then headed to another hotel in Oswestry for an overnighter. Arrived there around 7.45 and then hit the bar for alcohol and food.

Woody discovered that the clutch was dragging slightly on the way to the hotel and we had planned to adjust it in the morning. Looking at the forecast for the AM showed rain so we decided to go out around midnight and adjust the cable then.

Not our best idea of the trip as we had consumed a fair amount of cider and Guinness (and double scotches) by this point. The reason will become clear shortly.

Had a bit of a lie in on Sunday as both knackered from driving - nothing to do with all the booze...

We then hit the road around 10.30 or so. As the route passed within about 2 miles of my mums house in Droitwich we decided to stop for coffee there so I could say a quick hello.

My mum enjoyed the story of us playing Grandad down the walkie talkie to you Graham and us singing the chorus bit of it as well .

Left mums and then picked up the route. Impromptu stop to get fuel in a Sainsbury station and I was off waiting to the side when Woody comes off the pump and parks next to me.

I then spotted that his air filter was missing, we had removed it to adjust the clutch cable.

Bonnet off fully expecting to see the filter was missing but luckily it was sat on the scuttle!

Top tip - don’t work on your car whilst pissed, at midnight using a phone as a torch

Cross country then for around a 100 miles where we said our goodbyes and then broke for home.

A great trip with good mates and plenty of banter. I need a weeks rest to get over it though!

[Fury1630]

More adventures! Glad you got back safe.

[Fury1630]

Some of the photos that didn't make it into the daily reports:-

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[Fury1630]

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[Fury1630]

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[David T]

Good.photos there. Some could be overseas.

Sorry to hear about the car. Let me know if we can weld something. Maybe not!

[DJ.]

Great photos