AKL pre-Manfield test run Sun 3 Nov

[MIKEP]

Not sure if I'll get there I'm bloody sore still but if I do I'll see you there. Plans havnt come together and I didn't get a WOF on the black beauty which means I would have to take the Spyder

[mickeyduck]

All good Mike, no pressure to be there mate but if you do feel up to it, it'll be good to see you. Either way, just have yourself an enjoyable day.

[Speedhog]

Shall I follow with the truck and trailer Charlie?

Ha ha, I'm busted. Why do you think I'll be doing a run out West Rodney?

And if you do manage to find Madaz some rubber it'd be great to have you tag along in the shopping trolley mate.

AS it worked out, my weekend plans are shot to hell after speedway on friday, Helping Chris with his MR2engined playtoy on saturday and event planning today meant I didn't get the time to pull the good rubber out of the shed for the shopping trolley in time. Maybe December if the stars align (and no date conflicts. )

[mickeyduck]

LOL.

Woodcocks strikes again.
Cruising along Old North Rd at the start of the run, a knocking started up on the front left. As I drove along it got more and more frequent as if something was undoing itself.

Turned left into Taylor Rd to suss it out. The first thing I discovered was that I've driven around for the last 6 years in that thing with no jack. Doh! Borrowed one off Kevin and we jacked up that corner, wrestled with everything that mattered and all seemed rock solid tight. Except where the brake line connects to the steel tubing as it goes through a bracket on the chassis, it made a wee clunking noise when we moved the line. I tightened the clamp that secures the hose to the chassis bracket and we let the car back down on its feet.

Short test run, noise still there, getting worse not better if anything. Metallic sound like steel hitting steel. Not cool.

I asked Ivor to carry on leading the run in the hope that them that showed would have a good day. I mean the weather is utterly exceptional today. Wow!

Thinking we had checked every single nut and bolt on the left front I headed for home at a trundle, the knocking noise becoming more and more frequent. Trying to visualise every nut and bolt that I've had apart doing the suspension rebuild, it suddenly occurred to me there was one that we had forgotten to check. The nut that secures the top end of the shock to the top-hat.

Pulled over to the side of SH16, got out a 17mm spanner and bingo, it was indeed that nut.
So I got out a 14mm spanner and removed the damper adjuster. Then took an allen key and the 17mm spanner and tightened that nut up as best I could. And guess what? No noise at all the rest of the way home.

Once home I pulled the nut off to find that unlike the ones on the rear shocks, it's a not a nylock nut. So the only thing stopping them from undoing is the tightness of them. And they were pretty darn tight when I put the struts together, believe me. Off they came and after a clean of the threads with Clean-R-Carb, on went some medium strength Loctite.

Thank goodness it was something so stupidly simple.

In all other respects the car seems great. Very happy with the feel of it through the corners. With these really hard springs I can soften the shocks and get a fairly nice ride while it corners flat and turns in precisely. SWeet.

I hope the other guys had a great day out. Weather sure is nice.

OK out to the shed, ready the SW for Tuesday's WOF.

The nut:

Top of the shock:

Doing the nut up again, this time with Loctite:

All back together. The 14mm nut just below the knurled black adjuster is what holds the damper adjuster on. The 17mm nut that secures the shock to the top-hat is below that.

[nivek]

I’m glad it was something simple. Woodcocks road was a blast as usual.

[psyguy]

Glad you have it sorted Charlie!
And to think that as we were trying to acertain what was going on with the noise, Brian actually fiddled with that nut at the top of the shock! But then our attention went elsewhere...

[mickeyduck]

I thought he was fiddling with the 14mm one which holds the damper adjuster on Ivor, which is why I asked him to leave it alone. But yes if I had put a spanner on the 17mm nut below it, we'd have had it nailed.

Glad you guys had a fun run despite my little hiccup. And glad I found the issue and it turned out to be so simple. A good day all round!