Vietnam.

[fakedollar]

I've decided on suspension, going to extend the torrents, weld in a bird cage bracket and install air shocks from a rover.. I think that's best for maximum travel and height gain..

[fakedollar]

Does anyone know if I'd have any problems with putting a bigger alternator in, or a second alternator and running two batteries?

[TeflonTom]

Which engine is it? And why would you need 2 batteries? If its so you can use a mains inverter you be better off just putting in a split charging system and using a Gert big leisure battery, and just stick with the normal alternator and battery from the car.

[littleade]

I'd of thought the best option would be to go for the setup that's going to give best reliability/ using the fuel that's the most available, with the minimum of 'technology' as possible so you can get it fixed locally if it breaks down? Are you going to set up a just giving account for sponsorship so we can deny mr osbourne his tax!

[adurer]

I am a soldier in the Army and plan on using a felicia to drive to Vietnam and back to raise money for cancer research and help for heroes.

What heroes are we talking about?

[fakedollar]

Theres 8 spots and a winch being added to the car, then I'm putting in a fe accessory sockets as well to charge the GPS and sat phone.

"Help for heroes" is a UK based charity for supporting soldiers and their families.

I've got a just give account already setup

http://www.justgiving.com/AlexJackson27010

[adurer]

ALEX,

Still not sure about what Vietnam heroes you're talking about. Pointing me the piggybank didn't help.

Edited 19 February, 2013 by adurer

[fakedollar]

Sorry, i should of been clearer, the fund raising link was a response to Littleade, who asked about it.

It's not heroes of Vietnam, 'Help for Heroes' is a charity for British soldiers injured in Afghanistan.

Vietnam is where we'll be driving to, then back again to the UK.

Edited 19 February, 2013 by fakedollar

[djaychela]

OK, been away for a few days, just catching up.

Sumpguard: If you make a decent (i.e. full width) sumpguard you won't have to worry about any damage to the engine/box. 6mm ali will do the trick if it's the right grade, but you'll need strengthening to it as well. Mount it securely to the front crossmember and with rubberised bobbin-type mounts to the rear subframe. It'll add considerable strength to the front crossmember by doing this, and you won't damage the car easily. I don't have a picture of when we actually landed this, but it hit pretty HARD, and it didn't damage anything other than the front bumper where it was trapped between the sumpguard and the road:

You will need a tank guard. Easily made from a sheet of thick ABS/similar or from a 2-3mm sheet of aluminium, with brackets front and rear. Otherwise your tank will get punctured at some point. Mine broke off in '08, and got replaced with a bit of scavenged metal from the army, and did another 3 years - not bad for a 20 minute fix engineered ad hoc - yours won't take long to do, and will save the day.

You will need to run the lines inside if you want the car to be reliable over rough terrain. It's not difficult to do, but will involve dropping the fuel tank to get the lines to that safely/easily, and also of course bleeding the brakes afterwards, but you were going to do that anyway, right? For the extra £20 it'll cost, replace the rear cylinders as well.

You can further protect the underside of the car and vulnerable bits with cable-tied-on mudflap material/industrial curtain. It will take up a lot of the point-loading from stone impact damage, which will save an awful lot of damage.

If you see what the underside of proper rally cars look like, then you'll know why - they make them as smooth as possible so the car slides over stuff, and it also protects the underside from damage. As a full-length guard isn't likely, protecting anything vulnerable is important. Add skids to the fronts of silencer boxes, it'll stop them getting ripped off on large rocks. (Ask me how I know!)

Suspension: I really think you're over-complicating matters again with the suspension. You want it to be reliable, and field-serviceable. That will mean it's best to add modifications to standard parts, rather than making a bizarre bespoke frankenstein suspension job. You can raise the rears easily enough by making bolt-on extenders to either the top or bottom mounts on the rear (I would go bottom mount myself, easy to make and fit), and top mounts on the front. An extra inch of ride height and stiffer springs will make all the difference.

Tyres: Rally tyres are the only option. Proper ones, not road "M&S" stuff, not Colway remoulds. I can't fault Kumho R700s. If you go for the hard compound (and I think you'd need to) they have excellent life. You'll need spares, however - I usually carried 2. On the way to banjul I suffered one puncture (this was on road tyres), there are lots of hard, spiky plants in that sort of terrain and if you're sliding about in the sand, you'll side-swipe them and puncture the (much thinner) sidewall of the tyre. If you can, belt-and-braces a pair of tyres with tubes as well.

LIghts: Why on earth would you need 8 spotlights? I've done over 80 in the dark on a forest track, and with 4 good ones, you'll see perfectly well. Get a cheap HID conversion (ONLY for the spotlights, not for the car's own lamps) and you'll have more light and a lot less alternator load (15W vs 50-100W for halogen per lamp) - another critical issue. If you can get a cheap secondhand light pod it'll ease the fitting of the lamps.

Cooling: IIRC the diesel radiator has the outlets in different places to the petrol, but you may want to check this - Tom's usually spot on with everything so I could well be wrong. An extra electric fan if possible wouldn't be a bad idea for warmer, slow climbs. I wouldn't actually bin the thermostat, as I found that a lot of the time with a new radiator the engine was slightly over-cooled (unless you're on full chat, of course), but fit a brand new one with the new type housing so it won't go wrong.

Sorry if this all sounds a bit abrupt, got a lot to get done today. It's all just my opinion, but given that I've done Plymouth-Banjul in a skoda which didn't miss a beat and built a Felicia for WRC-level competition (and learned from stupid mistakes, too abrupt a schedule and corner cutting in 2007, giving me a reliable car in 08 and 10) I think I know what to do, and I'm sure I could build a car to do that all in one go. I just think you're over-complicating things again. Make it simple, make it standard-based and it'll be reliable. Crazy or unnecessary stuff will just be a PITA at some point, and if it breaks somewhere bad (and it will) then you're not going to be able to get towed home by the AA. Look at what Ford did for the "proper" World Cup escorts in 1970 - they didn't use a BDA, they used a crossflow, because they wanted a lower-power simpler engine which would be reliable and could use locally-sourced parts in the event of a problem. This paid off as they nicked a head off a spectator's car at one point (in South America, I think) when they had a failure!

I have a sumpguard here which you could beef up (it's a recce one, only 2mm thick aluminium, but would make a good template, and the front is 6mm ali already) - if you want to collect it, it's yours.

[fakedollar]

I'm constantly changing my mind about the build and you seem constantly to be the voice of reason, I've opted for strengthened, slightly longer springs, which are being made up for me by a company in Yorkshire, with standard shocks, but I'll get them overhauled before hand. I'll also work out a way to make some sort of solid spacers to raise it slightly further.

Thanks for the info about the tyres, I'll have a look into them. Reference lighting, if you think that 4 will be enough then thats good enough for me.

The brakes will rebuilt with all new seals. Is there a decent pad anyone recommends..?

I'm going to find a diesel felicia and take a look at the radiator on it, I'll see about fitting a second fan, would be able to wire the second straight into the original?

The sump guard will be very helpful, where abouts are you located?

I've not attempted something this extreme before so would like to thank everyone on here who as offered their advice so far, especially DJaychela and TeflonTom.

If also like to promote this website on the car, do you have an owners club decal?

[adurer]

It's not heroes of Vietnam, 'Help for Heroes' is a charity for British soldiers injured in Afghanistan.

Vietnam is where we'll be driving to, then back again to the UK.

Two questions:

1) Why Vietnam?

2) Why don't you ask for money from your government? They sent those soldiers thousands of miles away in a foreign SOVEREIGN country against an imaginary enemy (false flag war). How about charity for those thousands of afghan civilians killed by those heavily armed 'heroes' ?

[fakedollar]

I'm sorry but I don't want to get into a debate about weather we should be over there or not, that's not what this thread is about.

I'm also not on here asking for money, I was after info and advice from the subject matter experts.

[djaychela]

Second fan - wire it with a manual switch. The rad switch fan is a source of problems (i would get a lower temp one so it kicks in earlier) so loading it with another fan is a bad idea, plus you can turn it on pre-emptively whereas a temperature switch is always reacting to somethign that's already happened.

Brake pads - get a set of Mintex 1144s in there. Way better than standard, will last well and not eat discs. No issues with cold performance either. Not cheap (about £70, I believe), but worth it. Questmead is the place to go for them (or was, anyway!)

Sticker - I was supposedly sponsored by this site for Rally GB, they refused to pay, fisrtly denying that they'd ever agreed anything, then simply saying there was no contract despite having emails from them agreeing it. My opinion is that it's not this site that's helped you, it's the people who come here...so I don't think the site's owners deserve any help.

OT: Adurer - this isn't the place, OK? If you want to have a political debate, then do it somewhere else. If you want to hassle the OP about his choices, then do it by PM. This is about car prep, not politics.

Edited 19 February, 2013 by djaychela

[fakedollar]

Ok, we'll I'd still like to acknowledge the help I've recieved, you guys have been the most valuable source of info. What about having you personally thanked on the website or your names on the car under some sort of build specialist heading?

[TeflonTom]

Ok, we'll I'd still like to acknowledge the help I've recieved, you guys have been the most valuable source of info. What about having you personally thanked on the website or your names on the car under some sort of build specialist heading?

Haha you won't be thanking anybody when you are stuck half way up the kyber pass with the engine hanging out, you'll be sat there staring at a list of names thinking about ways of cursing everybody who wrote here.

[fakedollar]

Hey guys, the car build is well on its way, but I've hit a snag.. The bolts on the bottom of the front shock absorbers won't budge, I've got the nuts off but the bolt won't move, same on both sides.. Am I missing a trick here?

Pic here

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u414/Alex_t_jackson/6b186b2521963ba6ac7cc8c93ab81060_zps65953256.jpg

[adurer]

Try a few hammer blows on wheel bearing housing (NOT on bolt). Try penetrating oil. if all that fails, use the big red wrench.

[TeflonTom]

The bolt has probably bent, they do it all the time I've seen loads of them like it, it's pot luck, sometimes they virtually fall out when you undo them, other times they can be a royal pain in the japs eye.. First off try giving the hub carrier casting a good beating with a heavy hammer, or failing that if you are careful you can fit an angle grinder with a 1mm plasma style cutting disc in the split in the back of the housing and cut the bolt in half, that's normally enough to set it free, failing that sjust remove the whole leg complete from the car and stick it under a hydraulic press and push the bolt out.

[fakedollar]

I've cut them out with a hack saw, cheers for the help. Currently trying to remove the oil pump gear.. Also being difficult..

[adurer]

Not if you use some solvent to soften/clean the crap oil stuck on gear axles and rotate crankshaft till they eventually fall off.

[fakedollar]

Got them out, but now the crank shaft pulley won't stay still.. Cars in gear, got someone pushing hard on the brake, but for some unknown reason then engine won't stop turning..

[adurer]

Not so unknown if you have one wheel off the ground. With wheel off, screw 2 wheel studs to brake disc.

Edited 9 April, 2013 by adurer

[fakedollar]

Are you saying put two wheel studs back in?

[adurer]

yes, to lock the brakes to wheel axle.

[fakedollar]

Didn't work I'm afraid, it's still turning..