thread for my rally Focus

[kimbo305]

In my car, both work at once. There's a Y fitting on the line leading from each rear brake caliper. One end leads to the regular brake line, and the other end goes to the distribution block on the hydraulic e-brake.

And the parking prake still operates per usual.

[kylesvt720]

Didn't know that, I learned something new...
(Insert NBC "The More You Know" Rainbow.)

[kimbo305]

Bill for all the work (and a few other items they found and fixed) was $1300. Sux.

Total estimated quote for cage, seat, and harness upgrades was $6000. I'm gonna have to put a deposit down soon if I want them to start on the work. A lot of money. I'm gonna really have to consider if I can afford to enter the New England Forest Rally.

[kimbo305]

Took my codriver and the car up to the Winter Challenge Rally, an extremely challenging TSD rally. We got totally lost on one leg and finished only the first 4.5-hour leg of the rally (in 5.5 hours). We had the option of rushing back out and doing the next leg with no rest, and as it was already 2am, we decided to give it a rest. 140 miles of back road driving can really take a toll.

Notes:
- car's suspension set up is great. We went over washboard roads, bumps, frost heaves, etc. no problem. The car did tram really easily on dried mud ruts. At one point we were really getting thrown left and right and I was afraid we'd roll.
- ABS is awesome. I had a 3 or 4 panic incidents where I opted to 2-feet-in rather than using rally braking techniques, and it definitely stopped the car much faster than I could have on icy patches.
- the intercom system is the only way it's possible to communicate in car over all the buzzing and droning
- my codriver got first-hand experience with working the rally computer. It was a steep learning curve, but we have plenty to improve on for the next TSD rally

TODO:
- go to self serve car wash and spray off bottom of car
- service suspension components that need grease

Oh, and the car passed an important milestone:

[kylesvt720]

Nice, Man I am so jealous!!!

[kimbo305]

Just went to the self serve car wash and got it nice and clean. Spray a ton of dirt off the wheels, underside, and suspension parts.

The dust all over the roof reminded me off all the quick stops I had to make to let my codriver tell me which way to turn. Whenever I did that, the cloud of dust trailing us would fly past the car like the smoke monster from Lost. It was pretty cool but obviously a lot of dirt on the car.

[kimbo305]

Took it to another TSD this weekend. It was a brutal course. Since it was during the day, I dared drive faster over stuff like washboard mud roads, etc. I hated doing it to the car, but presumably it can take all of that and more.

The rotors are totally messed up (warped/bad deposits, whatever you want to call it) and need to be fixed or swapped. They juddered too much to be safe at low locking forces.

[mlbbaseball]

do you have the rally brake kit??

[kimbo305]

Originally Posted by mlbbaseball

do you have the rally brake kit??

but of course.

[mlbbaseball]

Thats one of the last things i need to find!! is it svt hubs/spindles/knuckles??