this year (08) about a year or so ago. This is an epic event for pre-1992 vehicles which is a true marathon rally held in the spirit of the old week or so long rallies of the 70's which was originally called the Silver fern Rally then later became the Heatway Rally.

This years Silver fern starts in ChCh and heads towards Queenstown, then to Dunedin, then to Invercargill, then to Dunedin, then to Timaru, then to Christchurch, then to Blenheim for the finish. It is going to be a loooong week Starting on the 16th October and finishing a week later on the 23rd. So to have a good go at this rally, a solid base vehicle is needed.

As Leigh Marston (owner of RDL) has been rallying Subaru's for years he decided that an early BC5 Legacy would be the perfect vehicle to enter. After a few discussions at the workshop over some beers, I handed over the keys to my spare shell so that it could begin life again as a rally car. Handing over the keys was a waste of time as it was just an empty shell with three wheels, took us hours to manhandle it onto the trailer while spreading power steering fluid all over my lovely landlord's driveway 

So once the car arrived at the RDL Performance workshop we promptly set to work, sticking it in the corner and leaving it to mature for 7 months. After it had reached an age where we realised that nothing was happening, we set the work experience kid to work on stripping the sound deadening out of the interior and off the underbody. After completing approximately 7% of the job, he left to go back to polytech so Tony, Josh and I got stuck in stripping patches at a time until it was done.

It was about this time that I conveniently buggered the AC joint in my shoulder so I was unable to partake in a lot of the stripping of the underbody, so I went to the Coromandel for 2 weeks to lay in the sun.
Once the chassis was stripped back to bare metal (after sanding all the joints in the panels) we seam welded the whole thing as well as added in strengthening plates to crucial areas. Now the car was ready for a cage.

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Roll Cage Prep

We used a cage that came in pre-bent form. The notches still needed to be cut out, which was done with what was to become my favourite tool in the workshop, the not-so-trusty tube notcher;
(click on thumbnails for full image)


Using the notcher, a bit of guesswork and a whole lot of hand filing, the initial bars quickly took shape;



From the basic kit for the pre-bent cage, we added more and more bars until the cage took on the required form with lots of protection, while still allowing space for a spare tyre and tools on the rear seat. Once all the extra bars and gusseting was completed (about 3 months of evenings later), the car was sent off to the painters for a fresh coat of brilliant Fisher & Paykel White
Here it is on its return





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Fast Track for Canterbury

By this stage, Leigh had been asked if he would like to drive "Zero" car for the Canterbury Rally. This was about 5 weeks before the rally, when the car was still in the stage of a naked shell, with no cage, and no running gear sorted. After some more discussions late into the evening over some beers, it was decided that it was achievable if we built the car up and used an engine and driveline that we could find from spares in the workshop. Luckily, Leigh was parting out his Rally Xtreme Version 8 Spec C RA car, so the Proflex suspension was pinched from that pile to allow the Legacy to have hubs and wheels attached for the Canterbury Rally.



We sourced a gearbox and diffs from the spares that were available in the workshop and fitted those into the car.



The doors, boot and bonnet had all come back from the painters by this stage, so these slowly got fitted as the needed to be. After a mission going through the spare parts bins, a full set of door and window rubbers and seals was found and fitted as well.



For the Canterbury Rally, a WRX motor was fitted as we had one available from a parts car. It was known to have a slight "knock" but we needed something that would run for a day and then would be pulled out and replaced with circa 1992 parts built to full Group A spec. The engine was fitted in and made to work with the wiring loom. All fingers were crossed and the knock was never to be spoken about again

As all the driveline and engine work was happening, the interior also started taking shape. By this stage we had two more guys, Alastair and Nick, that were helping out in the evenings as well as most of us working random weekends when needed, all lead by Tony and Leigh. The interior was going to be built to the spec that was going to stay for the Silver fern as there was no way that any of us were keen to be stripping it back out after the Canterbury Rally just to re-do the work. The dashboard was stripped of unnecessary items and covered with felt, as well as receiving a few small carbon fibre panels (with many more to come )

Hewlett Motorsport supplied the project with a Hydraulic handbrake (which I must say is sexy as, and I just want to pull on it every time I get in the car ) as well as Schroth Harnesses and Project Mu brake pads. The Racetech seats were sourced through Palmside.

As the cage was a nice, snug fit against the inside of the doors, we couldn't even use cut down factory door cards. So we went all out and made inner door skins from a carbon fibre so that they fit nicely against the doors and clear the cage. The top section of the factory door card remains but is now covered in the same felt as the dashboard.



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The Final Look

By this stage, the car was drivable, was about 4 days away from its first event and was still looking like a kitchen appliance sitting in the corner of the workshop. The car got sent off to get stickered. Colin McRae's 92 Prodrive Legacy was the inspiration for this Silver fern Car, so the decals were based of this car.



We then received the car back from getting stickered up with a day or two to go. It was really great to see something that used to sit down behind my shed, now looking like it had a real purpose




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Last Minute Mission

So for the first time in weeks, a reasonably early night was had by all involved as it looked like we finally had a car that would be ready to go in time for its first event.
There was one more day to go. All paperwork and legal documents had also been rushed through. WOF's and Motorsport NZ legalities had been previously organised so that we could rush the car through as it was completed and to ensure no last minute hassles would interrupt the progress of the car.
Saturday morning, the finishing touches were applied. All safety equipment was installed and checked i.e. Harnesses, fire extinguishers etc. The underbody protection was fitted into place and the sump guard drilled and mounted. The mudflaps were a last minute mission as rolled guards don't allow much in the way of fastening

We then started the car and headed into town to scrutineering. I checked that the Coralba was calibrated and showing the correct distances/speed etc on the way and learnt how to use it too (could just reach the foot reset button for the trip meter as its set up for someone a wee bit taller than me  )
The engine still had a slight knock (had been decided that it was a piston and that it "should" last for the day, as it was being used for "0" car, the car wasn't need to be pushed at 100% all day so we were able to take it easy on it if necessary).

After documentation and scrutineering was complete, we took the car back to the workshop to pack up for the night and prepare the service van. As we took off to get some food, Tony decided to take it for a blat out in the countryside to do a couple of runs while loading up the engine. This is when we found out that as well as a rattlely piston, the spare engine that we'd used, also had a blown head gasket. It dropped its coolant all over the place. We got back from getting food and Tony already had bits and pieces stripped off it. 

We needed to decide what to do. At first, I wished that my car wasn't parked right outside the workshop as the motor was looking very inviting to everyone there (apart from me!). We then decided that the other spare motor, that was very unknown, could be a better choice so the mission began!
Between 6 of us, working together to strip one engine to a long block, remove another engine from the car, strip that motor to a long block, fit all the manifolds and ancillary devices onto the second long block, and then re-install the "better" engine into the Legacy. After a little less than three hours, the car was running again  :laugh: Much joy was had by all

The car was warmed up on the hoist and then run through the gears to check the clutch engagement. While loading it up on the brakes, full throttle was applied. Full over boost was achieved and the thing held together nicely  It was then quickly decided to check to boost controller and set it to one Bar as it should have been



The car was now ready for Canterbury!

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The Car's First Event

So we turned up, had a small issue with no power to the radio so we couldn't contact headquarters That was fixed, and we headed off for the first stage.
Leigh was treating the car nicely to start the day and we were both watching the temperature gauge eagerly. It stayed rock steady all day.
After learning the car through the first few stages, Leigh started pushing a bit more and then a bit more. With standard diffs throughout, it was a bit of a rear steerer and we were driving through the stages like a BDA Escort Was a lot of fun!

The service crew performed flawlessly through the day. I kept getting them an extra ten minutes cause I'm "special" an we were non-competitors, but they had two more cars to look after as well. (All this build had happened while Josh's motor was being rebuilt and then re-tuned in between making bits and pieces for the Legacy in the weeks of late evenings leading up to the rally)

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TrackTime

The last stage took place out at Ruapuna Raceway at the end of a V8 Utes meeting, so there was a decent crowd gathered. Allowing a bunch of rally drivers to go nuts on a racetrack is always a great recipe for disaster and there was a lot of rather large smiles to accompany the rather shocking racing lines.

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Continuing Progress - Heading Towards 15th October 2008

I'll update this as we progress towards the Silver fern Rally. The driveline needs to be removed and a proper setup with decent LSD's will be fitted. The Proflex will have to be removed as External Canisters are not allowed 
And the engine will be removed and a group A specification motor will be built.

The interior will be finished with a glove box and more storage compartments added in to keep track of paperwork etc for the week long rally. Certain spares and a second spare tyre will be mounted inside the cabin and the car checked, checked again, and then checked four more times to make sure that every box is ticked on the preparation list.

It shall be interesting

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2 weeks out fm the Silver Fern Rally

So, time for an update. Since the car was entered in the Canterbury Rally as Zero car, it was put back in the corner of the workshop and the engine and driveline stripped. A new, Group A spec motor was to be built as well as a full overhaul of the suspension arms and the driveline rebuilt to be as strong as possible.

The engine had an extensive rebuild, with Tony spending a week on the heads alone to ensure that everything would go together perfectly and flow as much as possible. Tony also spent a lot of time polishing a lot of the ancillary items to match the polished manifold that he had. New brackets were fabricated to move the alternator and power steering pump across so that the large carbon fibre intake could be fitted. Basically every time something was fitted, everything around it needed to be modified so that it could fit. So by the time the engine was installed and ready to go back in the car, we had a very customized setup. It did look like it was making huge power even when it was sitting on the engine stand!


 
The rear hubs had adapters made up to fit the larger two piston Subaru brake calipers. Missing in this photo is another custom bracket that attaches to a small rose jointed arm to connect the sway bar to the hub.

Braided brake lines were also fitted as well as some bolts made up to lock the rear sub frame in place. The rear arms were all custom made with rose jointed ends so that we had full control over the alignment in every direction possible. We also had custom axles made to ensure that they would last the distance.


 
The front end received new arms as well. These are based off the Prodrive arms that are to be used on our upcoming WRC coupe replica. Even the rear inner bushes were replaced with spherical bearings to remove any slop that rubber bushes may allow.


 
The front end of the car got a pair of brand new 4 piston calipers and some Znoelli rotors. The sway bar also needed custom end links made up to suit the new fabricated front arms.


 
The WRX gearbox was removed and replaced with a 5 speed Modena Dog box. The car now has that characteristic “clunk” when first gear is engaged which just gives that authentic rally car feel to the package. In this shot you can see fittings above the battery, these are for the custom breather tank that is mounted in the front left guard.

Also in the engine bay now resides a proper brake pedal box with twin master cylinders for redundancy should something in the braking system fail during the endurance event.


 
The interior of the car has also recently been tidied up and finished off. There were more carbon fibre panels made to fit and a set of gauges installed so we can keep an eye on the engine.



So after another stint of long evenings spent at the workshop, the guys had finally assembled a running rally car again. This time in a much more complete form that when it had standard WRX running gear as for the Canterbury Rally. Tony installed a new Wire in version of the Link G4 Storm ECU and the car started first time. Well, sort of. It fired, blew a whole lot of fuelly smoke out the exhaust and coughed and spluttered a lot. It was assumed that the tune in the ECU was a base tune for a Subaru but it turned out that somehow an N/A type of tune had found its way into the computer. So after another day, another tune was programmed into the ECU and the car started and ran. The car was then taken up to Link’s headquarters to be tuned on their dyno.

We have had a couple of issues as we’ve worked away getting the car sorted and one of these was that the twin plate clutch that was originally installed didn’t seem to be working too well. It was impossible to select reverse while the engine was running and even for a dog box, the gear changes were a bit crunchy. So once we’d discovered this issues while we took the car out to run it in, we decided to do an impromptu gearbox removal as a practice for the service crew before the actual event.

This was to ensure that everyone would know exactly what was necessary for a gearbox change, should we need to do one during the Silver fern Rally as a couple of the guys are relatively inexperienced in that area. So for our first attempt as a team we had a time set that we had to stay within. Josh left the workshop to test out his EVO and said that we had to have it removed when he returned in twenty mins. We stood up to the challenge and decided to run it like a proper service. Once everyone had been given the necessary tools and assigned tasks, we set to it. Eleven minutes later we had the gearbox on the floor! Not too bad for a half-novice crew.

The last piece of the puzzle is now getting the Proflex non-canister type (due to Silver fern regulations) of rally spec shock absorbers installed and setup. This is due to happen in the next couple of days and then the car can be tested and given a shakedown.

As I write this, there is about two weeks left before the main event. I’m sure that there is going to be a few more late nights in store at the workshop preparing everything beforehand. The Silver fern is not far away now and we’re all anxious for it to begin! But before that can happen, I'm off to Bathurst so leaving all the last tasks to the guys with instructions for it to be all finished when I return two days before the Silver fern. Makes my life easier that way!

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