Mongol Rally Micra
Discussion
grkify has got it in one 
Anyway, sorry to hijack your thread - in summary - your Micra needs to be better than that!
We convoyed with some Scottish lads in a K11 Micra which was absolutely faultless. The only issue was the MAF sensor gumming up in Iran... unplugged it and there was never a problem again.
Anyway, sorry to hijack your thread - in summary - your Micra needs to be better than that!
We convoyed with some Scottish lads in a K11 Micra which was absolutely faultless. The only issue was the MAF sensor gumming up in Iran... unplugged it and there was never a problem again.
On Saturday we drove to Bristol to meet up with a bunch of other teams who either are doing the Rally this year, or have done it in previous years. It was a great night, although one that confirmed my long-held belief that vodka is not something that I should ever be allowed near - I managed to get myself run over, luckily no proper injuries but it certainly woke me up a bit 
Some of the more left-field choices this year include a 1960 Singer and an East German van with a Trabant engine. Everybody there who had done it in a Micra last year stood by the choice which is good to hear
The round trip was about 330 miles, and apart from the passenger window runner making a break for the cabin the car did good! I'm guessing this should be a simple fix? The driver's window isn't too clever either and needs coaxing to get it up straight. Overall though, it's definitely loosening up for being driven a bit.
Iran was another point of conversation; echoing what some of you guys have already said, the teams who have done it previously all said that it was pretty much a must-do. Originally the idea of getting the ferry was partly to save time and money, but supposedly last year people ended up waiting for a week and having to pay only a couple of hundred dollars shy of what Iran would have cost, so we're going to swallow it and have a look whether or not we've left it too late to change.
Some of the more left-field choices this year include a 1960 Singer and an East German van with a Trabant engine. Everybody there who had done it in a Micra last year stood by the choice which is good to hear
The round trip was about 330 miles, and apart from the passenger window runner making a break for the cabin the car did good! I'm guessing this should be a simple fix? The driver's window isn't too clever either and needs coaxing to get it up straight. Overall though, it's definitely loosening up for being driven a bit.
Iran was another point of conversation; echoing what some of you guys have already said, the teams who have done it previously all said that it was pretty much a must-do. Originally the idea of getting the ferry was partly to save time and money, but supposedly last year people ended up waiting for a week and having to pay only a couple of hundred dollars shy of what Iran would have cost, so we're going to swallow it and have a look whether or not we've left it too late to change.
eltax91 said:
Tour your local spray shops and see if one of them will spray it white and black spots since its for charity. You never know.
This gave me an idea, so thank you! I work for a bus company, and figured that I had nothing to lose by asking if they would do it. Waiting for a meeting to work out fitting it in around their other jobs but it sounds promising Edited by camhasnoname on Monday 18th April 12:52
Well if everyone else is posting up pics of their rally steeds...
Meet Daisy, my home for a month back in 2006. Trip report here: http://bencoombs.net/mongolrally_tripreport1.html
Good luck guys; I'll follow your progress with interest
Meet Daisy, my home for a month back in 2006. Trip report here: http://bencoombs.net/mongolrally_tripreport1.html
Good luck guys; I'll follow your progress with interest
camhasnoname said:
On Saturday we drove to Bristol to meet up with a bunch of other teams who either are doing the Rally this year, or have done it in previous years. It was a great night, although one that confirmed my long-held belief that vodka is not something that I should ever be allowed near - I managed to get myself run over, luckily no proper injuries but it certainly woke me up a bit
Some of the more left-field choices this year include a 1960 Singer and an East German van with a Trabant engine. Everybody there who had done it in a Micra last year stood by the choice which is good to hear
The round trip was about 330 miles, and apart from the passenger window runner making a break for the cabin the car did good! I'm guessing this should be a simple fix? The driver's window isn't too clever either and needs coaxing to get it up straight. Overall though, it's definitely loosening up for being driven a bit.
Iran was another point of conversation; echoing what some of you guys have already said, the teams who have done it previously all said that it was pretty much a must-do. Originally the idea of getting the ferry was partly to save time and money, but supposedly last year people ended up waiting for a week and having to pay only a couple of hundred dollars shy of what Iran would have cost, so we're going to swallow it and have a look whether or not we've left it too late to change.
Sounds promising. And yeh, window runner is an easy fix. Araldite and some self tappers. Some of the more left-field choices this year include a 1960 Singer and an East German van with a Trabant engine. Everybody there who had done it in a Micra last year stood by the choice which is good to hear
The round trip was about 330 miles, and apart from the passenger window runner making a break for the cabin the car did good! I'm guessing this should be a simple fix? The driver's window isn't too clever either and needs coaxing to get it up straight. Overall though, it's definitely loosening up for being driven a bit.
Iran was another point of conversation; echoing what some of you guys have already said, the teams who have done it previously all said that it was pretty much a must-do. Originally the idea of getting the ferry was partly to save time and money, but supposedly last year people ended up waiting for a week and having to pay only a couple of hundred dollars shy of what Iran would have cost, so we're going to swallow it and have a look whether or not we've left it too late to change.
eltax91 said:
Tour your local spray shops and see if one of them will spray it white and black spots since its for charity. You never know.
This gave me an idea, so thank you! I work for a bus company, and figured that I had nothing to lose by asking if they would do it. Waiting for a meeting to work out fitting it in around their other jobs but it sounds promising Edited by camhasnoname on Monday 18th April 12:52
fivetenben said:
Well if everyone else is posting up pics of their rally steeds...
Meet Daisy, my home for a month back in 2006. Trip report here: http://bencoombs.net/mongolrally_tripreport1.html
Good luck guys; I'll follow your progress with interest
I'm not sure how I missed this - great website Meet Daisy, my home for a month back in 2006. Trip report here: http://bencoombs.net/mongolrally_tripreport1.html
Good luck guys; I'll follow your progress with interest
I remember following your V8Nam trip on here at the time. I'd be surprised if there weren't any Minis doing the rally this year, but I do wonder whether the value of them going up has affected that? We'll see.With the Micra, the company that I work for (bus company) are going to spray and spot it for us! We just need to do the sanding down, but we're pretty chuffed with that. I've just ordered a fitting kit for the roof rack, so that'll be made up next week as well
Next step, sump guard. Did people who have used them get off-the-shelf ones or fabricate one? I've tried looking for rally style ones but the cost is eye-watering
Amazing. Jealous. Definitely want to do this but fear I've left it too late now (unless I can persuade the wife we don't need children yet... And that I want to leave her for two months and spend a couple of months salary,,,,)
Having done a few banger rallies of the European variety, I'd just go with a tin of homebase paint and be happy. Never had any problems with longevity on that.
As for sanding it back, I used a flap disc on an angle grinder and did a whole vauxhall Carlton estate in an afternoon getting through four previous layers of rally paint.
Having done a few banger rallies of the European variety, I'd just go with a tin of homebase paint and be happy. Never had any problems with longevity on that.
As for sanding it back, I used a flap disc on an angle grinder and did a whole vauxhall Carlton estate in an afternoon getting through four previous layers of rally paint.
Id suggest buying this and reading it quickly, then getting on with the essentials. Im reasonably familiar with competition preparation, but this book was a goldmine of information for me.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Im all in favour of adventure, but I will have more fun if the car has a chance of getting there. Even very well prepared cars can struggle, which means that the chances of an ill-prepared car surviving are slim and if you get there, you may have a lot less fun than people who spent a couple of weekends beefing up their engine mounts, suspension and making their exhaust durable...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Im all in favour of adventure, but I will have more fun if the car has a chance of getting there. Even very well prepared cars can struggle, which means that the chances of an ill-prepared car surviving are slim and if you get there, you may have a lot less fun than people who spent a couple of weekends beefing up their engine mounts, suspension and making their exhaust durable...
We got the car back from Stagecoach. As we were walking around to where it was tucked away in the garage, the sprayers were sniggering. I think that they took the chance to do something other than 'bus red' and ran with it Exhibit A:
It got a few looks on the drive back, to say the least!
Next step is get commercial tyres for it - people have said they have thicker sidewalls? Problem being, they don't seem to do any in its size (165/60/14). Would 165/70/14 still be okay? I've never quite 'got' tyre sizing and what you can & can't get away with 
Exhibit A:It got a few looks on the drive back, to say the least!
GC8 said:
Id suggest buying this and reading it quickly, then getting on with the essentials. Im reasonably familiar with competition preparation, but this book was a goldmine of information for me.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Ordered that, thanks https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Next step is get commercial tyres for it - people have said they have thicker sidewalls? Problem being, they don't seem to do any in its size (165/60/14). Would 165/70/14 still be okay? I've never quite 'got' tyre sizing and what you can & can't get away with That looks fantastic - you owe those sprayers a beer or three!
Regarding tyre size look here https://tiresize.com/calculator/ - you can compare sizes.
Regarding tyre size look here https://tiresize.com/calculator/ - you can compare sizes.
Usget said:
That is excellent but it's missing something crucial - a waggy tail on the rear wiper!
We were thinking about where to stick a tail Half a mind to make one out of the aerial as well.And Neal, absolutely! I'm back in their depot in a week or two and that will be taken care of, we honestly didn't think it would come out anything like it did
I'll have a look at that link, cheers!camhasnoname said:
Next step is get commercial tyres for it - people have said they have thicker sidewalls? Problem being, they don't seem to do any in its size (165/60/14). Would 165/70/14 still be okay? I've never quite 'got' tyre sizing and what you can & can't get away with
165 is the tread width in mm.60 or 70 are the sidewall height, as a %age of the tread width.
So 165/70 is 10% of 165mm, or 16.5mm taller in the sidewall. So they'll be 33mm taller over all. They'll give you 16.5mm more ground clearance (good), but 16.5mm less space in the arch on full suspension compression (may be very bad).
That's a bloody great job, well done to the sprayers!
You'll be fine with those tyres but the extra profile won't help acceleration and you don't have much of that in the first place. They'll still be fine though, just get out and push on the steep hills. I remember a holiday with a Daewoo Matiz (700cc or something terrible) and it could only make it up a particularly steep hill with the driver in it, the rest of us had to get out and walk
You'll be fine with those tyres but the extra profile won't help acceleration and you don't have much of that in the first place. They'll still be fine though, just get out and push on the steep hills. I remember a holiday with a Daewoo Matiz (700cc or something terrible) and it could only make it up a particularly steep hill with the driver in it, the rest of us had to get out and walk
camhasnoname said:
We got the car back from Stagecoach. As we were walking around to where it was tucked away in the garage, the sprayers were sniggering. I think that they took the chance to do something other than 'bus red' and ran with it Exhibit A:
It got a few looks on the drive back, to say the least!
Next step is get commercial tyres for it - people have said they have thicker sidewalls? Problem being, they don't seem to do any in its size (165/60/14). Would 165/70/14 still be okay? I've never quite 'got' tyre sizing and what you can & can't get away with
Commercial/van tyres have more rayon plys, making them far tougher. Its all in the book. Slip joints on your exhaust mean that itll pull off but not damage the car or destroy itself. Chained engine mounts prevent complete failure. Exhibit A:It got a few looks on the drive back, to say the least!
GC8 said:
Id suggest buying this and reading it quickly, then getting on with the essentials. Im reasonably familiar with competition preparation, but this book was a goldmine of information for me.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Ordered that, thanks https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1845842081/ref...
Next step is get commercial tyres for it - people have said they have thicker sidewalls? Problem being, they don't seem to do any in its size (165/60/14). Would 165/70/14 still be okay? I've never quite 'got' tyre sizing and what you can & can't get away with Looking quite good so far.
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