My Noble is not going to Spa!!!!

[Jamescmr2]

Well as the title suggests; ive just had a phone call from AW Tracksport who are trying to get my Noble put right and yet another serious problem with my Noble which means it is not on the road or drivable.

This time it was a combination of problems with the gearbox and clutch.

The selector mechanism which is located on the top of the gearbox was faulty for a start. The main shaft which breaks through into the gearbox had play in it.

The clutch is not realeasing properly. It's supposed to be a brand new Helix clutch and release bearing so surely it shouldn't have failed!!
The clutch got progressively noisier when changing gear, mainly down shifting and pulling away, from when the car was first run (during the various failed attempts at picking the car up)!

I'm getting close to pushing it into the North Sea. This whole experience has beaten me into submission. I'm probably the most positive/optimistic person around but I've had enough of this now.

The whole drive-train will have to come out and be completely stripped down and inspected! AW Tracksport will be starting that next week hopefully.


I'm totally sick of this! Nearly 1 and a half years of no car, a sh£t tonne of money and I'm still not driving it.


It'll be an S2000 Spa and Ring trip for me, just like the Croft, Silverstone and Cadwell days I've already missed!!!

Still looking forward to getting away in a group.


James

[andygtt]

So sorry to hear that mate... know how it feels to have loads of issues and nearly loose the will to continue.

Im currently having drive shaft issues... put new ones on last night and only had to fit a single outer CV joint as all the others were new... I have 4 'spare' drive shafts and for various reasons I am stuggling to find a single usable outer cv due to spline/ damage issues.

Spa is going to be worth all the hassle... even in an S2000 its going to be great

[Jamescmr2]

andygtt said:

So sorry to hear that mate... know how it feels to have loads of issues and nearly loose the will to continue.

Im currently having drive shaft issues... put new ones on last night and only had to fit a single outer CV joint as all the others were new... I have 4 'spare' drive shafts and for various reasons I am stuggling to find a single usable outer cv due to spline/ damage issues.

Spa is going to be worth all the hassle... even in an S2000 its going to be great

I've been told that about Spa. I may well be leaving Spa on Tues a couple of hours early to get to the ring (if it's still open that night). I offered steve my place if I pulled out of the day but as it might only be a couple of hours I'm sure he wouldnt mind you getting on track if its your only chance (thought i remembered you saying you'd missed the places) Likewise i'm sure Melindi will be ok with that!

[hollowpockets]

Dude I feel your pain, already had the same in removing engine to do clutch and had a faulty release bearing, done that then the new clutch slipped, since been doing upgrades and car has been off road for 15 months, hoping to be going again in July though.

[Adrian W]

I think this would be only the second Helix clutch to fail, the cover on the race car had to be replaced. could it be an installation/assembly error of some kind? keep us informed

[FUNKSTER UK]

James, I feel for you buddy and I know the stress these things can cause...
Hence I'm not taking the Noble this year but the CSL instead.

Don't worry m8 at least we can still have a beer and talk about racing
Matty.

Edited by FUNKSTER UK on Wednesday 22 June 17:14

Edited by FUNKSTER UK on Wednesday 22 June 17:16

[TuxMan]

Bloody hell James this is bad news !!!! Is this the box that xxxxxx rebuilt to race spec ?? The helix clutches have been superb and we have no issues to mention how the hell can you have a failure after such a short time ??

How long did you say you have been waiting ?? ...... 18 months !!! Bloody crap how can it have taken so long and still be giving you problems ???

At this rate you and I are never going to have our blast together :-)

Gutted for you mate !!!! Tux

Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Wednesday 22 June 23:31

[wessexrfc]

Been there and am there know, off to the garage to get some answers on my problems. Bol with yours!!!

[jamescmr2]

FUNKSTER UK said:

James, I feel for you buddy and I know the stress these things can cause...
Hence I'm not taking the Noble this year but the CSL instead.

Don't worry m8 at least we can still have a beer and talk about racing
Matty.

Edited by FUNKSTER UK on Wednesday 22 June 17:14

Edited by FUNKSTER UK on Wednesday 22 June 17:16

def have a beer, sure i'll talk about racing till the cows come home ha.

CSL will be good, you'll have to take me out for a spin!

[jamescmr2]

TuxMan said:

Bloody hell James this is bad news !!!! Is this the box that xxxxxx rebuilt to race spec ?? The helix clutches have been superb and we have no issues to mention how the hell can you have a failure after such a short time ??

How long did you say you have been waiting ?? ...... 18 months !!! Bloody crap how can it have taken so long and still be giving you problems ???

At this rate you and I are never going to have our blast together :-)

Gutted for you mate !!!! Tux

agree, def bad news.
the box was supposed to have been rebuilt and upgraded including shot peened gears (not sure if you call this race spec ha). so should be no problems here.

Helix clutches are used in most of AWs race cars as well. I don't know if something on the clutch has failed yet but will keep you all posted.

well i don't like to think about how long it's been. you'll have to ask xxxxxx but i've never received an acceptable answer!!! i dropped the car off at the end of Feb 2010!! for the last month the car has been between Yellowshed, Jetstream and AW Tracksport trying to get it working properly. pretty sorry affair.


don't worry mate, now that AW Tracksport have the car it will be sorted soon and i'll sort you out on track ;-)


thanks for other comments too.

Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Wednesday 22 June 23:32

[mr-manners]

things never seemed to go as planned when mine was there either,usually resulted in something needing sorting elsewhere,could be bad luck i suppose! i have my own idea tho!!

[jamescmr2]

mr-manners said:

things never seemed to go as planned when mine was there either,usually resulted in something needing sorting elsewhere,could be bad luck i suppose! i have my own idea tho!!

?? really, what problems did you have?

cheers

James

[mr-manners]

YHM

cheers Simon

[TuxMan]

Petty disappointing James be interesting to see inside the box and actualy see what has been done !!!! By the sounds of it whatever was done was poor and i hope xxxxxx pickup the extra expense involved in sorting it all out !!!

Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Wednesday 22 June 23:33

[FUNKSTER UK]

James that is just shocking, I booked for spa last year and about 3 months before we were due to go the gearbox lost fifth.
Me and a friend completley rebuilt everything in about 10 weeks including all the time waiting for gearbox rebuild and clutch upgrade etc etc only working on it evenings and weekends.

I completely stripped the engine, done loads of mods being really fussy and using the best of everything I could get my hands on, the only things I didn't go for was forged pistons and cam upgrades but the car made just over 510 at trevors with about 480 ft lb and the total cost was roughly around 8k including lots of safety/cooling upgrades not all on just power.

Some of these companies that take so long to do things is just wrong and the results are also atrocious.

Nobles are not a particularly hard car to work on and there is nothing particularly complicated about them, I'm not a mechanic for a living but I'm just fussy about what I do and touch wood the car hasn't missed a beat since.

Somthing needs to be done about some of the companies out there that supply these types of service. It's just wrong !!!

[R0162]

feck! i saw the thread "not going to spa" but did not twig the thread would be about this run of bad luck, these shot peened boxes are taking much more torque without problems, i am guessing this work was not carried out by Bernie?(aka the gearboxman)
Was it the original gear set that was shot peened? maybe it had too many miles on it? Did they change the bearings?
If i had just put a racing spec box and helix clutch upgrade and it failed this quickly i would not be happy but now the car is in the right hands hopefully this is is coming to an end.

To look on the bright side, you are still more forward then you were when you first got it, you have a nice pair of new turbos, the rust got anihilated, shiny new exhaust, new grooved brake discs etc..not all your money was wasted, but it is still a real pain and i hope everything start going in your favour from here on .

[Adrian W]

TuxMan said:

Petty disappointing James be interesting to see inside the box and actualy see what has been done !!!! By the sounds of it whatever was done was poor and i hope xxxxxx pickup the extra expense involved in sorting it all out !!!

Well they're not contributing to this thread, come to think about it contributions from them seem very rare these days


maybe they are on holiday

Edited by Adrian W on Wednesday 22 June 23:00

Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Wednesday 22 June 23:32

[andygtt]

I spent 7k with them and don't have a nice word to say about the whole experience and had to have all the work redone by another company, so I feel your pain

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Chaps, you may or may not be aware of the no name or shame rules here. I'm going to have to remove company name involved. Here's a link to why http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Hope you understand