roof vent

[leondown]

I drop in from time to time to pick your collective brains.

When we participated in the foolishness of what was the CF Great Escape in 2004 we near died of red dust ingestion. We are looking at ways to apply positive pressure to cabin air in an attempt to keep nasty dust out. It may be Ok for one day rally events but 10 days of breathing, eating , sh*tting and blowing red dust out our noses gets very boring.

how do the real rally cars fit roof vents?

does any one filter the in coming air?

I am dreaming about a roof vent passing air through some sort of modified air filter element...I dream a lot.

Has any one seen any thing like this?

Are roof vents commercially available? where?

all advice considered and used or ignored as we see fit.

If worst comes to worst as it often does we may get a clunky looking sheet metal box bent up as vent inlet and filter box....dream on

leon

[Z Kid]

I would be looking into a mini van roof vent, or this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50142&item=7969312979&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW or perhaps , or course you still need to filter the air coming into the car after the roof vent. Fitting a heater blower motor under the bonnet with a pod filteris another option, for the helmets we use a kombi blower motor with a pod filter and it works a charm at keeping dust out of the helmets, so maybe scale it up for the K?

[turbo carrott]

Ring Stewart Wilkins Motorsport, he preps many zed rally cars and will help you with your delema.

His number is 0245772400 .

[leondown]

thanks

all good to think about

Leon

[khughes]

Leon,

let me know how you end up doing this... it has certainly got me thinking about doing something similar (and nows the time before i paint the car!)..

I was recently thinking about something similar to the WRC scoops, but i am not sure how you would block it up in the case of rain.. maybe a foam block that can be inserted to plug it up? again, i don't know how they filter these though on the real rally cars..

[leondown]

KH,

to seal vent i was thinking about a sheet of that flexy magnetic stuff.. just slide it into mouth of vent housing and drop it over hole/holes in roof. We would only be using this pressure system out inthe mulga on dry dusty roads.

so not need it on transport legs.

i thought of mounting the airfilter inside the car pulled tight up againt the roof with thru bolts

we have 3 seats in car with rear pax in a bucket behind front pax..so prob best to fit vent behind driver. There is not a lot of head room for rear pax.

driver navigator and rester we cycle jobs around...I must boast here I am far and away the best rester the other two are much too energetic..

3 people in 240K is probably overloading it for bashing across country side but we all want to be involved so we make compromises. and squeesze in.

have you looked at Great Escape route for 2005? There may be a bit of dust.

Leon

[khughes]

Yep, i am not quite sure what the terrain of this trip is going to be.. i havn't ventured anywhere near where the rally is heading!

I think regardless of the route, it would be pretty hot and dusty in the car though hence you got me thinking about the vent!

I just hope the poor car lasts! (i have no idea how reliable it is yet!) i think i will be driving her to work a fair bit just to get a guage on if something is going to go wrong..

for those interested, here is the route...

14 October - Launch in Sydney, then drive to Bathurst

Day 1: From Bathurst to Parkes, then on to West Wyalong

Day 2: Through Griffith to Hay

Day 3: Through Clare and Mungo National Park to Mildura

Day 4: Unwind after the long drive for a day and prepare for a big night of entertainment

Day 5: Through the Mallee country of Sunset National Park and Big Desert to Horsham

Day 6: Through the Grampians to Hamilton and on to Warrnambool

Day 7: Last day takes us along the Great Ocean Road to Otway National Park. Then its on to Colac and Ballarat for a big finish and more esCarpade celebrations.

i guess i need to start thinkning about what spare parts to take as well.. planning on strapping a roof basket on, with 2 spare tyres.. any one got any ideas as to what i should be taking in case of emergancy (i will definantly be welding strengthening supports into the rear suspension arms Leon!)

Leon, are you thinking of entering the great escape this year too?

[leondown]

K,

I sent my admin/entry fee off about 10 day ago....if my cheque dont bounce we are in...all we have to do now is raise the entry donataion....and track down my missing team mates last I heard on was in Sri lanka in post tsunami rebuild

Ive drafted up dozens of sucky crawly letters to local businesse i hope may help...I try hard to work up some connection between our team or car or anything and the person I am asking for money..."Your shop is painted yellow... so is our car .... pls give us money" that sort of thing...Just waiting on letter saying we are realy entrants and can raise money on behalf of CF Aust to include with my begging letter then start posting them off.....

As for car KISS keep it simple strong

- The 240k datto motor seems pretty robust

- perhaps a spare fuel pump? an electirc one? I

- I always like to carry some engine oil

ground clearance is a problem a bash plate good idea aluminium plate

- some peopl like bigger better air filter perhaps cool air duct??

- a general tune and service fresh oils fluids filters plugs and points flush and clean radiator.............we got motor hot a few times thinking about extra cooling a e fan or an engine oil cooler....if I can source one or other from a friendly sponsor CHEAP!!!

-electronic ignition? nice to set and forget but when fail .. fail totally ..I think we run points cant recall

most consumables like filters plugs points can be bought most places along the way

keep in touch we can pick each others brains

have fun!!!!!! most important part of this game

leon

[khughes]

Well, i just faxed off our application to the Great Escape, so with any luck we will see you there!!!

Not sure if our car will be up to doing all the off dirt tracks, but worse case it should make the distance on the roads!

How did you get your front towbar mounted? did you modify an existing one or get one made up to suit?

[khughes]

Looks like i have convinced a friend with a WRX to "upgrade" his bonnet scoop to an STI one, so i am going to graft his old one onto the roof as a cabin air intake

it is going to look a little wierd.. but oh well.. saves plumbing in A/C

[leondown]

KH,

congratulations...a good choice perhaps we can share spares...vital components like...you bring the credit card I'll bring the corkscrew and glasses?

our front tow bar is a one off by local engineering shop. We are cheap so it is a simple as poss conventional tongue and ball type mount not a hitch accepter sq tube thingy.a sq tube system would be easier

two bolts hold last section of tongue into mount a bit of a pain to remove. it has a substantial mount to front chassis members and braced...it needs to be strong recovery with snatchum straps is violent!!

one bogged car had bull bar torn off during rescue...bull bar flew fwd and hit metal tool box on rear of recovery vehicle ( landcruiser tray back) and punched a fist sized hole through sheet metal

because tongue and ball sticks out past front bumper bar we "should" remove it when driving on public roads. I will hunt out a photo or two if I can. also pain in butt is our front and rear tongues are not interchangable so we have to carry two.

The dirt roads are not that rough a convential sedan driven with some care should cope fine...it is only really a problem when the red mist comes down and driver goes into boy racer mode.

keep in touch

leon.down@dcita.gov.au

[khughes]

Leon,

I stumbled across a specials page on Revolution Racegear late last night, they were advirtising a 'Rally roof vent" for $69, so i dropped in this morning to pick one up..

http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au/Specials/E_Flyerwk2.pdf

It is a fairly simple design, cast metal surround, which you screw into the roof, and the actual "lid" can be pushed open, pulled closed and is on a fairly heavy snap spring. there is a finger ring on the inside of the lid to pull it shut..

Seems of very good quality, so i bought one... the sale ends today (they are ususally around $80 or so), i probably can't get out there in time this afternoon, but maybe if you give them a ring, they could hold one for you at the discount price and i could go pick it up for you tomorrow morning and send it through the post?

i would of rang you but i don't have your mobile number