Taking A 205 To Mongolia And Back

[Pugly 1]

Hi folks,

 

Doing the Mongol Rally this year in my road rally 205 Rallye (UK 1360cc 75bhp Solex Carb Model). It's a 1992 model and is currently fitted with:

 

- Bilstein Gravel Spec all round (not 100% on details, was done before I bought it)

- Safety Devices 6 point bolt in cage

- Stainless exhaust (pro built and tucked well out of the way)

- Additional (manually controlled) fan on standard radiator

- Hella 6" Spot Light * 2

- 6 Point Harnesses and buckets

- Polypropylene sump & tank guards

- Brake & fuel lines run through car

 

Work already done:

- Carb stripped, cleaned and rebuilt

- Plugs, leads, oil, filters all changed

 

Plans before going currently extend to:

- Change cambelt and waterpump (3yrs old)

- Change clutch (current one is 5+ events old and very heavy - much heavier than my GTI track car)

- Coolant flush

- Oil cooler

- Oil pressure & water temp gauges

 

I am considering installing a bigger rad (maybe from a GTI) and exhaust wrap as we are going to be going through some pretty hot places (45°C+) and it seems to get hot just in the UK (never had coolant light come on but fan is normally running after a longish drive). Piston rings were replaced a couple of years ago so motor has had a pretty extensive rebuild.

 

Anyone have any comments/things to add/do?

 

 

(PS: It's coming back and going back to being a road rally car when it's home - no unnecessary 205 killing here!)

Edited June 16, 2015 by Pugly

[welshpug 1,666]

don't bother with the exhaust wrap is my only comment I think, it only serves to move the heat along the exhaust and cook other parts of it, also alters the flow away from its design.

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Don't the cars usually get donated locally at the end of the rally? Good luck with it. Had some friends do it a while back and it sounded like a lot of fun.

[Pugly 1]

don't bother with the exhaust wrap is my only comment I think, it only serves to move the heat along the exhaust and cook other parts of it, also alters the flow away from its design.

 

Cheers - I've heard very mixed reports on exhaust wrap and this is one more against it so will avoid!

 

Don't the cars usually get donated locally at the end of the rally? Good luck with it. Had some friends do it a while back and it sounded like a lot of fun.

 

They used to, if it was something useful like an ambulance or 4x4. Nowadays the Mongolians in particular are rather (and rightly) fed up of rubbish cars littering their country so impose big fines & import duties to dissuade you from leaving/dumping/donating the car. Not an issue for us!

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Perfect! Do you take the same route back or go through other countries?

[wicked 105 3 Cars]

Maybe some auxiliary springs on the rear if you load the car a lot? Maybe fit M+S tires?

Edited June 17, 2015 by wicked

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

I'd put some different seats in!

[Pugly 1]

Just to update this and ask for some advice we are well on our way now - I'm currently sat in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

 

We developed a misfire a couple of days ago which quickly (less than 50 miles) went from being a minor ailment to a real problem as anything more than a tickle of throttle saw it misfire so badly it was shaking the car to pieces. Suspecting and hoping it was a dodgy spark plug I replaced all 4 which cured the problem and saw Daisy the 205 running as new again... until 400 miles later where it has reappeared.

 

It misfires on anything other than very slight throttle, apparently smells of fuel behind us and is OK when cold.

 

I replaced the dizzy cap and rotor arm before leaving home 6000 miles ago. The HT leads are of an indeterminate age (attempted to replace before we left but got sent the wrong ones twice). Have the old dizzy cap and rotor arm with us but no spare leads and no more spare plugs (though we do have the ones we just replaced).

 

Anyone have any suggestions? I have a horrible feeling its the leads which we will struggle to procure here so may have to limp on to the next country (Uzbekistan) before our Visas expire and have a set couriered out to us.

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

Has the dizzy moved altering the timing slightly & also what RON spec fuel are you using?

 

It could be dodgy fuel with a lower octane rating that's causing detonation problems.

 

g

[calvinhorse 870]

Sounds like the ignition modual or maybe coil? Getting to hot perhaps

 

Replace or devise a cold air feed to them

[Pugly 1]

I'm not sure how to check if the dizzy has moved - we don't have a timing light or anything with us though we are going to try and find a mechanic in the morning. Would replacing the spark plugs have abated the problem for a while if it was indeed the dizzy?

 

Fuel here is still 95RON - well the premium stuff we're using is anyway (and 18p a litre).

[Weser 30]

Wow fair play for getting so far! Bet your having an awesome time. Out of interest which route have taken to get to where you are now?

 

Anyway have you managed to identify what cylinder you have the missing on? Could pull the leads off one by one to find it? Then try one of you old spark plugs in the suspected lead to see if its the lead or the plug?

[Anthony 1,003]

What do the four new spark plugs look like now? Is one (or more) of them looking pitted or fouled at all to suggest a problem?

[Pugly 1]

Our route so far has been:

 

France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and now into Turkmenistan. From here it'll be Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia.

 

So far we've had a coolant leak(fixed with RadWeld) and replaced the front wheel bearings (which involved an unbelievably fun hoon across Istanbul trying to keep up with a scooter who was showing us the way). Not bad for a 22 year old ex road rally car!

 

We've managed to lose our spark plug socket so can't pull them out until the morning. Will update then - cheers for the replies so far.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Our route so far has been:

 

France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and now into Turkmenistan. From here it'll be Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia.

 

So far we've had a coolant leak(fixed with RadWeld) and replaced the front wheel bearings (which involved an unbelievably fun hoon across Istanbul trying to keep up with a scooter who was showing us the way). Not bad for a 22 year old ex road rally car!

 

We've managed to lose our spark plug socket so can't pull them out until the morning. Will update then - cheers for the replies so far.

Amazing, i'm envious.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Fuel here is still 95RON - well the premium stuff we're using is anyway (and 18p a litre).

 

Whaaaaaaaaaat?! 18 fricken p a litre?!

[welshpug 1,666]

probably about what we would pay here without all the duty taxes and vat oh and exchange rates.

Edited August 11, 2015 by welshpug

[Anthony 1,003]

Still sounds a lot cheaper than fuel in the UK even when you remove duty and VAT.

 

Rough calculation suggests for a pump price of £1.12 that fuel itself is around 35p a litre, duty 58p and VAT 19p.

 

It'll all be relative of course - 18p for a litre of fuel sounds very cheap but you need to put it in context with the average salary in somewhere like Turkmenistan compared to the UK or other places in Western Europe.

[Pugly 1]

Sorry for the lack of response. Internet is patchy around these parts. Pulled the new plugs out and they are all fine with no excessive carbon deposits or pitting.

 

It is looking likely it was a bad batch of fuel (Another team on bikes also had problems and they filled up in the same place - so much for 95 RON!) combined with a failing ignition coil. A makeshift air duct to the coil and some new fuel and it lessened to the point we were able to drive on (currently in Dushanbe, Tajikistan) with only an occasional hiccup.

 

We had to put some really crap fuel in en route (on the pump as 80 RON - suspect lower) and the problems returned with added dieseling/run on and our fuel economy plummeted. We're now attempting to source a new coil which is probably going to be tricky. If not we will continue again and try and have one couriered to us somewhere.

[welshpug 1,666]

you can make any coil work to a degree.