Had the front of the Daimler up in the air this weekend. I was hoping to be able to add a packer to the front springs to add a bit of clearance but the factory springs are so short I cant get my spring compressors in to get them! Looks like the ride height will be staying as it is so I mapped out plans for a nice big bash plate.

While it was up in the air I spotted a tear in one of the steering rack boots (I spotted the tear by seeing power steering fluid leaking out of it, but thankfully it is not leaking when stationary and not losing a lot, so I am hoping a power steering stop-leak bottle will deal with it for now). I was going to replace it then I remembered this was the Shitbox, so cleaned up the tear, superglued the edges together, then added 2 layers of bicycle tube over the top and lots more superglue. Only needs to last 4000km or so

 

IIRC, to remove the springs, they are supported by a spring pan, held in with three bolts. Get three pieces of threaded rod and nuts, place jack under spring pan, remove the bolts one at a time, and replace with the rods. Lower the jack until the springs are free. The rods are there only as a guide. Be careful, the springs are very powerful.

 

Thanks, I wondered about removing the pan but didn't think of threaded rod to do it!

 

I removed mine by using a trolley jack under the spring pan, removed the bolts and gently lowered down. I replaced them using the method described above.

 

Thanks for that idea, I will see how scary the clearance looks once the bash plate is on!

What a week it has been! On Friday I decided to drive the Daimler in to work to give it a bit of a run before it was shown off at our Barefoot Bowls night that evening.



As you can see this did not go so well. After a couple of hours at the side of the road I had it towed in to work. Touch wood it should appear that a LOT of water made it into the fueltanks during our 1 day of rain recently (it had not been driven since), we had about a 50/50 mix of water and fuel coming out of the fuel line! An extended lunch break saw me draining the fueltanks, cleaning out the lines and wiping out the carbs and float bowls and she was up and running again! 30min in bumper to bumper traffic in 30+ degree heat challenged her on the way to bowls as she bordered on vapourlock, but she kept all of her fluids and touch wood seems to be back to normal .



Bare Foot Bowls was a HUGE success, we had a great time and raised nearly $600! Thanks to everyone who showed up and everyone who donated prizes. We are proud to announce that we have now broken the $4k minimum, with a little over $4,200 in our fundraising account at the moment ( Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013 )






After a day off I battled the heat on Monday to create some roofracks. First up was trimming a $2 pair of swapmeet racks down to bootlid width. With additional feet welded on for stability these will hopefully provide us with a way to carry jerrycans outside the car without as much wind resistance as they would cause on the roof. In addition a second pair of swapmeet racks were cut to the exact width of the roof. Why? Because at this width they fit perfectly in the boot, and will allow us to bolt them on and use them should we need extra back seat space for additional passengers.

 

A little video of Bowls thanks to Dan

Shitbox Rally Fundraising Tips: Barefoot Bowls on Vimeo

 

On my S2 xj6, water was getting into the fuel tank via the filler neck. They can be removed by undoing the screws/bolts and lifting straight up. there are a couple of O rings to seal the filler neck into the fuel tank, and IIRC a cork gasket under the flange. There was a small dent under the gasket, allowing water past it and into the tank. Straightened it, and added some silastic, all good.

 

silastic may be the go, for the next couple of days I've stuck some bluetack around the filler lids to make sure water can't get anywhere near

 

Another week another rollercoaster with the Shitbox.

On the upside we have now broken $4,500 in fundraising, thanks in part to the wonderfully warm welcome of the Morris Minor Club of Victoria. We dropped in on their monthly meeting last week and had a great time chatting to all the members about the Shitbox Rally and the Daimler.

On the downside I decided to replace the oil one last time before the rally. When I removed the sump plug a helicoil came with it! the inside of the plug hole was polished smooth, so no chance of the helicoil biting in if refitted. After lots of hunting around I bought a large drillbit and 18mm tap to attempt to fit an 18mm sump plug. Unfortunately maybe due to my tapping ability or the softness of the alloy the new plug still doesn't appear to be holding in with any real strength. Stacks of red loktite on the thread and radiator repair patch will hopefully hold everything together until I have a better idea of how to repair without removing the sump! I have taken it for a quick drive after the bodge and it seems to have correct oil pressure and no leak, although the engine does seem a touch noisier which is hopefully just my imagination, no smoke or power loss...

In better news the SSRD's Bruise Cruise Roller Derby bout is this Saturday from 6pm against WA's WARDs of Skate at Springers Leisure Centre in Keysborough. $1 from every ticket goes to our fundraising, so if you've never gotten along to see Roller Derby now's the time!





Also added a few new names to the car.

 

Sumpguard fitted!

RHS at either end to allow clearance, 5mm thick flat bar down each edge for support and 1.2mm zinc anneal bolted over the top. Far from pretty but it should be solid and can be unbolted to get access to critical items under the motor.




Need to add a little more support through the middle as it drums like all hell, but otherwise happy with the result. Also gave the electrical side of the engine a bit of a freshen up and I recon I can feel the difference driving it!

I have avoided putting calls out to donate, but with less than a month to go we have now raised $6600 and would love to hit the $8,000 mark by the time we leave. We have a couple more fundraisers which should get us close, but any assistance will be greatly appreciated!
Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013

 

Well it's been an up and down week so far! On the up side the sumpguard doesn't make noise when driving along at speed, only when doing low speed maneuvres. On the downside the decreased ground clearance caused us to bottom out driving from the grass front yard onto the driveway when fully loaded!

I may have to think again about a way to cheaply and easily raise the front!

If you want to check out the Daimler in the flesh this weekend is a great opportunity!

We will be at the Darebin Community Sports Stadium from 4pm tomorrow, where the Victorian Roller Derby League will be supporting us at their second bout for the year. So come on down and check out the car and come crazy skating!

https://www.facebook.com/events/155894554571974/?ref=25

On Sunday we will be out and about again, this time at the annual Volkswagen Jamboree at the Caribbean Gardens! A great chance to check out the Daimler as well as a whole range of lovely Volksies, always a great day out.
https://www.facebook.com/events/198818483590695/?ref=25

 

Another week closer to the start of the rally and we are agonisingly close to raising $7,000. We attended the VRDLs bout on Saturday evening to great response before getting busy with the texters at the VW Jamboree on Sunday.

Bending the edges of the sumpguard has reduced flexibility substantially and reduced noise.

 

WE'RE FOR SALE!!
Used 1974 Daimler Sovereign Sedan - Used Car for Sale

Sorry, got very excited when I saw this on the Manheim website. They have listed 75 of the Shitboxes so far for the post-rally auction and will be running simulcast, so hopefully will help raise a few $$ for the Cancer Council.

We had a great start to the weekend this weekend just past. The previous owner of the Daimler was kind enough to put on a Wine and Cheese night for us. John and his family and friends put on an absolute feast and with the immense generosity of his friends and community we managed to raise over $1,000 that night, as well as a $1,000 sponsorship from Revium Web Development, Website Development, Web Developer - Revium ! This abslutely blew us away as not only have we now acheived our $8,000 fundraising target, but once the sponsorhsip has gone through we will have broken $9,000! Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013

We are humbled by the support we have seen from so many different sources over the course of this years Shitbox Rally entry, Thankyou to everyone who has provided words or support or donations in support of the Cancer Council.

Most of the weekend was once again spent on the Daimler. The brake master is now leak-free and feels like it's operating fine (was operating fine before but had a slight leak at the join to the booster) and fingers crossed I have tonight put the slight fuel leak from the left tank to rest. This weekend I will see if I can pack out the front springs at all, grease up everything, then finish packing, because on Wednesday 1st we leave for Adelaide!

 

As the sun sets on another weekend the Shitbox Daimler is ready for Adelaide! Fuel tank leak is finally fixed, brake repairs seem all good, every grease nipple has been greased. still plenty of texta work to go but the car is running as well as possible and is half way packed ready for departure. Will be getting 1 last test run tomorrow before it is off to Adelaide!



A big thankyou to everyone who has helped us beat our fundraising target this year Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013

For those interested in keeping track during the rally there will be plenty of great video and images uploaded to Shitbox Rally - 2013 Adelaide to Fremantle via Uluru each day of the rally.

 

We Made It! points closed up every day, sumpguard took a HELL of a beating on the dirt (we had to drive on the crests everywhere so the old Daim's belly wouldn't drag), the carbies got stripped and rebuilt on the 3rd night, power steering got regular top-ups, but we had a blast. Soo wrapped to have made it through the Shitbox Rally in a Daimler and even more blown away to have managed to raise near $9,500 of the over $1.2m the rally has raised in support of the Cancer Council this year!

Many pics to follow in a few days time.

 

Congratulations on completion and on the money raised for a very good cause.

Graham

 

Well done, those old Jags are tough. Glad you had a great time on the rally

Pete

 

Gather round boys n girls, because it's story time finally!

I have finally gotten around to uploading some photos of the rally so that I can share the journey with you all.

We departed Melbourne on the Wednesday before the rally, just incase, given that we were driving a slightly ropy Daimler Sovereign with no speedo or fuel gauge, a car that was listed at the top of the list of cars not to buy for the rally, with the words 'no. just no.'. We convoyed with Matt and Rob of Matman and Robin in their trusty Toyota Commuter Mattmobile. The 800 or so km was pleasantly uneventful, if a little slow uphill behind the Batmobile, which we were using as a speedo.

The following 2 days were spent relaxing in Adelaide with good friends who were also on their second year of the rally as Channel 4 News. It was with great excitement that we travelled to the startline Saturday morning to join the other 198 cars participating. There was no parking left by the time we got there so we thought we'd practice our offroading:


Some brilliant work had gone into decorating cars




And we were wrapped to find our old friend, the Vauxhall Victor which we took on last year's rally, and which won us 'Vehicle least likely to make it' return for another rally.




the 850km of day 1 was not without event, with our poor friends Smokey and the Bandit being rear ended in their Alfa GTV, which received a trailer light as a left taillight later that night in order to continue on.


First night's camping was fairly comfortable at the Cooper Pedy footy oval


Although after telling everyone how well the Daimler was going that night the starter relay decided to die the next morning, resulting in an in-enginebay starter wire being rigged up:


Dinner on day 2 was extra special, not only was it at Uluru, but it involved 3 engagements amongst rally participants, including ours


Day 3 and 4 were spent on dirt roads which were luckily fairly recently graded, but we still had to travel on top of all of the mounde between wheel ruts to save our sump guard from scraping (we would have been lucky to have had 100mm ground clearance fully loaded!) Within the first hour of dirt our front passenger seatbelt had failed (leading to the passenger being chauffeured for the remainder of the trip), the dizzy cap had failed and the rearview mirror had rattled off. night 3 saw me up til 11pm stripping the carbs with the help of Michael and Alex, resetting timing and points and mixture so that we were running on 6 cylinders again for the start of day 4. Every morning after that we had to reset the points as they would close up over the day's driving.





I had to take this photo as it was one of the funniest car modifications I saw all trip


Day 5 started with a photo shoot down an airstrip in the road, followed by hours of dirt road driving through a dust storm which felt like the end of the world. Photos cannot convey the eerieness






A quick fuel leak repair took place to the fuel filter in the evening of day 5 before 30-40mm of rain hit us and the road we were to leave on.


Thankfully the rain did not deter us and we plowed on through the mud in undoubtedly the most fun day of driving I have experienced






Day 7 was back to tarmac, but was not without it's challenges, several cars were hurting from their day in the mud. Amongst our little group we had 2 with headgasket concerns, one with major engine woes, and we had developed a small radiator leak and a large power steering fluid thirst.


Thankfully every one of our wonderful buddy group 11 made it through and on the Saturday we went to Auction. The Daimler only made it to $250, but a few others in the group did better.




It was sad to see the Daimler go but it had done us proud. including the drive from Melbourne we covered a little over 4500km including 4 days of dirt, puddles, dust storms, driving over a sand bank to avoid a road train, all sorts of places a Daimler should never go, and with little more than servicing issues along the way. For those wondering the Vauxhall also made it through again, with no more than gearbox oil topups, still wearing the roofracks and tyres we fitted for last years rally. It is returning to Sydney with it's proud owner.

We are wrapped to have been a part of this wonderful fundraiser and adventure again and take our hats off to the organisers for pulling it off and for managing to raise over $1.2 million in support of the Cancer Council in this year's rally.

 

Just finished putting together a little summary video as well, plenty of mud driving included which wasn't shown in the photos:

 

Looks like you had loads of fun!! Glad the big girl came through for you!!!
Thanks for sharing the photos!