25th May 2001

OH NO ! WHAT NOW ?

So I was all set for the Harrogate show 27th & 28th May and decided to spend the Fri/Sat before the show at our caravan for a nice unwind before setting of on Sunday to the show....... BUT once again my Covin had other ideas and a little surprise in store for me as only 2 miles down the road from our house there was a very brief rumble noise followed by "BANG" and a rather nasty twitch from the rear nearside wheel and at 60 MPH this was a little worrying. I managed to pull over and found the rear wheel bearing had collapsed in a big way and the wheel was only just hanging on. Yet another trip on the RAC wagon and on Sat 26th the search was on for a new wheel bearing "the day before the show started" Talk about cutting it fine....

Here's what's left of the wheel bearing with only 4 rollers remaining as all the others had simple disintegrated.

27th & 28th May 2001

HARROGATE SHOW

TROUBLE FREE & NO RAC

26th AUGUST 2001

the week before donington show

Well, so far since the Harrogate show my Covin has been in the garage undergoing surgery to the suspension, and steering. So for those interested I have fitted AVO Coil-Over adjustable shocks and springs all round and I can tell you the difference is amazing . . . . . . .  The ride is a lot stiffer for one thing but the body roll is almost nil plus it helps to reduce the "bump steer" a little, I will add the details to the Technical page soon. Also while I was on with the suspension I changed the steering damper and set up all the toe-in, camber and castor angles by making my own little jig to get the settings right and am pleased to say that my Covin is now happy at over ----MPH (use imagination there) not me sir...Honest..... Following that little lot I have also fitted a boost gauge so I can see what boost pressure the turbo is delivering, I was surprised to see when later testing it out that only 3psi of boost was being delivered from the turbo and not over 10psi that I require, very strange as the Covin goes like a rocket as it is so I can hardly wait to adjust the wastegate actuator and get the turbo working correctly. Hope to see you all at the Donington show next weekend and I before you all start thinking ? ?    "NO" I won't require the RAC...Those days have gone for good...ha...ha...

1st SEPTEMBER 2001

castle donington show

 The Castle Donington show was a big success and my Covin made the trip without problem or RAC assistance so I must be doing something right at last. I did try to increase the boost pressure on the Turbo the night before the show (you all know me by now) but unfortunately the charge air hoses were not strong enough to cope with the new pressure and started to split after about 50 miles down the road so a small road side repair was called for and the boost pressure reduced back a little.... (bugger) New charge air hoses will be made up and fitted once I get home.

 The rest of the trip was trouble free and a good time was had by all.

So that's the 2001 season over and with winter approaching It's time to pull my Covin apart again and do some modifications and upgrades, top of the list will have to be a new cooling system mounted in the rear and NOT up front as I firmly believe the front mounted radiator cooling system slows the water circulation down to much to be effective due to the extra load and volume of water for the standard water pump to cope with. 

To follow the ongoing progress go to part 8 "My Covin 2002"