Daimler Sovereign 2013 Shitbox Rally car: Team Suus Cruising

As some of you will be aware Theresa and I have been accepted to compete in the 2013 Shitbox Rally.

Last year we drove from Melbourne to Cairns in a 1960 Vauxhall Victor and raised $6,000 for the Cancer Council in doing so. you can find out more about our journey here on the forum or take a look at the photos and videos on the Shitbox Rally website http://www.shitboxrally.com.au/ (we're featured in the day 5 video)

for 2013 we wanted some more comfort and speed, but something just as old and unusual. We found a 1965 Mercedes that fitted the bill perfectly. Off the road for a long time but reportedly a good runner. Complete, minimal rust, and cheap. It will also be the first car I've owned which has power steering and an automatic gearbox, fancy fancy!

So far I've put most of the chrome back on and gotten it nearly running, hopefully it'll be moving under it's own steam soon!









To support us in supporting the Cancer Council please donate a few (tax deductible) dollars at http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising or contact me directly about sponsorship opportunities!

These are both a classic and robust. It should serve you well for the trip.

Yogie

Congrats for making the effort!

Looks like a decent old Merc

It's a solid old girl, the lovely 'thunk' of the doors makes me smile every time I work on it.

Frustrating day. Good mate came around and lent a big hand, Carbies stripped, cleaned and reassembled, fuelpump stripped and reassembled, timing checked, everything right to be a runner after a full day's work and the starter motor started to play up. Hoping for now it's just the tired old wiring going to it, but hail stopped play for the day. And to think this was meant to be the easier project than the Victor...

lol keep at it !!!!!
i loved your old thread
what colour is this one going to be? or have you got a theme for it?
btw keep this one high and dry 🙂

Definitely have no plans to put this one in the loading dock! A couple of 60's inspired colour themes are being considered, as well as some regal decoration, keeping reasonably tight-lipped until it's on teh road 🙂

Good one, wow upmarket! keepi'n fingers crossed with the starter and hope it's a goer!
$6,000 for cancer council! must be a great reward!

"It will also be the first car I've owned which has power steering and an automatic gearbox, fancy fancy!"
-awesome

I know someone who rallies these already!!! I got license in a 230.

Sadly I'm beginning to think the Merc may not make it to the rally under budget. Got a couple of other unique options I will be looking at in the next little while, but I think the Merc may be up for sale again shortly 🙁

Are you in chirnside?

Ringwood now

I have been lookin around for an old Mercedes as the bug is not so liveable as a daily, but was not interested in taking in such a big project
How much will you be chasing and what works been done? Pm if you would like

you have pm

I'm tentative to announce it before I've driven it home, but fingers crossed we've got a replacement shitbox - a 1974 Daimler Sovereign 4.2L 🙂

Would have stuck with the Merc!!🤖

Merc's for sale now. Carb rebuild and starter repairs would have blown the budget for the rally, but Daimler is going, driving...

For anyone keeping track we're still hoping to have our new rally car very soon. I have decided not to post full details until I can drive it home, which is why it has been quiet in here for a while. I have been going over it at the current owner's house for the last few weeks, we've added fresh fuel, fresh sparkplugs, the fuel is pumping happily up to the carbies, there is spark, the car will run on aerostart, but not on fuel. Having gone through everything else we are assuming blocked jets in the carbs (it ran OK for 5min on the first day and has refused to run on fuel since). Fingers crossed this Saturday will be the day I get to drive it home, can't wait to share some pics and get cracking!

👍 Good luck mate

Hopefully she fires and you have a trouble free run home!

Thanks Sander

THE DAIMLER RUNS! It appears that all that was stopping it was water in the fuel 😀 Tentatively planning pick up for Saturday then the fun begins!

So who wants their business name on the side of a Daimler that's going to travel from Adelaide to Uluru to Fremantle? Will also hopefully be attending plenty of car shows and events in the lead up. PM me for details, all done in support of the Cancer Council.

PICKED UP THE DAIMLER TODAY!

Still have plenty of things to deal with: Rust, non working right hand taillight and parker, non working electric windows, hazards, sticky brake light switch, non working handbrake, back seat door stuck shut, non working interior fan....

So excited to have driven it and have it home though! looking forward to getting to work on it tomorrow.

Photobucket's playing up so I will post photos tomorrow

Photos working now!

Here she is as she arrived at home:






Proof of being an import:


Other type of proof of being an import:


European change in the console 🙂


Cleaned all the fusebox contacts today and got the RH taillight and parker working


Fitted a secondhand from-the-wrecker stereo and set the light colour to match the interior (because I could 🙂 )


🙂


A bit of welding to be done, but she seems solid where she needs to be (structure and mechanical) Also discovered today that the wipers aren't working, and that isn't the fuse, as I've piggybacked the stereo of that (I think)

Nice work. If that thing makes the distance it should be very comfy! If not it will be very heavy to push. 😂

VERY heavy to push. I can drive it into the driveway with 1 finger on teh steering wheel the power steering is so light, but I can barely move the wheel once the car is off!

I see the merc is still sittin in the yard! Good luck on the new purchase btw

Yes, thankfully no angry neighbours yet, Merc has been sold and paid for and is due to be collected by it's new owner this Saturday.

nice can't wait to see the paint job keep the post coming and how much is sponsorship worth to get a name on the car

Hi Grimbear. Paint should be something special. Sponsorship starts at $300, all but $110 of each sponsorship is tax deductible, and you will get a sticker approximately 30cm x 10cm on each side of the car for that. Sticker area increases rapidly with sponsorship amount and we do our best so spread the word about our sponsors. PM me for more information if you're keen.

What a weekend! had a 4 hour round trip to strip a bunch of spares for the daimler off a donor car for a price I couldn't say no to, managed to wedge all the parts safely in/on the Volvo for the drive home.

Replaced the front doors, went to replace the back doors but discovered that the donor doors are shorter so will patch the originals instead, repaired the donor bonnet and fitted it, wired speakers, got donor high beams working, stitch welded in a new drivers side front floor, prepped the passenger side floor for patching, fitted speakers to the rear.

Even tested the Jags engine and gearbox by using it to tow the old Mercedes out into the driveway to be taken away by the new owner!

Time for a well earned rest I think.

The donor after a few hours work (thanks guys for the help!)


All loaded up




Beautiful colour matching 🙂



fresh floor

After a recent discussion on another forum we've decided to do something a little different with the Daimler for the 2013 Shitbox Rally.

Last year we heard from so many people in the automotive community who had been affected by cancer and we thought it would be a nice idea to use the Daimler to remember those we have lost to Cancer as well as those who have battled it and won.

If you have lost someone close to you to cancer or have someone close who has battled or is battling it and you would like to acknowledge their fight post their name up in this thread.

We will dedicate a panel on the Daimler (possibly more if there is the demand) to write down every name that is submitted to us so that they are a part of our journey.

We do not ask any donation for this, every name listed here will be added to the car once it is registered. (however if you do wish to donate a couple of dollars to our link in the signature of my post we won't stop you).

We have a pretty special idea about how the names will appear on the car but I don't want to give anything away until we have started adding them.

hi guys i would donate to have dads name on there instead of sponsorship let me know if this is good idea and its a good idea
😎

you have PM grimbear

Pm sent

Thanks mate,

It's been only 24 hours since we posted this idea up in a few places and we have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback for the idea. we have 10 names to add to the car already and hope we will be able to fill a panel completely with dedications by the time the rally comes around in May.

Guys think you will be able to fill the car by Xmas
it's such a great idea and our love ones get seen by every one

It's a big car, we have plenty of panel space to fill if there is the demand.

Got a little distracted by the AFL this weekend but still got a fair bit done on the Daimler. I neglected to mention previously my big stuff-up of last weekend. I needed to get the Mercedes off the front lawn and into the driveway so that it could be collected by a tow truck and taken to the new owner. Since it wasn't a runner it had to be towed and the Daimler is by far and away the most powerful car I own. I attached a tow rope and gave it a shot but could not get enough traction to get the Merc out of the hole it had sunk into on the soft ground. I was towing in reverse due to the location of tow hooks on the Daimler and on about the 5th attempt reverse started to slip, then disappeared all together. The engine would just revv away and the car would not move.

No horrible noises and it still moved forwards, so I did some googling and came up with one of the brake bands, if out of adjustment, being able to cause a lack of forward gears. I jacked the car up and crawled under to where the adjuster is for the brake band,and it fell off in my hand, having seemingly been previously sheared off! At this point I put it in the too hard basket and left it for another time.

I have been told during the week by a gearbox shop that it was a write-off but thought I'd give it a shot. This weekend I bought a better jack (these cars are HEAVY!) jacked it up and supported it, then drained the trans fluid and dropped the gearbox's sump. Inside everything looked like new. All nice and shiny, no large chunks of metal in the sump, and by sheer luck I could see where the sheared adjuster contacted the brake band, and with a screwdriver discovered the band had lots of play! For a truly Shitbox-worthy repair I used a pair of pliers to grab the thread of the adjuster and tighten it as close to spec as possible, then adjusted the other brake band the correct way. Popped the sump back on,poured the old tranny fluid back in (bad idea I know but temporary measure) let the car down off the hoist, fired it up and...

REVERSE WORKED! went for a very quick blast, first and second work fine (didn't get up enough speed for third) and reverse works as if nothing ever happened 😀

Boyed by this success I made the underside of the car a bot more solid and ended the weekend by adding the first sample area of the new paintjob.

Not many pictures this weekend but I managed to shed some rust/weight from the underside:


stocked up on the highest quality paint supplies:


And added the first bit of fresh paint (don't worry, this is stage 1-rego-friendly-stage, plenty more interesting paint to come)

Bathurst is over for another year and another week of work on the Daimler is over as well.

Hopefully the last bit of welding has been done now, body has been tidied up further and the worst paint job I have ever undertaken (5 rattle cans so far :P) continues.

Don't worry, it is only stage one of paint, it will get a lot more interesting once registered!

It may not look like much but I have been flat out all weekend on it again.

We also now have 20 names to add to the car and $340 in donations. Given we raised relatively little until the Victor was out and about last year we are very happy with this result. Feel free to add to it using the link in my signature :wink:

Size issues


High quality paint (it scratches off the chrome so easily there seemed no point masking it 😀




I painted over the deadener on the sill but it looks so bad I think I might paint it black again :P

I present to you 1 1974 Daimler, now in mostly-sort-of-the-same colour (for now...)

A little more progress this beautiful weekend. I now have the wipers working sometimes, when they are up off the windscreen the voltage bump from turning them on high makes them work on high or low. Will see if I can figure out how to lube them up a bit, hopefully that will make the difference.

As you may have noticed from previous photos I've masked NOTHING when painting, so after refitting the front bumper I tested my theory and spent most of Saturday with some thinners wiping the overspray off chrome, glass and lights.

Amazing how much more complete it looks with the front bumper on!


Headlights before cleaning:

and after:


Windscreen clean in progress:


Starting to look pretty good from a distance 🙂

Lots of little steps this week. Brake lights now work, as do parkers, carpets are back in and patched where they were rotten (or welder burnt ;P ).

Wipers are proving to be an issue. They will work fine on high but do not move on low, and self park sometimes. I found some water had gotten into the mechanism (there were signs of rust amongst the grease on the gear), but wiring all looks clean and connections seem good. I can hear the relay clicking over when I activate low speed (or single wipe) but the wipers don't move. Any suggestions?

Another week has passed and we now have over 30 names to add to the car of people's friends and family who have battled cancer. We have been really touched by the stories so far and promise to add every single name given to us no matter how many that ends up being.

My wife Teina has just finished all her chemo for breast cancer and starts radiation treatment in a couple of weeks,I have been off work for 3 months caring for her.
it is a wonderful thing you are doing

Thanks Haccc, hopefully it is all uphill for her.

Fingers crossed this weekend the Daimler will be up on a hoist for the final bits of work before inspection and registration!

I've sourced all the bits I need now (hopefully), and would have had it on a hoist this weekend except that a little roadtrip got in the way - being a glutton for punishment I bought myself a new toy in the form of a 76 XJ6 and drove it down from Sydney... At least this one is a LOT cleaner than the Daimler!

New xj6 as daily?

Daily in the short term, weekender once I've given my other car some TLC

Pics !
Let me know how you go with parts/servicing $

Interested in one for yourself? Definitely chew a bit more fuel than a beetle! (although probably not a lot more than a kombi 😉

Yes I have always being partial to an xj6!!

Another week is over and I have reached a bit of a conundrum. I took my Jaguar in for a RWC and found out that while it is one of the best around it still needs a couple of very labour intensive jobs done to it to get it completely roadworthy. I had forgotten how detailed a Victorian roadworthy can be, which makes me a little nervous about the Shitbox. While I have spend countless hours getting it safe and reliable there are still a good few to be spent to get it ready for inspection. We are planning on running on a club permit through a club I am a member of which uses an inspection process, but I do not know the inspector well so have no idea what to expect. If anything major is found that I haven't already sorted we may really struggle to get the car on the road on budget.

On the other hand the opportunity has come up for another Jag interstate. Same shape, same driveline, similar condition, but this one is currently registered in a state which does not require a roadworthy inspection when the car is sold, so if I can arrange a friend in that state to purchase it and we can 'borrow' it off them for the rally then we will not need any inspections and I can remove a huge burden and have a Jaguar on the 2013 Shitbox Rally under budget. After all the work I've put into the Daimler I would be very upset not to take it, but if I can save myself hours of labour and fretting over an inspection then I can spend more time painting the car up for the rally, attracting sponsors and increasing awareness - what the rally's really about.

Can anyone offer any opinions/suggestions? Thanks guys

What state is the new one in ?

If you need help give us a yell!

donn wrote:What state is the new one in ?

Ha ha, I meant the geographical area, not it's condition 😂

We made a little more progress this week. We'll be meeting with the guy inspecting the car in a couple of weeks, which will either provide great relief or great panic.

I replaced the left fueltank on Sunday and can understand very quickly why the previous owner said it was leaking! It had been patched on at least 3 separate occasions and had a rust hole straight out the bottom! It took a good couple hours to get the rear quarter panel off the car, disconnect everything,raise the car and drop the tank. The replacement doesn't look a lot better, it has been patched at least as many times with a range of products, but since it's all we've got I covered the old repairs with metal mend and fitted it up, refitted the quarter and held my breath. Added around 10 litres to the tank (everything I had handy in a jerry can) and fuel didn't curse word out! In fact fingers crossed there didn't seem to be any visible leaks so far, we will see when it's completely full! Next task - get the left fuelpump to work so we can actually make some use of the newly functional tank!

Had a great time at the Melbourne Shitbox Rally pub night this Wednesday. Great to meet many new faces and catch up with many friendly older ones. The most exciting part of the night though? It's sticker time! 😀

Creeping forward, I cleaned the contacts on the second fuelpump and managed to get it running and the car running and driving on it, which suggests that that replacement tank is holding fuel 🙂

Also had a play with the handbrake, cable is moving, levers are moving, and after tightening it up as hard as I can I am getting SOME effect from them (with the back wheels in the air I can feel friction on them when the handbrake is on now). Not sure where to go from this, new pads probably?

in other news for 69bug my Jag is now on the road and fully registered. Love driving it, so nice and quiet inside and powerful compared to anything else I've driven from the period. Handles quite flat, pulls up everything in top gear and purrs, however fuel economy is abysmal (12.5L/100km down the coast was ok, 16L/100km on my first in town fill up was a little scarey, but after the mechanic and the roadworthy inspector had given it a flogging it got out to 18L/100km on the next fill!) and Lucas electrics are proving entertaining (I had to repair reverse lights which would turn on and off in front of me, horn has just shorted and stuck on and power locks have stopped working so far 🙂 )

Scary stuff!
But she look to be in amazing nick worth it if you ask me!
What is the parts / servicing cost?
On a recent trip to lakes entrance in my beetle I managed almost 32mpg (7L per 100km)
The shit box progress looks good also
Mike

Parts don't seem to bad so far, all the suspension stuff is easy to get at thanks to hotrodders, rear disks are around $120/pair for example, I've got a wrecker and parts supplier specialising in them around the corner who has no trouble getting anything and at reasonable prices so far. The only spot that the costs seem to come in so far is the labour on some tasks because parts are so well packaged away (inboard rear disks, even the oil filter is in a location I'm not looking forward to getting at)

It's been a good week this week:

I managed to get the interior fan working again (after hours of playing it turned out the same trick as the first time worked - pull out all fuses, add contact cleaner, refit :P )
The central locking now works on the back doors (I actually only had to threaten that by pulling part of the console off before it was frightened back to life!)
A few other minor electrical gremlins have been dealt with
I have started to clean all the junk from the interior in preparation for inspection

I now have a pre-christmas target for inspection of the Daimler, would be great to be able to drive it to Christmas dinner!

The beast will hopefully be in print early next year in a couple of places

and I've found a source for the last couple of minor parts I need from another wrecked Jag!

Now all we have to do is finish the little tidy up jobs, actually pass the inspection, raise another $7500 ( http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising ), make it to Adelaide, then make it to Fremantle 😀 😀

Really appreciating everyone's support so far, it has made the preparation process a lot easier.

It's been a good week this week.


I picked up almost all the last bits I needed from a very friendly hotrodder, did the oil and water, locktighted the gearbox brake band aduster bolt that had sheared and started to clean out the interior. Unfortunately the replacement wiper motor from a series 3 has completely different wiring so won't play, but I stripped mine down today and found that the plate on the motor with the 3 brushes is all seized up, so will be tracking another down this week.


Fingers crossed another adjust of the handbrake and another wiper motor and it'll be ready for the road before Christmas!


Also started to do some drawing on the car, some of my favourite 2012 rally entrants:

There's a couple xj's down at centre road wreckers....

The Daimler's now wearing new(er) shoes and I managed to trade some of the unneeded spares today for what will (touch wood) be the last parts needed before the car is inspected hopefully next week. So excited about the possibility of getting it on the road before Christmas!

What a LONG weekend!

Wipers now mostly work, had to completely strip the motor to get some rust out of the bottom and replace the brush plate, then once I had 3 speeds working the passenger side spindle got a mind of its own so I had to strip and tighten that up (which involves removing the top of the dash!)

Handbrake is improving, I had it up and running sitting in the drive today and it purrs fairly nicely, a couple of foreign noises but nothing concerning me too much at this point.

Replaced the steering rack balljoints after discovering scary play in them, you can see the condition of one below once the cover was pulled off it!

Gave the car a reasonable clean inside and out without washing too much paint off, just need a couple of tiny pieces before inspection

We also did our first Bunnings BBQ on Friday, so another few hundred dollars will be in the fundraising account soon. Would be nice to hit $1k before Christmas!

WE'RE ON THE ROAD!!!

Took the Daimler in for inspection today and she passed! Picked up and fitted plates and got all excited so did a very bad job of adding stickers 🙂

Still a good few niggly things to deal with but no running problems in the 50km round trip in heat so pretty happy.

Will start adding names to the car over christmas so if you have any loved ones who have battled cancer who you would like to see on the car let me know.

Proof!

Made a detour on the way home from work today so I could have a bit of fun on the Daimler when I got home (I actually drove the Daimler to work which was great to be able to do!)

Hotrodders and Kustomisers should be able to see where this is going



No expense spared


If this doesn't work it's going to be REAL hard to undo...



SUCCESS! Wrapped with the results, especially as it all took less than 20min 😀

Tops, I havent seen that done for about 30+ years

I've got an article on how to do it properly (as opposed to how I did it) in an edition of Chopped magazine from a couple of years ago, inspired me to give it a shot

around 40 degrees here today in Melbourne, what better time to be painting a car?

First up was to finish the lacework. A little masking uP


Being so hot the paint was dry almost as it came out of the car so I could unmask nice and quick to check the results


SUCCESS! The Suus Cruising 2013 Shitbox Rally 2013 car has now been SUUSed 🙂



While I was on a roll I decided to get the markers out and start preparing to add names to the car. First the paper template:


Then about half an hour with the marker on each side of the car:

With a few days left in 2012 we are less than $10 off reaching $1,000 in donations and fundraising, which we are very proud of. We will hopefully have a few major sponsors locked in who we can announce fairly shortly too.
If you would like to add a couple of dollars the link as always is Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013

Making the most of the Christmas/New Years break we began to add some names to the car. Earlier this year we asked for people to provide the names of loved ones who have fought cancer who they would like remembered on the car. We have received nearly 40 names so far, and we added every one of them today.

As you can see there is still space in the Jaguar, and we have not even started to add any names to the second side of the car. We are happy to add as many names as are given to us right up until the rally, so if there is someone you would like included please let me know.

And in a matter of hours not only have we reached our target for 2012, but we've doubled it! Over $2100 is very exciting. We've still got around $6,000 to raise to reach our overall target for entry this year but we are excited to be this far so early. Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far, it is greatly appreciated.

I am touched by your efforts. You guys are amazing. Will definietely be donating to your effort and I love the way you are adding names on the car. PM sent.

A big patch of dead grass on the front lawn indicates the replacement left fuel tank is no better than the original, so rather than go hunting for another replacement I decided to have a go at patching the original. You can certainly see why this one was leaking!





2 tubes of repair putty later and I chucked a quick coat of left over purple over everything so that when the tank is test-filled I will hopefully be able to see the leak from the bleeding paint



CB radio is in (just need to buy an antenna)


Exciting toy is in also, will hopefully become a handset for the CB 😀


And we are now at near 50 names. If I have forgotten any please let me know.

Finally got the tank to hold fuel on Friday night


And just in time too, as we had the Daimler's public debut on Saturday at Kustom Nats! Was a great day out. the car travelled the farthest it has in the time we've owned it (I covered close to 300km all up in the day, about half the distance we will be covering each day of the rally), returning 15L/100km 'economy'. Only issues to report are an overly enthusiastic alternator, a sticky fueltank switch and a wire connector broken to the left hand fuel pump, so not too bad at all!

Was a great day out, we added about 10 names to the car, filling the left hand side leaper and beginning on the right. We also raised a fair bit of awareness and around $140 in donations. Was a great event as always and we really appreciate the organisers allowing us in.

If anyone is interested to see more of Kustom Nats I have plenty of pics here:

http://suusdesign.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/kustom-nats-2013.html

Finally got around to splicing my test gopro video from KustomNats together. Shot mostly from the Shitbox Daimler's bonnet, take a little look at a great day out:



We're not too far off hitting $3,000 in donations now, very happy with that result with several months to go!
http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising

Had a lazy long weekend when it comes to the Daimler but still got a little done. Had a bit of fun with a spare badge I had kicking around to confuse some people and added a little housepaint to the tyres 😀 (How could we not when they have a brand name like that?!)






In very exciting news we have a fundraising event coming up with the South Sea Roller Derby league in March. We are wrapped with the opportunity and will provide more details shortly. http://www.southsearollerderby.com/

Had a bit of fun with the Daimler this week. We'll be attending a couple of club events during the coming week so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finish off the cars from the 2012 rally drawn on the passenger side of the car. Also did a matching set on the drivers side of known cars of the 2013 rally 🙂
Feeling all motivated I painted whitewalls onto the front tyres to match the rears, but sadly rain from this week washed them all off 🙁 Anyone know if you can use enamel or other oil based paints on tyres without doing damage? Keen to paint them on again in something more permanent!

On the practical side I replaced all the remaining fuel lines front to rear to eliminate any chance of a leak in the vicinity of Lucas electrics. Even more important now that I've noticed the Alternator is a Lucas unit!

What an amazing week!

Wednesday night we had the pleasure of joining the Jaguar Club of Victoria for their first meeting of the year. We made a small presentation on the rally and our participation to an overwhelmingly positive crowd, we were nearly nudging club members out of the way with the car to leave the venue at 11pm. The response was overwhelming, with plenty of recommendations and suggestions for modifications and preparations to make. We are very proud to announce the Jaguar Club of Victoria as our first official sponsors of 2013! Their support will bring us up over $3000 in fundraising so far which is very exciting with 3 months to go.
http://jagvic.org.au/

We were pretty tied up over the weekend but still managed to progress the artwork somewhat.

What a hot week it has been here in Melbourne! took the Daimler for a quick test run today since it's been a week or 2, still driving beautifully. Going to start on a bash plate soon, anyone know if it is possible to easily raise the front suspension a little on these? Theresa had some friends over and we got plenty of drawing done!

Any Roller Derby fans out there?

Saturday March 23rd the South Sea Roller Derby is holding a Bruise Cruise bout against the WA Roller Derby, and $1 from every ticket goes to our Shitbox Rally fundraising! So get along to see a great bout if you can get to Keysborough on the day.



Facebook event for more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/346113275498735/

And our direct fundraising page as always:
http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising

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 🙂

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 ( http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising )






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

http://vimeo.com/shitboxrally/barefootbowls

Shitbox Rally Fundraising Tips: Barefoot Bowls from Shitbox Rally on Vimeo.

Looks like your making some great progress!
How's the other jag going 😉?

Thinking of selling the other Jag, I love it but I don't have the money to own it and keep it in the condition it deserves with everything else going on in my life at the moment 🙁 After one? 😉

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.

Suus Cruising had a wonderfully successful weekend this weekend!

We had 2 events in 2 days, the South Sea Roller Derby hosted us at their Bruise Cruise round against the Western Australia Roller Derby league on Saturday night then we were back up bright and early Sunday Morning for a Bunnings BBQ at Nunnawading.

Between these 2 events we managed to raise around $1,700 in one weekend, bringing our overall total to over $6,300!! Needless to say we are wrapped with this effort so far. We have also broken 100 name dedications on the car, with 112 at last count, if anyone wants to add to this please let me know, we have nearly filled the leapers but will find another location on the car once they are full.

For anyone who followed us in the Shitbox Rally 2012 I have some exciting news; I have heard a strong rumour that Moore Style, who purchased our little Vauxhall Victor after the 2012 rally, will be campaigning it again in 2013! We are stoked that the car still exists, and if the rumours are true can't wait to be reunited with it in Adelaide!! 😀

Does the AC work? I'm selling my beetle because I really need the AC (suit wearing man I am)

AC hasn't been used in 20 years, No idea if it is just gas or a bigger rebuild of the system as the previous owner preferred windows to aircon. It was on my to-do list for next summer.

Pleasantly little done on the Daimler this long weekend. Still running OK, so I got up to a little decorating.

We get to welcome our second major sponsor this week, Automobility, manufacturers of top quality wheelchair accessible vehicles. We greatly appreciate them coming on board with us again this year. http://www.automobility.com.au/

I've cut all the materials for the sump guard and will hopefully be fitting it up tomorrow, would be very keen to get some advice: I am planning on using some 30x3 RHS at each end, one bit welded along the back of the front subframe and another across the bottom of the transmission tunnel to get the plate low enough to leave a good gap to the alloy sump. As the subframe is rubber mounted I do not want to make the plate too rigid in case it causes stresses between the parts so I am thinking of a single 5x100mm piece of flat bar running down the middle of the car between the RHS, then a skin of 1.2mm across the top. I am planning on welding the RHS and flat bar to the car, then tech screwing the sheet steel over the top so that it can be removed if we need to get to the sump/power steering/oil cooler etc. The guard is there to stop big rocks bouncing up into the alloy sump.

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!
http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising

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.

anyone have any info about the boat car... i love it.
Heath

No idea, heavily modified beetle chassis, was at Kustom Nats earlier this year in a slightly less modified form. it is LOW!

WE'RE FOR SALE!!
http://www.manheim.com.au/passenger-vehicles/3736544/1974-daimler-sovereign-sedan?referringPage=AuctionListing&franchiseID=MANHEIM

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 http://www.revium.com.au/ ! 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! http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising

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 http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/suuscruising

For those interested in keeping track during the rally there will be plenty of great video and images uploaded to http://www.shitboxrally.com.au/ 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.

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.

EXCELENT result and it sure looks like you had a ball.👍👍👍 congrats on the engagement (if I read that correctly 🙄)

You did, thankyou 🙂

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

Awesome. Good on you for doing some good fundraising, and having a great adventure. Congratulations on the engagement.

A timely reminder of what the rally is really all about, one of our greatest supporters in our rally involvement has just passed away in his 40's after a long battle. While we have a huge deal of fun on the rally this is why we really do it, to support those with cancer and work towards keeping those without it without it.