RichBirch127
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How did you get on in the end?
Technical Mongol Rally 2016
- Thread starter Two men in Abarth
- Start date
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Technical Mongol Rally 2016
Hey, I can update from our team "Puncture? What puncture?", and maybe a little bit from the 2 Men in Abarth as I had a chat to them afterwards.
Our car was a 2003 Seicento Active
Modifications
We made it down to Iran, but due to Turkmenistan being Turkmenistan, my visa was denied there which meant backtracking through Armenia / Georgia, Russia and then down into Mongolia
The car worked really well and took an absolute smashing at times; held together fairly well. Towards the end, the cars body was starting to give way. The door became a little harder to open and there was some nondescript squeaking over bumps.
We did have some issues. The speed sensor died about half way, so we had no speedo from that point on; outside of Europe it's not important anyway. We were getting OBD2 warnings about the O2 sensor and some misfirings as well, but that didn't seem to matter in the end.
On that note, we had a cheap OBD2 bluetooth reader that connected to the a phone using the Torque app. It was a great little device and the app was worth the few pounds. The engine light was on pretty much all the time, so it was good to see why.
The big issue was with the 14in SNOW tires. These were a mistake. They ate through everything, including the fuel tank breather hose. That hose was replaced so many times and usually poorly by dodgy mechanics. Looking back I'm not sure if I would suggest running 13s, but there were plenty of teams that did. I'd still run 14s but with a reasonable profile (say 50-60 rather than the 75 snow)
A note on Two men in abarth. They survived the rally, but only just it seems. They were rolling through Turkey, where the car made contact with a herd of goats. I was told the herder was taking them across the motorway at night, with no lights. The guys stopped, and wanted to compensate the guy for the animals. He didn't understand, and got on his phone. 20ish people came down to sort things out. The guys were saying there was a bit of nervousness as you can imagine, and managed to pay $100 US to get out of the situation.
They had totalled their radiator, but managed to sort it out with a retrofited radiator from something else.
If you want to know some more, then just ask.
Our car was a 2003 Seicento Active
Modifications
- Aluminium mesh over the radiator (good idea)
- 14in snow tyres (bad idea)
- Leather steering wheel hand grips
We made it down to Iran, but due to Turkmenistan being Turkmenistan, my visa was denied there which meant backtracking through Armenia / Georgia, Russia and then down into Mongolia
The car worked really well and took an absolute smashing at times; held together fairly well. Towards the end, the cars body was starting to give way. The door became a little harder to open and there was some nondescript squeaking over bumps.
We did have some issues. The speed sensor died about half way, so we had no speedo from that point on; outside of Europe it's not important anyway. We were getting OBD2 warnings about the O2 sensor and some misfirings as well, but that didn't seem to matter in the end.
On that note, we had a cheap OBD2 bluetooth reader that connected to the a phone using the Torque app. It was a great little device and the app was worth the few pounds. The engine light was on pretty much all the time, so it was good to see why.
The big issue was with the 14in SNOW tires. These were a mistake. They ate through everything, including the fuel tank breather hose. That hose was replaced so many times and usually poorly by dodgy mechanics. Looking back I'm not sure if I would suggest running 13s, but there were plenty of teams that did. I'd still run 14s but with a reasonable profile (say 50-60 rather than the 75 snow)
A note on Two men in abarth. They survived the rally, but only just it seems. They were rolling through Turkey, where the car made contact with a herd of goats. I was told the herder was taking them across the motorway at night, with no lights. The guys stopped, and wanted to compensate the guy for the animals. He didn't understand, and got on his phone. 20ish people came down to sort things out. The guys were saying there was a bit of nervousness as you can imagine, and managed to pay $100 US to get out of the situation.
They had totalled their radiator, but managed to sort it out with a retrofited radiator from something else.
If you want to know some more, then just ask.
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Looks like a great adventure! Nice one! Would love to see some more photos if you have any?
