Dennis The Menace's AW

The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things . . .
 
Well, only one actually.  My AW SC.  Given the time I've been on this forum my own car has only been seen in other peoples pictures, only been hinted at in other posts.  So the time has come to give it its own thread - now that it's finally made it to the head of the workshop list . . .
 
Before I return to that thought, let me give a little of the background story.  Back in the "Old Country" aka Godzone, Land of the Long White Cloud, Shibangabang etc., I was the proud owner of a 20v AW rally car. I moved to Australia (aka Western New Zealand) and started trying to get it over here.  Eventually I realised that Queensland import requirements are an exercise in frustration and I made the decision to look for a suitable replacement here.  It would have to be a) Supercharged, b) hard top, and c) white
 
Here's where the Universe stepped in.  That very afternoon a White, Hard Top Supercharged was listed on this very forum.  The weekend found my wife and I flying down to Sydney, a fair price was negotiated and we drove it home.  That was almost 6 years ago, and for most of its life it's been a little gem.  Pretty much as soon as I got it I decided that it too would be a rally car, with the ultimate aim being Targa Tasmania.
 
And so the story begins . . .
 
 

Patience, grasshopper.  Pictures will come in due course.  For now, the story continues . . .
 
 
So, we had the little AW comfortably ensconced in Queensland.  Over the course of its first year or so it enjoyed a sedate period of development :  carpets removed, "proper" seats and harnesses fitted, a little tidying in the engine bay.  Incidentally, the seat fitting was more than just bolt new ones onto the original mounts.  No, this had to be done properly, so new seat mounts were fabricated to take the new seat rails. 
 
The car was used on a number of Queensland Runs, and a year or so back it had a track day at Lakeside.  (Refer the LEADER board in the Race/Rally section, and look at which car is currently at the top for that track)
 
But now a couple of little problems manifested themselves.  On occasion one of the headlights would either not rise or not lower as required.  Slightly annoying, but I could live with it.  Until the symptoms got worse, that it.  Eventually indicators wouldn't work, a headlight would drop and rise all by itself, all the classic symptoms of a ribbon cable connector fault.  And so it was - as can be seen here . . .  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgaerry2Dcw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUAIRiKINrrMGo-CqKXRmlbw

dennis the menace
(Refer the LEADER board in the Race/Rally section, and look at which car is currently at the top for that track)

Looking forward to taking that title away from you next month ;-)


About time you got a thread started!

Already using a HANS device - tested it recently in Adelaide, though thankfully not a ultra high speed impact . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1vYyPCaaGI