kevin the chicken

My wife says the problem with vinyl is that it can slip out of place when you are sewing it with a sewing machine. You can buy a walking foot for most machines which negates this problem. If you are sewing multiple thickness then a denim needle would be a good idea, size 16 or 18. Rather than pinning before you sew use quilters fabric clips which are like mini bulldog clips. Pity you are not nearer here I would get her to give you some lessons. Aldi and lidl have been selling cheap sewing machines, with good reviews so a cheap second hand one would probably be up to the job. How thick is the vinyl? Have you got a saddler near you, they would be able to do it.

OK thanks. I'll see how I get on tomorrow, I'll make a few phone calls

I definitely need a laminated screen this time. My car was first registered 1996 so I would have thought your screen is about the same age. I don't know how to tell if it is laminated or toughened until it breaks! If it's a case of 90 quid I may just go that way especially if they can put it in properly for me. I could even take the screen frame to them. But it's good of you to offer, thanks.

Series 7 stainless steel chassis.

I had a union meeting to go to today and having no other transport other than borrowing mums car had kept an eye on the weather forecast. Looked favourable if cold so set off for my 35 mile journey in the kit. 4 miles down the road, bang went a stone straight through the windscreen. Luckily I was wearing a fur hat and polycarbonate sunglasses even though it wasn't sunny so didn't take too many hits and thankfully no injury. Stopped,knocked the rest out, put my helmet on and carried on. Now where is the best place to get a replacement cut. Has anybody had one done anywhere near me? Am I best looking for an independent fitter rather than a major chain. I did try half heartedly once before to get a laminated screen but was put off by the price so bought a pair of protective glasses instead. Gone right off the idea of an aeroscreen now.

Was that a dugout canoe bob? I am surprised at how cheap you can pick up an industrial sewing machine, some of them look seriously heavy duty items. I'll let Claire research the best buy and then you can all measure your cars up and I'll get her to run a few off!!

No chance at the moment of getting another cover made, too many ballet and ballroom outfits waiting at the sewing machine so I will just have a go at waterproofing this one. I did say I would buy my wife an industrial sewing machine so there should be no excuse for not getting some stuff done for me. Would like a surrey top really, not a full top as it would only be for if I get caught out. Or to keep the sun off. Haha.

I want to waterproof my tonneau cover again. Last time I think I used something out of an aerosol like fabsil, it did work but not for long. Is there anything better out there that other people have used?

I have had similar problems with mine. When I changed the needle valves due to one sticking I checked the float heights and found one was way out. I reset it and afterwards had trouble with flooding. Put it back to its original height and problem solved.

I think that's where my last one came from. I have had it some years and mostly used it in the garage to keep the dust off but now the flock lining is disintegrating leaving tiny bits all over the car so it's not even any use inside. I don't intend to leave mine outside all the time, just when the weather is OK for a few days and I am likely to use it

Rather have another 20bhp.

OK thanks for the prompt replies. Sounds like a halfords cover is favourite. What size have you used on a seven type car

Can't help with the bike carb's but have you checked the needle valves on the 45s. Also is the float height correct. Nothing wrong with a dutton, we're not snobby on here.

Can anybody recommend a decent car cover?. When the weather gets a bit better I want to leave my car parked up by my house as getting it out of the garage is a pain due to other things always being in the way. Should get more use out of it if I can just go out of the door and hop in.

Well done. Straight away you have got confidence in your car and now the good weather is to come. Hopefully

Car builder solutions sell the fuel gauge matcher. Others on here have had success with it but I couldn't get it to work. Probably just something I was doing wrong. I ended up getting a new sender and then adjusting it by bending the wire so altering it's operation so that I could get a better reading. It now reads full for ages but it is dead accurate at half a tank so that I know to think about filling up.

I have an oil catch can on my redtop engine. The pipe runs from the cam cover into the side of the can and there is a mesh breather fitted to an outlet on the top. Originally the pipes were the other way round but I would get oil vapour in the engine bay making everything nasty and greasy so I swapped the pipes round and put a larger breather on. This cured the problem. There is an outlet on the bottom which I blocked up with a piece of hose and a bolt with a jubilee clip. I just periodically check and drain anything collected in it. You don't really want to be piping anything collected back in to the engine as it will contain water that has been evaporated off as well as oil.

No its not left on the whole time, there is a heat position on the ignition switch that you use before you turn it to start. At least that's my understanding. Once you turn from heat to start the plug is switched off and the valve inside shuts off the flow of fuel in to the element. I'll find out at the weekend if my wire turns up.

No its controlled by the ignition switch. You just give it 30 seconds of heat before you start. It's on a david brown diesel, early 70s so before the ecu was invented. It's a strange looking thing, just built around a skid unit. Came from rolls royce aero engines derby.

Never mind found it elsewhere. 17 amp

Not kit car related but can't seem to get an answer anywhere else. I have an industrial tractor which has a single heater plug mounted in the inlet manifold. It is fueled by a coil of pipe running off the main fuel pipe and when the ignition switch is set to heat a small valve opens and allows fuel on to the element so that it heats up. Or at least it would if the wire was attached to it. Easy enough to replace but what size wire should I use, I would assume it would need to be bigger than most of the other stuff in the loom. There are no markings on the plug to say what amperage it draws.

When I got my car it had no tray and the battery was only secured by a home made hook and bar arrangement. I got a tray the correct size for the battery from ebay which came with a retaining strap. A couple of good size bolts with washers through the bulkhead secured the whole lot for less than 30 quid. Although I wasn't going through IVA I thought it was good practice to get some terminal covers too. A battery is a heavy thing with a lot of inertia if the car comes to a sudden stop and they can and do come loose in rtc even in production cars.

It makes me furious. We are only a small town and that is the only decent supermarket for miles. When you think of all the cost too, the lost cash and ATM, the damage to the store and their lost revenue, the police investigation, the fire service attendance and the stolen vehicles are just a few things. We are a soft target here since our police station was closed, the nearest one is now ten minutes away at least on blue lights and by the time they get here the perpetrators are long gone as they are so practiced at it. Makes a change for them to use a 4wd rather than a JCB telehandler though.

Bet you didn't have an ATM either. Ours did until about 4 this morning when a gang of scumbags extracted it with a land rover 110. We got called out because the automatic fire alarm was activated and beat the police there by a couple of minutes. Half the entrance has been pulled out. Thousands of pounds worth of damage, hopefully the machine was nearly empty.

Certainly not in stainless!