kevin the chicken

I think the chap I use is now operating out of March. He seems to do most things but his speciality is pintos and Weber's so he might be your man. I'll try to find out where he is now and get his contact details

I tried one and gave up with it. The gauges and tank set up are not really very accurate at the best of times. Best do as geordie said and find the proper sender. I filled my tank half full and then bent the float wire until it showed half full. Doesn't mean it is accurate across the rest of the range Ibut I know when to think about filling up and I have a good reserve to find fuel

Dampertech will have but you are looking at a couple hundred quid probably more. He will know exactly what you need though

If you have one for a pattern try a saddle maker or a marina if you have one locally. A saddle maker will be used to handing and sewing thick materials likewise if you can find someone who mends boat canvas or sails

I can't say for sure how it is secured without looking but I am fairly sure it is held in place with p clips and self tapping screws. This is an old car though so may not meet modern standards. Having said that they are still there after 25 years

Ian makes a good point about fuel. I have copper pipe running along my transmission tunnel meaning if it deteriorates I only have to change a couple of short pieces near the tank and the pipes in the engine bay.

Does it start easily from cold?

Yet again dvla make it difficult to do the correct thing. You just know it would drag on for months if you tried any correspondence with them. I applied for a log book for a digger and before long a red letter for tax arrived but no v5. Applied again and eventually one arrived after 7 months. The application for (free) tax with covering letter was returned as it hadn't been taxed since the 80s and wasn't sorned or even on their system

I do have a windscreen but the car is still too noisy for conversation. I thought a bigger better exhaust might cure this but although it made it a bit better we still have to do with a lot of nodding and shaking of heads, pointing and then a shrug as we give up. Thanks for all your comments, I think we will stick with the cheapo set for helmet days and invest in a terratrip set for when the weather is better. They are not that cheap but you do get what you pay for generally and if it solves a problem it will be worth investing. I do like the idea of being able to plug in a dab radio or phone and we already have a set of good two way radios.

My car is finally ready to go on the road and as my daughter has finished school I am planning to take her on a couple of days out. This got me thinking about the comms set we normally use when out for any period of time. It is a really cheap one and to be fair to it , works quite well but it is fiddly with a lot of fine wires and has to be used with a helmet ,putting the ear piece in then the helmet on trying not to pull any of the wires and then the reverse before you get out. I don't always want to use a helmet so this is a limiting factor. Does anybody have any better equipment they use? I would be interested in something that I could use without a helmet or with, maybe two separate systems or one that is adaptable to use without as well. There must be something out there nowadays that is suitable and preferably without masses of wire. Tell me about yours! x

Thanks bob. Once I had calmed down I managed to find a genuine Vauxhall one on Ebay. I hadn't got the Bosch number so I'll write that on the garage wall for future reference. Just had the timing belt and water pump changed so next will be oil and filter

Could somebody kindly furnish me with the part number or numbers of available and suitable oil filters for this engine please. I thought getting one today was going to be easy when I saw that the one fitted was a halfords item. However this has been discontinued and the staff were as expected less than helpful. No wonder nobody else bothers to open on a sunday, halfords are not exactly going to take much trade away. Hopefully if I get a number I can get to a proper shop tomorrow.

I'd agree. The tie bars do make a massive difference although I did change springs and dampers too. Got them from dampertech. If you need any photos of the tie bar arrangement just ask

I had some bolts in a dodge v8 head which had rusted away so that there was no head left. An engineer I knew ground off the rust and then got a scrap bolt and attached it with a couple of zaps of a welder and turned them out with a spanner. Some took a couple of goes as the weld broke but they all came out in short order. Probably bigger bolts than yours though.

I bought some from gbs several years ago but they were a bit pricey. Still haven't got around to fitting them as the old bent ones are still hanging together

There is a hamlet in Lincolnshire called new York but I don't think its famous for its welding supplies or retail outlets

Churchill have reduced my premium on my tintop by a tenner for the last two years. Keep it up!

Yeah I googled it after I posted. The thackeray washers are about 99p each! My mechanic didn't look at me gap he just tried to move the carbs. One of my carbs has a slight blockage in the idle circuit so that it doesn't idle very smoothly but can't shift it with an airline so left it alone

Carbs shouldn't be bolted too tight, there should be some rubber spacers between manifold and carbs to stop vibrations transferring across and making fuel froth up. The have a specific name which escapes me at the moment. They were the first thing that my mechanic checked. If it won't start without throttle then surely there is a blockage on the idle circuit or the idle jets are too small. A properly set up pair of Weber's work well and sound awesome

I put some vents in mine. Once I was sure it was marked correctly I drilled a couple holes and started with a hacksaw blade. After a few minutes I got bored with that and got the angle grinder out with a 1mm disc on it. Fortunately I have a reasonably steady hand and it worked well.

If the stat opens at 85 then that is the bottom end of the operating range. I would have thought 95 would be fine, after all you only want to stop it from boiling and that won't happen until over 100 due to the coolant being under pressure. That's how my red top is set up and it works fine

Ah yes that may well be it.

You can get those cheap little balancing gadgets which work off the vacuum the carbs produce. I had considerable success with them on rover v8 engine. Peter has probably hit the nail on the head there

CTEK. Used on all cambridgeshire fire and rescue service front line vehicles for years. Not cheap though

I thought we probably still hadn't got rid of our problem, after all it makes sense that the two I had caught were a breeding pair. I checked the traps this morning and one was upside down with the tail visible, so I said to my wife just the one in here but when I picked it up there were two in it!! Both juveniles but I have never done or seen that before. I agree traps are the best solution, the metal ones do work but wooden ones are best as you can bend the wire that holds the spring to adjust sensitivity. Mine go off half the time before they are in position but if they go off in the night I always have an occupant. Thats two more for toffee by the way!!!