kevin the chicken

Fire extinguisher for when that great bug curly thing is glowing cherry red.

I fitted an impact switch with no problem, only a wire in and a wire out if I remember right. There is a provision for a warning light on mine so that if a pothole activates the switch the light comes on. You don't generally need a light to tell you that you have been in an Accident! It was less than a tenner and what I know about wiring can be written on the back of a postage stamps. Mines a ford one. Fit one, it's a good piece of safety equipment.

Sounds like you just need to go through the whole system and make sure it's all up to scratch. I did with mine because it had a fluid leak from the front. I used new seals and pistons, pads and shoes. I made sure it was bled properly. Small children are a useful special tool here when bleeding. Mine stops very well and I am not tempted to mess around with it. If yours still won't lock up then it is time to look at how the system is set up and work out what is wrong before spending hundreds of pounds on kit which may still not cure the issue or may only mask it. Front pistons and seals were only about forty quid when I did them.

Yes it is the one for the gauge, don't know what I would do without Google. At least I can fit that with an adaptor without the surplus one. I think that had just been left on because it plugged a hole. I would have taken it off to reduce Weight! I will turn the engine over without starting it to make sure there is oil pressure before I let it run. I took the heater out on Friday and that weighed nearly four kilos, together with my weight loss that should make for a marked improvement in performance

OK, that explains why my oil pressure was all over the place because the gauge was wired to the other sensor. It may be that the revotec gauge and the smiths sender are compatible, don't know how to find out though. Perhaps someone else on the forum has revotec gauges. Otherwise I may have to go for a known combination so that I know the gauge is reading correctly. The more I delve into this the more of a pain it gets.

Just in the process of changing bits over from my duff engine to the new one and am trying to identify what is what. On the side of the oil filter housing is an adapter to which are screwed two sensors I think. One is a small cone shaped one with a hex head which I am guessing is an oil temp sender from the original car as my car has no gauge for this. The wire for this would attach to a screw thread on top. It has no markings on it. The other is a round flat topped thing about the size of a brake slave cylinder but only an inch or less in height. It has the markings 8n-10 Kn/m2 and PTR 3000 on it. Does this sound like an oil pressure Sensor? Either way it's not the correct one for my gauge but I would like to know what they are before I bin themy Thanks Kevin

Why the heck do you think you deserve as much or more than somebody who has spent their last twenty years watching jeremy kyle or slaving away on their playstation. Honestly just because you've been serving queen and country instead of soaking up all the benefits you can. Seriously though your service record should help you surely. Plenty of driving jobs out there if you have the right licenses, if you want to do it though. They pay well too. Of course you may have another trade. I wish you well in what every you do.

Definitely worth putting an immobiliser in if you can. By their nature they are easier to steal than tin tops and people don't always steal them because they need them but just for the hell of it and if that is the case they generally set fire to them afterwards.

Probably best to put some newspaper down the back of your trousers in case you get spanked. He will soon sort you out and get you on the road again.

Bob is such a cheapskate, I'll give you a hundred if you fill it with petrol. A quick look on eBay shows a couple of cars one at 3800 or best offer and one at 4650 which is optimistic I think. Now is the time to sell though.

If nobody comes up with the goods, you might try the guy I use, advertises on eBay. Just type in weber and open up a couple of ads and you will find him. The trading name is fast road cars and the service is very good with most stuff arriving in a couple of days. Reminds me I need some manifold studs.

Problem is now resolved. I can now see what happened. The person who put the engine in carefully measured where the dipstick needed to go through the sump and then drilled the baffle plate at the right distance from the edge. Lovely neat job. Unfortunately at the wrong end of the baffle, whacked the sump on with loads of mastic oozing out both inside and out,jammed the dipstick in and went for a drive. Job done. Badly. I haven't even watched top gear, can't stand Evans and everybody said it's pants anyway.

Thanks mate, honestly you couldn't make it up could You? It's amazing that I managed to get a dipstick reading, must have just been sliding around in the oil on the baffle plate.

Probably a really stupid question but here goes. Is there any reason why my dipstick should not go all the way down in to the Sump? I am just swapping over the sbd sump on to my new engine and found that there is no way the dipstick will go in the sump as there is no hole for it in the baffle plate. There is however a hole a similar distance from the edge at the other end of the sump which has been drilled after casting so I am wondering if the numpty who built the car measured up and drilled in the wrong place and then didn't realise as the dipstick is quite bendy and slides along the plate. The picture on the sbd website only shows the frying pan shaped hole for the oil pickup pipe. I am guessing I need to drill a hole in the correct Place?

Compression test before you do anything else. That will rule out a broken piston ring which is worst case scenario hopefully. Does sound like cam or followers though if you think it is from the top end. Good luck.

Don't start me off. I used to have to deliver the dole money cheques before it was paid directly in to the bank. I had one little toe rag follow me around constantly asking if I had got his dole money until I told him to foxtrot Oscar and get a job. He said he wasn't well enough to work to which I replied you are well enough to wander around town all day drinking lager with your mates. I was nearly on the dole after that one. We still have to deliver letters to people who are on some benefit or other and there are an amazing amount of them, very few with non English names. Most of the foreign nationals around here come to work and work very hard. Hard luck on getting laid off, hope you get something soon. It makes your blood boil when you work hard nearly forty years like i have watching people who have no intention of ever working

Frequently. You need them occasionally so that you can appreciate the good ones. Little pleasures like getting the grass cut before it rains without breaking two mowers.

Postage is very difficult with some people quoting a price for a maximum size, some for weight and some couriers you just can't fathom it out so I can see how hard it must be for them when you are posting things as varied as a bulb and a radiator. They do however give a first class service so I would always use them if I was not sure about what I needed because they would know the answer or if I wanted it asap because it would be here the next day. Also their preferred courier is interlink and their depot is a two minute cycle ride away if I'm out when they call!

Damn too slow typing after a hard day at work

You will need a different intake manifold, after all you are putting two carb's on where there was only one. Different throttle cable arrangement too, twin cable is the norm I think. You will have to change the fuel lines to feed both, easy. A fuel pressure regulator is important as the webers don't like too much pressure, just lots of flow. Too much and they leak like sieves. If I remember correctly the standard pinto fuel pump will cope if it's in good nick. Thats enough expense to be going on with!

Brilliant. I might get spirit of day off award if I get this engine out today. Found one wacky piece of engineering already, the support for the clutch cable at the bottom end is a piece of bar with a deep 10mm or similar socket welded to it. That might stay because it looks solid and is out of sight but the cable will definitely not be going back through the carb linkage. Got a new long one to go on.

Did anyone see fith gear the other night? I don't usually watch it but there was nothing else on. There was a guy on who ran a company called wacky racers who had built a 1980s bedford van with a calibra turbo engine. They gave it bit of a try out and then put it up against a 500 odd horsepower Bentley they were road testing in a drag race. The Bentley won but it was very close, looked like inches at the flag. It's probably available on demand if you look. I think he said that it was his everyday transport.

Just for once I am ahead of the game. After having three hoses perish over the winter I decided to replace mine with correctly marked marine grade. My car was drained down yet the old ones just cracked and perished. Maybe we should just treat them as a consumable and replace them at regular intervals during servicing. The only downside that I can see is the marine grade I have is much bigger even though it has the same bore and may look a bit clumsy where it is visible.

Tim, Some years ago I had a land rover canvas repaired by a small boatyard at Chesterton near the river near the green dragon bridge. They may well have gone by now but that's the sort of place to try. Simpers ropework as was made a custom trailer cover for me and I know they still exist selling work wear, they were located off east road near the Elizabeth way roundabout. I don't know where they are now as I moved out of cambridge. Ely would be another good place to try as it is big on boating and is a good place to go for lunch while researching!