kevin the chicken

I think my tester does what he is supposed to, everything else of ours that he has tested before has had an emissions test. When a tester sees the q plate he knows that he is unable to pinpoint the year of manufacture so can't really apply any year related tests. I suppose that is a bit easier for him though.

I had this the other day after queuing to get in to a show. The car was really hot and when I knocked the ignition off it wouldn't restart so I pushed it out of the way and tried again a little later when it started fine and has been ok ever since. I put this down to heat soak into the starter. It doesn't always engage properly anyway so it is on the list for replacement in the winter anyway

A q plate will help with emissions testing, my tester watches me drive into the garage and passes me on on emissions if there is no visible smoke. Some people are quite snobby about q plates, saying that it affects resale value but I don't know if if that is true. Probably is on new cars but I like the simplicity at mot time so don't even consider it. Each to their own. Besides you will be very lucky to recoup what you spend on the car build if you decide to sell anyway.

Before you part with any cash make sure it says robin hood (not sierra or sierra sport or anything similar) on the log book. Also make sure that it has a chassis number that tallies with the log book. There has been somebody on this forum recently who purchased a car only to find out that the numbers didn't match up and DVLA wants them to put it through testing again. Oh and make sure the engine number is the same as the logbook too. Insurance is usually surprisingly cheap, depending on age and claims history of course . I insure mine with frank pickles for about 120 pounds a year on a limited mileage of 3000. Others use a plan or Adrian flux, ring round and see what they can offer. Mine is a series 7 too but has a redtop engine as opposed to the majority which seem to be pinto engined but the insurers don't seem to bother to much about how they are powered. Having thrust all that information at you, welcome to the forum. When you get your car post some pictures, somebody may recognise it. Any other questions just ask on here, most of mine seem to answered in about ten minutes! Kevin

Zed is right, go for 15s, 14s gives you very little choice of tyre.

I can't advise you on the actual size wheels you need but look at the availability and prices of the type of tyres you are likely to fit before plumping for a particular size. I wanted to fit a dry weather biased tyre as I have no wet weather gear and found that it was actually cheaper to buy some new wheels to be able to get the tyres I wanted. I was very limited in choice until I changed to 15 inch wheels and then suddenly the world was my oyster!

I would have said that any standard pads should be able to lock up the wheels. After all the car will only weigh roughly half what a normal car does. I would start with a good clean and deglaze if you need to if the pedal feels ok. I have no idea what pads are on mine but in an emergency situation it's very easy to lock up especially the fronts, although I still have my servo. I think that when you change things like this which are operated almost instinctively it is sometimes hard to acclimatise but if you can't lock the wheels then it's not you, it's a mechanical problem!

The block isn't a ballast resistor is it?probably miles off the mark but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the post. See if you can post a photo of it.

Went to the cars on the green event yesterday and came away very impressed. Held in Nowton park in bury st Edmunds, this event is free to enter and to attend with a suggested voluntary donation of a quid for the public car park. With it being free and seven or eight hundred cars booked to attend you can imagine how busy it was. Set in a large public park with cars lined up amongst the trees, it was subtly marshalled with ample facilities and most of the cars were privately entered rather than with clubs so they were mixed up so you were likely see a mini next to a corvette. A lot of the cars were modified rather than concours which I find more interesting not being a bolt counter. All money raised goes to charity, put it in your diary for next year. Thanks to Martin pidd for organising our entries

I have already done the things you mention, it has a new radiator which has deflectors to ram air through it rather than around, the bonnet has louvred, all the hoses are new. It does seem that the engine compartment is thermo-nuclear hot when you remove the bonnet though not as hot as it was before I wrapped the exhaust . I may however prop the rear of the bonnet up slightly to see if that makes any difference. I was tinkering today and had a look at the fan setting and it is set too low, I think my rolling road man turned it down as he mainly works with pintos or maybe he did it just for the rolling road run. Anyway I will turn it up higher and see how often it comes on then. Thanks for your comments

My sensor is in a joiner between the thermostat and the radiator. Does running the lower temperature thermostat make any difference to the running temperature? I don't know what stat is in mine, perhaps it would make sense to put a lower temperature stat in and set my fan the same as yours. At least then I would know it was right as you have run a lot more miles with yours than I have with mine, although as I said I haven't had any overheating issues since I put a header tank on. The redtop does seem to run a bit hotter than a lot of other engines

At what temperature should I set my electric fan to cut in on my redtop? I don't have a problem but the fan does seem to come on quite a lot so I was wondering if it's set too low.

Another tv show for me to avoid then. Can't stand him

If you have lost this amount through a leak or evaporation I am sure there would be a constant smell of fuel in a closed garage. I recently had a non start issue with mine due to a perished rubber pipe where you could smell fuel but not see any leak, the pipe was just cracked enough to stop the fuel being drawn out of the tank by the pump. This was fairly new pipe too, so that roll of pipe has now been assigned to other duties as it was obviously not fit for purpose. It can and does feel like one thing after another sometimes but it sounds like you are nearly at the finish so don't give up. After my recent experience I would take any rubber pipes off while the tank is empty and examine them by bending to look for cracks and then if you can't find anything fill up and look for leaks. I finally found my leak by putting my finger over the end of the pipe and blowing through the other, it was that hard to see. God I love the taste of premium unleaded in the morning

I used rtv to join the flexible joiner to my down pipe and the can to that. This was on the advice either from the can manufacturer or from somebody at CBS, both of whom should know what they are talking about. So far after 18 months it is still ok. I do remember they said you can use silicone but rtv is the best. I think someone on here said that silicone can affect lambda sensors so just be careful where you use it

The breather valves you mentioned are designed to let air into the tank as the fuel is used but to shut should the car become inverted so that the fuel can't escape. I looked at them but decided that they were too expensive for what they were. To work properly they have to mounted vertically,either in the tank itself or inline in a piece of pipe.Therefore I put a breather tube in that goes up as high as possible in the car then goes down outside the car to a point lower than the bottom of the fuel tank so again if the car became inverted fuel would not escape. With the tube outside the car there is no smell of petrol fumes either. You could block off your breather and drill your fuel cap as an alternative.

Yes happy birthday dave. A mere boy

My wife said that Hammond and may are in negotiation with Netflix to carry on with a similar series but with clarkson in a production position. Not sure how much truth there is in that though. I agrees it probably has run its course now, it never bothered me if I missed it as most of it had no connection with the real world and you can only get laughs for the same joke so many times. It did have its moments though.

Have you seen the set that CBS sell? I wanted some for the wife's spartan which were not too expensive. They worked out slightly more expensive than the etb ones as a set but you got two extra instruments. They are more of a retro style than modern so may not suit your need but they are not that different from the smiths style. Caerbont industries do several different styles, I like the ones with yellow faces

Bet you still get covered in it though. I use one of those syringes for my unimog and my landrover. That ep ninety gear oil really stinks and you just can't seem to wash it off

Shouldn't want to re-shoe it on my salary.

I think I got some from demon tweeks. They sell it by the metre and in different sizes. Go for the largest size you can for obvious reasons.

Like mick I prefer to use parts made by well known companies. You may well able to save a bit of cash on something that looks ok but I know that if I have a problem I can stilll get hold of the company and that they have to protect their good name with good customer service. As mick said, each to their own.

That sender was in and out like a fiddlers elbow today but I have now by judicious bending and rebending got it to read half full with four gallons of fuel in it. Hopefully it will read less with less fuel in and then I will be satisfied.

8x8x36 comes out around 37 litres according to a couple of calculators I found on the net. I hope it's correct because that's the basis for my setup for my fuel gauge. Tell me I right please.