peter_m7uk

Hi Graham, I saw your comment about the propshaft, just wanted to tell people what I'd done as a precaution against diff movement. Hope your problem is now solved?! On my figures, I was just taking the gear ratios for a Type 9. A gearbox acts as a torque multiplier, so it's straightforward to see the difference between engine torque and gearbox output torque. The build is coming along slowly but steadily! I am getting close to the stage of fitting the engine and gearbox into my rolling chassis now. Would love to be ready for the summer, but God knows if that's possible! Check out the rest of my Build Pictures. Pete

"richard has said that the forces when decelerating in gear are larger than when accelerating , this is when i have the problem. the car that spun its diff has a large ammount of horses , and mine has a high compression engine which may account for my problem." Graham, not sure that this is true.. In the worst case, engine braking from high rpm in 1st gear with a type 9 box, the maximum torque applied to the diff is 3.65 times the torque of an engine spinning with a closed throttle at high rpm. (The engine naturally decelerates rapidly anyway, so if you brake hard a lot of the work in slowing down the engine is done by the engine) I doubt if these forces are greater than accelerating hard in any gear other than possibly 5th, where the torque applied to the diff is only 0.82 times the torque of the engine. Any comments? Pete

Hey Lightweighters, Just wanted to show you what I did in response to these worries - I decided to use the holes in the back of the diff for a bit of extra support. I got a couple of bits of 3mm mild steel and made up a bracket. Was a bit fiddly to retrofit given that you can't see what you're doing in the diff box and that I already had the fuel tank in! Anyway, please click on the links to check out the Diff Brackets and Diff Rear Mount. I reckon that should do it! My only worry is that the original Sierra rear mount used rubber to connect the chassis and diff. Presumably this was done to account for movement of the rear suspension subframe relative to the chassis and would damp out any shocks? The Lightweight does not use separate subframes, so hopefully this method shouldn't be too stiff! After all, it's there in the first place to stop movement. Cheers, Pete

If it's any help, my 2.0 Pinto EFi idling problem was cured 100% by simply cleaning the butterfly valve. I took the valve apart and scraped every last tiny deposit off it, so that the butterfly would close cleanly and completely. Went from hunting up and down in speed to a lovely smooth idle. I'd be willing to bet that this may be your problem too. Pete

For anyone who's interested, my Lightweight is now a rolling chassis Check out the pics at My Website Pete

Anyone tried reversing the 12V supply to make it spin the other way??? Pete

OK guys, I spoke to GAZ about this problem and it turns out that they can do the t-bar idea for me. Apparently, they have Cortina dampers which mount something like this. It will put my mind at rest to have it done by them, rather than crush the tube and worry about it breaking or the bush wearing out quickly. However, the existing bottom eyelet is 1/2" diameter, but their Cortina bar is 3/4" diameter, so I'll have to send the front dampers back for modification. The guy said about £20+vat per damper mod and t-bar, so I don't think that's too bad. Thanks for your learned advice once again Pete

Hi Tim, Yes, I already have the dampers. I did a load of calculations using a bit of trigonometry to work out how best to get the suspension right with the new dampers. It turns out that none of the GAZ coilover dampers are quite right if I use the bracket that GBS supplied, hence my idea to use a different mounting bracket... Incidentally, the suspension travel is very well set up for the Zeemerides, having done the calculations!! They give 18 degrees up and down on the Lightweight. I told Technical Richard about this and he said it must have been luck!! Pete

Thanks for the reply, Nigel. My original question was really a mild v stainless steel comparison, but from what I've read, stainless is generally stronger than mild in terms of yield strength (when it starts to bend) and ultimate strength (when it snaps). It is perhaps a bit more brittle (likely to snap without bending) if it's been work hardened, but I suppose "brittle" is a relative term - We're not talking about glass here! I tried crushing a bit of the tube from work and it certainly didn't seem brittle i.e. It deformed smoothly and without any cracks. So my conclusion, at least, is that stainless would be ok. As for your points on mounting brackets, I was originally sold a bracket by Robin Hood and bought 1/2" high tensile bolts to mount the damper bottom with the bolt in double shear. However, this didn't give me enough travel. Therefore, I looked at the Zeemeride method, which uses the crushed tube approach - Has anyone had their Zeemerides fail at this mounting point??? I agree that this is a weaker mounting than the bracket and bolt method, but the forces would be transmitted through such a short section of tube that it would take a really colossal force to actually bend it. For this reason, I'm inclined to believe that it will be ok. Any further comments are welcome. Pete

In order to mount my new Gaz dampers to my Lightweight wishbones to give enough travel, I am going to do something similar to the Zeemerides. That is, running a tube through the bottom mounting eye and crushing it flat at each end, then bolting the flats to the wishbone. I need 1/2" tube for this and I got some 16 gauge stainless from the rack at work, but I seem to recall discussions about stainless being a poorer choice than standard steel?? I don't know if this is definitely true or what property of stainless would make it worse, but I'd be glad to hear any facts on this... Cheers, Pete

Cheers Turbo! I did some calculations and found that the Zeemeride suspension gives 18 degrees of travel up and down (36degrees in total) and 3.6 inches up and down (7.2inches in total). I'm trying to aim for something similar. Pete

Have been working on my Lightweight suspension, which is to be altered to run with GAZ shockers instead of the wondrous Zeemerides So, in changing the set-up, the question arises of how much is a correct/normal amount of travel for the front wishbones?? If you get 10 degrees up and down, is that about ok? I reckon if the tyre centreline is a foot from the pivot points, then 10 degrees will give you 4 inches of vertical body movement from top to bottom and 15 degrees will give you 6 inches. Anyone actually measured this on their car??? Cheers, Pete

Hi Jon, I live by Dyke Road, so very handy for me. However, 9am on a Sunday isn't so easy, especially as I normally go out for a few refreshments on a Saturday night Maybe I'll try to take it easy and see you there, but don't hold your breath! Cheers, Pete

Thanks for the advice, chaps. I already got some half-nuts from Namrick, Bob, but they're too fat for the job. I was thinking of cutting or grinding them down, or doing some other surgery with my nuts , but just wanted to hear what other people thought. Pete

I am connecting up my braking system at the back and I want to attach the flexible hose brake union to the chassis with a bracket. The normal way is to put a half nut or lock nut over the hose's male thread and tighten it to the bracket before tightening up the brake union. However, the gap between the bracket and female brake nut is pretty small, so I need a skinny M10x1 nut, that looks a bit like this: Lock Nut . However, they seem to be impossible to find in this country!!! Anyone got any ideas?? Cheers, Pete

Trev, Thanks for the reply. By the way, what happened to your Lightweight Blog?!! I used to like looking at the pics in there, but seems to have been cut down to the finished photos. Does it still exist somewhere???? Pete

I tried a Sierra wheel on my LW the other day and realised the standard 14" rims don't actually fit the LW rear hub design, as the inside of the the rim touches the hub carrier! I was going to stick the Sierra wheels on during the build, then put some smart new larger diameter rims on at the end, but seems I'll have to get the new ones now. What size of rim are we all using? Anyone know the minimum needed - is it 15" or 16" ? Cheers, Pete

The current method in Hollywood to avoid showing your knickers is to not wear any! Pete

Just got my ETB instruments through the post The fuel sender unit comes with 6 holes around a circular disc at the top, where you're supposed to put bolts through to clamp it down. The obvious question is: How do you tighten the bolts up if one end is inside the tank?! I thought of rivnuts, but won't they protrude slightly and lead to a poor seal? I suppose I could bond it on, but it would be good to make it detachable later. Any ideas appreciated? Pete

My engine is a 2.0EFi Pinto and the donor was a 1989 Ghia model. Just wanted to know how the breather works for general info - I'm not reusing the Sierra one. Also so I can plan a breather for the Lightweight. Cheers, Pete

I will shortly be installing the fuel tank and filler on my Lightweight and I was thinking about a breather system, but not really sure what to do. I kept the filler and all the attached bits from my Sierra, as you can see in this pic: fuel filler system . My question is how it all works?! Obviously the large diameter pipe goes straight from the cap down into the tank, but there seems to be a second smaller pipe which would have gone to the tank. Presumably this lets air out when you fill at the pump? But what are the 2 bits attached to the side of the large pipe and the other hoses. Some sort of valve and air flow arrangement, but what do they do and how? Hope someone can help Pete

Yeah, but why was that called a Surrey?!

Yeah, EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation. These valves always occur somewhere along a pipe between exhaust and inlet manifold. If there is no pipe between the two, then you definitely don't have EGR. Pete

Great pics Graham! So you junked the boot covers, eh? Wondering if I'll have to do the same, but still cogitating. It's just that my fuel tank is tall enough to make the RH-supplied filler neck and cap stick up quite high. The plastic covers are raised, so they give me the height that I wouldn't get from a flat sheet across the back. But a flat sheet would be easier and probably look better! Hmm, need to think of something cunning... Pete

I tried Adrian Flux again, specifically mentioning FT laid up. Their quote was around £112. I then spoke to MSM, who quoted me £52.50, although their excess is £250... Otherwise, I have been totally unable to find anyone else to insure. These policies are not strictly garage contents, they don't include tools, but they do include fire, theft etc of the kit and all donor components with receipts. Debating now whether to go for it. Pete