peter_m7uk

He's from Sunderland, you can't expect much

JEZ, clean the throttle butterfly valve as well. I had the same problem and cleaned the idle valve, with no effect. But when I removed the circular plate and scraped every last bit of muck from it so that the valve could close cleanly, the engine behaved itself! Pete

I agree that is a *superb* looking Lightweight! I see he shifted the handbrake to the tunnel top - Would be interested in more details for that mod. Anyone know who built it and if he's ever been on Rhocar?!! Pete

Keith, I have been using Evostik Nail&Seal. It has a tensile strength of 1.5 to 1.8 MPa (eg 150 to 180kg to seperate 10 square cm) and is resistant to water, oil, petrol and other chemicals and can be painted. It does not shrink, so panels do not get warped on setting. And it's available from Focus, B&Q etc for about a fiver for 300ml. In my experience, it's very easy to work with and the joins are very,very strong. Pete

OK, I've got 8mm OD copper pipe for the main fuel runs now, 6mm ID rubber hose to join things up, and a small inline filter to go between tank and pump. Just wondering what the 15mm to 8mm plumbing connection looks like and where I could get one? Also, my local motor factor didn't have any 15mm ID hose to join the tank to the pump - Is this an unusual size? Do I need to go to Ford directly perhaps? Thanks again, Pete

Has a Lightweight made its way in there?!

Hi Steve, What type of filter did you fit, as the Sierra didn't originally have one between tank and pump? Another Q to all: What did you use to secure the flexible fuel hose to the metal fuel hose, as the pressure may be high? Do you reckon jubilee clips will be enough? Pete

Thanks for the help, guys

Hi injection dudes, I took the engine out of my Sierra over a year ago and now I'm not quite sure about the fuel system that will go in my Lightweight. I threw the fuel tank out, but I've still got the level sender, the fuel pump, filter and the various gubbins which bolt onto the engine. My numpty questions are: 1) Do I need a swirl pot? I'm sure I was once told that the EFi fuel pump contained a swirl mechanism of some sort, but I spoke to Rich Hall at Robin Hood and he told me my fuel tank would need a built-in swirl pot. Was there one inside the Sierra fuel tank on EFi cars? 2) I still have a section of fuel pipe that went from the pump to the filter, but what size and type of pipe went from the tank to the pump? Also, in the return circuit, there is a piece of tube still attached to my fuel pressure regulator, but this pipe is only about a foot long. I didn't cut it, so what size and type of tube went from the end of this pipe back into the tank? 3) Finally, will I be able to re-use the tank level sender in a Robin Hood tank? Also, I have seen senders which have two tubes coming out of the top. Mine has no tubes and is sealed apart from a couple of wires. What would these tubes be for and why don't I have them? Hope someone can help! Cheers, Pete

All these Lightweights for sale are going to be serious bargains, folks! I can't understand why you selling guys don't just strengthen up the existing design?? You've already done a lot of work, so why not just do a bit extra and get it through SVA????? If I wasn't already building one, I'd snap that up like a flash!! Battery Bill, you've got to do it!!!! Pete

Interesting! The only other Lightweights to have been passed at Nottingham are Robin Hood's and Simon Goodall's (diyer). I've seen build pictures of Simon's car and it isn't "heavily" modified, although I think he strengthened up the seat belt mounts. As for Robin Hood's car, that was copied by Trevor Bennett for submission to Southampton. Again, that wasn't much different to the original construction shown on the build DVDs. All I can think is that the Nottingham centre are more or less happy with the basic design and described the car as "heavily modified" to Steve Bardsley! Pete

Mark, I'm very interested that you said the EXMO was a monocoque as well... Anyone got any pictures of the EXMO chassis under construction??? Pete

But zinc and zinc-aluminium alloys are often used as corrosion protection. They both form oxide layers which prevent any further corrosion, so there may be a small amount initially which will stop once the oxide layer is formed... Pete

I've already begun the replacement of screws in the rear box sections with M6 high tensile bolts. I got them from Namrick in Hove and they're zinc plated. Zinc and aluminium are right next to each other in the galvanic voltage range, so corrosion will be next to nothing. So take note, use zinc fasteners on your ali chassis! Anyone else who is doing this, another good tip is to get a telescopic magnetic pick-up tool. I used this to place the nuts and washers inside the box sections and line them up with the holes left by the removed screws. To tighten up the nuts, I forced a 10mm spanner into the end of a piece of tube and pushed the tube along the box sections until I get could the ring over the nut. If you do all this, a tricky sounding job becomes surprisingly easy Pete

Yeah, I'll check to see if the bushes are going to be out of alignment at the moment, and if tweaking the wishbones will bring the bushes into or further out of line. I agree that this is the most important aspect, as the bend required will not be much. Like Nishka said "if you have to force it something is wrong", but I'd rather apply the force to the wishbone before mounting, than a permanent force to the chassis and bushes due to levering the wishbones in. Pete

Hi Nishka, Points taken, I can appreciate what you're saying. But, I don't know what the actual engineering solution is, without sending them back to Robin Hood? In the Lightweight build DVD, Richard Stewart himself suggests "giving the wishbones a little tweak" to make them fit i.e. bending them! I'm only talking about a few millimetres here, so is it that bad? The problem is definitely with the wishbones, as the supporting box sections are mounted through holes in the side panels which are pre-cut to the exact size. Every LW should be identical in that regard. I would imagine that all of the wishbones were welded up in a jig and some slight movement has produced this misalignment. I'm not particularly happy about forcing them, but what other ideas do people have? Cheers, Pete

I'd thought of that, but I'll never know if the alignment is any good if I can't get them into the box sections in the first place The only other option is to send them back to Robin Hood for adjustment, but would you do that in their current state of administration?! My hope is that getting them to the right width will get me started and then I can just force them into alignment when I put the bolts in...? Pete

Hi Marcus, Don't know if I'll go for all those mods, but I am currently: 1) Changing the screws in the rear box sections for high tensile bolts (probably the same for the rivets at the front) 2) Bolting and bonding in further angled strengtheners to attach the rear box sections to the diff box (Have already put extra strengtheners in the front) I will then 3) Bolt steel plates on the underside of the roll over bar and the two arms which extend from it so that there is ali sandwiched by steel, preventing the roll over bar from pulling out. 4) Beef up the chassis in the area of the seat belt mounting with multiple sheets of ali, or again steel plate. That is how I intend to take the car for SVA in Nottingham, after being told last week that they would pass any Lightweight that is built to a good standard with seat belt mount strengthening. In the event that Nottingham takes a Southampton line and still fails me on the chassis, then I will go back and close the box sections at the chassis top rail which run from the front suspension mountings to the seat panel at the rear, as suggested below. I was also thinking of removing the rivets from the cockpit floor strengtheners and using the holes to bolt steel box to the underside. If that still doesn't pass, then I'll *really* go to town! Whatever it takes, the LW will pass Pete

You know, that's not a bad idea! You can get a couple of tons out of one of them if I can just position it correctly. Thanks for that suggestion and the others. I'll give it a try and get back to you Pete

Thanks Dale. How far out were your wishbones, though? Mine could be up to 5mm and that's going to take some serious levering! I'd rather get them the right width now, then I can powdercoat them knowing that they'll just slot in. Pete

I've tried placing my Lightweight's wishbones into the box sections as a trial fit, but some of them seem to have the end tubes too close together. I don't want to hit them in case I damage the welds, so if anyone has had the same problem how did you force the ends of the wishbones apart to get them to the correct width?! I was thinking of a clamp in reverse i.e. crank the turns on the clamp to force the ends apart, but is there such a thing available and capable of exerting enough force?? Cheers, Pete

Those JCB guys did nowt! That's a Ricardo engine!

Colin, just go to Nottingham SVA centre. I spoke to them and they're still prepared to pass the Lightweight if it matches the one that Robin Hood brought to them. Also, GTS Tuning are offering to put a LW through SVA and come up with a pack of mods if required, so maybe you should get in touch with them? I'm not as far through the build as you, but I've decided to just strengthen up my chassis and continue to strengthen it until SVA man is happy Pete

Steve, I like your idea of the Voluntary SVA, but I think it's only for currently registered cars, if you look at the bottom of this page. Where did you hear about this and I'd be pleased if you know otherwise for kit cars? Zoomzoom, I like your determination! I feel the same, that I just want my Lightweight to pass the test, and I'm going to stubbornly make sure that it does! I now have a complete bare chassis, built as per the DVDs plus a few bits of strengthening. I intend to go around it putting brackets and strengthening wherever I feel it would help. The damn thing IS going to pass! I'm going to take the screws out of the rear box sections and replace them with high tensile bolts. The only reason they're not bolts in the first place is that it's tricky to get a spanner in there. Spanner tied to a rod or piece of wood anyone?! I also think I'll put some further right angles attaching the rear box sections to the diff box sides. That should strengthen both the box section mounting and the diff box. With regard to the roll-over bar, I may go for a steel bar or plate on the underside of the rear shroud, so that the attachment has steel on both sides. The lower seat belt mountings will be beefed up with multiple sheets of ali or maybe a steel plate again. As for "absence of box sections", my main thought is to rivet and bond a Z-shaped ali panel along the length of the chassis top rail to close that up into a box. The remaining problem might be the "bottom rail" of the chassis. which doesn't really exist apart from right angle strengtheners. Not sure what to do on that, although an inelegant solution may be to remove the rivets from the right angle strengtheners and use the holes to bolt steel box section to the underside?? I'm sure we can overcome SVA by turning the Lightweight into a Light-middleweight! Pete

Yet another page from an old RH brochure. This one showing "One of many test rigs at the Robin Hood factory, this one is testing seat belt anchorage points on a prototype vehicle for SVA suitability". GET THAT THING ONTO THE LIGHTWEIGHT NOW! Also says on that page that "Providing you follow our instructions carefully when building your Robin Hood you will get your car through the test and our instructional videos dwell heavily on the test. All components supplied by us are compatible for SVA test in force at the date of sale." The evidence against RH is mounting... Pete