Sparepart

This is a very interesting question, the sort of thing that hits you by surprise when you return to the car after purchasing the ticket. I did a bit of googling as to what motorcyclists do, and saw the advice to do as emptyat has said. A govenment document on motorcycle parking has the following paragraph "There is potentially a problem with Pay and Display, in that tickets displayed on motorcycles can be stolen. Moreover, the adhesive backing may be on the wrong side of the ticket to permit display on the front of a surface, as opposed to inside a windscreen. One solution to these problems has been implemented by Birmingham City Council, who provide a secure box into which motorcyclists post their Pay and Display ticket, having written their registration number on it." This made me think of another way of displaying the ticket, how about having a visible flat surface secured to the car and using a glue to stick the ticket to the surface. A glue that would mean destroying the ticket to remove it. So one would purchase the ticket, write the reg on it, photgraph it, stick it on the surface. Further tickets could just be glued on top. The surface could be engineered as to be easily removable using some sort of security bolt and key, and stowed out of sight when not in use. OR ... have a hinged perspex cover that is secured on top of the flat surface to prevent the ticket getting wet. Oh yes, another thought... if you use something like a steering wheel lock device whenever the car is parked you could fix the flat surface to the locking device. I use one of those that have a long bar to prevent the wheel from turning, the flat surface would be easily visible if it was fixed to the bar, say with tight jubilee clips.

The VIN on my Exmo was allocated a long time ago, I had no choice then along the lines of what Brumster says above. I paid a local garage to stamp the VIN in the driver's side floor and on a piece of SS that I then cut into a tab to rivet near the battery. They made a slight cockup, one of the digits (a 3) was punched upside down. They did it on the floor first, so also repeated the mistake on the tab for consistency. This odd VIN has caused a few smiles but no complaint from the SVA tester or the MOT testers over the years. So if you add the possibility of upside down characters into the Nelmo stats you probably get more possibilities than atoms in the universe ? ... no wait a minute that can't be right as the univers is infinite ... or is it?

I have been Googling this, always a dangerous thing. However I have watched several tubes on performing alignment using the "string method". I think the best of them, is seen on the link below. The presenter is very methodical in explaining the process I think he says it is what his car racing team use on a regular basis for setting up the track cars. He focuses on the importance of forming a perfect rectangle symetrically around the car, however I think the important point is that you set up parallel straight lines on either side with the wheel centers of each axle equidistant from the line. He also explains the relationship between Toe In using degrees and distances. I will be trying this method first to see if it works, but I don't have a rolling chassis at the moment, so am interested if LewisH tries this first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxnK1XE6ZAA

This is great news, here I have been messing about with all the physics and mechanics of caster and camber etc and all the time the solution is getting toe in correct. This is the most easily adjusted of all the steering geometry variables. What i don't know is what is the correcy value ?? Two above posts say "far too much toe in" well the obvious next question is ... what was the correct amount of toe in ?. The Haynes manual for the Sierra Saloon/Hatchback/Estate says that the optimum should be just 1 mm, with a minimum of 0.5 mm and a maximum of 4.5 tolerable. Can you remember what value was used on your vehicles ?

As you have probably found in your search, I asked this question not that long ago, in the thread:- https://www.rhocar.org/index.php?/forums/topic/49176-exmo-caster-adjustment There is a rather american voiced, but well explained Youtube about self centering:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLbs8kBXgrw On the Exmo, we can't push the bottom of the struts forward too far because the springs will foul on the leading side of the "n" shaped mounting outrigger. If the "front suspension springs fouling against chassis turret." means that they are fouling the trailing edge, then you have some hope because pushing the strut bottom forward might cure both problems. On my Exmo there is no self centering, however it passed the old SVA test without any mention. I want to fix it because it makes steering feel more like using a rudder on a boat, requiring constant attention to keep going in a straight line. Self centering can also be affected by something called the "King Pin Inclination", however we cant adjust that becuse it is set in the casting of the stub axle at the strut bottom. A property called camber we can in theory adjust by increasing/decreasing the distance between the either the strut tops or bottoms. A certain amount of negative or positive (I am not sure which?) camber can help with self centering. I think its negative camber where the tops of the wheels are closer than the bottoms. This means that when the steering is turned from straight there is a slight lifting of the car involved. Thus when the steering wheel is let go the energy is released by the wheels returning to straight and the car dropping slightly. Problems with this is that the steering becomes "heavier" and the tyres will wear on one side......I am toying (just toying) with the idea of being able to adjust the camber by being able to slide the top mounts in a short groove rather than the current fixed hole....I'll need to take measurement to see how much that could change the camber by, and the safety aspects etc. etc.

That wire, that you have no clue as to what it is for ? ... It is always the wire through which you inject the Loom/Harness smoke.

Well done with the rear wheel arches, it was a big bullet to bite. From where did you source the silencer ? how does it sound ? it looks like it can be repacked ? Also what a cliffhanger of a statement "....or so I thought" .... when is the next installment? ... on the edge of seat.

Watching and listening again to the vid, the clicking is obviously the starter relay cutting in and out and sometimes holding, at which point the motor turns but slowly. Two things happen when the solenoid is energised, the solenoid pulls an arm that pivots to push the starter dog and engage it with the flywheel cogs, at the same time it closes an electrical switch that connects the battery to the motor. The switch has to make a good enough contact to pass the high current needed by the motor. So a possible cause of the problem is low voltage/current in the circuit that powers the solenoid, sometimes it barely has enough energy to engage the cogs and close the contact but the sudden added slight drop in voltage due to the motor starting causes the solenoid to drop out, then the motor drain stops and the solenoid has just enough power to re-engage, and this process repeats causing the rapid clicking. When the solenoid manages to make prolonged contact, enough for the motor to turn, it still only holds the contacts of the internal switch together weakly and not strong enough to pass enough current. Obviously the power to the solenoid is either coming through your ignition switch, in the start position, or via a relay that is driven by the ignition switch, depending on your cars wiring. In any case you can test this theory by energizing the solenoid directly from the battery rather than using the ignition switch. You need to be careful, make sure that the car is not in gear etc and with care connect the thick lead (positive) coming from the battey to the solenoid terminal on the starter (disconnect the wire coming from the ignition system), be careful, connect a thickish wire to the solenoid first before touching it to the thick wire terminal from the battery positive or directly to the battery positive. If this way of powering the solenoid solves the slow turnover problem then it indicates that the problem is with the power coming from the ignition system, and not starter power or earthing etc. If turnover is still slow, and the clicking noise occurs etc .... well at least you have eliminated something that might be a problem. P.S. Warning, if you have not done anything like this before, be prepared for a bit of sparking when you touch the wire to the positive terminal and the sudden activity from the starter that it generates, which will continue for as long as you make the contact. If you left the ignition switch on, then the engine might start to add further drama and the need to stop the contact immediatly, just like when you hold the key in the start position and then let it spring back.

Have you performed the tests described in the service manual ? section 9 of chapter 5 "Starter motor - testing in the vehicle". If you don't have a copy then you can try and download the pdf from the link below. https://musse67.mbnet.fi/Taunus/Korjausoppaat/

I think you need to accurately identify the WW mechanism. Many builders have used the old Austin/Morris/BMC type of mechanism, where the motor drives a spiral cable inside a sheath. Two small gear boxes are attached to the cable where the spiral motion is converted to a reciprocating motion to move the wiper arms. When this mechanism is in operation the only obvious moving parts are the wiper arm shafts coming out of the little gear boxes. This is good as it means other parts of the under scuttle clutter are not likely to get caught up in the mechanism. Even better, the little gear boxes are mounted through a hole in the scuttle that has an inbuilt water seal setup, AND the distance between them is adjustable, this is why they are so popular. You will immediatly know if this is what you have, because (I may be wrong) all other mechanisms involve a motor that drives a crank arm that in turn pushes and pulls two longish arms, each one driving the wiper arm shafts back and fore. These mechanisms have a fixed distance between the wiper arm shafts and in operation the various arms/levers are VERY visible and take up quite a lot of space, which must be kept clear of any other items under the scuttle. Also frequently they are designed to be fitted outside of the weather proof part of the car so there is a challenge to weatherproof the area where the shafts protrude through the scuttle. ..... I find myself rambling on a bit and have got off subject ... so will stop now...... you need to identify the exact wiper mechanism before you wire it up.

Spec gives a range, 100% at 44A, 60% at 57A, 15% at 115A and 8% at 130A. You can draw a curve to predict intermediate values. So at 44A you can weld away forever and at 130A you will drink a lot of tea ... or might go down the pub. Personally I have not yet had it cut out yet, but do tend to weld in short to medium bursts mainly because I find it hard to wear my specs with the mask, so don't, and then have trouble seeing where the weld is going, so keep stopping to check. I get so close to the action to see properly that the glass is pitted with blobs of sputter, ah ... sputter another good topic

A small amount of Googling appears to suggest that Brooke is up for sale, if you have £500K to spare you could buy the company https://www.rightbiz.co.uk/buy_business/for_sale/226025_devon.html

For me the Clarke 135TE kit has been all I have needed for the work on the Exmo. It came with enough accessories to start welding mild steel, within half an hour of getting it home I was welding away. The mask in the kit is useable but a light activated mask (£40 ish) is a MUST to avoid accidentally burning your retinas, keep the one in the kit for the next solar eclipse. Since then I have used Argon and Argon/CO2 mixtures to weld SS (using SS wire of course) though the welds look good in SS there is a lot of opportunity for error, in as much as thin SS is very easily warped and there are different compositions of SS that can mean the welded metal changes its molecular structure and makes it prone to rust. Something you might notice on SS shells. This is what I mean about a Pandora's box, the chemistry and physics and metalergy involved in welding goes on and on. I have purchased some aluminium wire to try, but am still at the stage of watching You-Tubes of how to use it ... another world of alloy types, temperatures etc. I still use the Arc welder, but only for more "agricultural" welding of thick iron/steel like repairing the hinges on a friend's shipping container or fabricating angle iron fence braces and the like... especially if the welding is outside ...where the wind would blow away the shielding gas of the MIG welder.

Ah, I see... possibly thats where most flexing must have occurred, I guess a chain is as strong etc. if one place is strengthened it tends to put strain on the next weakest point and one hopes that the weakest point is strong enough. I'll adopt the "regular checking" approach, like the ritual that pilots take a walk around their aircraft before every flight. Thanks for the insight.

I fear that you are opening a Pandora's box with that question. I have learned to weld after a fashion by trial and many many many errors. In retrospect what I should have done was to take the time and expense to have proper instruction. As you know there are three main types, Arc, Mig and TIG. I "started out" with an Arc welder because there is less complication, just the welder and welding sticks and mask and gauntlets and apron to buy. However I soon found that arc welding is more of an art than a science, one needs to understand so much about how air is kept from the molten metal during the welding process, not only the physical movement of the welding stick but also the chemical composition of the flux and its relationship to the type and thickness of the metals that are being welded AND taking into account the temperature of the weld. It is VERY hard to weld thin metal with an Arc welder. Also I never got to try and purchase Stainless Steel welding sticks which I assume are expensive. Basically I GAVE UP with the Arc welder. Then I purchased a Mig welder, Clarke 135TE from Machine Mart. Although it is more complicated, wire spools, gas cannisters etc I have found it so much easier than Arc welding, once the correct wire speed, current and gas flow has been set up. TIG welding is yet a mistery to me, involves coordinated movements of two hands, one holds the tungsten tipped arc generator that gives high temp and the other feeds a metal rod into the molten pool that forms the weld. So I would say your are best to start with a MIG welder and I advise you to get some instruction, or get a load of scrap metal on which to practise. Oh yes, also, some of the welders out there require more that a 13 amp power connection, beware.

Thanks for the replies, reading around it seems that people have found cracks in various places around the area where bolts clamp the panels at the end of the footwell together. I insert a drawing below, I assume that the crack mentioned by IanS would have been between bolt 1 and the side of the body. I wonder was it visible from above or below or both. Bolts 1,2,3 and 5 go through 3 sheets, and bolt 4 goes through 4 sheets. I am wondering if its worth doing any pre-emptive strengthening here, maybe more plate or converting the bolt holes into big spot welds ?. The other approach is to leave everything as it is and check for cracks regularily, which is what I think most people do because it's hard to predict the failure point (if any) in this area. Comments?.

Obviously I do not have a CBS module to test with, however I think that you should find that terms 5 and 6 are connected together inside the module. You can easily check this out, you might even be able to see from the underside if they are the same plate of metal, otherwise use a meter etc. One thing that I have not mentioned before is the circuit protection for everything (bar the starter and alternator) that is powered from the battery. You could think of it as the "main fuse". If you look at the diagram you can see that all the power that is taken from the battery (except that in the thick wire to the starter) will be drawn through the wire connected between the starter and terminal 6. In older cars (pre 1999 say in europe, and most US cars) the wire connecting the battery to all the other electrics (except the starter) is what is call a "Fusible Link". That is to say, the type of metal in the wire, and it's thickness is designed to melt if the current goes over a certain amperage, typically say 60 amps. So the fusible link is a hidden fuse that protects against major short circuits. Modern european cars actually have a descreet fuse for this frequently to be found close to the battery terminal. Anyway, I hope that you can see that it is preferable to connect the alternator to term 5 and the battery (via the starter) to terminal 6, in this way you can, if you want install a "main" fuse either by using the fusible link from the old donor, or a more modern fuse. Although there is nothing wrong in connecting the battery to term 6 via the starter motor (because of the thick wire from the battery to the starter) it is also perfectly acceptable (and more usual) to connect term 6 directly to the battery positive terminal, either way through a "main" fuse. I hope all this talk of fuses is not con-fusing :-).

On an episode of Wheeler Dealers (US) Ant Anstead manages to shear 3 bolts he can be seen using a TIG welder to carefully add metal to the sheared end until there is enough to grip and turn. In his case the stumps are still a little proud of the surface. However rather than throw away the flywheel you could try this technique. What can happen ? if you are lucky, the weld will only take to the stump of the bolt because of the big thermal conductivity in the main body of the flywheel the bolt metal will melt first. If you are unlucky you might as well just really fill the hole with weld and then try drilling it out again, starting with with a very small diameter drill through the centre. Could use remaining bolts to mount the clutch housing to accurately center the drill in the housing hole. Here is a link to Ant's efforts. https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryUK/videos/ant-removes-broken-studs-wheeler-dealers/250798119707281/

I am soon to get to the front end of an Exmo rebuild. I have found lots of good advice regarding the front suspension mounts and tie bar conversions. I have been cleaning some of the leaked engine oil and gunk from the "trays" that carry the engine supports. Originally these trays were free floating and needed to be aligned to get the engine positioned correctly. Now of course they are bolted in postion and will stay where they are. The panels underneath these trays is fairly thin SS, and they extend out towards the sump from both sides forming a V shaped hole that is just wide enough for the sump. If you built an Exmo you will probably recognise what I am talking about. I have attached a photo below. Anyway, to get to the point!. I am wondering if anyone has modified these thin sheets ? perhaps to cut them back and fold them up to the edge of the trays and weld them there ? I think that this might be stronger that having them flat as they are now. If you grasp the edge they are easily flexed and cant be adding much support. What do think?.

Is the diagram below what you are talking about? The wires that you describe are not what I would have expected, however I can see that they might make some sense. There are 3 components at play here, The Battery, The Alternator and The Starter. Electrically, the positive terminals of these three are all connected together. In the above diagram you can see that the battery positive is connected to the starter and then there is a wire from the starter to terminal 6. So terminal 6 is the source of +12 volts for everything else. The Alternator is generating 12 volts and must be connected to the positive terminal of the battery. Using the above circuit the only way that the alternator can feed the battery is for terminal 5 and 6 to be connected. This then would be electrically similar to what you describe, i.e. a wire from 5 to the starter and then on to the alternator. So the Postive terminal on the starter is acting as a common positive terminal. What is most important here is the thickness of the wires, as the starter will take high amps from the battery and the alternator will generate high amps into the battery. Most cars have a seperate very thick, unfused, wire from the battery to the starter, so the postive terminal on the starter can be treated very much like the positive terminal of the battery, it's just that the starter is not as accessible or convenient. Hope this makes sense. Just a thought, perhaps the intention was to have the battery mounted away from the engine bay, at the rear ? in which case it would make sense to use just one thick cable from the battery to the engine bay and use the starter terminal as the main positive terminal.

Just Google "classic mini sealed beam headlight" they are available online from many sources. Also you might be interested in a conversion kit that has recently been discussed in another thread. https://www.rhocar.org/index.php?/forums/topic/49540-headlight-wiring/&do=getNewComment

I am looking at the CBS 12 module and thinking how it might work with the components that you will have on the Sierra based car. At the same time I am looking at the circuits on the original fuse box. I grant that much of the original fuse box is devoted to features that are no longer present (e.g Headlamp washer relay, rear wash wipe etc). It seems to me that the CBS 12 is almost too "bare bones", having an absolute minimum of relays and fuses. You might find the CBS 12 is a weak link in having more sophisticated features. For example there is no provision for an intermittent wiper relay, or if you want to run the headlights off a relay to avoid thick wires running to/from the dashboard. I am guessing (just as you have) that the intention was to have the fuel pump powered only with ignition on and to do this via an ignition activated relay. In any case you may well soon find that you have need for another fuse or relay, so I would keep the "extra" module.

Hi Kyle, I am sure you will find that there are many people in this "community" who will be happy to help (me for one), most members will have fought with a loom or two. Of course your aim is to have a perfectly operational and reliable electrical system on your 2b. I think you need to put us in the picture as to what is your starting point ? In particular try and identify the origin of the loom. Was/is it from the donor car ? or was it purchased did you uncle leave any paperwork?, most builders keep receipts even if only to cry over how much the car is costing.

I agree, the condenser/resistor/suppresor unit is not needed if you have contactless (no points in distrubutor) ignition and a 12 volt coil. It is used to prevent voltage spikes in the wiring loom which can be the cause of "Noise" on a radio, crackling noise that increases in frequency as the engine revs. I will still try to fit one on my car, I do not have a radio, however I wonder how far away the electrical noise extends. Might it affect nearby radios or Tvs and annoy others ? .... something that could be tried ..