nelmo

How do you make a small fortune in the car business? Start with a large fortune. Good luck to them but the upfront costs of development are huge if they want to do a decent job. I'd love to see TVR design back - they had some great looking cars.

Man, are you honest... there are people out there who drive without insurance, tax, MOT, while banned, drunk, high and you're not sure about driving 4 miles for a reason that any reasonable cop would understand even if they did pull you over? I just spent the weekend with an East-End cockney mate whose brother-in-law is a convicted armed robber and who drinks with the son of some nutter who was in cahoots with the Kray twins - the stories he tells me make driving offences laughable.

I've got the basic Sierra steering column from GBS but I need the shroud and stalks and I have a question or 2: Do the stalks connect onto the column or the shroud? Has anyone made their own shroud or bought one? I'm not a great fan of the basic Sierra one...

Would there be a problem buying from the US? Weird electrics/connections/voltages? Found this set which looks good: http://www.egauges.com/3-3-8-Speedo-Tach-2-1-16-Gauges-p/600-92216.htm

When I was at Stoneleigh, I remember walking past stalls with walls of different instruments - loads of them in all colours and styles. Now I come to buy mine and I can hardly find any. I know about GBS (Kit Spares) and I've looked at Demon Tweeks, ETB, Smiths and Speed Hut in the US but that's virtually it and they don't have huge choices of styles. Can anyone recommend somewhere with a decent range? I want dials, probably analogue but maybe digital (but not an all-in-one dash). Budget around £500 to include the senders.

Sierra rear hubs - pretty common, surely?

Probably a stupid question but will a torque wrench work on a left handed thread? Trying to tighten up the hub nut and need to decide whether to buy an adaptor for the socket so I can use my torque wrench on it or just get a breaker bar and tighten up as much as I can. Edit: just found an old thread that suggested a 6ft gorilla with a breaker bar . I'm 6' 2" and 18 stone - does that qualify?

Thanks all - decided on one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M6-Rivnut-insertion-setting-tool-rivet-nut-nutsert-threaded-gun-blind-rivet-new-/400968989313?hash=item5d5b9d3a81

Does anyone know if there is some sort of adaptor to allow a pop rivet tool to do rivnuts? The tools look so similar and I'd rather not have to buy a separate one, if possible.

Any reason why you shouldn't use a flat washer under a spring? Is 'snar' a typo? Did you mean 'snap' or something else?

OK, thank you all - very helpful :-)

Great, thanks. Coincidentally, a new Screwfix is opening this weekend near me with a 10% off everything offer. I was planning on going - would you advise against there stuff?

Hmm, thank you all - so is there a standard for washers and bolts? Some markings I should be looking for? How thin is too thin? For example, my master brake cylinder arrived without fittings. I'd already decided to put a flat washer behind the spring washer but the bolt from my (probably rubbish) set is black. I'm not sure if that is a coating or just some cruddy material. I'm guessing it might not be an issue for the brake cylinder as it doesn't seem to be a high-stress area, or is that codswallop?

Continuing my education (I have no formal engineering experience or qualifications), I have a few basic questions, if you don't mind: 1. I bought a set of mixed nuts, bolts and washers. The washers are spring washers - are these OK to use where you would use flat washers or are they for a specific purpose only? 2. Is a nyloc nut as good as using thread lock on a normal nut? Or are they each for a specific purpose? 3. Is there a bolt material that is best to use or is it dependent on application? Thanks for any advice.

I'm impressed you managed to get up to 35mph with no steering wheel :-) The vinyl looks very good to my inexperienced eye although, personally I would have spread the dials out a little more - aren't you left with potential weak points between those main dials?

OK, thanks all. I haven't actually got the seat belt kit yet so I'll wait until it arrives and see what my options are.

Balls!! I've gone about 1/3rd of the way in - is that too far for safety? I'm guessing yes... Do those sear bolts have to be a certain size/type for IVA? I was thinking of just finishing this one with this size and get one bolt to fit. Then I'll do the rest 'correctly'.

OK, I apologise for my lack of knowledge, so be gentle... GBS told me to use a tap (die? which is which?) to clear out the powder coat from the thread for the seat belt fixings, saying I needed a 7/16 tap. So off I went and bought a basic set. Today, I started on the thread and after a few turns, it felt too difficult for just clearing out powder coat. A close look reveals that I have started creating a lovely new thread with a different pitch (is that the right word? Thread is much tighter than the existing thread) So what have I done wrong? When looking at tap sets, there is no mention of different thread types - I just bought one that said it contained a 7/16 tap (it has '7/16 BSF18' stamped on it).

Ah, that looks good - many thanks...

It's a 7", so must be the long ones - any idea what length and size (M8, M10?)? I've got a Haynes manual on order and I assume that will tell me?

Just picked up my Sierra diff but no idea what size/number of bolts I need - can anyone advise? Any particular material better than another (zinc plated, stainless er...or whatever)?

Would a swirl pot prevent the problem anyway?

Yup, exactly what I've done Thanks all...

Got a box of 3.2mm rivets from GBS for my kit and, typically, my drill kit has a 3mm and 3.5mm drill bit but not 3.3mm. I've drilled a test hole and with the 3.5mm bit, the rivet, as you'd expect, sits a little loosely in the hole. I haven't got any spare metal yet to do a test with but will the rivet be firm enough once popped? Or should I really get a 3.3mm bit?

Great - thanks all. Compromised and ordered a 1.5L