James Agg

rthomas69, I know that this thread was over a year ago now, but I’m still suffering with the occasional starting issue. I’ve messed about with the timing etc, and it doesn’t seem to sort the issue. Interestingly, when the car hits this point of being very hard to turn over, a booster pack on the battery terminals gets it to start up straight away so I think a new battery would be a good way to go. Equally though, I’m exploring other factors that seem to make it reluctant to start, and I think your upgrade to a high torque starter motor in conjunction with a better battery is a logical thing to try given the issues I’m experiencing. Are you running a 2.0 pinto SOHC too? What was the make/model number of the high torque starter motor you got? I found this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-HIGH-TORQUE-Starter-Motor-Ford-1-8-2-0-CVH-Zetec-mated-to-MT75-Pinto-Type9-/131186336380?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 but not sure if it’s going to be a fit… It says it’s for the MTX75 which I’ve always understood to be a gearbox married up to zetec or duratec engines. As said in an earlier comment, my pinto is off an ‘83 Sierra so if anyone knows what is correct here in the way of starter motors, some guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks Richyb66, that’s great, and yes, house number 29 is the one

Hello everyone. About 6 months ago I moved house and changed my address on my RHOcar account, but alas, the kits and bits booklet still got sent through to my old address. Luckily the person who bought my old address off me forwards any straggling mail. I assumed that it may have just been that it would take time for the address update to filter through to whoever is responsible for sending out the booklet. Unfortunately, I’ve just received my latest issue of kits and bits after it went to my old address again. Does anyone know who I need to talk to about this? Or is there something I’m missing on the address change side of things that I’m still yet to do? I can assure you that my account definitely says the new address, so I’m not sure what else to do…

Thanks IanS, that’s really useful. That sounds like it could well be the explanation for the little splutter when the throttle is suddenly opened. I did slightly retard the ignition timing tonight, and whilst it’s difficult to say whether this will have helped the starting issue, it didn’t help the splutter, so I shall look into this next.

Thanks RedTrev. That does sound like it could feasibly be my issue. The ignition timing being off may also explain the cough under harder acceleration. On a separate but potentially related note, I have a vacuum gauge on the dash that allegedly tells me how good or poor my vacuum system is and whether I’m driving/decelerating. If I’m holding throttle steady, it stays in the drive region of the gauge, but again, if I give it some beans, it registers as being poor vacuum pressure. Could this potentially have any bearing on any of the problems I’ve been having too?

Hello everyone. I just wanted to run past you all an issue I’m having with starting my Robin Hood Mark 2 running a 2.0l Pinto engine from an ‘83 Sierra. Basically, since I’ve owned the car (coming up on 2 years now), it has often been sluggish to start. I think that on the whole, it prefers starting when the engine is warm, which I would expect, but this isn’t necessarily always the case - it’s a bit random. When it’s driving, I notice that if you put your foot down, there’s a little cough before it then decides to open up relatively cleanly through the Rev range, so I’m thinking distribution or carb balance need checking. It’s running a Weber 32/36 (presumably what came off the donor car) and I suspect that no re-balancing took place on this with a kit of this age when it was given the different exhaust system etc etc as this Robin Hood is pre SVA I believe. In addition to this, I’ve been noticing lately that after a run, I’m sometimes noticing that when I go to restart the car again shortly after, there is insufficient oomph from the battery to turn over the starter motor. What’s strange about this is that if I then leave it for a bit after this problem, enough current has returned to the battery, and if the fuelling or distribution is having a good moment, it then fires right up no problem. Of course I’m questioning the condition of the alternator as that is a likely candidate for the battery not getting sufficient charge when the car is driving. In addition, there has been part of me that has contemplated the possibility that the flywheel might be sticking as I’ve known a few cars over the years that have displayed similar starting issues when the flywheel sticks, but it’s very hard to say; as always, so many factors at play. All of these issues are very intermittent. I also noticed that if I give the battery an overnight trickle charge, starting is generally instant on a warmer day. As the car is using the same battery as when I bought it, I am considering replacing the battery to see if this helps matters as it is possible that the existing battery may have a dead cell following on from the loads placed upon it with the starting issues it’s been having. Equally though, I don’t especially want to buy a new battery for it only to cook that one too if there is an ongoing underlying starting issue that the new battery then has to contend with. Has anyone with the same sort of setup experienced this before? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all, for some reason I didn’t get a notification about comments on this thread. Yes I’ve tried lighting in all positions and yet my meter still displays squat at the light cluster terminals themselves. There’s definitely a problem going to the lights themselves. I found an old build manual that has a much more straightforward wiring diagram and so I will prod around with the meter and keep checking. The problem I have is that when I manage to identify any wires, they then disappear off into the black sheathed loom and without taking all of it apart, it’s hard to know where everything goes. If there is a relay for the fogs, I haven’t the foggiest idea (excuse the intended pun) of where it would be located, unless it’s behind the dash along with the indicator flash relay etc, assuming that my car even has a relay for the fogs...

All good to know! You don’t happen to remember what size of box section you used to fabricate that do you? Also, do you remember the bolt sizes for the rose joint eye? And what bolt sizes did you use to mount the box section to the chassis? Angle iron is easy enough size up as it presumably only needs to be big enough to receive the bolts and bolt down to whatever is on the other side (I need to have a look at what’s going on internally), and of course it needs to have enough depth to be of sufficient Reinforcement. I like this tie bar conversion as it effectively converts the track control arm into a lower wishbone.

Ah! Brilliant. This is what I need. Thanks! The current setup of the original anti roll bar is horrendous; this is bound to be an improvement! I like the fact that you were able to salvage the original bar for the tie bar conversion.

Thank you both. What you say corresponds with my findings about measurements. I will give Dave at dampertech a shout. Dandan62, did you create a thread on your tie bar conversion? And do you have links to the required parts? It would be great to do this while I’m at it if I can!

I accidentally posted the same post twice re my suspension, and as I couldn’t figure out how to delete posts, I simply edited it and put in another one... I’m getting nothing from my rear fog lights at all. I’ve done all the obvious things like checking bulbs/fuses etc to no avail. I ran a multimeter across the terminals of both fog clusters, and absolutely squat is going through there. I tested at the fog light switch end and I appear to have voltage registering at least up to the switch. I haven’t tried bypassing the switch to rule that out as I am not 100% certain on which wire bridges to which over the switch, particularly as whenever I had voltage passing through, the fog lights still did not illuminate when the circuit was completed by the multimeter. I’m assuming that if not a faulty switch, the problem is further down the wiring towards the lights themselves. Does anyone know of any common places for the loom to fail between the switch and the lights. My knowledge of car wiring is somewhat limited by comparison to my mechanical knowledge, particularly when the typical wiring diagrams I find in the Sierra Haynes manual make my head hurt!

Hello all. I’ve been a member of RHOCar for about 7 months now but haven’t yet started any sort of post/thread, so here goes my first, and sorry, it’s a bit of a book filled with questions... In light of the quarantine, I am taking this as an opportunity to do a few bits of overhauling on my Robin Hood SF Mk 2. I am currently working on the front suspension, which if anyone is familiar with the mark 2, the coilovers are inboard rather than external (see my attached pictures). The top eye bushings have very much seen better days and having removed the coilovers today, the bottom eye bushings aren’t far behind, and generally looking at the condition of the rest of both shocks, I’m thinking that I might splash out and treat my RH to a new set of front coilovers, particularly as the shocks that I’ve just removed have no easy damper adjustment facility like all the modern shocks seem to have. I found these build your own Protech shock absorbers. I have used protech before when I was building a MEV a few years back that I never completed (long story for another time!) and loved the general quality/design/weight/adjustability https://www.protechshocks.co.uk/build-a-shock/ I’m generally armed and ready with my measurements for the shocks. My one concern is the open height. Protech request that you take the open height measurement from the centre of the top eye hole to the centre of the bottom eye hole. As you will see in my photos, my bushings are absolutely clapped out and the best I could do for a measurement was to take it from where I thought centre was originally at each end and the closest measurement I could deduce that is available for ordering was 13”. However, there is a 12.5” option available which does seem too short, but I notice that the bushing tear pattern on the old shocks suggests that the shocks installed originally might be too long for the design of the mark 2. Would this make sense? And would it be prudent therefore to go for 12.5” open length? The only time the shocks would ordinarily be in full open length would be when all four wheels are off the ground, which I endeavour to keep as only being the case when I jack the car up!! Thoughts on whether I should go for a shorter reach would be much appreciated. I’m also thinking that I would like to reduce the poundage of my springs from what’s on there currently as the current setup is a bit rigid (perhaps spring length and poundage may be a factor in the wearing of the top and bottom eye bushings??) and I do find that the handling is a bit lifeless until you really give it some welly at which point I get the wrong kind of life; all I ever seem to get is bump steer and understeer, which I’m guessing is a bi-product of the bump steer. I’ve read that a recommended mod to the front suspension on the Mk2 is to do away with the Sierra anti-roll bar and do a tie bar conversion. This is something I mean to do along with the grease nipple mod on the wishbone once I have access to more of my workshop equipment (annoyingly not with me where I’m at in isolation). I’ve also seen that reducing the poundage of the springs goes a long way to making the handling and ride generally better on these old Mk 2s. Does anyone know if it drives ok with reduced poundage whilst still running the sierra anti-roll bar for the time being or should I hold out on changing to lighter poundage until the tie bar conversion is done? I’m looking to order a new set of springs with the shocks and so I need to be clear on what poundage to go for in any case (I don’t even know what the existing poundage on there is and I guess it’s not especially easy to find out without the right equipment). And final question (I promise)... Does anyone happen to know if it’s the standard (obviously non power steering) sierra rack and tie rod ends that the RH Mk 2 uses? I need to change the rubber boots and tie rod ends on mine and I’m also thinking of possibly getting a quick rack to reduce the amount of loping about I have to do when parking!!! Thanks in advance everyone. I hope you’re all keeping well in these unusual circumstances!