Dcsinclair22

Hi guys, had a quick search on the forum but couldn't seem to find anything so thought I'd ask, how do I remove the gear knob on the type 9 box? I've tried twisting, pulling, looking for screws and can't seem to get it of, at the moment it has a massive silver bullet type knob but I've bought a smaller one to go on

4 minutes ago, phaeton said:

That sounds like the thicker of the wire fed things that need a permanent live, like your lights, hazards etc, which really ought to be a fused feed. You could disconnect that wire, (after disconnecting the battery), then re-connect the battery & see what doesn't work.

Thanks mate, yeah that's the plan for today I think, the car starts and runs absolutely fine now but didn't have my multi meter with me yesterday so couldn't check the battery voltage whilst running, 

22 minutes ago, phaeton said:

I too thought you meant you had mounted it at 90 degrees to the engine along the chassis rail as it were, not that you had simply turned the rad 90 degrees on it's mounting, not sure what advantage this gives. However to the actual question, if you are not using a shroud & simply have a fan against the radiator I don't think it makes a difference. I believe the 'best method' if there is such a thing is to have the fan mounted on the inside, between the rad & the engine, spaced slightly away from the radiator in a fully enclosed shroud. This then pulls the maximum amount of air through the whole of the radiator.

I have no idea why it's mounted like this, previous owner did it, I was considering buying a new rad and mounting it the correct way but upon further inspection this rad has a bit more surface area than the one at cbs so maybe that's why it's mounted like this, 

Picture of rad for reference 

Yeah honestly it's sideways and ive just realised that me stating SIDEWAYS  could mean mounted along the side of the car, what i actualy mean by sideways is turned 90° what's even stranger is.... it works, and apparently a few others have fitted the rad sideways too, my rad is fitted pushing air through the rad put the front of the car, same as on my motorhome and on my 23plate vitara, just wondered how everyone else's was and if there was any benefits to fitting the other way

Hi guys, currently my radiator is mounted sideways (remember having the sideways mounted rad conversation last year) but is it best to have the electric fan blowing from engine side out through the rad towards the front of the car or mount the fan on front of the rad blowing air through the rad into engine bay? At the moment mine is fitted blowing out from engine bay through rad toward front of the car, but recently seen a few builds with the rad blowing from front to back and just wondered if there's any advantage to this?

4 hours ago, Sparepart said:

I have done some investigation of the photos of the alternator that you have. I found an article about rebuilding an alternator that looks very much like yours, here is a photo from the article.

It looks like you have overkill on the charging cables, in that the big thick cable and the two large spade terminals are all delivering the output from the alternator. I'm gessing that at the starter motor there are two thick cables bolted to the same terminal, one is this one from the alternator and the other then runs to the battery. As the label on the photo here says, the smaller terminal is for the ignition warning light. The warning lamp lead serves two purposes. When the engine is not running, the alternator is not generating a voltage, the warning lamp is also connected to the battery, so a small current will flow from the battery through the lamp (illuminating it) and to the alternator and then the alternator earth. This small current is used by the alternator to start energizing the field coils, so that the alternator can start to generate voltage (and current). Without this small initial current through the alternator it will turn but not produce output. As soon as the output from the alternator reaches a voltage equal to the battery (12v) then the small current through the warning lamp ceases, and the lamp goes out. That's why the "ignition light" works the other way round from normal warning lamps, i.e. it goes off when all is ok. It is not necessary use a lamp to provide the small current, a resistor with the same value as the warning light resistance will do, it's just convenient to kill two birds with one stone. When some people replace all their waring lights with LEDs then if this warning light is replaced, the current flowing through the LED is too small to energise the field coils, and a small cuircuit to wire a resistance in parallel will be needed..........i'll stop now before I bore my own pants off.

Thank you very much for your detailed response, you are correct in the respect that the big lead from the alternator does run round to the starter, then up to the battery but (and here's where it gets a bit strange to me) the 3 other cables run round by the starter, then 1 thin cable runs through the fire wall (I assume this is the ignition warning light (never had one but must have run somewhere) but the other 2 cables 1 quite thick and one thin runs to the starter and connects to starter via a ring connector then come from the starter through the firewall too, where the thinner of the 2 went to a gauge and the thicker of the 2 splits about 10 different ways, so can I just cut the thicker wire down and run it to the positive on the new fuse box or can I do away with it completely? 

Thanks Ian, upon futher inspection the alternator wires are labelled (not including the big thick wire that goes to starter motor) so the 3 cables are b+ b+ and d+, all 3 originally ran to the positive on the starter motor then came of the positive and into the fire wall

23 minutes ago, nelmo said:

I have a similar setup but I bought the main GBS loom, so I don't know where those 3 smaller wires go to exactly.

One thing I will warn you of, in case you haven't done this already; disconnect the battery before going anywhere near that thick wire. My first alternator died and I almost electrocuted myself trying to take that big wire off without disconnecting the battery. As it was, I literally burnt a groove in the old alternator body as I dragged that wire off the post- acted like an arc welder - scared the crap out of me

I'm hoping I don't need to take the big wire of but I'll definitely be sure to disconnect the battery first if I do so thanks for that. Just need to figure out the 3 other wires, then I'm pretty much ready for a little test drive, then I'm considering repainting the whole car but that's a thread for another day

Ok so got some pictures of the alternator, albeit upside down and back to front pictures but I'm hoping someone can confirm, seems to be 3 wires coming from the 3 pin plug and 1 thick wire from the bottom nut, so do I just run the thicker of the 3 wires to the battery, 1 to a light on the dash (never has a light before unless it was somehow wired to one of the clock lights maybe?) and one to the positive post on the new fuse box? Or should 2 go to the battery? 

Yeah I'm back at the car tomorrow so I'll grab some pictures of the alternator, the location of the alternator seems strange to me aswell, right on the bottom drivers side where the rad pip goes straight thru the centre of the belt, so to change the belt I need to drain the coolant 

Or the coil was linked to fuel pump switch, can't quite remember but pretty sure that's all irrelevant 

That's great thanks Ian, ive been reading through some alternator threads, I'll need to confirm what alternator I have (was bought brand new last year just before I got the car) as I don't have a light on the dash or behind the dash, not sure if it matters but my ignition key only acts as a steering lock, turning the key does absolutely nothing except engage lock, the car Is turned on by a silly little red key that cuts power to the positive from the battery, then I have a 4 switch 1 button panel on the dash, looks like something from top gun, so to start the car, it was turn red key (passenger side footwell) flip up a red rocker cover, flick swith up (sent power to fuel pump, push the start button ( sent power to coil and starter) and the car started, then one switch turned the lights on, another switch controlled the fan, so on, the only thing that was controlled by the stalk was indicators, (now have all lights working from stalk so it's slow progress at the moment 

Also another question regarding alternator, when I stripped the alternator wiring out, the was a brown wire from the alternator running through the firewall and splitting of in about 10 different directions, when it comes to re wiring, can I just run a positive from the alternator to the new fuse box positive to send power to my whole fusebox when the engine is running or should I just leave it with the wire running to the battery and charging the battery and all my fuse box power running from the battery? 

Hi all, as some of you may remember, back end of last year I decided to tackle the mammoth task of the wiring (more like a group of 100 spiders had been let lose under the bonnet) but anyway due to several reasons (mainly health problems) I put the project on the back burner, but I am back at it and once more require a little advice so here goes........  whoever wired the car up clearly either had a death wish or just didn't have a clue, I had live wires going to thin air, limited use of relays, stalks that didn't work, everything was controlled by those little toggle switches and were just hardwired direct (I think hence why the fuel pump kept blowing) talking of fuel pump to put into context how messed up the wiring was, once I stripped most of the wires out and had nothing connected, If I put a live feed direct to the high beam wire on the left headlight, the fuel pump would run, that was the final straw, lost my temper and in a fit of rage, ripped the whole loom out and completely started again, now this I'd where I could do with a small bit of advice, there was no starter relay for the starter motor and no relay for the alternator (not sure if the alternator requires a relay) but I'm about 97.679% positive the starter motor should have a relay, so my question is, what amp relay and will a standard 5 pin 40amp work or will I require a bigger 100amp 2 rod type relay, bearing in mind the starter has the solenoid built in. Anyway sorry for the long read but thought if give an insight into what I've been up to, here's some before pictures, I'll stick up some after pictures here once I've finished 

How is everyone on here getting great quality photos on their profiles, I have tried many times but have to re size so many times the final picture looks like something from the early 1900s 

I'm far down in eastbourne but would be up for a little meet up (providing my cars ready that is) 

Perfect thanks guys, was a bit concerned the bloke I got it from was telling porkies but it seems I am wrong 

Thanks Alan, strange as when I check the details on the gov website is a robin hood br I'm kind of hoping the number of keepers is from the doner car too as the guy I got it from reckons it was a family friends car who sadly passed away, he said the guy built it himself

Hi guys, got my rh in Sept last year, today after a long wait I finally recieved my v5, dvla can be a pain, but my question is, on the front it has previous owners 11 is that 11 owners since its been a kit car or is that 11 owners including the doner? 2nd question, it states the date it passed the iva, then has emmisions readings next to the date, is that normal? Also all it says is robin hood, no model or anything except sports car under vehicle type, 

That's exactly what I've read, but I can't seem to keep the thing running with anything below a 25amp fuse, it's a strange one, brand new pump, it's running twin webbers. But there's no earth which I found a bit strange too

Hi guys my car runs a facet fuel pump, (cylinder type) when I got the car the pump was brand new, but since owning the car the fuse kept blowing every couple of miles, ive currently got the car in bits (completely stripped) and all wiring ripped out, so what gauge wire are you guys using and what size fuse, the car would stay running with a 25amp inline fuse, anything lower and it would just blow, I'm sure I've asked on here before but can't find the post for some reason, also is it right that the fuel pump isn't earthed? I'm sure someone on here mentioned it should be a 5amp fuse, so im guessing it's the gauge wire, 

5 hours ago, megadodo said:

I run an R55 Mini diesel as a daily, I also have an E46 M3 and a Mk4 Golf VR6 4 motion as fun cars. I have too many hobbies, plastic model kits, OO gauge railway, Gauge 1 steam engines, radio control drones, planes, helicopters, boats, cars and a tank. I love vintage aircraft and as I live near Duxford and Shuttleworth I'm well served. I've just started playing with a 3D printer. If and when I'm able to retire I will never by allowed to say I'm bored!

Nice, I have a dji phantom 4k drone (old one but works great) and the misses does 3d printing, she's got a fdm and a resin printer, they are great fun, 

Some nice vehicles listed above, always good to know other people hobbies/money pits alongside their kit cars