Longboarder

Joel, 87 was a model changeover year and the early 87 loom and fuse arrangement is very different to the late 87. Can you tell what loom and fusebox you are using. i.e. if your donor had dim dip, ABS I think its a late 87. Where did you take the feed from for the lights for your new instruments? Did you remove the sierra instruments and separate out all the wires to go to your new dials? And yes it could be the column switch but that would be bad luck if you haven't changed its wires. Sorry to answer your question with more questions but I'm unclear what you are dealing with here. Nigel

Yes. In the ACR its a squarish block and in the A series its got a ribbed alloy top with or without the brushes in it. In the Bosch its a squashed top hat thing with the brushes in it. Might be worth cleaning up the battery posts, earth straps, starter and alternator terminals first. Nigel

If your donor was a late 87 then apart from panel and switch illumination, number plate lights and possibly rear fog light, fuse 7 supplies feed to dimmer B relay then switching current to dimmer 11 and the main and dip relays. Power goes to the head lamp main and dip bulbs through fuses 1234 but is supplied unfused from the + busbar. First assemble a pile of 15 amp fuses! Then I suggest you pull the dim dip relays and the headlamp relays. Check the fog lamp switch and all other switches are off, and try the side lamps. Then switch on ignition + side lamps and head lamps. The head lamps won't come on of course but this tests the column switch. Flick to dip and main. Then fit dimdipB relay and repeat. Then dimdip 11. Then either dip or main relays testing as you go. Note the point the fuse blows and you have narrowed it down somewhat. Also try the rear fog and see if this blows it. If you blow fuses with just the sidelights then I would think one of the Grey/yellow panel light feeds is connected wrong or shorting. It may then be obvious or post results. Nigel

One from the archives, Jim. Don't you miss it just a little bit? Nigel

Sorry mine's a series three. I hadn't realised you 2b boners had no adjustment at all. Has any 2B boner had castor measured by someone who knows what they're doing and if so what was the result? Changing castor would have to involve remaking one of the wishbones or welding on new wider brackets to the chassis to allow shimming one of the wishbones fore or aft. Probably safest to do the upper wishbone as its the least stressed but it should be done by an expert. Still not adjustable so get the maths right. (I went this route on my three because the geometry was so bad even with adjustable top and bottom wishbones!) Would be interesting to measure a few 2B's to see what sort of figures emerge. Jon I think what you are describing here if I correctly understand you is negative castor. You need positive like bicycle forks. Nigel

Flickering ignition light at low rpm can't be due to slipping fan belt unless you are talking 100 rpm. Likely to be poor connection of brushes and slip rings and this can also screw diodes as does welding with the battery still connected, connecting the battery the wrong way round or attaching jump leads the wrong way round. Anyway your alternator is ready to be exchanged for a reconditioned unit even tho it still works sort of! Nigel

Sorry, er, what was the question again? Nigel

Not sure which way you have moved the wishbone. You need to produce 5-7 deg positive castor by moving lower wishbone forward and upper wishbone backwards. Phone around to find a garage that can competently measure suspension angles. Second set camber to zero to minus one degree. Then toe in to half a degree. Important to do in that order. These are very much baseline sort of figures but should give some self centering and a reasonable drive. You then tune the angles to suit yourself after you have driven it a bit.

I had one briefly. It wasn't any more effective as a silencer than the RH job but they kindly let me exchange it for a megazone 5" which was a bit better. So I added some more baffles and repacked it and its fine. However its now rusty as rats and looks terrible. Can't afford to change it at the moment but I would advise against both! Nigel

OK. Haven't come across that before. One funny one I have seen is when the ignition light is off or very faint at idle but glows brighter the faster you drive but not full brightnesss and that is usualy the voltage regulator. Nigel

Agree its bull about the belt slipping but don't you mean the voltage regulator not a diode Jim? Nigel

Heard a story yesterday of a 70 year old in Tavistock, Devon who built a bike engined Westfield about a year ago. Apparently he is still alive. Go for it Gramps. Nigel

Charge the battery out of the car fully or to at least 70%. Use a Hydrometer to test each cell in the battery. Should be 1.28ish full or 1.24ish for 70% charge. About 1.13 for flat. All cells should be roughly the same. Start and run the engine at about 2500-3000rpm for a couple of minutes and connect a voltmeter across the battery terminals. If your alternator is doing its thing you should get a reading of 14ish volts give or take 0.3 roughly. Nigel ( Cost of toys! Hydrometers are about £5 and multimeters about £10.)

There can be sealing issues with the inlet port shape which is bigger and sort of cam lobe shape with the pointy bit upwards. You should use a cheapo carb type manifold gasket, not the injection manifold gasket, from your local factor to ensure a seal. I have seen manifolds which when bolted on do not cover the peak of the port but these are earlier ones. Your 85 should have enough meat on it to allow you to match it to the port to get the best flow. Raising compression ratio a little is OK, as is reprofiling the valve seats to three angles. If you buy a head from a scrappy and have this done then its worthwhile reading Dave Andrews article at http://www.rhocar.org/download/heads.zip on cleaning up some of the edges which slow gas flow. However Shandylegs offer sounds like a good one to me. Nigel

If the colour is very faded you may need to cut back using wet & dry paper, used wet, starting with 400 grade which will take out any imperfections in the surface. Then progress through 800, 1000, 1500 to get a fine mat finish which will polish up beautifully with T-cut then wax. Use lots of water throughout. If you are patient you can end up with a finish like a top paint job. Nigel

Perfect for maniac trackdays and tearing about on A roads but 5000rpm to move off from traffic lights, clanking from the gear changes, no torque and tend to have unforgiving clutches which all adds up to 20% fun and 80% pain in the ass. Look at the grin on BIg Jims avatar to see which is the most practical. Nigel B*m. He's changed his avatar for the umteenth time. Am I a bit prejudiced against bike engines?

Putting the male bit in the freezer helps a touch as well. Spot of copaslip and remember to screw it fastquick wearing gloves. Nigel

If we're talking who was robbed what about Rubens Barichello. He was fastest out there after about 40 laps and running off into the distance when his car died. Why doesn't Schumacher's Ferrari ever seem to give up. Nigel

If you want to drill to a specific depth such as 3mm cut a bit of tube such as brakepipe to cover the drill bit leaving 3mm of drill tip exposed. Check the length of exposed bit after each hole as the tube can wear down exposing too much bit. Now you can go ahead and assemble your frame without worrying about busting the glass later. Nigel

Sietze You write technical English better than most of us English/Scots/Welsh. The only dutch I know is Hans Christian Anderson and he was Danish. Nigel

The following is the sierra layout in my 85 donor as far as I understand it. Hazard switch numbers. 30 Red. Constant live. Feeds 49 direct and dash flasher light when hazard switch activated and through the dash warning light to L & R flasher light circuits and 49A on flasher unit. (Acts as hazard supply.) 54 Black. Ignition live. Feeds 49 to flasher unit when ign on but disconnects when hazard switch operated. (Acts as flasher supply when ign on.) 49 Black/Red. Ignition live. Live only when ignition on and Hazard not activated. Disconnects when hazard switch operated. No earth. Indicator switch numbers. 49A Black/White/Greenn From flasher. Intermittent supply into Hazard switch 49A to be distributed to R & L flasher light circuits and dash warning light. (Acts to flash the lights.) R Black/Green. Output to Right indicator lights. L Black/White. Output to Left indicator lights. No earth. Flasher Unit 31 Brown. Constant earth. Connects flasher unit to earth. Doesn't go to the switch. 49 Black/Red. Live feed. From hazard switch 49 49A Black/White/Green. Output. To indicator switch 49A The flasher unit is activated effectively by the output circuit being switched to earth through one or both of the indicator light circuits. If you do decide to try this you need to leave the wires on the column switches H30 49A, R, & L connected. Wires 54 49 & a feed off H30 must be arranged so that 54 is connected to 49 without H30 when hazard switch off and H30 connected to 49 but 54 disconnected when hazard switch on. H30 must also connect to the bulb in the hazard switch constantly. Feeds off R, L, 49A must be arranged so that they all connect when the hazard switch is on and they also connect to the warning bulb in the switch on the other side to H30. They must all disconnect from each other and the bulb when the switch is off. That mimicks the current column switches but there must be dozens of different hazard switch arrangements and I havent a clue what switch youve got. The hazard/indicator switching must be about the most complicated in the car. I wouldn't try to change it!

Has anyone had one made/tailoured to fit nicely over high back seats and round the roll over bar. Could it be two piece to have a sort of boot cover and how can you cope with the high mounting point of the seat belts? Nigel

Quick visit required to your local cheapo carpet shop to get a can of spray contact adhesive. You can then spray carpet and panel just like you use spray paint, wait five mins and stick the carpet onto the panel. Very quick for doing large areas. Best to make floor carpet removable for when it gets wet but other trim can be more permanent. Nigel

Run on unleaded and if you're unlucky you will get serious valve recession in about three years time! Nigel

Due to recent experience I would suggest you will need to dowel the flywheel at the very least to take more than 160 bhp. Probably other things as well but you will have to ask Simon. Nigel