andyparry

I had a similar problem years ago. My diagnostic route was chock the front wheels and put the back of the car up on axle stands. Spin up the wheels and see if you still get the vibration. If you do, take the wheels off. If it's still there, take the half shafts off to the diff. If its still there, take the prop off. If it's still there are that, then the only spinning components left are the gearbox and engine. I would guess at a problem with the clutch / flywheel at the point as the heaviest rotating mass. One change at a time and you'll be able to figure out what the route cause is.

Try organising a parcel pickup with Interparcel.com. By far the cheapest parcel 'agency' for stuff that is a bit heavy or large. Will be a lot cheaper and less time consuming than a 600 mile round trip.

I'm one of them. Took my age related 1988 F plate off to put a private plate on. Took that off at one point and got a 53 plate back from the DVLA which was when it was originally SVA'd / registered (Dec '03).

I don't know if I was just lucky, but I got an age related plate, replaced it with a personalised plate, sent the paperwork off to the DVLA to take the plate back off again, but didn't get the age related back. I got a new plate for the year I built it ! Result. It was a few years ago though, so I expect them to be slightly more savvy now.

I finally found some time last night to take the car for a test drive to see if the new vacuum pump was working. All actually seem to be working really well. Peter - your explanation on how the servo works is spot on. There is no pitch change when the brake pedal is untouched. There is a slight change when the pedal is pressed. Either way, the brakes are back to being a sharp and good feel as I would like them. This also suggests that my brake servo is in fact actually working as well. Bob - thanks for the offer of the servo. Much appreciated, but now not needed. Agent Zed - the 4off screw threads into my carbs are all 4mm. That's a root of 3.3mm. I therefore took some M4 screws and drilled a 2mm hole up the middle. That gave me a total area across all 4 carbs, of about 12.5mm^2. The new x-type pump has an input port of ~50mm^2, so I've got 4 times the air flow that I previously had. The down side to all of this is that something else has now gone wrong! It seems that the engine has gone out of tune when idling or at low revs. It is very lumpy, almost as if it is running on 3 at low revs. I'm wondering if having the engine tuned with the 4 carbs all manifolded together, albeit through 3mm ID piping, and now removing that manifold has had an adverse effect on the tuning. I'm going to whip the carbs off and have a look to ensure that the new 4 blanking screws are not sticking out in to the carbs and affecting the airflow. After that, apart from the normal checks for sparks and fuel, I think it will be a trip to the tuners. Any other ideas? Thanks for your comments chaps. Andy

I've been using the original sierra estate brake servo and master cylinder since I built the car in 2003. When I took the pinto efi lump out and fitted the blackbird, I wanted to retain the servo as I don't like the feel of a servoless system. I therefore tapped off each of the 4 carb intakes, manifolded them together and used that as the vacuum source for the servo. The problem was that due to the small pipe size, it took a while to build up pressure, meaning I only had one good hit on the brakes before I was into the uncomfortable feel territory. I've just fitted an electric vacuum pump from and x-type and linked directly to the servo. All is plumbed up and wired. If I put my finger over the pipe it draws a good vacuum and the pump pitchchanges. When I run it on the servo, there is no change of pitch, even when I press the pedal. So my question is, how does the servo work? I would have expected the pump to evacuate the servo and hold it under a reduced pressure.....or do I have a knackered servo? Andy

Put the tax on fuel. Pay for what you use. More of an incentive to have an economical car then. Solves the 60k reps in efficient car problem as well.

My understanding of a bike fuel pump is that they are used with a gravity fed tank on the bike to try and balance the pressure to the four carbe . If you are using it to pump from the back of the car, the pressure drop through the lines will be substantial. I changed to using a facet high flow, low pressure pump on a re-cirulation loop back to the tank. I put a pressure regulator on the return pipe and a pressure gauge on the feed pipe just before the carbs. That way I could regulate the pressue to ensure I got 2-5psi at the carbs with a high flow rate. If the pressure is too high, you'll just blast the fuel past and floats and end up with fuel on the floor.

If you are going to use stamps, make sure the chassis is grounded hard, i.e jacked up on axle stands. If not, unsurprisingly, the shocks will absorb the shock and you'll end up with a bounce and blood.

My parents have got the estate. Shame. Thanks for the offer anyway Bob. Andy

Bob, is that for a 5 door hatch or an estate? Andy

The fan is not going to push or pull air through the rad at any more than about 20mph air speed. That means that if the car is moving above 20mph, the fan becomes an air flow restriction. Take Bobs advice, fit the fan behind, but also cut off as much of the excess housing as you dare. That will remove the restriction, increase air flow and thus increase cooling.

Lighter right shoe!

When I put my bike engine in, I knocked up a PowerPoint of annotated photos showing the engine number and capacity stamped onto the block. That was enough for the DVLA. Was about 10 years ago, so rules may of changed since then!

Sounds like a dodgy earth problem to me or a chaffed wire shorting out to the chassis. Have a check of a Haynes manual and see if they are on teh same circuit or use the same earth bonding point.

Ally expands at about 13 parts per and stainless at about 9 parts per. Depending on the fit of the bearing into the housing, you may need a couple of hundred degrees of difference between the two. For a 30mm bore, 200c would increase the bore by 0.08mm by my reckoning. The trick is to stop the bearing going up in temperature as well! If you can, leave a big cold bar in the bearing to act as a heat sink for the bearing. See http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-expansion-coefficients-d_95.htmlfor more detail.

Black guttering down pipe. Will nicely fit a cone filter on the end as well.

What's the recommendations on dash cams from those that have them? I'm thinking of buying 3, just not sure what to buy.

I can't make this one as I'm away this weekend, but I'm up for future meets. I've still got a crumbling bottom Bob before you ask

I used one of these on mine http://www.hoverd.org/Tim/Fury/images/sprocket_adapter_01.jpg. Can't remember who I got it from but it was less than £60 8 years ago. Once you've got the engine in and hard mounted, get baileymorris to make you a new prop. You'll need to make sure you have a shock joint in the tube somewhere else you'll strip teeth off the gears as you going down through the box. You'll also need a baffle plate in the sump to stop oil surge. A bike radiator is not big enough, so you'll need some serious cooling on the front as you won't have the same airflow over the engine. Hth ANdy

I've got a stick on one on the front top of my nose cone. Never had an issue.

I think you're underselling that lot at £125. Folks pay more than that just for a diff. I don't think you;ll have a problem selling it...........

The key to air tools is having a large receiver and a large bore air line. If you buy and aldi airline, the bore is far too small for anything other than inflating. You just can't get the flow rate through it. Same goes for the air tools. Don't bother with them unless the rest of your system can supply the air.

I had my B.E.C. setup by a company in Camberley on Holder Road. I think from doing a google search they are GTP Aldershot, Unit A/17 Manawey Business Units/Holder Road, Aldershot,Hampshire, GU12 4RH .01252 328080 HTH, Andy

Be very careful about price comparison sites. They do not compare your current tariff to what is out there. They compare the tariff you would default to when your current one ends, to what is out there. Very subtle difference, but the reality is that no-one goes on the expensive default tariff. You need to know how many kwh of gas and electric you use and knock up a quick spreadsheet calculating the total cost of standing charges per day + annual kwh x unit rate for each energy. Don't use the TCR either as it makes big average assumptions which are wrong. I did a uswitch and it told me I could save £700+ / year. When I actually worked through the numbers and scoured the web myself, the best I could actually save was about £60 / year. Not worth the agro of changing. Hth Andy