richyb66

Or alternatively, just keep using it through the winter.

Don't leave your brand new car on a trolley jack overnight while you paint the insides of your front wheels. The jack might go down overnight causing the aluminuim sump to break when it touches the jack, leaving you with a gallon of oil all over the garage floor and a £200 bill for a new sump. Yup, I've done it!

Are there any particular cars where you think this is a problem?

One of my mates is doing some research into automotive lighting trends. He has compiled a very short survey (less than 5 minutes) to gather information regarding customers views on automotive lighting. If you could take the time to respond it would be much appreciated - no personal information is required (other than your age) and you won't be hounded to death afterwards. http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/112439SDEAV Thanks

Feed the choke inlet from the pipe on the water pump, choke outlet goes to the heater inlet and the heater outlet goes back into the inlet manifold. This will give the shortest hose hose runs and ensure that the hottest coolant get to the choke as soon as possible. If you've got 2 fuel hose connections on the carb, one is probably horizontal and the other goes in at 45 degrees. The horizontal one may well be blocked off internally so you can just leave it as is and use the angled pipe. Blow down the pipes to see if either are blocked off.

Engine cooling fan really needs a relay, the thermostatic swich in the hose probably isn't up to the current that the fan draws.

Can you use a bullet connector sleeve crimped down onto the post at one end and put bullet connectors on the harness?

Good result, well done. Nice that they allow a bit of tinkering time to sort out the odd issue.

I think they push onto round posts on the coil. I'd solder a pair of flying leads to the posts and connect to them with spades.

Just looked, Spitfire is a mech pump. Sounds more like a dead battery.

By not starting, do you mean it wouldn't crank over at all, cranked slowly or cranked but wouldn't fire? Personally I'd just stick a battery on it anyway, especially if it's of unknown age. Even if you did a massive slide, I can't see it would move stuff around any more than normal cornering - which might disturb wiring due to movement. Has it go the old style Lucas electric fuel pump - the dodgy one that packs up at the slightest provocation? Dodgy pump might cause fuel starvation.

Depends on you budget really. I've got a re-packable stainless silencer on my Pinto which I'm fairly happy with but not exactly cheap: http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/5-stainless-steel-silencer Assuming you don't need to pass IVA and noise level isn't an issue, you could try a bike can. There's plenty of choice on Ebay but it might be a fiddle getting the pipe sizes to match. Another option is to find somewhere that makes up aftermarket stainless systems on the car, go down and see what silencers they've got and maybe try one so you can gauge the sound level.

UB38818 is the original engine number and is from September 1978 ( http://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-manufacture-dates.html ) so not a Sierra engine, most likely Capri or Cortina. 2.0 shows it's a 2 litre 70HM6015BA is the casting number of the block which doesn't tell you anything. Not sure about the 7C on the head, but I'm pretty sure it won't originally have been unleaded (but might have been converted). Safest to assume it's not suitable for unleaded and use fuel additive or just put up with some valve recession. What issues are you having - there's always a solution.

There's plenty of us in the area and we're pretty active. We have a monthly meeting, details of which can be found in my signature.

1992 might need to have a catalyst - August 92 onwards from memory but in any case pursue the HPI route first. In line with my earlier post, stating you can get a different V5 on an open forum is likely to cause you more problems.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that you can do an HPI check using the VIN number only. It's not guaranteed to give the reg number, it'll just give you any information that HPI have on the system - which is a start. You might need a trade HPI account, give them a ring. I'd be extremly cautious about advertising for a V5 on a public forum, the DVLA might view this as ringing and take a very dim view. What's to say that the previous owner didn't just sell the V5 for your car to someone else who's already used the identity to get a kit registered?

I think you're only covered if you drive directly to (and from) the test centre. If you drove there the night before and left the car on-site you've probably be ok but if you're parking in a Travelodge carpark overnight (or anywhere else that's not the test centre), then it's probably risky.

It's not just about the rad, it's about getting as much of the air that passes through the nosecone to flow through the rad rather than around the sides. Like Steamer, I use the coolman Cortina rad but I've got it ducted around all 4 sides to force the air that enters the nosecone through the rad core.

Not me.

Hardly a long drive for most but at least we can all arrive together. Meet up on SUNDAY morning at our normal place, the Malt Shovel Pub, Coventry Road, Nr Stonebridge, Coventry, CV7 7HL https://maps.google....ingdom&t=m&z=15 Entrance to pub car park is off the A452 Chester Road heading North 50 yards from the island. 0830 onwards for a prompt departure at 0900. Second meeting point is the BP garage opposite the Styvechale Arm pub (and Premier Inn) at the junction of the A45 Stonebridge Highway and St.Martins Road (approx postcode CV3 6PB). Departing from here at 0930.

My car's fan belt snapped and I had no money on me to buy another. Luckily, I knew how to use the missus tights to fix it. I put them on my head and robbed Halfords.

No, that should be fine - just don't stray into Coventry.

I don't see how it can reflect badly on us as a club. We always point out how these cars are misrepresented and warn people off buying them. They've always been around, it's just that they're getting flushed out now and rightly so.

Yes, think it might have been required for SVA to prevent a car fitted with a catalyst being filled with leaded fuel (when that used to be more widely available). Leaded pumps have a bigger filler than unleaded or diesel. I didn't fit a reducer for my IVA and passed ok.

Can you park it aronud the corner?