richyb66

Sort of, like most things Robin Hood it's never totally finished. The hardtop has proved very worthwhile, the first time I did a long trip with it on, it hammered down with rain but the roof kept probably 98% of the water out. Here's the roof fitted on a rather wet day Having used the roof a few times, a number of improvements are needed. Firstly I've had problems with the vinyl bubbling and lifting in a few places. This seems to have been made worse on the occasions that the roof had been fitted and the car has been in the sun. The vinyl gets very hot and despite having used high temperature glue, it's just not quite up to the job. My plan is to vinyl wrap the roof instead but I'll probably leave this until the winter when I won't need the roof for a while. Secondly I use the doors without the roof most of the time. They're probably the most useful thing I've made and something I'd recommend others making if they've gotr no roof or weathergear as they make the car much nicer to drive. However at speed, the doors tend to benb inwards into the cabin due to the air pressure. I've cured this by addind some 20 x 20 x 1 aluminium angle along the whole length of the door between the upper and lower parts. This stiffens the door preventing it from bending and it means the door retains it shape and fits to the side of the car better.

Not to satisfy IVA they can't. They'll use sandblasting or chemical etching and just put a BS number in it. Proper automotive glass has an E marking that's a ceramic mark fused to the glass surface.

Yes, although obviously you need to ensure that it's big enough to get a 2B screen out of it. As a 2B screen is quite small it shouldn't be in issue but worth checking beforehand. If Autoglass cut it, they probably won't have the kit to polish the edges so it's probably best to get a glazing company to do the cutting and they should be able to polish the edges. Best bet intially would be to take your existing screen to Autoglass as a template and explain what you need.

If you're set on getting a pass with the screen fitted, you've got 3 options: Find a laminated 2B screen - I believe that there some of these around and they have the corret markings Get another screen cut using a Fiat Uno or Landrover Defender laninated screen as a blank and you'r 2B screen as a template and retaining the laminated screen markings in the corner. This is a widely used route to get a flat screen that has the correct makings. I believe that some braches of Autoglass can supply the glass and do the cutting. Alternatively, get the screen from Autoglass and get a glazing company to cut it an polish the edges. (The edge polishing will lessen the chance of the glass cracking in service). Expect to pay approx £50 for the screen and maybe £20 for the cutting.

If you have any concern about the noise level and you can't check it accurately beforehand then you should consider some additional noise reduction measures for the test. Better to have it too quiet than too noisy and fail on something that could be avoided. You could put a perforated disc inside the silencer on the outlet - this shoiuld increase the backpressure and make the silencer more effective. Just make sure the engine is still capable of revving to 75% of the maximum power rpm as this is the speed they test the noise at. As theduck mentioned, Keith the tester at Kiddy was being trained and sat in on my test at Derby. He seemed a decent bloke, proper enthusiast, into his cars and also had some useful suggestions for solutions to some of my fail points

We're very active in the Midlands - we just don't like to shout about it!

Here's the search you want: http://www.rhocar.or...h&fromMainBar=1 Might be a few fail points listed here that give an indication if there's any common fail points (stuff they especially look for).

Which test centre have you requested? Search the forum IVA section using the place name and see what stuff they seem to fail cars on.

The switch tell-tale colours and symbols shown in Table A of the IVA manual are for guidance only - you can use any colour, symbol or wording as long as it's clear and doesn't cause confusion. I failed when I used a red switch like you - but they failed it because the symbol on it was for a front fog lamp and not a rear one!! Looking at the manual now - maybe it should have passed because I've not got front fogs only a rear one and the switch is a fog lamp switch - hardly confusing for the driver?

Think Gaz meant to post these: (It's just taken me 3 goes to make it work - what's with Photobucket lately????

Yes, left hand side of the block looking from the front. Big cast numbers about 40mm high - 200, 205, 2.0 etc. The engine number is on the same side stamped on a raised pad - this will help date the engine but not tell you 100% what is originally came out of. First 2 letters are the relevant bit: http://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-manufacture-dates.html

205 block is use on injection Pinto as well as the Cosworth (which also used the 200 block). Injection engine will also run unleaded as standard and has stronger rods than earlier engines. The stronger road are helpful if youre planning on more tuming but not essential - there's plenty of decent, tuned Pintos around based on the older Cortina 2.0 blocks.

Cut three quadrant shapes out of some 2mm ally sheet. One piece will have the curved bit 5mm further inboard than on the other two pieces. Sandwich this piece between the other 2 and you'll have a groove that the inner cable can run through. Rivet the 3 bits together and attach to the end of the pedal. Plenty of scrap ally in my garage - just pop round.

Andi - glad you had a good time and got there and back with no problems - 400+ miles with no screen and no weather gear!!! Balls of steel man! Steve has posted pics in this thread: http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=37392&hl=

Glad everyone had a good time and it made the organising worthwhile and as long as people want to keep coming - we'll see that they're made welcome. We were certainly blessed with the weather - just a small amount of rain this afternoon on the way home but nothing much to worry about.The total mileage for the weekend was in excess of 400 and it's good to see people put faith in their cars and get out and enjoy them. The routes were as follows: Friday - the route from the second meeting point was this: https://maps.google....via=2,3&t=m&z=9 The route for Saturday was this: https://maps.google....ia=4,7&t=m&z=10 And the route back today was this: https://maps.google....1,2,3,4&t=m&z=9 Finally thanks from Jackie and me to everyone who turned up and the kind gift. I think we'll be making a trip to the garden centre to get some more stuff for the garden.

As above, all sorts of classics, kits, rods etc. At the Griffin Inn, Coventry Road, Nuneaton CV10 7PJ 7PM onwards. Free entry. Note this is the Griffin Inn, not the Griff House Pub on the A444 island. See http://www.griffinpubnuneaton.co.uk/ for ful details.

I've just got here. I booked bad weather for tonight to get it out of the way so I had light rain for the last 15 miles. Still enjoyed the drive up though and hope to get a morning of kayaking in tomorrow before we meet up.

Right, this is definitely still on for this weekend. The weather forecast (gererally meaningless for North Wales) looks OK and I've got a few potential routes for our Saturday drive that would allow people to possibly meet us in Betws-y-coed late Saturday morning. I'm heading up tonight and will meet everyone at Rhug Farm shop late tomorrow afternoon - if anyone else fancies joining us then post up on here and you'll be most welcome.

I think youll find that the viscous fan is screwed onto the nose of the water pump with a left hand thread. Grip the pump impeller in a vice and tap the fan hub around clockwise to loosen it - the fan pulley should then just pull off the pump.

That's great news but why do all the new jobs seem to turn up when the weather's nice and not in the winter?

Multi-tasking - it's just doing several jobs badly at the same time.

Assuming that you're already watching Ebay and have looked in the For Sale secton on here then you've got most bases covered. Using the search facility and "weathergear" will give you a load of information including whether Zero or 2B weathergear will fit. Depending on how dry you want to stay, maybe a Surrey top would suffice? Again, plenty of info around if you do a quick search. Everyone on here is very helpful but it's worth noting that posts from community users that read like a Wanted ad tend to get frowned upon (see here for why http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showforum=18 ) - you're not the first to be unaware of this and you won't be the last so don't take it personally Essentially you're probably going to need to find someone with weathergear they've either not used or no longer want as getting it made new will be costly (£450+). Also, post some pictures of your car in the Chat section and tell everyone a bit about it - a bit of background information and people will be more inclined to help.

Jubilee clips every time - how tight does a hose need to be? Most OEMs use the flat spring type clips now that only have a set amount of tension built on them and they're hardly any wider than a Jubille clip and they seem to hold without any problems.

Now I’ve had the chance to find out what times hopefully suit people best the plan is as follows: Depart Friday 9th August 2PM from Gaz’s in Coventry (Gaz and Jez), heading out on the A444 towards Nuneaton to get on the A5. Follow the A5 past Tamworth towards Cannock and the first meeting point. Approx 3PM. First meeting point in the car part of the Tollgate Cottage Café, Four Crosses on the A5 WS11 1SF – on the left hand side of the road. (Meet Andi from Leicester and Trev and Brian coming via Lichfield) http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=52.682373,-2.064824&spn=0.002569,0.006958&t=h&z=18 Continue along the A5 towards Telford, drop onto the M54 at Junction 4 and continue on 4 miles of the M54 onto the A5 again towards Shrewsbury and the second meeting point. Approx 345PM. Second meeting point at the Shrewsbury Services / Dobbies garden Centre on the junction of the A5 and the A49 at Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury SY3 0DA – second exit off the roundabout. (Meet Thrashed here coming from Bromsgrove). https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=SY3+0DA&hl=en&sll=52.505221,-1.81541&sspn=0.276682,1.187897&oq=sy3+0da&hnear=SY3+0DA,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=15 From here it’s back on the A5 again towards Oswestry, Llangollen and Corwen and the third meeting point. Approx 5PM. Third meeting point at The Rhug Organic Farm shop just west of Corwen on the A5 LL21 0EH http://www.rhug.co.uk/the_shop/find_us.asp - on the left hand side of the road. There’s food available here, decent loos and plenty of easy parking. (All being well, I’ll be here waiting for everyone). http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Corwen+LL21+0EH&hl=en&ll=52.982007,-3.41015&spn=0.005103,0.013915&sll=52.477438,-1.863632&sspn=0.126302,0.695572&oq=ll21+0eh&t=h&hnear=Corwen+LL21+0EH,+United+Kingdom&z=17 With everyone suitably fed and watered, we’ll carry on from here. Assuming I’m there, further detailed directions won’t be needed but we’ll basically be heading up through Bala, Llan Ffestiniog and Porthmadog towards Nefyn. I’ll tailor the exact route on the day to suit our requirements depending on traffic etc. Again depending on delays we should expect to arrive at Nefyn around 630PM which should give people enough time to get checked into B&B’s, get cleaned up and still get out for a swift half later if required. If anyone wants their meeting point changed or there are any additions then let me know and I will update this post. I want to avoid people having to wait around at meeting points for people who aren’t going to turn up. Only the second meeting point has fuel so there’ll need to be some more stops so I’d propose another stop for fuel a couple of miles after the third stop and then possibly again nearer Nefyn ready for Saturday.

Before anyone says anything - I realise that was still quite long!!!