richyb66

Jess, is it actually boiling over or is it just the gauge that say's it's running hot? Just a thought that maybe the gauge isn't reading correctly - can you double check with a second gauge or a different sender unit. Also, could you use a contact thermometer to check the water temperature at different points of the system, you'd expect some temperature differential between the inlet and the outlet of the rad. I've got a digital contact thermometer you can borrow but it's in Wales and I'm not up there this weekend but I can bring it back next weekend if you need it. I'd give the water wetter a miss for now and try and find the root cause rather than a dirty fix. Can you post some pictures showing the rad installation and the pipe routing.

I'd have thought there was an app on the iphone to record a program that has already been broadcast. I'll ask around at work, some of the guys have iphones and I've heard them talking and it sounds like one of them actually invented the thing!

They're part of the active traffic management, which actually seems to work quite well when they can make their mind up what speed they want you to maintain. Quite often you'll be going along at 50, see the sign ahead is 60 so you start to speed up only to have it change down to 50 just as you get to it. I do the M42 everyday for work and I have to say you do seem to see a lot of multiple car shunts - could be the sudden unexpected braking as people approach the cameras. Not all cameras are active all the time, they just activate certain ones and I got done there last year - 63 in a 50 limit. I had been going along at 50 in traffic but then where the M42 south branches off to the M40 the traffic thinned out and my speed crept up (because 50 is clearly way too slow on a motorway with hardly any traffic) and I got done. Got a couple of nice free photos of the back of my van though.

Should be a good turnout - of vans then!

Yep, looks very like an MGF bumper cut off just below the upper grille. The upper grille isn't MG - they just had some mesh fitted in the bumper from behind so no idea on that. The bonnet vents are Metro (Rover 100)

I've got previous form designing bumpers for MG Rover.

It's an MGF rear bumper

I've got a blue line drawn on the side panel where the wing fits. It's not quite in line with the arc of the chassis tube because I've used superspec wings and mounted them lower down so they follow the curve of the tyre - thereby avoiding the 4x4 look. I will need to do a double check but the panels are away being sprayed at the moment.

It's very quiet, but then I've not started the engine yet! According to the CBS catalogue it runs at 94dB on a K series so it should be OK. With a bit of luck I should get it running in the next few weeks so I'll keep you posted. I have put a suppoort under the rear end of the silencer now which has a rubber mount on it. I wanted to get the mount tucked as far out of the way as possible so it wasn't contactable. I'll post another picture when I get the chance. If I can find some decent stainless steel mesh I might make a shield but If I do, I'll mount it to the silencer not the side panel. I don't want holes in the side panel in case I decide to remove it later.

Having read a number of threads about silencers and relised that the standard RH silencer is unlikely to pass IVA, I had ben considering a few options for a suitable replacement. In the end I decided to go for the nuclear option, got out the visa card and shouted up a 5" silencer from CBS on the basis that it was re-packable and looked likely to reduce the noise to an acceptable level. As a bonus, my return from China on Friday night meant I could have a rare weekend at home in the garage which resulted in this: I order to fit the silencer parallel to the side panel I needed to make a small pipe to join the manifold to the silencer which is OK, but as it involved welding 3 bits of pipe together and a load of grinding, I may use it as a template and get something bent up in a single piece. I'm wondering now about a heatshield - obviously the silencer will get hot but it doesn't have any sharp edges like the RH silencer and as I can't find a specific requirement for one in the IVA manual, do I actually have to fit one (aside from the risk of burnt legs getting in and out). If I can get away without one for the test them I'd prefer to leave it off and maybe fit something later.

Thanks for that Nigel, I'm probably a bit too late to easily add a return hose so I'll cross that bridge if I come to it. Most likely route forward after the Weber will be bike carbs or maybe a turbo.

I've got a 28/36 Weber and the standard Sierra mechanical fuel pump. Do I need to use the Sierra fuel pressure regulator? Do I need to pipe up the fuel return on the carb? I the past I've not used a regulator and I've just Tee'd into the fuel line before the pump and piped the return into that - saves running a fuel return up to the back of the car.

After having had my wishbones blasted and powder coated, I had some issues with screwing in the top ball joint due to contamination of the threads with shot and plastic. Ideally the threads need an M18 tap running through them to clean them up. Taps this big seem expensive so as I'm currently in Shanghai for work I thought I'd take a trip up the Beijing Road to see what was about. I nipped into a small shop and needed to do a quick drawing to be understood but the bloke had a rummage under the counter and produced the said item. He drove a hard bargain and showed me the retail price in the catalogue first, but I've got form for haggling and I managed to knock him down from 46 RMB down to 42 RMB. Now I know it's probably not A1 quality so probably not suitable as a machine tap but for hand cleaning a tread it'll be ideal. The price? £4-20 Result!

Had a similar thing on my VW transporter, I checked all the usual suspects but found nothing and annoyingly it would do it for a few days or a week and then go quiet before returning weeks later. I even pulled the boots of the cv joints to see it they were damaged but found nothing. In the end I suspected driveshafts but wasn't sure and couldn't tell which side so I swapped the both complete - about £100 a side exchange so not worth stripping down and fitting just joints. Not had any bother with it since. I'd suggest trying different rear wheels first to eliminate wheel balance issues. If it still persists, chock the car, jack up each rear wheel individually and drive the car through the gears allowing the raised wheel to spin (assuming no lsd), this should isolate which side is causing the issue. Make sure the jack is under the trailing arm, can't slip, go down or otherwise move or you'll be in big trouble. Get an assistant to observe the wheels turning and look out for vibration or run-out. That way you can concentrate on the driving bit.

I agree that not fitting the screen for IVA is a good 'work around' as it also eliminates a number of other potential fail points but I've decided to press ahead with everything fitted and attempt to get everything fully compliant. I was looking at Martin's 2B Superspec at our area meet last night which has very recently passed IVA at Birmingham. Martin had his screen fitted and it was marked exactly the same as mine i.e whilst this doesn't appear to fully comply with the ECE43 regulation as described in this earlier thread http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=25675&st=0&p=199143&fromsearch=1entry199143 it seems that the testers at Birmingham thinks it ok, which is good news for me. I guess it's proof (if any were needed) that whole test process is still not clear cut and is open to a degree of interpretation.

Presumably one of the 4 standards mentioned on page 11 would have to be specifically marked on the glass to comply - I know for a fact that my toughened glass screen doesn't have any of these on it. Neil and Keith both had 2B's pass IVA yesterday - I'd be interested to know whether they has screens fitted and if so what markings they had on them. Any chance of some more information or photos guys?

Weather looks like it's improving: http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2199

Sadly I can't make it but for anyone who's not been before the museum is well worth a visit. I know Gaz has put a lot of effort in to get this organised which isn't easy when Coventry City Council are involved - let hope this event gets the support it deserves.

This shows an example with wishbone suspension where the contactable surfaces of the wishbones (and presumably the track rods) are checked but then the whole volume enclosed by the wisbones is exempt. This is good news as it means that the front spring / damper is exempt as is the front hub but the brake caliper could still be contactable as it falls outside of this volume in places.

I've got a single key and barrel spare, only swapped on mine because it's a bit worn and I wanted a pair of keys, it still works fine. Yours if you want it FOC - I can drop it in the post. I bought a replacement of Ebay - a pair of keys and a barrel for about a tenner: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IGNITION-LOCK-BARREL-CYLINDER-MOST-FORD-TIBBIE-KEY-/270594983205?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CommercialVehicleParts_SM&hash=item3f00b7c525

Nothing to do with me but spotted on another forum I frequent, located in Epsom: http://www.nsra.org.uk/newforum/showthread.php?t=40422

Remember that the outer edge is the widest part of the car, which could be the rear wings not the front.

Blue Hylomar is petrol resistant and I've heard that JB weld (the 2 part stuff a bit like Araldite) also works well on fuel tanks. Use aluminium pop rivets but make sure they're the sealed type - the end you put through the hole is closed off so you don't get a through hole when the mandrel snaps off and the bulb on the end of the mandrell remains captive inside the rivet.

The gap's around 25mm on mine ( nice build consistancy - not) so I'll be needing some packers too. My scuttle is also fixed but even with a couple of temporary packers it all seems pretty rigid, which is probably just as well as it's going to have to support the back edge of the bonnet which most definitely isn't very rigid.

It's at the Malt Shovel on the A45 / A452 island here: The car park entrance is off the Northbound side of the A452, 50 yards off the roundabout.