richyb66

I've got a Mamba black bucket seat that I'm no longer using that looks like this:

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u289/ri...66/PICT0009.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u289/ri...66/PICT0010.jpg

Due to the wide tunnel on my 2B, I've narrowed the base of the seat so it's now just 500mm wide. This was achieved by stripping the covering off the seat, cutting and re-welding the frame and then re-fitting the cover. However, I'm not too happy with how it sits in the car relative to my harnesses and the missus thinks it's uncomfortable so I've bought some Roadster 7 seats to replace it.

I've also got a second seat the same that I started to narrow too but due to the time it was taking and not being 100% happy with the first seat, I've not progressed with it any further than removing the cover and chopping the frame. It looks a bit like an explosion in a mattress factory now but given a bit of time it could be a perfectly useable seat.

The general condition of both seats is pretty good, a few scuffs around the back of them at the bottom but still more than presentable.

OK, the price. I'm looking for £0, yep, they're free. Just come and get 'em. They could be just what someone is after but please don't just come and get them to have them sitting unused or to sell them on - let someone who needs them have them. Could be ideal for a track car if you only need one (although probably not if you've got a Hugh Jarse).

I'm at home in Tamworth for the duration of the Bank Holiday weekend and evenings during the week but most other weekends I'm in North Wales so I'd prefer to get rid of them asap. You can pm me for more info or my mobile number.

Oh, and there's no runners with them so you'll need your own.

Richard.

Just got back from a trip up this afternoon to pick up some parts - very friendly, a tour of the workshop and some useful tips. Thanks guys and keep up the good work.

Hi adie,

I think there's a Warwicks, Worcs and West Mids meeting next Wednesday night at the Malt Shovel Pub on the A45 - 7-30 onwards. Keep an eye out on the forum for confirmation. No doubt someone will be there in a car you could have a look at though sadly not me as I'm still building.

My chainsaw is used pretty infrequently and as a result can be a bit of a bu99er to start. What I do to get it going is take the plug out and give it wipe on a rag to get rid of any residual oil and then give it a good warm up with a blowlamp. Stick it back in while it's still hot and it starts after a couple pulls. I suppost a gas hob would be a bit easier but as I don't have one the blowlamp has to suffice.

Another tip with two stroke garden tools is to empty the fuel tank when you've finished with them and then start them up and run them at idle until they run completely out of fuel, otherwise the petrol in the fuel system evaporates leaving just the two stroke oil and this can make starting them more difficult later.

Looking good Keith, I assume we'll be able to see it in the flesh next week (weather permitting). I should be in attandance after a couple of DIY induced no-shows.

It takes me an hour to get changed, make a cuppa and walk into the garage - and that's before I've started.

soapy hot water or baby oil

Then once you're well covered, try warming the film with a hair drier.

I personally use Pro Engineer Wildfire 3 at work. It is probably the best CAD package out there for 3D design

That's fighting talk that is - CATIA V5 is clearly better!!! Pro E is just a colour version of etch-a-sketch.

Can anyone recommend some CAD software, that's readily available and falls within the usual Hoodie tight budget?

 

It needs to have the cababilty to specify wall thickness of materials and preferably show stress areas and the like - I'm thinking chassis design here.

 

I used SDRC Ideas many moons ago at uni, but I don't know if that's available to home users, and has probably long since been superceeded anyway.

 

Cheers,

Joel.

Got CATIA V5 on my laptop (purely for evaluation purposes), but it's what we use at work and is more than up to the job for design although I've never used the FAE side of it and don't know of anyone that does. Decent FEA packages are expensive and take ages to run due to complex maths involved in the calculations.

Thanks Rich. That would be great, if you could find a diagram that could tell me what each of the pins on the connector are for.

 

Cheers,

Phill

Phill,

you have a PM.

Rich.

Hi all,

 

Thanks to richy's link I've taken the plunge and purchased the Jaguar Parking Brake unit from ebay. Looking at it, it looks pretty similar to the one in Jamie(turbo)'s pictures of the mod to his car.

 

I've emailed Jamie for any info he might be willing to share on wiring the unit up, failing that I'll have to have a go at it myself, hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Regards,

Phill.

I've got contacts at the Jag working in development, I'll see if i can get hold of the wiring diagram for the electric handbrake.

Mmmmm not quite sure what particular axe is being grinded here... but I suspect Enforcer will have something to add?

My axe is probably already sharp enough and I'm certainly not having a dig at the police who have a difficult enough job without worrying about number plates.

Just pointing out that I seem to see an awful lot of cars going round with blatantly illegal plates on them and people seem to be getting away with it. I know that the penalties are severe and I believe the DVLA technically have the power to seize plates from serious offenders but with such a large proportion of motoring offences being detected by ANPR - these people have little or no chance of being detected and they all seem to know it.

What Year/Reg is allowed/Can have Black Registration Plates with White or Silver letters/numerics?

I'm looking at a car that is LLL NNN W (L=Letter, N=Number)

And has Black/Silver Plates. Are these legal?

Many Thanks

Col (Taunton)

Just use any font you want, make sure the plate background has lots of little Tazmanian Devils (or similar) on it. Get your favourite football club's emblem added in a panel on the left hand side then screw it on with lots of screws with big black heads in random locations to make it a bit more difficult to read. Finally get what you're trying to get the plate to read, printed in little letters along the bottom of the plate because let's face it, most of these reg numbers are pretty cr@p and you need something at the bottom to help you de-cypher them.

Of course it won't be legal, but you'll be far less likely to get pulled over than if you leave plain black and silver plates on.

HTH - though probably not.

Oh, and new Jags use electric parking brakes too-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JAGUAR-S-TYPE-NEW-XJ...1QQcmdZViewItem

but I'm not sure how simple the wiring would be as it's almost certain to be wired into the engine ECU.

I was looking at using a Renault electric mechanism and had spotted a few on Ebay for £50 or so but eventually decided to use an umbrella type instead on the basis that electric ones as still pretty scarce and if a second hand one goes pear shaped it could cost an arm and a leg to replace.

After looking for suitable levers I finally got a Mark 1 Cortina handle for 30 quid, again off Ebay, but the prices seem to vary wildly with some going for over 60 quid. I mounted the handle to the left of the steering wheel rather than the right so it's less likely to get kicked getting in and out and because it's more usual to go for the handbrake with your left hand.

One thing to bear in mind with this setup is the handle on its own has no mechanical advantage, it just pulls on the end of the cable, so you need to incorporate something to give around a 7:1 advantage.

I've now got it all fitted and despite the fact that it uses 3 seperate cables, it works a treat and everything is routed inside the tunnel so there's nothing dangling down underneath the car and the adjusters are (fairly) easy to get to. The only slight issue might be that the Cortina handle has a die-cast end with a few sharp edges so this might need a bit of fettling for SVA.

Despite a picture being worth a 1000 words, I haven't posted any yes as I'm posting this when I really should be doing some work, but if there's suitable interest on this thread I'll take a few and try and do a bit of a write-up for anyone who's thinking of doing something similar.

it depends if GBS where let down with the tooling (bending) machine as well?

Sorry but I don't agree, GBS shouldn't be putting stuff up for sale on Ebay if they're not in a position to fulfill the order - they're obviously happy enough to take peoples money, if the items aren't in stock or available then they shouldn't post the item. If they were available when they placed the ad and now aren't for some reason (like the factory burnt down or something similar), then they should update the listing or pull the item.

If they're only planning on running of a few manifolds when they've got enough people interested then there's probably a better way of canvassing interest.

Hi all, I'm going to have a bit of a grumble now.

 

I bought a new 4-1 stainless exhaust for the 2B from kitpartsdirect via their ebay shop, on the 06March. I received an email shortly after saying that delivery would be 7-10days, but hopefully well withing 7..

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260216556002

 

I've just been told by Richard Hall at KitPartsDirect/GBS that they have not even started making them..? as they are waiting for tooling (for a new bending machine I suspect)

 

This is hugely frustrating.. I can see next week's update as being along the lines of 'we're waiting for the stainless steel tubes to arrive..'

 

Anyone else had the same..? this is all starting to sound like GTS-Tuning...!

 

 

 

I do hate it when sellers are not explicit, I fell slightly mis-lead.

 

 

Tak

Tak,

you've clearly been mis-led. They've advertised an item for sale that doesn't actually exist and it doesn't look like they're in any position to give you a definite delivery date. I know it won't help you much if you need the manifold but I think that you're more than within your rights to ask for a confirmed delivery date in writing and if this isn't acceptable, they should give you a refund.

Personally I'd be speaking to them asap and then maybe giving some negative feedback - sadly there seem to be too many people (and companies) who are happy to use Ebay as a marketing tool but then refuse to play by the rules. Maybe a bit of honest feedback might give then the kick up the ar5e they obviously so badly need.

Just coming to re-fit the injectors onto the rail of my EFi Pinto, but Haynes says

I need some silicone grease (to a Ford spec) for the O-rings. I can get

silicone spray from my motor factors, but just wondering if the Ford stuff will be

any different? Wouldn't want to use the wrong stuff, then get fuel spraying all

over my engine bay! What has anyone else used for this job?

 

Cheers,

Pete

Vaseline

Keith,

no problem, you can tell us all about it at the next meeting.

Keith,

I got the build videos that came with my 2B - think I've only got 3 of the 4 videos (in magnificent VHS format) so I don't know if these cover what you're after but you're more than happy to have a look through them if you think they'd be any help. I've had a quick look at them myself - admittedly more for amusement than anything else as I seem to be spending most of my time re-doing someone elses previous attempts at everything. I got a spare pair of hands too if you think you need help but sadly they're not available weekends, only weeknights.

Rich

They're obviously a copy of Cragar SS Mag wheel but as they're 4 stud they're unlikely to of US manufacture. Nothing obvious springs to my mind but I could probably dig out a Custom Car or Hot Car mag from the 70's and find a John Brown Wheels advert that'll almost certainly have a picture of them.

There's a fitment chart here http://www.retro-rides.com/wheels.asp that'll show what they'll probably fit. If you don't sell them on Ebay, stick a free ad on Ray's excellent www.rodandclassicmart.co.uk and someone who goes on there will almost certainly know what they are.

Yes, that's what i was expecting to see but the bloke at Ford couldn't find it. Maybe he was just a muppet on the microfiche and I need to try a different dealer.

I've bought a pair of (supposedly) Sierra rear flexi hoses. The metal ends that fit into the trailing arm and would also mount to the Sierra body aren't threaded - they're round with a flat on them so they fit into a Dee shaped hole and my trailing arms appear to have the corresponding shaped hole in them.

The problem I've got is I can't find the metal clip that retains them - I'm assuming that it'll be some sort of horseshoe shaped jobbie, a bit like the one that retains the fixed end of the rear handbrake cable but I've got a load of them and they don't fit because they're a bit too small. A trip down to the Ford dealer didn't show anything on the slides - they just look like the usual hoses that are retained with a thin nut.

I'm wondering if I've got the wrong hoses, although they appear to fit the trailing arms and having bought two of them, I'd rather not have to buy something different. I did make my own retaining clip by cutting out some stainless steel sheet which will do the job but as it took a bit of time and I need 4 of them, I'd maybe be better seeing what else might be available.

Anyone got any ideas?

yes but looking on modern inlet manifolds they all share the same chamber the weber on pinto just dollops it at the top and the cylinders take what they want.

That's correct but if you look inside most manifolds you can trace a path around the walls of the manifold to the inlet port without encountering any sharp corners or dead ends. The square section plenum would need to have it's ends capped off and the path to the inlet ports would encounter numerous sharp edges and changes of direction all of which would create turbulence in the mixture and disturb the airflow. Granted the engine will basically suck in the mixture from anywhere in the manifold but for maximum power, the object of the exercise has to be getting the air to flow as smoothly as possible.