niduncan

I have AVO's on the rear of my Series 3. They are PA 160/105 Motorsport which are 16 inch open and 10.5 inch closed with 1.9 inch spring that is 10 inch in length and 175lb. To fill out the wheel arches I fitted 195/65 15 tyres which also gave me over 1 inch extra ground clearance over the 185/60 14 I had on. The gap between the top of the tyre and the wheelarch is now about 2 inches.

Hi Peter, Yes, there are speakers fitted behind the seats which are run from a 320 watt amp that is hidden in the scuttle. I use a Sony head unit with a 10 disc CD changer that is in the boot. Loud enough to be heard over the exhaust!

Hi Ron, My car was on the road before the SVA came in so the belts are fitted at the rear as per the build instructions. As Paul states, SVA requirements now mean this option is not acceptable, the mounting has to be higher or a support fitted.

Hi Ron, I have Intatrim Odyssey's in my Series 3. They fit perfectly without any modifications. I got mine at Stonleigh 2 or 3 years ago. Europa sell them.

Hi Paul, Sorry, I have not done the fronts yet, they seem to be working OK so they are bottom of the To-Do list. Projects for this winter are: Replace leaded head on pinto for an unleaded one. Replace juddering clutch. As engine will be out, fit shortened sump. Build and fit a Magajolt ignition system. Nigel.

I fitted AVO's on the rear of my Series 3 earlier this year. They are good quality and perform well. I bought them direct from AVO. Shocks were £60 each and springs £21 each (all plus vat). They have a 2 year warranty and were delivered in 4 days.

I ran my Series 3 for a while without a servo, bolt the master cylinder directly onto the pedalbox. I made a pushrod out of a piece of threaded bar which worked fine and was infinitely adjustable!

No - looks like I am wrong - See here - LRP is no longer available and super unleaded needs an addative as well!

The standard tank fitted in my Series 3 is 20x20x84cm which by my maths is 33600 cubic centimeters = 33.6 litres = 7.39 Gallons less the loss due to the filler tube sticking in to the tank. As for running an 84 pinto on unleaded - no unless it has hardened valve seats fitted or the head has been changed for an unleaded head. Mine is a 83 engine which I have been running with EcoTIN catalyst pellets in the tank which allegedly cause a chemical reaction with the fuel which stops the valve seats wearing. They do not work! I have done 12,000 miles and the engine is now suffering from valve seat regression. On a recent compression test one cylinder had dropped to 7.9 (should be about 12). Adjusting the exhaust valve restored the compression but the engine now runs rough. I think Ford started fitting hardened valve seats as standard around 1987. You can use an addative with unleaded or use super unleaded or LRP.

The length of angle iron with the welded on nuts for the rear seat belt mounts is located at the inside top of the rear panel. The roll bar brace bolts hold the angle iron in place.

These are the coil overs on my Series 3, click here.

Hi Micky, These are the tiebar brackets on my Series 3, they are made from 3 and 5mm sheet steel.

Hi Paul, I have not modified the supports at all, they have done the job without any problems so far (11,000 miles). The fronts shocks don't seem to take as much stress as the rears so I don't intend changing them yet as they seem to be OK at the moment.

I changed my Series 3 shocks a few weeks ago - see here

96 miles round trip and I use the Hood regularly - it has never let me down!

My Series 3 has been on the road for 8 years and 11,500 miles with no signs of any cracks.

My series 3 (kit collected March 97) also has the welded in panel that the base of the nose cone bolts to and the side infill panels rivet to.

The Lolocost nylon bushes are crap. I tried them on my series 3, they are a poor fit and wore out very quickly. I made some rubber bushes from an old exhaust mount until I got some new AVO's.

There is a Speed Calculator on the Rhocar website that you can download. This allows you to change wheel and gearing details and shows the results in a variety of graphs. Down load from Here

I have just changed mine. See here: http://community.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=8155 Nigel.

I have just changed the rear shocks on my series 3 from the original zimmers to AVO's. The ride is much better now as the suspension now works! More comfortable and less jarring. The spec for the shocks are: AVO Pro Race Open length 16" Closed length 10.5" Stem top Nylon bottom bush 1.9", 10" free length, 175lb springs These were bought direct from AVO, shocks were £60 each and springs £21 each, all plus vat and postage. I did consider GAZ but these were £65 each for the shocks and £38 each for the springs plus vat and would take 4 weeks to manufacture! The AVO's were off the shelf and delivered in 3 days. Need to save up for the fronts now.

Hi Ron, On my Series 3 the angle iron is 20 inches long and is bent slightly to follow the contour of the boot. Not sure what box section you mean though. Some people have strenghthened the shock absorber top mount but mine is standard. Nigel.

The series III uses the original sierra mounting which bolts to the boot floor. I might knock up a solid bracket and give it a try. Cheers.

I had mine done a couple of weeks ago using the new system. He had to enter the registration number and the last 6 digits of the chassis number, this caused problems as my chassis number is only 4 digits long (this was the Robin Hood invoice number). It would not accept 4 digits so he tried two leading zero's, still no joy. Eventually he discovered that he could change the default setting of the chassis number field from last 6 digits to complete chassis number. This then worked and the vehicle description came up as Robin Hood. This guy had had very limited training on this new system so he was learning the hard way. They have to enter the vehicle weight as well, took a guess on mine as I have never needed it before - 900kg for a Series III? The system is painfully slow as well, it is all done by using a dial-up modem - the system cannot use broadband. It had to dial out several times during the whole process. The car passed which is the main thing.

Does anybody have a sierra differential rear mounting lying around. The rubber in my existing one has perrished. I will be at Newark on Saturday. Cheers, Nigel.