niduncan

Hi there, I live near Bourne, about 40 miles down the A15 from Lincoln. I am sort of half way between the Lincolnshire/South Humberside/East Yorkshire area and the East Anglia area. The East Anglia area meetings are held in Diss which is over 80 miles away. There is nothing happening in the South Lincs area so I would be interested in meeting up somewhere with you guys. I have a Series III which I built in 1997, it has been regularly modified and improved over the years. Will either of you be at Stonleigh? I am planning to be there on Sunday, look out for XIL 7676 on the club site. Nigel.

Sorry - things did go off at a bit of a tangent. Must have been due to the shock of having a sunny weekend.

Indeed the VDO gauge works backwards. If you do not connect a sender to the gauge i.e high resistance the gauge reads full. If you connect the gauge to earth it reads empty. Must have been a Monday morning design by VDO or could be something to do with the fact that these clocks are actually designed for the marine market as the sender unit came with instruction for fitting in a boat! I suppose that raises the question "Has anybody managed to make an amphibious Robin Hood?"

Tried moving the actuator arm but the VDO guage needs a resistance of less than about 5 ohms to read empty, the lowest I could get out of the sierra sensor was 36 ohms which indicates 1/4 full. Can't see any way of getting the resistance lower. Any electronic whiz kids out there who could design a circuit to convert an input of 36 to 195 ohms to give an output of 3 to 183 ohms. Must be a challenge worth a slab of beer!

Bill, Had a look in the Haynes manual and it looked as if the Sierra sender unit has more than one sensor in it. Only one option, out came the sender unit. The unit actually has three sensors combined in it: Sensor 1: gives a low resistance on empty and high resistence on full. Sensor 2: gives the opposite, high on empty and low on full. Sensor 3: suspect this is used to control a dashboard low fuel level light. Connected up Sensor 1 (was using Sensor 2) and now the VDO guage indicates 1/4 full when empty and full when full which is somewhat better than working backwards. I will live with this until I fit the VDO sender. The VDO sender will fit nicely in the current hole in the tank but I then have to figure out a way of getting a fuel pickup pipe into the tank. Nigel.

Happy days indeed. My winter projects are now finished, a new dash with VDO clocks, interior re-vinyled and to top it off a new set of alloys and tyres which gained me 1.25 inches of sump clearance. Took it for a 40 mile thrash today, shades on and wind in the hair, what a beautifull day. Only one problem with the dash, I used the original Sierra fuel sensor to save cutting holes in the tank for the VDO sensor - would you believe that the VDO fuel guage works the opposite way to the Capri guage I had in. When I filled the tank the reading went to empty instead of full - bugger - looks like I might have to fit the VDO sensor after all. Nigel.

Hi Fred, "Fellow Hoodie" here. When I had the clocks fitted the ammeter was definately connected to the battery and the alternator. I know it looks as if you are connecting both wires to the battery but the ammeter is actually measuring the voltage drop across the main feed wire between the battery and the alternator. To test the ammeter turn on the headlights without the engine running, this simulates an alternator failure. The ammeter will show a negative (downwards) reading. During normal running the ammeter would very rarely show a positive reading. Do not put the ammeter in series as you would a normal after-market ammeter as this would burn it out. Hope this helps. Nigel.

Thanks chaps, I think that a trip to the scrappies for a sump and pickup is in order then. Cheers, Nigel.

Hi all, Would anybody happen to know what the difference is sump depth is between the standard 2.0l sump and the rs2000 alloy sump. There are several alloy sumps on ebay at the moment but I belive that modifying a tin sump gains more clearance. After 7 years and over 7000 miles my tin sump is so battered it is well overdue a leak and needs replaced. Cheers, Nigel.

Hi Fred, If your shocks look like these (series III) then you need to grip the inner tube through the spring with a pair of vise grips to stop it turning. You can then screw up the first nut to tension the spring. I have mine set firm as it gives greater sump clearance. Nigel.

I had a problem with one of the shock absorbers leaking, the pair were replaced by return post with no hassle. I also had the pedal box cover (series III) replaced as it had been folded inside out, must have been a Monday morning job. Excellent service. Nigel.

The Snap-Off kit will not fit the hub that comes in the kit, you need to get a sierra hub designed for an "M" type wheel fitting. The 11" Traditional steering wheel will not fit the Snap-Off kit as it for "M" type wheels. I had to have an adaptor ring made so that I could use the Traditional wheel. Nigel.

Andy, a common cure for this problem is to cut an access panel in the tunnel and route the speedo cable through this hole, under the carpet and up to the dash. I have done this on my series III after getting hacked off with snapped cables. Nigel.

Hi Mike, I have a Series III which I have been running for nearly 7 years using the clocks from a Capri. The speedo calibration is OK as it is 1000 revs per mile. At the moment I am making a new dashboard using VDO clocks bought from: Lowtension VDO Clocks This is an electronic speedo which requires an electronic speed sensor, again bought from: Lowtension Speed Sensor The sensor connects straight onto the existing sierra speedo cable which makes life very easy. The only trouble going this route is the cost, luckily I have an understanding wife who enjoys helping and will do all the vinyl fitting for me! Nigel.

Hi Ant, Nice looking car. The windscreen wipers look interesting, I assume they they do not clash in the middle! How have you managed to get them to wipe in opposite directions and not wipe more than 90 degrees. Nigel.

I use a 50 amp strip fuse on the feed to the fusebox to protect everything apart from the starter motor. Bought from: Vehicle Wiring Products

Hi Ian, The company who built the radiator for me is: DJ Radiator Services (Peterborough) Ltd Unit 48, Second Drove Ind Estate, Fengate, Peterborough. PE1 5XA. Tel: 01733 892225. The guy used an off-the-shelf core and hand made a top and bottom. The top has top hose and expansion tank connections and also an air bleed vent which helps when filling the system. The bottom has a hose connection and a drain tap. I use a Rover expansion bottle. If it would help I could whip off the nose cone and take some digital photos, let me know. Nigel.

I have a series III with a standard 2ltr. I initially fitted the single core radiator in front of the engine but it could not cope, most of the coolant ended up on the road. There was not much air flow through the radiator either as any air going in the nosecone would exit through the suspension. I designed a double core radiator to fit snuggly in the nosecone, made up a cardboard mockup and had a local radiator company make one for me. I now have no cooling problems, an electric fan is fitted on the front of the radiator and now all air entering the nosecone is forced through the radiator. The radiator cost £100 and for an extra £10 the guy supplied and fitted the electric fan.

I have a Snap Off removeable steering wheel kit fitted to my series III. Bought at Stoneleigh this year, £65 for the kit and £30 for a sierra boss - see www.snap-off.com. Had to make an adaptor ring to fit the RH 11" traditional wheel. Good for security and also makes life easier getting in and out of the car as I am 6ft 3in. Also have a hidden switch in the ignition circuit and also one in the starter motor circuit. Nigel.

It could have been my Hood at Stonleigh. I raised my windscreen by 3 inches as I am 6ft 3in tall, the top of the windscreen was right in my eye line. Originally I had used sealant to fill the gaps at the ends but now having a 3 inch gap this was out of the question. I made a template out of card and used a sheet of thin zintec coated steel to cover the gap. A strip of rubber seal was used along the bottom and the top was screwed to the windscreen frame with self tappers. Raising the windscreen also gave me more headroom on the rare occasions I have the hood fitted. Nigel.

I also used the RH radiator in my Series III but found that the coolant would end up in the overflow bottle then on the road. I had a 3 core radiator built to my own design to fit in the nosecone, I wanted to get as much airflow through the radiator as possible. I made a cardboard mockup and a local radiator specialist built it, he even made a mounting bracket and fitted an electric fan, all for £100. I use an inline radiator cap in the top hose and an expansion tank from a Rover. I also fitted air vents in the sides of the bonnet to help get the hot air out of the engine bay. I have not had any cooling problems for the last four years and 6000 miles. Nigel.

I have been running a Series III with Capri clocks for six years. I connected the red wire directly to the battery and the yellow to the output terminal of the alternator. I believe the ammeter is actually a voltmeter and measures the potential difference between the battery and the alternator. The meter very rarely moves as the alternator regulation is good. To prove that it does work, turning on the headlights without the engine running makes the meter read half scale negative (downwards motion). Note sure about the fuse link wire theory, I did'nt fit one of those.

I used a set of Capri clocks when I built my Series III six years ago. I stripped out one of the electric motors from the donor Sierra door mirror. I attached this to the speedo drive and wired it up to an adjustable power supply. I adjusted the voltage to give a speedo reading of about 100 mph and left it running for days until the mileage wound forward to zero. The only problem I had was interference on the telly from the motor!