ibrooks

'lo folks, long time no speak. Some of you may remember me (and some may not). I had a couple of Robin Hoods some years ago but not any more. I've been having a clear out and have come across about 30 Boyz In Hoodz magazines from around the mid '90's to the early 2000's. I can't promise that they are a complete set for the time period. I'm not looking for anything for them. I live in Darwen, Lancashire and would prefer someone to come and collect them.

PM me if you're interested.

I was severely underwhelmed. Utter garbage - I can see my nieces now wondering what on earth I was recommending that rubbish for.

So what does the ally housing connect to?

Temp senders don't usually have an earth - they get it from screwing into something metal like the head or block. On the A-Series the later ones went into the stat housing which is a separate ally lump but it's bolted to the block so all earthed via the block to body straps.

Iain

Yeah - the Lexus problem sounds like it's more down to the narrow power-band of a turbo-diesel and engine management that's not letting the engine boost under certain conditions.

Regarding the Type-9 and MT75. Beware the V6 boxes and the 2.5 Scorpio diesel one as it's not just the bell-housing that's different but also the input shaft. It's unfortunately not uncommon for people to play mix-n-match with bell-housings and front casings to make a box that looks like it'll fit your application but in reality won't. Usually this is when they've used the bits they want from a couple of boxes to make a hybrid that suits them and they have bits left over.

Type-9's will last OK at and beyond 200bhp if they are good to start with and driven with just a modicum of care. That doesn't mean driving like Miss Daisy is in the back - it means not dumping the clutch and spinning the wheels at every opportunity. I know of Type-9's that have lasted years driven fairly hard behind BOA V6's with no complaints and that's in a Sierra. In a Hood you are never going to be putting as much load into them as the rear wheels will light up long before you can put that much torque into them an act as a safety valve for the box. Personally I'd go for a Type-9 behind a Zetec if all else was equal.

That said I do have a collection of MT75's for my Ford based project but that's because I'm looking at north of 300bhp and 4x4 (though I've a Scorpio diesel box to allow 2wd if the mood takes me). The backup plan if the MT75's become a consumable is a Skyline box - they have been made to fit my application and will allow me to retain the four wheel drive whilst being supposedly beefy enough to handle 1000bhp yes that's a thousand.

Iain

I echo the stuff about the standard Sierra calipers and discs being more than up to the job - they are designed to stop a significantly heavier car from any legal speed so are usually OTT for a Hood.

M1144's always seemed good to me but I also highly rate Ferodo's bog standard road stuff - I've seen them pull up a road rally car with no drama when the discs were glowing. I used the Ferodo stuff on my Mini that only had 7.5" discs which have a reputation for fading due to heat buildup (later minis had 8.4" as standard but they won't fit under 10" wheels). I never managed to get them to fade and with a hot 1380 under the bonnet it wasn't slow through the twisty bits.

Iain

My mates terrier has a habit of sticking her nose in your ear when you least expect it. Most disconcerting when you're underneath a car that's up on axle stands - usually makes you jump just enough to crack your forehead on the underside of the car.

Might sound odd but can you get your hand onto it and feel the lettering? If so....... is there any plasticene in the house? I've managed before to make an impression of casting numbers and the like to read something that I couldn't see or get a mirror into a position where I could see. I've also managed to use a camera-phone at arms length to take a picture of stuff that I can't see directly.

Iain

Yes 50Amp minimum is a bit too hot for bodywork thickness stuff. The Clarkes that generally do the job well are around 30-35Amp minimum.

An auto-darkening helmet is indeed a revelation and can be had for sub £30 nowadays.

Iain

Unless you are looking at heavy fabrication then for a home user I'd say MIG every time. I have a Clarke 150TE which I'd recommend to anyone in a heartbeat. I've converted it to use "proper" sized gas bottles but apart from that it's only had replacement tips and shrouds in what must be over 10 years. Compared to the 90 Amp SIP I had before it and a friends more recent SIP - well there is no comparison. Dunno what SIP are like nowadays or what the larger ones are like.

Keep your eyes peeled for a VAT free voucher for Machinemart and you'll not often get a new one cheaper. They have quite a range and choosing between them is a bit of a minefield. I wouldn't buy a 151TE for example because it's the same machine as the 150TE but in a different case and £24ish more expensive. The MIG145 and MIG152 welders look like good value (even after factoring in the gas regulator and kit) but I'd be a little wary as they don't have as many adjustment points on the power range - in reality I don't use all the points on mine but welding is 90% about finding that sweet spot where power and wire speed combine to give a good weld with enough penetration but without blowing holes and I'd be worried buying a welder with few settings that I'd always find one setting too cold and the next one up too hot. They might be fine but.......

If you aren't going to go with Clarke then I'd still suggest using the spec of the 150 from Machinemart as a minimum list when looking elsewhere. Screwfix were selling some 150Amp MIGs a while back that looked a good deal until you spotted that the minimum welding current was waaaaay too high for thinner metal like car bodywork. You see these things popping up on ebay still as people who bought them now realise they don't do what they want and try to offload them on the next poor unsuspecting mug. There have been some Wolf branded welders in yellow with a very similar spec to the Clarke 150 that I've heard good things about.

Iain

SOME Pintos are non-interference.

We always reckoned a good part of the problem was the mix of materials (ally of possibly two different grades and steel). They are in an area that gets warm and will all expand at different rates and lead to movement. Plus the fashion always tended towards making them as anorexic as possible leading us to suspect flexing may play a role too.

From what I've seen I doubt loctite on the bolts would make any difference. On the ones I've seen that have slipped the bolts always seem to be tight still. I'd be more inclined to suspect some loctite between the parts of the pulley would be more effective but future adjustments would be a nightmare.

A note if you are pinning this type - make sure the pin doesn't protrude on the back side enough to catch the flange of the rocker cover or similar.

Iain

Yeah the 1300 was a rarity in this country as it didn't have the power to justify it's own weight. It was faaaar more popular in Scandinavia where they had cubic capacity based tax long before us and the 1300 fell into a lower bracket and the difference was significant - you saw a lot of main dealers turbocharging them as that didn't affect their tax but it brought the power up to equal the bigger engines.

Iain

Quaife peg type every time. The ones that just use three allen bolts and friction to hold the parts together are forever slipping and you end up going too far on the bolts to try and stop it - if forced to use this type (because it's all that's available for a given type of engine maybe) I would drill the thing once it's set and shove a roll pin in to prevent it slipping.

Iain

And if you can't get that one from Stoneleigh (or someone else local can't) I've somehow ended up with three of the things (do they breed?).

Same deal in that they are free to anyone here who arranges collection or pays postage.

Iain

Easy-ish...... The amount of force required isn't massive in comparison to what can be achieved with a screw adjuster but bear in mind the lever advantage over the depth of the throat on that type of machine and at the closed end it's fairly massive. What tends to actually happen is that the frame distorts sideways. There are many people who have bought machines just like the one in the link and then beefed up the frame to prevent this so some quick searching with your favourite search engine should get details.

The next problem is that it becomes a 2 man (OK person) job. You need to manhandle the sheet of steel (which is usually fairly large and floppy at this stage) so that the bead follows the desired line. You also need to set the desired tension on the rollers - and then re-set it at the end of the pass as you'll want to take at least two passes and more likely three or four. Then you need to turn the handle to drive the rollers - whilst guiding that floppy sheet of steel in the right direction. Usually your arms aren't long enough.

Talking of manhandling the steel - you want to keep it flat as it goes through or you'll find the bead "sets" the curve into it.

Iain

Really? - Cool, maybe by the time I've got the GTM back on the road the two BOA's I've got will sell for enough to buy a pair of turbos for the 12v I'm going to shove into the Focus.

Iain

And since you are fairly local if you bring your ally sections to me once they have been cut to length I can put the bead on the end of them to make sure they won't slip off.

Iain

Do you still want these?

The 2.3 is a Cologne engine and very similar to the 2.8 (mainly it's just the bore and stroke that are different). They don't really make much more power than a 2.0 4-pot and they are quite a bit heavier so whether it's worth the effort is debatable but your choice.

Gearboxes....

There are two families of gearbox that will easily fit a Cologne engine, these are the type-9 and the MT75 which have already been mentioned. Both come in 2wd and 4wd versions and 4-cyl and V6 versions so off the shelf there are four of each. The MT75 has a fifth version in the Scorpio diesel - that's of interest...... I'm also limiting this to cars, Transits are another kettle of fish.

It's possible to use a 4-cyl type-9 with a V6 bell-housing and an extension on the input shaft. I've never fancied the idea myself but it does seem to work. Why would you want to? well it's historically been fairly easy to get hold of 4x4 V6 type-9 boxes so if you could "yoink" the bell-housing off one and use the more comonly available 4-cyl box then it's easier than finding a V6 2wd one. The type-9 has "better" ratios than the MT75. They are OK-ish up to about 200bhp but the power and torque of a BOA or BOB V6 can be a bit much for them - some last some don't.

MT75 - not so easy to mix and match 4-cyl and V6 boxes due to the bellhousing being an integral part of the main casing. What tends to happen is people build a "hybrid" box. The 2.5 diesel Scorpio also used an MT75, the bell-housing is different again to the 4 and 6 cylinder petrol engines but the input shaft is long. That means that you can take the bell-housing/maincase from a V6 4x4 gearbox and fairly simply stick it onto a diesel gearbox. The diesel box also has a taller 5th gear so the resulting box will give more relaxed cruising and a higher theoretical top speed.

Using a 4x4 box complete may be do-able. In theory the epicyclic that gives the torque split front to rear could be welded up solid to give an output to the rear with no frot prop-shaft. You would then need to fill in the hole where the front prop goes to stop the oil draining out of the box. But Hoods are generally short on room in the transmission tunnel anyway and even the Sierra needed a bulge adding to accomodate the extra lump of the 4x4 box so whether it would fit or not is a big question.

Not necessarily all the options but some food for thought.

Iain

I hadn't realised that - my haven't I been popular.

Should be OK now.

Iain

White spirit will thin the mineral oil enough to wipe it up/out and it will then form an emulsion with normal soaps so cheap washing up liquid will remove the remaining residue. As others have said take the carpet outside and give it a scrub with the white spirit then once it's removed the majority of the oil repeat with the washing up liquid and a hosepipe.

Iain

I did reply but it got edited. I've got one similar looking to the Rally Design one (might be the same) that you could have for £30 plus postage. PM me for any further details.

Iain.

If you apply for a new V5 with different details to the existing one then they will first write to the keeper they have on record. Assuming that person says yes they have sold it (or if they don't reply) then a new document will be issued to whoever has asked for one.

All Hoods will have a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) it's just that the requirement for it to be stamped on a seperate plate and riveted to the chassis is fairly recent as these things go.

Sometimes the stamped plates are rough scruffy affairs so get removed in an effort to tidy it up and since from a requirement point of view some-do-some-don't it's often not picked up at MOT time.

Personally I'd make a plate and fasten it on. It's hardly difficult to find a nice lump of metal and stamp a number on it.

Iain

Right - they are ready when you are. Ping me a PM when you're ready to arrange something.

Iain

Woohoo! - more cr......... quality merchandise out of my way.

I'll get digging them out and uniting them. I'm assuming balancing them is not important.

Iain