ibrooks

Yes - sorry I'm using twin masters on a highly modified Sierra pedal box. I was only using them as an example for the thread size that you are likely to find if yours is also a Girling master. I'm guessing you must be using something similar as the Sierra master's pushrod attaches through the hole in the pedal with a plastic bush that looks sort of like a Polo-mint and a spring clip. Iain

Should it be "dynamic"?

It does seem like you're having a go at "the comittee" without a good reason. You've suggested an idea which I happen to think is a good one but...... You need to remember that this forum is by no stretch of the imagination the whole club so there are a good few members who don't know anything about this yet. Despite the positive comments so far you have not got enough people to get the thing around the coast yet (although I think it should be perfectly do-able with a bit of organisation). As for "no support from the club"... WE are the club - not just the comittee so yes it looks like there have been offers of support from the club already. From my point of view I'd suggest this is the point where some specifics need to be laid down. There have been quite a few suggestions from people as to what the fluffy thing can do but in order to get people behind it and maybe to get the public to part with pennies there needs to be a stated objective. I think the first post suggested a coastal trip but we've then had suggestions of visiting castles/landmarks/cities. Which is it going to be? it all sounds fairly random at the moment which is fine in this format as people are throwing ideas into the pot but at some point some of these ideas need to be chosen and other discarded. Another idea for the pot here is that some of these ideas could be used in subsequent years. If we say that a coastal tour is the chosen route then I'd suggest looking at the areas and contacting the secretaries of areas with a stretch of coastline to see if they are willing to take responsibility for the thing from one end of their patch to the other. They will know their members and be able to say whether they can organise it as a club run or whether it's going to fall on them. They will also hopefully know the adjoining area's secretary and members and know whether they will easily be able to arrange to hand the thing off to them at the border of their area and how long it's going to take to get it from one end to the other of their patch. It might well be possible for them to drive their coastline in one day but meeting the bordering groups on both sides on that same day might not be do-able so it might arrive in their area one weekend and leave the next or it might be stuck for a couple of weeks. There are going to be areas where we simply don't have many members (the very North of Scotland comes to mind here but there may well be others) if we really want to get around these areas then it's going to have to be arranged to co-incide with someone being free to drive these areas. I'm thinking that whilst the coastal tour sounds good it's maybe a bit ambitious to start with so.... It might be better to drop the coastal tour for the first hit - maybe choose a well known place/landmark (or two for the larger areas) in each area and arrange for the thing to visit all these on it's first trip. This gives a chance for the publicity to show that we have a good spread of members in most of the country and will hopefully allow us to show pictures of something familiar/local for many prospective members. It gives the area secretaries more room for manouevre on the logistics front since the handovers don't have to be such a big event so if the weather or people's free time isn't playing ball someone could jump in their tin-top and drive to the house of an adjoining member to pass it off. Obviously it would be good for it to visit the shows so their locations and schedules would have to be taken into account. Once we've had some practice and got a practical idea of what's involved the coastal trip could be one for a future year. We then also choose whether to raffle the thing at the end of the year or whether it becomes a club fixture for future trips. Just a couple of thoughts. Iain

The Sierra master doesn't have any threaded components that I'm aware of so I'm guessing you've got a different master with the kit. The thread will depend on who made it. I've got a pair of Girling items and the threads on the end of the pushrods are 5/16" UNF Iain

Sounds like a darn good idea to me. A couple of guys here at work did the coast run in a week on motorbikes a year or so ago raising money for charity. They had bought and restored a little 125cc Honda (I think) to make it a bit more of a challenge and encourage people to part with their hard-earned. Is anyone into geo-caching? I've not had a lot of experiance with it but from what I can remember there are websites where you can register a "travel-bug" and if the people who pick them up and move them log in and update their locations whilst the rest of the world can track them on a map. Maybe our "fluffy thing" could be a "travel-bug" - they often seem to be cuddly toys with a thing like a dog-tag with their ID. Iain

Just to take a bit of a different approach...... It would be easier if you could get the original working properly. Ford used it for a good long while without such major problems so there isn't really anything inherently wrong with the system - Sierras regularly clocked well in excess of 100k miles with this system fitted and Transits tend to cover galactic mileages. I suspect the root of your problem might be in your first post - "the original quadrant was yellow and now it's black". Ford used red/yellow and maybe others so signify the diameter of the base circle. The bigger the circle the longer the pull for a given pedal movement. Black tends to signify a pattern part to me. Now I've nothing against pattern parts as a concept but the problem is that there is some real rubbish floating around out there that is cheap in ways far deeper than just the price. From your description of the failure I'm wondering if the diameter of the quadrant has been too small and that's why the pawl didn't engage properly? Normally that diameter wouldn't change but if it saved half a pence in plastic for some manufacturer to make the quadrant smaller and the pawl bigger but you've used a quadrant from one set and a pawl for another (or they've been mixed up before you even got them - or even the brand you've been buying is plain rubbish). Having said that Ford used the system for a long time they did seem to fit a modified version on the MkV Escort (or whatever the N-reg ones were). Now this might just have been a diesel thing as that's what I've messed with - the quadrant was un-changed but the pedal had a threaded insert through it below the pivot at an upwards angle and a long bolt which went through it and bore against the underside of the rear of the quadrant. Screwing the bolt in further pushed the quadrant around and took up the slack in the cable so no more reliance on the teeth to do anything. Quick search of google images turned this up. http://img22.imageshack.us/i/pedalhole.jpg/ Iain

@rse - I knew there was something I'd forgotten to do at the weekend. Must get price for postage to John I think he asked for two so I'll have to check how many I've got left (I think there will still be one in the gearbox I've set aside for a future project and two more in drawers/cupboards/boxes). Iain

It is possible to make up a shaft with a splined joint on the outer end and a Lobro joint on the inner end but you need the right combination of bits as the diameters and pitch of the splines on the actual shaft varies. From memory you need driveshafts from a diesel Sierra or a DOHC which had drums and push in shafts. Failing that you can get the stub shafts from a car which had Lobro driveshafts and drum brakes - then you can fit a pair of Lobro driveshafts as normal. Iain

Saturday Steve (the Boss ) Do I jobo Mitch +1 Andy windows Grizzly Peter2b2002 notimpressed +1 ibrooks Simon + 1 possibly Sunday Do I jobo Mitch +1 Andy Windows, Grizzly Peter2b2002 enforcer +1 notimpressed +1 mbate +1 Foz ibrooks Simon + 1 possibly Mower man + Mrs Mowerperson LOL (just being PC) mikea +1 - one day but not specified which jetskijase - "weekend ticket" both days? Put it in a bit better format for Steve to keep track of who and when - can people check and make sure I've not made any mistakes and sort the unknowns. If people making additions add to the existing list. Herr Chairman - I assume you need to be added too at some point. Iain

And for some unknown reason I seem to have built up a collection of the damn things. Iain

The bureacracy has definitely put a dent in the activities that the Scouts can do and I think taken a lot out of the movement. One of my fondest memories is from a camp we attended locally with a visiting group of Swedish Scouts. On the day we arrived at the site we met a group of Guides across the field who had tried to raise their flag only for the bottom rope to come off leaving it nicely bundled at the top of the pole with no way to get it back. The warden wouldn't go up the pole as it was rotten and due to come down at the end of the season anyway (he was going to post it back to them once the pole was chopped down). We however had the mad Swede - Klaus! We wanted the exercise to be a surprise so it couldn't be at night as by the time the girls and their leaders had turned in it was dark and even Klaus isn't quite daft enough to climb a rotten flag-pole in the dark. So.... VERY early one morning we got up and went to the warden's house to "borrow" a ladder. Whilst walking past one of the farm buildings between the wardens house and the field we were camped in several people appeared watching us at one of the windows. One of our lads just said "well officer, it was like this" at which point all the English contingent dropped the ladder because we were laughing so hard whilst the Swedes looked at us like we were daft. So the trek with the ladder resumed with us trying to explain the charge "going equipped" to them. Back to the field and Klaus goes up the ladder to get the flag back. Then we set off to return the ladder whilst Klaus sets about modifying the flag. He un-picked the Swedish flag with the Scout emblem from his uniform and sewed in into the corner of the Guide's flag. It then went back up the pole properly attached to the ropes and unfurled. Needless to say the Guides were fairly pleased that they could get their flag back. Their group has stayed in touch ever since visiting both us and Klaus's group in Sweden. The little Swedish flag is still sewn into the bottom of their flag which has been framed when it was retired. The replacement apparently also has a replacement badge as they want to keep the story going. Iain

Very similar to you really - I was in the Cubs, Scouts and Venture Scouts. I've also been a leader in pretty much every section at one time or another (Beavers, Cubs, Scouts Venture Scouts). Unfortunately I don't have the time nowadays but I still keep in touch with the local groups and do help out on events and activities on an as and when basis. Shortly before I started working where I am now the office had been sent on an outwards bound course (never had a jolly like that since though). It amazed me how many of the things they had done had apparently caused them problems when they were things I knew at the time most of our Cubs could have done with their eyes closed. Iain

We've used it for CDS tube for a roll cage. The dies are a bit rough and ready so we spent some time "fettling" them to be a proper fit on the pipe. It would also be much better if the rollers either side were a good fit on the pipe rather than just a large "one size fits all" things as they can leave indentations since their contact area is quite small. Iain

Slightly better than a spring but a bit more fiddly for keeping the the shape of pipe when bending it.... Seal one end of the pipe (duct tape will do) stand it up and pour water in the open end until it's full. Drop sand in until it's displaced all the water. Now seal the other end with more tape. Bend away with minimal distortion. I've got a cheapo hydraulic bender that's basically a bottle jack in a frame with some dies to fit various diameters of pipe but it'll bend fairly hefty stuff in comparison to the hood frame you want but the sand trick will work with pretty much any bending method. Iain

A properly set up braking system without a servo is far better than a system with a servo but as some people have found simply pulling the servo off the system bears no relation to a proper setup. The size of the master cylinder and slave cylinders has to be properly matched with the pedal ratio and the size of the brake discs and weight of the car. I did quite a bit of work on the GTM to get this right and with no servo (you can't fit one) if you push the brakes hard it slows down and stops. Push harder and it will lock the front wheels. Push really hard and it'll lock all four (on a wet road - never tried that one in the dry). Fortunately I managed all this with stock parts from donor vehicles (Mini master cylinder, Metro turbo front brakes and MGF rear calipers on Mini front discs). To be honest I was a bit surprised at how well it all works for such a mish-mash of parts. You can get remote servos with different amounts of assistance - if you try carefully without the standard servo and it's not to your taste then it might be worth looking at a smaller servo. It might also be worth trying to track down a larger Sierra master cylinder to use without the servo (non-ABS models with discs all around had a bigger master than the disc/drum cars). After that you get into engineering things and going for different master cylinders - I've modified a Sierra pedal box to operate twin masters with the standard pedal for the 200 but it's very much work in progres and I've been busy with another little bit of a project so that's on hold for the moment but I can provide details/piccies for anyone who would like them. Iain

The kit is designed around Ford Sierra mechanical bits so that's what people tend to use. Even when people move away from the original Sierra stuff it's far easier to stick with Ford as it tends to be an evolution of the Sierra stuff and relatively easily fits in the same hole because this is what Ford did (the engines didn't necessarily change only with the model of car so an early car of x-model might have one engine whereas a late model might have a totally different type of engine). If you want to move away from a Ford engine you also have to bear in mind that it attaches to the gearbox so if you can find an engine that can be stuck on the end f the Ford box then you save a chunk of work altering gearbox mounts, prop-shaft, gear lever and possibly clutch mechanism. The Vauxhall XE fits the bill relatively easily as there are conversion kits available to stick it on the end of a type-9 box. The same stuff should also mean a Vauxhall LET could be stuck in there along with a range of other Vauxhall lumps which like the Ford ones tended to be designed to go in the same holes in the cars. Rover K-Series should also be pretty easily do-able as there are conversion kits available to mate them to Ford boxes. Whilst they have a bit of a bad reputation treated with the proper respect they are a cracking lump. There are others that can be fitted to the Ford box from the sublime to the riciculous. There's a conversion to put a Ford type-9 on the end of an A-series so whilst it was intended to allow people with Morris Minors and MG Midgets to get 5 speeds pretty easily the same kit means it would be very easy to stick an 850cc engine in a Robin Hood if you feel the inclination (34 whole horsepower from memory). But then I also know of A-series lumps making well beyond 100bhp so maybe not quite such a ridiculous one as it originally appears. If you are then prepared to start changing the gearbox too then the sky is almost the limit - OK your engineering or fabrication skills might start coming into play as a limit or possibly the depth of your pockets if you are paying for other people's engineering and fabrication skills. It's going to be easier to stick with RWD donors so BMW is a definite option - I've never seen one on a Hood but some of the other manufactorers have been very seriously considering them as a donor as the Sierra gets thin on the ground. There's an Omega (I think) V6 going into a Hood somewhere on here. We've members with Toyota lumps in Hoods. Mr President is running a Rover V8. Of course there was the famous RHE demonstrator with a Jag XJS V12 - what ever happened to that? Engine management can become an issue with later engines though. Some can easily be converted to run on carbs of one sort or another but if it's too difficult then you are left with the choice of retaining the engine donor's management or going for an aftermarket ECU. The aftermarket ECU is more versatile but can push costs quite high whilst using the engine-donor's management can be impossible as many nowadays incorporate anti-theft devices which are either impossible to get around or if they can be tricked getting the info can be hard. I'm going for a Scorpio Cosworth engine and have a BOA version - the BOB would have been available for half the cost and due to different cams and variable length intake tract makes more power and torque but the later ECU that drives it has the Ford PATS system integrated and to keep that happy you need to use the original ignition barrel and key from the donor as they are coded to the ECU (so I'll settle for 200 gee gees). Iain

That the guy in Goole? if it is he seems to be breaking Sierras pretty constantly but he don't half seem to charge for stuff. Steve - I've found a set of calipers for 240mm brakes but they are mega rusty. They were working when they came off the car but have been sat in a wooden box in the garage since. You can have them for whatever it cost to get them to you as they look like might not be good for anything other than handing back as exchange units on a re-con pair. I'll get a price for postage ASAP but there's something big kicking off at work so it might not be this weekend. Iain

I'll have to have a dig first and make certain I'm not telling porkies and that I do still have them. Iain

Vented discs came in 240 or 260mm diameters (on the "normal" models - i.e. non Cosworth) and the calipers are a little different. You might want to specify which you need. I think I've got a set of 240mm calipers kicking around somewhere but would have to have a dig through my boxes and I'm a bit far from you so we'd end up looking at postage which is not inconsiderable on lumps of cast iron. If any come up closer go for them but if you're stuck let me know. Iain

and that's the problem - the ignorant clowns who've decided they have a god given right not to wait their turn jump in at the front of the queue and stop it from moving so the rest of us spend more time waiting. Yes the zipper merge is great in theory but unfortunately in the real world it doesn't account for human nature and it doesn't work. I can see the need for this type of thing at road-works and so-be-it we have to put up with it but when planners design them into junctions I think they should be hung from the traffic lights for insiting road-rage. There's a junction near my home where there are two lanes from a roundabout to a set of traffic lights and immediately through the lights it merges into one lane. Woe betide you if you end up trying to merge in front of me - you'll wait your turn or we'll let the insurance companies decide whether you changing into the lane I'm in or me driving along in the same lane is at fault. The muppets who let these idiots pull in in front of them annoy me only slightly less than the idiots that go past the queue in the first place. Iain

I've got a complete rear axle you can have for £40. It's at our unit in Chorley so a chunk north of Manchester. But not too far for a trip out on any other day. It's from an 89ish 2.0 Sierra which had an injected pinto. Iain

The bottom rubber bits I assume are some sort of bump stop. There wasn't anything in the build videos I got about them so it was a sort of make it up as you go along thing and depends on what your builder used (a suitable circle cut out of an old tyre does the job quite nicely). The bearings at the top are the standard parts from a Sierra (at the top of the macpherson struts). There are sellers on ebay (I posted a link for someone asking the same question recently). Iain

I'm chairman of a restoration club and we run two levels of membership - one for working space and a second for storage space. It looks like one of our current members is dropping out so we've got a space but it's a bit of a trek for you. Iain

That actually looks quite good and mega cheap. When I put a stereo in my Mini I was after the same sort of thing as it's not really got a space for a traditional head-unit so I've installed speakers and used a pair of T-Amps. T-amps are digital amplifiers rather than analogue and the sound you can get from a really dinky little device has to be heard to be believed. I pulled them apart and re-boxed the circuit boards in a single package from Maplin with the inputs on the rear and controls for each amp on the front (I wanted two . I then have a single wire with a 3.5mm jack plug behind the dashboard which I can pull out and attach to my phone, MP3/whatever. The box the amps are in is maybe 2"x1.5"x3.5" and fastened to the bottom of the heater. The only reason I left it visible was so that I could reach the volume controls and power switch but with the benefit of hindsight I would have been better sticking a switch in the power lead and having the box hidden altogether as I never touch it now I've set the balance and just use the volume control on the audio device instead. I used two amps because I wanted 4 speakers and they are stereo devices so one runs the rear speakers and the second runs the fronts - if I could have mounted just two speakers somewhere more central then I would have run just the one and left it in it's factory casing. I've had a quick look on ebay and I can't see the same version I used but there are many second generation devices which already come in a square box and if you can live with two speakers then you wouldn't have to mess around with taking the things apart. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TA2020-20WX2-Class-T...=item2a03f4ac01 Same sort of money as the radio but it is purely an amplifier so you would need a pair of speakers and some wiring but it could easily be lost up under the dash with just a lead to wherever you want the MP3/Phone to sit and a switch somewhere so you can kill the power. Iain

750kg is the max for an unbraked trailer however the train weight of the towing vehicle might not allow you to pull as much as that. I can't see a trailer big enough to fit a Sierra being unbraked but you never know... Iain