ibrooks

Zed - you'll be talking about a GTM then The Mini has everything but the shocks on the front subframe so the GTM just transfers the whole lot to the rear of the car and uses two locking arms to keep the rear whels pointing where you want them (later ones did likewise with Metro subframes). Problem is that A-Series lump isn't exactly a ball of fire. You can get around this a couple of ways. Several companies do conversion kits to fit different engines to Minis and in general these kits can be used in the GTM. The exceptions are where the rear bulkhead of the GTM is closer to the engine than the front panel on a Mini but if you're looking to make your own spaceframe then you can just build around the engine and this isn't an issue. V-Tec is a common one and several have found their way into GTM Coupe's - Vauxhall engines go into Minis with relative ease on their FWD boxes and indeed several XE's have been fitted. My current plan is an in-between route. The BMW K100/K1100/K1200 cylinder head is a very easy fit on an A-Series engine. This gets rid of all the siamese port rubbish that ultimately limits their power production and completely transforms them. The limit then becomes how much power you can get out of a 3-bearing crank and through a Mini gearbox. You are well into "smile every time you prod the accelerator" territory so not a big worry there. The big advantage is that the block and gearbox are the same and so engine mounts, gear linkages, driveshafts and whatnot don't have to be touched. Joel - Scorpio Cosworths aren't exactly rare http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1994-FORD-GRANADA-SC...%3A1%7C294%3A50 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-P-FORD-SCORPIO-...%3A1%7C294%3A50 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-FORD-SCORPIO-UL...%3A1%7C294%3A50 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-FORD-SCORPIO-UL...%3A1%7C294%3A50 How many do you want? Iain

If they are for an electronic ignition setup then you'll need to change them or you'll melt the points in fairly short order. Coils for a points dizzy have a much higher resistance in the primary windings to limit the amount of current that the points are required to handle (and to stop the coil from getting mighty hot if the engine is stopped with the points closed and the ignition left on - dead short through the coil). Electronic setups have much less resistance which is good for bigger sparks and faster recovery times but you need transistorised switches to control them properly - truly momentary contacts and impossible to have them in a condition where they are shorted for any length of time. Iain

You can "adjust" the Ford LSD but it's done by changing the fluid in the viscous coupling for one with different shear characteristics. There are any number of people who will tell you that you can put shims into one end of the plate pack to "tighten it up". These are usually the same clowns who try to drift their cars around the local supermarket car-parks and who'll quite happily weld a diff up solid and still use the car on the road. I'd regards them in the same way as a business with a name like Bodgit and Scarper. All you tend to find happening is that the thing overheats and the plates distort. Second hand LSD's are a complete unknown - if you get a high miler that's quite worn then you'll probably not notice any difference but if you get one that was properly re-built six months ago it'll transform the car. Most of the ones on ebay fall into the first category. Nigel's sounds about right but I know others who have found it makes their Hood twitchy on the road in the wet. I've a suspicion that a "good" LSD for a Sierra is a bit harsh for a lighter car like a Hood and that Nigel's is a worn example (the pinion oils seal possibly speaks towards this) and this has taken the edge off to the point where it's about right. This is going to be another question a bit like "how long is a piece of string?" there are so many variables that the final result you see might be nothing like any of our predictions. Iain

This is where the difference between a Hood and a Westfield really shows up. With the Westfield you get a manual that you follow page by page and when you turn the last page you've got a car ready for the road (or it's test at any rate). Step-by-step it tells you what to do next and which bolt to put where. With a Hood you need to work out what order to do things in or rather you try but more often than not you get it wrong so the bit you did last week needs to come off again to fit the bit you're doing tonight. There are also a lot of gaps in the manual/video/DVD where there is no set way of doing certain jobs and you need to work it out for yourself - often trying a couple of variations before you find one you're happy with. All this adds time to the build. To answer the original question I'd say that if the person doing it hasn't built a Hood before then not a chance (of course there are always the exceptions). If they have LOTS of automotive experience (and not the sort the so-called mechanics in garages these days tend to have - experience of actually repairing cars rather than just replacing lumps is what I'm talking about) then they might be able to do it in that sort of timescale with the assistance availabe here and similar resources. Mainly because the questions when they hit a snag will be more informative to those of us trying to provide answers (we won't have to ask more questions to find out what they are actually trying to do) and when we do answer we wouldn't have to explain every last detail to someone who had a good idea of what they were doing to start with (we'll be able to point them in the right direction and they'll be able to run with it from there rather then having to come back and ask more questions). If the person has built a Hood before (preferably the same model) then yes I'd be a lot more inclined to believe a build time of 300 hours. I'd like to think I could do it in that second time around and I'd also like to think the end result would be better as I've had experience of what works and what doesn't. Iain

To tell the diff ratio lift one rear wheel, chock the other and count how many turns of the prop-shaft it takes to turn the free wheel twice. If it's difficult to tell between 3.6 and 3.9 turns then multiply by a fixed factor and count again i.e. go for 20 turns of the roadwheel and you're now looking for the difference between 36 and 39 turns of the propshaft (just multiplying by 5 would be better as it should make the difference big enough to easily spot without you wasting your whole weekend under the car). Iain

B&Q sell the blades/discs according to their website. For some reason you need to be 21 to buy the 185mm one but you can have a 255mm one at 18 And the saw is £150-odd on Tesco' website. Iain

Hi Tobias, I'm in Darwen. Mbate, You have PM (or will have in a few minutes). Iain

Suspect he meant cheapest BY £30 I'm going to go and have a look though just in case..... Iain

The Scorpio Cosworth lump is an evolution of the Cologne so the same gearboxes will fit there are V6 versions of type-9 and MT75 in both two and four wheel drive flavours. In fact as already mentioned most of the Cossie V6 engines came connected to auto's as standard so when converting to manual you usually need the flywheel and clutch assembly from a Cologne to replaced the torque convertor. A mate of mine builds/prepares rally cars for a living and told me recently that they used a Scorpio Cosworth as a chase car on a rally in which they were running a Group N Sierra Cosworth. Apparently the Scorpio had a Turbo-Technics conversion and he reckons they could probably have pushed the Sierra through the stage faster than it could make it on it's own. If only I could afford such a lump for the 200. Iain

What's up with the box? On most Hoods the engine will need to come out to get to it so unless it's giving problems leave it where it is. Iain

Your big problem with a 7 style car is that it has the aerodynamic properties of a brick. You'll need massive amounts of power to get it much beyond 100mph. Iain

If searching on here try looking for doughnut as that's what they are commonly called. Iain

Yep - SORN is part of the continuous licensing (tax disc) scheme. There is no requirement for a vehicle to be insured so long as it's not on the public road in any shape or form. The ombudsman isn't a quick solution but the threat of involving them sometimes is - it was when Flux tried to shaft me for the second time anyway. Anyone spot a recurring theme with Adrian Flux here? Iain

Has anyone in the north-west got a dead engine I can take away for them? I want it to bolt to my MT75 box and trial fit to the SPD so that I can check clearances so all I need is the block and the mounting arms - for the rest well it's not important. Ideally if it's a DOHC and complete-ish then I can also check clearances in the engine bay but a Pinto or CVH should hold the gearbox in the right place which is the main thing I'm looking for. Iain

If it's an older Hood it might not actually have a front UJ. They used a modified Sierra prop and just the rubber coupling at the front. In the sierra this drives dead straight to a bearing which is also bolted to the body and is only for vibration/shock damping. Used instead of a UJ in the Hood they don't drive dead straight and so tend to fail in pretty short order. If you have this type of prop then get a new one made with a proper UJ at both ends. Iain

Know any dairy farmers? a local brewery gets things like that from a rep that sells such things to the food trade. The rep sells nice shiny new stuff to the farmers and they sell their old kit to breweries with a small consideration for the rep in between. Could also be worth speaking to other breweries to see if they've got a smaller plant that they've upgraded/outgrown that they might be willing to part with. Stuff for food preparation normally has nice rounded corners so that it's easy to clean out whereas stuff headed for more "industrial" uses often has sharper corners that could be difficult to get into. Iain

If I'm not too late I'm up for this one and camping. Let me know if I've managed to make it and who I need to get the money to. Iain

So your existing insurers quoted you a price, told you they couldn't drop it and then did when it looked like you might take your business elsewhere? Realistically then they've quoted you a price that's what they thought they could get away with rather than the best price they could provide. After an attempted con like that I'd be walking even if it cost me a few quid more. I'd also make damn sure they knew they weren't getting my business because of this practice. Have a look at moneysavingexpert.com - they have a guide on which order to use the screen-scrapers (confused, supermarket, etc.). The idea is that you cover the maximum number of companies in the minimum time. After that it gets to a case of letting your fingers do the walking and phoning the rest. It's unusual not to be able to beat your renewal. And NEVER do it monthly. The rates have always been shocking. Pay it on your existing card and clear it as soon as you can afford if you can't pay it up front. Failing that pay it with an existing card and apply for one with a free balance transfer deal - pay it off with the transfer and it's then interest free so long as you repay within the deal period (but make sure you do because they tend to jump to shocking rates afterwards too). Iain

You might get away with it at the front - it'll be a suck it and see job. At the rear there shouldn't be any clearance issues but unless they are wider than the current ones they will look a bit lost under the arches. Iain

Probably a damn site better than the original around corners as it's much lower. I've seen one of those before - in a sort of maroon colour. Iain

I've got a gauge you can borrow if you're stuck Steve. I bought it as part of a matching set for the GTM but it'll be a while before I get to that so no rush. Iain

I'm 5'9" and had a similar problem when I built mine. I pulled the pedals as far towards me as I could on the plate provided and even then I felt like I was half-way under the dashboard when the seat was at a comfortable position. To alleviate this I ditched the Robin Hood dashboard and made a replacement that I fastened behind the tubes (engine side) rather than on top of them. It's quite surprising how much difference that little bit extra room makes. Iain

Would be nice to see some piccies. By the way - PM me your address because I found the spare keys last night. I don't know what the ignition timing was set to. That carb was never re-jetted so it's still got the jets for whatever it came off. I can't even remember what that was so there's even a danger that it was a 1.6 although I've a feeling it came from the 2.1 that I sold to Mitch. Iain

I've used the one that Frost sells to paint vinyl headrests, a rear seat and the door panels with no probs. You use a special soap to wash the stuff and then some special stuff like panel wipe that leaves them tacky before finally spraying the colour on like any other paint. Having said that none of my stuff is in hard wearing places so how it would perform on a seat I don't know. Iain

I'd imagine he was talking about a 38DGAS rather than the 32/36DGAV. You'd have to be running a fairly extreme spec to make 170 in a Pinto and it wouldn't be a nice engine. When I had that one on the rollers with the fuel injection setup in the original car the operator reckoned there was in excess of 150bhp at the flywheel. It could certainly make the Sierra hustle. Iain