ibrooks

If you've changed the light for an LED then yes you'll affect the light's operation but not the charging circuit itself. The light is attached at one side to the battery and at the other to the alternator. The voltage difference between the two is what makes the light glow. An LED (or any other diode) will only flow voltage above 0.6v (until you get into the exotic stuff). That should be what's giving the strange indication. So long as it's actually charging leave it alone or change back to a normal bulb (or fit a voltmeter and ammeter to tell you exactly what's going on). If going the extra gauges route learn how to interpret their readings though or it's a waste of effort. Iain

It was tried (I believe) on the first Phuckawi Tribe Wales trip and we were told that we'd be charged just like everyone else. Iain

Is he allowed to leave us all hanging like that? Come on Jim - out with it.

Do your shocks still lean in towards the centre of the car? I used shorter coil-overs and brought them vertical with new upper mounts (and suitable re-inforcing of the boot floor. I then wound the seats of the coil-overs right off and left the original springs in place. The idea was that I could soften it off by removing the Cortina springs and winding the coilovers up a little or stiffen it up by leaving the Cortina springs in place and winding up the coilovers. As it happened it was about right when two up but possibly a little firm when on my own. My springs were 220lb and from GTS Tuning. He does "standard" packages for Locosts and my coilovers were a pair of the rear springs on a pair of the front shocks. I think Iain

A guy cut me up at some traffic lights last night so as he went through a camera a couple of miles on I flashed the main-beams twice. The affect was amazing - he slammed on the brakes, despite the fact that he wasn't doing over 30, and did 28mph for the next few miles even though there were other cars between us by then. Hopefully he's worrying about a speeding ticket and it spoils his festive period - I know it's petty and childish but hey it's payback and he's was driving like an idiot so he deserves it. Iain

Tony - a CB licence is £15 per year and the issuing body is now Offcom. Offcom took over as regulating body at the beginning of the year which is why the planned de-regulation never happened in July after-all. Mitch - they probably wouldn't care unless someone was to complain. Since we use them mobile we would be very difficult to catch because they couldn't triangulate on us unless we stop and broadcast for a while. But.... a 2 metre aerial on the back of the car is kind of hard to miss. I'm going to renew my licence because like Jim says if they want to get difficult they could theoretically enter my home and remove all equipment capable not only of broadcasting but also of receiving radio transmissions - so potentially no more telly Also it would be suspicious if I didn't renew but I was still driving cars with honking big aerials on the back (we also plan to use them with the Mini club). The choice is yours guys. Iain

Well folks - after receiving a renewal notice for my licence I did some digging and it appears that the licence was never abolished in July after-all. Apparently with the change over to Offcom as the regulating body the planned changes never occured. This means that the UK40 channels are still going to be legal "for the useable life of the equipment" rather than the previous "until 2010" and that if you're operating without a license you're illegal. We might have known it was too good to be true - I mean they were going to lose some revenue for which they don't actually have to do any work and they were going to ditch another form-filling exercise. Looks like it's not just my RHOCaR membership I need to get in the post (although the RHOCaR membership is obviously by far the better value and more important). Iain

Steady on there we want him to get better not to frighten him off Good to hear he's on the mend at least and hope to meet you both at some point in the new year. and "you all have the most basic bloody minded determination to overcome anything" I like that one and it can certainly be attached to a good few of the Hoodies I've met Iain

The best prices I've had recently have come from confused.com. Even beat the 'specialists' when I came to insure the Scimitar. Iain

If the speedo doesn't return then it's not the cable - it's something inside the gauge. My Sierra ended up with a white-dial kit from Lockwood because it had the sae symptoms when I got it. The 'paint' of the original numbers had started to peel and was obstructing the needle. I looked at several scrap-yard sets but they all looked the same (or at least starting to head that way). Iain

Haven't read the NW site as I'd already done mine by the time jim wote it but. By the time I got to fitting the sides the floor had already been fastened in. I left the floor flat, removed the self tappers and slid the side between it and the chassis tube. I could then project the holes through the floor onto the side panel. I then removed the whole lot, drilled the sides and bent the floor round the chassis (should't make much difference whether it's cut off or not). The sides then went back on and all the holes lined up through both panels and into the chassis. Of course in my case it all had to come off again later for painting. This just seemed to be the way to do it with minimum gesswork when wielding the drill. Iain

There is definitely something on the stainless. If you get it hot you'll see it turn brown and bubble. Iain

Wotcher folks. The bits in question are in the form of a 1.6 Pinto engine. It's oily and ex-taxi so probably galactic mileage but it runs fine and happily got my 2B through SVA. It's covered 0 miles since and I'm robbing the intake manifold and thermostat housing but the rest is there. I've also got a spare rocker cover. This one is from a Capri so it has the larger 'dent' formed into it's side to acomodate the carb/air-filter (can make fitting a DGAS or DGAV easier - or at least adjusting them afterwards easier). Standard painted black but in good useable condition. These have to be collected and by the end of the week or they will be robbed of small easily storable bits and ditched. So for smaller bits I could remove and store for a week or two but within reason only. I don't want anything for any of it but Heather Ale is rather nice PM me and I'll pass on a mobile number. Iain

Joel, You got a fixed scuttle? If not what are you doing to solve the fact that the windscreen moves when you open the bonnet? Or are you just going to remove the top when you open it? Either way how are you fastening it round the screen? Iain

Must resist...... must try to resist....... Sorry can't - with a paint brush. Feel better now I've got that out. I've just done the two from the Essex with a brush and some engine laquer (£3.summat from the local motor place). They look rather good. I just took care to try not to get any on the faces where gaskets went and once it was dry I carefully scraped the inevitable stuff off with a big flat screwdriver. Iain

One car it was fitted to was the Reliant Scimitar (early Essex V6 engined cars). Dunno why they changed but it was replaced with the DGAS. Looking at the Scimitar manual it doesn't look much different to the DGAS but more I couldn't tell you. Iain

Minilite are a manufacturer. They made the style of wheel that Mini Coopers originally got and then for many other cars as the design is inherently strong whilst also having good ventilation properties (most important on drum braked cars). Since then there have been a huge number of copies made for just about every car you can think of. The standard Ford PCD is 108mm as Piddy said. Are the wheels 4 stud? is their PCD actually 100mm. From memory the Mini has a PCD of 100mm but I'm not surprised a 14" wheel wouldn't fit under his arches. Rover had to re-cut the front arches and seriously modify the front suspension when they fitted 13" wheels on the sportspack Minis. Dredged up from long term storage I think Moggy Minors are also a 100mm PCD so that's a possibility if not a likelyhood for a 14" rim. No doubt there are others. If I'm right about the Minor then maybe Triumphs possibly MGB. Iain

The current 2.1 has an FR34 (sports injection) cam and valves like dustbin lids (130bhp not set up properly on the standard injection setup). It's built for lots and lots of torque rather than loony power, it can't half shift a Sierra - think it may take some getting used to in a Hood (possibly with the aid of an LSD). The 2.1 the carb came from has a 285 cam (piper) and I'm not sure about the rest. It could move the Capri at a quite respectable pace and Mitch seemed happy with it (he left me for dead in my standard 2.0 S7). It actually seems to be rich at tickover (very petrolly smelling exhaust and if I look down the primary choke I can see the accelerator flap has drips of fuel on it) but it will rev fine under no load. I'll stick the mirrors on and re-fit the bonnet and take it for a drive and see just how bad it is. I was hoping someone would know what the standard settings of the DGAS are likely to be without having to dis-mantle it and check the jets. All I'm looking for is to get it driveable to do some shakedown runs and check nothing is going to fall off because it's done sod-all mileage under it's own steam since SVA. Once I've got a few runs on the clock I'm going to book it in for a session at a rolling road to get it properly tuned. If the DGAS won't be too far out as Standard then I'll swap to that as a first hit because it would be nicer to get that set-up until I go EFI rather than having to settle for the DGAV in the meantime. I just picked the DGAV as it seemed like it should have been the simpler option. Iain

Wotcher folks, I've fitted the 2.1 that was in my Sierra into the Hood. In the Sierra it was running with the standard EFI system but was somewhat limited by it (went fine but nowhere near it's potential). I have fitted a carb that was on a 2.1 in a Capri (now in Mitch's 2B). It's running but not very well (won't tick-over alone etc). Now I'd assumed that the carb would be jetted somewhere near right (yes I know but.....) or at least close enough for the time being but maybe not. Does anyone have a suitable idiots guide to these things that I could have a copy of (or if your local that I could borrow). What I'm trying to do is use the adjustment to get it running acceptably until I can get it to a specialist. The carb is a 32/36 DGAV (I think it's a DGAV). Failing this I have a 38 DGAS which has just come off an Essex V6 - does anyone know what the jetting is going to be like on this direct from it's original use? I'm guessing that the power output of the 2.1 is actually going to be slightly higher than the standard 3.0 but the characteristics are going to be quite different. I have a set of 38mm throttle-bodies and a Megasquirt which is going to be the final solution but not just yet so I need it running well enough for the moment to get some miles under the wheels until then. Iain

My number at collection was 2b1118. Since it was the August 99 one it most certainly wasnt the 1118th. However at one point when I phoned RHE (it was back then) someone read it back to me as 2B1-118 which made me think that maybe I was the 118th person to have ordered one from batch one maybe those with 2xxx numbers are batch 2 number xxx. Just a thought. Iain

Burton do various spacers and whatnot. Colin I may be chasing you for more details soon as I'm going to be trying to mate a type-9 to the business end of an Essex soon. This will probably sound familiar to most Hoodies - I currently have two type-9 boxes a mkI Capri 3000 gearbox and a Scimitar gearbox sat on the deck in the garage. Hopefully I'll be able to get enough bits from the 4 to shoehorn one of the type-9's into the Scimitar. Iain

Failing that if someone were to take a hammer and visit him - they could bash his knuckles until they bled and bring back all the memories of building his. Most of my memories of building mine involve copious quantities of my blood being spilt on it. Iain

The first 2B collection day was in August 1999 - that's when I got mine. And I only got it through SVA this summer well I was busy.

The ammeter goes in-line between the alternator and the battery - if you're getting 60 amps along there then stand by with the extinguisher. The 60 amp rating of the alternator is simply what it's capable of at full tilt. In practice it'll never get anywhere near that. 60 amps is what auntie Ford thought a Sierra might possibly need with every electrical toy that could be fitted to a Sierra being used at once plus a little safety margin - main-beam, fogs, brake-lights, heater, heated-rear-screen, electric windows going up and down (all 4), elecric mirrors being adjusted (both at once), heated mirrors (my Sierra had them) stereo at full blast, cigarette lighter and and..... We simply don't have most of that stuff. What the ammeter actually measures is the current supplied to or drawn from the battery. This will initially be quite large (several whole amps at least) as the battery is recharged after starting the engine but will then be almost nothing as it comes back up to voltage. The next swing you may see will be a negative as lots of electrical equipment isused and briefly the current drawn exceeds that supplied by the alternator this will amount to a twitch from the needle because the regulator takes a measurable amount of time to react to an increase in demand. I used to see it in winter when the lights were all on along with the heater and the rear screen the needle would then twitch in time with the indicators as I signaled. In the Hood I suspect it'll be un-noticeable unless you're actually looking at the guage or there's something wrong somewhere (which is why you have the guage). Iain

I understood it enough to confuse my A-Level physics teacher and therefore to get the top marks in my year. He was also one of the local Scout leaders and about the funniest thing I ever did see was him trying to light a fire in front of 20 know-it-all kids. You really need to be certain in those situations that it's going to work or you'll look a real prawn (oh-boy did he) and isn't it nice when someone gives you a perfect opportunity to step in and look like a god (well maybe I didn't look quite that good but hey I looked good). Iain