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ibrooks

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Everything posted by ibrooks

  1. A proper vernier. It's got the boss (hence you can see the slot for the woodruff). There should be a pin that fits into one of those holes around the centre to lock the two parts together at the desired setting and there should also be a big washer that fits over the centre hole - that should have a counterbore for the boss and a smaller one to take the head of the pin where it protrudes. If it's all there then it's a nice piece of kit as they aren't prone to slipping and "adjusting" themselves like the Piper or Kent style ones do. If there are bits missing then it's not worth much. The link to the ebay listing shows one disassembled so you can see what all the bits should look like. Worth noting that Quaife make them in steel or alloy (although from memory they would only supply the alloy ones to Burton at one time). I remember needing a pair for a project a while back and they were far cheaper direct from Quaife than any of the resellers. Iain
  2. ibrooks

    Garage Floor Paint

    I bought a soft floor brush to apply the paint with and a cheap plastic trough to stick white spirit in to clean it afterwards. I still use the brush for sweeping up. I've heard the argument about not painting in case of spills but having worked on both I'd paint every time and keep a bag of cheap cat litter to throw down on any big spills. Smaller ones come up with a rag. On bare concrete anything oily soaks into the surface ready to wick into anything you sit on it at a later date and just tends to be slippery for longer. Iain
  3. ibrooks

    Front Hubs

    My GTM uses Mini front hubs at the front with no driveshafts connected - Just a CV joint. You don't need to machine the CV - just knock the balls and cage out and leave the cup as-is and it becomes a stub axle. Mine does have the cups removed (by a gorilla with a hacksaw by the looks of it). I'm going to stick them in the lathe to clean up the rear faces before they go back on. It is better to remove the cups if possible since it reduces unsprung weight a little. I've also got Sierra 4x4 front hubs on my Focus which is RWD (when it's not 4x4). Same idea and I've got a pair of CV's that are used as a stub axle. They actually have a plate welded over the hole where the driveshaft went in by a previous owner - I've never quite understood why but they are a beautiful job. Granada and Sierra 4x4 use a bigger diameter strut than a 2wd Sierra so you would likely need to account for that with whatever you are using to connect to the upper ball-joint in a double wishbone system. You could use Sierra 4x4 front drive flanges on a Granada hub to retain the 4 stud wheel mountings. Iain
  4. ibrooks

    Garage Floor Paint

    I used Screwfix no nonsense floor paint in the woodshop. Never again. In the workshop I used International sealant (because it was new concrete) followed by their floor paint and that's held up well. In the Garage I used Tetrosyl floor paint that was being sold cheap in Halfords at the time. That was old concrete and around the edges there were areas that had been painted before. Both the Tetrosyl and the International stuff are holding up well but after a good few years there are areas that could do with touching up. The Tetrosyl has stood up to brake fluid for weeks (brake pipe corroded through over winter on a resto project and didn't notice till I went back in there). Both the Tetrosyl and the International have had cellulose thinners and petrol slopped over them with no ill effects (obviously moped up fairly quickly). Iain
  5. ibrooks

    Rewire!

    I've built looms for cars from scratch and I wouldn't recommend it for the home mechanic. How much of each colour wire will you need? You don't really know until you've got it in place. So you end up making do with the wrong colour or having to go and get another metre of white with a brown trace and the job stops while you go and get it or while you wait for it to arrive. In a pro workshop where you are doing it regularly it's easy to have a real of everything and just use it as necessary but at home it's simply uneconomical. It would probably be cheaper and easier to get a loom from the likes of Autosparks. They do generic ones for "seven" type cars that have pretty much all the circuits you'll need and the connectors will be in pretty much the right place to start with. All you then need to do is add any additional stuff you might have/want. Iain
  6. I'd bet a Robin Hood caught fire and was subject to an insurance claim and write-off. Now it's been rebuilt (well started) but needs a VIC check. Thing is - is that the original Hood or is it an unregistered one that he's trying to marry the identity of the written off one to? I'd bet on the latter since there's no visible fire damage/discolouration to the body but you never know it could be legit. I'd want to see lots of proof though. Whether it would pass a VIC or not is a good question - Is it the same model? would an inspector spot it if it wasn't? Iain
  7. Mr D might have provided all you need but from memory (I'd have to go and actually look at the things to be 100% and I'm not going to be in the garage till tomorrow afternoon at the earliest). 12v and Gnd are labelled conventionally and are for the power supply. The remaining two terminals on the same side are for the switch. Short them together momentarily and the LED should illuminate along with a clunk from the relay as proof of concept (short them again or remove power and it'll go off). The 4 terminals on the other side are for your device and from memory the symbols are in pairs (two symbols repeated twice). When it's "on" it connects each pair of terminals. I have to admit I didn't check the separation of the two pairs as I'm only intending to have them throw another relay which will be carrying the load. Iain
  8. Engine failure wouldn't stop the rotors so even in the event of both engines failing the rotors should still have been spinning. They are on a one-way clutch on the shaft so that even in the event of an engine or gearbox seizing solid autorotation is still available. If the craft is in a stationary hover it should be able to fall with the rotor spinning sort of like a sycamore seed to take some of the energy away. If there's some forwards momentum then even better as it can be flown a little like an autogyro for a short time. Depending on the height it's still going to come down with a thump but it won't just drop like a stone. A mate has an autogyro which he flies tethered behind a tow vehicle. You can climb to the extent of the rope and then dive before pulling up to avoid hitting the ground. When pulling up the rotor loses speed and if you attempt the manouevre too many times in quick succession you'll find the hard way that too much rotor speed has been lost and you don't have enough lift to keep it off the floor. It takes time for the rotors to regain speed which they are getting from the tow-car's forwards speed. For the blades to be stationary I'd guess they were trying this, ran out of rotor speed before they could get rid of enough vertical momentum but stalled the blades in the attempt. Why that situation came about I wouldn't guess at. It would be interesting (if a little goulish for those of us that don't need to know) to hear the last radio transmissions or at least to know if they mentioned any problem as it was happening. I'd bet we will never get a conclusive answer and just have to settle for the best theory. Iain
  9. How much!!! Try this at one tenth of the price. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Touch-Electronic-Switch-Control-Relay-Bistable-Trigger-action-Circuit-Module-/251345659742?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item3a855e675e One touch and it switches the relay on. A second touch and it turns the relay back off. Kill the power supply and the circuit drops back to the off state. I've just taken delivery of two ready for use on the Focus.
  10. ibrooks

    Bit Of A Rant

    Didn't you get a copy of the footage? In that case you can supply the reg number of the offender to the insurers (along with a copy of the proof). Askmid will furnish the name of the insurance company the other car is insured with. What do the insurance outifts actually do for the ludicrous amounts of money that we pay them?
  11. ibrooks

    Rear Half Shafts

    A mate of mine works in rut-tuts. It's how many times you need to let the impact gun go rut-tut-tut-tut.
  12. So long as you don't modify the "chassis" enough for it to require an IVA test. I've often wondered just how much confusion/chaos it would cause at Swansea if you tried to IVA a car who's donor was a kit car. Probably none as they would just default to "computer says no" and leave you tearing your hair out with the problem. Iain P.S. - your car doesn't half look familiar
  13. ibrooks

    St 170 Bottom End

    They are brutally strong so I'd bet the pistons will melt long before you find the limits of crank/rods/journals. Some kicking around of numbers on the Sierra Owners Club did come up with the theory that a 2.3 block and pistons with 2.0 crank and rods (I think) would give a 2.2 engine with a compression ratio around the 8:1 mark and should all bolt together with no fancy work beyond bunging up the hole where the chain drive goes through to the balance rods. It should make a good basis for a boosted engine with serious power potential. Not sure if anyone went as far as building it though as they all seemed to stick with 2.3's with Sierra 8v or Scorpio 16v heads and natural aspiration. Iain
  14. ibrooks

    St 170 Bottom End

    Almost certainly not - the ST170 is a Zetec with a trick cylinder head and some uprated bottom end bits. The FWD RS2000/Scorpio/Galaxy 2.3 is an I4 - all the same family as the 2.0DOHC that went into the Sierra. That said the DOHC is often very underrated because of the lack of tuning bits for it. It's a strong old lump. Turbo Technics did boost them and I think got around 230BHP without much in the way of engine modifications. But you were looking at close to Cosworth money without the snob value of the badge so it wasn't a popular option. A 2.3 block with the late Scorpio 16v cylinder head, the catalysts dumped and decent management tends to get towards 200BHP and makes nearly as much torque as the 2.9 V6. Iain
  15. Wildlife is one of the best ways. Trees are good too though - any nice native examples with tree preservation orders? Could there be? A mate lives in a house with a lot of empty space behind and whilst there's no plans he's aware of yet he reckons it's only a matter of time so he's been indulging in some guerilla gardening and obtaining native broadleaf saplings and planting them all over the place and caring for them (leaping over his back fence with the watering can when it's hot and dry etc.). I suspect if he could get hold of any great crested newts or similar he'd be out there in the dead of night digging a pond for them. Iain
  16. I read an article not too terribly long ago on the history of Slick 50. The manufacturers of Teflon (Dupont) did at one point refuse to sell to the makers of Slick 50 because they knew full well that their product wouldn't work at the temps encountered in an engine. They didn't want to be associated with any bad press if someone looked at the snake-oil effect and proved that Teflon was no good to add to the lubricant in a car engine. Slick 50 got around it by not using Dupont's trademark of Teflon and simply calling it PTFE. Pre '84 I believe Slick 50 used soft metal particles rather than PTFE. Iain
  17. Get friendly with your local agricultural suppliers - dairy farms swap out tanks every so often and a local brewery managed to get a pair for half what he'd been quoted to have one made. They are approx 4m long by 2m wide and maybe 1 deep. All stainless polished to food grade and with nice rounded corners that are easy to clean. Iain
  18. ibrooks

    Mistaken Identity

    I'm sure I remember Jim Stott telling me he once got a speeding ticket in Blackpool for his Disco. Only the Disco was sat at the side of a race track somewhere whilst he was marshalling for a motorbike race - it was live on the telly and everything so just one or two witnesses that he wasn't hooning around Blackpool. Not too long ago I was passed on the M65 by a 3dr Tropy Blue MGZR that was doing a silly speed. I was driving my 5dr Trophy Blue MGZR. Just long enough for the other one to be out of sight a police car with the lights and sirens going appeared in the mirror. They slowed right down and sat in lane 2 next to me for ages (probably seconds but seemed like ages) whilst having a good look at me before putting the clog down and disappearing off into the distance again. I do wonder if they ever got him and whether it was just the speeding that they wanted him for or if I could have been pulled over and accused of something else. Iain
  19. Good that you've got alternatives as I'd avoid Flux like the plague. Just the other day a guy in the Mini club was telling us how they have cancelled his policy and are trying to charge £300+ cancellation fee. Apparently they reckon he hasn't been paying the premium (monthly direct debit). He's got them over a barrel as his bank statement shows the money going out and then coming back in a few days later. Unfortunately in the meantime though he's stuck with an un-insured car that he'll need to take out a fresh policy on whilst Flux get sorted out. He's actually been very lucky as he was pulled over a few nights ago for no insurance (they had obviously taken it off the database). Fortunately it was late at night the copper couldn't raise anyone on the phone, he had the policy docs in the car and could show the payment being taken recently on his phone (mobile banking app). They accepted that and let him carry on. Sounds like if it had happened during the day he would have been charged and had his car seized. This was what prompted him to contact Flux as he hadn't had any warning from them (apparently they sent him letters but they must all have been lost in the post). Iain
  20. Your two examples are probably good ones to show how little help the videos would be as I don't remember anything in the videos about mounting the seats or interior panels. When I built mine there was a short length of angle-iron supplied to fit the ends of the handbrake cables to. I replaced that with a longer length which went all the way across the car under the floor picking up on the plates that the rear beam mounts to at the outer edges. The rear bolts for the seats went through it and I welded nuts to it to accept the harness bolts - it also served the original purpose of locating the front end of the handbrake cable. At the front of the seats I used a piece of angle at each side which the front pair of seat mounting bolts went through - no reason for that to be angle really as it's just a spreader plate to prevent the front bolts from pulling through the floor in the event of a crash. Iain
  21. They were at best a basic guide and you had to apply a lot of common sense on top. Probably better for you to ask specific questions as you hit problems as I doubt the videos would be of much realistic help. If it has been assembled (was it on the road?) then it probably wants to go back together largely in the same way it was but with whatever changes you felt were needed which made you take it apart. Iain
  22. ibrooks

    Aaaaaaaaargh!

    Having been stung and seen many other people stung by playing nice and letting them sort it out without going through the insurers only to see the responsible party change their minds later I wouldn't entertain it. You are legally obliged to tell your insurers whether they fix it or not and even a non-fault claim will increase your premium (got to admire insurance companies just for having the stones to try that never mind getting away with it) so you might as well get car fixed properly with all the guarantees they bang on about. If he doesn't have a job then he doesn't need a car. If he subsequently has trouble insuring a car he might learn a lesson from the whole experience. Iain
  23. Am I the only person that wants to see the video now?
  24. As has been mentioned you can get the info from DVLA but you need to supply a good reason. Applying for a logbook would prompt the registered keeper that someone else wants it and if they don't respond to DVLA then you would get a new log book. If they do and want to take it away then you've lost it but...... If the warehouse owner has stuck a note on the screen saying that it's now clocking up a storage charge of x per day then they can (within reason so no £5000 per day charges). Once the outstanding bill is as much as they could get from selling the car they can do so legally - they just need to pass any extra money they get for it on to the original owner. So if you are friendly with the warehouse owner get them to stick a note on it saying it's clocking up say £50 per day storage charge. Assuming that would now add up to it's market value (because it's been on there for months hasn't it, wink wink and bear in mind market value for a car being sold without a V5 is significantly less - even if it is legit) the owner can now sell the car to you for whatever they want to try and recover their money. Iain
  25. If it's a BOB...... The donor car is an auto. The wiring is a pain because the BOB cars used PATS so you need the original key and transponder reader etc.... It's not insurmountable and people have transplanted the whole lot but it's not a small job. You can run the BOB on BOA wiring and ECU. There is also a project underway by a couple of guys on Fordpower to tweak the BOB ECU which will allow the removal of PATS but it will also allow the ECU to be mapped (and far beyond the likes of Emerald or Megasquirt). Gearboxes.... as Paul says it's not as simple as swapping the bellhousing on a 4-pot gearbox. You could use a type-9 from a 2.8 capri, 2wd V6 Granada or Sierra. Or there are so called "hybrid" gearboxes which use the rear end of a Scorpio diesel MT75 box with the front casing from a V6 MT75 (integral bellhousing) - this lets you use the front casing from a 4x4 box which are quite common. The hybrid box also gives the advantage of a longer 5th gear so more relaxed cruising or a higher top speed. Straight from the Scorpio it will have a 2wd alloy sump so shortening isn't so easy. You can pinch the steel sump from an earlier Cologne engine (2.8 Capri/Sierra XR4i etc.) which will lend itself to shortening at home more easily but I think the BOB still has oil returns from the heads to the sump which you will need to add to the steel sump. Iain
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