ibrooks

Well folks, I've got a picture of Steve's and it's looking like it's the wrong one. Hopefully this works This is the one I'm after and the guy on Locostbuilders has even ringed one of the easy identifiers. The rubber doughnut is also different to the one on the Type-9 that Hoods tend to use. Iain

Peter - you're closest if you've got the right bit so let me know if you find one and how much you want for it. Steve - I think you're next nearest so yes if you could sort a picture of the gearbox end it would be appreciated. Do you know anything about the gearbox it was connected to? The MT75 has a collar under the gearnob that you need to lift to get reverse and it's to the right and backwards. The Type-9 is the other usual Sierra box and on it reverse is to the left and forwards (whilst pushing down on the gearstick. Have a think how much you want for it. Klem - Ditto think how much you want and if I don't get one nearer I'll get back to you. Thanks chaps Iain

Fogs in rain illegal - sphericals. It's an offence to have them turned on unless there is fog "or falling rain". It's scary how soon that BMW/Audi disappears into it's own cloud of spray when it goes past. Just because I can see them for "far enough" doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see them for further. No I shouldn't be relying on the fogs to see them as it might not always be an object with any lights that I need to stop for but I find it hard to believe that you don't want to be able to see them for that bit further if the option is available at the flick of a switch. Personally I want to be as visible as possible/legal so when there's a lot of spray I turn them on front and rear - I knock them off again when exiting the roundabout onto slower surface roads where there is less spray. The chavs who run around with the front fogs on permanently however I feel should be dragged out of their cars and shot. Iain

Long shot but maybe someone has one spare from a donor. I'm after a prop from a 2wd Sierra that had an MT75 gearbox. I've got a couple of 4x4 ones but the 2wd box is shorter so just the front end of a 2wd MT75 prop would likely do the trick if anyone has one kicking around. Ideally within collecting distance of Darwen/Blackburn. Iain

Almost impossible to do it with both wheels off the ground unless it's a limited slip diff as one will always turn more than the other. Lift one wheel whilst keeping the other still and just remember that you are looking for 2 turns of the wheel rather than one. Iain

Working out the current ratio is fairly easy. Lift one rear wheel (chocking the car and supporting as necessary and safe). Now spin it by hand whilst watching how many times the prop-shaft turns. I'm not familiar with the Cortina standard ratios so can't suggest what to look for but if it were a Sierra with maybe a 3.62:1 diff I would be expecting 3.62 turns of the prop to equate to one turn of the wheels BUT since we only have one wheel off the ground and the other held stationary 3.62 turns of the prop will give 2 turns of the wheel. Automatics tend to get very tall diffs. Has your car had a 4-speed box in the past? It's possible a previous owner fitted an auto diff to give an acceptable cruising engine speed with the 4 speed gearbox. P100's use a Transit rear axle as far as I know so I don't think it would fit your Cortina unit (but I'm not 100% on that). You might find a Transit diff takes you from one extreme to another. If you do find a Transit diff will fit then generally Mini-bus variants of vans have the taller diffs so that might be something to consider. From memory a Sierra with a type-9 and a 3.62 diff on original size wheels will be doing about 3krpm at 70mph. Wat does yours do. I'm also assuming that your speedo is accurate and you really are doing 85 when it says you are? Is your wheel/tyre combo around the same rolling radius as a Cortina/Sierra? Iain

Why? - it takes time to have an effect so it'll probably soldier on for a good number of years with no ill effects if you are only putting limited miles on it. Oldman - you say you've just had your head "re done". What did that consist of? if there was any amount of recession then they wouldn't have been able to simply re-cut the seats and re-face the valves so were they replaced? It's hard to imagine anywhere but the dodgy-est of places doing anything but fitting hardened seats and valves nowadays so it's quite possible that your engine is now fine to run on unleaded for the rest of it's life no matter what is or isn't stamped on the head. Iain

A guy I used to work with had a jet-boat that was apparently Pinto powered and I have seen parts lists for "marinised" Ford SOHC engines so it's not beyond the realms of possibility for that setup never to have been intended for a car. Iain

Yep - if you have the rack "above" one cog and "below" the other then the wipers will go in opposite directions. This was how they converted the wipers on Minis (and no doubt other cars) to park the other side for wrong-hand drive countries. I've seen people pull the motor apart and do allsorts of odd things when they've bought a "left hand drive" wiper motor because the wipers park on the wrong side. Once you explain this to them they tend to go very quiet for a while. Iain

I don't know anyone in your area unfortunately. Crossflow is a very generic term for engines and it just means that the intake is on one side of the engine and the exhaust is on the other side so the gases flow across the engine. There are however a family of Ford engines known as the "crossflow" - quite often written X-flow. If it's one of these then it could well be from a '79 Escort but unfortunately that means the Pinto sump won't fit. Regarding the date and registration mis-match - it probably happened when the documents were changed from whatever the donor really was to the Locost. Where do you see the 1979 date? is it on the registration document or is it just on some other bit of paper? As Dave says we need a picture of the engine to identify what it really is. Iain

Sometimes with a wide short screen like the hood it's best to have one wiper going in each direction. They park along the bottom of the screen pointing towards each other and when working head in oposite directions to end up vertical and parallel with the outside edges of the screen. That leaves an un-wiped wedge in the middle of the screen - most of which is behind the rear-view mirror and the rest of which only lets you see your own bonnet so it doesn't matter. Iain

I think we need to better identify the engine. A 1979 Escort would have been a T or V registration prefix. A 1989 Escort might have been an F reg but it would have been front wheel drive so not so likely to end up in a rear wheel drive 7 (although not impossible). Is the sump steel? If it is then chances are it can be shortened relatively easily. Generally people on here will have experience (and maybe parts for) the "Pinto" engine which might well have been fitted to a '79 escort. Decent overall pictures of the engine would probably be the best way to identify it. Iain

Most of the people I know "in the trade" use the rut-tut scale i.e. how many times to let the impact gun go "rut-tut-tut-tut". Gorillas on 6-foot bars...... It's a common joke in the Mini world that MOWOG ,which is cast into the front hubs, is actually the name of the semi-tame gorilla they kept at Longridge to tighten up the front hub nuts. I'm the only person in the two clubs I'm a member of with a torque wrench that goes high enough - it's a damn great big Britool thing usually seen in HGV workshops. Getting the things undone after they've been on a few years is just scary at times. The parts people aren't helping by sometimes supplying metric nuts with the imperial thread so my 3/4" drive inch and five sixteenths socket isn't always as good a fit as I'd like. Iain

It's often useful to look for "Cosworth XXXXX" rather than "Sierra XXXXX" Iain

Caprisport on ebay sells them new. Item No. 220807778850 Six and a half quid including postage. Iain

http://nw.rhocar.org/seals.htm

Yes but you need some special tools. Iain

Another plus for Autoaid. It's already been said that what you probably want for kit or classic cars is a get it home service if it can't be repaired easily at the site of the breakdown. Unless things have changed with AA or RAC then they make no guarantee to take it home - if they can't fix it then they might well just dump it at a nearby garage that says they can fix it. At that point you are over a barrel with the garage as they can charge almost anything they like - your alternative is to pay someone to recover it elsewhere. I also have an issue with both RAC and AA's renewal scam (sorry policy) whereby they send a renewal price that's actually just what they think they can get away with but if you tell them you're not interested they can suddenly do it cheaper. They also insist on actually taking payment by direct debit (even if you are paying in one lump) so that they can take that extortionate renewal price without you necessarily knowing about it. It really upsets them when you cancel the direct debit a week after the year's payment has gone out - they keep phoning you throughout the year trying to get you to set it back up and get quite snotty when you tell them up front that you have no intention of setting it back up. Oh yes - one more thing. Flux Iain

Fair enough. I wanted the tyres for an MX5 as they are the right size. I've got Ford alloys that I'm struggling to give away so it would be silly to collect yet another set. Iain

How much would you want just for the tyres? assuming you are prepared to split them from the wheels - if not then so be it. I'll be at Race-Retro on the Saturday so would probably be able to collect them then as I'd be near anyway. Failing that I've got the whole following week off so could make a trip. Iain

Might seem a bit of an odd one but you could also try Minisport in Padiham - yes I know it seems a bit odd but the guy who runs/ran the rolling road (Rob) is an ex-Ford works man and knows Pintos an Crossfows inside out. Been a while since I've spoken to him and I've heard that he's only working part-time now (semi-retired). Iain

Stick me down for a spot too please.

I'd be interested - might be in the hairdressers car if I haven't managed to get the GTM back on the road by then. Iain

Given your location it might be worth looking at Range-Rover components. They have a UJ with two splines and pinch bolts that might do the job (looks like the "Group 4" forged steel one from RD). http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NRC7387-Range-Rover-Classic-Upper-Steering-Column-Shaft-Universal-Joint-upto-94-/370554787184?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5646c95570#ht_1500wt_982 Just thinking they might be cheaper/easier/faster for you to source locally. Iain

Fairly common for both the DVLA and VOSA to suffer from @rsehole and elbow confusion - they can't often tell one from the other. Iain