ibrooks

It's not unusual in production cars when they are getting on a bit for wires to have chafed through and earths to have corroded - and that's with millions spent on rigid and anti-vibration mountings. Once this happens electrical current finds any way it can to earth and if that happens to be a metal brake or fuel pipe then so be it. The connections on hydraulic pipes don't tend to be great conductors so things get hot - not a good idea when they are filled with a flammable liquid. Keep wires away from pipes and as already mentioned above them in the hopes that if something un-related wears through a pipe and creates a leak you don't get flammables dripping on electrical stuff. Metro's have a habit of brake pipes glowing as you are cranking the engine. Of course by the time they have gone that far the cranking current that the pipe can flow is significantly reduced so they need more cranking. Downright scary when you spot it. Mini's are better (sort of) - they tend to end up earthing through the choke cable. Iain

How are you planning to physically connect the carbs to your new intake manifold? Usually they are connected to intake stubs on the bikes they have come from with rubber mounts so there are no studs or similar on the carbs themselves. Iain

Moderators - any chance we can make a sticky of some variety or change the article to tell people to look for 1"/25mm go-kart axle bearings? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Drifter-Gokart-Axle-Carrier-BEARING-UC205-/190628955517?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Scooters_LE&hash=item2c625f057d http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KART-25MM-AXLE-BEARING-BRAND-NEW-/270805718532?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Other_Vehicle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item3f0d475604 I've seen a few of these where people have paid £20 ish for a bearing that can be had for under £5 And the carriers http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KART-PAIR-TRIANGULAR-25MM-BEARING-CARRIERS-NEW-/270617462094?pt=UK_Cars_Parts_Vehicles_Other_Vehicle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item3f020ec54e I only ever see them after the fact. Iain

I always liked a screensaver called "the blues". It switched the screen to something that looked like the blue-screen-of-death but unlike other screensavers you had to press a certain key to wake the machine back up. Best part was that it populated the picture with info from the machine's registry so it looked legit. Another good one is to do a print screen whilst their machine is on the desktop so you get a picture of their desktop with the icons displayed. Now copy their icons to a new location and set the picture you've just made as the background. Looks like nothing's changed but when clicking on what look like icons nothing happens. Stickykeys - part of Windows accessibility options. You set it so that key presses of less than several seconds don't register. Especially good at work since it's person specific and doesn't kick in until that person logs in. Ctrl+Alt+Del works fine and they can enter a userID and password no probs but then the keyboard simply seems to stop responding. If someone else logs in, presto - no problem it must be something they've done. Probably mostly listed on Stewarts website. Iain

Can be a conventional one but from memory it needs to be tethered to the car or needs to be locked/unlocked with the ignition key and the key can't come out unless the cap is back in. The idea is that you can't drive off without the cap. You can download the manual so it's quite easy to check the precise regulations. Iain

Mcgill Motorsport do "male" rod ends (sort of like track-rod ends) so a pair of those and a bit of threaded bar would be a simpler solution and less bulky than normal rose joints and through bolts. Iain

Should've stuck with the MDF - paint it, sand down the fibres that stand up, repeat if necessary and finish with a top-coat before wax polish and release agent. Iain

Beat me to it - another massive thumbs down for Flux from me. Would also get one from a guy I work with who used to insure a Blazer monster truck with them and his brother who had an interceptor insured with them. Iain

OK so it's a 2B with sliding pillars. I can't quite see the two vertical tubes between the tunnel top and scuttle well enough to be certain but they look to be parallel and vertical which would suggest it's one of the first batch. Check this as it can be useful to know just what you've got. A fair amount of rusty staining around the passenger side of the engine bay suggests overheating problems in the past. That's OK so long as the problems really are in the past - make sure the temp gauge reads true and keep an eye on it whilst gettting to know the car. I can't say I'm a fan of the routing of the clutch cable. In the Sierra they had a habit of dying because of the heat and that's when they went around the exhaust manifold. Yours does seem to be wrapped in something presumably heat proofing related but it's run through the exhaust. I think I'd be looking at wrapping the exhaust as far as the side panel anyway (keeps underbonnet temps down) so that will help extend it's life but there are also longer cables available that may mean you can route it furthr away from the exhaust (Cosworth/Transit from memory). Not trying to pick holes but forewarned is forearmed and means you are less likely to have it strand you somewhere leaving you annoyed with it where a bit of tinkering could make it more reliable and let you enjoy it more. Iain

People get confused between what the stat does and what a thermostatic switch for a fan does. Understand what they do and you can make your own informed decision. Number one concept. Obviously there is a maximum temperaure for the coolant in an engine above which damage will occur. There is also a minimum temperature. Engines runnng cold don't tend to suffer sudden and dramatic failures but they will have a reduced life and they will not run as efficiently and make as much power as they might. The cooling system needs enough capacity to take the excess heat out of the engine under the worst conditions - whether that means when it's running at full chat around a circuit or sat in a queue of traffic (likely on a hot day in both cases). Adding airflow to the system increases that capacity. That's why some cars are perfectly happy when moving along but bubble up in traffic - not enough airflow. Hence fans. This means that the cooling system has too much capacity for most of the time and is robbing heat that should really be left in the engine. That's why we want fans that can be switched off (or slowed) when the engine is cold. Electronic switches are used on leccy fans or thermo-viscous couplings can be used on mechanical ones (like the original on the Pinto in a Sierra). OK so we've switched the fan off but when driving along we still have airflow through the rad so it's still sucking heat out of the engine. How do we stop that? Basically we reduce the flow of coolant through the radiator and that's what the thermostat does. As the temp goes down the valve closes and the flow through the radiator drops. As the temp goes back up the valve opens again and flow through the radiator goes back up. BigLee - if your car runs at a proper temp without a stat and also doesn't overheat you're very lucky. Iain

They might know their sump inside out but they haven't exercised any common sense/logic when writing the instructions and they've been lucky that the raised surface level of the oil hasn't caused any problems. Look at my real life example - it clearly explains why it's the LEVEL that is important and not the CAPACITY. Effectively Raceline are suggesting they know the engine better than Ford. Personally I reckon that Ford have spent a bit of time and money on this sort of thing and might just know what they are talking about. Just out of interest - how much higher than the Ford mark is the new one that Raceline's instructions results in? and does the Zetec have a windage plate or horizontal baffle? Iain

Back to the old story. My Grandfather worked for Crown maintaining trucks. He was sent to South Africa where they kept killing engines by "running" the main bearings and big ends in a couple of weeks. Phone-calls and letters back and forth with servicing instructions laid down in idiot fashion step by step instructions brought no improvement and they promised faithfully that they were following the instructions to the letter. Everywhere else in the world the same trucks ran for many hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems. So Grandpa was sent out there (at no small expense I would imagine in those days) to watch what they were doing and see if he could maintain a truck and make it last more than a couple of weeks. Not sure how long it took but he did spot the problem. When topped up with oil to the mark on the dipstick there was about half a pint of oil left in the bottom of the bottle. In the other countries this was left in the bottle or combined with the half pint left from the next truck and used to top other vehicles up at a later date or thrown in the next truck to get a service. In SA however it was common practice to just throw it into the engine as it was only a little bit compared to what they had just put in there (probably gallons). Problems then arose because that brought the top surface of the oil high enough that on steeper slopes or hills the crankshaft was dipping into the oil and whipping it into foam. Back then the oils had less anti-foaming additives to prevent that so before long the oil pump is trying to suck foam and it can't - main and big end bearings are starved of oil and they were simply the first thing to let go. The important thing to pay attention to is the level of the oil. THAT'S THE TOP SURFACE REGARDLESS OF THE AMOUNT OF OIL IN THERE. Reducing the capacity of oil can make it run hotter as there is less oil to spread the heat around. So you need a decent cooling system to supplement that lost cooling. In an extreme case you can run into the problem of all the oil being in the engine and none left in the sump but you would have to take a lot more than an inch off the sump to do that. Adding a box to the side of the sump can help replace the lost capacity of the sump (the pool of oil in the sump is shallower but it's wider so the same amount). An oil cooler can help in this respect too as it adds capacity in the pipes and radiator. Iain

Is it just me that feels like I'm missing out on the rant - can we have a link to it? or do I need to go and search? what did I miss?

Yes but if you've got the docs in the car (or at least copies) it makes the process a lot easier since they know which insurance company they need to phone (OK most of us would remember that one) and they have a policy number to enquire about (do you remember yours off the top of your head?). Far faster than phoning an insurer and asking them if they insure a car with reg number xxxxxxx. Iain

I'm just about to go through this as I've just collected a Focus Cosworth which the previous owner says he didn't SORN. I told him that I would be doing it straight away and that he might be geting some questions from DVLA - don't think he was too impressed but there wasn't much he could say about it one way or another. Iain

I've got a beam you can have. Iain

Less of a concern in real terms than the insurance issue. How often do most people drive at 120ish MPH in their daily driver (although I suppose with Autobahn's at your disposal.....). Even less likely with these being specifically winter tyres and the likely conditions they will be used in. Barring the insurance problem I'd happily fit T rated tyres to any car I was using as a daily driver because I know I'd never get anywhere near their limit for that use no matter what the car. Iain

You'll need to check the steelies will physically fit - with regards to diameter and offset. You'll also need to check with your insurer about the speed rating as T is significantly lower than W and likely well below what your car is capable of. In this country if I were to fit T rated tyres to my Sierra it would invalidate the insurance as it's officially capable of over 118MPH (whether it would be able to do that at 23 years old I wouldn't like to say and I've certainly never pushed it that hard). The argument is that if an accident happens due to tyre failure it might be because I've been hooning around at more than their speed rating even if I wasn't doing so at the time of the failure. No idea how they would stand on second hand tyres where the history isn't known but as per usual with insurance it's just another way for them to wriggle out of paying if it comes to it. Iain

You can change to narrower tyres with no probs and you can increase and decrease the diameter of the wheels within reason and adjust the aspect ratio of the tyres to keep the overall rolling radius the same. Post the full details of your current wheels and the proposed ones (diameter, width of wheel and tyre, aspect ratio, and offset) and we can tell you how old and new compare. Iain

Ally is tricky to bend with heat as it doesn't give any indication before it melts and the temperature range between soft and liquid is relatively small. The soap trick is a common one and I've seen it done with fairy liquid - as soon as it looks burnt do your bending in one go. Keeping it at that temperature for any length of time is not easy. This sort of means you need a form and a quick easy way to make the section you are using conform to it. Iain

Sold

Sold

The bearing I've linked to does the job just fine - as far as I can tell it's exactly the same as the ones the other NW guys have. As for quality concerns over it being maybe a cheaper part - it is designed to handle massively higher loads than the application we are using it in so it's highly unlikely you would see an issue even if it's complete rubbish (and there's no sign that the one I have is anything other than top quality). It shouldn't matter much whether the mount has 2 or 3 bolt holes. For some reason that seller does mounts with 2 or 3 holes for the bigger 30mm bearing but I only see 3-hole mounts for the 25mm one. Usually an old worn centre from an original Sierra bush works just fine - you need to turn a little off a nice shiny new one so quite often an old one is spot on to start with. Iain

We can probably do a bit better than 10% off. Carrier Bearing £8.20 including postage if I've got my sums correct. Iain

Or try http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/ They are often at the shows too and usually have a bin full of off-cuts and roll ends at knock down prices. Iain