PaulF2B

Another 2B off EBay and now correctly registered on the road! After passing the IVA, I sent off the V55/5 form along with the original IVA pass certificate (seems a shame to have to give away the certificate after all the hard work to get one, but I took a copy!), along with copies of Insurance certificate, my driving licence, + 12 Months PLG Tax fee (£230) + £55 registration fee. Within 2 Weeks I have received the new Registration number notification, the tax disk and a new V5 that has the new Reg' and lists the car as a Robin Hood 2B SubK VOSA seem to have improved their response times from what has been said in previous posts with this quick turn around. Just waiting for the new number plates to be delivered and to make the most of the rest of the summer! Hope to see many of you at Donnington!

Retest passed and paperwork sent off Just got to await VOSA to process and send out the new Reg, V5 and tax disk.

As per Mower Man, I agree on the dirt being the most likely cause. Change the filters first that's the easy one, then I'm not sure about the Dellortos, Do they have a filter on the incomer like the Webers? The other possibility is lack of a breather for the tank, make sure you have a vent so air can replace the used fuel and that the vent is not blocked. If the tank is not too full, remove the fuel cap and test it to eliminate a blocked vent.

Couple of other checks: Jack up the front and get someone to turn the steering from lock to lock, then verify the nothing touches/ clashes (that shouldn't) and the wheels both spin freely on full lock. Take with you to the test, a bottle of loctite that you need to use on the caliper to hub bolts (as well as any other important bolts into threaded holes). Also fill up before the morning of the test and check for fuel leaks with a full tank. Some things I failed to do on my first test

Yes, I agree, without extensions you are probably outside the max 400mm. If you don't have the RH brackets, they are fairly easy to make out of flat mild steel bar, just 2 off 90° bends and 2 holes. Then I used a pair of Mini steering gaitors off ebay (only £5 + P+P) to cover them so no edges.

mmmm Q Plate is made from "parts of unknown origin" I suppose! But a different kit altogether? Looks like it will probably fly though!

All items in the list now fixed and re-test booked for 2nd July, fingers crossed!

Hi Mark, The markings probably represent M 10.9 for Metric High Tensile (HT) 10.9 grade, then GSF is probably the manufacturer. There is a good link Phil Shelton posted that details the high tensile bolt grades: http://www.hi-tensilebolt.com.au/Head%20Markings.html The Ford bolts Mark suggests is a good option, but if you do buy other 10.9 grade HT bolts also buy High tensile nuts to match. Also if you do not use nylon bolts / nuts, make sure you use some high strength thread lock like "Loctite 2700 OEM High strength thread lock", you will need this for the front caliper securing bolts if you do not already have some.

Simon's suggestion of using dry cells is a good idea. Also it is always best to test your instruments with a with a multimeter measuring impedance (Ohms) before doing any other tests or even before installing them. Volt meters should be very high impedance "many K Ohms" as they are connected across the supply (in parallel) and you don't want them to drain a battery / waste energy. If one were to fail and go low impedance it would likely blow the fuse. Ammeters however are wired in series and will be very low impedance typically under 1 ohm so they do not limit the current in the circuit it is feeding. HTH

I'm sorry to miss out on this one, just need to finish off last few items from my 2B's snag list to get it through its IVA retest and then on the road But there's some great lanes on the route you chose, did you know that Europa Spares http://www.europaspares.com/ is based in Fauld too? Not sure what time you would get there or their opening times, but may save you some postage on any parts you may need. Enjoy the run!

If you disconnect all the wiring from the meter, then connect a 12V battery charger across the 2 terminals (+ and -), see if it reads above the 11V it was fixed at. If it does, your meter is still alive and you can start troubleshooting the dash wiring. If it never reads anything other than 11V in all situations, then you could try to dismantle / repair it, otherwise afraid it's time to get the wallet out!

Hi Pedro, I used a shroud from an Escort I found in a scrap yard as I didn't have the original Sierra doner one. The hazard switch lined up fine, but the key position needed cutting forward, plus a little fettling around the stalks. I would not say it's flimsy, but I did add an extra bracket from the bottom up to the steering support plate to stop it moving around.

Ah back to Simon's Tesla ball idea than?

Thanks for all your input, gives me some good ideas

I am currently working through my fail list from my first IVA, one of the issues was the front flexible brake hoses were not fixed when going through the body panel. I have a secure bracket on the angled chassis member where the copper brake pipe ends. My flexible pipe then went through a grommeted hole and out to the caliper. I found this company with a good website that seems to allow me to order exactly the hoses I need with double bolt locator that should allow me to fix the hose as it passes through the body. http://www.brake-lines.co.uk/create-your-custom-brake-hose.html Has anyone used these before? Or used other custom hose suppliers?

Yes, I did. The metal tube goes through the middle, then a cup either side curving outwards. Without the cups the ARB or the nut could dig into the poly bushes. Unless anyone else knows different?

That's good, I hope your Sylva re-assembly is easier than the 2B was and less "Spanner rash"!

Hi Kevin, Just replaced the ARB bushes on my 2B yesterday with these: http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649 They were much easier to fit to the arms than the rubber ones, and I hope will last longer. The hardest job was the re-assembly of the roll bar: With the one arm fitted to the chassis and roll bar through the bush (N/S), I then fitted the bar through the bush in the O/S arm. This was about 2" away from the chassis bracket. Loosely fit the 2 back brackets and rear bushes with spacers to suit. To get it to fit I used rope around the 2 ARB end nuts, a piece of wood in the middle and started to turn, so pulling in the ends of the ARB. Eventually the bar was sprung in enough for the bolt to fit through the chassis brackets. Make sure the rear brackets either fit flush up to the floorpan or you have spacers / washers between, this was one of my IVA fail points I am correcting and it seemed sensible to fit the better bushes at the same time. Not sure if everyone with the sierra style front suspension has the same hassle or is there an easier way to re-assemble that I missed?

The scrap yards may have all closed in Leicester, but there is still a good one; Albert Looms, just off the A52 between Nott's and Derby. The cars are all laid out in rows and you can wonder around as you wish, then pay for the bits on the way out, ideal for electrical bits and all those other odds & ends They even have an online list of the current cars. http://www.albertlooms.com/

I had a vent pipe fitted to the top of the tank, but have standard ford roll over valve in line to stop fuel leaking in the event of a roll over. This was fine for the examiner.

Venting for the tank was certainly something my tester checked for at Derby, although my problem was too much venting I had a leak around the seal at the top of the tank, one of my fail items, but easily solved by a replacement seal! With hindsight I would recommend filling the tank before the morning of the test.

One thing I found on my 2B was too much clearance between the standard Sierra coil and the upper mount (cup). When the back is jacked up (by the body) letting the rear trailing arm drop to its lowest point, make sure the coils cannot drop out, you don't want to be going over a hump back bridge and the springs drop out! This does not affect the use of stiffners but it is something to think about during your build. I opted for the coil overs which are bolted top and bottom so no issues for them to pop out

I trailered mine to my first test because you never know what you may have missed that could be safety critical, in the unlikely event something went wrong or had an accident on the way, there could be something safety critical you missed!! We all do our best to get through first time, but realistically it seems to be rare we get through the first time. It is very easy to miss something and as Ian say's if it is not safe you will need a trailer to driver it home (they will impound it until you get one). I am now re-doing the items the tester picked up from my first test last week, then I plan to drive it to the second test with more confidence that it's safe on the road. You will of course need to get insurance cover that will be based on your VIN number as you won't have a plate yet.

If the live feed to the pump is direct from the switched ignition, you should be able to "T" of that for your gizmo power. Test it with a Volt meter measuring between the pump power and chassis. As long as you do not have a pressure switch to isolate the fuel pump it should be OK.