IanS

Go to scrap yard and get connector from just about any ford car with a decent amount of wire attached. Join to your loom by soldering and covering with thin wall heatshrink. Stagger joints for each wire. Cover the joints with loom tape and no one will know its there.

Carb engines generally do not have ECU. Carb jetting looks after mixing the correct air fuel mix. Ignition on pinto is looked after by a distributer and normally has mechanical advance built in for speed and a vacume advance built in for economy (connected to inlet manifold by a pipe). Most later pintos had electronic ignition module in place of points and only need conections to pick up on distributer, connections to coil and power from ignition switch. Longboarder has published the connections at least once.

High or low compression is determined by the pistons fitted not the block. High comp pistons are level with the top deck of the block at TDC Low comp pistons are about 1.5mm down. Easy to see if head is off

Starter motor is series wound. This takes most current when not rotating and current drops with speed so is self limiting in speed. normal locked rotor currents will be in the 200 to 600 amp range which gives a resistance of 0.06 to 0.02 ohms. Specialist equipment is required to measure these low resistances. You say that the started was locked when the wires overheated which could be normal operation if the motor locks. Does the motor spin now it is off the car?? mount starter in a vice and use jump leads to energise it to see if it is broken. My guess is that the problem is mechanical. Ian

Hireing a car in Seattle USA they were impressed at how long our licences ran. They have to renew every 2 years.

Having recently replaced the quadrent after removing the Cclip (sorry I work for a US campany) it just slid out after releasing tension on the pawl by pulling the clutch pedal fully back. I had the pedal assembly removed from the car to do this. I fitted the black quadrent (escort I think) as this gives more cable movement than the yellow one fitte as standard to sierras. I also at build fitted a spacer (a stack of washers) to the bulkhead to give some more pre movement to the cable. The actuator arm in the bellhousing is only mounted over a ball ended pin and has lots of freedom to move as standard when the cable is not attached. Ian

ESC2 is electronic. No points. Whats the problem?

Most electric guages expect to be powered from a regulated supply. The original ford dash instruments had a built in 8 volt regulator powering fuel guage and water temp guage. This avoids readings moving when moving between tickover with everything on and revving the balls off. So voltage at sender looks good. The sierra fuel sender earths through a seperate wire to a bullet connector on the metal of the mounting. Have you connected this to a good earth?? Ian

4 speed with a 2L pinto should be a type B. Type 9 has the same bolt pattern to the bell housing and should bolt straight up. Type 9 has 2 input shafts, the one for V6 engins is longer so you will want one from a 4 pot engine. Clutch should be the same but I assume that a new clutch will be fitted whilst the gearbox is split from the engine so check the input splines mate correctly whilst everything is appart. Type 9 gearbox rear mount is further back so new mounting holes will need to be drilled and if you have the transmission tunnel enclosed at the bottom (most Robin Hood S7 were) an approx 4inch by 4 inch bit of the bottom plate will have to be cut away, Robin Hood actually marked this out on most of thier cars. The final possible problem is the output shaft the smaller engines had gearboxes with a smaller diameter output shaft. The only answere is this is the case is a new prop shaft. The overall length of both gearboxes is the same so the prop shaft length should not need changing. Whilst on the subject of prop shafts Robin Hood used to save money by shortening the donor prop shaft. They only used the front part of the sierra prop shaft which had a rubber joint not a universal joint at the gearbox end, unless these were lined up such that the prop shaft was exactly in line with the gearbox (2 degree limit) the would let go with a big bang. I am not sure that any of these are still out there but if you have one then I recomend a new prop shaft with 2 propper universal joints. Ian

Dash warning lights As a minimum Headlight main beam High intensity rear light (read fog light) Brake fluid level indicator (normally tested every time the handbrake is applied) If you cannot see the turn indicators from the drivers seat then turn indicator lights, however even if the indicators can be seen probably saves a lot of argument if you have them. Early mercedes G waggons with thier turn indicators on top of the front wings did not have dash repeaters. Dont know about getting rid of the stalks.

If its a MK3 then the kits were produced from approx 1997 to 2000. The date of first registartion will be for the donor sierra. Before SVA and well before IVA it was common to issue the V5 registartion based on the donor age not the date of conversion. My Exmo was first on the road July 97 but is date of first registration November 83 which was the date the registration number was first issued to the donor sierra. In those days it was common to retain the registration number of the donor. As long as the V5 gives the make as robin hood not ford sierra then it is correctly registered. Ian

Just started after oil change makes me think that you now have a thinner oil. E.g. was 20-50 now 5-30 at tick over this can make a lot of diferance on a slightly worn engine. I have run old cars like this for many thousands of miles with no problems but tended to use cheeper oil to keep consumption down. Other thought is missing off camshaft spray bar, I hope that this comes in teaching grandma to suck eggs realm. Ian

replacement coil springs shoule be easily obtained. You need to know free length, rate, and diameter as bike springs have been used (often 1.9 inch dia). So options are a longer spring of the same rate or a higher rate spring at the same free length. Add your location if you want someone local to help.

All I can say is that all production cars I have seen have adjustable headrests these days.

Robin Hoods have simple electrics. Most load is main beam headlights approx 10A if normal a bit more if uprated bulbs. Add 2A for side lights and 3 to 4A for rear fog, 1 to 2 for ignition, 5-7A electric fan and total is less than 25A So even a basic 40A alternator will have plenty over to replace starting charge. So if it mechanically fits it will be electrically adequate.

87.5 per 1000 is correct.

http://s974.photobuc...rovan/allalbums incomplete web address. please post the complete address so that we might be able to help.

New mechanical pump is cheapest option. Only held on by 2 bolts and the fuel pipe.

I had similar several years ago. Mechanical fuel pump was worn out, it worked ok until it got warm then it pumped less and less.

I have an EXMO. There never was a build manual. Instruction came on 2 (later 3) VHS tapes. I might still have the kit list and will look up when I get home. I am in warrington where are you? Ian

Available from RS <http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=4132331> Big cable in and various options of 3 to 8 smaller cables out

Starter motors have thier own built in relay. Small current goes through the pull in solonoid (coil of relay) and when the starter pinion has moved into position the internal contacts make and a few hundred amps flow.........................

Having replaced these more than once I talked to the rep from Gaz and he said that the bushes were overloaded at that size and would always fail quickly as these are only designed for the lighter loads of a shock absorber. The Gaz ones have a bigger ring bigger bush and require the mounts to be drilled oversize to take a larger diameter bolt.

Had similar problem myself many years ago. Turned out that the mechanical fuel pump worked OK cold but as it warmed up it pumped less and less. Stop and it cools down. It took me about 1 hour to get 7 miles home. I had the top off the float chamber after the second stop and sure enough a low level of petrol in the chamber. Also it always failed going up hills, Tank at the back engine in front making the pump work harder.

How long is a piece of string question. I took a leisurely day fitting mine to my exmo.