IanS

The first video was for the batch2 EXMO. Exmos were produced in 3 batches from 96 to 97. The series 3 launched after the Exmo (therefore it has a video) and the series 2 launched before the Exmo and therefore does not have a video. Ian

Buy a kit?? I thought that this was the backdoor mechanics and general twichers club. We bodge things ourselves (with a little help) See:- http://www.diy-nitrous.fsnet.co.uk/ Then its all hands to mass production. Ian

Correct reading? The voltage should be 12 to 13 volts with the engine stopped. Below 12V indicates either a flat battery or one with a damaged cell. With the engine running the volts should be in the range of 13 to 14.2 volts and should hold steady through the rev range. If the reading goes above 14.5 Volts then the alternator controls are blown or there are earth probs. Check the normal probs. FIRST is there a good (large) earth connection from the engine to the battery and to the body? Are the connections clean and tight? Is there paint/rust in the way of any of these connections? Only then should you start looking further. Ian

Volt meter should be reading the battery voltage. So one end of the battery is earth therefore one end of the meter to earth. The other end goes to the battery, but as you do not want it to flatten the battery if left standing for some time it is connected through the ignition switch. A lot of these meters are hot wire as this damps the reading. These do not care which way round they are connected and so they have 2 insulated terminals. The voltage changes the reading of things like the fuel and temp guages, this is a square law, so small voltage changes give noticable changes in guage readings. Therefore a voltage regulator is the norm for electrical type guages except voltmeters. ian

Absolute bog standard 5V regulator as made originally by Fairchild about 30 years ago and copied by everyone and thier rover since. The fact that it is a 5V reg does not stop creative engineering from reseting it higher and i suspect that the diode does just this giveing a steady voltage in the range of 8 to 10 volts.

The IACV is used to give a constant idle. The ECU looks at the engine revs and rate of change of revs when the the engine is near idle to control it. Plus large loads like aircon if fitted. Ian

Let us know how this works. My problem is water coming under the screen as the sikaflex seal between the bottom rail and the scuttle has given up after 7 years continuous use. I realy must buy some more and fix this. The second place I get leaks is between the glass and the channel. The seven popers that fix my hood to the top rail have worked Ok until now. Ian

The early sierras had key operated filler caps. Later models had a flap that was released by lifting a lever next to the drivers seat. Ian

A certain Staffs member built one from start to finish in 10 days and went to LeMans in it. He got the dates wrong and had to hurry a bit. Mind you this was his 6th robin hood build... I built mine in 7 months at about 25 hours a week and a couple of breaks. So about 550 hours. I have redone a fair bit in the 7 years since.

Design weight is the maximum static weight that the axle is expected to see. The brake test uses this info. If the car + fuel + passengers + luggage can come out to more than the weight you have declaired then expect a fail.

The first thing to check is that volts are getting to the regulator. Then check that the output of the regulator (the wire going to both guages) has a steady 8 to 10 volts on it. Also check that the regulator is grounded> It will not work without a referance point! If you want to check the guages actually work connecting 12 volts to them will not kill anything but the guages will over read. Ian

Was there any packing in the silencer to start with? I have repacked mine twice now It is quieter than it was new.

Forgot to add that the perspex is protected by peel off white plastic sheets, as this style of hood stopped production in 97 this might take some peeling off. Ian

The stainless goes down the front of the screen to give something to screw the lift off hinges to. There should be a strip of titanfast to go over the top of the sidescreen to cover the edge of the perspex.. The material strips are to hold the screens closed. A lot of builders only used one per side. On this age of kit the bottom of the door was hood material on the outside and inside sandwiching a bit of ply to keep the door flat. The front of the door had a strip of steel built in that was bent to suit the curve of the scuttle. (up to this point the right and left hand side are the same) The sidescreens are fitted and the excess perspex cut off to suit the opening in the hood. I will try to take some pics and post them. Ian

I want, I want, I want. Are any liable to become available say ex demo?? Ian

The rubber bit in the gear lever has a nylon washer that should be part of it. About 1inch dia by 1/8 thick. Glueing this back in if no one has cut it off/thrown it away stiffens up the lever.

Very early minis had single speed wipers with no provision for parking switches. Guess what my first car was, park the wiper was an accepted skill in those days.

The 100meters accuracy makes a big assumption. The assumption is perfect propogation of the radiowaves. Hills buildings etc tend to mess with this assumption. The base stations hand over depending on signal strength and in the hills when tracking has been tried some wierd results have come in with the strongest signal from base stations a considerable distance further away. The direction finding capability of the admitedly 5 year old ones that I was involved with was normally only good to about +-30deg. Base station spaceing ranges from about every 400meters to 20kms.

Do not forget that the original switches often had 2 lights in them. The first light (often green) comes on at the same time as the instrumentation lights. and is there to help you find the switch in the dark. The second light is brighter and normally yellow and is the actual warning light. The wires go something like this. The switch itself has a feed in from the side lights (this only allows the fog light to come on with the side lights). Then there is a feed out to the fog lights. This is often internally connected to the indicator light. Swap these 2 wires and see if things now work. The third contact is the earth for the indicator light. Some after market switches have the switch contacts and the indicator light totaly seperate and you wire them up as above. This gives a lot of flexibility in the operation of the switch/light combination. Ian

Lambda sensor is almost digital. No O2 in the exhaust then it gives 1V output any trace of O2 in the exhaust it gives 0V output. They are a bit slow so the ECU only actualy reads them around tickover. You need to check at realistic engine speeds and throttle openings where the lambda sensor only tells you if you are rich or weak but does not actually tell you by how much. There are wide range sensors to give you mixture info but the sensor alone tends to cost 70 plus pounds the cheep sensors fitted to most cars work by the ECU constantly varying the mixture until it goes weak then goes back rich so the ECU constantly hunts. This does not stop certain car acessory manufacturers selling guages that claim to work off standard sensors. Lamdba needs to be between .985 and .99 for them to show anything. Ian

In my view these imobilisers are a bit of a joke when fitted to older type ignition systems. The carb and mechanical fuel pump can only be imobilised by a hidden fuel valve and I have yet to come across an imobiliser that does this. The ignition circuit is so simple that disconnecting these imobilisers is a 30second job. The only ones that realy work are the ones that Talk to the ECU in a changing code. No ECU gives no injection and no sparks.

Adjustable air bypass channel is the IACV is it not? The well known sticky valve on Ford engines.

I am getting 150miles per tank full of motorway driving with some left over. 2l pinto standard engine complete with vacume advance to get some economy. Ian

The mini exhaust bobin is indeed useable. The other option is the Rover (SD1) gearbox mounts, these are slightly stronger. Both should be fairly readily available from motor factors (look in yellow pages under motor factors). Ian

POR15 is available from Frosts by mail order. POR stands for paint over rust. http://www.frost.co.uk/ Ian