Big Jim

As Robin Hood altered the suspension around, even on the same model, it would be good to know just what you have got on.

But, the 3A is the same as the mark 3, it just came with escort clocks instead of using the old sierra pod.

The front & rear springs are usually mounted on zimmeride shock absorbers, (some 3A's did get Spax shocks as standard, which are OK) the Zimmerframe ones need to be thrown in the bin at the earliest opportunity as they are crap, and tend to snap as well.

For the front suspension, the full list of modifications are;

A) remove the anti-roll bar and fit tie-bars.

either;

1) reduce the spring poundage to around 130lbs but using decent shockers, this with the standard wishbone set-up, or

2) re-engineer the top wishbone so that the top mounting point for the shocker is 1½" closer to it's pivot point, and still use the 180lbs x 9" long springs but again on decent shockers.

C) the main pivot point of the top wishbone is mounted just in the box section of the chassis, this is not strong enough and will wear & crack very quickly, some form of strengthening is required. People have done a number of things. Also, the long shaft that the wishbone pivots on, will turn in the chassis, instead of the wishbone moving on it's bushes on the shaft so the shaft needs fixing so that it cannot turn in the chassis.

The wishbones need drilling and grease nipples fitting.

For the rear suspension:

Robin Hood fitted 2 types of shocker to the rear of mark 3's and 3A's that I know of, there is the type with and eye at the bottom and straight rod at the top, or the type with eyes at both ends. Apart from the mountings, they are really the same, both crap!

You may need to experiment with spring poundage on decent shockers. when I changed mine, I bought adjustable Spax shockers with 11" long springs (the open / closed lengths were the same within ½" or so) and finished up with 170lbs x 11" springs.

You will also need to look at the whole area where the shockers mount. They fix to what is really a piece of angle iron that bolted with 2 bolts to the rear of the tub. If this area is not strengthened up, in time the angle iron will twist and the bolts will rip out of the tub.

for all these mods, it's best that you visit a show and have a good look around cars that have already been sorted.

My son Steve (Mutley to those who know him) has started his own business with computers, laptops are his speciality, he can repair them, upgrade etc. he also buys faulty ones, and refurbishes them, selling them afterwards with a 3 month g'tee.

Check out his website & *sales* for present stock (changes every couple of days) Lancs - it solutions

Note to Mat, By all means delete this if you're not happy at it being posted.

Jim

hi all,

 

i've been looking a lot lately into turboing my current pinto, but all things considered it just doesnt seem worth it! so ive been looking at different engines again.

 

about a year ago i used to own a corsa vxr - 1.6 turbo with near enough 200bhp and plenty tuneable.

i've had the chance to buy one relatively cheaply from a friend on a vauxhall owners club but i'm unsure how it'd go in a kit car.

 

i know it's been done as seen here:

link

 

but i dont know the details...

 

now the corsa uses CANBUS, i havent got a clue what it is but apparantly it causes problems when doing engine conversions between production cars. not sure if it would be an issue in a hood though if i used megasquirt or some other stand alone ecu

 

gearbox wise i'd need a t5 with a bellhousing to suit a vauxhall engine, i think these are off the shelf parts so shoudnt be an issue

 

the mechanical work, for me, would be the easy part. it's electrics that scare me.

can anyone with a bit more experience shed some light on wether it's possible or just any advice in general really?!

 

Thanks, steve

See here;................fitting XE engine in RH

check that you've got the thermostat in the correct way round, it's easy to get it wrong, and it's been done so many times!

check here;............Build tips, thermostats

Air products have the collar around the valve, with "tap" type valves. BOC don't have the collar, and you need a key with a square hole to turn the valve on .

Because the *sledges* were bolted into place with lots of other things were the bolts passed through them, ie anti-roll bar or strengthening plates that used the same holes in my case. So moving the sledges wasn't an option, as new holes would need to be drilled, and Swiss cheese I didn't want, also the height of one side needed to be altered, so the box would need to be cut down anyway.

The sledges, if freed off, will only move around a little unless you shorten them, but then you'd be loosing floor strength if they don't meet the bulkhead & front member.

Should have gone to spec savers if thats best 2b about ! wouldn,t like to drive that with nankang tyres i wouldn,t put them on wheel barrow

I have a pair of Nanking tyres on the back of mine, because I couldn't get hold of F1's at the time, and the Nanking are a similar tread pattern. I can say that they stick to the road just as well, if not better than the F1's, they may be a different pattern than you'r slagging off, I don't know.

It's like the 4x4 guys, they all rave about grabbers etc, I have Kingpin remould MT's on my Landrover, it goes everywhere theirs goes, and better sometimes, they also only cost ½ the price, so when one gets split open on a rock, I won't cry as much as they do!

Go and have a look at how I fitted the Vauxhall into the Mark 3 (same as the 3A) http://nw.rhocar.org/engineswop.htm

One thing to note, the *Common* wire to the small guages & lights on the sierra dash, is NOT earth, but a common feed, with the sensors etc in the *earth* line, once you've twigged that, wiring up new clocks is easy.

The seats that a friend of mine put in came from a Mk1 MR2. I believe they went in farely easy, I know they were very comfy, and looked good in black leather.

This is the best piccy that I have that shows the seats. (This was when his car had just thrown all it's oil out due to the pipe coming off the oil cooler, resulting in a little man making knocking noises in his engine as well.)

MR2 seats will fit, and you can get leather ones............very nice!

Try looking here;................ My link

Or those that want to come down on the Monday. leaving Knutsford services at 8-45am . (unless it's pissing down, then the car stays in the garage!)

And I've managed to book Monday off work (They wouldn't let me have Sunday!) SO, unless it's pissing down, I'll be calling at Knutsford Services on monday morning, to leave there at 8-45am if anyone wants to join me.

Use the box, but run 2 straps from each hoop over it to make sure it stays in place.

Under normal driving conditions, your oil should be similar temp to the water (after all, it's in the same lump of metal!) only under sever ragging ie on a track (or for a normal car, when towing a caravan) will you oil temp creep up a little higher than the water temp, but will soon cool back down to normal once the right foot is lifted.

You don't really need an oil cooler, especially with our cars, as they're not moving the same amount of weight, ie, 4 adults, 2 dogs, boot full of duty free and a caravan on the back.

Not to mention that it's something else to go wrong, (ask Tony!---- pipe came off his on the way to Donington a few years ago = 3 hour wait for truck with flashing lights, and new engine required!)

The early monocoque's had a di-dion rear axle from the cortina, but also had the cortina front end grafted on, this looks to have the "Series 1" (known as the S7) front end, which is much better than the old cortina lot.

Things to look for are; stress cracks where the angle iron front end is bolted to the tub, the rear axle banging the bodywork on acceleration/cornering, cooling problems, check the shockers, if it's still on the original zimmerframes, get rid QUICK!

You'd also better buy shares in your local petrol supplier with those twin 40's fitted, expect less than 20 mpg.

Other than that, it's just the usual Robin Hood build problems, which are all down to just how much of a tight wad the builder was originally.

Yes,

 

At some point in the series Mark Evans interviews Big Jim.

Yes, t'was Exeter kit car show, November 2001 I think, it was a bit chilly, and I had my best "crawling under cars" sweater on. (A "No-Dad!" reject!!) It was the episode in which he speands most of the time trying to hang the doors but can't get them right.

Try your insurance first. I'm with Roadsure for my Landrover 90 which I use for Greenlaning, limited mileage etc. similar to the kitcar insurance, and I pay £49 for full recovery, with European cover, for any vehicle that I'm driving. so that covers me for;.......The daily driver, the Robin Hood, the Landrover 90, The discovery, and the 1941 motorbike.

And I'll be in bed, .................on nights, so I won't even be watching you on CCTV.

Yes, Cubs, Scouts, Seniors, assistant cub leader, then there was a gap whilst I experimented more with females (still can't get that bit right! ) motorbikes, marriage & kids.

The wife and I went back to keep a group afloat in the 70's. There were plenty of kids, but no leaders, so did cubs & scouts after each other on the same night, after a while I managed to get some good parents interested, got them going as leaders then after a few years backed out when work became time consuming.

As a kid, my Dad was GSM, Mother was Brown Owl, Uncle was Senior Scout leader. We camped, climbed swam, canoeed, you name it we did it, and were pretty good at it too, winning all the district events, we even had our own drum band and played on St Georges parade (District level) as well as on the normal church parades.

It taught me how to be a decent citizen, how to be independant, and much much more. Only the other week steve came home from work saying that the Military had ordered something from their company, but they had to have a lanyard spliced onto it, no-one knew how to splice, within 45 mins I'd shown him how to back splice, straight splice, and eye splice to a sufficent standard.

At Morrisions about a week ago, I met the guy who was the DC when I was a kid, right from me being 8yrs old, to being leader with the troop alongside the wife. He's now 90 years old, still driving, and still scouting, a real top man.

HAPPY, HAPPY DAYS!!!!!

I know full well that the BiB and Trumpton take the urine out of each other, but it's got a bit more than that in Spain!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8488483.stm

Apologises if this has been seen before, I think it's a good reminder about the damage that we can do both to ourselves and others out there.

http://www.lepost.fr/article/2009/12/11/18...-en-france.html

Apprenticeship at Leyland Motors (the proper Leyland, not the namby-pamby strike ridden car side!) as a Skilled HGV Engineering fitter. went onto Engine testing at Leyland. Promoted to Foreman at 26, worked in various depts as foreman, over all aspects of engineering manufacturing (Great for "foreigners!") After 37 years I started with heart problems in 2004, and after being taken out of work 3 times in an ambulance the doctor wouldn't let me go back.

As I still had to live, I needed another less physical job, and have now got the best job in the world.

I sit at a desk and play with the biggest Scaletrix set in England!

I'm a Traffic Officer (offroad) and now work for the Highways Agency in the North West Regional Control Centre, we look after 14 motorways, from J16 on the M6 right up to the Scottish border, and from the pond at Liverpool, right up to the top of the Pennines. The job is great, you never know what's going to happen next, (The Civil Service on the other-hand wouldn't last 6 months as a private business!) I've been with them for 5 years from the start of the Traffic officer service in the Northwest, and have another 6½ years left before I retire. (Then I'll be bored!!)

The shifts are "unsocial" and the money isn't great, but I actually look forward to going into work each day.

Good reply dinger.

As I deal with all the recovery companies on a daily basis, I also know who turns up at the broken down vehicle when they say they will!

The RAC tend to be the quickest, but with a patrol van, if they can't fix it they'll move it with their special 'dolly' that pops out of the back of the van (90% of the time they can)

Greenflag and the other smaller companies use acredited garages for recovery (as do the RAC for full recovery jobs) they'll turn up within anything from 45-60 mins usually.

The AA............Sorry, I can't put into print what I think about the AA!

But the absolute worst of all is 'Kwickfit' it'll take them ½ hour to decide if you're covered or not!!

If you breakdown on a motorway, and you don't have any recovery, you have 2 hours to get yourself off, or it will be removed off the motorway, to get your car back, it'll cost you £150 plus £20/day for any storage charges. Fee's go up depending on how your vehicle is positioned, ie. off the tarmac, upside down etc.

Although most recovery trucks are 'slide & tilt' now, it's always worth telling the operator that you don't have much ground clearance if you're in the Hood.

PS. Breakdown on one of MY motorways, and I will take the piss!!