richardm6994

The first point is that you don't need to drop all the water to change the thermostat housing. The thermostat is the highest water point on the Pinto engine therefore just disconnect the top hose and you'll only loose a small percentage of water. If it's just a dodgy gasket, then you'll easily sort this out The second point, which is just something to be mindful of (from personal experience)........if your head gasket has gone (or is on it's way out), then between the cylinder bore and water jacket exhaust gases will pressurize your coolant system and the release point is the radiator cap. Basically the exhaust gases will push the water out of your radiator cap.....hence the water loss under engine load. One finally thought (because fingers crossed your head gasket hasn't gone!!) Do you have an overflow tank connected to your rad overflow? if you don't, then the water which overflows out of your rad due to natural expansion cannot get sucked back into the system once the rad has cooled.

put a mechanic stop, such as a collar on the steering rack to restrict the lock to lock travel. That's what I did with mine

omg! has it done any damage to the block or head faces?

I got addicted to marathons once.............until they were renamed snickers!!! digi dash looks really smart!

I've got milling, turning, surface grinding, welding and break press (2m long) facility (along with the usual engineering stuff). I offer the following service to the model engineering clubs I'm a member of and would be pleased to extending it to this club; 1) send me a drawing stating tolerences. 2) I will confirm if I can do the job or not. 3) send me the material or work peice which requires machining. 4) I do the work and send it back to you. 5) you inspect the work and if you're happy with what I've done, send me what you think is the appropriate amount of beer tokens. The only thing I ask everyone is to respect the fact that I have a very demanding full time job which means it usually takes about 2-3 weeks to turn a job around. If this is any interest to you, or anyone else for that matter...... PM me the drawings

My mate wiith the ramp says im worrying about nowt, but im sure he just wants his ramp back! Lol

Had my car on a friends ramp this week to change a leaky sump gasket and whilst working under the car I got looking at the rear diff and prop shaft as I've been hearing a slight "clunk" in this region when in reverse or crawling in traffic. I'd guessed it would be due to diff back-lash, and basically I can turn the prop shaft about 5-10mm clockwise to anti-clockwise before the diff gears engage down to the drive shafts. I know this back-lash is not ideal....but is my diff close to self-distruction? or am I worrying about nowt? (the diff doesn't whine....it just clunks every now and then when in standing traffic or starting off in reverse) Finally, if an emergency diff change is needed (i'll have to do this by next sunday as the car is due rolling road on the 2.4.12) what ratio would best suit an exmo with 17" wheels?

I've got one.........no knob with it tho PM me you details and it will be in the post on saturday (that's the only time I can get to the post office due to work)

hi mick, sorry to hear you've not been well..........me and the misses send our best regards!

if you search "compression struts / tie bar installation help" you will see all the help I recieved from everyone, photo's and then finally my installation. hth

I though that this might be of interest....... Up until a year or so ago, I had an old school "drag-racing" scoop bolted to the top of my pinto (I made a frame which fixed to the inlet and exhaust manifold bolts). There was a duct inside the scoop which fed cold air directly into an air box on my weber 48's. It worked very well in terms of feeding cold air, although the overal look of the scoop was a bit of the "marmite-effect". I suppose if all kit cars looked the same..........it would be very boring I took the scoop off when I ditch the windscreen for an aeroscreen (the combination of aeroscreen and scoop didn't look right), now I've got a low profile scoop over the hole in the bonnent. If anyone was as barmy as me and was interested, I still have the scoop, mounting brackets etc....in exchange for beer tokens (no carb air box as I sold it as it was the expensive piper one from burton P).

Nice motor! Although exmos are old, they are still awsome! I love mine to bits and miles of smiles! Just keep an eye out for fatigue cracks on the tops of the front suspension struts.....this is the exmos weak spot!

Ive got 17s on my exmo....more for looks than performance. Im sure most people would say 15s are generally the most suitable sizesize

that would be Dan (notimpressed)

Kent FR32, I've done the compression test again (engine temp at 85 degrees) and got; cyl 1 = 200psi cyl 2 = 205psi cyl 3 = 210psi cyl 4 = 205psi each cylinder is up to 90% of its pressure after 2 strokes...the last bit of pressure comes after another 2 or 3 more strokes. I'm not sure why I got the 220 psi (cyl 3) reading. I suppose we'll for certain if I've got a problem after the rolling road in a few weeks.....

lol!!! I can't wait.......thinking of painting the car orange so I fit in!!! When i got up this morning and saw the weather I thought of you guys being out!! so out of pure envy I simply sat in the car making brum-brum noises!!! not as much fun tho! Then I thought I'd better do a comp test before paying for the rolling road session on the 2nd April...just to double check all was okay

hi all, can anyone tell me what psi to expect on a compression test (engine hot) for my 2.1 pinto. I've done the test today and getting around 210psi on each cylinder (220 max), but I dont know if this is good, bad or problimatic (too high) cheers

Hi Brian, Carbon or leather dash? Looking forward to the pics

To be honest, this is one of those questions......."how long is a peice of string" If the engine is a "fully re-manufactured", I would expect to pay from £450 for a cylinder head and £400 for a short motor and then another £400 or so on the rest of the bits needed to get the engine running (carbs, dizy etc...) Jem Engines (who did my pinto) in Scotland describe on their website in great detail the work they carry out on their engines, and this is the level of work which I would consider "remanufactured". If it is a Pinto which has simply been "stripped, cleaned and new gaskets", I would say the entire engine (carbs, dizy, alternator etc....) should be around £300 - £600, however this can also change massively depending on what cylinder block is (205 blocks are highly desirable due to increased strength), any any modifications (twin webers etc...) have been done to the engine. hth

I drilled a 3mm hole in the stat and made sure it was positioned in the 12 O'clock position when the housing was bolted to the engine. I don't have a bleed on my housing so I rely on this hole to elimate air locks when filling with water............works well enough for me, I just check the water level when the engine has run up to temp. ps......I have the 82 degree stat from Burtons I used some ordinary (medium priced) antifreeze at a 50/50 ratio with water (1 jug of water.....1 jug of antifreeze until the system was full).

Yeah they do. They put a full report together (in a fancy ring binder) of all the figures and graphs from each test they do. They also give you print outs of the engine ignition maps, carb jettings etc...... all-in-all, what you get at the end of the half a day session is very comprehensive.

I'm now taking bets on the final "wheels" bhp figures will be......... No prizes........except pride of course!!! :-)

awsome! I should be hoping for 120 at the wheels then!

124 at wheels....what do you think that would be at the fly wheel? I know the wheel figures are what really matter........but the fly wheel figures sound better lol........being honest, it's the fly wheel figures im going to quote in the pub!!!!

After countless engine up-grades over the many years, i've finally booked a rolling road tuning session (2/4/12). It turns out this place is less than a 10 minute walk away from my house http://www.dyno-tech.co.uk amazing what is on your doorstep without realizing!!! They've estimated £180 + VAT for a half day tuning session, which will include mapping the megajolt, tuning the carbs and tweeking the cam timing along with other things........ And for those interested; 2.1 pinto big vavle head kent fr32 cam twin 48 webers (choked to 38mm and jetted to the engine) 3d ignition (megajolt) + loads more which I've forgot atm I'd be dissappointed if it turned out less than 140 at the fly wheel......but who knows!