brumster

You could put a Zero on the road for £15k, no problem at all. Obviously it massively depends on how much you're willing to concede with 2nd hand/recon, if you want everything brand new then it will be more of a squeeze, but it massively depends on spec of components and so forth. I could spout numbers from my Zero build from 2 years ago but it's of dubious value, since I'm so far off what is considered 'standard'. Rover K-Series, lots of tuning, non-standard suspension/gauges/wiring/seats, caterham gearbox, etc. it wouldn't really help you

On the old Exmo, I managed to get a length of transparent, flexible tubing (breather hose that came with a catch tank) in from the engine bay and down into the gearbox, I then hung it from the garage ceiling with a funnel pushed into it, and filled it (very slowly!) that way. Just if you don't want to do the hole-in-tunnel approach, that's all. Fast it 'aint but it works.

Once you've exhausted the above investigations - I've got no idea if this is doable on a pinto, but on another brand engine (Peugeot) there are a variety of starter motor ratings well over 1kW, the most powerful being a diesel 1.7kW. All direct bolt-in replacements. Dunno if the same applies for Ford? I'm not talking aftermarket "hi-torque" (expensive) starters, just an OEM one from a possibly different model car fitted with the same engine, or something with the same starter pattern. Just putting that out there; I'll go lurk in the dark corner again now

lol yeah, remember with Emerald, nothing you change (except on the live adjustments page) keeps after you turn it off unless you push it back up. Download, Save to Disk, Change, Upload, Change, Upload, Change, Upload... etc edit: on live adjustments, only when you press Enter to store it

Not sure I'd remove the fuel filter. You said you cleaned out the fuel filter, what did you do? Was this after the problem - ie. did the problem start purely on the basis of disconnecting the throttle body/cable, so the fuel filter is a red herring, or did the problem start after you cleaned the fuel filter? When did you remove it entirely? Are any of those things relevant, is what I'm getting at... did messing with the fuel filter (cleaning it and/or remove it) make things change in any way, either for the better or worse? Sounds like a fuelling issue to me, but if the problem is entirel

Nah, don't think so. Matt's suggestion was the most obvious/likely one, that you'd effectively opened up the throttle at the default position and affected the idle, plus put the TPS out of kilter, but you say you've done that... so... the only thing that could have changed from what you describe is the throttle position. All I can suggest is reverse what you did in terms of the throttle cable, or disconnect the throttle cable temporarily and just play with the throttle body directly - maybe some tension in the cable (either now, or before) that has changed, has altered the position of the thro

Just in case - when you connect the laptop to the ECU, you don't get it downloaded automatically from the ECU straight away... you have to "pull" it from the ECU in the first instance, before you'll see it in the software. You then make your changes and push it back up. You'll see live adjustments without pulling, that's fine, but values in tables you won't see until you do a pull.

From what you say, sounds like it might just be a worn aspect of the selector mechanism, a lot of which is accessibly pretty easily through the top 'hatch' and is pretty easy to replace if need be as it's one of the first things you disassemble out of the gearbox if rebuilding it.

I don't believe so, but if present it must conform to the diagrams of the various indicator lights in the IVA guide

Looks like I'm all good to go schwing!

Tell you what, carry on with your plan for tomorrow and I'll see what arrangements I can make... I might be able to jiggle things around. Don't change just for me

edit: Oh wait, s**t, I can't do tomorrow, I'm on towing duty for some bloody horse!! Anyone fancy a different night?! :-S sorry!

Sounds good to me. Rich - convoy ?

Exactly. This is where I'd personally go. Even driving round in a (warm, dry) *bleep*box for the winter, at least you're not putting mileage and associated wear and tear onto your kit, you're arriving in a hopefully less stressed frame of mind, dry, comfortable, etc.

So i did the Wales trip a few years back and the weather was pretty testing :). Given I've had kit cars with various levels of weather protection since the early 90's, I'm not against being a bit hardy with the elements and I'm more accepting of a wet knee than most... I just say this to put my answer into context... So the Zero has a home made surrey-style top that really was a last-minute thing put together a few days before the Wales trip. I was surprised how well it worked over the weekend and it certainly kept the worst off us and made the car useable in horrendous rain, in the dark