steve in stockport

I used the fuse box in the link below and it's matching 4 way relay holder when I rewired my car. You can mount them separately or join them together for a compact unit. I also found it easy enough to replicate each individual system as per the wiring diagrams in the haynes manual. Link

Your new head bolts should come with a sheet of fitting instructions specific to the engine they are going into. On my vauxhall with a four stage fitting I had to lightly oil the thread and oil under the bolt head but not under the washer. If you have to oil the threads avoid putting too much oil on and make sure the bolt holes are clean or you could get hydraulic compression and crack the block. When using thread lock don't oil the threads, if the locking compound is a liquid apply a couple of drops and allow to run round the thread and if it's a gel/paste apply a layer to just fill the thread all the way around, it doesn't need to be like icing a cake.

but is it actually boiling over? Although it's going into the red the gauge and sender might not be a matched pair. Some expansion is normal hence the vessel to catch and store it til the engine cools, but if it's actually constantly boiling then you have an issue that need resolving. I have a 280bhp turbocharged engine and a medium size radiator that copes with all the associated generated heat and during 135 miles of driving in the heat yesterday the temperature only reached 90 degrees while sitting in standing traffic and then the fan cut in and did it's job, so a massive rad isn't always necessary.

From haynes manual: ignition timing at idle with vac pipe disconnected 2.0 carb engine pre 1985 on 95 ron unleaded 4 degrees btdc 2.0 carb engine from 1985 on 95 ron unleaded 6 degrees btdc 2.0 fuel injection engine on 95 ron unleaded 8 degrees btdc

Is it actually overheating, do you have a temperature gauge fitted and what does it show? You say there is no header tank, I take it you mean an old fashioned expansion tank and not a modern header tank with a pressure cap. If it's the former you may just need to fit an expansion tank/bottle to catch the water that is ejected as it heats up and this will allow it to be drawn back in as the engine cools. Check the basics first before splashing out on a new rad, is the fan belt tight, is the cap working properly, if you fit an expansion bottle make sure you have the rad cap with the two way valve to allow the coolant to be drawn back into the rad - capri or cortina one will be correct, you can remove the stat and back flush the system to remove any crap, fit a lower rated stat if you feel it will help and refill with correct mix of water and antifreeze

As above your filler cap may be vented. For your fuel pipe make sure it's rated and marked R9 and you'll be OK with modern unleaded petrol. Advanced fluid solutions are a good supplier

Is this car A 411 that was sold recently by a guy on the NW kit car owners facebook group? If it is it was owned until last year by Simon on here and was red and stainless until your seller got hold of it. Simon bought and fitted a full package of 2.0 zetec, induction system ,exhaust manifold and the emerald ecu from Tony Birbeck - Tony B on here, SKCC and LCB. When Tony had the set up in his car the whole lot was set up at Northampton motorsports, but removing from one car and fitting to another may have upset something. It did run rich when Simon had the car and he did attempt to get it remapped at AB garage nr Chester, but Adrian there couldn't map it as he said there was a fault on number 1 cylinder - mind you he was having a bad day as he'd just melted a piston in my engine immediately prior to this. I believe Simon fitted another engine after this but don't know if he ever got the mapping sorted. The map must be nearly there and just need tweaking to suit the car and Dale at Bailey Performance is not far from you, is very good and has done a few emerald managed cars so knows his way around the system. The fuel pump you describe in your other post is an old 8v Golf Gti pump, the black plastic is the accumlator/swirl pot with a pump and filter mounted on it. Running the pump dry may have damaged it, it's possibly over 20 years old so it may be worth replacing the pump part of the set up just in case.

Hi Bob, don't know how far along you are with this but have had a couple of thoughts that might interest you. With regards to keeping as much as possible from the cvh Dan ST does cvh to zetec manifold adapters for inlet and exhaust so there's a fair chance you could keep both your existing inlet and exhaust. Your current ecu could well run the zetec using the crank position sensor and if you go 1.8 to 1.8 your existing fuel system should be just about there too. I might be talking rubbish, but worth trying before splashing out unnecessarily.

Or add some sacrificial material such as plywood or mdf under the splitter and let that take the pain. Geo stays correct and you just replace the material as it gets worn.

Sounds good Paul, put me down for the weekend. Also just spoken to Maurice Hugo and he's interested too.

CVH sump will fit a zetec, just needs two extra bolt holes drilling in the flange. You could also do a ZVH hybrid engine, can't remember if it's cvh head on zetec block or vice versa.

Pete I thought you were in the 1st tickets enclosure with increased security, or did the commitment to security end as soon as the race did? We drove down to Newhaven during the early hours of Wednesday and the 0900 ferry to Dieppe, a four hour crossing so managed to get a couple of hours sleep on the ferry and then 180 mile run down to Le Mans stopping at the Super U in Arnage to pick up some supplies in the shape of 72 bottles of Kronenbourg and some croissants for breakfast on Thursday, all for 20 euros! Got to Bleu Nord, set up camp and got stuck into the curry we'd taken with us and the beers. No immediate neighbours either side of our pitches and it stayed that way all weekend so we had plenty of space to spread out. Across the way from us were a group consisting of a couple of lads from Luxemburg and some French guys from Normandy. We guarded their gear for them on Thursday while they went out for supplies and in return we were invited into their set up and to share their 32" flat screen TV for the football and the race when not at the track and also their large bag of Amsterdam tobacco. Turned the tobacco down but we did watch the football and the racing with them. It was funny watching Michael and James squirm when the TV kept getting switched to a porn channel at every advert break! We spent about 10 hours trackside during the race and as said it was a slow start behind the safety car, some good race action and a twist in the tale at the very end. Nice to see Ford win their class with the new GT as that was our reason for going. We didn't have any problems with theft, a few shady looking characters came scrounging for stuff after the race so everything that wasn't needed was locked away in the cars on the Sunday night. We did have bunch of public school toffs sounding like one of the houses from Harry Potter camping behind us and they were certain proof that you can buy an education but you can't buy common sense or good manners. They decided to light a fire on the last night, not near their tents but on the empty pitch next to mine. I had to offer them some of Jaimo's favourite constructive critisism about how lighting a fire there would result in a coming together of their arses and my foot and a trip to A&E. Anyway they saw the light and lit their fire elsewhere which was lucky as after they had in their own words 'smelted rocks to forge steel' one of these half wits threw a bottle of meths onto the fire and nearly roasted his mates. Nice steady drive back to Dieppe for the noon ferry yesterday and back home and unpacked by 8 30pm.

Dino's car has a twin master cylinder and bias bar set up, I know because I helped Dave bleed them and the clutch through. I did think at the time that the pedal could have done with being longer from the pedal to the pivot fulcrum to give a bit more return for the effort you applied to the pedal. That may not be the issue at all but I run slightly more power and torque than Dino and have the standard sierra set up, no servo, westfield tandem master cylinder and it brakes fine, locking up the front when too much pressure is applied. I have found that the most important part of the braking is the bit you do in your head, ie leave a bit more room, only give it the beans when it's appropriate. As far as I'm concerned the weak part in my braking process is the grip from the tyres which let go before the brakes reach their limit. There is a budget bigger front brake set up available utilising fiesta st front calipers which allow the fitment of 278mm discs, there are none of these with the correct offset but sierra cosworth 283mm discs that Richard says he can turn down will fit inconjunction with 3mm spacers between the calipers and the hub carrier

Sorry folks, just heard back from the organisers, all club pitches have gone and there's no room for individual enties either so it looks like this is a no go They did also have a bit of a snipe about low attendance at the June event even though the weather was good.

The Tatton Park Passion for Power car show is taking place over the weekend of 20th and 21st August this year. I'll be applying for a club stand in the next couple of days, the show is free to enter for driver and passenger if you are displaying a vehicle, you can do either day or all weekend and camping is available from Friday usually for about £10 per person for the weekend. Show Details If you're interested in attending add your details below including your name, car make, model and reg, whether you'll be there Saturday, Sunday or all weekend and whether you intend camping. For those who don't camp there is a premier inn about 2 miles from Tatton Park. No money needed, you pay for camping at the show. Closing date to be on this list is Saturday 11th July and the event is also advertised on the North West Kit Car Owners Group on Facebook so places may go quickly

Aeriel pole from B&Q is less than a tenner for 6 ft length, then you just need a 90 degree rubber/silicon bend Pole

FREE Original Dolomite S7 build manual, not a great deal of detail in it as per most things Robin Hood, might be of interest to somebody before it goes in the recycling bin. FREE

FREE Dolomite based S7 windscreen and surround, twenty years old, square shape non-IVA friendly surrond, a few different fixings for hood fitted, no markings on glass to tell if tempered or laminated. May fit other models. FREE, collection only from Stockport area

There's some very good stuff from Elring called Dirko which I've used to good effect to stop an oil leak on a cracked timing chain cover. Got it from euro car parts but also available via the Internet

Too much ignition advance and too lean on the fuel will certainly make the engine run hotter than it should do and cause the pinking you are suffering from. Hopefully you haven't done any damage with it pinking etc all the way to GBS and back. Has the bottom end been run in with it's new rings etc? That can cause breathing until the rings bed in and there are two schools of thought on that too, either 500 or so steady miles without straining the engine or just go at it fast and hard with a bunch of full power cycles to really force the rings into the cylinder walls. Is it a new cam and has that been run in for 20 mins? Longboarder did advise you much earlier to fit the old cam until the engine was running properly. Seeing as during the course of this build you've managed to misplace part of the oil pump drive, forgotten to fit the fuel pump pushrod and thermostat and have obvious ignition and fuel issues I would be walking away for a few days and reassessing where you are up to. Set the timing statically, adjust the carb to the basics as suggested by owners manual etc, check cam and followers for signs of damage, compression test to eliminate any damage from the pinking, but above all whatever you are doing stop rushing and trying to keep up with Chris, take your time and get it right.

Here you go Link The bit you need starts at 10 minutes in.

Bottom pipe is fuel in, the pipe you blow into in the video is the breather from the float bowls and the reason they seem connected is that without any fuel in there the floats are down allowing the air to flow back through the valves and out of the fuel pipe. Connect the fuel pipe and fill the float chambers and you won't be able to blow back through that pipe. The third pipe is a breather to allow the diaphragms to move. The only pipe work you need to keep is the bottom blue fuel feed, the others can be discarded and left to vent to atmosphere or you can pipe them into your air filter if you want to. Before you connect them all up take them back off the engine, remove the float bowls and give them a good clean inside. There will be bits of crap in there that could stop the floats seating properly and then you'll end up with fuel coming out of the pipe that you blew into. When you take the bowls off make sure you use a good, new long shafted screwdriver and don't let it cam out in the screw, they're made of cheeses and will round off before you know it.

I don't think I'd be changing the copper pipes unless there's a better reason than it being the wrong stuff.

R9 has been the recommended spec for a few years now. I used advanced fluid solutions for mine, quick delivery and all the hose is marked up with the specs. Also used their 11.5mm bio hose from swirl pot to fuel pump, a bit expensive at £21 a metre but better than keep changing the wrong grade of pipe. As for copper, I've had copper flow and return along the tunnel for 11 years so far.

Sounds like you have a bit of crank case pressure. What's the spec on the engine, is it standard with all the breathers intact or has it been changed to twin webers or bike carbs and the breathers not reconnected? You might just have to reinstate the breathers, or maybe take the middle from the pcv valve and pipe the outlet down and under the car or to a catch tank.