steve in stockport

Bob, I only saw you blow blue smoke on two occasions in France and both of those were when you were on the over run going down hill, which points towards the stem seals. All the compression readings are close to each other and the leak down test indicates pretty good overall condition. The CVH engine was renowned for clogging up the breathers, particularly the one to the rocker cover which clogs up with carbon deposits. You did lubricate the new stem seals when fitted them didn't you? You'll soon ruin a set of new seals if you run them dry.

But wasn't that when we were driving far too fast for the weather conditions coming back from Ypres?

A transit cam and an engine that has all it's power low down could mean that you have a low compression engine from a transit van. I don't know how they reduced the compression, whether it was the block, the pistons or the head. Pistons would seem the obvious and easy way to do it and I think the blocks are marked with LC near the 205

That was a vauxhall red top manifold which lends itself quite well as the runners are long enough to cut down.

Sorry Dave, got the time wrong it's 7pm onwards not 7.30

You can keep the syringe Dave, I'll see you over there tomorrow night

Ride height looks too low, bottom wishbones want to be horizontal if possible. Also looks like the wheel arches couls be a lot closer and tighter to the wheels and tyres which will also give a bit more clearance. You've still got the zimmeride shock absorbers on there, best advice would be to ditch them in favour of some better quality items with the right springs to stop them binding up when you raise the front ride height.

ZX6 carbs are easy enough to respace, you've already got the fuel pipes and all you need to do is extend the tongues on the throttle linkages. I think I used 10mm wide flat bar from B&Q that bent easily to shape in a vice, cut to size, drill the extension and the tongue and bolt together with 3mm stainless allen head bolts. You can see the extension as the rusty piece in the middle of this set Choke is easier as it's just a case of cutting and fitting a few extension pieces that you can see here You'll also need some 8mm threaded bar to hold them all together as the original bolts won't be long enough any more.

The green is probably the park function. Without knowing what wiper motor you're using it's a bit hard to say what goes where.

Meeting is from 7.30pm for food and chat at the Tiger's Head Norley http://www.thetigershead.com/#

I'm in between night shifts next Sunday but if we're not too busy I might try and get there. Also planning on heading over to the NW Tiger owners meet nr Frodsham next Tuesday 13th.

Hmm...pot, kettle, black

I've run my 2B for 10 years with various engines, pinto with four branch manifold, C20XE redtop with four branch and for the last 3 years with a Z20LET turbo engine. Never had to wrap any of the exhausts to deal with excessive under bonnet temperatures. Good air flow is key to keeping the temperature acceptable but it's also worth checking your fuelling, if you're running lean this can produce excess heat in the exhaust. Wrapping doesn't really cure the issue, it just moves it further down the exhaust.

google Ford Focus wiring diagrams and quite a few pop up. Hopefully from there you'll be able to identify which diagram suits your switches and which wire goes to what.

Here you go Bob https://sites.google.com/site/morganatica/engine/ford-cvh/valve-stem-seal-replacement

Lee, she's jumped out of the frying pan and in to the fire. Now got a Golf GTD with all the recent scandal attached to it. Luckily it's a lease car and only tied in for another 12 months.

My car was supplied with four 13" zimmerides from Robin Hood and was built around those, but a lot of the kits came with 17" for the rear, so best to check what size you need by measuring what space you have between where your new mounting points are likely to be and get dampers that suit. The 2D wedges will correct both camber and toe in by pushing the top and the front of the wheel out at the same time.

Ian Mine has 13.5" open x 9" closed dampers and I think the springs are 300lbs. I'm thinking of changing the springs to 350lbs as at the moment I have to run the dampers really hard and stronger springs with decreased damping should give a bit more compliance at the rear, which should mean better cornering and less/more controlled breakaway. Because of the way the rear beam is mounted it induces negative camber and toe in, which only increase the more suspension compresses. I have the one dimensional wedges that Peter Bell made to correct the camber and have also added shims to remove the toe in. The wheels now run straight and true which as well as making the car drive better has also reduced tyre wear quite significantly.

The Rav4 engine is now all back together and running well, MOT passed first time after some hard braking on the very long run to the test centre to clean the discs and pads up. This morning I did the cheat on the EGR valve and everything seems to be ok, no faults coming up on the ECU so I'll run it and see how things go. The engine should'nt be sucking in all the particulate that it was before due this modification The original pipe to the EGR Buy a second hand pipe, chop it up and add a filter Fit to the engine and no more nasty muck going back into the inlet I'll keep the original pipe so if there are issues at the next MOT I can put it all back to standard to get through.

The sub k was a budget edition which as the name suggests cost less the £1000 for the basic kit. The bonnet is usually plain with any louvres. This then morphed into the 2B/04 with a matching increase in price. The sub k didn't have the spare wheel hoop as the 2B and 2B/04 do. Yours looks to be a 2B that has had the headlight mountings changed for whatever reason or a 2B/04 that has had a wishbone conversion.

That'll be Ron Reynell from Hazel Grove, I think his forum name is hawkbit. If that doesn't work I've got his number and will let him know you want to get in touch.

Nice!!

I know everybody will say chuck a zetec or similar in, but if it was me I'd be tempted to try something different with the pinto. The zetec with GBS plenum and single throttle body, standard cams and an emerald ecu makes about 165bhp so I reckon that a healthy pinto with the efi plenum, single throttle body, larger injectors, uprated cam, megasquirt or similar ecu and a good mapping session should give you a healthy increase. The original Ford ecu will only handle a very slightly warmer cam amd is the real limiting factor in your set up. A decent exhaust and possibly a cosworth throttle body (no idea if it fits, but it is ford so maybe) may produce a bit more. If a carbed pinto with a hot cam and a modified dizzy can produce 140bhp there shouldn't be any reason the above set up can't produce at least the same and maybe a good bit more.

click the cog icon next to the search box at top right corner of the page to enter the advanced search facility. Then search for either 20xe or c20xe into 2b and you should find plenty of info.

You want it cutting so that it fires all the sparks and debris away from you, definitely not pleasant the other way round. Practice on an offcut first and get used to the feel of the way it operates. Also remember measure at least twice and cut once.