agent_zed

i have a reversing light and fog light that are the same units but just different covers. I was only made to change the fog to vertical as they are both mounted on the slope of the back panel. I have the light clusters with the rubber spacer on the arches so they are vertical anyway so unsure about them. hth

They spent more time on breaks than on my car dont get me wrong they were thorough but it certainly isnt a 4 hour job. If they had just got on with it it was an hour tops, but the book says 4 so they take 4. Nice work if you can get it. The chap was prety friendly so chatted quite a bit. Remember they are always right and you'll be ok

So i guess 10.9 are stronger than 8.8 bolts ? so it is ok to use 10.9's to replace 8.8's ? An interesting thing i was told by an engineer was that if a bolt is screwed in 1.5x the width of the bolt the threads are as strong as it is ever going to be even if you screwed it in further. well i thought it was interesting ....

well i would question your style if you did want space savers all round For the MOT they look at your tyres for tread wear (obviously) and damage but they do check that they are the same on each axle. Not really sure whether they would notice that the speed rating is incorrect. but at the end of the day if you drive a car it is your responsibility under law to ensure it is always up to standard not just to pass the test otherwise as you say you can just swap parts around to pass tests. In reality i think that it is unlikely that you would fit tyres that are serverely under rated as if you fit alloys the wide, low profile tyres are likely to be a higher speed rating anyway, even budget tyres on my laguna are rated to 130mph. although now i would like to see a hood rolling on 4 space savers

£202 fully comp, no no-claims, 5000 miles, no other car in my name. kitcars are brilliant

you can do that, but as i pointed out when you go backwards through a hedge the man from the insurance will turn up and check your tyres are legal and will note they are not rated for the car and will be happy that they dont have to give you any money. Technically it is illegal to even use a single space saver as you must have matching tyres on the same axle and correctly rated, i guess its better you get off the road though to reduce accidents. In terms of top speed there is an interesting thread on here somewhere that explains that if you work out max rpm you are happy to drive at ( say 5500 rpm) and the gear ratios of the gearbox, diff and wheels you will get the max speed of your car. DC will obviously slow this down but you cant go faster than the engine and gearing or it will just explode. Put bigger diameter wheels or change the gearing in the box or diff and it will have a higher top speed, slower acceleration. The SVA man probably picked 118mph as that is 'T' rating although 'H' will be better at 130mph.

I think it is mainly for Tyres as the top speed of the vehicle should not be higher than the rating of the tyre. This is also something to note on standard road cars, my brother was told that he may invalidate his insurance on his celica if he does not fit tyres that are correctly rated. hth

i guess the best thing to do is either say ok its not for me and leave it or say ok it is going to be done and get it done before the energy wears out. if it drags on it wont get done as you are aware. All i can say is it is a fantastic experience to finish it and get it sva'd, you will also get a lot more for it if you want to sell it. You really wont tire of people saying "nice car mate" at petrol stations and you will have a cheshire cat smile everytime you drive it. If you choose to go ahead just make sure you just do the basic build dont worry about fancy this and that, you can do this later if you keep the car. Good luck which ever you choose.

highly unlikely to be of any use but they do sell woodruff keys for the flywheels on tractor mower engines as i had to replace one last summer... if you cant get one from a motorfactors then a mower shop may just have one that fits...

in an article i read the other day in the times it said that 75% of all landrovers made are still on the road !!!! it also pointed out that all those people running around shouting at 4x4 owners are slightly misguided due to the tiny amount of 4x4 vehicles on the road and the fact there are plenty of cars (jags, bmws etc) that are equally inefficient and there are more of them. Sorry to deviate slightly off topic but i think that the whole CO2 thing is crap and is just a huge tax con by the government. Sure we have to try and minimise waste and pollution, which as mentioned wont be helped producing batteries for hybrids. dont get me started on hydrogen..... rant over

inside the car it is ok to tape the loom where appropriate. It says in the SVA manual that basically if production cars use it then it is ok and most production cars ive seen tape wires along the floor when going to the back. i used cable ties around the tubes to secure my loom which passed without a problem in july 07 so nylon p clips wont be a problem. I used nylon p clips to hold my brake lines. just remember to use extra protection on corners and through panels etc. hth

i was actually thinking about using a v8 turbo diesel in a 7 and running it on veg oil so i could have a v8 without the cost... but then i started listening to the diesels around town and even the best still sound like tractors and ive seen so many belch black smoke (even new cars) not really the look i was after. My brother had a Golf sport (hahahaha) diesel as a courtesy car and it red lined at 4.5 -5 I think diesels are amazing though being able to run on almost any fuel oil. although i do remember reading that diesels produce one of the most carcinogenic compounds we know of (albiet in tiny quantities)....hold your breath behind buses! I still find it interesting that the new hybrids arent using diesel/electric i can only assume that the american market demands petrol. I would have thought that a small diesel would be amazing with an electric motor setup if you can get 65mpg out of a prius on petrol. one last thought, if we are talking about future technologies try this one http://www.theaircar.com/

Am i wrong in thinking that you could just buy an old mondeo with the 2l zetec engine, which could be heard running etc rather than just the engine from a scrappy. You would then have all the bits that a scrappy would charge you for alternators etc... ive seen mondeos going real cheap $100-200 territory. Other than having to get rid of the shell (steel prices are up so you may get paid for it) is there a reason not to do this???

Ive got the coolman rad on my 1.6 pinto'd 2b and i havent had any cooling problems and i havent even got it cowled in and my fan doesnt even have any surround as i built a custom holder for the fan and motor. So if you cowl your rad in and put a decent fan on i doubt you will get a problem even though it may be a bit smaller. If you have a heater and fan fitted then you always use that in an emergency for extra cooling... hth

My track rod boot and top ball joint split before i even had the car on the road, although i had been building it for 5 years. I bought new ball joints but kept the old ones as its only the boot that is knackered so if the rubbers are ok when the new ones wear out then i will change the rubbers over and put the originals back on. The new ones are the standard black booted joints which hopefully will be better. There is a thread somewhere on here where there is a link to replacement rubber boots. HTH

Hi i was under the impression that the brake pedal must have rubber parts to prevent slipping to pass MOT, or is it ok if it has grips cut into the alu? Please correct me if iam wrong...

have they changed the rules recently? my seirra was sorned when i got it and i didnt re-sorn it in 5 years whilst i built the 2b, passed sva in june 07. Never had a letter/fine i was pretty sure the sorn i did stated that you just had to inform them when you started to use it again. i guess it must have changed in the last 5 years most likely to boost income...

After being forced to watch odd bits of Thunderbirds the movie, due to it being on every channel 24-7, i notice the jeep they were using looked suspiciously like the Rager. The link below shows the car from the film. http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1150303205044029044TlAjqY Is this coincidence??? I do of course mean that Ford have copied RH What do people think...

I dont have the answer iam afraid but if it was me i'd start by checking all of the earth straps in the engine bay and then look at as much wiring as i can to see if it has rubbed through. I burnt out my laguna wiring to the brake light as the wires in the back door had worn through and were shorting. The worst it will do is waste your time if iam wrong, hopefully someone will have a better answer. HTH

3 on the first go 5 on the next... but iam still dumber than a chimp if only i could spend the day eating bananas and doing memory tests oh wait its a saturday i can

I torque'd it to the specified torque in the haynes manual so hopefully its all good . At least i know how to get the diff off quite easily now. I managed to remove just the diff from the subframe after removing one of the driveshafts. Thankfully my dads garage has a pit which made it a lot easier to drop it out. Thanks guys

Hi, thanks for the reply. Ive put it back together now and am hoping for the best. It doesnt seem to be leaking now after the short drive i took it on today. I took the nut off before i had a chance to note whether it was loose or not, it did take a bit of force to loosen it but the flange did come off quite easily. I greesed everything when i put it back together but i didnt mark the flange is that a problem? thanks

might be worth checking if the tyre has delaminated, just run your hand round it to check for obvious lumps. Just a thought.

no idea whether they are suitable for radiators but there is a 32mm plastic piece here http://www.towsure.com/category/6980-Water...and_Accessories

Hi finally got round to taking the diff off my 2b because it was leaking oil everywhere. I had a look at the flange and it looks like the oil is coming out the front as there is none on the back which is what i thought would happen if the oil seal had failed ??? Is it possible that the flange nut was not tight enough and was allowing oil out around the nut? Has this happened to anyone before? Your thoughts are appreciated...