agent_zed

the back end of my 2b shimmied a bit over bumps, not sure if it was the loose shock bolt or increasing the ride height a little but it doesn't do it as much now. wouldn't take long to try a different height i guess might just work for you too. good luck

i think you just fill until the oil is level with the bottom of the filler hole

just thinking about the track rods end rubbing and wondered whether they are on the wrong way if they are left and right handed like the seirra ones. just a thought.

cheers for the reply, still haven't checked it yet as i found my sump peeing out oil thankfully just as i returned home from a week long holiday. Definitely need to shorten the sump as everyone says always a job to do...

my 2b 1.6 pinto is insured through osborne and sons for £202 fully comp limited to 5000 miles which i thought was pretty good as iam 26 with no no-claims and haven't got a second vehicle in my name. i can also drive 3rd party with this policy on other vehicles. hope that helps

don't worry i still had a grin even with 40mpg. Dartmoor is a fantastic drive, the sun shinning (for once) even with the 40mph speed limit, that i rigidly stuck too . It was actually the first trip ive made in my 2b after registering it in june this year. Still can't believe how much fun it is even after going to plymouth without side screens or a hood, just glad the weather was fantastic all week. Still can't beleive how much attention people give the car, could have spent £90,000 on a 911 and noone would give me 1/10 of the looks i get in a £3500 car

Do twin carbs really use that much more fuel or is it more to do with a heavy left foot? If i was to change to a zetec from my pinto would it get worse mpg then or is it purely the carbs that people are using? i read an article once that said twin carbs were more efficient than a single carb and in theory they should give better mpg ?!. certainly interesting to see what other people are getting though. thanks for the replies , keep them coming.

Hi, i was quite pleased after taking my 1.6 pinto'd 2b to plymouth last week as i managed to get 40mpg. It was a trip of 175miles and i went into bristol center and across dartmoor so it wasn't just motorway. I brimmed the tank so i could work it out exactly. Just wondering what kind of consumption other people were getting.

is the electric fan wired continuously or does it have a thermostatic switch?. I was just thinking that you would know if the engine is actually overheating if the fan comes on. If it is the temperature sender that is messed up then the fan will not be on as the engine will not really be overheating as the gauge suggests. Probably not the same problem but my car was overheating for a while and i found it was a loose pipe allowing a little water to escape so it didn't get up to pressure, just tightened up the offending clip and is fine now. best of luck

hmmm thats sounds like a good idea. think i'll check that before i start bending anything thanks

Hi, does anyone elses driver side headlight touch the cycle wing on full lock. Its a bit weird as the cycle wing holders are equal for both sides so iam not sure which bit is out. Might just bend the headlight a little unless any other suggestions. cheers

do you have an electric fan and if so does it cut in when it says its overheating?

have you seen this website http://www.ashburton.org/weather.htm seemed to be what you are after. Ive been to dartmoor a few times and if you haven't been before you should know the weather can change quickly on the moors, so be very careful if you go walking etc. Be careful around the rivers there can be flash flooding i'd stick to the high ground in this weather and you will definitely need wellies. It is a fantastic place though. hope it helps. have a good time

I was advised not to weld the end on by an engineer as he believed that there is the possiblity of the joint being brittle, probably aslo difficult to weld as the arm may be hardened and have a zinc coat etc. The earlier 2b with optional front wishbones (like mine ) had to have "rack extenders" which were tubes of metal with internal thread cut to screw onto the track arms and then a piece of bolt bar in the other end that screws into the ball joint. I had new ones made as i believe the RH ones are too short and slack on the threads. The new ones cost me £10 from a local engineer. If, as john says, you get the engineer to cut an external thread on a bar to screw into the track rod end and an internal thread the other end for the track rod end then you won't need to use bolt bar and it will look neat too.

just reminded me that my dads 2ltr pinto transit does a similar thing. I believe it has the ecu with a vacuum pipe. But it will begin to shudder after a long time of driving but if you switch it off and on again it cures itself. We have had it for years with it doing this and its been fine just have to turn it off and on occasionally. Hope you get it sorted.

If its not the ignition, i would check that the fuel hasn't got water in it. I had a similar thing a few years back where it got worse as more water got sucked into the carb from the tank. Mind you i did take 1 litre of water out of the tank!!! and seeing as it hadn't rained when this happened i blame my local tescos petrol. Just a thought.

is there a volume control or bass/treble on car amps? or would you control it from the mp3?

I managed to get my hands on one that iam going to use in my car thats made by Boston and my brother has one on his computer that is made by cambridge soundworks. Both of which are 12v and are a sub and then small satellite speakers so iam making a guess that the larger sub based systems are 12v but i really don't know for sure. I haven't looked for a while but misco.co.uk has some and there are loads of other computer parts websites. hope that helps.

yeah i was thinking of doing this. I was going to use a computer speaker setup as you can get powerful sub +speaker setup for £20-£30 and ive seen ones that are 12v. They are also designed to take a jack plug from something like an mp3. let us know what you do. cheers

The subframe also attaches on the rubber mountings that it attached to the seirra (the front end of the subframe arms). Put some big bolts through the bush with some nice big plates over the rubber bush underneither. I also cut up into the subframe just behind the bushes to put bolts up through the chassis plate. Bolt it all down tight and you are done. The SVA man specifically questioned me on this and was happy with what i'd done. Oh i also welded the handbrake angle iron to the subframe and then bolted it to the floor and tunnel to stiffen everything up. hope that helps

Hi, not that this will be the problem you have but when i was building my 2b with the optional wishbones i found that the steering arm extender joining thing that rh supplied was loose on the threads of the steering rack arms. I didn't like this so got new ones made up that were at least twice the length so i could wind it right to the top of the threads which turn out to fit better as the rack tapers (presumably poor machining). You may think iam worrying too much but RH actually sent me 4 sva bonnet catches in compensation for making up my own joiners after i sent theirs back !!! I can only assume they could see the problem as well. The new kits seem to have a fitted rack now but i would consider having new ones made if i had the old ones. Mine cost me £10 from a local engineering comp. don't mean to scare anyone, just thought it may be useful info. cheers

Hi where in south wales are you?

Hi , thanks everyone for the huge response. I'll have to have a dig behind my dash to see what plug i have. Just for interest heres what my dash looks like at the moment. thanks again

cool thanks, just have to hunt around for a cheap set of clocks now. Can't have a sports car without a rev counter can i thanks

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before (couldn't find it in a search) but what is needed to change the clocks from a seirra with no rev counter to one that has one. Is it as simple as plugging in the rev counter clocks and it works on the wiring that is there or do i need an extra loom? My 2b has a standard pinto 1.6 carb and wiring from a H reg lazer. any advice appreciated. thanks