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Hi Phil, sorry to hear you failed but it's still a very good result! It's a bit worrying that the fuel tank leaks - I've got a RH one as well but it seems to be ok (filled it right up on Monday and no dribbles yet). It shouldn't take you long to work through that list. Best of luck with the retest! Edward

Hi, I recently met a chap who is building an MK Indy with a Honda Fireblade engine. I went to look at it last week - it's a very nice kit! The fibreglass bodywork seems to fit very well and the chassis looks good and sturdy. He reckons it will weigh just less than 500 kg when finished so it should have great performance. He's getting it SVA'd in a couple of weeks and says it will have cost him about 6k to get it on the road. Cheers, Edward

Hi, I finally got round to finishing the dashboard edge this morning. I used the spray-on Evostik Impact glue and I think it has worked quite well. It has still creased a bit around the corners but it's much better than my previous attempts. So, that's one more item ticked off the list of things to do! Thanks for your advice. Cheers, Edward

Hi, my local DVLA office supplied me with a chassis number. As Nigel said, it starts SABTVRO - but try convincing VOSA that its an 'O' not a zero when you apply for SVA. I've corrected them twice and they still get it wrong! However when I stamped it on the chassis, O's and zeros looked the same anyway - never mind. I stamped it directly onto a chassis tube and also onto an aluminium plate which is riveted into the boot. Edward

Hi Terry, The tyres clear them fine but unfortunately the cycle wings just touch them on completely full lock! I think the indicators could be moved inwards by about half an inch and still be within 400mm of the widest part of the car. That should give much better clearance with the cycle wings. Oh well, another little job for the list! Thanks very much for pointing that out - it could have been a bit embarrasing to have found out during the test! Best wishes, Edward

Hi, here's a photo of the car now that it has the headlights and indicators on. Later I'll post some pictures showing under the bonnet and around the front suspension - I'd be really grateful if you could let me know if you spot anything that needs more trim or just doesn't look right! I did an engine flush this morning, changed the oil filter and put some nice new Castrol oil in. So, just the bonnet catches to go. I can't make room for the Sierra latch but I've found a gate latch which I've added some springs to so that it's spring-loaded. Hopefully it will act as a pretty good back-up in case the rubber catches come undone (or aren't even done up ) Cheers, Edward

Hi, just a quick update. The roll cage padding arrived from Rally Design but it is very large diameter. It doesn't look great because it doesn't conform around the corners especially well. However, for £5 it was definitely worth trying. If I get time I'll have another go with the thinner grey pipe lagging and vinyl (taking a bit more care this time!). Cheers, Edward

Hi, I sorted out my insurance today with Adrian Flux. They were the only company I could find that offered a fully comprehensive policy for a 20 year old. The car is a 1.6 litre 2B/4, limited to 3000 miles per year and I haven't got any NCB. It came to £500 including full EU breakdown cover and home-start. I'm also covered on the chassis number for a month until it's registered. Considering that the last time I checked with them about a year ago I was quoted over a grand, I'm very pleased. Hopefully It will get even better next year when I'm 21 and I can shop around a bit more. The guy at AF was very helpful and made sure that I won't have to pay the usual £25 admin charge when I move house next month. Edward

Hi, I don't mean to hijack Phil's thread but since you asked Robin! I couldn't find a header tank that could be positioned high enough for the water level to be above the top hose (using the huge RH supplied rad) without the cap fouling on the bonnet. I got a whole load of suggestions for various headers that might work but none of them did! So we designed our own with a recessed cap and got a company called Splinter Morgan Engineering to make it for us. Their welder Spencer has done a great job and it fits perfectly under the bonnet. It would probably have been cheaper to just buy the Coolman rad but where's the fun in that! Anyway, I hope your test goes well Phil. Cheers, Edward

Hi Phil, I'm currently in the same situation as you - I'm not fitting the windscreen either. My brother found that the demister vents can be filled quite neatly with some of the vents from the sierra heater unit. They need trimming a bit to fit the cut-outs in the bonnet though. We stuck them down with some very sticky double sided foam tape (from Maplin I think). We also struggled to work out a bonnet stay - there aren't many obvious places to fit one in a 2B/4. In the end we found a gate fixing stay in a hardware shop which does the job nicely. The stay is fixed to the bonnet flange through some angle iron and the lower mounting is on the pedal box stiffening strut. The stay is held up with a tool clip when the bonnet is closed. The tool clip had to be spaced out a bit with some M5 threaded rod so that the strut doesn't catch the oil filler cap when the bonnet goes down. Hopefully the pictures below should make it a bit clearer! All the best, Edward

Hi Larry, I remember talking to someone at a kit car show a couple of years back who had this problem. He had attached the stainless steel rear wing panels to the stainless chassis tube using aluminium rivets. The rivets had corroded and most had disintegrated and dropped out completely. He was busy changing the rivets for stainless ones. I think most people have used all stainless rivets on their Robin Hood for exactly this reason. They're more expensive and harder to fit (you need a really heavy duty hand rivet tool or an air riveter) but at least they should last a lot longer. Cheers, Edward

Hi, I've got the SVA booked for the 15th at Nottingham - having a deadline to work to is quite scary! There's not much more to do now - fit the front indicators and bonnet catches and then go round it looking for sharp edges to cover up. I've booked an MOT at a local garage a few days before the SVA so that someone else can look at it and spot anything I might have missed. They will also sort out the tracking so hopefully it will have some self-centering afterwards. If all goes well it should be on the road before the 2nd of October which is the date that we picked up the kit. When I've tidied the car up a bit (and given it a good clean!), I'll post some pictures. Cheers, Edward

Hi, thanks for all your suggestions and offers. I've ordered some of the black roll cage foam from Rally Design so that should arrive shortly. I'll let you know how I get on with it. I'll probably put a piece of vinyl-covered wastepipe over the horizontal bit like Enforcer has done as well. Thanks again. Edward

Hi, thanks for your replies. I hadn't thought about using sprayglue (I've been using brush-on contact adhesive) - good idea! I've got loads of leatherette - I did an order from Woolies and wanted to make sure I had enough so ordered 5 metres of it. Having covered the boot lid, boot sides and dashboard I've still got about 3 metres left! I hadn't realised that the radius only had to be on the horizontal edge - that would make things easier. I don't think I could squeeze edge trim around the sides though because the dash is 12mm thick ply. Your dash and instruments look quite similar to ours Enforcer - we didn't copy, honest! I'll post a picture of it later. When is Donnington Barry? I've applied for my SVA test which should be in a couple of weeks. I might not get chance to get to Doni but we'll see. Another thing I found in the garage is some old vacuum cleaner hose. It's flexible, large radius and black but it has ridges on it with a small radius. Presumably that wouldn't please the SVA examiner? Cheers, Edward

Hi, in order to radius and pad the lower edge of the dashboard, I've got some grey pipe lagging which is 40mm diameter. Does anybody have any tips on how to cover it with vinyl leathercloth without it creasing badly around the corners? I tried spray painting some of it black yesterday but the paint flaked off when fitting around the corners (do you think that applying primer first might help?). Until that happened it actually looked quite good! Alternatively does anybody know a source of black pipe lagging? Thanks for your help! Edward

Hi Micky, you don't happen to be this bloke do you? He seems to have your luck! News Article

Hi John, 5500 RPM is correct for the 2 litre injection engine. It's 5200 RPM for the 2 litre carb version. I've got the numbers from the official Ford Sierra Operating Guide as supplied with the Sierra. Here's the full list of max power revs according to Ford: 1.3l = 5700 1.6l = 5300 1.6l E-Max = 4900 1.8l (Pinto not CVH) = 5400 2.0l = 5200 2.0l EFI = 5500 2.0l V6 = 5000 2.3l V6 = 5300 Of course this is for a new engine - would it have dropped a bit in the 15-20 years since the engine was made? Anyway, hope that helps. All the best, Edward oops - sorry John I misread your question! I thought you were questioning the RPM not the fraction - d'oh. Edward

Hi, I think that it is supposed to be part of the boot lid and hinge assembly. The two holes at the top of your picture should fit over the upper inner seat belt mounting tubes. I didn't use this part at all - the spacing of the two holes was over an inch wrong so it stood no chance of fitting over the harness mounts! I just used some stainless piano hinge to mount the boot lid - far less complicated! All the best, Edward

Hi Trev, I'm sorry to hear of all the trouble that you're having. I looked at your website the other day and it looks like you've done a really good job with the Lightweight. Would it be possible to apply for a new chassis number in a different locality, change the VIN plate and apply for an SVA somewhere else (it now being 'another' car)? I know it's quite a drive for you to Nottingham but if they've passed one then surely precedent has been set and they would have to pass others? Also the Nottingham DVLA guys are really helpful - I spoke to Dave Richards when I applied for my chassis number and he seemed really interested in how I was getting on with the build. I think that the Robin Hood service has improved recently - they sorted out a problem I had with some incorrect parts being supplied with my kit 18 months after I had bought it, all free of charge. Hopefully they will give you (and all the other LW builders) the support you need. Best of luck getting it all sorted. Edward

Thanks guys - that's a relief! You should have seen the looks on our faces as it all seemed to be going up in smoke ! We'll run it up to temperature again tomorrow and let it do its thing for a bit longer. At least it isn't a problem which requires re-wrapping the manifold - I don't think we could have faced having to do that again. If we ever build another one we'll wrap it before fitting it . Anyway, thanks again. Best wishes, Edward

Hi, we've just finished wrapping the 4-into-1 exhaust manifold and started the engine to let it all warm up. There's a whole load of smoke coming from the manifold, it smells terrible and the wrap is turning black is if it's scorching. Is this supposed to happen? I switched it off and got the fire extinguisher out just in case. Thanks for your help! Edward

Well done Simon!!

Congratulations Robin!!

Good letter Paul - I'd love to see the look on the face of the Halfords person who reads it! Halfords have been going steadily downhill for the last few years. After some appalling customer service from them last year, I don't buy from them any more. I wouldn't hold your breath whilst waiting for a reply though - I contacted the manager of my local one and never heard back. Good luck though! Cheers, Edward

Hi, just to let you know I got the problem sorted today. I popped in to RHSC this morning to swap my front springs (the kit came with very stiff ones which gave a really harsh ride). I took along the multibend tube and asked if they had one which would work better with my setup. They were really helpful and found one which makes up 4 L brackets and will do the job perfectly. Thanks guys! And thanks for your help with this one - I don't think there can be any questions to which RHOCaR doesn't have an answer! All the best, Edward