Dicky Blighter

You want to trying buying stainless and aluminium!! - up about 20% since this time last year now steel is clinbing rapindly - so much so that where I normally have quotations to me valid for 30 days got a quote this morning that says 'Due to current unstable market conditions, this quotation is valid for a period of 48 hours only' How I'm I supposed to quote jobs that won't start for a month.

MOT today for me to and another pass with only one advisory - 'next time you bring it in take the *king hard top off' from the 6'2" 23 stone MOT tester who couldn't fit in it. ;D Hard top will come off on Friday ready for the forecast 20 deg. on Saturday

Nearest dino to me is Knebworth House

Also made a proper spring comperssor to put it back together.

Since I've had the car I thought I'd been pumping oil into it - however there was a lot of grease in the trunnion when I took it apart with just a bit of oil mixed in. Seal was also very hard and suspect its been half full of water. Top ball joint was also totally shot yet felt fine if you tried to rock the wheel. In contrast the LH side is in very good condition, ball joint fine and although there is some grease in the trunnion it's mainly oil. However the link is not covered in oil and had to use heat to get the bolt out that holds steering arm to link and sandwhiches brake dust plate in. Both sides are having new ball joints, trunnions, bushes and polybushes, nuts and bolts and and new anti roll bar links. Means the old shocks and springs will now have to go back on but apart from a bit of rust which I have brushed off and painted they are in good useable condition.

After cleaning up and having had a good look at vertical link no way was that going back on but managed to source a really good second had one from Wins with a stub axle so no ned to mess around getting that changed.

Hadn't realised just how big your opponent was until he walked past the ref. Good luck with your competitions, I know how much training that takes as one of my sisters does some sort of ninja stuff to.

Well that didn't go entirely to plan - got everything apart except bolt on LH vertical link that secures dust shield is seized solid so brought it into work to apply a bit of heat and hold in big vice. RH vertical link ball joint is totally knackered, sharp knock will probably knock it out of its socket so got to order replacement today. RH vertical link thread to trunnion looks very iffy and a bit corroded, snag is no-one has rh vertical links in stock and can't afford to go the trunnionless route so may have to go back on for now. Anyone got a spare one?

Also replaced speedo cable, choke cable, rear brake pipes, rear rubber hoses with braided, fuel hose and pipe from tank to fuel pump, all brake and fuel pipe clips. Fixed problem with horn blowing fuses. Hopefully this weekend will replace all front suspension bushes, trunnions and bolts, then MOT- aiming to do that on 24th as it's the cars 40th Birthday then.

New wheels! Hadn't intended getting alloys and was going to have my steelies blasted and powder coated silver. However at Stoneleigh found a set of wheels that I thought looked good and at a bargain price. Set of 4 brand new 5Jx13 minilite copies with anthracite finish and polished rims, slight mismatch in colour but unless you know can't see it. £100 for the set. No centres with them so made my own as I wanted flat ones and liked the badge that was in middle of my old hub caps. And before anyone comments on them I know the tyres are cheap and nasty but they came off my old wheels and for the amount I drive the car at the moment they do the job until I can afford something better. Not to everyones taste but I like them:

Mine did that and it's same diameter as pulley and on the back - new engine mounts sorted it - old ones had gone soggy. You could also elongate engine mount holes by a few mm to allow to sit a little higher - got to do this with mine as it's still very close to rack.

Try this one - works fine on my 1500 with sports manifold but a bit lumpy on a cold engine.

This will give override and warning lamp You can also put override switch between 86 and ground if it's easier.

Put an insert in the tube and thread that ?

Even a fairly standard wheelchair costs a lot of money - my daughter has a titanium framed one (essential when she has to lift it in and out of car) http://www.gerald-simonds.co.uk/catalog/product.php?CI_ID=103 Add accesories such as puncture proof tyres, side panels, handles and protective bumpers to the basic price and thats 3 grand. NHS grant pays for some of it and that has to last minimum 3 years. Don't even get me started on price of spares (if you don't use genuine ones then frame warranty void) Lots of these aids that are essential to disabled people are rip off prices as users have no choice.

Collected the seats Friday afternoon and had them fitted by Saturday evening. They are a very tight fit and you do sit a lot higher but so much more comfortable. Picture below will give you an idea of the difference in size. Runners have to be fairly heavily modified and still got to tweak them. I do have a bit of a problem with seat belt getting ttrapped between hood frame and side of seat and may have to change belts.

To this:

Gone from this:

Except I just bought a complete set of chrome wheel nuts and washers to hold the hub caps on

Stripped the dash top panel off to repair the foam and recover the vinyl - metal backer is rotten and corners of dash to windscreen pillar have rotted away. ever wish you hadn't started a job? Made a tempoary dashtop from vinyl and plasticard, looks better than the original so may make a more permanent version from thin aluminium sheet and vinyl. On a more upbeat note got a pair of MX5 seats on ebay for £50 and collectng this weekend, Changed plugs to BP6HS gapped at 30 thou on reccomendation of local MG racer loaded new map into megajolt and now goes like the proverbial off a shovel until I snapped 2 wheel studs being a bit over enthusiastic with the loud pedal.

James, I picked up a sensor switch with same pin configurationa as yours (think it came off a rover) bottom terminal (horizontal) was common, one of the vertical terminals gives a variable output (0 to 850 ohm at 100 deg c) depending on temperature so can drive a temperature gauge or feed a signal to ECU, the other is a switched contact (at 85 c in my case) to contol a fan but must go via a relay. Haven't used it yet, for one thing it has the wrong thread to directly replace existing temp sensor although I can make an adaptor, but main problem is it would go before the thermostat and switch the fan on before as the thermostat opens. I guess in it's original application it may have been used for a different purpose. Only way to find out for sure is stick a multi meter on it and see what happens. Also check to see if any continuity between body of sensor and any of the terminals.

MAP works fine with the spacer things (they came from Minispares about £3.50 each and as you say much easier than drilling and tapping manifold - don't forget to buy extra gaskets) they have a very fine hole in them (about 0.5mm) so act as restrictors, I did have an extra restictor in the line (you can just see it in the picture beyond the tee piece) but get a more stable vacuum without it. The long length of pipe to Megajolt seems to act as a damper, will add a reservoir at some point to see if it makes a difference. It's a Gen 1 coil pack and the leads came from Trigger Wheels as I couldn't find a set that where the right length and didn't want to pay Magnecor custom made prices. They are very good quality 8mm silicone leads, Coilpack is mounted on a custom made bracket that is bolted to existing coil fixing holes.

Everthing works really well, had a couple of problems to start with as labelling on coilpack was not the same as instructions and had problems with firing order. Now adding an input for temperature so can add a bit of advance from cold and dial out as engine warms up. Also adding electric fan (trialling a switch in last picture on radiator top hose outlet). Tidying lots of knackered old wiring up and doing loads of jobs that never got finished over last couple of years but at same time want to keep car driveable while I can. Will do mechanical and electrical bits this summer and start bodywork this winter. It's going to get a bit more use attending a couple of events this year but not car stuff related, may be some pictures towards end of May.

Boats burned - distributor gone, it's in a box in the shed

MAP take-offs