Bit late posting these, and only a small selection, but it was a nice afternoon and good to catch up with a few people. An idea of the level of preparation that goes into some of these cars... https://i.vgy.me/kXvElA.jpg Two of the three cars in this shot were moving independently, so I was quite pl...

Thanks Dave - much appreciated!

I will see about making something up this weekend.

Lauren

Hi guys - the manuals suggest a special Allen key tool is required to get to the tappets on a twin-lobe camshaft engine. Can anyone tell me how long the hex bar needs to be? I will cut down an Allen key to the right length and weld it to a bit of plate, like the original factory item (which I did fi...

KevJTD wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:09 am

Not even Italian!
Can't recall ever owning a Toyota, or a Japanese car come to that..

Don't tell me - you are going to put one of those fake Ferrari body kits on it

Actually that's not a bad idea...

adsblacksud wrote: ↑

Fri May 14, 2021 10:27 pm

Thank you Lauren.

I’ll have a practice on one of the spare gearboxes I have to perfect my technique! I can be a bit ham-fisted at times.

Adam

Good idea Adam - doing it for the first time on your road car can be a bit daunting, especially if that steel sleeve puts up a fight!

Lauren

I just realised today why I don't watch BTCC any more - you can't tell what make of car is being driven. Normally I would clock the shape, but as Lou says, you can't differentiate one make from another these days, and all the sponsorship decals act like camouflage. So the next thing is to look at th...

There is an internal circlip holding the speedo drive in the casing. You can get it out without the correct circlip pliers, but re-fitting it is another matter! Once the clip is removed, there should be a gap in the casting that should allow the drive to be carefully tapped out with a small drift/sc...

You're right, I remember when the marque purists said the Alfasud wasn't a proper Alfa Romeo, but the situation is a lot worse now. At least back in the 70s and 80s there were still opportunities to uniquely identify different brands with clever engineering, now it is so tightly regulated and homoge...

“Autonomous Electric racing cars”. Are you shitting me !!!! Better believe it - it's the future you know. Soon the cars won't need us humans to drive them, they'll be off roaming the countryside, racing each other, doing donuts in Tesco's car park... :lol: Autonomy is just the latest fad. I mean, w...

What a sorry excuse for a car. I used to have a preference for GM over Ford (I had an HA Viva and then a brace of Firenzas, the latter a droop snoot), but I wouldn't buy anything new now - in fact the droop snoot was the last true Vauxhall, designed in the UK with UK running gear. Everything after t...

And while I'm having a moan about how cars are going, why WHY WHY do we need the car to decide when it's dark and we need the lights on, which they can't friggin do anyway as in daylight but dull drizzle they don't come on and the dumb bstrds driving them are too thick to override it, and why is it...

Wow - that is a good registration. Bit wasted on a Scooby though, even if it is a boxer...

I'm interested to know if you have diagnosed your low compression problem on no2 ? Not yet - but all the evidence points to a poorly seating valve at the moment. Reason being, I can detect no noticeable change in performance before or after the compression test, so my conclusion is that the problem...

I have always had an electric pump in the Green Machine, as the mechanical pump would have fouled on the chassis rails, but always with a fuel pressure regulator set at 1.5 psi - it is really easy to overpower the float chamber needle valves in the carbs. and overfuel the engine. But here's the thin...

Many yrs ago I over revved an engine and a afterwards had lots of issues on tickover. Normal running no problems of when competing. Eventually got fed up and took the head off. What had happened was a valve had touched a piston and very very slightly bent it. The lower the revs the worse the leakag...

Veesix75 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:55 pm

Valve not seating, closing, bent should cause quite a compression drop surely ? Even the slightest leak is going to reduce pressure.

Hope you find it and it’s not too drastic.

Thanks V6 - I hope that you are right.

Before you do any major changes, is it just me that is questioning why no smoke or oil usage if you have bore wear ? When I had a broken bottom ring on one bore, it blew oil into the catch tank / breather so used it, it was down on power. Are you doing enough miles to notice oil usage ? One of the ...

OK, thanks for the suggestions - lasagne, calamari etc. Very helpful :roll: So I have noticed no change in performance before or since the compression test. Fuel consumption is the same. Oil consumption virtually nil. No excessive smoke from the exhaust. So I have concluded that I must have been liv...

Hmm - thanks for those suggestions :? It really is amazing how quickly you become reliant on motorised transport - I was without a car for 7 years while I redesigned the dashboard, wiring, swapped out the gearbox and rebuilt the suspension (and brakes!), now I am all in a tizz over losing the car fo...

Hi Lauren, I had a low comp' reading on one cylinder prior to my engine rebuild and that turned out to be a snapped ring. My Indie said he'd never seen one before - luckily no damage to the bore. That was lucky - I have had broken ring before on another engine which scored the cylinder wall. If it ...

Hi Dave - the engine has actually only done 25,000 miles from new. It was a service replacement engine, and was confirmed as never been run when I bought it, although weirdly one of the inlet valves was cracked and had to be replaced. Yes, wide open throttle when testing. I can't believe how well it...

The Nova has been increasingly difficult to start when I head off for my weekly grocery trip, so I decided to investigate. I suspected fouled plugs, but after removing them all (NGK B7ES) I found nothing much wrong with them - gaps are all 0.75mm (NGK recommend 0.8mm), no soot or other contamination...

Fantastic lady. Always loved her on those early Top Gear episodes - her unforgettable riposte to Hammond asking how she could get a Transit van round the 'Ring faster than the guys in Porsches. "they are slow, but I am fast!"

Farewell Sabine

Lauren

Sud 145 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 08, 2021 12:07 am

Doing OK thanks matey....FB is the only social media I do on my laptop - no apps at all on my phone.

What's an app?

Veesix75 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:10 pm

I’ve never had f*ckedupbook or tw@tter accounts, so you are not alone.....

I don't do TwitFace either. My life is complicated enough as it is without social media...

Hi Lauren My default now is to talk to GAZ. They have been so helpful every time that I have spoken to them. They have built me some struts for the rally car to go outboard. Do you have a pattern of some donor struts they could work with? AVO didn't offer me a bespoke service. They didn't offer me ...

Hi Lauren The Arna used the entire 33 front end. struts, hubs, crossmember and suspension arms I’m pretty sure it even used the sud rack and column as they had a sud steering wheel . Thanks Lou - I guess that rules out that particular line of enquiry, but I'm sure there must be struts out there tha...

Hi Lauren How did you find AVO? When I spoke to them about shockers for the 33 they literally just laughed. Haven't spoken to them since. Quite a few people use them in rallying so at least the product is good. ATB. Rsfruitbat Hi Fruity - well, I have had a pair of steel body double-adjustables on ...

I got my oil filter from Justsuds (thanks John), so I will be doing an oil change this week.

Plus, I treated myself to a brace of AVO double-adjustable dampers for the front end. But they are made to order so won't arrive for another month or so.

Lauren

Alfamet wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:46 pm

The code for the wheel inners is 'Grigio Vesuvio 035'

That's Neopolitans for you

Car looks great Colin!