Foxy Smith

Alba, I keep meaning to ask where about are you, I assume Turra' or therebye? My parents live in Cullen and my brother is at Ord just outside Portsoy. Only managed to get the se7en up there once before, sadly only for a few days. All the best Alan

If it helps the correct? /best thermostat is for a Calibra Turbo with A/C this will open at 82*C and solves all sorts of Vx coolant probs. One other thing on your list of things to do is check your hoses carefully. I had a hose burst after fitting a stat after running without. How's the weather in the NE?

Why not use some thick ply or MDF. 1" Ply certainly capable of taking the weight although would be careful about not applying side loads. Could sink in a couple of steel plates to attach magnet gauges etc. I seem to recall this being done to get a certain super wide tracked car onto a trailer.

Stainless steel work hardens after relatively few flexing cycles this leads to embrittlement and cracking surprisingly fast. Any theoretical weight saving you'ld lose by having to increase the section of the stainless to try to prevent flexing and cracking. This is not a job for stainless steel in my opinion.

Yup, it's a bizarre one this. I get the same with my hydraulic clutch set up. I'd always assumed it was aluminium/aluminium oxide from the slave (concentric bellhousing type) colouring the fluid. But giving it some thought just how much circulation of fluid is there between the save and the M/C reservoir?? the fluid only shunts back and forth in a narrow tube. Implication is then that the colour is coming from the master cylinder, Ok so why does the brake M/C which looks to be of identical materials not suffer the same problem??

Ed, any idea if side boards are availaible for this trailer from BJT, I'm assuming you don't have these. Alan

Brillo pad might work.

Alex, two comments to make 1. The pinion on the starter motor on these machines are buggers for coming undone. You will get a haorrible ratcheting noise and engine won't turn over. Can be an easy fix, but you will probably need to turn the pinion upside down when putting it all back together. 2. I use a Banner battery (my spare one for the seven) on the lawnmower. This can be very handy!

Bicarb of soda in boiling hot water, pour it over connections and battery. Once dry vaseline on the terminals.

Delbert, the way I think of it is like musical instruments. Short instruments make higher pitchesfrequencies, like a piccolo/flute. Longer ones like a tuba/alphorn make lower pitches/frequencies. At low revs the chances of getting helpful pulsing in the inlet tract are better if the "instrument" is a low frequency long one. There is an element of luck/trial and error to this but generally it applies. This is why motorcycle air trumpets are very short (15-35mm) all the punch is at the top end. The theoretical ideal length of inlet tract for a modern OHV engine I believe is about 12 inches, measured from the back of the inlet valve, you can lengthen that if you want a better torque curve/ move your peak power down the graph.

Duckpit, how much? and whereabouts in Kent are you? Alan

With engine and g'box out it's a good time to tart up the chassis rails so that you can chip the fresh paint when you re-install the engine etc.

Peter are you aware that there are different sized needle valve seats for different applications. eg for the Keihins the range goes something like 2.2/ 2.4/ 2.6/ 2.8 . The 2.6 and 2.8 sizes must be used gravity fed only otherwise fuel pump pressure will overcome the needles and flood the bowls. Recommended pressure for the smaller sizes is 2PSI. If the carbs you borrowed had larger seat sizes you would flood the carbs. Possible explanation??

Had my carbs in bits today for clean up and fettle and luckily did find crap in the suspect unit. However I've been thinking about what you've been saying Peterg. The indents on the needle valve tips can't be anything to do with pump pressure because the pump is pushing the needle valves off their seats. The only thing that holds the needles on their seats is the floats on petrol and if the carbs have been sitting awhile their ain't going to be no petrol because it evaporates. So what caused the indents on the needle valve tips??

Can't give you a specific answer as I've only ever been peripherally involved with Kseries engines but my experience with load levelers seems to be to get them as close to the load as possible i.e. try not to have daylight between the engine and the load leveller. Does this make sense??

Right, some facts. I've run Keihin FCR41s on my Swindon 218 Vx for the last 2 years. (Thank Ammo for that) They were easy to set up, and once I found a good tuner prepared to come along to Steve Greenalds, straight-forward to tweek. I'm getting 201BHP from an engine that never previouly managed to get over 190BHP on Webers. Torque is 170ftlbs at 5500rpm, but get this, at 2500rpm its already 120ftlbs so b*llocks to lack of tractability. On 2050mile trip round France earlier this year ave fuel consumption was 31mpg and this was despite a fuel overflow problem on the first day of touring. I would normally expect 33mpg. I can start the engine cold without getting in the car, i.e don't press the throttle just the button, try that with Webers. Realistically I know FI would probably be better. But if I went for FI I would use the Flat slide as throttle bodies. There is an ackward spot on the way to the Redline but Steve Pilcher at Road and Track is pretty sure this is an ignition map problem which I hope to solve with a new ECU and 3D ignition map. The FCRs are 90's technology not 40's like the Webers. And emissions, well my local MOT guy said I'd pass if I needed emissions testing. Edited by - Foxy Smith on 1 Aug 2007 07:38:22

Peter are you saying that with an unregulated Facet pump the needle valves are pushed so hard open that they stick? This may explain a problem I've been having. I run a set of Keihin FCRs on a Vauxhall XE. The fuel is supplied by a Facet pump but through a good quality fuel pressure regulator. In France on holiday earlier this year I had bad problems with one carb overflowing. I assumed a bit of swarf in the needle valve but never found anything. My intention was to strip the carbs to investigate further but been too busy to get round to it. Maybe I should look at an R1 pump also?? Alan

Keith, unless you can find a welder happy to do ally petrol tanks its a new tank.

Ammo, when I was up at Steve Greenalds getting the Keihins set up Steve Pilcher was telling me about a turbocharged Duratec they had just dynoed that was well into the 700's. I'm pretty sure he said that it was running a stock crank as well. Alan

Hi John, even as you type the buggers are laying down another layer of tar. Obviously not sticky enough first time. Roob and I had to wade through it on our way to work. Good concert??

Thought I'd better do an update on this! Problem was solved by replacing the master cylinder. I still have not got around to dismantling the original but I'm assuming a seal problem.The original master cylinder was only about 4 years old, the previous one had been in service since '92 to the best of my knowlege.

MK the electrical socket/switchgear manufacturer does this sort of thing but will be v. pricey.

Might not need to helicoil. Cheaper option would be to get tap and tap drill one size up assuming there is plenty material to tap into (which I'm pretty sure there is) I seem to remember the plate is held on by M5 cap heads so no probs going up to M6.

Terry I know Arnie Webb found a really good welder to do chassis work, up by Dormansland I think. You could also try Exact Weld in East Grinstead. They are really specialist welders aluminium/stainless and exotic materials but they might put you in touch with somebody. Exactweld(GB) Ltd Unit 8e, Charlwoods Rd, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 2HG Tel: 01342 311595 John or Guy are the chiefs

ECR any chance of a photo of your expansion tank mounted on scuttle? Thanks Alan