Foxy Smith

Alex, it's not a leak. Been there and done that with leaking seals!!

’92 Swindon Vx with dry sump, bellhousing oiltank with co-axial hydraulic clutch slave. For the last few months and getting progressively worse I have been aware that when accelerating hard and engine revs just get over 5000rpm the hydraulic clutch appears to lose pressure. That’s to say the pedal drops away from my foot. There is no suggestion of the clutch itself slipping as the car continues to accelerate well but suddenly having no clutch when about to change up has resulted in a few near missed gear changes. I though I had the problem solved when I bled the system and found that the old fluid had a lot of small air bubbles present however despite having a nice firm clutch pedal it still droops above 5000 rpm. Perhaps some automotive Viagra is needed. I really can’t figure out what’s happening here. The fluid has to be going somewhere, yet there is no sign of leakage, fluid level in the reservoir is rock steady and below 5000rpm the clutch works perfectly. Anyone have any bright ideas?

Surveyor is correct in as far as lime plaster will allow the walls to breathe. What is the substrate? brick presumably being Victorian. I would be inclined to investigate the source of dampness and see if it can be stopped at source. Failing that there are modern tanking membranes that could be used without taking up the space of dry lining but will not allow the wall to breathe.

Second BOSS, that's a very good price. A good idea is also to have the cam belt replaced at the same time as this will save costs later.

The same switch as the indicators does just fine.

Pretty sure you wont get a blacksmiths drill at 15.5, what you need is a shell drill. Ruko which is a German firm make them, easily available, although I have a horrible feeling that they start at about 16mm. If it's thin material you are drilling how about a cone cutter or step drill?.

Are you talking about a replacement piston? I have obtained these via Redline in the past but I was told last year that from that point on they would not be available "off the shelf" but made up in batches on demand. I have resigned myself to changing the whole dry sump set up next time the clutch slave fails.

Yes remove scuttle otherwise it's a nightmare. Good oportunity for a general wiring tidy up.

Whatever you do don't use wire wool. The steel wool lodges in the stainless and will rust. Hard to believe maybe but been there and got the tee-shirt. Wet and dry or 3M non woven abrasive pads on a die grinder are the way to go. Then a felt bob and polishing compound.

I think your answer might lie in a motorcycle shop. I'm told (but don't know personally) that the fasteners used to fit the fairings on some bikes are just what is needed.

Re sketchup, you can create solids round an axis, I think you use the "follow me" control. It's described in the first tutorial. Re tapping drill , size depends on material used, class of fit required and most important of all, what drills you have. Generally 2.5mill will be fine and dandy.

Was looking for a Vx standard rad last year with zero success.

Vibration around 60mph is usually down to wheel balance, or lack of.

David Mayo is your man, Foremost Coatings Unit 40 Hobbs Ind Estate 01342 833455 Just outside East Grinstead

Not only crude and effective but lightens the car as well!!

Bruce I reckon your easiest solution is to buy a simple single phase NVR switch to deal with the basic on/off aspect. Axminster Power Tools on line seem to be cheapest source I can find at the mo. You could then try sorting out the forward reverse aspect with single phase drum switch, I suspect your three phase one will work OK, if you let me have your email addy I can send you some circuit diagrams I have for this. Other thing I would suggest is to post a query here:- http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/ They really are a nice friendly bunch although being American they use 110 and 220V but the principles the same. The Astra sounds really nice. I'm really into woodworking -semi pro, but have started building and renovating some old machinery. I'm getting to the point where a bigger metal lathe and a nice mill would be helpful, it's finding the space !!

Brucey, has your switch got overload protection on it? If so bear in mind that a single phase motore will draw more amps than any single leg on a 3 phase. I have to say I struggle with this stuff, I'm just psyching myself up to build a rotary phase converter so I can indulge in more exotic toys! Harrison's a nice lathe btw, very jealous I am.

Japanese engines are nice. Anyone had a look at the Mitsibushi 3 cylinder job. I think it could make quite a useful seven engine.

Autoglass managed to get a frameless heated screen direct from Tyne glass for me last year. Not the easiest job to get into the frame.

I know you can buy rigid fibreglass liners which solve a lot of problems all at once not least the tanking. You might need planning consent, certainly do here and my local planning office were very anti inspection pits so in the end I didn't bother.

Hi Alex, has this trailer got a solid floor or just tracks for the wheels??

Alex, That looks like a really good article, I'm going to print it out and have a good read. The author makes a very good point early on about the webers being a double edged sword. A few years back I was getting really fed up with constantly having to tweak and balance my carbs and was tempted to convert to FI but really wanted to stay with carbs as I feel that is the cars heritage/character. After doing some reading and also talking with Ammo Castellani, a fellow sevener who was tuning race motorcycles and is now well know for his wonderful Duratec engines, I bought a set of Keihin motorcycle flat slide carbs. I had to build a new inlet manifold, modify a chassis diagonal and make up a new throttle spindle but all relatively straight forward work. It's taken about a year to get things as I like but the engine ran more or less with the carbs straight out of the box. Benefits, huge torque increase esp at low revs, engine revs more freely, good fuel consumption 39mpg on motorway longhauls and best of all don't have to keep fiddling with carb settings.

Agree with Mick, Peter. Major benefit is fast warming of oil which you will only get if you use the bypass.

I agree with BOSS. Main benefit of Laminova is gets your oil warm faster. I suspect you have an overfilled sump.

Is the sheet material actually aluminium. I thought RHs were supposed to be stainless steel monocoques?? Still looks a tad insubstantial though. Aluminium is not a good material for coping with varying stresses, it has a nasty habit of failing without warning and without going beyong its elastic limit.