Foxy Smith

When I had this problem it turned out to be the connectors in the block that plugs into the back of the bulb bending across and shorting. A bit of a tweak with a screwdriver sorted it.

Other than the fact that I use an electronic welding visor I know the sqr rt of bu**er all about this. You can however purchase the light responsive glass as replacement cassette/unit from good welding suppliers without having to buy the whole kit. Whether these things are as fast as you require ?????

What I think I would do as a temporary measure till you get the proper part is get a piece of ground silver steel of the appropriate dims from an engineers supplier (J+L or Cromwell's whatever) Don't try to harden it, use it in the annealed state it come in, won't last forever but long enough till the proper part comes. As Don says think the original part is u/s.

Arnie, I think Brent is right and pressure is pumping up the seal lip allowing a seal. For what it's worth this is the same mode of failure I've had on the Caterham set up on one of the 3 times it's failed.

Right, been home and got my tape measure. Filter is 150mm from back plate to front(external). The trumpets that I could not get in are 90x90mm i.e. 90 long and bell mouth 90mm dia.

It's an interesting concept isn't it. I often wonder how succesful it is. There was a fair bit on Blatchat about this about a year ago and I think someone here may actually have had some stuff made up. I had some components water-jet cut from ally not so long ago by a local firm, the price charged was a mickey-take, I wish now I had remembered about this website then.

Don, are you talking about a Vx dry sump pump by any chance? In which case to increase tension you have to shim the mounting with washers but you have to be very careful to keep the wheels co-planar or the belt will be off as quick as a pair of tart's knickers.

I'm going from memory which is shakey at best but I think it's a 150mm deep piper filter I use and there was no way I could get 90mm trumpets in. More due to the width of the bell than length per se. By calculation for my app best length I could get was 75mm using same bell profile which I would stress was very wide.

Snap-On refer to them as 12-point torx and def have suitable sockets, pricey tho'

Not just modern diesels either. My 1958 Fordson diesel has a throtle also. Again to produce vacuum used to control the injector pump timing. Can't help with throttle pot, don't understand that electrical stuff.

Alex, Don's comments have caught my attention too. The cheapest converters I have found suitable for my needs (Heavy woodworking gear) have been around the £600-700 mark. I have just found a company drivesdirect.co.uk which can supply a converter which sounds like that described by Don. The problem is it depends on your three phase motor being of the dual voltage type i.e. 240/420V which is no good to me as my needs are for single voltage type. May be of use to you however and could well be cheaper than a new single phase motor. Hope this is of help. Alan

Jackb_ms, is there not an issue about starting these motors when they are converted to run like that? If it really is that easy I'd like to know a bit more about it as I have a pile of 3 phase motors looking for jobs to do!

Unless you are planning to buy lots more 3 phase equipment a convertor doesn't make sense. Unless it's some kind of monster drill a single phase motor is fine. I think what's referred to as TEFC is best for workshop use. There are ways to make a 3 phase motor run on single phase but I believe it depnds on the type of motor you start with and it involves big capacitors and such like scary things. New motors are easy to come by and whats more important can be specced with the correct spindle size and keyways(if used) to suit your existing pulley block. All you have to cobble up is a mounting bracket.

Ian, I keep my jack where the heater used to be. Has been fine. I used a couple of leather cycle toe straps to fasten in place, works very well.

Noddy, I've got welding and brazing kit here but to be honest I reckon a mechanical fastening will be the answer. No doubt the clamp will be galvanised or worse, any idea what the mirror stem is made from? If you want a hand I'm around Sat afternoon and Sun afternoon. I'm just down the hill from John Howe at Highbrook near Ardingly (01444 892555)

In my opinion Mike Riley can walk on water.

If you use an easy-out and it snaps then you are committed to EDM/spark errosion. IMO best option is to find someone with a lathe to turn you a button which is a sliding fit into your 2mm deep hole with a centrally drilled hole, say 2mm. Using this as a guide you can drill a guaranteed central hole into the retained fragment, then use a series of gradually increasing drills to drill out. You'll get to a point where you can hook out the residual threads with a sharp hook/dental scraper. PS Easy outs are only good at one thing, breaking.

You will find good advice on bonding aluminium on West Systems expoxy site. I've found that you need to degrease thoroughly (meths or acetone), abrade both surfaces (scotchbrite pad), swab with vinegar then quickly washoff with clean water,dry and apply epoxy. There are some epoxy resin systems designed purely for bonding aluminium but plain old araldite is good as long as things are clean and dry and well keyed. On a sump watch out for problems with differential expansion i.e. your sump may heat and expnd quicker than your plate. You may want to have some mechanical bond as well if poss.

David, I have a terratrip intercom on my car. It came with the car. We subsequently bought practice headsets. It's a pretty good device and quite robust. You do need to filter the power supply though as it picks up noise from the alternator but this is quite easy to do. You can feed in external audio source so could play your MP3 through it , also connections for car to pit-lane radio. I'm quite happy wih it and I have used an Autocom set up as well, I don't like the Autocom headsets, they are painfully uncomfortable. If you want to have a look or try it out give me a call on 01444 892555. We're off to France on Wed but will be back on Fri/Sat and Sun before going off touring in Scotland. We're just outside Ardingly. Alan

Is this estate or sedan?? (as it says in the manual!!) Looks like it's under the Rt hand cover plate as you look from the rear of the car. I have the Legacy Haynes manual which you are welcome to borrow except I'm off to France tonight till Sunday. as a rough guide it says. Relieve fuel pressure by undoing elecrical connector to pump, run engine and allow to die. Remove rear seat (sedan) or trunck liner (estate) to expose fuel pump sending unit Remove access plate screws and lift plate from body Pump assembly has to be angled carefully when removing from tank to avoid damage Hope this is of help.

Daniel, If the electrical bits are in good order I'd like them as spares please. Does it include the plug leads as well? Will mail you off line with my email address. Best, Alan

I need to make up some custom air trumpets. I have the skills and technology to make up molds but I have never done any work with fibreglass. I assume it goes something like mold -> apply release agent -> paint on gel? coat -> build up tissue/resin layers to appropriate thickness. What do you use as release agent? some kind of wax?? Mold is likely to be turned from wood(pattern makers mahogany) or aluminium if I have a large enough bit in the scrap pile. Hard wax paste on timber seems to make sense to me. Regarding the tissue, I suppose it would be quite a fine grade required for this application. What colouring agents can I use? I have used acrylic paints with epoxy cements for furniture making, do they work with fibreglass resin? Be grateful for any input from those who've been and done it before. Ta, Alan

Thanks for the replies chaps. Looking out the window it won't be today, it's a tropical monsoon here is sunny Sussex.

For Keihins supplied by fuel pump a max of 3psi is suggested on the regulator. However more critical is the size of the float valve and they give a table. Float valve size (mm) HP per carb gravity feed HP per carb 3psi pump feed 2.0 20-28 29-37 2.4 24-34 37-50 2.8 33-41 Not recommended 3.2 39-50 Not recommended Sorry this is a bit of a back to front way of looking at it. I'm running my fuel regulator at 2psi from a big hairy a*sed Facet pump and don't seem to be overcoming the float valves. Maybe you need to look at the size of your float valves?

Yes I can but I need to look at me book. What carbs are you running??