gordong

BMC Ital/Marina CWP 4.11:1 for sale. Located in Croydon. Offers? email gordon_griffin@hotmail.com Gordon

Could it be the fronts overheating and going off, shifting bias unexpectedly to the rear? However, my experience of this happening is that the rear fishtails rather than slewing, and you have a chance to back off the brakes and catch it (assuming you have the correct instincts and fast enough reactions). Could be oil/grease/fluid leaking onto one front brake? If there was a problem with the rears, I would expect you to plough straight on. Spinning implies a problem with the fronts, either seriously unbalancing the force on the front or putting more bias on the rear and causing them to lock. G

The carbs will be causing pressure inside the filter to be lowered to some extent (since they're 'sucking' air in at a great rate). This will cause a lowering of temperature. So, if you have 18 degrees in the filter, and 18 degrees ambient, it may be that just outside the filter is 28 degrees, say. The depression in the filter is lowering the temperature. If you suck air from outside you might get down to a good few degrees lower and gain power. You need to make sure that you're not restricting the inlet by yards of tortuous ducting in doing this though. I did an experiment a couple of years ago on my Fury, and found that the underbonnet temp measured just outside the foam filter) during laps of Silverstone (IIRC) was +10 deg C on Ambient. +3% power will do nicely, thank you. G

Do you not run into problems with heat, mounting the magnet to the brake disk? Whilst I'm sure you can get epoxies to handle the heat (like chemical metal, etc), I thought that heating a magnet up was one way of stopping it being a magnet. Are the temperatures on a cast Iron disk not high enough to damage the magnet? Also, does mounting the magnet on a large ferrous object interfere with the magnetic field? (A level Physics seems a long time ago). G

You can get replacement sensors from Maplin - they sell them as reed switches for domestic window alarms for about £2. If you mount the sensor/magnet on the prop, do you run into problems with the frequency of the signal, which will be 3-4 times the rate of a wheel based unit? Oh, and do not be tempted by a wireless unit - they cannot handle the speed required and the range (not to mentionRF interference) is inadequate. Gordon

How about a solar trickle charger? I believe these are sufficient even in Winter to keep a battery topped up (I know a manufacturer that puts these on cars in the workshop - just the flourescent lights are enough to keep the cars tip top). You could mount the panel outside/on the roof and just trail the cable into the garage. G

In fact, if you buy an electrical strip connector you get about 10 screw on nipples and you dont even have to cut them down (though you can use a stanley knife to get rid of the plastic outer). Each one has 2 screws, which I view as kind of belt and braces. Works a treat on my throttle cable as well as ARB adjuster cables, as a permanent fix let alone 'get you home'. G

I picked my car up from Powerspeed last weekend. Mild steel 4-2-1 to some very particular requirements (varying diameters, lengths, etc) and it's A1. He was also the cheapest quote I had. Dave knows his stuff and I have absolutely no issues with the quality of work on the manifold he made for me. There was very little intrusion of welds into the pipes, the welds all appear to be good quality and the overall impression is very neat. It also fits, which is nice. I see the 45 deg angle on the Phoenix Arnie refers to, which is odd. Dave fitted my manifold to the existing can, and supplied a new tailpipe (mandrel bent) that saved an inch in length FOC. The can and tailpipe in the picture could well have been extant on the car in question so we shouldnt hang Powerspeed on the basis of one photo. On top of which, they are nice, straight blokes to deal with, which is worth something in my book (though, it would appear, not in Arnie's). Other than a very satisfied customer, I have no connection. G

Insert colour does determine thread spec. I know that blue inserts are metric, white are UNF. I wonder if yellow is UNC or something? If you havent thrown the bits of yellow nut into the farthest darkest corner of your garage (I know I would) you could offer the nut halves up against the thread, or probably just compare to a spare nut. Then you can take the broken halves and return them from whence they came, using an appropriate orifice perhaps... G

Would have thought 10% on a cold engine was good. I've run a competitive Blade engine for a season and a half that started out as 15% on all cylinders cold. Should really re-check it cold and hot before the Winter rebuild. The great thing about leakdown tests is you can listen to where the air is coming out to diagnose not only that there is a problem but where it is (down to precisely which valve is not sealing if necessary). Your engine is not a serious problem I would say.

Anyone know (or know where to find) the axle ratios available for the Ital/Marina axle as used in the Graduate cars? I'm looking for a ratio IRO 3.4:1 FWIW. G

Bet you get the same response - on the BEC list we're all into those wimpy no torque jap efforts. I'm up the road in Croydon, and I'd offer to demonstrate the torque of a Fireblade lump, but the car's in bits again after an eventful trip to Brands yesterday :-( Join up on the BEC list tho, there's much useful info about engine choices being discussed right now. G

Ah, so where's the standard one? The filler I'm using is IIRC about 1/2 way up the rear of the banjo. ISTR there being another plug lower down, which seemed odd. The axle is ex-race caterham There's also a boss and bolt in the underside of the inboard end of one of the axle tubes (under the breather) - what's this for? It's too high up to be a drain. G

So, what is the correct level to (over) fill the axle? I filled mine by jacking the rear of the car up and filling up to the level of the fill plug in the back plate of the Ital diff. I believe this is what the Haynes manual for the Ital recommends. So, if that's standard, how do you get any more oil in there? G

Chris Yes, I can imagine if you were on hillclimb slicks in a single seater, traction wouldnt be so much of a problem, and any LSD induced understeer would be potentially terminal. I raced the car briefly on Ao32rs (205/60/13) without the LSD, and from apex to exit in any of the first 4 gears it lit the inner rear wheel. The Quaife LSD is magic. TIA for your garage excavation. G