The_ASH

Can anyone answer as to why in the old TG vid I linked to the fuel boils off but the brake fluid ignites. Has brake fluid changed in the last 25 years?

JK - Much as I'd like to assist, putting the Back to the Future'esque "it was a science experiment" on the insurance claim form once I've burnt the house down doesn't cut it for me. :-)

I found this from the dark ages but I'm sure I've seen something much more recent.

Just Dot 3 or 4, the silicone stuff (which everyone says don't use) is much higher. I remember it being shown on TV at one stage, 5th Gear or old old Top Gear perhaps, can't find it on YouTube at present.

Oh yes, petrol will quite happy boil away on an exhaust manifold whereas brake fluid will auto-ignite.

Lots of pros and cons regarding plumbed or hand held. My first Seven had a hand held one fitted in front of the passenger seat on the floor, it seemed to always be in the way for new passengers, I never had to use it in anger. My last car had the standard Academy setup (plumbed in mounted in boot with single nozzle in engine bay facing forwards from bulkhead), again I never used it. From years ago I remember the classic nightmare rally car fire story, car has smoke coming from engine bay, car pulls off onto verge to investigate, flames now visible, plumbed in system triggered car fire extinguished but verge under car now alight, car gutted as no hand held present and bottles of plumbed system emptied. I remember putting out a VW Transporter minibus fire years ago with a powder extinguisher, there was something wrong with the diesel cabin heater so was spraying ignited raw diesel forwards and had set fire to plastic bumper, I put the melting bumper out only to have it re-ignite from behind again only when the owner opened the small bonnet could the cause be properly accessed, again a hand held saved the day. The main issue is brake fluid once that has ignited (it has a considerably lower flashpoint than petrol) and/or the reservoir melted the fire can be hard to put out. Typically with fire training you are told not to open panels to access a fire as it can feed it with oxygen, not sure if I'd take the bonnet off a Seven on my own to access an engine bay fire although I'm sure it would already have plenty of oxygen!

Good to see you again on Saturday, new gasket now installed, perfect fit, about to fire up after lunch and commence precise guesstimation of oil level :-)

Not directly looking for one but had surveyed it as a possible future upgrade, I've only got a 120hp K in this car so it's not really necessary at the moment but the relative ease of the BMW diff removal (not that the Ford one is hard) means 'some bolts' and it's out. As there seem to be a few different types available, which is the best or most desirable in your opinion (or do they all have specific drawbacks). As an aside the BMW unit is although more compact quite a bit heavier than the Sierra one I believe but to retrofit one would need driveshafts etc etc.

You learn something new every day, I've never seen this done in a Seven before. As mentioned above once removed check floor for usual fatigue cracking from inner rear seat mount hole to floor edge (best to examine all of exposed Ali floor area whilst it's uncovered). The riser pad may have actually spread the load of the seat and thus extended the life of the floor, I wonder how long it's been there.

That's interesting, I've seen Seven suitable diffs on eBay for sale previously both just the Titan internals without cwp and complete whole unit inc casing & backplate, obviously no guarantee of what state the things are in. Should the springs 'go' then presumably its rebuild time as the all important preload has gone. How long do they last roughly? Is there an upgrade fix available or are you constantly stuck in a reciprocal loop twixt preload and no preload.

Mankee - Tomorrow morning's little job is to find out where exactly the leak is but I think it's a piston seal. Charles - Where are the rebuilt ones available from? Looking around on the web I notice they are available from many sources like Rimmers etc. I am correct in assuming the calipers fitted to a 2012 car would still have been Girling type 14's so a seal kit such as this https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/381445610570 would be the right thing to use if req'd.

I find myself with a leaking front caliper and thinking they were cheap looked at the Caterham site only to see £246 (sure it said £260 yesterday), I think I may try the new seals route first or at the very least take the caliper off and assess the job in hand. I'm amazed at the cost of the complete item when a brake upgrade kit is only £700ish! Of course it's a little annoying that a 4 year 4000 mile old caliper should fail in the first place.

An Apollo kit is around the £200 mark new but they do pop up from time to time when people go dry sumped, a post in the Wanted section might be the best plan if you go that route.

Although expensive why not just install an Apollo kit which will give you added engine lubrication protection and as a side benefit an oil temp sensor. Also, as an aside, on the Sevens I've had with the ability to display oil temp you eventually knew the oil was warm when it's pressure didn't rise sharply as the revs climbed, OR after about 10/15 miles 'ish of light driving.

Yes please, one for me too. I may well need one of your K engine mount cam belt cover blanking plates at the same time.

I've noticed this as well and I'm surprised nobody else has replied. On all the Sevens I've owned there have been varying amounts of slap at the pedals but I've never rectified it, quite amusing really for something that purports to be a race car for the road and for the same reason I prefer the feel of a non-removable steering wheel over the standard removable splined q/r mechanism which I always felt added play (other better q/r's are available). I may have a go at trying to lose some of the pedal play on my present car over the summer now you've reminded me although I guess some play will have to remain to allow for heat soak from the engine bay and the relevant expansion.

Presumably this is a car with an Apollo tank and the sender located on the side of the tank, it's worth checking that there is continuity between the tank body and earth as its not bonded via a wire connection to the chassis just the jubilee clips and base bracket, just occasionally I've seen a poor tank earth. It probably isn't that but it's worth checking.

Is this what you are looking for ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/191609529426

There is a reference on what to do with pictures on the DVA website (I can't find it at present) but basically you just remove the yellow foam sheet and re-fit the plate, then drill two holes in the gasket before refitting the sump so that the deepest part of the triangular shelf that the gasket forms is able to drain into the sump especially when cornering hard, this ensures there is the best chance of there being some oil for the pump pickup to hoover up following a period of starvation. I did this mod on my last car and noticed no change to the detriment from the previous OEM setup.

Surely there must be a UK supplier for the MM battery, ISTR that the eBay seller was in Italy.

I think once you get into the more decent charger maintainers available it is very much as you have pointed out just the program for achieving charge and maintenance that varies. I was hoping someone on the web had stripped one of the Marelli units to reveal the contents but alas no. If it was just a bunch of 18650 cells in a plastic housing I'd make my own but I believe it's not quite that simple.

I'm tempted by the Marelli battery as well, when I did some digging for info regarding it previously I found there was an OEM charger available more reasonably, also though it seems there are now many other lithium chargers including an Optimate and the CTEK as mentioned but surely pretty much a charger is a charger? The MM blurb regarding battery and charger is here http://www.samautoitalia.com/uploads/magneti.pdf The equivalent to the Banner in size is the MM-ION-15. The Banner sized battery is referred to as a 53034 in battery manufacturers circles although don't assume they are all a standard size they all vary in one or more dimensions. I believe there are some owners who have already fitted them so hopefully they'll be along to post their experiences soon. edit: Reading other forums one tip regarding lithium batteries seems to be that if the battery is cold the output drops off so put the lights on to wake and warm the cells before turning the lights off and starting.

As above, v.interested.

Never tried it on carbon myself but some people used to swear by that 'back to black' stuff normally applied to unpainted plastic bumpers and the like.

That's interesting and perhaps points to the standard arrangement killing the sensor through vibration through its solid mount onto the filter housing or perhaps some kind of liquid hammer at startup whereas a sensor isolated by hose would see less vibration and possibly back drain when not in use.