Nigel Riches

Nice tin bashing here Guy, I saw your post on the other page we use, and I have a sheet of this stuff in the shed, especially as the starter has started to emit a strange noise on cranking, possibly too late now, more fun and games, I seem to spend more time mucking about sorting things than driving it. Cheers. Nigel.

No Assembly guide back when I bought mine. But these cars have certainly become more complicated. And just as an aside, when I worked at an automotive instrument repair place someone came in for a new speedo cable, which was fried, as he had forgotten to connect the engine earth to the battery, oh dear. Never mind sounds like you are having fun and learning stuff as you go, keep up the good work.

Hi Wayne, I have just had a look at this bracket on my 1982 Caterham, and it is as yours is, but the saw marks have been tidied up, possibly the one you have was original on a Ford, and cut down to replicate the Caterham item.

Another regular cause of failure at the pedal end is over enthusiastic tightening of the bolt through the eye, meaning the end can't pivot around the bolt, therefore bends, and eventually breaks, same for throttle cables.

I pity you people in UK, since moving to NZ i have had three new screens, yes the roads are krap, and never had any problem with the glazing company messing about, I do always remove the screen assembly, and they cut new glass and install to frame, then etch the AS / NZ stds number. I can't understand how something so simple can turn into such a performance, the glass needs replacing, not the frame as well, sounds like a money gouging rort.

Something else to check is the air tightness of all the places where hoses are clamped between the expansion tank and the thermostat housing, including the pipe inside the expansion tank, the end of which should at all times be below water level, if any of these are not fully secure an air leak can prevent the return fluid getting back to the engine. I struggled for quite some time my old tin top with this, replaced all hoses and clamps and problem solved.

Those connectors don't just slide out, there is a "tang" to make sure of this, if you want to remove them you will need to press this, look at the connector image, see the slot on the flat face of the moulding, this is where the tang will be, take a thin piece ot metal and slide it into this slot, there are also tools available for this, but if you are only doing it occasionally a small screwdriver can work, with some jiggery pokery the terminal should be removable now, have fun. Probably easier to follow the words from Wrightpayne.

On a different tack here, I have a L A car with Rose joint diff mounting, There is a quite deep recess in the A frame eye to position the Rose joint, which is held i place by circlips , so to protect the bearing I cut two discs of rubber sheet to form a barrier and stop ingress of contamination, these have worked well over the years. Is it possible to fabricate such things for the bearings on the joints in question here? Nigel.

Try searching on your favourite search engine, Sheet metal edge protection, loads of hits.

Might be a good idea to make sure the mechanism is free, as these gears should be man enough for the job. Otherwise you may be traveling this road again.

Back again Martin. My apologies, I wasn't aware of your previous post on this matter. Bailing out now, hope you get it sorted. Nigel.

Hi Martin, there are various reasons for this situation, some easy and quick to fix, others not so. Start at the easy quick end, have you had a look at the cap on the expansion tank? Is the system set up as a "recovery" system, sounds like it probably has been. So the coolant expelled as the engine heats up, is drawn back as it cools down, hence, expansion system. Now, if the seal in the cap is NFG the required system pressure will force fluid past the seal, so could be as simple as a new cap. You mention it expels more fluid after stopping, probably because the coolant continues too heat up as it draws heat from the engine, thus continuing to expand. So, have a look at the expansion tank cap, or for a few coins, get a new one. This is really at the cheap end of the problem range. And as I have no knowledge of the VX engine have no more detailed info, but, this sort of problem often indicates a failed cylinder head gasket, so hang on for further adventurers in 7 ownership. Nigel.

Trying to get the half shafts out of the axle, but they are not of that idea, various papers advise to use a slide hammer, but don't indicate the thread size for the fitment of the tool to the shaft end, the nut is 15/16, and being a BL car probably a UNC or UNF I don't have a thread gauge up for that size. Any pointers from anyone here, or other information gratefully received, before I have to get animal with it, Cheers. Nigel. OK looks like it's sorted, a quick measure with the verniers, and a count of the turns in half inch of thread and a few minutes in my trusty old Zeus tables, show that a 5/8" UNF thread form is what I have here. So now off to the local nut and bolt merchant for some nuts, washers and a length of threaded rod and a slide hammer will be in my possession. Just need to source a lump of steel for the hammer part. I know a plain rod would work better but that would mean putting a thread on the ends and I don't have that sort of size die nut, so improvisation to the rescue again. Cheers to anyone who may have had a look at this post.

Is the gear selector free to move to all gear positions without the engine running? Does it move fore and aft easily, is there any unusual resistance across the gate? At the left hand side front of the casing towards the top of the casing is a socket head adjusting screw, (approx10mm) if this is out of position it can screw the gear change action big time, particularly if wound in to much, but this is possibly not your problem is, as they often get too free. This screw applies pressure via a spring to the selector rod detent pin holding the gear selector shaft at that position, if that makes sense.

The hydraulic switches are hopeless, replace it with a proper switch, leave the hydraulic thing to bung the hole. something like #10 is the way to go, I have fitted a similar arrangement with a plunger style switch, much more reliable and can be set to activate at various pedal travel., to suit when you want the tailgater to go away.

Bad luck Graham. Am I right in thinking the pin on the switch is in serviceable condition? If so, I think, if this was my car, I would cut the plastic socket holder away from the main part of the connector body where the damaged socket is, so you end up with a slot from the side, then attach the new female connector to the wire and fit this to the pin on the switch, and then refit the connector block to the switch, I know this is bodgery, but a better class of bodgery than the original solder to the pin style. I hope I have described the procedure clearly, it's one thing to have the plan in the head and then try to convey this to someone else in words, bash on, you'll get it sorted.

Not sure of the chassis tubes layout around the exhaust exit area but when I fitted a Raceline 4-1 system I needed to slightly "squeeze" the No.3 pipe, I think it was, to clear a side tube. Admittedly this is on a 1982 car, and there may be some differences in how the chassis frame is made on later cars. Be brave get stuck in, go for it.

I have a pair of these taking up space in the garage, not been on the car for years. How does 40gbp plus post, be warned I am in New Zealand so it will take a couple of weeks to arrive. And I don't know how much the postage will be, at this point. I have been to the post shop, and the postage will be about 25gbp equivalent of $50 nz Let me know if this works for you.

Down in New Zealand, so not local to most people on this site!

Thank you both, Rob I have seen that article about axles but had forgotten about it, cheers for the reminder, most informative. Just got to get the metal now, the people on Fleabay haven't responded to my queries, hmmm, hope they aren't sold now. Cheers. Nigel.

Book marked this company for future adventures in wiring, thanks.

I am on the search for a replacement half shaft for this axle, and through the help of Gary K have a link to a pair on Flea bay, however these are advertised as being from a 1.3L Ital, so, another question now, were there different axle shafts for the various engine outputs? I understand various final drive ratios were available for the different engine outputs, but haven't noticed any mention of variations in half shaft dimensions, other than Marina and Ital have different keyway sizes. I would appreciate any advice on this, before I launch more money into the wallet draining black hole in the garage. Cheers. Nigel. OK, so in the few minutes of trawling through the World Wide Waste of time (not in this case) I have found some interesting stuff, new shafts for sale, however the vague description of " Marina / Ital" doesn't send me a good signal, as these shafts are the same, as far as I can ascertain, except for the keyway width, which could throw it off the pitch. Anyway flog on rewardless. Cheers.

Thanks Gary, I have messaged the vendor. On the trail now, perhaps.

I am trying to source one of these but they seem to be unobtainable these days, any one out there got one lurking under the bench from a Rake way conversion? Any assistance, or pointers, gratefully received, cheers.

I think you have some top quality bodgery here, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to fashion this arrangement, but as you say, it is not as desired. I think you will find the female part is located in position with a small "tang" which pops out from the terminal as it is placed in the housing, these are generally removed by a tubular tool pushed into the housing from the male end, if you follow, this moves the tang back into the female terminal and the wire can be extracted from the rear. The tricky part might be sourcing the connector, and do you have a suitable crimping tool to fix the new terminals to the wires? And of course this not easily done when upside down under the dash, I don't envy you.