millsn

Looks to me like the bolts you have been using must have bent somewhat in the collision. I'd replace the bolts but the holes look to be shall we say 'locally chamfered'. I don't believe the hole itself is oval as such. I can't see it being an issue, most of the thread depth will be fine

Troy Queef, great name, sounds like something from Sniff petrol

Will Northampton motorsport get involved in shimming the rear axle (toe/camber) and setup for bump steer?

ah, well my zetec hits the underside of the nosecone as things are so perhaps not for me

Engine mount Is anyone using these mounts? Have you noticed any improved nvh?

I once drove from Goodwood to Huntingdon on a battery that wasn't being charged at all. Would be worth checking if your alternator is fried, you should see 13. something volts once the car is running, if not, dead alternator

Having tried it a few times I'm not supportive of the freezer suggestion. By the time you get to fitting the part and having handled it a fair bit it's almost back to room temp at the point of fitting. The heating idea is far better as you can get that much more energy into the part using the bigger temp differential. Don't get me wrong if you have a cryogenic unit hanging around fair enough.

Catch is I'm running a zetec which I imagine would behave differently. Looks like a big thing to have sticking out of your bonnet too. I think the zetec sits further forward than the K which limits the amount of room available. Personally I don't like the airboxes that stick out Formula style. I imagine on a K you would be Direct to head which must free up room.

YHBM

Anyone else following Dave Walkers variable length trumpets? Seems he's able to quickly discern the best length and optimise torque. I'm interested in this as my engine always feels a bit lacking there (ia m picky though). So what difference 10 lbft, is it worth investing? I don't think he maps mbe so I think I'd need to buy a set, can't imagine theyre cheap our permanent either

Local machine mart just dropped avat free leaflet through my door. They'll be holding their event on my birthday. 'Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more!'

Pal used to have a 1700 with 244 cams. It ran fine, wasn't rough at all. It is resolvable

Got it this morning. The couriers must have almost no work at the mo. Everything is arriving almost next day.

I assume you're talking about earthing it to the chassis. If so I have used battery earth leads

Interesting and slightly scary. I've had good service from ctek in the past so I've bought the ctek xs7000 Thanks for the suggestion, given their website prices I'd not have expected to get one so cheaply and it's been despatched already (apparently).

Funny the price at Machine mart is £50 too but I feel quite happy to pay that there. Probably had too many chargers from Halfords that die after a matter of years. Thanks for the suggestion, as ever it (Machine mart) seems so obvious when said

Dad has a garden tractor that periodically needs emergency charging plus a larger 110Ah car battery that the same applies for. He has trickle chargers but just wants something plug and play. Halfords seem to want £50 which sounds like alot of money for this duty. Anyone know of any budget alternatives? Edited by - millsn on 19 Oct 2011 17:08:14

I found that I could attach a plastic pipe directly onto the Ford LSD plastic oil bottle. I could then fill from below. I recall the same trick for filling the gearbox oil. Chances are I used tubing from a fishshop given my hobby.

Given you haven't been on track with it I'd give that a go before looking at mods. You'll be nice and safe at an L7C club day with lots of other 7s esp in the novice section (assuming they still do this). Get some tuition on the day and you'll realise how much your own driving is/isn't limiting you. You'll then have the decision whether to track bias any mods or road bias them. Having been through loads of damper manufacturers products myself I'd steer well clear of this mod at this stage but a high revving engine and great brakes make anyone feel better on a sunny day! Tyres do give you more grip but you also wind up travelling at higher speeds to get there which limits the fun factor on the road. I also like my LSdiff for the drive it gives out of corners where previously I would spin up a wheel, but I suspect it helps to have some reasonable power to use with it first. If you start modifying it's a slippery slope and restraining yourself on spend can be a challenge. Once you start going faster, lots of other things start to need changing and they're not immediately obvious.

Filters will need oiling but first clean them with a brush. K&N do a special spray oil that is pink and is quite satisfying to apply.

I would imagine that you could modify that item to achieve that quite easily, junior hacksaw through one of the webs, bend it toward the pivot and perhaps then weld it once a suitable bend was established

Redline

Gunderson, I have a standard bodied car but it might interest you to know some experience with 17" wheels. I too changed from these to downsize and don't regret it, the car is much more agile but grip I found reduced until the car was also wearing soft tyres. As to the 17" I personally found that until you had gone round at least one corner with them they were a liability. Once done however they were fine. Question for you is, was this the first corner you had gone round (early in your drive perhaps when cold)?

What I can't understand here is how some diffs (I have the ZF from road and race) can be quiet and some noisy. There has to be something wrong with the noisy ones that it must be possible to fix. I would have thought that people in the know are aware from whence the problem arises. Anyone care to comment?

I use two extensions to create a super long extension for a ratchet. You can then access the lowest bolt from the under rear of the car directly. If you use a spanner on the other (front) side of the de dion tube when the nut/bolt inevitably rotates, the spanner will jam against the A frame and allow you to continue freely winding the nut off the bolt. If you have undone the top mount bolt you can then remove it and draw away the damper under the car. Obviously the car chassis needs to be on axle stands to get the weight off the suspension.