andy couchman

Power to weight is a good comparator - provided you never add a driver. If you do, light cars suffer more as the driver adds a bigger percentage of the original pure car weight. Autocar once published a letter wot I wrote suggesting PTW should be based on car weight plus fluids and the nominal weight of a driver. Their road tests are also based on two people in the car - hence 7 acceleration figures will usually be quite a lot slower than Caterham's. But yes, more power is always good! Andy

BGH are excellent - Brian built my four speed box, which has Quaife straight cut close ratio gears. Banshee wail on the first three gears (I looooove that sound!) but a very quiet top gear as it is 1:1. Brian can also do a mod that helps lubrication too. Can't quite remember what that is now! I wouldn't entirely rule out the linkage though - any looseness anywhere and you can have gear selection problems. ISTR having something similar so if you can, check it all yourself or maybe get BGH to check it on the car. The more I think about it the more I think it could be this - check the thingy that stops you accidentally getting reverse gear too in case that has worked loose. My first gear is 2.50 to 1 from memory so a standard first gear would easily cope with bigger rolling circumference tyres if you wanted a more relaxed cruising. Acceleration would be affected a bit and things like ride height would change (and the speedo under-read) but this may be an option for touring. Ideally a spare set of rear wheels would be the way to go so you can change back to smaller tyres when you want to go fast rather than tour. Good luck. Andy

Try people like Merlin Motorsport too.

So much for my £8.34 bargain... The boot on my live axled car is so shallow, the washer bottle was too tall. Doh! Have now bought a bag type and the plan is to mount it around the rear suspension strut. Hmmm... Andy

...1.4 litre Lotus kit £8.34 from ebay and seller is in Kent too. I like the idea of boot mounting so guess what the next project is! Andy

As an aside I had to turn down the chance to buy a Lotus XI back in the 90s (didn't have the dosh). Ironically, it was less than you're asking for this rather fine car Stephen. It belonged to a colleague and was the actual car that Westfield used to make the moulds for your car. But the Westfield car is great and looks stunning. Hope the car goes to a good new owner - I'm sure it will give years of great enjoyment and it just looks sooooooooooo good! Andy

I run a Graham Sykes built uprated Ital axle with lightweight rear bracing, Quaife ATB, James Whiting's disc brake conversion with crossdrilled rotors, Rakeway uprated halfshafts, hubs and bearings and Hi Spec handbrake rear calipers and am very pleased with it. When we went disc braked, I also moved to Ford studs and spacing, so run Caterham 6" and 8" (no, not at the same time...) wheels (and ali hubs on the front allow that there too). Only have 150bhp (Crossflow) though so can't comment on reliability with more power than that. My understanding though was that the thing that kills Ital axles is bouncing hard over kerbs e.g. when on circuits? What I like about the Ital is it's lighter than the Ford and is it wider too (can't remember!)? Switching to the Hi Spec calipers also changed the feel of the car for the better and lighter weight on a live axle does seem to benefit handling. That said, I'm not the quickest driver so my comments may be way off! Some of these mods might be an alternative to switching axles but I'd talk to James Whiting and get his views. Not much about these things he doesn't know, and he's a top bloke! Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Andy

If it's not too late can I order a pair too? Thanks. Andy

What's needed is a service where a spare can be shipped to you same day. You wouldn't lose much more time than replacing the spare anyway. In one of our trips abroad, we had one car with two damaged wheels/tyres so even a single spare is not a perfect solution. Anyone offer such a service? Andy

Good point. Modern petrol contains methanol (or is it ethanol?) that can damage rubber, so I guess bits could break up and cause the problem outlined. Modern fuel pipe is often thin plastic stuff that looks very weedy but it might be worth trying replacing the current pipe and see if it makes a difference.

It's OK as long as you don't spend too much time polishing the end of your Bell helmet...

Can't remember if I've asked but I had similar symptoms with my car when new. I had tightened up the nuts holding the carbs on and did them up too tight. I think if you do that, the floats effectively jam and eventually no fuel gets through. Changing to an electric fuel pump may help too and even release a tad more power? Maybe try loosening off all carb bolts and then doing them up again and ensuring each is done up to the right level. Worth a try? Andy

I'd suggest talking to James Whiting. Rakeway did/do uprated halfshaft kits for disc braked cars and ISTR did/do an uprated halfshafts for drum braked cars too. I guess though it's all components that come under stress so James may have a view on that too. Not sure about the Triumphs. From memory the TR7 used a different axle. I used to have a 1500 but that was front wheel drive - so I guess you are looking at the Toledo and small engined Dolomite? Good luck! Andy

Thanks all. Will try that Revilla. Yes Jonathan - while it was on the car - thought I'd wait until the mechanism was off and look at it then. Have now ordered the bit and will fit it before putting the screen back on. And thank you Mr Alston - I promise to fit my windscreen if you'll only use 1st and 2nd gears!! Cheers all. Anduy

...is currently off the car as running with the aeroscreen. Anything I should be doing in terms of maintenance? Also, the self-parking bit has stopped working. Is that an easy fix? Thanks. Andy

Parts arrived (next day) - £3.60 each plus £2.50 postage from norbsa02.freeuk.com. Clip in where the old bulbs were and the new bulbs then click in as usual. 5 minute job. And they work! Very useful to know if your headlamps have the old single internal lug. Thanks again Jonathan! Andy

Thanks Jonathan. Once again I am in your debt! Just phoned the guy, ordered three (one spare...) and they'll be in the post tonight. Looks to be what I need, and will post back when received and fitted. Part number in case anyone else wants them is BP4543AD. Thanks again. Andy

Yes! Exactly like that Jonathan. Andy

My 7 runs with unusual 5 inch headlamps. The bulbs are H4 (clearly marked as such). However the new super duper Phllips H4 bulbs I've bought have a different fitting and don't fit. The new one have three external lugs to locate the bulb. The old ones have an internal single lug. Two Qs - is there a particular type of H4 bulb I need to buy (the ones on the 7 also have '338' marked on them). Or, is it possible to remove the glass bulb bt from its metal surround and swap over that way? Help - I'm confused! Andy

Just done a top end rebuild and the dry sump tank (Titan?) appears to be weaping around its join. Took off the top and it appears round in both top and bottom sections and the big O ring seems intact and everything fits OK. Can't understand why it's leaking - the V shaped metal retainer is fitted OK and done up reasonably tight. Should I tighten it up even tighter, or would that actually make matters worse. Should I replace the O ring (any ideas where to get them from?)? Any suggestions gratefully received. It's not a big leak but you can just feel a bit of oil on the tank. I'd hate to have a crossflow that's going to leak oil... Thanks all. Andy

Excellent - thanks Roger et al. Andy

Pretty certain the gauge sizes are all the same Kingsley. Or you could go all hi-tech and replace the standard gauges with a single unit such as the eye wateringly expensive but nice Stack system. The temperature on a crossflow is recorded in the thermostat housing and, so far as I am aware, the sensrs are usually pretty reliable. I wonder if the thermostat failed? Happened on my crossflow and, if the unit fails, it tends to do so in the closed position so the car overheats quickly. Happened on my car when driving up to Mallory Park on the Fosse Way - no prior warning, just noticed that the temperature gauge kept rising and so had to stop, remove the thermostat and carry on. Not sure how that can be prevented other than keeping a eye on the temperature gauge at all times though. Anyone know how you can tell if a car is overheating - presumably watch out for steam and odd smells, but wouldn't the head gasket usually go before a piston melted? Any racers or engine builders with experience of these things? Andy

What's the current thinking on thermostats? Currently have a 74 degree unit and have drilled one hole in it to allow water to get threough if the thermostat fails. Any better/different ideas? And would you replace the thermostat when doing a head rebuild as a safety precaution? Thanks. Andy

Just to check my understanding Roger... I have a dry sumped crossflow, Can I just delete the block breather piping? My system just has a block breather through the standard pressed steel Ford item and runs a pipe into a catchtank. Never seems to be any oil in there... If so, what's the best way to seal the outlet from the block? Sorry if that's a dumb question! Can I ask a supplementary too? I'm getting a bit of smoke on start-up, which I assume is due to worn valve stem seals (the head runs dual valve springs). Is there a best option or do I just order standard units from somewhere like Burtons. A mate with a Mini (A series) suggested I should get brown seals as that's what they use on Minis and they're much better than thre standard black ones with little metal springs on. I'd never heard of those and don't know if they're avalable for crossflows anyway. And finally, do you recommend any particular head gasket. I run 83.5mm Accralite forged pistons. Thanks for all your input Roger - it's much appreciated by all of us still running the dear old crossflow! Andy

Thanks Elie - yes, just installed! Also run an oil cooler with a stat and have a 7,000 rev limit so 10/40 sounds good. Presumably if the oil tem is too high then run a thicker oil? Thanks. Andy