Nick

Simonray, I cannot remember the conversation we had exactly, but think I have got the gist of it right. I expressed (layman's) doubt at the time but he maintained that things are not always as straightforward as the laybod might think. I have heard the same re neck braces, ie that C1 and C2 can be more susceptible to fracture. No doubt circumstances vary and all you can do is go for the most embracing option.

I know a neuro surgeon and we chatted about helmets once. He believes they are not necessarily beneficial in all circumstances; if you have a 'minor' bike accident, a helmet will undoubtedly save your face and jaw, as well as help prevent a headache. He believes, however, that there is a point at which you may be better off without a crash helmet; if the impact is severe, an unprotected head suffers extensive but localised damage; this is either fatal, or requires surgery and rehabilitation. In the case of the latter, he says localised injuries can be treated with a good degree of success. Part of a crash helmets function is to spread the force of impact. The same impact as above, on a helmetted head can result in the entire brain being damaged as it is 'rattled' within the skull; the victim is reduced to a vegatative state. He advocated wearing a crash helmet and explained the above merely as a point of interest - that in some situations the very nature of a crash helmet's function can result in greater injury. Had it not come from a neuro surgeon I might poopoo it!

I wheel this one out every so often, courtesy of Peter Boegli on alt.cars.lotus June 1999: I recall having been to the Porsche Test Centre in Weissach some 25 years ago. There I saw them taking performance figures of _every_ new engine for the 911 on a number of test benches. That meant screaming 7000 RpM under full load and for about a minute. Compare that to what many manufacturers (including Porsche) ask you to do during the running-in period! I then asked one of the engineers about the discrepancy in attitude. This was his answer, which seems to be general enough to be still valid today and for different brands of engines: The main area of concern in a brand new engine is the cylinder walls, i.e. their initial roughness, which reduces the effective area of contact between piston and cylinder. As a consequence the thermal combustion energy (the part which is not transformed into mechanical energy) will not flow through piston --> cylinder wall --> water as efficiently as required. If you keep the period of high power output short enough, i.e. a minute or so, no harm will be done, because you just accumulate the heat in the piston. It is imperative though to give the engine a longer period of light load and of low speed to cool down again. Because most car manufacturers feel that their customers would not stick to the "one minute max" rule and get carried away chasing fully run-in Mercedes on the Autobahn they set up the restrictive running-in rules. After all they want to avoid warranty claims. Lubrication is less of a problem, according to this engineer: The cylinder wall roughness is in fact good, because it collects more oil. Pressure lubricated bearings in general have no metal-to-metal contact once the oil reaches them with sufficient pressure. This again requires that the oil has reached operating temperature. So this is what I did running-in a number of Lotus Twin Cam engines, up to now with no apparent defects: Always warm up the engine before going over 3000-4000 Rpm. This takes 5 Miles on a hot summer day to 12 Miles in winter. The water temperature gauge is a bad indicator, as the water heats up more rapidly than the oil. It's an oil thermometer that you need if you want to be sure. During the first 500 Miles use the car lightly, i.e. stay in lowish engine speed ranges for most of the time. A _burst_ of speed will not harm the engine, provided that it is short. During the following 500 miles gradually extend the "bursts". E.g. accelerating through all gears up to - well what's the speed limit in GB - seems fair enough to me. Then hold the speed and let the engine dissipate the heat. In general use the gearbox and use the engine, but don't get carried away demanding high stress levels for prolonged periods.

Mike - ROFLLAAB with a BWAHAHAHAHA as well! teeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gifteeth.gif

A friend has used an Optimate on his bike for a couple of years and swears by it. Simon's idea sounds good though - how does the immobilser arm itself when current is resumed? Is it by arming it prior to cutting the current, or does it automatically arm if the current is cut and then restored? Cheers, Nick

ROFL! smile.gif Edited by - Nick on 17 Nov 2000 09:53:03

Over at the Buzzez forum there's a competition to design a 'virtual' car for 1000UKP for fastest standing 1/4 and top speed. The only entrant so far is: 1985 B, Nissan 300zx Twin Turbo. Availiable in Autrotrader for £550. 200bhp, 227 ft-lbs torque, 137mph, 0-60 7.1, 1/4 15.8 seconds.. Reference = http://www.z31.net/index.html Tune and Nitrous for the other £450. £1000 high speed monster, approx 250 - 300 bhp and will last for about 10 miles!. I reckon top end would be close to 150mph and 1/4 mile down to...14 ish.... Game on!

Thanks Pierre - I still look forward to the photographs though, so happy scanning! smile.gif Nick

Pierre - could you post (or e-mail) some photographs of the sensor and magnet please? Thanks! Nick

Steve, a friend bought and sold a secondhand 7 through Classic Carriage, hassle free and quickly too as I recall. I think though that Derek is only interested in very good condition 7s - I'm not saying yours isn't of course!

Pierre - the copper bracket stays in place because of its shape - try experimenting with a bit of plastic plumbing tubing, with a diameter of about 2cm. Cut a bit about 3 cm long. Make a lenghtways cut to 'open up the tube'. Bend one edge back, making a flat - so that from 'end on' the shape is like a question mark. The flat bit goes between the scuttle and dash. The curved bit curves around the scuttle, and the computer bracket attaches to that. For added stability, a bit of glue can be used to hold the copper tube in place. As I say, its easier to experiment with plastic tubing, then get the saw and file out and attack a bit of copper tubing. Please let me know if you want a better description of what I've done - though note that I'll be out most of this weekend. All the best Nick

The Sigma BC1200 always shows current speed (up to 183 mph); it can also display: - time - distance logs up to 99,999 km or miles - trip distance - travelling time with auto stop/start function (ie it stops recording the time when the vehicle stops) - max speed - average speed - comparison between current and average speed - 2 odometer logs: handy for different sized wheels, though I use one to show road miles, the other to show track miles. - total distance (adds the 2 logs) - total travelling time So, travelling time is the closest that comes to it on the BC1200, though the BC1400 does more. There again, timing's a no-no at trackdays and the use of this sort of thing could result in a year or two of insurance sanctions of some sort.

My fridge has the rather dull number of X-BG400843568-RG4-52 whilst a friend's has the much punchier YTP84R/H37344289590-YY. Does anybody have contact details of the central registration authority, or know how we go about exchanging numbers? My friend is happy to do a straight swap as he doesn't realise how cool it is to have a personalised number on his fridge.

I gather that there are Minilites... ...and there are Minilites. I haven't weighed mine but a friend weighed his and I thought he said they weighed 5 kg each; I don't know what tyres weigh.

kjh

dfg

" Edited by - Nick on 29 Oct 2000 10:52:48

What sealant? I used petrol for silicone adhesive which softened it, and I then scraped it off with a plastic spatula scraper thingy for defrosting freezers.

Pierre - thank you for comments! Let us know how the tyres work out. Actually, let us know how much you are quoted before you go ahead, though I should imagine George Polley will be your best bet, though Easytrack are worth a try as they may be able to courier them to you cheaper. As you may well have gleaned, my technical knowledge is near to zero; people like Mike Bees and Peter Carmichael have been very helpful to me, so all I am trying to do is offer whatever ever so 'umble help I can! smile.gif All the best, Nick

S*d heat guns! I stuck mine in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes and they come out nice and soft and can easily be bent to shape. I bent them back further so that instead of resting on the paintwork, the ends rest on the vinyl trim - thus you don't need those rubber bits, and the extra bend increases the angle of dangle so they do actually work better. They're still hard work though, but it's worth a go.

Dave - I've passed the message on, though I think the tyres may have gone now anyway. Cheers Nick

sad.gif !

Pierre - I've e-mailed a friend who has 4 brand new AO32R 185 x 60 13" sitting in his garage, to see if he can send them to you. What region of France are you in? He may also have some AO21Rs, I'm not sure. Mobil 1 swap sounds good!! teeth.gif Nick Edited by - Nick on 27 Oct 2000 17:43:47

Chris, Simon's and Ray's suggestions sound good; I visited Paul Harvey when he was working on the Blackbird and one of the cars had paddle shifts with a gizmo for clutchless shifts. Please post your findings, as I would be interested. Happy hunting!