ashaughnessy

But when you connected the 1.6 litre petrol engine up to the water wheel and tried to oppose the water wheel, it will burn out it's clutch trying to apply enough engine speed to stop the water wheel. Doesn't a tractor or similar device need to be able to produce prodigious torque at very low engine speeds in order to get the load started?

Forgive me for hijacking this thread but I'm fascinated by the tractor-related portions of it. What are the characteristics of a tractor (it's engine, transmission, etc) that make it able to pull in the way it does and why can't a high powered/high revving petrol engined car do the same? When you look at tractors the engines don't seem so big so where do they get the pull? Of particular interest: What do the power/torque curves look like compared to a typical car? What size engines do tractors and similar vehicles (e.g. lorries) tend to have? What gearing is used to convert the engine torque to a force between tyre and ground? I'm presuming one of the major reasons why a tractor can pull is clutch and transmission strength. A high revving petrol engined car would burn out it's clutch trying to move a heavy load from a standstill. Yours in schoolboy-style anticipation - Anthony

I found some slight play on the support strut for the wing and was able to insert a small washer between the strut and the side chassis member. The washer is probably only a couple of mm thick but it raised the wing by much more and cured the problem. The washer is still there after over ten years. It was just shoved in place and stays there through pressure and probably some corrosion. Anthony

Each time you polish you remove some metal from the body, therefore making your car lighter and faster. Therefore all bare ali cars are faster and handle better than painted cars. It's a well known fact. A full polish usually takes me about two hours if I get a move on. For that reason, it gets about one full polish a year and the rest of the year it gradually reverts to dullness. Over the years (mine is now 18!) corrosion and pitting set in so that the ali is permanently marked all over, like bad acne. I don't mind this too much and think of it as patina. Overall, it still comes up in a fantastic shine when polished. Anthony

I've just put up with this in the past. Now I think about it it is more worrying, due to the possible effects of the fluid on any paintwork it splashes onto. I don't have an answer for you though. Anthony

My 2 inch 6 point harness has been in the car for at least six years now, maybe more like 8. Do these things go out of date for racing purposes? I haven't raced for three or four years and I don't know if I start again next year whether the scrutineers will reject them as being too old. The blue book doesn't say much about this. They're still in good nick otherwise. Anthony

I think if you search you will find several old threads describing this. I have fitted such a system to my crossflow. I used a kit that I bought from Roger King at the Sevens Workshop. It consisted of a new thermostat housing (from a Fiesta, I think) which doesn't have a filler cap on it, and a pressurised plastic expansion/filler tank (don't know what from), plus hoses. You simply replace the old thermostat housing (which has the filler cap on it) with the new one, install the plastic tank in a convenient place, and route the new hoses appropriately. This sounds easy but can be more complicated in a few ways: 1) I needed to make my own bracket for the plastic expansion tank as the kit didn't come with one. I just used some aluminium strip bent and drilled but the bracket design will depend on where you put the tank. 2) The plastic tank needs to be at the highest point in the system. I put it where the heater used to go (I am heaterless) which is also convenient for filling. 3) If you have a heater I think it is still straightforward but I can't advise because I don't have one. Advantages so far are that although I still have to top up the water I don't have to do it as much and the consequences of losing water are less serious. Before, I used to lose a lot of water and eventually you'd lose so much that the system didn't seem to work properly (perhaps because the fan sensor wasn't properly immersed???) and with more chance of airlocks. Now it doesn't lose so much and every part of the engine is always covered in water because the expansion tank is the highest point. Also, it is easier to fill up the water. I had quite a bit of trouble before with water loss and overheating and now I have no trouble at all (though I still have to top the water up regularly). Disadvantages - none (that I can think of) Anthony

I've got a pair of those fairly nasty head restraint brackets from Caterham attached to my FIA roll over bar. They're a bit home-made looking, especially as they come without padding and I've had to add my own. I've got an old fashioned bench seat arrangement (1987 live axle long cockpit car) though I've replaced the drivers seat with a fibreglass job which is now in need of replacement as well. What would people recommend as a cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing head-restraint? I could replace both driver and passenger seats with something more up to date but something like S-type seats would cost a fortune. Thanks Anthony

I did this a while ago. The temperature will certainly get up towards 100 when sitting in a traffic jam but will be controlled by the fan. The problem with the previous system was loss of water which might have exposed the thermostat, the new system doesn't let this happen. I still have to top up the header tank regularly but as it's the highest point (at least in my installation) I feel happier that there is no air anywhere in the system. Anthony

Toni, I'm in Burley in Wharfedale, on the Leeds side of Ilkley. I tried to reply to the email you sent me but it bounced back. Anthony

I already have a folding engine crane which I will happily lend people for a small NTL donation - lendee collects. I'm in West Yorkshire, between Leeds and Ilkley. Anthony

I had the same problem on first spinning up my rebuilt xflow. I took the side cover plate off the oil pump to expose the pump rotor and squirted oil in until it made a mess, put the cover back on and everything was then fine. In other words, I wasn't aiming it scientifically at a particular point, I just hoped that by squirting enough oil into the side of the pump, enough would get to the places that needed it to make the pump push/pull effectively instead of sucking air. I also made sure my oil filter was filled. Anthony

Even after the breather modification already mentioned (routing the breather to the rocker cover) my supersprint engine used to spit out a litre of oil into the catch tank after some hard track use (i.e. a litre after about a dozen laps). My engine could also be seen to be breathing like a climber trying to summit everest. After a rebuild with forged pistons it breathes very little and after the first thousand miles I haven't had any oil at all in the catch tank, though I haven't done any track work yet. Before the rebuild, in standard 1700 supersprint guise, it had a power peak at about 5900 and at about 6300 it started to feel and sound distinctly rough so I used to change gear at about 6000 (maybe 6200 if the red mist came down). After the rebuild I can now go up to 7000 and it feels wonderful. The builder reckons maybe 7200 as the red line but I haven't tried that yet. Anthony

I get the same noise from my A021R tyres. It does sound just like a bicycle with a heavy tyre tread. Anthony

My ital diff has done nearly fifty thousand miles in the sixteen year life of the car with no attention (other than oil levels) and is one of the few original bits left on the car. My engine is a crossflow supersprint and I've done plenty of track mileage. This doesn't prove anything but is just another data point to consider. You hear a lot on blatchat about common weaknesses and although the ital axle often gets cited as a weak point it isn't usually the diff that is being referred to (I don't think). Anthony

Last time I got some from Caterham they were made by Mintex. They usually recommend Mintex 1144 for the fronts but "standard" for the rears (i.e. not 1144) but I can't remember the code. If you buy them from Caterham you should get a suitable set. Anthony

Roger King can supply a complete kit (including instructions) to convert to a fully sealed system (though it doesn't contain any kind of bracket to mount the header tank). If you don't want to convert and just want a new pressure cap for your current system Redline can supply you with the correct one. I converted to the fully sealed system and it was an easy job. Anthony

My speedo isn't working. I have done the following checks: 1) Unscrewed cable from back of speedo, jacked up rear, driven the wheels on the engine, checked to see if the square inner cable was rotating - it wasn't. 2) Removed cable from gear box and gave visual inspection, looked OK. Replaced. Still didn't work (did check 1 again) 3) With cable attached to gearbox but disconnected from speedo, I couldn't turn the square inner cable by hand. With cable disconnected at both ends, I could turn the inner cable by hand (though note, in this case I was turning the inner cable at the gearbox end) The gearbox is a four speed. There is no right angle drive, the cable goes straight onto the box. The possible diagnoses seem to be: 1) The drive inside the gearbox is broken in some way. Is this likely and how is it fixed? 2) The cable is broken. It could possibly be snapped in the middle - the top section could be seized but the bottom section free. To check this I should disconnect it from both ends again and see if I can turn the top section. I only thought of this after I'd put it all back together again (damn!). I'm hoping for diagnosis 2, which I will need to check next weekend, but just in case it isn't what about diagnosis 1 ? Thanks Anthony

Steve, I got my engine rebuilt by Dave Brooks Engines of Crewe, so far its cost me about £3500. Can't say anything about the performance yet as it's only just started running. Anthony

They all do that. Its a question of "how much" though. The oil filler cap has a vent built in to allow for breathing, and that's where it will come from if you don't have a separate breather. The older they get, the more they will breathe. Eventually, you will lose a lot of power this way and will need a rebuild, but breathing isn't a sign of imminent failure, it is just the way they are. How many miles has it done? Is it in standard tune with the standard pistons? Some people will say they only last 20,000 miles before needing a rebuild, others have engine that have gone for 45,000 before a rebuild. (Mine's just been rebuilt after 45,000 miles, but it was breathing very heavily indeed). Anthony

I rang Banner to find my local stockist, they pointed me to a motor factors in Bradford. They had to order the battery as they rarely sell them but it was very cheap (£30 plus or minus) and was ready to run. £50 or £60 is definitely being taken for a ride. Anthony

The standard pistons are often quoted as a weakness. They are cast pistons from a 1300cc engine, I believe. Mine went for 45,000 miles before I got a rebuild. If you change pistons on a 34,000 mile engine and the bore is worn and needs a rebore, you may not be able to get cast pistons to fit and so you will need to get forged pistons to fit the new bore size. It's likely that a 34k engine would be tired but could do another 10,000 miles before it gives up but your mileage may vary (a very apt saying, in this case ) Cold starting - it depends on how long the car's been stood since it was last started. The petrol disappears out of the weber carbs gradually. You need to crank the engine until the float chambers are full again. Crank until it coughs on its own, then give it gentle stabs on the throttle until it catches. If you've got an electric fuel pump you probably won't have this problem. Otherwise, if its been sitting for a week, it can take a long time cranking before it coughs. Keep the battery well charged. Anthony

Can anyone tell me what's involved in replacing the rear oil seal on a 4 speed gearbox in a live axle car, please? The seal that seals the hole where the propshaft goes in. Thanks in advance. Anthony

The cooling system arrangement you have (with the thing that looks like a catch tank) does seem to lose water such that you have to top it up regularly. I think the same goes for most cars with this type of arrangement. Certainly my crossflow did it before I changed to a sealed system and my nissan micra does it. I don't know where the water goes but it does go. It can cause a problem in a seven if you drive it very hard (i.e. on the track) because you might end up losing enough water to cause it to overheat. Roger King recommends changing to the sealed system for this reason and it is a simple enough conversion. Don't know the answer to your second question but I'll be very interested to hear an explanation because we used to have a 2 litre Capri (pinto engine) that did exactly the same and we never figured out why. When you started from cold it would go right up towards the red then back down and stabilise at normal. It never seemed to cause a problem otherwise. Worrying though. My Seven has never behaved this way though. Anthony

I'd agree with both the previous posters, having had more than my fair share of battery and starting trouble. Cheap jump leads get hot enough to melt the insulation, and must have so much resistance that they're useless. A duff battery will give the symptoms you mention and it will be impossible to jump if you have cheap jump leads. You should be able to judge the state of the battery by testing it's voltage but I don't know what the relevant figures are. I'd suggest a new battery and better jump leads. Anthony