sparky_spit

I used them for our French summer holiday last year, mentioned Club Triumph, and the price we paid was about £80 return instead of about £140-£150 with DFS. Reasonable times as well, none of this 4am lark.

7163 wrote:  Will there be an American-English interpreter on the 10CR? Hi Joe - looking forward to meeting you guys.  We normally use a guy called Marcus for any translation into English. He's GT6M on here.  ;)

We are booked into the Holiday Inn Singen.  And we got a price that was 47p cheaper than a certain Yorkshireman got.  I don't think he's ever going to speak to me again....

stillnotfinnished wrote:Hi has anyone got a 1500 mk3 spitfire grind camshaft going spare?? ;-) Thanks I've got one but it's not going spare, it's going in my engine.  Have Canley's run out of them?

Yes, the dizzy/oil pump drive bush is out, as are the blanking plugs that give access to the other 2 drillings, through the main gallery, for the front and rear mains.  You do need that long shank drill though, as mentioned above.  About £14 to buy, but I was lucky that I found I had some in a box of old bits I'd bought. They were just long enough to be gripped by about 3/8" in a drill chuck. And I used your tip, Nick, to pull the bush out with studding, nuts and washers.  I'll pull it back in the same way.

When cleaning the block up, I've noticed that nothing I've used, chemical or mechanical, gets the bearing oilways clean enough without using a twist-drill in them  I thought it was all clean but checking with a torch down the oilways I could see "rough" walls to the oilways, which are obviously drilled and should be smooth. Carefully using a 1/4" twist drill a whole load of hard baked-on crud came out, despite already using doubled-up pipecleaners and long twisted bristle brushes along with paraffin. With all the effort I took to enlarge the centre main oilway, I'm glad I noticed this on the others as there must have been quite a reduction in flow as a result.

Because a new nut may have the thread start point at any position in relation to the flats, and it also may be deeper or shallower, in relation to the face of the nut, than the old one.

I like the idea behind this and it does have some good things going for it. It is almost plug and play and does allow any advance curve you want/need.  It's quite cheap and easy to install and, I would think, easy to set-up.  Saves the pain of modifying bob-weights/springs/endstops to get the right advance curve. Downside is that it still incorporates any dizzy drive-chain irregularities and relies on rotor-arm and cap, although Distibutor Doctor and/or Rarebits ones are very good now.  And I can't see that exposed mini-USB socket lasting 5 minutes on a night rally around here even if it is inside the car. I think we need James to buy one and do a back-to-back comparison test schedule against the Megajolt on his car.  He can then do a cost/performance analysis and give a qualified verdict.  It's all for the good of the club James, what do you reckon?  :)

If you have a smartphone you can get an app for that (what can't you get an app for these days?...) - I've got Decibel-O-Meter on my Android and it seems reasonably accurate. And it was free.

We managed to peel our Austrian one off the screen to put in the Renault Flatulence, but the Swiss one (which we didn't need fortunately, as the hire car already had one) broke into a million pieces when the Spitfire's screen went a couple of months ago. So I'd go with Tim's and Colin's suggestions above.

Thread resurrection warning..... It's been 18 months since I did much on the 1500 engine rebuild but now the cold weather is here I've been messing around in the garage a bit more and decided to just get on with it.  I'd left this because I was trying to source a decent quality long shank 5/16" twist drill to open out the centre-main bearing oilway in the block. The oilway is 98mm long horizontally and 56mm upwards, and standard length drills are too short.  I was also putting it off, as the scope to cock this up was considerable and I didn't want to make my re-machined block into scrap. However, yesterday I found some long drills when sorting though a box of old lathe tools I'd bought. All the stuff came from a proper engineer and was top quality. So this morning I did the job. As it turned out it was easy. I even did it with a hand-held electric drill instead of a pillar drill. The existing 1/4" oilway makes a perfect pilot hole for, firstly a 9/32" drill, and then the 5/16" drill, pecking every 1/4" or so and using plenty of lubricant. The depth is marked onto the drill with tape. However, it became clear that the 2 holes were not not aligned correctly from the factory and their junction was offset very slightly from each other.  Also, there is not much material there to allow for any error, so I chickened out and made the final drilled holes at 19/64", just 1/64" smaller than the planned 5/16". I'm happy with that, the junction is now larger and cleaner, and I still have the correct number of holes in the block. Next job is cleaning the block, pulling the distributor drive bush back in (that needed to come out to drill the horizontal oilway) and start building up the crank, rods and pistons into the clean block.

Hmm....this early Thursday start in Jonny-Foreigner Land is going to create a problem for Team Banks.  We were hoping it would be quite a bit later in the morning than 07:00 to 08:45 BST.  

6204 wrote:If you car bottoms out that hard on a rough road I think you will have even more problems!! You haven't seen the roads that CMC use for Friday night-rallies have you?  And yes, I do have more problems... ARB mountings and front turret bottoms are fast becoming consumable items.

I have a very similar problem to you on my Mk3, the damper/shock travel is very small on my AVO's with lowered and uprated springs.  I can see that your mod would work well and certainly give more travel.  I suppose the only reservation would be that if the damper/shock were to bottom out really hard, before the spring bottomed out, the only thing stopping the damper/shock is three 3/16" studs and nuts. Probably not a worry on a race car but might be an issue on a car used on rough roads. I reckon I'd need to make sure the spring bottoms out before the damper/shock does.

Also, from what you said right at the top of this thread, did you set the static ignition timing to the book figure or to the best amount of advance you can without pinking?  This may not be your problem but nowadays, with variable modern fuel octane ratings, Ethanol content, etc, the book figures of 40 years ago are more or less worthless. Your lack of oomph could easily be not enough ignition advance. The only way to get a correct static ignition advance figure these days is to drive it on the road armed with a 5/16" AF spanner and keep advancing the distributor (turn clockwise) until it pinks under load going uphill in 4th at about 30mph. Then back off a bit until it doesn't pink anymore. You need to get to this point before doing any mixture adjustments.  You'll also find that subsequently changing the mixture will alter the timing figure required, which then alters the mixture required, and so on. Eventually you get to an equilibrium where the mixture and timing advance are matched.

It sounds like a good package you are putting together there. You probably already realise that you will only get the best from it by getting the fuelling, and the ignition advance curve correct for the flow, compression and cam characteristics. That means either some dedicated testing and tuning on you part, or getting a pro to do it via a rolling road session(s). Going for mappable ignition would make one part of that process much easier and quicker of course.

Both.  The inside of the tube with the bolt in needs an anti-seize grease, like Copperslip. This isn't a lubricant but is best at maintaining the bolt and tube corrosion free, whereas grease isn't. The tube does not (well, should not) rotate around the bolt as it is clamped tight by the bottom wishbone and therefore does not need lubrication with the bolt or wishbone. If yours has, check that the bolt holes have not worn oval. It's the top hat bushes that rotate around the clamped tube. The top-hat bushes, the outer surface of the tube, and the end washers/shields need grease to lubricate them. Usually the the top hat bushes, when pressed in, do not quite meet and this provides a reservoir of grease if you can get some in there with your little finger.

michael_charlton wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6gBMHUAnI8 ........take the seven..... ??????????  Have you been drinking EP90 again?

TR7 without a doubt. Not only for the sunny twisty bits, but there's nothing to beat a top down Thursday night blast through France.

Doug, what you need is a drug called Prostin. It is derived from goat's semen. Ms Doug and you need to see a doctor. Or a goat.

Looking great Twincarb, and you certainly are making a good job of it. I don't know what you plan for rustproofing the inside of the chassis, but if you are happy that you have finished all the paint on it I'd get it rustproofed now while it's still easily moved about. Waxoyl or Dintrol cavity waxes, suitably thinned and heated, applied with the extn nozzle/lance kit will get into all areas through the holes in chassis, and being able to turn it upside down, and even put it up on its ends, will help enormously in getting thinned wax into and onto every internal surface. If you can get the chassis itself slightly warm with a space heater, even better. Far easier to do it now than when there's running gear, or even a bodyshell, attached.

thescrapman wrote: Or maybe it is, depends on what floats your boat. You here of blokes making use of milking machines....  ??) What a lovely image Colin. Simple tales of simple country folk. Thank you for that. I don't quite fancy my cappuccino any more...

cliftyhanger wrote: Been 3 years in the build so far, engine got bunged into position last weekend, sitting on blocks for checking (ie bonnet etc all fits nicely) and should be making engine mounts next weekend (this one is Gill's birthday plus a uni visit) Looks like the bodywork will get the spraywork done over christmas...... You need to get Big Chris to do your project management for you  :P

Goody wrote:Today I turned 64. Happy Birthday Bill!

ferny wrote:I'm 23. Physical age, maybe... :P