dazzer

Hi Glang Thanks for updating on your cooling modifications as well. I swapped the rad out for weight saving on the rally car. 4.6kg the new alloy rad, 10.1kg the old rad which is quite a lump in weight saving terms. Alloy is technically not as efficient thermally  as copper so shouldnt be more effective than the old... fingers crossed Cheers Darren

Long overdue update. I ended up doing several fettling jobs whilst replacing the water pump  but have now tested it and can report back.... i also replaced the rad at the same time which may have also had an effect. Basically it still cools down a little on a run at speed, but not to the same extent. It runs bang on half way on the gauge with reasonable toasty heating and about quarter on the run with the heater blowing warm. Outside temp is 2 degrees. So acceptable for a 2000 in my book. The new rad is a 52 row alloy two large cores deep whereas the previous rad was a square top upgraded 52 row 4 smaller cores deep. One conclusion i have come to is that the standard water pumps are definitely aequate for the job. Ill comment again once ive thrashed it in the summer. Cheers Darren

Thanks Alec I like period touches like that. As a further update I tested the lights last night and luckily living in the sticks 'Up North' was pretty much on my own so plenty of time to fiddle. Whatever is written about lighting there is no comparison to actually getting out and about on country roads with ups, downs corners etc. So the verdict is that with dipped and mains on together there is noticeably more coverage than just mains or dipped which is reassuring when going over the brow of a hill, the dipped illuminates down a little over the dip and also gives general peripheral lighting. I'm using Cibie upgrades on the dipped/main (outers) and all lighting is separately relayed so no problems with current/draw. You can get the same effect on a MK1 (or on mine anyway before the switch and new loom mod) if you pop your mains on and then use the flash, as it lights up dipped as well. Rally escorts used to mod the lighting to bring up dipped and mains together in the day and many moderns keep the dipped and mains on together. My 08 Vectra being one that does. Cheers Dazzer

OK after much phaffing decided to do away with the foot switch and affix a straightforward toggle switch near the steering wheel. For reference and quite conveniently the wires easily re route from the floor up through the column with a little spare for whatever arrangement you prefer. I didn't have the correct switch available this weekend (to enable the dip to be off as the mains come on) however I had a nice 25A long toggle which works but brings up the mains with the dips still on. I'll swap the new switch in this week. Whilst playing with switch positions came up with utilitarian yet really nice switch positions for the main beam and momentary overdrive switch. Not for the purist but position is perfect. Looks a bit mad max meets scrap heap challenge. To achieve this you need to rake through that tin of surplus useless bits you've kept over the years and locate a couple of brackets (mine are from an old seat belt fitting kit) Bolt them together and there you have it.

Just a footnote to this. Do not purchase a modern Lucas 6RA. They look good and thats the only purpose they serve. Find a used example if you want 6RA. My last one was a 1964 article original on my 65 2000. It only finally packed up end of last year. I replaced with a modern Lucas 6RA... first one was dead, replaced with a second... lasted two days. Returned and replaced with a modern durite. Still working perfectly.   Just my experience Cheers Dazzer

Looks like good value. I went for a lightweight mitsubishi/denso version which is big time compared to that.

I started with a 60 amp alt for my 65 2000 rally car. But added heated front and rear screen, twin fans, spots etc and although on paper it about covered it. In practise it didnt. Basically the max output for any alternator is only at the max rpm specified so under different operating conditions you wont be getting 60amps. Even though i didnt have all ancillaries on  it still couldnt supply enough charge to stop discarge ofcthe battery. So i would suggest working out what you require on paper then over spec the alternator amp by at least a third to be safe. I now run a 120 amp alt which is adequate.

Thanks Mike Cheers Darren

Wow Colin are you sure thats not a diagram of a Flux Capacitor! Cheers Darren

Hi All Thank you for taking a look at this. I got quite excited at Davemates suggestion. Unfortunately it doesnt work on my loom in practice anyway i placed a switch between each of the three wires in turn which produced. 1) No change. 2) front dipped and mains out. 3 front dipped and mains out... i know the lighting circuit is all relayed. Perhaps that makes a diffetence? Its a new loom and 4 x relays from Autosparks...

That looks perfect Ted. Ive also got switches either side of the centre console grill. Great period set up. Darren

I suppose just extending the wires and fitting a dash switch would be more straight forward. Looks pretty heavy duty though ... 25 amp +++. Any ideas?

Hi Sparky Spit The light switch is just side lights and dipped seperate on tje dash. There is a dip flash on the indicator stalk and the main beam on/off via a foot switch. Yes you have to check the main beam blue warning light to check if the main beam is on. Problem with the foot switch is that if operating the clutch or braking (its on the clutch side of the footwell) Then the main beam has to stay on until the left foot is free

Ok you electrickery experts. Is it possible to retain the main beam foot switch AKA 2000 mk1 but to add a dash switch so that either/or could be used for the main beam. If so how would the wiring be configured? Dazzer

Ye old Duckhams? Probably just a continued ban on sponsorship funding. Darren