A TR7 16V

The bolt is tight, as in won't turn (I didn't try undoing it though) but I can feel both ends moving when I wiggle the bowl. I suspect the rubber betwixt has gone somewhere for a lie down. Graham

It's also been intermittently (when I aren't looking at it) overflowing a bit from the back float chamber top (not pot). So I may have to look at it this weekend; whether doly's fixed or not. Graham  

Not at all sure. But Doly is hors de combat (busted wheel stud and stuck on hub) at the moment, so I ain't tuning nowt I don't have to. But I'll look when it's safer. Thanks. Graham

Doubled post cos of some deadlock error with the server. Like Pope said, "To err is human; to screw up propper takes a computer."

I assume that on a Spitfire IV engine, they'll lose torque and flexibility for, maybe, a small power gain. Graham

Oh well. The pair of 1500 Spitfire carbs on eBay in blackpool probably aren't worth buying to use on my 1300 IV engine, which has twin HS2s, then. Shame, cos the float chamber on the back one wobbles like buggery. Graham

What size SUs were fitted to a 1980 Spitfire 1500? Graham

Well I finally got around to buying thinner door seal rubbers as pointed at in the first post and they fit much, much better than the ones I was first sold. I can now shut both doors properly, down to being able to close them with a shove when there already at the latch. I had the strikers out as far as they would go with the too thick rubbers and they would only shut for a real slam. Whether these new ones are too thin is a question. But it's absolutely clear to me the ones I was sold were too fat. Graham

Well I finally got around to buying thinner door seal rubbers as pointed at in the first post and they fit much, much better than the ones I was first sold. I can now shut both doors properly, down to being able to close them with a shove when there already at the latch. I had the strikers out as far as they would go with the too thick rubbers and they would only shut for a real slam. Whether these new ones are too thin is a question. But it's absolutely clear to me the ones I was sold were too fat. Graham

Ta Rob.

The ignition keeps cutting out, sometimes randomly, but also if I fiddle with the key a bit. So I'm guessing I need a new ignition switch. I see that ANG sell them with and without the barrels. So I assume I can swap the existing lock barrel to a new switch body. Is that right, and if so, hows it come out? Graham

I have one as well as the magneto/mechanical one. Someone on here suggested it as a solution to the one I had being way off. I did ask at the first MOT if the partial reflector stuck on the windscreen would be a problem, but he said it was fine if he could see through it. I replaced the mech one and that reads near enough - a few miles over at nearly all speeds - but I kept the GPS one anyway. Graham

Is  149117 20 splines, like the one in eBay? I was under the impression the ones from the 1360 and earlier 1200/1250s were the same on that score - I see the pun there, but it was accidental. I'll ask the eBay vendor about the bearing shoulder at the flange end though. Graham

What measurement should I ask him to make? As to hole size, if these are small as he says they either fit my outer shaft or I drill them to fit. Graham

Oh. This shaft on eBay may be the thick one I need then after all - I've put the pictures up again one another, and I can't tell for sure. Graham

Are the holes in the flange different sizes between the early and late inner halfshafts? There's a picture here that seems to show they are, and the vendor of the one on eBay implies they are in saying this is an early one.  Graham

The one on eBay's an earlier one that I suspect is too weak for the Spit engine I have in the herald - cos I fitted a 1250 diff and it broke in a couple of weeks. Graham

Pretty sure it's the later, stronger type. Graham

I have a 1970 13/60 diff where one of the inner halfshafts has sheared, but is otherwise repairable. I think this will be part number 149117. Any suggest for where I might find one without disassembling a complete diff to rob it. If that's the way, does anyone have an easy way to spot the later diff from the early ones from pics on eBay? Graham

Perfect. What's the situation with endfloat on that inner axle shaft? There's only about 15-20 thou gap at the mo. Is this a job I need to do fast, before the nuts and caps touch, or can it wait a couple of thousand miles? Graham

How do the flange bolts go into the diff flanges? The garage mechanic has put them in from the outboard, through the shaft flange first and the clearance between nuts and capscrew heads is horribly thin.  He says they don't go in the other way, but pics on line show he's wrong. So what do I tell him to do? Graham

I know, but I have a broken one with an arm the right length and a working one with an arm that's too long and the solution sort of seemed obvious. Actually, what I really want is to fit a late TR7 one with the main/dip, flash and horn switches as well. But I think that might be a bit like hard work. Even the cancelling collar would take work to fit on the shaft. Graham

Has anyone separated the indicator arm from the switch body, or even taken the plastic bit off the end? If so, how's it held in - splines or just glue? Graham

Still, the meter measures the force caused by the magnetic field caused by the current caused by the voltage accross the resitance of meter's coil. So the voltage can only be derived from the measured current, knowing the resistance of the coil. Thus the meter's primary characteristic (of the two) is as an ammeter, which can, secondarily, be used as a voltmeter given that additional information. Since the fuel and temp gauges are near enough right at the moment, it should just be a case of setting the LM317 to give the same voltage as I've got now. But that's ignoring the effective internal resistance of the stabalizer/regulator. I assume the effective resitance of the Smiths electo-thermal thingy's is small in normal operation, or the fuel sender would visibly affect the temperature reading. And I'm assuming that of the LM317 is bog all (though I could probably look that up). But I've been wrong before. Graham

Not all analogue meters are ammeters, just all moving coil and moving magnet galvanometers - its the current through the coil that creates the magnetic field that acts on the magnetic field from the (normally) permanent magnet to cause a torque that is opposed by the spring to give a deflection proportional to the current. Fleming's left Hooke? The distinction seemed important because of the way an ammeter has to be in series with (in this case, above) the sender. But I guess that wasn't as obvious as it might seem to an electronics graduate. And yes, I agree, that seems to be the only earth fault that would give that effect and one more than I thought of on me own. So thanks. But if the fault's not there no more, then maybe the lights are a red herring, and the problem is just in the Smiths electro-thermal voltage stabilizer, which really isn't cool. If the points stuck shut, but were jiggled/jolted loose by the stop and re-start, that would do the same. I should have put the lights back on when I restarted to see if they were connected (as it were). But I didn't. I went off in a huff. So I've ordered an LM317 module - I would have got a fixed 10 volt u7810 one, but the variable one was cheaper. Plus it allows me to calibrate it against the fuel gauge. I'm split between filling the tank and adjusting the voltage till the gauge (another ammeter, i.e. in series above the sender) reads full, or running it till it stops and adjusting till it reads just empty, or doing both and splitting any difference. Personally, I think its more important its right when its empty - and I can drive to the petrol station on the reserve. Graham