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Showing posts from May, 2010

Diving under the bonnet for fun with my horn

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I know, I know, I must stop it with the Carry-on gutter mentality but I watched Carry on at your convenience recently (I'm not really sure why) and it's affected me! I like air horns, the louder the better. There's something fundamental about a car horn that's been lost over the years. I mean nowadays it's a polite little "peep" in a sort of camp "Yoo hoo!" way. Horns should be loud in a sort of "Oy! Get the *$%# out the way!" style, more of a warning device than anything else. So I had been looking out for a nice set of Fiamms or maybe some Maserati air horns but these things don't come up too often, when they do they are expensive. I've had a few bids in recently and been frustrated so I just bought some cheapo air horns off eBay and thought I'd fit them up whilst I keep looking for some nice period ones. So when Tim came over for an afternoon's car fettling he asked what jobs there were to do and, seeing as he could t

What a stud - bigger is better

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Now then, this posting can be read in a serious voice or you can put a Frankie Howerd voice on and insert as much innuendo as you can handle - oooo missus! It's always been a concern of mine that with the Stag brakes (and some spacers to clear the brake drums) my rear wheel studs were not showing through the nuts. I was not hugely concerned because they are long tube nuts and as such there was a lot of thread to them but I always feel more comfortable seeing the stud in the nut. It's always been said that Ford studs would fit and after some consultation with the oracles on the Club Triumph Forum (thanks Andy Thompson et al) it turns out it's Ford RS2000 competition studs that are needed. A trawl around eBay and other sires revealed a huge difference in price for what is a fairly cheap component. In the end I got them from these guys Mtec Racing Services for a very modest £1.40 each. What you need are Ford Wheel Stud 7/16" UNF 55mm long (there are other lengths availab

Big knob bad, small knob good

It's been a while since I did anything frivolous on the PI, mainly because it's been rather annoying in resisting all my attempts to get it running right. You see I made a little mental pact with myself - get it running right, move it towards it's potential. Then, and only then, can you start doing all the other jobs that you have stacked up for it! So it is with some relief that I think I have cracked it this weekend. I have spent two days on the car and been through it step by step. First a bit of history - it was running OK, then it developed a persistent misfire that you would not drive through. At this point everyone will be blaming the PI. I have installed an electronic fuel pressure gauge in the car so I can see when fuel pressure drops. Yes sometime it has occasionally dropped (I have had several pumps on it testing and developing) but the low fuel pressure misfire is very different to an ignition misfire. So I had swapped out plugs, leads, cap, rotor arm and coil f

Epilogue to the event WCR40

Ted Taylor's written a very nice epilogue to the WCR40 show where he name checks those who did so much to help out and make the event a success, read it here Epilogue to the event WCR40 There were so many that make the whole event work and I'm sure we've missed a few out but you know who you are and your time and effort was vital. I would like to say thanks to Ted himself who, through enthusiasm, hard work and perseverance got the job done - we did have a few doom and gloom merchants who told us we would fail and that we should have started 12 months ago etc, etc. It was Ted who didn't listen and just ploughed on. I have to admit, I for one was very worried about letting anyone down, with work and homelife to balance as well as a personal obsession it was always going to be tricky. In the end the cracks didn't show, no one saw the things that went wrong and we all had a good day. So thanks Ted and Team! Now, photos. Please, please, please do make them available to

WORLD CUP RALLY 40th anniversay souvenir programmes

WORLD CUP RALLY 40th anniversay souvenir programme on eBay (end time 30-May-10 11:54:37 BST) For those who couldn't make it to Gaydon last month, the souvenir programme is available for purchase from eBay (and also the 2000 Register club shop). Price is £5.00 including UK postage For overseas buyers please ask for a shipping quote, it will be at cost price. Paypal can be used to complete the purchase. The progamme is a decent read and keep item with a lot of colour and detail. Huge credit to Kevin who put it all together and produced it on time and within budget. This is our main money maker and whilst we don't seek to make big profits we do need to cover our costs. It would be great to get a few quid in the kitty to enable us to consider putting on another Classic Rally cars event sometime in the future. Once again, thanks to all who attended or helped in some way.