steve_d

If you want to very accurately find TDC then take an old spark plug and smash out the centre. Fit a bolt or piece of threaded rod through with a nut either side so that you can adjust how much pokes down into the cylinder. Make the end of the rod nice and rounded. Fit into the spark plug hole. Very gently rotate the engine until the piston reaches your stop. Mark the front pulley at the timing pointer. Rotate the engine the other way until it again reaches your stop. Mark the pulley. True TDC is half way between your marks. If your stop is too long the marks you make will be a long way apart and make life difficult so adjust the length of your stop so the piston gets nice and close to the top of its travel. Steve

See no reason why not. It will only breath as much as it needs which begs the next question Why not fit a whole 4.0 and not just the top bits? You know you want to. Steve

Thanks Al, will most likely take you up on that even if we only come over to have a look and pick your brains. Am in the process of putting a business in place and we know we will need to make up roll bars and roll cages for some customers. As well as asking which is the best has anyone got one to sell? Steve

Ouch... I have one laying on the floor in my garage. I'm not helping am I? Steve

Have been back through many posts and can find plenty of info about making cages and light reference to the bender used but from all this have come away with only the following.... JD2 Model 3 Tubela H3PR I will not be using this very often so doubt I can justify hydraulic which leaves the JD2. Is this really the only logical choice or are there others I should consider? Any suggestions of the best place to buy? Many thanks Steve

You would need to transfer the whole EFI loom and ECU along with the 4.2 as flapper and hotwire are wired differently. I believe here is a resistor (Green) that can be fitted into the hotwire loom that tells the ECU there are no cats. Or you could fit MegaSquirt. Steve

What year?, What engine? Down the back of the engine are two hoses going into the bulkhead. They may have exaggerated 'U' bends in them depending on model/engine. When the engine is hot both these pipes should be hot as the heater is effectively on all the time having no water control valve. If they are hot the problem is in the control flaps of the heater. If they are cold or one is colder than the other then you either have a blockage or an air lock. There will be a join in both of the pipes so open one of those joins and see if you can get a flow. You could remove both and stick a garden hose and see if you can flush it through. The other problem is likely to be the control flaps which are buried deep in the dash. may also be worth checking the vacuum connections are in place and connected. These go from the manifold down to a plastic sphere behind the nearside headlight and from there back and through the bulkhead to the heater. The heater control flaps are moved by this vacuum. Steve

What voltage have you on the relay? First you are aware that MS earths the relay rather than power it. At the relay you should have a permanent live to pin 30 Pump connected to pin 87 Ignition switched live to pin 86 MS (on my MS pin 37) connected to pin 85 Sometimes 85 and 86 are swapped over as it does not matter. Steve

My Dakar kit conversion of a RRC has a plywood bench seat in the rear and lap straps so.... * The lap strap will be fine. * The seat, in your case, will need to be doubly strong and secure given that it will be taking a crash load rather than a seat belt. * The seat belt anchorage needs to pick up off the chassis if possible. The SVA man was very careful to check this and even asked me to add additional strength. Steve

Some people do have trouble sucking hard enough to move a dizzy, me included, so I use a syringe which works very well. You need to find the correct timing setting for your engine because there is quite a range of settings for different engines. Steve

You won't get away with this on a CV because of all the movement but you can fix a split TRE gaiter with superglue as it loves rubber. Have to get it very clean and degreased but it works well. Steve

Tanks for your type of vehicle will either need a sump + baffles so that it will always pick up. Or A more normal tank supplying a surge /swirl pot with the HP pump below that. Or A tall, possibly cylindrical, tank that will be less susceptible to surge or high angles. Then I had a thought...What about an alloy beer keg? They hold 9 gallons. Steve ETA or a gas cylinder.

These shots show the trigger wheel and sensor plus brackets. The wheel is the Ford pressed steel jobbie. You just dismantle the pulley and trap it in between. It is quite simple to get running true as you can make some spacers to go around the outside of the damper to hold it true whilst you tighten. I then filled between damper and trigger with polysulphide so that stones and mud cannot get trapped and bend the sensor. You can cut back the filler so you can still see the timing marks. The coil packs won’t fit above the water pump as they do on the non-serp so I had to move them over. The mount is two Ford mounts welded together with an extra piece of angle iron across the front and drilled to suit the bolts through the engine casting. At the back the mount is secured to the engine lifting eye with a very large washer. You can also see the dizzy replaced by a turned ali bung. Steve

Hello Jo,n welcome back. I have no idea who you are but have to ask......Where have you been and why? Unless that's a sensitive subject. Steve

Have some pics but I'm having issues with my gallery. Can anyone else see them? Will have to load them to a picture host then link them but have other things to do at the moment..laters. Steve

I have the 3.9 serp and the Ford pressed steel trigger wheel fitted perfectly. Also had to come up with a new position for the coils. Dizzy can be binned and replaced with a turned plug. Can do some pics if you need them. Steve

Seems to also perfectly fit symptom 4 on the Carelect list of ECU faults. Have used these guys myself and was impressed by both the price and speed of turnaround. I got my ECU back almost by return post. They will test and repair but also upgrade at no additional cost. The upgrade is almost the equivalent of 'chipping' although this ECU does not have a chip as such. I believe they change some resistor values etc. Steve

At least it may stop them doing the job with pop rivets, chicken wire and GF. Steve

You do not want to use a leisure battery for starting. Steve

Fuel pump gets my vote. Not easy to test as the ecu controls when it is on and your fault is intermittent. I would run a wire to the fuel pump (or connect at the relay) and put a cigar lighter plug on the end. Next time the fault happens plug it in and listen under the back to see if the pump is running. In the 8 years I've had a RRC it has gotten through 2 fuel pumps. Steve

As above if coming into Portsmouth or Southampton. The ferry company will pull you off the ferry then I can come down with a rope and pull you back to my place just north of Portsmouth. Steve

If you go onto Rimmers web site and look for distributor you will find a dozen or more 35DLM8 variants for different engine sizes, manual, auto and compressions. They will each have different mechanical timing and possibly different vacuum timing as well so it is important to fit the right one. Both the ones you mentioned are listed. Steve

An impact driver causes a banging motion along the axis to drive a drill bit into a wall. An impact wrench causes a rotary banging motion to tighten or loosen nuts. The fact you are asking about socket adaptors leads me to think you need an impact wrench. An impact driver will not do the job. Steve

They weren't fussed about the hammering...it was the swearing. Steve

If possible keep the vehicle at home. That way they can't just ship it off to the salvager without you knowing or getting a chance to negotiate buying it from them. After my son crashed his pug 306 we bought the wreck and I put some second hand panels on it. It is now my daily driver and we are both quids in. It did not need a VIC only an MOT for the insurance companies benefit. As has been said you need to convince yourself there is no significant damage hidden away somewhere. Make sure the shut lines are correct on all doors and that they all operate correctly. Steve