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Post by Penguin45 on Nov 7, 2016 17:45:21 GMT
What a smashing collection of cars. Love the view down the valley - that would have excercised the brakes nicely.
Chris.
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Post by andrewa on Nov 7, 2016 17:56:27 GMT
175/70 R14 for both - difference in feel must be narrower rims on the winter tyres.
Ran 34 front, 32 rear in the end as I do on the "summer" tyres!
Brakes held up v.well - am running silicon fluid and harder pads - they were quite smoky by the end of some of the passes but recovered by magic.
I'm sure some would say in that case you should have tried harder!
Not sure if the other car was an S - he described it as a "Downton Tuned" car but didn't have much chance to chat.
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Post by snoopy11 on Nov 7, 2016 21:55:21 GMT
What brake pads are you using. I'm in need of a bit more stopping power on mine now after the engine 'tweek' |
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Post by andrewa on Nov 7, 2016 22:51:43 GMT
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 8, 2016 0:34:48 GMT
You can't rely on the temperature gauge to give you an accurate reading, so just off N may be correct - or not. Over time the sensor degrades and the bi-metallic "voltage controller" at the rear of the instrument cluster doesn't perform as when new. It will however indicate when the temperature rises and falls. What I believe you really need to do is to establish the actual temperature before making changes.You would expect the temperature to rise a little working hard. The fact that it felt better when the temperature rose could indicate that the thermostat is opening too soon so a winter stat would help. An easy, cheap and reversible test. As you know both ignition timing and mixture affect the running temperatures but I don't think you want to experiment given they have been set up professionally. remember, running too cool increases engine wear but too hot can be catastrophic! regards David Car ran cool so may investigate winter thermostat. Needle just off N range except when working extremely hard when even then barely to middle of N (engine seemed happier at this point btw) |
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Post by andrewa on Nov 8, 2016 6:37:37 GMT
Noted - thanks !
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 10, 2016 2:47:21 GMT
Andrew I have recently been helping friends here with a MGB and a Farina Austin Cambridge. I noticed that the mechanical radiator fans on their cars appear to have far less pitch than that on the crabs. We have now fitted both cars with additional electric fans in front of the radiator, using Toyota and Nissan second hand units to cope with the high temperatures and ever increasing traffic jams. I wonder if your car would benefit from replacing the mechanical fan with an electric one? Given the pitch I imagine it must absorb several BHP at high rpm. There were some electric fan conversions made for the crab in the late 60s but modern units are much more powerful and reliable. There may be something out there that can fit without too much modification. regards David |
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Post by andrewa on Nov 18, 2016 13:24:30 GMT
Achieved a few things this week - without the aid of a cheque book for once!
Have always been convinced the engine was a bit on the tappety side (as regular readers will remember) so now it's well and truly run in I went round the houses double checking what the gap should be. So after long chat with Piper Cams they were adamant that for the cam I've got it should be 14 thou inlet and exhaust - so I did it and it's quiet(ish) and much more sprightly.
Changed thermostat for winter one - temp guage sits just under the middle of the N and again - engine quieter and more responsive (all subjective I know!!).
Then moved onto carbs - when one presses the accelerator these's always been a fair amount of resistance which to be honest I thought was normal. However a few hours of gentle tinkering with the cable and one of the brackets (to allow the throttle cable to "pull" in a staright line) has improved matters no end.
It's not quite knife through butter but it's pretty close.
Engine pinking since last fill up in France but some octane booster has cured that. I'll get her back on the Optimax again soon and see if she can be weaned off the hard stuff.
Other things on the to do list - the chairs in the front of the car were both a bit loose and I'm going to replace the drivers one with something with a bit more supportive and probably ditch the bus steering wheel for something a little smaller - any ideas on which size works best?
I do feel as well I'm pushing my luck a bit using a seat for track days and sprints etc that has no head restraint whatsoever.
Am humming and ha-ing about electric fan - I'm leaning towards the if it ain't broke camp - as well as the fact it's another electric gizmo and probably not as robust as what I've got when it comes to dealing with snow, mud, water. Call me old fashioned...!
Cheers
Andrew
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Post by Nick RS on Nov 18, 2016 18:12:42 GMT
A few years ago I bought some trim and carpets from two brothers in Yorkshire. They showed me their Landcrab which they had rallied in Russia and elsewhere. They thought the standard mech fan and cooling system perfectly good for this and couldn't understand why mine had an electric fan - no need they said. My car also had stupidly heavy steering which wasn't helped by the smaller steering wheel . Don't chuck out the standard one just yet.
Nick
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Post by snoopy11 on Nov 18, 2016 18:52:42 GMT
I have put a wooden mountney steering wheel in mine. More for asthetics than anything else. I also didn't really like the bus sized wheel. I haven't found that a smaller wheel has made a lot of difference in weight of steering.
If you are going on track you may want to check what the race regs will let you get away with.
One issue I had was the new wheel had a different dish than the original throwing the ergonomics out. I had to have a spacer made to bring the wheel back to its original position.
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Post by andrewa on Nov 18, 2016 20:58:00 GMT
Thanks gents - I'll do one thing at a time - seat first and see how it goes before changing the wheel.
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 19, 2016 0:57:23 GMT
Andrey, I suggested the electric fan not as a means of improving the cooling although it undoubtedly does in slow moving traffic but as a means of squeezing a extra BHP or two )posibly more) from the engine at high rpm on track days. They do seem very reliable nowadays but I take your point of keeeping it simple.
regards
David
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Post by andrewa on Nov 19, 2016 7:19:59 GMT
Thanks - appreciate it - you know which buttons to press! Had actually got as far as enquiring of Revotec if they did a kit - and it's only on hold at the mo!
Cheers
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Post by andrewa on Nov 28, 2016 7:20:30 GMT
Went to Historics Auction with the intention of buying many things but prices too strong for me! Here's the link to the page with Mr Sanchez ute www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2016-11-26/cars.aspx?page=13&make=&model=It was knocked down for £18.2 K + buyers premium. A nice 3 litre did well on the next page at just shy of £8k. Mentioned the Ute to a friend in the upmarket classic car trade who thought it was good value at that price. I was slightly surprised to be honest and he pointed out that it's probably one of - if not the best in the world and what price for quality like that. Cheers A |
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 28, 2016 11:58:42 GMT
Thanks for the update, I'm sure many here were curious as to what price it would fetch. You weren't tempted then?  David |
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