MadaboutKitcars

Well I Tried all day yesterday to stop my leak and failed miserably so I am now reverting to plan A or was it B? separate oil and temp gauges. and it worked no leaks so I now have an almost brand new Smiths dual gauge for sale £50 plus postage if anyone's interested?

Hold that sale after trawling the interweb for all of five minutes I found a company that sells adapters for the gauge Holden Vintage & Classics for about £7 plus vat and p&p back to plan C.

The internet is great for stuff like that. It is the electronic version of snuffling through benches and shelves full of 'stuff' and an old autojumble and finding just the thing you need.

Unfortunatly it can be just as frustrating when you know what you need but not the name for it or quite how to describe it. Even more so when you are not restoring an original but trying to modify it into something new.

I had loads of fun trying to use various motor factors websites which demand I enter my registration so they can find the right parts for my model. None in Stock is the answer to every subsequent request. I have copied the reg plate from a Z3 down the road and use that now. Still didn't work when fitting a 325 inlet onto a 328 engine but you can't win every time.

Anyway, glad you had success finding the part

I know exactly what you mean and it gets even worst a few years down the road when you need to remember what bits you used!

my adapter arrived today I eventually bought one from Moss Europe.
all nicely fitted with no leaks and my dual gauge back where it belongs.
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I was then able to start her up runs fine if a little bit lumpy but what would you expect from a pair of carbs that have been in the back of the garage for ten years or so? I will either rebuild these carbs or if I can find a suitable manifold (cheap) I have a Weber 32/36 I could use (much easier to setup than a pair of SU's)

Spitfire IV Tacho

Ha ha, the Spitfire tacho in my Marlin looks looks that on cold mornings!

My garage is a tin box and can get a little damp condensation etc.

My powervamp battery is now installed and tested I was a little bit worried about it as it is only 20 amp, but it spins the engine and starts up fine even with my doggy carbs.
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The bulkhead was a bit high so I made some card templates off the body and cut the ally to fit [the body is in a lockup about 1/2 mile away good exercise for me apparently yuk!)
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the body should sit on it nicely now?
I have decided to re-modify the roll over hoops again they are too upright and there will be a big gap between them and the bulkhead and it don't look right of course I'll then have to change the seats as well to get a better seating position I'll get it right one day.
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Doggy carbs? Do you find they run a bit... ruff?

Just a little

Indicators

Yesterday my new indicator switch arrived off a LHD car but fits and works fine. So today I decided to sort out the auto cancelling. I am using a aftermarket steering wheel and boss there are no lugs on it for the auto cancelling hmmm.
I drilled two 3mm holes
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and then made two lugs also with 3mm holes drilled into them
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these will then be held in place spring with roll pins and pu adhesive or similar and will look like this when finished
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PS I just found a tiny leek from my brake master cylinder

I made this steering column cowl yesterday I will probably paint it black tp match the dash?
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The next job will be my leaking brake master cylinder I can't decide weather to rebuild or replace £10 or£70 Hmmm? I've never had much luck with the rebuild kits? I am planning on going to the Malvern Auto jumble tomorrow maybe I'll find a cheap replacement.

Well I never made it too Malvern (rubbish weather I stayed in bed) so I sent for a new master cylinder which should arrive tomorrow I'll get it sorted this week end. Not much happening then until after Xmas life keeps getting in the way??

I managed to get a bit of work done this weekend I have started on the engine bay panels a bit fiddly to bend as the main panel is big and awkward they will need to be easily removable to access the engine I am aiming for seven bolts? I am hoping to incorporate the inner wing arches into them but if that don't work I will have to make glass arches fixed to the bonnet that close down on to the lip of the engine bay panels? If anyone any other Ideas please let me know.

Thanks

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The steering cowl has now been painted and fitted not too bad?
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I have also started on the N/S engine panel come wheel arch unfortunately the 15" wheels are now fouling the back of the panel (I knew that would happen honest!) So a new job on my list is to make and fit some sliding stops to the steering rack.
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If you decide to fit them to the bonnet, GRP trailer mudguards are a good starting point.

Regards, Mick

Agreed I have also been looking out for some used 7 type wings

well with Christmas done and dusted I managed to get a few hours on the car this weekend. I made some new sliding lock's for the steering rack the original one's I fitted were 7\8" long the new one's are 1 7\8" long as you can see from the photos.
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to make this upgrade you will need 1" OD tube with a 3mm wall thickness and cut to what ever length you require.
I also painted the engine bay panels whilst they are off.
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next job um ?? thinking about it.
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The the rack mods see to have worked well.
I have made a pair of rad air deflectors I have made them oversize for now and will be cut to the correct size when the bonnet is fitted.
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Now for the bad news I overhauled the twin SU's with all new gaskets and jets getting rid of the wax stat jets in the process and sorted out a sticking piston put it all back together and it still runs very rough, stripped it down again in situ found that one of the jets is not re seating after the choke is pulled couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried. Any ideas anyone???

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I have got another set of SU's but I'll have to swap all of the new gaskets and jets over to them and hope they work better.

I wish I had budgeted for a weber doh!

My first suggestions would be to check for a bent needle (roll it on a flat surface) or a bent/misaligned linkage under either carb.

Thanks Ian I'll check them tomorrow probably the linkage, needles should be ok as the pistons are dropping cleanly.

A side draught weber is a thing of beauty, but 100 times harder than SUs to set up!

I know and soooo expensive with the manifold as well.

Well I've tried for two days now to sort out my SU's tried another pair of carbs sorted out the linkages the pistons are rising together as they should but still running very rough and wont tick over, So I've decided to leave them until I can find a former drip (expert) to sort them out. Or if I can behave myself for a few month maybe her indoors will take pity on me and let my buy a single weber side (£520) or down (£320) draught ouch bi@@dy ell. to top it all when I was playing with the carbs my rev counter (spitfire) packed up on me. Doh.

What rev counter is it? I have a smiths rev counter internals and dial here, was going to use it but found it missing the induction loop on the rear, your welcome to try swapping them out if any good...