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Nick Jones

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Everything posted by Nick Jones

  1. Ah….. my cars are pretty much all 8mm….. Do they not list 6mm as well? Nick
  2. I use the plain Cohline 2240 myself but Glencoe sell this https://www.glencoeltd.co.uk/cohline-fuel-vacuum-hose/cohline-fuel-hose-high-pressure/cohline-224001-r9-specification-stainless-overbraid-rubber-fuel-injection-hose-8mm-push-on-e85-compatible-2283/ Nick
  3. Ah…… and ha…… the volume had been troubling me 🙂
  4. Still running the cut-down Ford leads that came with the coil pack I bought from a scrapyard in about 2005…… they are resistive wire (though not very due to mostly being short) and run with resistive plugs. No bother in 60k (starts on cold damp mornings / revs to Smiths) and I expect they were 10 years old/100k miles when acquired……. Obviously a quality product!! Nick
  5. Quite common with these (and the 4 pots), just depends if the cores move in the casting process. Doesn’t matter much as it’s rare to get more than a minor weep when the stud is in place and that can be cured completely with a bit of loctite. Over torquing isn’t really an option either 3/8” studs as the 42-46 lb/ft is pretty much the max unless specialist fasteners are used. The standard nuts barely hold the book number as it is. The Minispares nuts are pretty good and I’ve not had one fail, but go tighter than book and you’ll have the thread off the stud. They aren’t really big enough to provide sufficient clamp, which is why the 4 pots and especially the Mk1 6 pots are prone to HGF between cylinders, as triggered this story. The 7/16” used on Mk2 6 pots are a big improvement and makes HGF on them pretty rare. Nick
  6. Interesting….. when you gave the quantity (pint or so) I had pretty much abandoned that idea! Hope that is it - nice easy fix. Nick
  7. Balance checking and rectification (if needed) will be the final stage of manufacture for any propshaft. Doesn't mean it won’t rumble when fitted, but it shouldn’t! Nick
  8. The head gasket is not the only way for water to get into the oil. The rocker cover retaining studs go through to the water jacket sometimes, as do a couple of the timing cover studs. A bit of lock’n seal sorts that. Then there’s the question of cracks. How much water are we talking here and is the same fault that the head was originally removed for? Nick
  9. The body mounts above the diff are fixed front/rear but have adjustment available side to side, so it should be a case of loosening the mounts and shifting it over until even.
  10. Hells bells….. that’s keen! Good work. Very good. Must say I would probably have “simplified” that. Happily, mine is good there. Nick
  11. Some high quality work being done here 🙂. Good to see. Nick
  12. The numbers on the “How many left” site are complete tosh. Clearly way lower than reality. Mainly because the original data from the DVLA is complete tosh. Problem arises from inconsistent data entry and spelling/spacing errors from right back when the vehicles were first registered, so you’d need to do a whole series of searches with every combination you can think of to get anywhere near. Nick
  13. I think the flywheel is the same but the ring gear is different. The Spitty starter really doesn’t work with the Dolly ring gear. The Dolly starter is unique to the Dolly 1500 and thus nearly extinct. IIRC the easy “tell” is that the chamfer on the teeth faces backwards on the Spit and forward on the Dolly. Nick Yes, bigger bolts, but also the “pot clutch” with the ring that makes refacing bloody awkward. Genius design.
  14. Yep, that generation of Passat was particularly nice. Same running gear as the Audi 80 & 90 of the same period. That K-Jet 5 pot was an absolute gem. Very few left now sadly. The next couple of generations of Passat are ok too. Anything after the “B5” version should be avoided due to excessive complexity and a tendency to go wrong in very expensive ways. Nick
  15. My 1996 A6 Avant 2.5TDI 140 has been (and still is) flippin’ amazing. I’ve had it since 2003 and personally driven it 230k. It’s total stands a few hundred miles short of 340k. The major oily bits are original and largely untouched apart from routine maintenance. Starter, alternator, clutch and exhaust are original. It has had quite a few suspension parts and front wheel bearings. It’s lifetime mpg average is somewhere in the upper 40s and it’s been known to crack 60 mpg on a long run, if I can keep the speed down. You may struggle to find one now though. Most have emigrated to Eastern Europe where they are treasured. Mk1 or Mk2 Skoda Octavia with the 1.9TDI are also pretty decent if you can find one with a decent service record. Nick
  16. Try dropping the pressures at the rear. I’m running 28 front 24 rear on the GT6 and 30/26 on the Vitesse. I’ve never liked or understood why Triumph specify higher pressures at the rear, even unladen. I do bump the rears up a bit when laden but only a couple of psi. Admittedly I’ve always run 175/70 tyres. GT6 currently on 5j wheels at the front and 5.5j at the rear. Vitesse is 6j both ends. Presumably your GT6 does have the chin spoiler Chris? Seems to help stability at speed. Nick
  17. At this point Roger hates the studs with a passion and they have no vote 😛
  18. All sounds very familiar. I’ve done two just like this. Reckon it’s even the same 3 studs. Manifold side, back one, front one and middle one. Ones most cooked by exhaust heat. It certainly helps if the ambient temperature is much warmer and the head itself is warmed up. With these three last studs I have always ended up welding nuts on with a really hot MIG weld and then beating hard on the end of the stud/nut with a big hammer before attacking them with a 4 foot breaker bar. Both times two came out and one snapped flush with the head face. With just one left you can turn the whole head with the stud still in it and unscrew it from the block….. much easier if it’s the middle one! Thats with the engine out of course….. engine in, you are still in big trouble. Many years ago we hung a whole Vitesse Mk1 car up by its cylinder head over night. Just two studs (and only 3/8”) left. It was still hanging in the morning (I won that bet being a miserable pessimist!). However, some beating on the ends of the stud with a big hammer, while still hanging did finally get it moving. Good luck…,,
  19. Stand each wheel on a newspaper on magazine. Red neck turntable…….
  20. The problem with the book figures, apart from them probably not being in the alignment machines computer, is that they are quoted in the running position, meaning you need to add significant weight to each seat….. and who EVER does that. It’s nuts. Also assume standard ride height, standard wheels and tyres of the time. All of which is why a bit of careful experimentation can work wonders. Nick
  21. After extensive experiments with my Vitesse I arrived at: Toe: Parallel to 2mm toe in. Parallel or even slightly toe out gives sharpest turn-in but tends to wear the inside edge or the tyres and make it a little wriggly under hard braking. This with blue PU wishbone bushes. Rubber bushes may allow a bit more deflection when rolling meaning you need more initial toe in. camber 1.0 deg negative. castor I was aiming for 4 deg. Not completely sure that’s what I got, but it’s the same both sides and the car is stable even at well over 100mph. The steering is heavy though (using a Herald rack doesn’t help!) Rear toe 2mm toe in (important it’s even both sides) Rear camber is about 2 deg negative at normal ride height. Car is about 1.5” lower than standard. Standard skinny arb. I’ll take a bit of lean in preference to ploughing straight on….. Need to check the castor on my GT6 as it’s very much less stable than the Vitesse at speed. Steering is nice and light though! Nick
  22. Vitesse or later Herald. There may be detail differences between the two but both are the larger capacity. Nick
  23. I echo Ian’s comments on castor. I have yet to find an alignment place that knows what it is, let alone how to measure it. This includes one that claimed their machine had measured it without the steering being turned (I was watching them closely), which is impossible. It is diy-able, though a bit tricky, with some simple tools, which can be homemade, and a bit of simple calculation. This might not get you an accurate absolute measurement but but you can get it the same both sides and measure more and less. At the moment it sounds like you want more. You’ll know if you’ve gone too far as it makes the steering heavy (heavier). Comment regarding rear tracking are also relevant. The swing axle set up can be particularly fidgety if even slightly toe-out, especially if it is low with negative camber. Nick
  24. Ah, missed that. Oops….. No personal experience of new type 14s but there was a thread (or maybe even a couple of them) on this forum, probably in this very section, involving similar sounding issues on type 14s. Not sure if there was a final outcome on those? Nick
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