Anglefire

It could be that engine john. I have been told what it is - I’ve got a picture somewhere from the first year it was used in Spa. I’ll did it out in a bit

We sponsor a racing car at work and it had a 2l duratec engine until 2 years ago when they fitted a fiesta engine. 1.2l I think it is. It is forced induction but is producing about 350bhp and there is room for more apparently. Bit different to the power our standard engine make!

Thanks all. Yes I know the current shoes are the right way around as I checked when it was last mentioned 😂 Pete, When you say “neat fit” do you mean reasonably tight or just nipped up to little slack? - as I know they aren’t at the moment.

I should have said the hand brake was marginal, the main brakes were ok, but not brilliant. Subsequent to the MOT test, I have improved the brakes - mostly by using them as they were basically brand new and not even slightly bedded in, I've also since replaced the slider locking U plates - and fitted them the correct way around 🙄 and the hand brake was also adjusted but still has too much travel for my liking. The weather looks promising for the weekend, so I have bought a new pair of drums and shoes and I also have a set of Mintex 1155 (Or whatever the number is!) pads to go on the front. If the new drums don't improve the adjustment process and give me less shoe to drum gap at rest, then I will look elsewhere at things like drive shafts.

I’m not convinced they weren’t out of round from new! Hence the desire to get the best ones. But if they are all bad I’ll have to think again.

They have been in probably 18months to 2 years. Not a massive number of miles though and the brakes were terrible for a while - mot brake test was marginal. Manual adjusters. Seem to be too loose on one click and too tight (in spots anyway) next click up! And I’ve used a copper hammer to centralise the shoes too. I suspect the run out is actually tiny - but enough to cause this issue. My dad has a lathe and if I could think of a way of mounting the drums on it without spending more than the cost of a set of drums I would see what they looked like!

The old drums have long since been dumped! though the current ones look steel rather than cast. Though that is probably just because they are shiney!

If you want to spend some serious money on upgrades I found this for my daily today. https://shop.rossiters.co.uk/performance-upgrades-diesel-for-bmw-5-series-f10f11-from-971-p.asp I assume the gold bar is left in the boot!

I can understand that! I haven’t been on a motorway yet. No plans to either unless I really have to! I have done 70 on a dual carriageway and it wasn’t bad. Mine i think came from rimmers originally- I got mine second hand. This one I think. https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID005656

I’m “struggling “ to get the rear brakes adjusted to be snug to the drums and hence get a nice handbrake as you rotate the drum it seems to have high and low spots - not that you can feel them under braking. So I have decided to change the drums and possibly shoes. But the question is where is the best place to get them from ( cost is not a major issue as none of the places I’ve looked are exactly expensive) - the ones I fitted after I got the car came from eBay. Though most of the rest of the brakes came from David manners from memory.

I have fitted a ss manifold and twin exhaust and don’t find it noisy at all - or at least not too noisy. Cruising it doesn’t make much more noise than normal exhausts - accelerating it does make some noise - but not bad and sounds nice. Possibly because as well as the two silencers, one on each “handle” it also has a straight through one in the single tube - which many don’t seem to have. Whether it makes any difference I have no idea!

He did, you are quite right! As you say though, it must be tracking somewhere. Daft question @NickinSussex but have you tried disconnecting the ballast so it starts on the standard 6v coil? If the problem still persists it is properly weird, if not, it must be the extra voltage breaking down the rotor arm or cap - I know you have changed the cap, but it could be a faulty one. As a thought, as its only plug one thats tripple firing (If I have read it right) can you fit the cap 180deg around (Moving the leads obviously ) and see what changes - does it follow the cap or not?

Good call Johny, or cap.

To be fair you were slightly less cryptic 😂

More 4 have a repeat of a Gt6 restoration at 9pm.

Essentially you need more air in and more exhaust out - by porting the heads, better exhaust, different cam high lift rockers. Nothing much different to a k series really.

Well that is true to a degree. But usually after they have been manipulated. These are pretty raw.

I watched a program last night where Tristan Farnan and James Herriot drove from London to Lands End in a Morgan 4 4 - the number of deaths on the roads now compared to the 60's was 8x less but 15x more cars on the roads. In fact the number of deaths on the roads was 5x more in 1926 than 2012! https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-road-fatalities I'm all in favour of using technology to make things safer - but as already said, cars now are so comfortable and easy to drive that it is hard to concentrate as you are driving well within the limit of the car, and have little to do apart from steer - and even that is assisted!

This afternoon I made a bit of time to whip off the carbs and replace the gasket - with little high temperature sealant both sides of the inlet holes. Ran it up and it ran as rough as a rough thing - needed to apply some throttle - but choke didn't help after a few minutes. Idled at about 400rpm until it stopped! So turned the idle screws 1/4 turn down and then idled nicely at about 7-800rpm. So does suggest there was a leak. The only this I did notice was there was some oil lying in the inlet manifold - and I am using more oil than it should, so was wondering if that was normal - or whether it suggests the valve guides are worn?

It's flexible in that it is silicone - and TBH it shouldn't move much - a few thou with heat expansion possibly

They are studs and nuts so not bottoming out. Could be dirty threads but don’t recall them being bad. It could be the manifold clamps fouling on the exhaust manifold flange though.

Colin. It’s coming. Driverless cars are in our future. Not sure when as they have to get over the morel decisions of who to kill in a no win situation. (The person on the path or head on into the car coming the other way 🤔 for example. ) i agree though that driving moderns are a little boring and soleless. My Bmw is a lovely car to drive when pressing on ( 258bhp, bags of torque, handling that makes a sports car hang its head in shame ) but it is totally soleless otherwise.

I've bought another manifold gasket (They are only £6.80 ish from Ebay for a genuine Payen one) and if I get chance I'm going to whip off the manifolds, inspect the faces and refit with some high temperature silicone sealant (Yes I know you shouldn't need sealant) and see if that cures my backfiring and seemingly high idle again, I shall be satisfied.

That's why they (well most I would have guessed!) have auto release on the hand brake - it was definitely there on the Land Rover Discovery 3 which came out in 2005 - nearly 3tonnes of car and a manual EPB would have been a right challenge - especially off road climbing up hills (Auto doing that is a piece of cake!)

My bmw has an epb - its an auto, so apart from parking up rarely gets used - though it does also a selectable auto hold feature - if you come to a stop n the brakes it applies the hand brake - pull away it goes off. Annoyingly it keeps the brake lights on - a safety feature apparently - but not shared if you apply it yourself?