Sparky_Spit
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Posts posted by Sparky_Spit
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Have a look at Ashley/Motobuild. They list Ashley Silverstone Headlamp Fairings. Not cheap, but will be be top quality.
Ashley GT Homepage (moto-build.com)
The bloke that runs the company is very helpful over the phone, so is definitely worth a call.
Click on "Ashley Parts" and the headlamp fairings are about halfway down the page.
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Depending upon whereabouts you live, enquiring at a local agricultural machinery suppliers may come up trumps with a good price for a Denso alternator such as those in the pictures above. A few of us in the Essex CT group bought Denso ones intended for Kubota diggers, which fitted our Triumphs very well with a few spacers to distance them correctly, and I think that they were about £25 in the supplier's "spring sale". This was some time ago, so they might be more expensive now, but they will be much cheaper direct from an agricultural supplier. They will also be top quality too. Mine has been 100% reliable for a long time now. And I was able to use the pulley that was supplied too.
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Ah yes... of course. I was trying to make a supercharger, not a turbo!
Just goes to prove I'm not to be trusted with anything I know nothing about. 240volts, red hot hairdryer element, HIF open carb inlet... what could possibly go wrong?
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6 hours ago, Wagger said:
How about an electric turbo?
It is difficult not to try some of these.
Good job I have no big motors laying around or I would be doing some of it.
I once tried a bodged together an "electric turbo" on an A Series Mini engine. My first test setup was an electric hairdryer plugged into the mains with the car stationary and the hairdryer connected the the carb inlet via a suitable rubber tube, just to try the principle. It did help increase revs by quite a bit so I then used a 12v nautical blower motor and integral fan (about 3" in diameter, designed for evacuating fumes from a boat's engine compartment) to see if it worked out on the road.
Basically, it didn't. It appears that to produce a turbo effect strong enough to give any measurable boost would have needed a much, much larger motor and fan, drawing far more current than the car's 12v system could deliver. It was probably a good thing that I stopped there, before I blew myself up.
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Hi johny - no servo fitted.
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I love Chinese instruction books. My very cheap car radio in our first car came with a single sheet telling me to "Enable the on/off control to activate and gaze in wonderment at the enchanting blue light!"
This was 45 years ago, and I still remember to say it every time the radio comes on when we get in the car. I think I need to get out more.....
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A lot of people do not like Green Stuff pads and rate them as near useless under hard usage.
I've been using them in my Mk3 Spitfire for years, and have done quite a few long distance events (10CR/HCR/Dutch Nachtrit) as well as plenty of night time 12 car rallies in the UK, and have never found them wanting. I don't used the anti-squeal plastic bits, and just put a light smear of copper grease on the back of the pads, and they don't squeal. My car is fairly light, with GRP bonnet, hardtop and bootlid, but is otherwise just a normal Mk3, but it does get used to it's limit, especially on the night rallies and of course on European mountain passes. I've never had bad brake fade or burning, although they do get pretty hot on mountain descents. They do make everything attached to the wheels black but that's a small price to pay. The current set have been in there since the last 10CR (2019?) and are still good.
Or maybe I'm not trying hard enough
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Ok thanks all for clarification via the official WSM. My son and I have been using the MInispares flanged nuts for years now, on 3 different MInis and 3 different 4 pot Triumph engines and have never had an issue with them; they really are very good.
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In the Haynes manual the torque figure given for 1147 and 1296 engines is 45lb/ft and for 1500 engines it is 46lb/ft.
This seems to be pretty specific but makes me wonder whether that extra 1lb/ft for the 1500 is actually correct and worthwhile?
What does the proper workshop manual say? I don't have one to hand; can anyone check please?
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2 hours ago, daverclasper said:
I think I remember?, something about using valve seals successfully (can't remember which car from) to address worn carb bodies/spindles.
Can remember how they did it, as it would alter the spacing for the spindle attachments I assume?.
The method used by Andy Healey(?) was to machine out the spindle bores and insert small bearing races each side of the carb that had rubber seals built into them. A proper engineered job.
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On 14/10/2021 at 19:35, PeteH said:
Wasn't there a posting recently, ref; someone replacing the bearings with miniature sealed Ball/Roller ones.
Pete
There is a gentleman up north, somewhere near Doncaster, called Andy Headley (or similar) who can do this. He did my HS4s quite a few years ago now, at a very reasonable price, and they have been perfect ever since.
Sorry that I have no detailed contact info - maybe someone on here knows who I am talking about?
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I've been using these flanged Minispares nuts for quite a few years now, on Triumph engines and on two different A series engines, and have had no issues with the lower flanged face of the nut deforming the surface of the head. I personally wouldn't use a separate washer underneath them; it defeats the object of using them in the first place, as you would need to be 100% certain that you have bought properly hardened washers and not ones made from cheese. The Minispares nuts have been around for a long time and have a good reputation.
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Hi Sandy - use these head nuts from Minispares. They are flanged and do not need washers, and are top quality items and exactly the right size and thread for your engine. Cheap too. Lots of people are using them on 1300 and 1500 Triumph engines and recommend them.
CAM4545 - Mini head nut flanged type for cylinder head (minispares.com)
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Regarding the rear trunnion "top hat" bush kits; the standard ones supplied by most retailers are dimensionally incorrect and will not fit properly unless they are trimmed down slightly. Easy to do in a lathe if you have one, but even then the dust shields are poorly formed and the whole thing is a bit of a dog's breakfast. After a tip-off on here, I used Superflex kits and they fit perfectly. More expensive but worth it.
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Yes, just a tube that is small enough in diameter to fit inside the "sucking" tube. I think I used fish tank airline tubing. I like Jugnuts idea of using metal tubing.
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I have one like that and it does work; I changed my oil a few weeks ago. I found I needed to push a smaller diameter tube up the inlet tube supplied with the pump, so it was easier to wiggle it down to the bottom of the diff casing.
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19 hours ago, ahebron said:
I will put my hand up and say 'My name is Adrian and I own an Adventure Motor Bike'
I used to have one of them. Bloody great big heavy thing. I dropped it once in a car park and it took me and two bystanders to pick it up. That was its last adventure before it got sold and I vowed to never to watch anything featuring Charley Boorman ever again. I now pootle about on something befitting my age, an Enfield Bullet 500.
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Hi Colin - just seen your comment on my VL failure; the VL in question was a new one that was less than a few months old. I bought a pair, including new trunnions, from Fitchetts but I'm sure that they are the same items as all the other suppliers sell. What was odd with the one that failed was that the oil hole which runs up the VL was drilled off centre, by quite some degree. My immediate thought was that was the cause the failure. However, after seeing some close-up photos of the breakage, a chap on the Sideways forum (who is a metallurgist) concluded that the off centre drilling was unlikely to be the root cause of the failure, but a defect propagating from elsewhere. There is a long forum thread on Sideways somewhere, with pictures and comments. I sent mine back to Fitchetts and I'm told that they took this up with their supplier, although I heard nothing more from them beyond that. I had a full refund from them and bought trunnionless from Canleys (and new underpants from M&S). I won't be buying a "new" set of VLs again.
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There used to be a DIY kit available from Maplin Electronics that was easy to put together and only cost about £15. I built one for my Spitfire and it works very well.
As you may know, Maplins closed some time ago but there may be a source of the same kits elsewhere?
EDIT..... Looks like they are still trading online. See Maplin - K2599 Intermittent Wiper Controller - Special Savings Today at Maplin Direct with UK Direct Sale
Bargain at £12.99
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Like Mathew above, I've had a vertical link snap when exiting a roundabout, at about 40mph. It wasn't fun and not something I'd want to experience again. I've now had Canley trunnion kits on there for 5 or 6 years with no issues. Well worth the extra cost.
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Ah yes, you are correct Doug. Human hearing is not linear, but something like a logarithmic curve, so it would be a much higher multiplication factor that would sound twice as loud, and therefore a larger increase than +3db.
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My car has been noise tested by CMC rally scrutineering at 96db at 1 metre, and at Goodwood at "less than 98db", at 1 metre. I understand that.
But I'm a bit confused with db levels in practical use. I know that in audio electronics an increase of 3db is a 100% increase in level, a doubling of amplitude, but this does not mean that it is twice as loud in audio terms. Why is that? If a 3db increase gives you 100% more amplitude why is it not audibly twice as loud?
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Fear not Oliproctor, there definitely is cast aluminium present around the steel pipe, and quite a good thickness too. Hope this helps.
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I waited for the "new" Payen AK260 1500 gaskets to become available. By that I mean the ones that are now being made in a different factory, in the UK. Checking both types side by side by side they look very similar but the new ones look to be slightly better finished. They can be identified by a very small shiny hologram on the gasket packaging and the label having "made in England" printed on it.
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Spitfire 1500 valve springs
in Engine
Posted
I have those in my "spare" 1500 engine. They were stupidly cheap from a Jaguar main dealer about 10 years ago, something like £1.50 each and marked with a pale green splodge of paint on one of the spring's coils.