cliff.b
-
Posts
1,475 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
5
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Downloads
Store
Events
Posts posted by cliff.b
-
-
1 hour ago, johny said:
yes can even get run on if stopped from too hot (3/4+ on the gauge) and then hot starts are more difficult whereas now I keep the gauge around 1/2 shes happy😍
"She's Happy" is one of the secrets of life lol
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, 1969Mk3Spitfire said:
Searching the interweb for thread sizes and types provides only contradiction and confusion. I bought a small plastic box full of imperial and metric, straight, 45 and 90 degree. It cost around £15 and has yet to let me down.
Yes, that's what I found 🥴
-
11 minutes ago, Gully said:
I've a tube of white grease - used by me mainly for my bike. It's pretty waterproof, but very temperature sensitive, so I've rarely used it on the car. Might be a bit on the handbrake cable where it runs through the body, but can't think of anywhere else I've used it. Of course, your white grease may be completely different... 😄
Gully
That's the point, I don't have any white grease but wondering if I need some lol
-
4 minutes ago, clive said:
Normal grease/oil damages rubber seals. So red grease is used when building brake cylinders or calipers. It is also sometimes used on bleed nipples (never normal grease or copperslip)
Ah right. So what is this white/synthetic grease used for 🤔
-
2 hours ago, johny said:
As I say the maximum running temperature of my Vitesse doesnt seem to be set by oil breakdown or coolant boiling but the happiness of the engine. Too hot and I get pinking on acceleration and poor idle☹️
Is that track use or on the road?
I sort of assumed that in normal use, the idea was to avoid it getting that hot 🤔
-
19 minutes ago, clive said:
Not forgetting red rubber/brake grease, although most sealkits come with a little sachet.
Yes, I have seen that. What would you use it for?
-
On 13/05/2022 at 16:08, cliff.b said:
Quite possibly. I'm just sharing my observations that the car ran cooler with the mechanical fan.
Individual owners can decide for themselves if that is a good thing or not.
I really don't know 🙂
As I didn't know I thought I better read up on this a bit and there are plenty of opinions to choose from lol
However, sifting through all this information I found the following made sense to me.
1) Oil should ideally get to 100C so that any water gets boiled off.
2) A typical thermostat isn't fully open until about 10C above its nominal value (so 82 Deg thermostat fully open a bit over 90.
3) In typical road driving conditions, oil, once warmed up, is about 10C hotter than the coolant temp.
So if all this is true it would appear that everything is just about where it should be, almost as if by design lol
As long as we get hot enough that the thermostat fully opens and not so hot that the oil is compromised.
-
Just reading this and realised my knowledge of greases hasn't been updated for about 40 years.
What ones would it be useful to have in the garage and for what purposes.
-
2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:
I'd assume they're straight threads as all mine tighten fully to the 'nut' part.
Yes, makes sense. I have ordered a couple that specifically say they are for the rear bearings, even though the quoted thread doesn't make sense. They are only a couple of £ so happy to see what turns up.
-
Hmm, Rimmer's has a drawing of the rear hub and it says 1/4" BSP straight
-
2 minutes ago, Gary Flinn said:
Found this by doing a Search on here
"Thanks to you both. It seems remarkably difficult to find definitive references but....are they....
"small one" 1/4 UNF. 28 tpi, od 0.25 in / 6.35mm
"large one" 1/8 BSP, 28 tpi, od 0.383 in / 9.7mm
Next on my list of confusing issues, parallel or taper thread for the BSP version?
Can anyone confirm?"
I believe the rear Hub ones are the smaller 1/4 UNF
Right, that has confused me even more now.
The rear hub ones are larger as I offered up a nipple from the front trunnions & it was too small.
Looking online, I found ANG say they have both, listed separately but the description of each says 1/4" UNF.
Just as a matter of interest I tried an old brake bleed nipple in the rear and that fits perfectly. Something tells me they are 3/8" UNF but not certain.
The more I look, the more conflicting information I am finding 😡
-
Does anyone know what the thread is on the Spitfire rear wheel bearing grease nipple? I have one somewhere but can't find it 🙄
-
21 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:
sorry left the NOT out of the DO
pete
Yes, I would agree with that. I've only had to meddle now to put right what I changed trying to resolve a problem that turned out to be nothing to do with the carbs anyway 🥴
-
1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said:
if you ears are ok just turn the jet adjuster to give the best running
if it has the correct needles and is unmolested it should perform as intended
su and strombergs do need continual meddling once set good for years
pete
I'm actually pretty happy with it now, it's sounding and driving as I feel it should.
Plugs are still a little on the light side after driving at sustained speed but I'm probably not going to be doing much of that anyway. I try and avoid major roads when driving the Spit and much prefer bendy B roads 🙂
-
16 minutes ago, alannoble said:
With the back end always a twitchy I was wondering if a wider profile might be appropriate
Have you experimented with tyre pressures? I've found it can make quite a difference
-
2 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:
How wide are your wheels?
And what size tyres will be on the front?
-
23 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:
as for mixture have you used the piston lifting pin test ???
has tp be done with filters on or you waste more time
when its hot and idles raise the pin to just touch the air piston
then lift the piston a 1mm , and listen to the engine note
you are after a hint of change nothing dramatic
if it picks up 50 rpm for a couple of seconds its rich
if there is no hint of change its correct
if it drops 50 rpm for a second or two its lean
if you grab the pin and yank it up you just stall the engine
this is a well proven test but is very light touchy feely proceedure
that many cant master .. be gentle and listen
I will try that but if I drive around town or tickover for any length of time the plugs go much darker, so I assume it is running richer at low engine load. Not saying it should do that but it is, and if I get the mixture correct at tickover I am expecting it will be too weak again when driving faster.
Currently, I am trying to get a compromise of acceptable plug colours over various driving conditions, but still open to any ideas that might give me a more even mixture across the rev range.
What I am getting now sounds the same as Dave Clasper described getting in his Vitesse, yesterday. So is this typical? Is a fixed plug colour at both low and high speed unrealistic? I guess unless you keep stopping and checking it, or use a rolling road, you would never know.
Is it a problem? Interested to know what people think.
-
Back for lunch after done road testing, stop every few miles, inspect plugs, adjust mixture, repeat lol.
Now running nicely and seem to have got over the initial issue that started this, a lack of mid range urge. Now pulls strongly from 3000RPM to as far as I am prepared to rev it.
Final test was about 5 miles at "motorway speed", after which the plugs were lighter, but not the white that I was seeing previously. I will fiddle with it further but happy to drive it as is now and have already wasted enough time & petrol today.
-
15 minutes ago, johny said:
Well that can still be done either by hand turning of the engine (static timing) or by running the engine at idle with the vac advance disconnected and using a stobe (dynamic timing)...
Yes, that is what I have done. Using the wrong terminology
-
33 minutes ago, johny said:
Good that sounds like progress but just one thing to avoid confusion: the term static timing usually refers to setting it with the engine stopped and turning it manually until the points just open. It sounds like youve been using a strobe to set yours with the engine running which is the more accurate way of doing it👍
Indeed, yes, I mean the timing without any additional mechanical or vac advance.
-
Right, first fault found, and although ignition related I will leave it here for continuity.
The vac advance on my recently replaced distributor was sticking near max (well the plate that the vac unit moves was sticking) which along with a slightly advanced static setting meant my effective static advance at tickover was nearly 20deg BTDC. Interestingly, I had heard no evidence of any pinking.
Anyway, no longer sticking, static advance set to 10deg at tickover and will take out for a test drive shortly. Need to find out what difference this makes before looking at anything else.
-
6 minutes ago, johny said:
Should always check the setting as its just possible, although unlikely, the timing is advanced more than the recommended figure and theres no advantage in this...
Yes, I'm planning on checking that tomorrow, along with several other things. But one at a time so I know what, if anything, makes a difference 👍
-
35 minutes ago, daverclasper said:
Just by low speed/revs in top gear and accelerate, if no pinking then advance timing a bit more until pinks then retard a a bit. Hills can sometimes show the pinking/advance more, even when ok on flats, at least on my car.
I have the vernier adjuster on my dizzy, I normally do 8 full turns at a time, one way or the other for finer tuning (as I understand this is only very fractional?), when it's roughly there anyway.
Ok, thanks. So presumably, you won't actually know what static advance you are running?
-
11 minutes ago, daverclasper said:
Well, with my Vitesse (bit of spindle play, good jets and and needles, as were replaced a while back, though in hindsight the old ones were probably ok),
I get sooty, with a bit of brown plugs, after half an hour of slow moving/idling. The plug colour after M way driving at say 2500/3000 rpm, is a pale grey. I assume/hope this is ok?. If I go higher rpm, or accelerate quickly to even higher rpm, then doesn't stumble/hesitate, so again hope this ok.
Have heard that modern fuels give a lighter plug colour?
Hope this is useful
Yes, definitely useful as sounds, perhaps to a lesser extent, the sort of thing I am seeing.
Just as a matter of interest, how do you set your ignition timing? By ear, timing light, static with a bulb, meter, fag paper lol
Duff flasher unit
in Electrical System
Posted
Indicators suddenly stopped working, hazards ok. Decided it must be the flasher unit and on opening it up I can see the wire to the heater has broken.