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Sept 5, 2018 21:03:06 GMT
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On my Carltons I change the oil at about half of the recommended interval, 4500 miles, and its not even black when I drain it now. It took a while though. Its satisfying when checking the oil to always find it quite clean.
There is always some oil left in that you are just diluting, of course changing the filter removes a lot more oil, but oil coolers and various cavities retain some more.
If this is a car you care about I'd suggest changing the oil again fairly soon, and then reduce the mileage between changes, I really think it makes a difference to engine life. Car manufacturers recommend changes as far apart as possible because thats what the customer wants, they have to estimate the longest that will give the engine a reasonable life. I believe that changing early can extend the life.
I think changing more often is more useful than buying higher cost oil. £50 a gallon oil has still been around the engine the same number of times as lower cost but correctly specced oil. I use Vauxhall 10/40 semi synthetic which costs hardly anything with Trade Club prices on 20 litre bottles.
All just my opinions of course and possibly nonsense.
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Aug 31, 2018 23:09:48 GMT
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I'm not clever electronic at all, but I've got a temporary LED wired up checking for fuel pump power following a recent breakdown that fixed itself. The LED came from work so is a 24v one (machine control system) and is visible in daylight but no distraction in the night. Just an idea, buy one made for a higher voltage.
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Aug 30, 2018 20:24:35 GMT
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There is no need to wear out a clutch in a short time, even doing hill starts.
In my experience some people just wear out a lot of clutches, keeping it in gear at all junctions is a great way to work the thrust bearing hard, but people who do that always tend to prevent it rolling back if there is a hill by slipping the clutch trying to hold the car still. I guess that one session of 30 seconds holding the car by slipping the clutch must be equal to dozens of well controlled normal starts.
My ex Brother in law commented that he is unlucky as every car he buys soon needs a new clutch, complete nonsense, his driving style is the reason he needs new clutches as I've experienced.
Back to the point though, its hard to see how a gearbox or handbrake makes a car too dangerous to drive, at least to get home or to a place of repair.
I'll bet there arent many of us who havent driven a car with no handbrake until we can fix it, I did it myself recently and don't feel like I risked my life or other peoples.
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Last Edit: Aug 30, 2018 20:28:00 GMT by chris y
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Aug 27, 2018 12:26:37 GMT
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I just drill everything out to a size that just cuts into the tops of the female thread then peel the remains out now. Doesn't take much longer even than welding stuff on. Just make sure you start the hole in the middle. This works well but drilling it bang on centre is the difficult bit, I have had a couple wander off! Its what I ususally do too. It doesnt matter if its not perfectly centred as long as you drill to the size that breaks through in one place, actually it saves potential damage to most of the thread. Usually once its broken through at one point the its relieved enough to break away all the way around and can be teased out.
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Aug 25, 2018 13:41:50 GMT
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I thought EBC red stuff were better for fast road.
I fitted them to one of my Carltons after being recommended and was happy. Red stuff are low dust too, say EBC.
I used the car on track and after repeated very hard braking from speeds as high as 140 I felt they started to become less effective so have changed to yellow stuff, but for fast road I would happily use red again, they were absolutely fine for everyday motoring with occasional high speed and hard braking.
I havent tried any other brands. EBC colours and desctriptions are easy to use for a non expert like me, and they were recommended. Their website has helpful descriptions of what each type are for, worth a read so you can decide for yourself.
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Aug 14, 2018 18:06:46 GMT
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The threaded bar solution would be easy and as everyone said secure and therefore OK for MOT.
Alternatively, if you want a nicer job buy that kit, and a length of threaded bar, then see the person who is doing your welding and get a length of the threaded bar welded to the hanger to extend it. Overlap them side by side for a distance to make it very east to weld and strong.
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Aug 13, 2018 18:35:53 GMT
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Can you post a link to the ebay one that is similar.
Exhaust hangers are generally made from 10 or 12mm diameter round bar, you could just get a length of bar and make your own.
Can you sketch what you want?
I work for a big exhaust manufacturer but don't know if I'll be in the exhaust plant this week and I'm on holiday next week so I don't want to offer to find you something but you never know.
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As said, it at least needs charging properly.
An hour or two isnt going to add much charge, the alternator output voltage is only similar to a battery charger so is only really capable of a bit of a top up in the space of an hour or two. If you used a battery charger you wouldnt expect much success after that amount of time and would normally leave it at least over night.
At the minute your battery is just flat, you can do tests to find out whether its dead or not but they wont mean anything on a flat battery.
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This Scimitar. Picture found on Scimitar web when this thread made me remember that I've been meaning to find out if the man I sold it to still had it and wanted to sell. It turns out that he sold it in 2014 and its sold again since so now the trail has gone cold. Just as well because I don't need more cars. I shouldnt have sold it, I'd only had it a year and solved the huge amount of problems it came with but family reasons and no practical car meant I had to sell. Edit to add - when I sold it the new owner drove it straight to France, hence the number plate, it was an S reg.
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Last Edit: Aug 4, 2018 11:09:45 GMT by chris y
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Leaking exhaust maybe and / or faulty cabin vent outlets.
The car may have some cabin ventilation that normally only outside air can get in but maybe theres a pocket of exhaust fume where it shouldnt be underneath, or maybe leaked fumes rising under the bonnet and reaching to wherever the cabin air gets in.
You having the window open probably creates low pressure in the car sucking air in through any vents, possibly even the ones that should go outwards.
There are probably vents that should go outwards at the rear of the car somewhere, so that when you have the blower on air can pass through the cabin, without them the blower wouldnt work well.
Maybe those vents should have one way flaps on and they might have failed. This is exactly the setup on a Carlton for example, with outlets with flaps close to the rear exhuast silencer.
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Dinitrol sounds great, but its a bit expensive.
No need to explain to me about how much cheaper rust prevention is than rust repair, I agree, its a personal decision about the balance between affordability and how effective a treatment is and how often it needs to be done.
I also heard that used engine oil can be carcinogenic, not sure if its true but I use cheap new oil.
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Jul 31, 2018 19:15:26 GMT
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I'm using Waxoyl and engine oil too. When put in cavities the oil never dries and soaks right into the seams, the Waxoyl gives it enough thickness to create a decent film. I use on old food mixer to blend it well.
I blasted it inside of the sills I fitted to one of my Carltons, over the following days oil seeped out of the bottom seam, therefore I have absolute certainty that there is no dry recently welded metal where rust will start.
Most of us will have seen rusty cars that have had long running oil leaks, and the oil covered parts are completely rust free. My Carlton was extremely rotten, but the drivers side front chassis leg had the benefit of a power steering leak long term and apart from the front few inches where it didnt reach was rust free.
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Jul 20, 2018 22:29:18 GMT
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Quite a few trikes have been built using Mini front ends (subframe & drivetrain), I suppose someone took that idea a bit further and kept more of the car, and chose a Metro. I'm glad people as nutty as that exist.
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Jul 16, 2018 21:49:30 GMT
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I went on Sunday with my silver Carlton GSi, in the Autobahnstormers area. I enjoyed it.
I'm not at all sure but think that to get a stand you need to be a VBOA affiliated club. Something to check out.
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Knowing a bit about the way a spotwelder uses current I wouldnt consider attaching one to a VFD, or anything else full of electronics. I don't think it would be happy.
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Jun 15, 2018 16:35:46 GMT
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I bought some of these recently. www.screwfix.com/p/18-compartment-organiser-large/3065p#_=pNot especially strong but I needed quite a few and didnt want to spend a lot. Ideal for things you arent using every day so can take a bit of care with. As I said, not the best quality but the price is so low that they are very good value for money. Things like that are not much use for car parts though, only very useful for fasteners, clips etc. For super low budget butter/marg/spread tubs are great if you use the same brand all of the time. Its worth getting some cheap sticky labels to put on and write on with a marker pen because writing straight onto the tub isnt easy to read and find the thing you are looking for.
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You can do a lot with a small compressor, its not ideal for many things but the difference between giving up and not bothering and paying for work to be done and having one and being able to tackle some jobs is big. I have a decent size compressor at home, but when I build my Carlton in a rented allotment garage with no electricity I used a generator and Lidl hobby compressor and was very happy with it. There is a thread somewhere but for example painting this front end was no problem, primer, silver basecoat and laquer. With small paint jobs the compressor tank will do it, and the time before the next coat is more than needed for it to fill up. don't be put off by advice of needing a big compressor or nothing, get what you can for now, once you have done a few of your own paint jobs you might want to spend some of the savings you made on a bigger one. I would go with electric instead of high consumption air tools if your compressor is small but you can do a lot.
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May 30, 2018 21:15:23 GMT
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Fair enough Mr Speedy
I agree that you can get within a few thou, I know I did on mine, and at that you cant feel it at the pedal.
What makes me strongly believe that slight disc thickness variation is what causes pulsing to grow many miles later is that I don't believe that (for example) the 28mm thick vented discs on my car will ever warp.
People always use the term warped discs, I think its highly unlikely and in any case the disc moving from side to side wouldnt cause the pedal to push back, moving up and down. At least not at low speed, the caliper would just move side to side as its on sliders.
I go along with the theory that the up and down movement is DTV, and that starting with slight DTV means imperceptible but uneven friction, which causes uneven wear and steadily increasing DTV and hence increase in pedal pulsing.
The discs on my car didnt pulse at all after skimming and not for a long time after, then it became perceptible, and has slowly increased to the point where the pedal pulses badly enough to need me to take action. Within months of skimming I drove the car and braked hard from 140mph many times without problems, so they were fine and now arent. (on a track)
I suppose the way to work out if the discs are warped, or if the thickness variation has grown since the skim is to simply measure them.
When I come to change them I'll remove the wheels, refit the bolts and clock the discs to check for runout, then mic them for thickness variation. If they are running out and the thickness variation is similar to when I skimmed them then I'm completely wrong (as is the advice I've read places about the importance of controlling DTV), if the discs are still flat and true but have excessive DTV it suggests that the theory of variation growing due to uneven wear is correct (in this case at least).
I'm not looking to argue at all, I respect your opinions but I'd like to know what has happened in this case and I'm in a position to find out. Hopefully I'll report back in a few weeks.
I'll happliy report that I'm wrong if thats what the facts say.
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Last Edit: May 30, 2018 21:17:22 GMT by chris y
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May 30, 2018 20:56:16 GMT
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Or in Yokohama, there's Minato Mirai which is an entertainment area, and I think there's a water park nearby too. Thanks for that. Theres a pot noodle museum there (actually cup noodle), he loves pot noodles so I'll trade him a visit there for a meal for another meal at Mooneyes Mooneyes is a great idea HotWire, thanks for that one too, it might not work out but I'm also learning places to go if I get there on my own in future.
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Last Edit: May 30, 2018 20:56:43 GMT by chris y
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May 29, 2018 21:00:44 GMT
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We booked flights today for a work trip next Monday. We are in Japan until the 14th, for the weekend in the middle we will be in Yokohama, just for somewhere new and its conveniently near one of the work plants we have to visit.
Unfortunately my colleague doesnt have the tiniest bit of petrol in his blood so I cant plan any car related stuff but hopefully it will be interesting anyway.
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