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It's internally regulated and the old regulator has been bypassed but is still in place.

It is, I'll double check that the engine is also grounded to the chassis- I've done nothing more than swap like for like so it's not like it would be a new factor. And no need to swear

A little update

My driveway has a little knee height wall surrounding it on three sides. Here's a close up of part of it.



That's not spray paint. It's exhaust deposits. Bit rich ;D

As a temporary measure, I covered the rear exhaust lenses in orange glass paint so they at least flash a legal colour


The cider bottle with a tube is not a homemade smoking device




After managing to totally discharge the battery when fitting the additional alternator cable, something hasn't been quite right with the electrics. After recharging the battery, I refitted it and it discharged itself after a few days of not being used. Considering the very quick discharge, I assumed I'd damaged the battery (and had my thoughts confirmed by asking friends through Facebook) and opted to buy a replacement, as well, as well as a fancy smart charger, taking advantage of the opportunity to get something with the poles the correct way round for my newly reversed polarity.



Thing is, I put the old battery on a very slow charge and it appears to be holding it's electrickery fine. And the new one appears to very slowly discharge as if there's a current draw.


This is what the voltage across the battery reads when it's running at idle. 13.6 volts. Acceptable if a tad low.


And with the engine off after a 30 mile drive. Perhaps a bit low?


I did a 30 mile drive this morning, and got the above reading, and then checked it before my drive back 9 or 10 hours later and it was reading almost exactly 12V. That suggests something is draining the battery to me?? Maybe I should disconnect the battery to repeat the test. It's still connected at the moment so I will check again tomorrow evening to check I'm not going mad.

What confuses me is that I don't have any extra electrical equipment at all so can't see that there is anything that would cause the drain. It appears to have started since I added the extra alternator wire not that it should cause this. It runs directly from the alternator's output terminal, to the battery side of the starter solenoid which you can make out in the above picture. The only area of questionable quality permanently connected to the battery is the bypassed voltage regulator. I'm open to ideas if anyone has any!


The back of the alternator..

The main earth from the battery goes to the nearest convenient place which happens to be the alternator casing.
2 small wires from the alternator. One is the 'sense' wire which has gone to the battery side of the starter solenoid (I've put stuff there as it was tidier than going direct to the battery) and the other is the warning lamp wire, joined into the original loom with a pair of spade connectors, covered in tape because I lost my heatshrink
The terminal on the back has the original dynamo charging wire and the additional fat cable that goes to the battery side of the solenoid again.

I've seen one on UK roads. Coming out of Montacute House in Somerset last summer. My favouritest Kei Car

The one that Dez linked to is one of those ones that bounces up to full price and the down to 'special' offer £90-100 depending on number of batteries or accessories with it with both B&Q and Screwfix. I ended up going for a Hitachi combi 18v Li-On and it's also fantastic for your £100 though it's cheap because they're only 1.5AH batteries (2 of them).

Not that it helps you if you want a corded drill with a keyed chuck...

I'm baking for this weekend. I've started already as what I'm making takes days... You'll all love it. Unless you happen to be RobinJI or James'VileRug

;D

Fanx! Number keypad fat fingeredness

I'm confused by the Hens Teeth bit as well. Mytyres.co.uk likes 3 different tyres available in that size. I seem to remember them being used a lot on Fiestas.

what a cool idea. I assume it must be a complete metro diesel subframe, engine, box etc ?

I thought my post worked but clearly not..

I was under the impression that these are 4x108, Matt? Which means loads of Ford stuff will fit.

What size tyres are on it at the moment?