Messages

quote:Originally posted by paho
   
No, depends a little on when the car was built. EU regs. accept that the speedometer can have dual scales, MPH and KM/Hr, directive 75/443/EEG and 2000/7/EG apply.
   /Paho
   

   
   Yes, but in this case there is no dual scale in the speedometer. I would have thought that a vendor insisting on a Euro (ROW) spec car would have checked such details.
   This is perhaps nit-picking but considering the asking price for a car that is most likely a recent build, I would expect such details to be correct.

Weren't LHD cars for the European market supposed to use °C and km/h for temperature gauges and the speedometer?

As always, excellent information from Barrie Bird. Thank you.
   
   I fixed the issue with the clutch tonight, which was simply caused by a misadjusment of the ball end clearance with the fork. The pedal and clutch all work as it should now.
   
   My Ace being LHD, both master cylinders are sandwiched between the battery and the footbox. While it takes some contorsions to reach the integral clutch reservoir and a certain delicacy to avoid spilling fluid everywhere when filling it, perhaps I can rejoice that the battery protects them both from too much hard blasting of rain water and road debris. The old clutch master cylinder didn't look excessively bad when I took it out, although it must have been on the car for a good 20+ years. Just trying to see the glass half full instead of half empty!

pjbowman,
   
   Did you ever solve the issue?
   
   I replaced the master, slave and hose on mine and it still takes some pumping to get the clutch pedal to build any consistency.
   When it does the clutch disengages perfectly, but if I do not pump a few times to "build pressure" into the circuit then the clutch will hardly disengage. I cannot spot a leak anywhere and the fluid level in the master tank remains constant.

If the pictures are not visible because their host demands a financial contribution, there is no other free way to make them visible again than rehosting them elsewhere, regardless where that would be, and editing each post where they were linked. That is bothersome.
   Alternatively, all the pictures posted in a particular thread can be hosted altogether on a virgin page and the link to this page can be mentioned in the latest message posted in the aforementioned thread.
   
   As said earlier I can provide either solutions for free. Anyone willing to e-mail me a few pictures and we can give it a try.

People may want to check what is included in their contract with their Internet provider, but I believe some webspace for hosting data is fairly standard these days?
   Alternatively I will be happy to host pictures ACOC members may want to post on here. I can host them graciously on my own webspace for as long as they wish. Could be a temporary solution until the forum can "host" pictures itself.

Pedant still makes a good point about how many ACOC members actually "use" the forum, whether they post messages more or less actively or remain quiet and just read what is posted by ACOC members and non-members alike.
   If a survey is organised and emitted in the next edition of ACtion to reach the highest numbers of members, how to make sure ACOC members who will anyway never ever touch a computer will even be bothered returning their opinion? Every contributing ACOC member should have a word on the subject, even if it may go above the heads of many who are happy to live without a computer.

This thread is slowly taking the same shape as the "3 questions" thread. Different people with different expectations, etc. Let's keep the consensus everybody got used to instead of risking satisfying a few just to get more moaners :)

quote:Originally posted by Pedant
   
In answer to AE 512 and  from what can be found out, virtually nobody looks at the forum but some odd believers honk it is well used. It is by non members.

   
   As an (overseas) ACOC member who reads the forum everyday I am well pleased to see there seems enough people able to offer sound advice on many technical questions, and this adds significant value to the ownership experience of a (mostly) hands-on owner like me.
   I am regularly able to find relevant information on many different topics searching through older posts, some of them even dating back a good 10 years ago, for what it's worth.

Muffin,
   
   You were right - the dwell plug of the timing light must be connected to the CB coil post otherwise no dwell signal is measured.
   By then the dwell reads 22 but since the car is wired in positive earth, and the engine being a 6 cyl, actual dwell is therefore 60-22 = 38°. I replaced the points recently and adjusted them according to the manual, for what it's worth.
   
   However, the 500 rpm error between actual engine speed and the rev counter seems more or less constant through the rev range. More than happy to live with it though, now that I know I do not really need the rev counter to monitor actual engine speed.
   
   Also, for engine speed the timing light does not care whether its dwell plug is connected or not. It seems to be just calculated from the signal of the inductive clamp, as the number of cylinders is configurable when switching on the timing light (if the engine is 2 or 4 strokes can also be configured, for what it's worth).

So you connect your dwell pick up to the CB coil post on a car that was converted from positive to negative ground?
   
   I am not sure I understand what dictates, physically and electrically talking, why the dwell pick up (or green plug) should be plugged to either of the coil posts. The manual of my digital timing light states that it should be used for negative ground cars only, and that the dwell pick up should be connected to the negative coil post.
   If I compare how an ignition coil is plugged on either a positive or negative ground car, I think I (mis?)understand that the requirement is more to connect the dwell pick up to the ground coil post regardless of positive or negative earth, no?

Hello Muffin,
   
   I searched for information regarding the car being positive earth, and I found that the dwell plug should be connected to the SW coil post. I did not check dwell angle which my timing light can also do, but I guess the actual dwell would be 60° minus the dwell value observed by the timing light.

Graham,
   
   Thank you for this information. I had no idea how the original Smith tachometer worked.
   
   By the way, if my tach works correctly when driving around, and that will necessarily be at engine speeds above 2000 rpm, do you think that erroneous readings at lower engine speeds could point to a faulty "voltage regulator" (assuming there is even one) or anything else in the electrical system starting off from the dynamo?
   
   As far as I can tell, all other gauges including the AMP meter work correctly, or at least do not seem to return overly suspicious readings.

Sell the daughter and buy a Bristol powertrain.

Hello,
   
   I installed a set of B.P.Bird/Spax updated dampers a few weeks ago.
   
   The reduced maximum open length of the new units allowed me to remove the wire cables that had been installed at the rear axle to avoid excessive travel.
   
   The dampers that came off were also Spax units, part numbers G403HL (Front) and G623HH (Rear). So far I have not been able to notice a big difference in terms of handling, though that could be due to the car being probably oversprung, as comparing the new dampers with the old ones off the car with various settings on the adjusting knobs revealed that the old ones were most likely past their best.
   Comparing both dampers side by side showed the net gains in loss (!) of open length.
   
   Sincere thanks to B.P.Bird for instigating these new dampers with Spax!