pethier

The thermostatic radiator-fan switch which came to me in the parts for my Ford Zetec engine swap is apparently inoperative. Mick at Metric Auto sold me the only one he had in stock with the same M22 thread. Of course, the dead one has only two connectors and the new one has three (one physicaly smaller than the other two). Mick says most such switches nowadays have three connections because two-speed radiator fans are now common. I'd be happy to know if anyone has any information about this part. Such as: How is it wired in the original car? Clarification: "original car" means the Volkswagen cars for whom this new 3-connector part was meant, not a Birkin or a Volkswagen with a 2-connector part. As shown in the photo, the new part is meant for a 94 to 03 Eurovan. Is it a solid-state item I can damage with wrong polarity?

Does anyone know what goes on in the black box (both figurative and literal) called "thermostat"? On the Circle 'C" Performance Schematic: Are the thermostat ports, one large and one small, on the upper left of the "black box" schematically the same? I mean is the water for both in the same chamber inside the box? Are the thermostat ports at the bottom of the "black box" schematically the same? I mean is the water for both in the same chamber inside the box? If it is, why would water flow in the heater core? If the valve for the heater actually cuts off water flow completely, does it not follow that both connections to the heater can simply be capped off? I do not have a heater in the nearly-complete installation of the ex-Birkin Zetec in my Caterham. Huge thunderstorm going on right now. I hope in the morning I can check into the actual status. I will start a separate thread about the radiator fan switch. Even for me, that's a bridge too far for thread drift.

I discovered this drawing in the big box of paper that came with the ex-Birkin Zetec stuff that I bought from a friend who is electrifying his Birkin. To continue the Zetec info in this thread, I wonder what you all think of this schematic in relation to the two above. I am trying to complete the cooling paths after installing the Zetec in my Caterham. I am not including a heater.

"Don't ask me to explain why, but stacking two springs gives you a reduced rating." Back over half-century ago when I started autocrossing, I was befriended by John Proshek, who drove an Elan. As I recall, John explained the spring thing to me like this. 1. A coil spring is a torsion bar, wound in a helix. 2. The dynamics of a torsion bar are intuitively simple. 3. Pick up a garden hose with your hands two feet apart. 4. Twist the hose. 5. Note how much the hose resists your twisting it. 6. Move one hand so that your hands are one foot apart. 7. Note how much the hose resists your twisting it. To apply this exercise to the stacking of coil springs: If you stack two springs, it is the same as making a torsion bar longer.

As a lifelong Minnesotan (I was to young to remember my brief time in Long Beach) I'd call that a Coney Island. I was actually at Coney Island when I was nine. My twelve-year-old brother got to ride stuff inside Steeplechase they would not let me on, but oddly I didn't have to be ten to ride the Steeplechase itself, which spiraled down on the outside of the tower. Thats the first time I remember being in the ocean. Don't know know if my parents put toddler-me into the Pacific. Didn't get into an ocean again until December 1991. Dad was speaking at "The Storm Unleashed". Fifty years before that, Dad's Saint Paul Navy Reserve shipmates killed a couple of foreign sailers for being in a restricted area and started a war.

The lip imprint on the NASA mug is interesting. Unusual to have it all the way around for both RHD and LHD. I recall one order, when I was in the business decades ago, with a lip imprint, "ENJOY YOUR BREAK" and a bottom imprint "NOW, GET BACK TO WORK".

Damn right I do. This is America. I have every right to dislike mustard.

That's where I put the 12v power point (cigar lighter). Well, flip the photo since my car is RHD. Anyway, it is handy for iPhone charging, tire pump, and works the other way with a battery tender so I don't have to remove the hood. It is wired direct to the car's battery with its own fuse. It is the only thing that stays live when the racecar system switch is off.

Driving in MASSachusetts Driving in MASSachusetts

I believe I already mentioned that I was considering making cockamamie tattoos for LOG.

That would be the outlook of my parents. They were both in the Navy (Dad was a Saint Paul reservist who served on WARD at Pearl Harbor. No, he did not personally sink the submarine). They figured that if you put anything in coffee, you didn't like coffee.

I still need more road-time to get more-used to shifting with my left hand, but otherwise I have no real problems with RHD in the USA.

Thanks. Folks at the local autocrosses this last weekend know the tuner I intend to use and say that he puts straps over the front wheels for RWD cars.

Not sure I fully-understand your answer. Picture? Drawing? ===== Sidebar: I always tie down cars in my trailer with a strap over each tire. I get them from Autohauler Supply 18200 SW Teton Ave Tualatin OR 97062 autohaulersupply.com I just picked up a set of these, and they look great: https://www.autohaulersupply.com/catalog/horizontal/ultimate-horizontal-e-track-wheel-strap-low-pro-with-ratchet-red-diamond-weave-554450.php I have been using an older style from them and decided it was time to upgrade.

This has a plastic case just like the one on the VDO fuel gauge that came to me broken in my Seven. Probably due to a DPO losing one of the mounting nuts and trying to compensate by over-tightening the one remaining nut.

How does one tie down a de Dion Caterham on a dynamometer? I will be bringing my Seven to a tuner to check the injection wiring and to tune my Megasquirt 3. Of course we don't want to damage either my Caterham or his Mustang. I presume we are primarily concerned with the de Dion tube. My instinct is that the ends of the tube are involved, but I have never dyno'ed any car so I need all the experienced advice I can get.

Yeah. Cycle fenders would have made it easier on my Hayabusa injection. I need to get a tuner at it to see if filters directly on the throttle bodies with no velocity stacks will work. Meanwhile, the Cayman has been a big heavy stand-in at the autocrosses. Took time out from 7s to take the Cayman to the Porsche Parade. Totally-different head: The stock autocross class does not allow autocross tires, so I left the truck and trailer at home and drove KMAN 2.9 on Michelin all-weather tires. I will not be doing that to take 74PHIL to LOG. I need to get 74PHIL fully-autocrossable.

I bought Grant GT steering wheel ifor my Europa. Wonderful wheel at a great price. The car had come to me with a different Grant model on it that was dreadful in every way. The Grant GT had a red center cap with a stylized "GT" logo. When I went to Texas to pick up a TR4 I had bought for my wife, Jay Mitchell asked me to co-drive his Europa in an autocross in Waco. I got in his car and realized he had a Grant GT wheel with a Lotus center cap. Not long after that I saw an Email from a guy in Nottingham England who had two boxes of OEM center caps, one box full of yellow/green caps and one box full of black/silver caps. He wanted 19 US dollars in cash for each cap. I sent him a $20 bill for a yellow/green and a note to keep the change. The cap installed in seconds with no tools. That wheel with that cap was in the running for the best-looking part of that car, along with the koa-wood-burl dashboard.

That looks like a Moto-Lita wheel. Nine bolts around a big hole.

Mine sure looks like that out-of-stock item. Again, I will shoot it in the next couple of days.

Dunno if it is the same thing, but I am open to offers for my original 1991 Caterham grill. I can shoot something later for dimensions. Flying low right now.

Just reading about this in LOWFLYING.

I first heard that one sometime in the 1960s. In high school I thought the ultimate combo was a Lotus Europa and a Chevrolet Suburban. Little did I know that decades later I would actually have that combination.

Things do change. Got two messages this afternoon. The hood is ready and the filters are in. Picked up both. Up with the chickens tomorrow to take them up to Isanti.