Benno

Cheers man, I'll be in touch soon when I've finished exams, would be good to have another look at your setup. Already got one, thanks though

So I've bought a single side draft manifold and carb for the 1600 crossflow in my escort. It's an escort manifold so I can still run the brake booster. The carb is a Weber DCOE 40. Not sure what the carb is jetted for, will take note of what the current jets are when I pull it apart to clean things up. Has anyone run one of these before? Any idea what the rough jet size is? I've got a wideband gauge so I can hopefully get things tuned ok at least, but would make things easier if I knew I was in the right ball park. Secondly, how should this linkage work? Do I basically want to get a cable made the right length with something like this on it? Or am I better off switching to a new linkage kit? What end would I want on the cable? Easiest/cheapest to get one made, or are they easily available online? Finally, where am I best to get filters from and what type would be best? Not keen on open trumpets, but trumpets with a gauze filter might be a good option perhaps, anything to gain with them compared to a K&N style filter? Any other advice? I'm new to side drafts and know fuck all. Cheers

The previous owner will get a letter in the mail soon telling him the ownership has been changed, should be sweet without him filling anything out

Not a long term solution, but you definitely don't need the reverse lights for a WOF. I asked my WOF guy about it on friday and he double checked the VIRM. You might want to get them sorted eventually, but if that is the only thing that needs done for a WOF I would be arguing it with the WOF guy and fixing it up later on

I did a change of ownership to the guy I sold it to, can't remember his name though sorry

Awesome, anyone getting involved with this? I would be very keen to get some decent photos. Would you prefer to shoot a car or a motorbike? Mk2 escort or KZ440 cafe racer styled bike. Would be cool for a few people to meet up and get some group photos too perhaps.

You don't actually need reverse lights for a WOF so you should be right there

I'm not too sure sorry, I was recommended Parrot and Sons (http://www.eparrott.co.nz/) by governorsam. I doubt an auto electrician would do those sorts of tasks though. Are there any places locally that would re-callibrate speedos etc? Might be worth asking around for somewhere like that

You don't need to worry about the voltage for speedos, the only electrical part of them is a light bulb which is easily replaced (and not even really necessary), the only important bit to get right is the drive ratio. Even if that doesn't match up exactly though, everything will still work the speed will just be off by a bit. If the ends aren't the same, it's a cheap and easy fix to get an instrumentation shop to put on a new end. If you have an old speedo cable, just take that in. I successfully fitted a Smiths speedo (similar to picture) to my CB400. Just took the factory speedo cable into Parrot and Sons (chch instrument repairer shop), cost $40 for a new fitting to be put on it to suit the speedo. Worked great.

You'd be best to get it revinned asap and put expansion chamber on straight afterwards

Pretty sure rego won't drop for motorbikes. It's dropping for cars because the ACC levy is dropping, hence why newer (safer) cars are going to be cheaper then older cars. They aren't going to drop ACC levies for bikes so rego price won't change

Alternatively, find something like this and print it off. http://www.flatheadv8.org/degree.htm Stick it to something solidish, a CD works well (might need to scale down). Attach your degree wheel to the flywheel somehow. Tape or bluetak would work well. Figure out the point at which the port is first opened, either as above or by looking from the exhaust port, or by taking the head off and looking at it in the bore. Line the degree wheel up with something fixed to the crankcase (a mark, fin etc or can attach a bit of wire or something) and set to TDC or 0 degrees. Rotate the engine slowly until you can see the exhaust port close. Take the measurement from the degree wheel to the point at the start, and you're sorted!

Make sure you keep the battery connected to even this out, otherwise you will blow bulbs all day

Yup, that sounds about right. Never done an FA so I could be wrong, but many of these small bikes don't have a regulator, only a rectifier. Basically this means that instead of having something that converts the AC to DC then 'chops' the voltage to ~14v it only converts it from AC to DC. At idle the voltage will probably be really low, high revs really high. The battery basically acts as a regulator, absorbing these voltage spikes and providing voltage when it is too low. This is why those motobatt batteries can burn out kinda quickly with these sorts of bikes, they don't love the spikes.

So it still turns over sweet? Easiest way to check the coil would be to pull a spark plug, then hold it up against the block while you get a mate to crank it over. Should be a nice blue spark, if there is nothing there is an ignition system. Coil could well be blown, might be worth checking/replacing the condensor too, especially if there is still a spark but it is shitty/weak/orange

Finally got around to fitting up the Honda civic alloy radiator. At $140 delivered from STA I am pretty happy with it. Just needed the outlet moved and a strip welded on either side to mount it. So far seems to be awesome, stays cool as and doesn't even need the fan. Will take it for a good drive after I get someone to have a look at the timing - I stuffed round with it and think I set it to 12 degrees, but it now doesn't run as well as it used to so I've probably fucked it. What should I be aiming for for static timing? Unsure about cam specs which makes things tricky. The cores of the radiators are basically the same dimensions, honda civic is just a little taller and less wide. Alloy radiator is multi core too. Fits into the car perfectly, stoked with it. Have ordered one of those alloy drink bottles from Aliexpress to strip and use as a catch can once it arrives

In fact, at $2 a pop I might even get the 2 ohm unit, then in case that isn't big enough, also get two 4 ohm resistors and wire them in parallel which will effectively double the capacity. Shouldn't need more then 20W for a small bike like that

Yup, you just need any high wattage universal resistor. Like this http://www.jaycar.co.nz/Passive-Components/Resistors/Wire-Wound/2R2ohm-10-Watt-Wire-Wound-Resistor/p/RR3344 - that one should be sweet, alternatively you just want the highest wattage 2 ohm resistor you can get, if the wattage is too small it will get hot

Anyone got any recommendations for a good one? Or know of things to look for? I quite like the look of this one http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Realtime-GPS-Tracker-Car-Quad-Band-Vehicle-Tracking-Device-with-Relay-Battery-to-Cut-off/1243719248.html, don't really know what I'm looking for though

New motor has been running like a dream. Only issue is it has been running a little on the hot side. I have got a Honda Civic alloy radiator for it, just need my mate to move the top outlet and weld some plates on the side and should be away. Will update with some pictures once I've got it done and in, if everything works though it seems like an awesome cheap upgrade - multi-core alloy radiator for $140. Got a new steering wheel from i500gt. Pretty stoked with it, the old wheel was getting pretty fucked. My front bumper was never straight, had had a whack in the front before I got the car and I got it kind of straight but the chrome was still rippled etc. When bmxnz11 offered up some free bumpers I snapped them up to make some quarters. Thanks again bmxnz11 for the bumpers and beaver for picking them up for me. Cut one of them up to make some quarters today - very average photo sorry, but I'm very happy with how they have come out!

Also keen to get some recommendations on a good one. Can get them super cheap from here, but so many options and having something reliable and not a complete piece of crap would be nice

Shit yeah, looks sweet. You don't need a speedo or indicators, I would just bin them. You should do some research into expansion chambers for these, a decent expansion chamber on it shouldn't be too hard to make/get made and will give you a decent power gain

Yeah, sounds like it's lean to me. Try a plug chop, run it up to decent revs then kill the ignition so it dies without idling. Does it run better with the choke on?

Could be keen if I've got my new radiator sorted by then

Going to get a cert and all that crap to get it legal or just run it and hope for the best?