Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I think my Skoda 1.2 ( timing chains were dodgy) may come back from the dead .

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All the valves were bent but I’m hopeful

Very tangy selection!

I know it's probably the question you get asked the most with these but how do you find the torque issue, especially when using them on the road? And are they as bad as I was always led to believe on clutches?

Never had a problem with either frankly. OK, they can be a bit tricky to get off the line if you don't get your clutch leverage right - my Blackbird car had a very digital clutch when I first built it, but changing the master cylinder size and the pedal leverage ratio changed things significantly. They're all fairly low geared - the Striker tops out at 118mph in top, bumping off the limiter, and the Fury Racer is geared to about 135mph max, although I've only ever got it to just under 130. That helps with the torque of course. As does the fact they're very light. The Striker weighs only just a tad over 400kg with fluids.

Never had any issues with clutches (apart from the on-off nature if they're badly set up) except for one occasion when the clutch on the racer started slipping when flat out in 3rd gear at Pembrey. Given that it was the original clutch from the crashed bike, and had done 2 seasons racing in a car, that didn't seem too bad. I swapped the clutch for a new one, and fitted slightly uprated clutch springs (+20% I think) and never had an issue with it again, although the firmer clutch springs do make the clutch a little bit harder to use.

They're certainly not hard to drive though. My father drove the Striker at an airfield day a few years ago. He's used to driving a Volvo, and his favoured rev range is between 1k-1.5k rpm. I always knew when he was approaching the house as the window frames used to rattle in sympathy with the labouring engine and its knackered bottom end. After a few practice starts, he was quite happy doing 1/8th mile drag runs (even left a few black 11s) and driving it around. The only issue was trying to persuade him to rev it to 12krpm rather than changing up at about 6.

IME the people who claim that BECs won't work generally haven't driven them.

WBAC offered me £150 for my 911.

Would you be in a financially better place if you’d bought it and then sold it for £150 immediately, or if you sold it to a private buyer now?

WBAC offered me £150 for the tired S70. Somewhere up in Tottenham offered £170 and would come pick it up. Sold it to an enthusiast for £130 as it going to a loving home was worth the price difference to me.

Redcorn?

Not a car but I know some of you are pretty savvy, mechanically. Do you think you could tension this from the inside with the teeth running over an idler pulley? Don't know if that's a faux pas but don't see how you could get tension otherwise

*I can't find an intermediate belt between way too tight to even fit and this one

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Cheers, I'll have a look there.

@furious_tiles no police relatives

I reckon it would depend on how much torque is needed and how much force is going through the belt. That would tell you how robustly the idler needs to be mounted. Also, I would be inclined to add it to the side under least tension. That is if the top pulley is the drive pulley and it turns anticlockwise, then more tension will be on the right, so having the idler on the left would be less of a concern. Consider also that with that much slack to take up, the extreme angle that the belt is now leaving/approaching either pulley means that fewer teeth are engaged so there is more chance of the belt slipping. Even on my singlespeed, I needed to use a half link to shorten the chain ever so slightly as the chain tensioner was taking up too much slack and not giving enough wrap around the rear sprocket, so the chain slipped under load.

Handing this rental back tomorrow. It's the XDrive 430d M Sport gran coupe.
It's been fun but the ride is really harsh and my kids don't like it.
Run flats don't help I'm sure.
The auto box is much smoother than my Mini's though and I was getting used to heated seats...
Whoever was using it before me must have really caned it 'cos it was showing an average of 16mpg when I got it!

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16mpg???

I had a 430d GC for three years and averaged 40mpg.

Really enjoyed driving it but you’re spot on re: the ride. Much too harsh. Apparently the adaptive dampers were sort of ok in comfort but didn’t spec them on mine.

Even retirees?

Police Mutual insurance for police and their family members is cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

Pug 505 grd estate anyone? https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/3695349883808395?media_id=0&ref=share_attachment

Thanks, hadn't thought about the teeth engagement. It's an absolutely crap design that they rectified with the next model (different pulleys + they added a tensioner). Unfortunately I think it's going to take quite a lot of abuse, it's a deep scarifier with a 13hp motor. I guess I will try it, it's sat unused for so long now it can't hurt

Could also just try bigger pulleys if you can.

Arrange a time after dark for the valuation. Also have it filthy dirty.

Fewer scratches will be spotted.

Doesn’t sound good.

Driving along, car made a loud dull bang in the back. Thought my toolbox had just fallen over. Then a bit down the road it was making the noise in the video - seemingly from the front left. Then it stopped. Drove around a bit more, the back made 2 or 3 loud thud/bangs again. I stopped and had a look but couldn’t see anything.
Jacked up the back, both rear wheels seemed fine (ran ok, bearings seemed on), front left wheel also seemed ok.

Annoyingly the noise in the video went away so I couldn’t see if it changed pitch when I changed gears but kept road speed the same.

My hope is that it was just something caught/lodged somewhere that worked itself free.

I drove around for 20 mins trying to recreate the noise to no avail. A good sign I hope.

Sold the Astra. £500, done.

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If you find some flat ground such as for e.g. a car park does the car track straight with your hands off the wheel? What happens under power, again with no hands? Now try under brakes.

Could be a driveshaft, maybe, or something in the suspension. See under what conditions (if any) it steers itself and go from there.

Hola,

Have you tried a belt and bearing places as you can usually get belts with differing lengths. https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/Belts-Toothed-Belts/c4601_5046/index.html have usually help to see what you can get.

If you can't get a shorter belt, maybe you need to fit two tensioners on the outside of the belt, one fixed and one tensionable? Suspect that the belt will stretch/wear. That way the tooth engagement will still be there. Easiest way to create a tensioner would be a to use 2rs bearings on a steel rod mount. Looking at the thickness of the metal, drill a hole and tap a thread so you could bolt the tensioner in place. Maybe use a concentric tensioner?

Cheers, will continue to investigate tomorrow.

Yeah you'll need a minimum number of teeth engaged to ensure it doesn't slip, it's commonly referred to as lap angle in drive systems and you can maths that if you have the inclination.

As @stevo_com has mentioned, you have to make some considerations where you place the tensioner - Ideally you want the length of belt either side of the tensioner pulley to be equal (referred to as the "span").

You can technically put the tensioner idler on either side of the belt but one side may be preferable to the depending on the span lengths and amount of slack you need to take up. I can't recall the specifics for a timing / toothed belt but that's certainly the case for other belts

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Alright Brunel.

Honestly just sounds like something got caught somewhere.