View Full Version : How lucky do we get !
Just how lucky sometimes do we get in our hobby, well my F1 had no speedo working when I bought the truck, still had the original head in the dash, but had been messed about with over the years,a speedo cable that was sized,and no drive on the end of the cable that goes into the box,I went on this site and ask a few questions like what drive do I need ,shall I go digital etc I just wanted some sort of speedo reading.Well first a big thanks to both Toad (Mark) and Gettinonabitmore (Guy) They sent me a speedo drive and after a while of mucking about managed to free off the cable so I tried this in the gearbox and ran the truck up and the cable spun great, now all I need is a speedo head, I managed to get three types 1) a landrover 2) a old jag and 3) a mark one cortina,well to cut a long storey short the first two were to big to fit in the dash without cutting it about, but I took off the glass bezzel of the cortina and it was the same size as the original and slotted straight into the dash and the cable screwed straight onto the back,great at least I have some sort of mechanical speedo that I can mark at the correct speed on the glass, not right I know but good enough,so took the truck out for calibration of sorts last night and by great luck the speedo was spot on,not even a bit out right up to 70 + and to cap it off the speedo face looks the same as the other 1950 dials,its a feel good factor.
Do you have any good luck stories ?
The Ford was always going to be a good bet if tyre size etc was the same as all Ford speedos run at 1000 tpm and the changes are made at the gearbox end whereas other makers change the TPM of the speedo to suit.
As for good luck with cars ...I wish
not hot rod stuff but....Had a Suzuki SJ410 and despite the insistence of the manufacturer they have crap carbs that aren't re-buildable even though Suzuki will happily sell you a re-build kit!!!!!! (not bitter!!) anyway massive emission probs, 3 re-built carbs later and no better, new stock carb £450..so pull an inch and 1/4 SU off an MG Midget make an adapter from 1/4 plate and a couple of bolts cut some gaskets and bolt it on...fuel pipe is the right length..."brill"...throttle cable fits.."good god"....and even the choke cable lines up...."**** me!"......starts 1st pull...and runs a smooth as a smooth thing that's stroked smooth with a smoothing stick....pulls harder, has much better mid range and is even a bit better at top end (OK that's relative as at 60 it's a white knuckle ride) to put the icing on the cake it got much better MPG, got the emissions down and through the MOT.
gettinonabitmore
31-03-09, 06:32 PM
Glad to help...!!!
:D
Glad it worked...!!!
;)
bigbadbaldlee
31-03-09, 06:32 PM
Not hot rod but... had an old Mitsubishi, knackered carb, wouldn't tick over, couldn't get a replacement or rebuild kit. Had a rummage round in a box of bits I'd had for ages and found a brand new Nikki carb. God knows what it was supposed to be for but it fitted straight on and ran like clockwork. Result.
Slightly more hot rod... cut the old four brackets off my Corsair's Chevy axle because they were fitted wrong. Welded the new ones on how they should be, put the axle under the car where it needed to be. Tried my four bars so I could see how much they would need altering and found that the bottom ones were the right length for the top and the top ones were the right length for the bottom. Result (2).
Blown 100E
31-03-09, 08:06 PM
Not hot rod, just got hot.
As a teenager I had an old Vauxhall that always gave me trouble. One day it caught fire and finished up a wreck.
How lucky was that. I didn't have to drive the piece of sh1t again....result!!
D COUPE
31-03-09, 08:44 PM
Top fire worth the walk home
LOL
Shedster
31-03-09, 08:47 PM
Rebuilding an old side-valve 1936 JAP rotovator engine to build a bike around this winter. I got it given me with no piston. After trawling through all my mate's old piston books with no luck, we found one on his workshop floor. No idea what it was out of, just stamped '+.030' and scratched with '3'. Not only was it right bore size and compression height, the rings didn't even need gapping. Gudgeon pin was too big, but when I pressed small end out of conrod, the hole was a thou smaller than the pin size, so just reamed the piston bosses out and press-fitted the pin to the rod. Bike runs a dream now......
(Oh, and couldn't find a magneto chain anywhere - till I tried a Mini timing chain. Not only the right pitch, when fitted to the sprockets it slid right onto the shafts, exactly the right number of links. At that point my mate says, 'Bl**dy hell, when I die I want to come back as you...').
:):):):):)
You could send the guage off to "speedy cables" and get it re-calibrated rather than going by marks on the glass.
All they need to know is how many revolutions of the speedo cable for one revolution of the roadwheels.
Think the service is about £70.
No problem at all mate but was nothing to do with me, guy was kind enough to send it to me to help me out (THANKS GUY) and then HOLMSEY come to my rescue and sent me a cable so i could replace the one guy sent me.........so all i done was send it on to you m8........but pleased it worked ...........toad
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2026 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.