The 'E' Type Forum

They’re usually a good fit. Are you sure you don’t have M12 bolts by accident?

There is a thread of mine on battery charging failure in my 3.8. https://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22046 For posterity I eventually found that the problem was caused by my using a LED globe on the alternator light on the dash. The alternator light connection feeds power to the field coil...

Tom I spent some time on the earth connections. Initially I had about 0.7v drop on earth with cranking. I fiddled with the engine earth strap, installed a second strap and replaced the battery connector on the earth cable. This brought the voltage drop down to 0.2v. Now with a fully charged battery ...

Problem solved. I think. I had fitted LED globes to the gauge. On Steve's advice I've changed out the LED for a standard globe. Charging now works perfectly off the key with the Dynamator. I'm guessing that my original problem was the same; somehow not enough voltage feeding back through the LED to ...

Again Tom good advice.

I hope to get to it on the weekend.

I have a voltmeter in the cigar lighter socket.

You should be able to slide the coupling up and down on the shafts, but there should be little or no side to side movement.

Thanks for that Steve. I bought a pulley from Tudor. I'll change out the globe too. Yesterday I noticed that when I pushed the starter button the voltage dropped from 12.8 down to 6 or 7 volts while the starter was going and the engine was turning over much slower than normal. I'm not sure what this...

I'm going to make up another wire to bypass the loom. And probably replace the engine earth cable under the car.

Realistically, it has to be the wires. There's nothing else.

I'll keep you posted.

Good thoughts both. I did wonder about the engine earth.

I’ll go and have a look.

I'm perplexed by a charging problem I'm having with a fully restored 3.8 coupe. This car had a standard Lucas dynamo wired through an RB340 control box with entirely standard new wiring from Autosparks. Over the last few years I've had intermittent failure to charge the battery, with the generator/c...

That's very clever.

Is something getting hot?

Sounds like brake fade due to brake fluid boiling.

I get that Randall and I do actually use 30W engine oil in my MGB gearboxes but that recommendation is from 70 years ago and who knows what formula changes have occurred in that time. The Redline products on the other hand are specifically designed for gearboxes and have the runs on the board as far...

They’re probably hardened as well.

So if you find you have to make new ones because the holes are worn I’d use something like 4140 which you can easily harden as necessary.

I dunno. SAE 30 is an engine oil designed for small 4 stroke engines like mowers and its viscocity is double that of MTL at 40c although very similar at 100c. MTL is specifically designed to a be synchro friendly gearbox oil with low sulphur. I can’t find anything about the SAE 30. MTL and MT90 are ...

I'm in two minds as to whether to keep the ammeter or not.

I'm going to replace the ammeter with one with the guts of a 50 amp Landrover one which I think should be robust enough.

Otherwise I'll convert to a voltmeter, but I'd prefer to keep it original if I can.

Follow up. #5 plug lead pulled; no difference in rpm. Plug removed; oiled up. Replaced. Car runs perfectly.

We'd been moving the car in and out of the garage a lot while working on Dave's ND. Too much choke fouled the plugs.

Good outcome. The early 4.2s had the front and rear circuits reversed in comparison to all the later cars.