IE coupe: First MOT since 1991: Pass first time!

[flex]

Afternoon all,

You may have seen my questions and posts over the last few years. My dad has had the car since 1986.

Fuel tanks, pumps, filters, injectors, vital fluids, all belts, earths and various other things, plenty of time but not much expense later its passed its first MOT in over 27 years with only 2 advisories.

New tyres on order as the current ones have gone hard and wobbly, and then we see what breaks over the summer.

Woohoo!

Felix

[Neil-yaj396]

Well done. I bought my first Beta (an ie) in 1991. Seems a long time ago......

[slowe]

Well done Felix. Gives me hope on my VX project which has only been off the road for 14 yrs ! Are you Penryn based ?

Regards
Simon

[flex]

Yes, in Penryn. Eastwood Garage did the MOT.

Been out for a couple of drives yesterday and today. Yesterday was on 1990 Pirellis on the front and 1989 Goodyears on the back. much vibration (not like out of balance, more out of shape). They also had zero wet grip (wheel spin on hills!).

We swapped to a set of Compomotive FH wheels with some ok tyres and the vibration was gone.

Engine runs well, apart from idle seems to not quite catch the revs on the way down (it can stall).

Gear linkage is vague (can I get what I need from the shop?)

And not really sure whats going on with the gauges (temperatures, pressures. Was showing overheat light with the gauge in the middle, but the car was not hot (will borrow a thermometer and check temps properly)

Also Starter solenoid is temperamental (needed a tap when hot just now).

All in all not bad, minor details for reliable running hopefully.

[HFStuart]

What wheels are they?

[flex]

What wheels are they?

Compomotive FH 1560. They also have centrelock style centre caps, but they look a bit naff. They are a "period" mod though!
15x6 ET 38 (I think) with a 15mm spacer and longer bolts (so around ET23), with 185 55 15 tyres.

Found them on ebay by chance for very little a while back. They look almost unused, but the the clear coat has some crazing/ water ingress on the machined parts.

The 7 inch wide ones (FH1570) look nicer, as they have slightly concave spokes and a deeper dish. There is also a 3 peice FH split rim sometimes seen on Stratos Replicas. I think the style was originally for Ferrari owners who wanted a non metric wheel.

I'm trying to understand the coolant sensors/ temperature gauge:

Could the overheat switch be coming on early? I understand it should come on at 115C.
Gauge Shows green temperature with just the temp gauge connected. Connect the overtemperature warning sensor and the  overheat light comes and the gauge goes to the red.

[slowe]

Looking excellent Felix - looked forward to seeing it around on the local roads.

[flex]

Looking excellent Felix - looked forward to seeing it around on the local roads.

How far is you VX From completion? I assume from your comments you are in Cornwall somewhere?

[slowe]

My VX is a long way from completion. It's still in bits awaiting work. I'm located in Ponsanooth.

[flex]

Ah was that with the guy (Pete, maybe?) in Hernis for a bit?

[slowe]

Yes - Welding stalled - Pete was evicted and he abandoned his Spider in my garage and my VX body shell has ended up half completed in a lock up.  Hopefully the body shell will be moving back to my garage in the next few weeks and work can progress - fingers crossed