Glad you got back without further incident!

Ahhh, sounds like an interesting time was had on the way home then Rupert. The rescue team now has a tail happy 200 included too now then!
Pete

I try, although i do have some very intersting finger marks in my rear 'jesus' handles, where andy had a firm hold around a gentle roundabout, Oh well.

LOL, the FM handles were used in an emergency only then! Nice to have you along, a busy day for you really! It was a good turnout, despite the cold.
Pete

I blame the French engine... I think I probably ought to fix that poor car. I thought I'd done it...well...at least the stereo and the engine now work ok, right? Sorry you guys had to put up with it...with hindsight it probably wasn't the greatest of ideas bringing it out when it's unproven, although I guess there are worse times to have problems than when at a meet full of Volvo people! I'll justify new tyres all-round by...er...reminding myself that they could be spares for the 360...

It's great to have Andi as a confirmed member of the East Midlands Mafia...I can see numerous future colaborations taking place.

I got back about an hour ago, including a trip well off the top of the speedo scale (I stopped by the private airstrip). I stopped off at Nick's place (a TBricker putting a 2.3 turbo engine in a mk1 Escort), we nattered for far too long. His car is very cool, and I'd love a workshop like his. At least I finally got some food at about 1am!

Thanks for coming everyone. Sorry I disappeared to remove that cylinder head. With hindsight that was a fairly antisocial thing to do, but hey... Special thanks to Ronnie and Dekay for helping me remove it.

It was great to meet the 'drift posse'. It never hurts to have a few larger than life characters around, and we had a great laugh

cheers

James

Great to meet you all yesterday - was really good fun and will I'll definitely be back. You're a great bunch. Was also really good to have the TBrickers along. Variety always makes things more interesting! Glad everyone got home in one piece despite a little drama

I took the backroads South to get away from other drivers - visability was down to 3 meters in places which is the heaviest fog I've ever driven in. Sorry I had to run, Foggy. I got back to Bristol in time to pick up Mrs Ronnie & the baby from the train station with just half an hour to spare, so I stayed as long as I could!

Many thanks for all your hard work with the Grille, Adam - it'll come right next time! Very good fun following you to the scrappy on the backroads with Mr Tailhappy (Nav) behind - that was I right laugh. Also, that wheel was a bargain and very very nice.

Cheers Chris for lugging that spoiler all the way from Isle of White for me to turn round and take DrivesaVolvo's one! ( DrivesaVolvo). Looking forward to seeing your ricer at the next meet!

Cheers all!

Hey guys soz i took so long to reply i needed sleep even if i had to get up at 7 to take dai to work! 6 hours is not enough. Car is still going i think even smoother now!!! Anyways catch you guys later!

got back at around 9 last night.
Why did I have to lead the brum convoy back when I'm the only one without front fogs?!?!?!

Bloody hell that fog was a right pain, nice one for leading the way! I turned my fogs off at one point and it was like turning my lights off! Me and Dave got to a junction at some traffic lights after Kidderminster... and neither of us had a clue where the road was going, attacked it at completely the wrong angle before realising where the road actually went

I found it easier going without my spots on in many places - less reflection near to the car meant I could see further ahead. Amazing how many people I saw crawling around at 20mph with full beam on unable to see sh*t :p

seriously, the lack of engine->gearbox transmission on nessy is the prop, not the clutch. pretty easy job too - hell i managed to do it on the side of the road in poland

sorry to hear about the blowout - was that on the rare 3x5 alloys? think one of em had a nail in..

Hugh, I am puzzled as to why you think that the problem is the prop - surely if the rubbers on the prop were knackered the prop would just give up completely and shred themselves to bits as is the usual way.

This problem has all the classic signs of clutch slip - it is getting progressively worse and the pedal is almost to the floor amongst other things. There is a problem with the prop as it rattles and bangs and there is a rumbling from it, but the revs rising disproportionately to vehicle speed is definately clutch slip.

Oh, and whilst you're here.......

Where is the fuel tank leaking from?

fuel leaks from the filler pipe, or possably the breather pipe (never bothered investigating, just learned not to brim it)

the rubber in the prop allows the metal to slide over the rubber when the crimping loosens with age. it happened to a previous prop on that car, which i replaced, but once the new one was on there was very slight slip - a mild squeak at the back when changing gears, so it was already on its way out. the previous one got progressively worse with age, as i'm hearing this one is. theres no way of *telling* but iirc the sqeaky noise came from the rear of the car, and

a) clutches dont make squeaky noises
b) there isnt a clutch there

when the crimping loosens with age.



the rubber is not crimped. it is vulcanised. 100% fixed or loose. no in-between.

Indeed, and surely if the rubber was 'slipping' it would shred itself within seconds of starting to slip. not survive a 220mile round trip.

For example;

You are driving on a constant throttle at 2000rpm in 4th. You squeeze open the throttle to over halfway at which point the revs shoot round to 5000rpm, but the car fails to increase speed significantly. Thus the prop is now spinning at 3000rpm faster than the gearbox input shaft. Now tell me a rubber coupling can handle that type of abuse without shredding!

I'm sorry to say it Hugh, but you are talking crap - the clutch is definately slipping.