Now did I know that you would have one???? I must know you well.......not bad considering we're on opposite side of the world and have never actually met!

Read More...

I have one of those also. You can still buy cylinders for both two & four minute players.
Sadly the stylus on my Gem has broken & I’m having to rebuild it, as modern (Berliner) gramophone records have their grooves “side to side” a cylinder player is up & down; hill & dale. Get the profile wrong & you will cut your own track in the wax.
M

Read More...

My you are modern......78s? I thought you might still be using Edison cylinders for your toe-tappin' toons!

Read More...

It could just be a crap electrical connection bad enough to be throwing up faults but not bad enough to notice running, check and clean the electrical connections in the wiring to the crank sensor, also don't forget the earthing.

Read More...

+1 for the TF that Len is doing up. I have seen this in the metal. He was selective about buying the car and his restoration is detailed and fastidious. Whoever buys that will have a great car.

Read More...

45ep? Do we remember those, oh yes. Crumbs I still play 78’s on my wonderful horn gram.
Kathleen Ferrier with Bruno Walter recorded & played acoustically, nothing like it.
We digress.
It’s not long since we had a session on Rover V8’s & derivatives, that was a good few posts. I must look back on that, anyone remember about when that was?
M

Read More...

Just done a routine scan. “crank Position Sensor” is back ☹️
Cleared it once but it came straight back. Cleared it again and it stayed cleared. With engine running Pscan tells me crank is “synced” even while the fault code is active.
No starting or running issue.
Is this a genuine fault or a diagnostic/software fault? This is driving me crazy. Do I spend £40 to change the sensor or would I have been better off keeping the pscan cost and not knowing?

Read More...

Actually "Mad Science Racing" would be a good name for a range of performance parts and services, as well as a racing team of course!
Should the numbered ping pong balls finally get their bloody act together and do the right thing by falling out in the correct order so that I may win the lotto, I will build this and other weird and wonderful engines and cars under this name!

Read More...

We are the sane ones, every one else is mad

Read More...

Airportable wrote:

It’s interesting to note how many active members are working through health problems.
My car it the recipient of many of my mad ideas & Cobb’s said when talking about his V8 obsession, thinking & doing simply sheds years of your mental age.
Until you do something that your ancient body doesn’t approve of & you say “Golly that hurt”.
M
 

No I'm pretty sure I have NEVER said the expression: "Golly that hurt"

Read More...

I’ve just been in stores & found this, it might help identify what you have. 
this is off a Mk1, dated 25-06-98. 
M

Read More...

We’ll done & do remember that from your wife’s point of view, a visit to the hit salon is, in her mind, a legitimate MG expenditure.
Just be thankful that we’re at the back end & the roof won’t be down all that much until spring.
Start saving for that eventually.
Make sure the roof doesn’t leek, she will also view a wet dress as an excuse for a shopping trip to Lancaster & on your card.
Good stuff.
M

Read More...

We got an MOT !!!!
Well chuffed.
 

Fully legal and ready to rock. It's beautiful sunshine in Morecambe (As it always is) so I've been blasting around with the roof down. Even convinced the wife to come for a drive. Needless to say after a 70mph blast her hair was some what dishevelled. It's was very funny.
​funny.now to start planning the next MG jobs
 

Read More...

wrote:

I have given this some thought and have a few dreams floating around, now depending how adventurous your dreams are then I offer some bizarre ideas. The first thoughts are to cut the rear two cylinders off a KV6 and the front two cylinders off another KV6 and weld the two "V4's" together to create a V8. The obvious to me crankshaft is the 82mm stroke Rover V8, these are relatively short so the crank journals might just work, some enterprising souls in the USA are machining Ford cranks to fit into into Rover V8's!  A likely source of cylinder heads are the Ford SHO V8 engine, these were a 3.4 litre V8  and have a very adaptable inlet manifold. The bore is very similar to the KV6 so they might just work  If they didn't have a cast iron block they might have been an interesting engine to go into a TF, being a 60 degree they are about two inches narrower than the KV6. Like you have done the side air intakes need a fan each side and scoops as well, if MG Rover had survived the next iteration of the TF was going to get scoops, aerodynamic testing showed that the existing design was next to useless and the MGF was even worse. The standard radiator would easily cope, the aerodynamic testing actuall shoed that air comes out of the upper vents at speed on a TF, the problem is that the air has nowhere to easily escape after passing through the radiator. Adding a vented bonnet not only allowed the hot air to escape but also reduced front end lift to zero. https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/concepts-mg-tf200-hpd/
The current Jaguar V6 follows an interesting philosophy in that is a V8 casting without the two rear cylinders, it should be relatively easy to convert a Jaguar V8 into V6 6.png
Another interesting twin engine-ed car; http://www.dlg.speedfreaks.org/archive/cars/fittipaldi/3200/3200.php
All these idea are just from taking two Paracetamol and two Ibuprofen, imagine what I could come up with after taking something that hallucinates. 
 

So I'm not the only mad scientist around here.....it's good to have the company of like minded souls!

Thanks for those ideas, I'm going to digest that lot, it will give something to do at work tonight.

The Buick/Holden iron 3.8 V6 was developed from the old iron Buick V8 which cams in various capacities from @ 5.0 to 5.6 litre itself a derivative of the Buick/Oldsmobile 3.5 alloy V8 which was of course the origin of the Rover V8 and the Repco Brabham 3.0 V8 that won the F1 world championship in 1966 and 1967, there were other versions of the repco engine used in the Tasman Series 2.5 litre, and sportscar and CanAm racing 4.2 litre.
The Rover V8 was also the basis of the Leyland P76 4.4 litre V8 which had a higher deck height  for more stroke and Repco also developed a 5.0 litre version using the P76 block for F5000.
As an aside Repco were doing 2 different F5000 engine at the same time as they also did the very successful  Repco-Holden F5000 engine developed from the iron Holden V8.

Read More...

Airportable wrote:

For me the most hallucinogenic V engine ever made was / is the BRM 1.5 litre V16 engine of the mid ‘50’s. It was designed just after the war & it would rev up to 12,000 rpm & make 600bhp.
The change in formula to 2.5ltr (?) brought its development to a holt.
A firm in Lincolnshire will build you a new one it you can rustle up the money.
The sound they make is sublime, again YouTube will help you appreciate what these V16 powered cars would do.
M
 

It was lost long ago but I had a 45 EP (remember them) that was a recording of a BRM 1.5 V16 going through it's paces..........what a glorious noise!

Read More...

For me the most hallucinogenic V engine ever made was / is the BRM 1.5 litre V16 engine of the mid ‘50’s. It was designed just after the war & it would rev up to 12,000 rpm & make 600bhp.
The change in formula to 2.5ltr (?) brought its development to a holt.
A firm in Lincolnshire will build you a new one it you can rustle up the money.
The sound they make is sublime, again YouTube will help you appreciate what these V16 powered cars would do.
M

Read More...

It’s interesting to note how many active members are working through health problems.
My car it the recipient of many of my mad ideas & Cobb’s said when talking about his V8 obsession, thinking & doing simply sheds years of your mental age.
Until you do something that your ancient body doesn’t approve of & you say “Golly that hurt”.
M

Read More...

I think there are two patterns of switch, early & late (nowt like stating the obvious) & I don’t think you can graft one onto the other. Electrically they are identical, if buying a used part do make sure it’s off the same family group.
An early f & a 500 won’t mix.
Again this post starts with “I think” & so someone might like to verify, I have a switch in store which I think is a Mk2 / tf, I can’t check against a Mk1 as my car starts electronically & the key just enables the electronics, the rest of it fell in bits, hence the electronics.
M

Read More...