This is my first post on here so firstly hello, im the owner of a 1.8 k series engined MK indy R which I bought from PistonHeads towards the end of the summer (just in time for the bad weather!).

My plan is to spend a bit of time on the car over the winter getting everything as it should as there are a number of things which require some attention but before then I plan on giving the car a good service.

The car is an indy r chassis and im told has sierra cosworth running gear and gear box with a tuned 1.8k series on TB's. On my list of to-do's are

- General Service

- Brakes (feel really isn't great, you need to fairly stamp on the pedal for them to bite, maybe normal with the type of master cylinder?)

-Lights (my dipped beam doesn't work)

-Build a gear gate (reverse is far too close to first!)

-Water Temp Gauge / Thermostat (Temp sits far too low on the gauge, could possibly be a faulty gauge?)

Anyway, how does everyone keep their Indy off its wheels over the winter? Just plain axle stands?

Iain

[Edited on 23/12/10 by Iaing]

Firstly welcome to the mad house.

i use Axle stands on back and a few bits of wood under the front.

Hope you find the site useful. its been priceless for me as im building my locost from a pile of 1" tube and bits from here and ebay.

:O)


good luck with your servicing in the cold.



David

Ian

Welcome,

I will try and answer a couple of your questions,

firstly the brakes, i had pretty well the same problem with my locost <<<<, the brakes worked and were up to mot requirments
but i had to stand so hard on the pedal my bum/lower back hurt sitting in the seat, firstly i swopped the cortina standard 2 pots for princess 4 pot calipers , and that helped, but the biggest improvement in my brakes was moving the master cylinder rod pin 1/2 inch up the pedal, and thus increasing the fulcrum effect, my brakes are now at a very good feel

This said, that as the locost does not have a servo, nor need one, it does take a while to relearn over drving our tin tops with a servo

Making a gate for the gears is a very worthwile improvement, and one i am also thinking off

as for keeping the wheels of the ground, why bother (i dont) these cars are so light, a doubt it would make any difference,
i normally pump th tyres up to 40psi over the winter, and drop them to 16 when driving

Regards

Steve

quote:

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Originally posted by Iaing

- Brakes (feel really isn't great, you need to fairly stamp on the pedal for them to bite, maybe normal with the type of master cylinder?)

-Water Temp Gauge / Thermostat (Temp sits far too low on the gauge, could possibly be a faulty gauge?)

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Ah.... so you're to blame for the rubbish weather are you

I also don't tend to put my car up on stands either, 3 years on, never had a problemo.

Cheers

Rich

Oh and welcome to the madhouse.

Welcome to the mad house.

Brakes could beseveral things. No servo does make the pedal feel very solid and takes some getting used to. The Sierra master cylinder is also a large diameter (due to normally having a servo) and an improvement is to replace it with either an early Mk1/2 Fiesta non-servo master or Fiat non-servo (Uno/Panda?) one. Different pads can also help as can altering the pedal leverage.
Temp' sounds like the thermostat either faulty or missing. Quite common for people to remove thinking it helps ???
Either put it on stands under the chassis or just leave with extra air in the tyres. Car that light shouldn't be a problem.

Blow the tyres up nice and hard if you are leaving it on the floor i blow mine up to 35 - 40 lbs
OOOO and WELCOME to the MadHoUsE
Jacko

Hey folks, sorry for the slow reply. I have the festive season to blame! Thanks for all the replies.

Went out to check on the car last night (as you do!) and noticed that i have a nice puddle of anti freeze under the car, turns out one of the coolant hoses has decided to spring a leak on its own. Brilliant, better add that to the list too!

Iain