paul_w

Hi Paul - I was admiring your car (and the wheels in particular!) at the weekend. I have a set like that on my Lotus Europa but they are in lousy condition. The PCD should be the 3.75" (same as the Triumph) rather than Ford, though it's worth checking. JBW do the steels in this bolt pattern but seems to be out of stock at present - those are 5.5 width, the originals would be the same as a Herald at 3.5" or possibly 4.5" from a Vitesse, though the latter are hard to come by these days. Paul

I wouldn't risk advancing the ignition timing on this basis, it's hard to hear pinking over the noise of a BDR and if the advance pushes the engine towards detonation you've got a big bill facing you. The curve should have been set for the engine when it was built and you've more chance of getting it wrong than right if you start guessing at it. Does the engine foul the plugs due to it being over rich?

Magnificent cars, correctly set up they drive superbly and make lots of 50s cars feel like the cartsprung barges they are. I had a UK-built Light 15 with a skimmed head and a lightened flywheel as a daily driver. One day I'll get another. The only let down on them is the gearbox but you can fit an early DS four-speed. If that one has been in the country for a long time there's a good chance I've welded its sills - I was doing loads of them at one point in a previous life...

Logically then the dampers must be a different length than the LA ones, since the bottom mount is a good couple of inches lower. I'd be interested to know how you get on as I know my shocks must be 20 years old at least, and more regular use than the car was getting may well lead to their demise.

Don't the dampers bolt to the top of the axle on an LA car Vs the side of the tube on a DD one? That would suggest they are different lengths 🤔

Happy to do some scans of these if they're not clear, but won't be until this evening at the earliest

BDR:

Crossflow:

The picture above shows the cross flow on top, and the BDR below. As far as I know, all BDRs should have the pulley markings - have you got any pics of that area?

From the manual

Hi Anthony - to set the ignition timing on a BDR you use the marks on the back of the cam pulley and the small raised line on the cam cover. The pulley is marked at TDC, 10 degrees, and 20 Degrees.

I made the same assumption of compatibility at some point in the past so I have exactly the same combination as Guy! It's somewhere iny garage and I'd forgotten about until now. Unless the column size changed at some point?

I had assumed fixed cam as 140bhp is the fixed cam Supersport spec and because Jools mentioned budget so I guessed we're talking about the older Sigma cars. A 310 is a similar upgrade package added to the variable cam engine to get 152bhp. None of the Sigma cars will have the torque of the 360 so would indeed be slower as an SV two up with luggage. There no replacement for displacement, as the Americans say. But if it's what you can afford, I doubt you'd regret it if you just bought a standard 125bhp car. It still won't be slow, and will corner slightly better than a 360 of the same spec.