The Humble Spark Plug

The ignition systems on modern cars is highly complex. Even on classic cars that technology has moved on, but you probably don’t realise it. The humble spark plug is a highly complex part of the engine and the plug leads that supply the power are no exception.

What started out as me showing you how I remade a broken lead and setting my spark plug gaps, turned into a bit of a monster research project. I didn’t realise that there was quite as much involved for a throw away part that only costs a few quid (bucks). From what I have learnt I will try to explain; cause of bad plugs, incorrect gap setting, how spark plugs and their leads are made, how they work and how you can make your own custom plug leads!

Costs:

HT ignition cable sets can vary from £15 to £150 (or more depending requirements).

Spark Plugs can very from £2 each to easily over £20 each

Crimping tool £5 to £25

Spark plug gap tool or feeler gauges £2 to £30

What is an Ignition, Spark Plug or HT lead?

It’s a simple, but critical cable which transfers the power from the distributor cap to the spark plug, where it then provides the energy to create a spark at the plug electrodes, which in turn ignites the air/fuel mixture to give you the power to turn a crank which will eventually drive the wheels.

The ignition lead is comprised of a conductive material surrounded by a silicone jacket. The primary purpose of the silicone surround is protection and looks to a degree. Ignition leads sit in close proximity to the engine itself and so are subject to dramatic changes in temperature, caustic chemicals and frequent abrasion. A silicone outer layer helps to protect the conductive core from external damage, extending its lifespan.

The core itself, which carries the current, will either be made of copper or carbon, depending on the age of the vehicle. Older vehicles used copper, modern ones carbon. Now days older cars can use the modern carbon style for better reliability and consistency and still look stock.

It’s a common myth that bigger and more elaborate HT leads will give you more horse power. What they will do is provide the optimum efficiency and stability that may have been lacking on older worn leads. They should last longer and keep performance at a constant level.

How do you know if the HT leads have gone bad?

1. Decrease in power, acceleration, and fuel efficiency

One of the most common symptoms of an issue with the ignition cables is engine performance problems. The ignition cables carry the spark from the coil and distributor to the spark plugs so that engine combustion can occur. If there is any issue with the spark plug wires the engine spark can be disturbed, which can result in engine performance issues such as misfires, a reduction in power and acceleration, as well as a reduction in fuel efficiency. In severe cases bad cables may even result in engine stalling.

2. Visible wear or damage to cables

Visible wear or damage are symptoms of issues with the ignition cables. Old cables may dry out or perish, which may lead to cracks in the insulation. There are also instances where the cables may rub up against a hot manifold or engine components, which may cause them to melt and burn up. Both of these issues may compromise the cable’s ability to transport the spark to the spark. This can lead to misfires and other performance issues, and in more serious cases may even lead to the cables shorting against the engine.

3. Check Engine Light comes on (modern cars)

Faulty cables can lead to engine misfires as well as excessively rich air fuel ratios, both of which can set off the Check Engine Light if detected by the computer. Many modern vehicles are now being manufactured without the good old fashioned ignition cables, however they are still found on a very large majority of older cars.

Process To Make Your Own:

Regardless of the vehicle, making the wire is the same in principle. Most of the time the ‘generic’ HT leads tend to have the spark plug boot already connected. Most kits will give you an option of metal crimp ends and rubber boots depending on application.

These can be straight, 90deg or 115deg angles (as below) etc. depending on the manufacturer, engine fitting, style, age and type of engine etc.

These HT leads can be single colours, multi coloured, cloth wrapped, silicon covered or custom variations of anything in between.

The spark plug boot fittings can be pretty much anything on top of the spark plug terminal, to nothing with just the thread or a simple screw down for the clamped earlier designs.

Or any of the following styles; stud, clip, screw, solder or crimp etc.

My Mustang leads are set to the 115deg from the plug with an open end which allows you to cut the wire and route where you want it. Or you could buy prefabricated leads without the hassle or making them of course. But you may be limited to the routing of the wires that you wanted.

Process to attach the fittings.

Making your cable connection will require a plug crimping tool, usually around £10 to £25 for a ratchet set. They have the main crimping section at the bottom of the jaws, outer layer cutting jaw and then the inner cable crimp at the top, if needed.

Measure the length of the cable you need and trim approx 1″ longer than you need, this will allow for trimming and crimping the core. Better to be a fraction to long than too short and put stress on the cable.

Depending on the connection you have you may need to trim to the inner core and crimp twice.

If there are no boot(s) on the cable you will need to put these on first. Make sure they are the correct way round. This is so often forgotten and will lead to a wasted crimp and an even shorter cable when you have to redo them. To make life easier to slide the cable through the boot is apply a little dielectric grease. this protects the rubber and also allows electrical current through it just in case it gets on the centre core.

My cables needed to expose the inner core only. Trim of the outer silicon and the inner layer to leave an exposed amount of core.

Fold the core cable over back on itself. making sure that the core is on the back of the fitting.

Place the fitting and cable into the crimps with the open side on the fold part of the jaws.

Slip the boot over the fitting and make sure it seats correctly. With both ends crimped and ready to fit test the integrity of the lead via a multimeter ‘ohms’ setting with a tester prong at each end of the cable. With everything in place you can fit the cable.

Note; the distributer cap boot fittings (male fit) tend to extend past the rubber as it has to sit deeper into the distributor cap as in this pictures here to make a contact.

Repeat for each lead you need.

Spark Plugs:

This is probably the least thought about part of the engine and least understood. Yet these relatively cheap disposable parts can make a huge difference to the running of the engine, and the designs behind them can get highly technical. i will try to break it down into smaller sections.

What is the Spark Plug?

This is the part of the engine that detonates the air fuel mixture in the engine’s cylinders to make the explosion to force the piston down to rotate a crank, which in turn drives a shaft to the gearbox.

Basics:

Design of the plug will dictated by the engine manufacturer, such as where it will be located how far from the chamber etc. things like centre mounted plugs on an over head cam tend to be thinner and longer to reach the top of the cylinder. Traditional side mounted mounted plugs can be shorter or fatter depending on where it needs to sit in the cylinder head.

A good rule of thumb for the correct depth is something like this, all the information will be in the manufacturers guides.

To shallow a plug and the spark will not ignite the fuel/air in the cylinders correctly. To long a plug and there is a danger that the top of the piston could hit the plugs. The incorrect depths could also play a part in heat dissipation, fuel economy, power and even the overall drivability of the car.

A selection of various designs from short to long, to thin to fat and marine application.

The firing end has a number of different ways to create the spark, single, double and even quadruple toe electrodes, angled etc. Each design will give a specific spark for a particular engine. Here is a description of the more common ones.

Standard spark plugs typically feature a traditional ground electrode.

Double fine wire electrode (DFE) spark plugs apply a fine wire pin to the ground electrode in addition to a fine wire center electrode. A smaller electrode requires less voltage to jump the gap, resulting in fewer misfires, which translates to increased fuel economy and horsepower. A smaller electrode also reduces flame quenching. Reducing the electrode size on a standard nickel plug would result in a drastically shortened life span, so smaller electrodes require exotic metals such as platinum or iridium to maintain (and at times surpass), the longevity of a traditional spark plug.

A flat ground electrode is shorter and closer to the metal shell and center electrode, providing a faster path to transfer heat away from the ground electrode. Its low profile design is resistant to vibration.

Developed for engines that tend towards increased carbon depositing as a result of their design, hybrid spark plugs have a standard ground electrode as well as two smaller ground electrodes on each side. When the insulator becomes clogged with carbon, the ignition voltage jumps over to the side electrodes, enabling the plug to operate even under severe conditions. Once the plug has reach operation temperature and the deposits are removed, it returns to “normal” operation, with the spark jumping between the center and main ground electrode.

A low angled ground electrode is shorter and closer to the metal shell and center electrode, providing a faster path to transfer heat away from the ground electrode. Its low profile design is resistant to vibration. A smaller electrode requires less voltage to jump the gap, resulting in fewer misfires, which translates to increased fuel economy and horsepower. A smaller electrode also reduces flame quenching. Reducing the electrode size on a standard nickel plug would result in a drastically shortened life span, so smaller electrodes require exotic metals such as platinum or iridium to maintain (and at times surpass), the longevity of a traditional spark plug.

Some engine designs require the spark plugs have the ground electrode placed to the side of the center electrode rather than below as on a traditional plug. This may be for combustion chamber design as in the case of a rotary engine, or a surface gap design as used in leaner air/fuel ratio’s on industrial engines. The side electrode design tends to wear faster than a traditional plug. Erosion at these points creates a larger gap between the center and ground electrodes, causing plug misfire. Thus, if the engine design requires a side discharge plug, more ground electrodes extend plug life.

Multi-Ground plugs are offered in 2, 3 and 4 ground electrode designs. It is important to note that multi-ground does not mean multi-spark, there will still only be one spark at a time. Caution should be made in selecting a “high performance” plug.

If your car came OE with a multi-ground plug, your engine will likely wear through single electrode plugs, especially fine wire plugs, at a rapid rate.

Projected square platinum electrode (PSPE) spark plugs apply a square shaped tip of platinum to the end of a shortened ground electrode.This ground electrode shape allows the spark to be focused between the fine-wire center electrode and projecting platinum ground electrode. A smaller electrode requires less voltage to jump the gap, resulting in fewer misfires, which translates to increased fuel economy and horsepower. A smaller electrode also reduces flame quenching.

In a semi-surface discharge design, the voltage path skims across the surface of the insulator. When the spark discharges, it burns off any carbon build-up. The wide gap improves ignition capability and is less sensitive to gap growth. Additionally the concave cut in the ground electrode promotes even gap growth.

A slant ground electrode is shorter and closer to the metal shell and center electrode, providing a faster path to transfer heat away from the ground electrode. Its low profile design is resistant to vibration.

A thin square pad of platinum is welded to some ground electrodes to ensure durability.

True surface discharge or surface gap spark plugs have no side electrode, instead utilizing the entire face of the plug shell as a ground to ignite. Thus the gap remains constant through the plugs entire life. They have no given heat range as the electrode design prevents the firing tip from overheating, and the insulator is flush with the metal shell to dissipate heat quickly. Therefore, these plugs are susceptible to fouling in cold applications.

Surface discharge plugs may be required in high compression applications or with high energy ignition systems. They are also used in rotary engines as they present a flush face to the combustion chamber, eliminating interference with an electrode tip and exposing the spark to the entire air/fuel mixture for improved combustion.

Many variations of the surface discharge plug exist, including the semi-surface discharge, intermittent gap, supplementary gap, and surface air gap plug. All designs create a spark along the insulator nose to remove carbon build-up.

A taper cut ground electrode serves a similar function to a cut back ground, fine wire ground and angled ground electrode. Also known as an inverted v-tip, tapered v-profile, trimmed side, v-trimmed or wedge shaped ground electrode, all trimmed designs have the same purpose: to reduce quenching and shadowing by reducing the surface area between the electrodes which could hinder the growth of the flame nucleus.

A trapezoid cut ground electrode is a variation of a taper cut ground, which serves a similar function to a cut back ground, fine wire ground and angled ground electrode. All trimmed designs have the same purpose: to reduce quenching and shadowing by reducing the surface area between the electrodes which could hinder the growth of the flame nucleus.

Heat Range:

When the air temperature is high, as in the summer, the inlet air temperature becomes higher, increasing the load on the engine. In times like this, it’s better to choose a plug with a higher heat range.

Various circumstances such as engine conditions and driving conditions are rough measures for choosing a plug. If you are doing lots of strenuous driving for a considerable time using normal plugs, the plug will overheat. This is why the idea of a Standard plug fits all for all car’s doesn’t work.

The heat is controlled by the design of the inside of the spark plug head More material that can be in contact with the cylinder the greater the cooling. (The dark grey shading represents a hollowed out area between the insulator and the thread.)

Each manufacturer has their own coding for heat ranges, this is a comparison of some popular plugs.

Horse Power:

If the horsepower has been increased through tuning, the increase in explosive power leads to an increase in combustion chamber temperature, making pre-ignition more likely; in such cases it is necessary to choose a plug with a higher heat range and a higher level of heat resistance provided by Denso. The same with other plugs of course just different numbering approach.

Types of Spark Plug Cores:

Sparks like to jump from the sharpest point on the center electrode to the sharpest point on the side electrode. Ideally you want a plug that retains its sharp edge for the most amount of miles covered. Precious metals like platinum and iridium are harder metals and have higher melting temperatures than the nickel alloy electrodes found in traditional copper spark plugs. The smaller the diameter of the center electrode, the lower the voltage needed to start the spark.

Copper Core:

These plugs have a solid copper core, but the business end of the center electrode is actually a 2.5mm-diameter nickel alloy. That’s the largest diameter electrode of all the spark plug types. Remember, the smaller the diameter, the less voltage required to initiate the spark. Nickel alloy is also softer than either platinum or iridium, so the sharp firing edge you get right out of the box tends to wear out quickly. Despite those shortcomings, copper spark plugs are still a good choice for certain applications. Copper spark plugs are best for older (pre-‘80s) vehicles with low voltage distributor-based ignition systems. Don’t use copper spark plugs in high-energy distributor-less ignition systems (DIS) or coil-on-plug (COP) ignition systems. They’ll wear out too quickly.

There’s one exception to that advice. Some late-model high-performance engines were designed specifically for copper spark plugs. In those cases, copper spark plugs are considered to be high performance spark plugs. If your owner’s manual calls for copper spark plugs, don’t upgrade to platinum spark plugs or iridium spark plugs.

Platinum Core:

A single platinum spark plug is basically styled after a copper spark plug with a platinum disc welded to the tip of the center electrode. Since platinum is harder than nickel alloy, it holds its sharp edge for as long as 100,000 miles. Platinum spark plugs also run a bit hotter, preventing spark plug deposit build up and fouling.

Platinum spark plugs are usually the best spark plugs for newer vehicles with electronic ‘distributor-based ignition systems’ (DIS). If your owner’s manual recommends platinum spark plugs, don’t downgrade to copper spark plugs to save money. However, you can upgrade to either double platinum spark plugs or iridium spark plugs.

Double platinum spark plugs were designed for “waste spark” DIS. In a waste spark system, the spark jumps from the center electrode to the side electrode for the cylinder that’s on the compression stroke. To return the electrical pulse back to the ignition coil pack, the spark jumps backwards (side-to-center) on the partner cylinder. Since the partner cylinder is on its exhaust stroke, nothing ignites and the spark is “wasted.”

You can’t use single platinum spark plugs or traditional copper spark plugs in these systems because the side electrodes aren’t designed to handle the reverse spark. But double platinum spark plugs, with a platinum disc welded to their side electrode, work exceptionally well. Both the center and side platinum discs remain sharp, allowing sparks to fly easily in both directions without causing rapid electrode wear.

If your owner’s manual recommends double platinum spark plugs, then those are the best spark plugs to use. You should never downgrade to single platinum spark plugs or copper spark plugs. However, you can upgrade to an iridium/platinum combination plug (an iridium center electrode with a platinum-tipped side electrode).

Iridium Core:

Iridium is harder than platinum, and in most cases, iridium spark plugs last approx 25 percent longer than comparable platinum spark plugs. Because iridium is costly, iridium spark plug manufacturers reduce the diameter of the center electrode to as little as .4mm. In addition to saving money, the “fine wire” center electrode on iridium spark plugs increases firing efficiency.

Many carmakers require iridium spark plugs or iridium/platinum combination spark plugs for coil-on-plug (COP) ignition systems. If your owner’s manual specifies iridium spark plugs, don’t downgrade to platinum spark plugs, or double platinum spark plugs, or even copper spark plugs. They won’t perform as well as the iridium spark plugs and cause some potential problems with running.

As the spark ignites the air/fuel mixture, the colder side electrode tends to “quench” the flame. To combat quenching, some spark plug manufacturers cut a “U” or “V” shaped channel into the “spark receiving” surface of the side electrode. The larger channeled area reduces quenching and allows the flame to grow more quickly. Other manufacturers split the end of the side electrode to reduce the flame’s contact with the side electrode and allow the flame to shoot straight down into the cylinder.

Are these type of plugs better? There’s no general consensus or conclusive evidence on whether these designs work better or not. However they will perform at least as well as a non-channelled plug, if not better.

Condition of the Spark Plugs:

These little pieces of technology can tell you an awful lot about the condition of your engine, at each service you could take them out and check, but you don’t have to. Many years ago when spark plugs were a standard core, they used to be replaced with every car service along with points. With modern computer controlled injection, you should be running ‘normal’ most of the time.

On carburettor cars the tuning and air/fuel mixtures are much easier to spot.

A visual inspection of the spark plugs could like the following;

Normal Condition

If the firing end of the spark plug is brown or light grey, the engine condition can be judged to be good and the spark plug is functioning correctly.

Deposits

The gathering of different deposits on the firing end is influenced by oil leakage, fuel quality and engine operating period. The deposits can come from Carbon, Lead, Bromine, Calcium, Sulphur, Barium and Zinc.

Dry and Wet Fouling

Dry and Wet Fouling is another way the firing end can be damaged. If the insulation resistance between the centre electrode and the “shell” is over 10M ohms the engine can start up normally, however if the insulation resistance drops to 0 the firing end is fouled by either wet or dry carbon.

Lead Fouling

If your spark plug firing end looks yellowish brown on the insulator nose, this is found on spark plugs that have been damaged by lead. Also, this particular type of damage cannot be detected by a resistance tester at room temperature. Lead compounds combines at different temperatures; those formed at 370-420 degrees Celsius have the biggest influence on the resistance.

Overheating

If your spark plug has overheated, the insulator tip is glazed or glossy. Deposits which have gathered on the insulator tip have melted, and there is a chance that the insulator will have blistered.

Breakage

Breakage is normally caused by a thermal shock due to sudden heating or cooling – replace immediately!

Normal Life

A worn spark Plug not only wastes fuel but also strains the whole ignition, this is because is requires a higher voltage. A worn spark plug can reduce the engine efficiency by reducing the fuel economy and increases the exhaust emissions. For your reference, The normal rate of gap growth is about 0.01 0.02mm/1,000 Km for four stroke engines and about 0.02 0.04mm/1,000 Km for two stroke engines.

Erosion, Corrosion, Oxidation

The electrodes have oxidized, and when the oxidation is heavy there will be green on the surface. The surfaces of the electrodes are also fretted and rough.

Abnormal Erosion

An Abnormal Erosion is caused by corrosion, oxidation, or reaction with the lead. This results in abnormal gap Growth.

Lead Erosion

Lead Erosion is caused by the lead compounds in the gasoline which react chemically with the material of the electrodes (nickel alloy) at high temperatures. Crystals of nickel alloy fall off because of the lead compounds permeating and separating the grain boundary of the nickel alloy. Typical lead erosion causes the surface of the electrode to become thinner and the tip of the electrode looks like it has been chipped.

Melting

If the firing end is melted, this means it has over heated. Mostly, this will result in the electrode surface being rather lustrous and uneven. As note, the melting point of nickel alloy is 1,200 – 1,300 degrees Celsius.

What’s important is to inspect the condition of your current plugs, and then choose a plug accordingly.

Fitting the wrong plugs could damage your engine.

Comparisons:

A chart for comparing different makes and designs of spark plugs.

Some cars run on better brands than others. In my past experience NGK were a great plug, but didn’t last long. Bosch platinum were great when warm on lots of motorway miles, but a little lumpy when cold. Trial and error depending on your driving style and engine will get the best results for economy and power.

Longevity:

Spark plugs are designed to last and give optimum performance for as long as possible. Racing plugs in racing engines tend to be designed to give the max for shorter periods of time. They wouldn’t necessarily make big performance gains in road cars, unless you intend to drive it like you stole it!

Copper cored plugs you can expect between 10,000 to 20,000 miles.

Platinum or Iridium tipped plugs can be expected to last 60,000 miles.

Some top quality branded plugs are expected to last 120,000 miles before changing.

You pay your money and take your chances. Buying cheap plugs where bits can break of in the cylinder could possibly destroy a good engine.

Setting the Spark Plug’s Gap:

The gap sizes are pre determined by the manufacturer to get the correct combustion in the engine’s cylinder or combustion chamber. These should be adhered to unless specialist tuning requires the changes.

Such an instance to increase the gaps could be changing from old school standard points ignition to a Pertronix electronic ignition. The sensor in the distributor cap does not have metal contacts to take the voltage. The sensor sends a signal to the ignition coil which can produce more voltage and power as a result. This in turn can allow a small increase in the spark plug gap to give a stronger more powerful spark. The theory is that the better spark gives better combustion of more fuel air mixture and could give you more horse power with the correct carb settings.

* Narrow Gap

When the spark plug gap is too narrow, or under specifications, the amount of room needed for the air-fuel mixture between the hot tip and the ground strap is decreased. The duration of the spark has less travel distance, thus not remaining hot enough with sufficient charge to ignite the air-fuel mixture. The symptoms of narrow gap include a noticeable (continuous) cylinder miss, hard starting if all the plugs have narrow gaps, rough idle and engine hesitation. A spark plug that does not fire, resulting from a narrow gap, will appear black or wet when inspected. The black or wet appearance indicates unburned fuel.

* Excessive Spark Plug Gap

Excessive spark plug gap results when the voltage has too far to travel. The increased length of the spark travel weakens it, robbing it of the hot, strong ignition charge it needs to fire the plug. Excessive plug gap also results in cylinder misfiring, a possible no-start condition, wet, black or fouled plugs, engine hesitation and rough idle. Excessive spark plug gap also happens as result of normal electrode wear and age.

Incorrect spark plug gaps as above can cause the following symptoms;

* Rough Engine Idle

An engine that has a rough, irregular engine idle is often due to spark plugs that are incorrectly gapped. Spark plugs that are gapped incorrectly it will upset the air/fuel mixture, which in turn affects engine combustion and idle.

* Engine Hesitation

If spark plugs are gapped too wide, the ignition spark loses some of its strength as it crosses the spark plug gaps. This can result in engine hesitation.

* Engine Missing

Spark plugs gapped incorrectly can cause an engine to miss, or run erratically, especially during idle. The incorrect spark plug gaps can cause uneven firing of individual spark plugs and delay engine combustion; both of which can cause an engine to miss or idle erratically.

* Poor Engine Performance

For an engine to run at optimal levels, its spark plugs have to be gapped according to factory specifications. Any spark plugs that are gapped incorrectly can result in poor engine performance by altering engine combustion, weakening the ignition spark, and delaying the arcing of the ignition spark as it crosses each spark plug diode.

* Engine Knocking

Engine knocking, or engine pinging, is a classic sign of an engine that has incorrectly gapped spark plugs. Engine knocking is the result of incomplete or delayed engine combustion, especially under acceleration.

To set the gaps.

Remove the spark plugs and inspect them for damage. Inspect the firing end for condition and to see how the engine is running.

Remove any loose fowling or oil on the plug first. Take a small brass wire brush and remove the deposits until the metal surfaces are clean. Brass is a softer metal than the spark plug and will not damage it, but should be strong enough to remove any build ups.

If your spark plug has a terminal cap, check that it is fully done up. Use a pair of pliers to pinch it tight. If the cap is loose this will cause issues for connection and will give you erratic sparks.

Use you spark plug gap tool of choice to set the gap if you need too. There are the disc styles, feeler gauges and open loop styles. I like feeler gauges or the hoop wire design. These can be metric or imperial measurements depending on your choice.

Once I know the current gap by placing the correct gap setting tool into the gap, I can either open or close the gap as required. To close you can gently tap the electrode on a solid metal surface, or use T-shaped part of a special plug gap tool to close it. In order to open use the tool again and lever it upwards. If you don’t have the tool, be careful not to damage the electrodes at the bottom when trying to open the gaps.

Two different ways to gap spark plugs. Remember that when tapping the electrode at the bottom, the weight of the plug itself is enough to close the gap.

DON’T over tap it when closing the gap, little and often. Check, repeat.

The gauge or setting tool that you use, should have a slight drag on it when you pull it through the gap.

When refitting the spark plugs back into the engine always tighten the first few turns by hand first to avoid cross threading. Don’t knock the spark plug when inserting it. This could alter the spark plug gap and give you problems as described above.

If in doubt – recheck it.

Replace the spark plug boot with a very thin smear of dielectric grease to stop the rubber boot sticking to the top of the plug.

I hope that helps with an understanding of a forgotten and abused part of the engine. If not please read if you are having trouble sleeping. 🙂

Keep safe everybody.

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What’s On The Menu?

Over the years my little ol’ blog has evolved from the restoration of my Mustang to looking after it, pampering it and showing my treasured car. The restoration how to, guides and pictures are all still there in the menu headings, along with another called “Car Detailing Reviews” appearing about a year ago.

That was an idea that came to me when I was asked what I used to keep my car looking nice and clean. So I thought I would let people know what I used, that included what I liked and what I didn’t like. The reviews of many different detailing products had been born.

I must be said that ALL of the products that I reviewed or will review, tools, parts or detailing products have been bought by me or bought for me. Therefore my reviews and comments are completely independent and not biased in any way, I have nothing to gain from giving top marks. On the other I would have liked to have got some free products to review (who wouldn’t). Alas, none have come my way and I haven’t asked for them from companies either. Maybe in the future I may get some, but my reviews will always be the same; independent and not biased. I don’t like giving top marks just for the sake of it.

Where am I going with this? Well, the menu bar at the top of page had been updated with each product I used and reviewed. All was fine until I did a few additional product reviews a couple of weeks ago. The problem was when I tried to save the additional reviews in the updated menus. WordPress crashed and wouldn’t save the changes I made and corrupted my headings, I was not a happy bunny. Since then I have been in correspondence with WordPress about the problem. It seems that the menu headings has reached a limit that I was trying to go beyond. When saving my changes an error caused the ‘overload on their server’ so they tell me, I was in a no win loop. Some of you may have seen a real mess for a few hours over the weekend while I was trying to sort it out.

An example of the menus presentation that I liked and used is here, the manufacturer, sub menu then a list of products to choose from. Easy to see and look for.

The menu errors now means that I have had to find alternative ways to do it. Particularly aggravating I must say and not a slick process that I wanted it to be. 🙁

I have been thinking about alternatives a fair bit and tried a few options on my dummy site. The best idea i came up with is to create an ‘Index Page’ for each particular manufacturer such as Mitchell & King, Meguiar’s, Chemical Guys, Auto Finesse, DoDo Juice and the others. Those pages now have a list of each of the products and links to the actual review. Instead of going to the Menu, Car Detailing Product Reviews -> Mitchell & King -> Waxes -> Lily etc. and clicking on the title for the review to appear. The new style is a page per manufacturer with hyperlinks on the images and the product name, a few examples as below.

Mitchell & King page;

Meguiar’s page;

Chemical Guys page;

I think the format works with actual pictures of the product and links to the corresponding review from the title of the product or clicking on the pictures. I even copied a few bullet points for a few summary points from their relative websites.

I have already made the changes and hope that my readers like the new style and format. It has taken me umpteen hours to trash previous ideas and create this one. With any luck finding your way around the site and the review pages. The massive downside is that the heading menus now won’t update with the newest reviews, but the pages will.

I do apologise to those that don’t like it, but it appears that I sort of outgrown my blogsite now. What’s on the menu? Less than before at first glance. I also suspect some more changes as I try to slicken the feel a bit more going forward and stop the rather annoying menu crashing when I try to save.

Keep Safe Everybody.

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Sentimental Value

I started driving and passed my driving test at the tender age of 17. On that day when I returned home my dad gave me a car which was worth nothing to be honest at the time. The car was a 1977 Audi 100 LS a similar colour to this in red, faded red, orange and various shades of rust and sun bleaching.

His logic was that it had big bumpers and stop minor accidents. The car was also due an MOT and road tax, he wasn’t stupid. As an apprentice in my first year at the time it cost me a few weeks wages for some welding and a number of parts including an exhaust to get it through. It would have been cheaper to buy a newer car of my own in fact. The head gasket went six months later and it was then towed to a scrap yard! The ol’ man had his second car a Mercedes that he used from there on in. I then bought another Audi, a 100 5E Avant this time.

Anyway the same day he ~~dumped~~ sorry gave me the car he also gave me a Krooklok which was my mother’s father’s. My grandad gave it to my ol’ man when he stopped driving due to illness. He said I was to have it one day when I started driving as I was there when he gave it to him. Luckily he kept my Grandad’s wishes and he gave it to me.

My maternal grandparents had nothing. They rented all their lives, lived in a flat in Battersea, London. The flat was a stones throw from Battersea park. I spent many treasured school holidays living with them, I loved it there and them. I remember going out with them as a young kid with my Grandad driving his Ford Anglia and then his Ford Cortina, he would park it up and use the Krooklok as well. Grandad was a Ford man through and through.

I kept that Krooklok and treasured it in all my cars except the last two as I lost the key when I moved house and couldn’t use it, I was gutted. But, I kept it safe as it is pretty much the only thing I have of my grandparents. I hoped that I would find the key one day.

I was speaking to Adam at Mustang Maniac who told me to give it to him as he knew a locksmith who would make a key for it. Sure enough, a few weeks later I had the lock back and now it was working. The plan now was to put it back in the Mustang as it was from the same year, almost. So I thought I would post about my restoration of the lock and little history of the company, “Krooklok”.

I have tried to find as much information on the brand and the company as I could, some of which may be subjective based on the tiniest pieces of information from the internet. (I would be delighted if somebody could give me some more accurate details and I will acknowledge your corrections.)

“Krooklok” is the brand name and originally made by a company Johnson and Starley Ltd. who were based in Northampton, UK. There is virtually nothing online about the company or who owned it. I have tried to find out with little success, a company of the same name in the same area is now a heating supplies company.

In 1964 the company designed a lock that was in effect a telescopic bar with a hook at each end that was linked around the steering wheel and the other end hooked either round the brake or clutch pedal. In the centre of the bar was a locking barrel that locked a sprung loaded ball bearing into a recessed top part of the bar. With the key locked design the telescopic mechanism couldn’t be extended to release from the steering wheel. This was a visual deterant to stop thieves driving of with the car. The design would stop the pedals from being depressed or turning the steering wheel. The thief would have to remove the lock before attempting to drive off, potentially exposing themselves to what they were doing. Let’s face it, security in the 60’s wasn’t great and these Krookloks exploded onto the market. This was not a little company release but advertising at top sporting events mostly car oriented, Formula 1, rallies and amateur classes of motorsport.

Advertising was quite widespread and appeared in many magazines and a number of football programs. The earliest advert I could find was from 1965 from the Halfords catalogue.

The cost was fairly hefty 47 shillings and 6 pence. That worked out at roughly £2.37 at the time. In todays money that is around £37.50 in modern day money allowing for inflation over the fifty odd years. The price wasn’t exactly at the cheap end of the market but was a substantial lump of metal to have in the car.

A selection of more adverts from the early days in the mid 1960s to the early 1970s just after UK currency decimalisation in 1971 where the prices show the new money GBP.

In 1968 it looks like Krooklok ventured across the pond to the USA and applied for and was granted a Patent for the “Krooklok”.

For the UK I cant find an actual date that they were stamped on the locks, but it looks to have been granted around 1965 or 1966 at the latest. On the back of the barrel section is the trademark and the patent numbers. The registered design for Krooklok is 914608.

On the left is my own personal Krooklok which was made before the patents were issued, making this a very early and rare example. On the right is a slightly later dated Krooklok with the granted patents applied.

Over the years the design changed. The first itteration was a metal bar with a vinyl sleeve at the lock end in order to stop the metal hook marking the steering wheel. This sleeve was a nondescript grey colour and not really visible when fitted. Again a picture of my own restored lock with the original grey sleeve.

From outside the vehicle the “visible deterrent” wasn’t very visible especially at night. After the feedback was noted Krooklok introduced a new improved bright red sleeve that replaced the grey.

Moving on around a couple of years, the red vinyl sleeve was added at the opposite end of the lock for the pedals. This was to give more visibility and to protect the cosmetics of pedals. Early models came with plastic sleeve packaging, later models came with cardboard boxes.

Much later variations replaced the the nice chrome lock tower with a matching red middle section. The design also took a distinctive “twist” (literally) and the “hooks” changed from the facing each other on the same plane, now they were being set at right angles. This was intended to make fitting easier and stop the twisting of the original design to make it fit. This twist was down to the fact that as safety improved on vehicles the pedal design and steering wheels made some fitting to some vehicles a little more awkward.

My Krooklok on the top with the polished chrome lock tower, and the latest design at the bottom. The red locking section didn’t last long and was replaced with a contrasting yellow locking section, but this was just a cosmetic change. The steering wheel end has also seen a further modification to add plastic wings at the side hook to make it even more visible.

The pedal end was simply double indented or punched both parts together on one side and not the other. As the material construction is hardened steel this seems to be adequate but not ideal. This design hasn’t changed over the years and was hidden with the later pedal sleeve cover mentioned above.

The locking design was quite ingenious with a simple spring loaded ball bearing. The ball bearing is then locked into one of a number milled recesses that matched the diameter of the ball bearing. My lock before and after the cleaning to remove 50 years of grime.

Sliding the center section out to allow for a generous length of adjustment makes a very solid clatter as the bearing lifts and is sprung back into the next hole. The unit feels very strong and sturdy once fitted.

As the krooklok became more popular a couple of years later the advertising was added to the car window which stated that the vehicle was protected by “Krooklok”. The design saw a few variations of a the window sticker design, size and colours that warned potential thieves of the fitted Krooklok. The design started with a simple red warning design to more eye catching multi colour designs.

As time marched on Krooklok made other products, like locking wheel nuts, wheel clamps & tow bar clamps.

The Krooklock success still continues today with other companies making similar designs with similar sounding names to jump on the band wagon. Companies like, Stoplock, Disklok, Autolok, Xlock etc. The designs vary from pedal to steering wheel locks, to the more common bar through the steering wheel design.

After all the years the “Krooklok” still remains a strong brand name that started and set the standards of third party vehicle security.

Click here for a link to my own Krooklok that I restored for my own vehicle. The best part is that this particular model is period correct for my ’66 Mustang.

The Restoration

This Krooklok is 55 years old being made in 1965 from what I can work out. It had never been cleaned in all that time and needed some serious pampering to get back to its original condition. The state of the lock was rusted and the extension was very stiff and not free running. The rust was so bad on the back I couldn’t see any marking and wondered if it was an original Krooklok. The original coating was a dull steel colour but that had been replaced by rust and oxidisation.

The first thing I decided to do was to apply a little metal polish to see what happened.

Some serious rubbing and multiple applications removed some of the grime, enough to show me the marking on the back of the chrome locking tower. But, it wasn’t man enough to remove the pitting. I got out the Dremel and attached a nylon buffing pad to the base of the locking tower which removed plenty more before it eventually disappeared to nothing. When I saw the markings were there and the “Pats Pending” I realised this was a rare early model.

I started to buff the rest of the shaft and although it came up better it still wasn’t good enough.

I now started to move up the aggressive scale until I found something that was just enough to do the job back to bare metal. This is usually the wrong way round of course as you start aggressive and then work back to finer grades to remove the previous marks. I settled on a light buff of 180grit sand paper to take the worst of grime and rusting off, then followed with 240grit.

I could see that the steel would buff to a really nice shine. Although this wasn’t original I kept going. Starting with the Dremel 240grit sand paper discs which are very fine and took ages to go over the whole thing, using only the lightest pressure as the discs were much smaller and delicate. I then used 320grit to 400grit by hand to finish the look.

Once the sanding had finished it was back again to metal polish and the Dremel felt buffing pads which would flick the polish everywhere when I used too much.

The Metal bar both inside and outside started to polish up like the chrome and looked great. I had to keep working the notches with the Dremel and a small pointed buffing pad to clean them out.

A number of passes would bring the steel almost to a mirror finish. Which pleased me and saddened me at the same time. The cleaning also took the patina away from the lock and it’s age. Due to the rusting and pitting there wasn’t much choice. The item will never be worth a lot of money so it’s not as though I ruined it. As the inside of my Mustang has a lot of chrome brightwork inside it wouldn’t look out of place, but would even compliment it.

The steering wheel end sleeve was very dirty, I allowed a citrus cleaner to soak a rag in order to loosen a lot of the grime off. This was done by wrapping the damp citrus soaked cloth around the hook. Once that was wiped of after a few minutes the heavy duty cleaners were applied and the handle came back to its almost original colour. The chrome locking tower only needed a little metal polish to bring that back to its former glory.

The completed item gets more buffing and an application of wax to prevent the atmosphere tarnishing the metal again.

The only thing left to do was lubricate the mechanism, a thin application of light oil to the sides and drop into the first few holes. I worked the lock in and out a few times and some dirty oil ran out. I cleaned the lock up again and repeated until the oil was clean. Now the extension moves in and out smoothly. The lock remained free and little squirt of Gibbs in the lock for the tumbles allowed the key to slide in effortlessly, turn and remove just like a good lock should do.

In total it took me around 4 hours to clean and buff to a shine. I am well delighted with the lock.

The lock will now be with me in my Mustang at car shows. I can now think how proud my Grandad would have been to see my restored Mustang and his Krooklok sitting in it looking all sparkly and shiny.

After all, I’m now Classic Ford man through and through with my Grandad’s blessing.

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Cool It

Last week I posted about the replacement gearbox and how it jumped the queue for the next post. The post that knocked down the pecking order is this one. It’s about the technicalities of fitting a carburettor spacer or replacing one.

Do you need a spacer, what does it do and what types are there? I aim to answer the questions as well as showing you how to do it. Regardless of this spacer being fitted on a Mustang, the principles are the same for most carburettor based cars, all be it the connections may vary a bit.

Why did I do this in the first place? Well it’s because I can’t go to any car shows, i had cleaned the car and I wanted to do this little project for a while now.

Types Of Spacers:

To work out what spacer style you want you need to understand if you need one in the first place. I have a problem when I sit in traffic in hot weather where the car runs erratically on idle when the temperatures gets real hot. So my research tells me that I needed a thermal barrier to replace the aluminium one I have currently.

There are usually two main reasons to fit a spacer between the carb and the intake manifold.

1) To increase horse power.

2) The carb is experiencing fuel evaporation when the engine gets hot. This causes the engine to run very erratic at idle with possible poor starting when hot.

3) Not really a reason, but fitted just for looks or bragging rights.

Spacers can come in a variety of sizes and styles depending on application.

Wood, the best heat insulator, but it’s porous and will need to be replaced fairly often. Cheapest.

Phenolic Resin. The second best heat insulator. Expensive.

Polymer. Third best insulator and lower budget compared to the phenolic option.

Aluminium. No heat insulation at all. These are very durable and the only type allowed for racing.

Styles:

There are two basic styles of spacer.

1) An open plenum: This style of carb spacer is ideal for maximizing horsepower. Their design will increase the intake manifold’s total area to build more mid-range, high-RPM power. This allows as much air fuel mixtures into the cylinders at medium to wide open throttle as possible.

If you decide this is the type for you, these can easily be stacked to multiply their effect.

2) A 4 hole plenum spacer: This type of spacer will increase the velocity of your vehicle’s air-to-fuel charge by creating a vortex to mix the fuel and air. This means you build up low to mid-range torque and a better throttle response. This style of spacer is most effective when it’s made from phenolic resin or a polymer. Both the phenolic resin and the polymer spacers can also be stacked in the same way as wood or aluminum spacers. But you should check the bore sizes are the same.

If insulation and durability are both priorities, then Phenolic would be a good bet.

Variations of spacer:

There are many types of spacer that can fitted, mostly a variation on a theme. These have slight design tweeks to help the engine at certain power bands or torque curves. These are generally aimed at the specialist tuners and can ramp up in price and complexity.

Sizes & Colours:

The thickness of the spacers can vary from the standards of, 1/4″, 1/2″, 5/8″, 1″, 2″. Of course mixing of thicknesses or stacking can be fine tuned to individual requirements, or even get a custom one made for you. The bigger the spacer tends to increase the horsepower within reason of course.

If you do stack the spacers you will need to be careful with clearances under the hood.

Colours can vary, but are mostly black for the plastic styles, wood is the colour of the wood and metal can be brushed or polished etc. Sometimes the colours can denote the insulation or particular property of the material.

Choices:

I can’t tell you what to fit, that would be based on your needs and what you want it for. I will go on the assumption that it’s a standard style, either open or bored and what ever material or thickness you go for, they are all fitted the same way.

Considerations:

The gaskets can also vary in cost, but I seriously recommend that you get some top quality gaskets as you don’t want fuel or air leaks.

Is there enough clearance under the hood to add a spacer or stacking of spacers?

Are the studs long enough from the intake to go through the spacer AND the carb? If there has been no spacer(s) before you might have to replace the intake studs for longer ones.

Adding a spacer will give you more horse power, but if you have a restricted air flow into the carb itself it may not be worth it!

When you stack spacers, you are actually improving their insulation properties, and at the same time you’re getting more horsepower.

Costs:

The total costs can vary depending on material used for the spacer; metal, phenolic or even wood options all have their own unique properties. I have seen options anything from £10 to £100, choose wisely.

What’s in the pack:

If you buy a kit, make sure the spacer fitting will match with the carb, Holley, Edelbrock, Autolite etc. The chances are that you may have to get the gaskets separately as well. If you are lucky some kits come with longer bolts for the intake manifold.

Background:

I prefer the low down torque improvements and feel of the power delivery (throttle response) that the 1″ spacer provides.

The spacer I had that came with the carb was an aluminium one with it’s own PCV recycle input. This worked faultlessly when moving, but when the engine got hot queuing to get in a car show on a hot day, the heat traveled from the engine manifold up the spacer to the carb body. The carb in turn also got hot and started to vapourise the fuel before it had a chance to enter the intake channels and cylimders. Hence the engine ran erratic, having to slightly rev to keep fuel flowing, this just got the engine hotter. The colder the fuel and air mixture that gets into the carb the better.

My personal choice was to keep the low down torque power but swap the metal spacer for a phenolic equivalent. The phenolic spacer is a special material, a little bit like a brittle plastic or simlar to the old school bakelite material by feel. This material stops heat transfer from the block to the carb. In theory this will act as an thermal insulator or heat barrier between the engine and the carb. Having a good heat barrier will also aid in hot starts of the car as the fuel shouldn’t evaporate during standing.

Tips:

1) Take plenty of photos of what goes where for your own sanity before you pull it apart!

2) If in doubt don’t mess with it. Failure to refit the carb correctly could cause fuel to pump out where you don’t want it and be a potential fire hazard on hot exhaust manifolds. I won’t take any responsibility for any of that. Get a mechanic to help?

3) If this is the first spacer you are fitting you may well need to adjust the carb to run correctly. Get a mechanic to help? If this is a swap out all should be the same, but I had to have a litttle tweak on idle.

Process:

Removing the carb:

This is obviously how the Holley 600CFM carb is removed and refitted. But the principle is the same, wether it’s a Holley, Edelbrock, Autolite or any other manufacturer. The fuel connection, electrical connection (for electic choke if fitted), vacuum advance (if fitted), PCV recycle connection, air filter pan and the throttle fitting.

Removing the air filter:

Unscrew the air filter top and remove the filter and mounting pan. This is exactly the same process if you were just changing the air filter. Most of the time the filter is held to the carb via centre threaded bolt. Once this is removed it will expose the carb and fittings. There should be a gasket that fits between the pan and carb, which needs to be removed, shown on the right hand pic.

Removing the PCV pipe, if fitted.

This small pipe takes excess hot oil vapours from the top of the valve cover and pipes it to the carb to be reburnt as part of the air fuel mixture. Most of the time the PCV valve is just pushed into a grommet on top of the valve cover, the other end is usually connected to the back of the carb or spacer in my case. The end connected to the carb (spacer) may just be a push fit, or held in place via a clip of some sort. Either way remove from the carb (spacer) and pull out from the top of the valve cover.

With the PCV pipe removed check for any damage, splits, perishing or cracks. If all is well, clean out the pipe if it’s clogged ready for refitting later.

You may prefer to do all the cleaning in one go with everything disconnected and removed, but that’s a personal choice of course.

Disconnect the vacuum advance, if fitted.

Disconnect the choke if fitted.

This can be done via a number of variations most common are, manual, water (heater) pipe and electric connection.

Manual choke: This is (usually) a single cable coming from inside the cabin through the firewall to the carb. The picture borrowed from Holley is the white cable on the lower left side of the picture. The cable is either a pull and twist to lock in place, or simply a push pull idea to hold the choke plate in place. The fitting is usually a single screw holding a steel cable which needs to be released. Make a note of where the fitting is secured. A possible way to do this is with a permanent marker or wrap a piece of tape around the wire to mark the location of the original positioning.

Water heater pipe: The hot water pipe from the heater matrix runs alongside the carb to heat a bimetallic strip that in turn opens the choke plate. This can be identified by following the heater pipes coming from the firewall across the top of the engine block, and is held close to the carb’s round choke housing for the bimetallic strip by a clip.

Electrical connection: This is a wire going to the bimetallic strip. A small 12v current is feed to the strip and heats it to rotate the choke plate. This can be adjusted by rotating the housing if you need it more or less aggressive.

Disconnect the Throttle linkage:

The throttle is linked to the carb in a number of ways, most of the time it’s a rod or cable that attaches to the carb’s throttle linkage. If an automatic transmission there could also be another wire that goes down to the transmission box for the kickdown function. This again will need to be disconnected.

In my case there is a rod from the top of the pedal assembly which attaches to the top part of the throttle linkage. In order to make the throttle return to idle there is a spring. In my case there is two springs, one inside the other for safety reasons. If the throttle sticks open you could be in a ride with an accident about to happen. Unclip the springs. Picture below on the left.

The throttle linkage can be held in place by either a nut, split pin, R-clip or similar. Remove the retaining fastener and the throttle rod will be able to be pulled from the throttle mechanism. Two pictures on the right.

All other fittings should now be disconnected apart from the fuel. (If not disconnect them).

The fuel is usually connected via a rubber hose to allow for some movement, and which is connected to the carb by a flared fitting and some sort of clip. In my case I have a “bango” fitting on the corner, where I don’t need to remov the fuel pipe from the fitting. Place a rag or similar to catch any spilt fuel under the connection. Undo the fuel line to the carb slowly in order to catch any excess fuel if removing the fuel line.

Depending on your fitting or option how the fuel is fitted to the carb; the fuel line could be held in place by a number of fittings, single ear clip, double ear clip, jubilee clip or variations there of. If there is no way to disconnect the fitting from the carb itself, you may have to remove the fuel line itself as I mentioned above. Plug or clamp the fuel line to stop any more fuel leakage.

The other option is that the fitting can be removed with the fuel line still attached with my example of the “bango” fitting. A center bolt with a hole for the fuel to travel into the carb, can be removed and the fitting is removed with the fuel line as one section from the carb. The fitting for the fuel entry into the carb sometimes have some form of filter within it. Undo the nut slowly as there should be a small rubber/synthetic seal an “O” ring ans possibly a filter. Bottom right shows the small O-ring being removed.

Check if there is a filter, which may still be inside the fuel bolt opening. Left picture below shows the filter which pushes into the bottom of the special bolt with the hole in it. The right picture shows the O ring inplace. The hole in this bolt corresponds to channels within the banjo to allow to allow the fuel in through the centre.

At this point they can be cleaned or do it at a later date. Pay special attention to the wire gauze filter to remove any debris or blockages.

Removing the carb itself:

With everything now disconnected there will be four bolts one in each corner. They will have washers under the nuts. In one corner near the throttle rod there may be a fitting where the rod, cable mount, spring holders could be held for the throttle. In my case the spring fitting, main pic on the left below. Make a note of the location and remove all the nuts, washers and fittings if any.

Place more rags around the carb as close as you can get it. The carb will hold an amount of fuel in the bowls depending on the carb size, float chambers, double pumper etc. The fuel may spill out when the carb is tipped.

The carb will undoubtedly be stuck in place due to the gasket(s) being being stuck between metal to metal. The tolerance for the bolts through the carb is tight and the carb will need to be lifted up evenly. If it’s stuck a small flat implement to prize up or a gentle tap to dislodge. Don’t whack it with a hammer, common sense. A leather or light rubber or plastic hammer tap could help to start it moving.

If there is a spacer already fittd there remove the carb, then the spacer. If there is no spacer lift the carb up. Picture below shows the gap opening up.

If the gasket comes with the carb so be it. If not, you will need to remove it after the carb is safely out of the way. Place the carb on a surface, with more rags. (Optional).

Warning:

With the carb off the car there will be a large hole, a divided hole, holes (depending on design), where the air/fuel mixture gets sucked into. Keep this clean. DO NOT let anything go down this intake hole. Anything in here will go down the cylinders potentially damaging the engine. Place a clean lint free rag down the hole to block it it, or cover it with masking tape. If using the masking tape remember to remove it before refitting the carb!

Remove the spacer and all gaskets carefully.

The main gasket to the intake manifold could well have fuel or oil or both on it like mine here. Be careful when removing that nothing goes down that intake.

That’s carb off and now time for the clean up and prep. I seriously recommend that new gaskets are used when refitting. You can buy these or make your own like I did depending on your level of skill and confidence. If in doubt – buy them. You can see the distortion of the lower gasket above. The chances of this fitting back together again exactly without leaks just won’t happen to be honest, especially if adding a spacer for the first time. You will need two gaskets for the spacer. One between the top of the intake manifold plenum and the bottom of the spacer. The second on top of the spacer and the bottom of the carb.

Before refitting clean the intake plenum surface to remove any contamination or stuck gasket. Work away from the intake hole towards the outside. Below I used a sharb blade scraper to get it cleaned. Then cleaned the surfaces again with degreaser and a lint free cloth.

Once cleaned thoroughly and the surface should be dry and smooth. Don’t gouge chunks out of the metal!

Now get to cleaning the bottom of the carb to make sure that is also clean ready for the new gasket. Watch out for fuel spillage if tipping the carb up onto it’s side.

While the carb is off the car check all the rubber fittings that block off the additional connection points have not perished or split. Any leak into the carb will compromise performance and introduce poor running.

The spacer should also be clean and smooth on the upper and lower faces before fitting. Make sure the bore holes are clean and free from debris.

Refitting the Carb.

Double check that what ever you are going to clean has been cleaned. Now is a good time to clean all those moving parts on the carb before refitting back onto the engine as it’s much easier off the car and to allow you to see what you are doing. Lubricate the throttle linkage, lubricate the choke plate pivots. Check it all over.

Place one of the gaskets onto the intake manifold. Make sure that it’s fitted the correct way round. The spacimg of the studs is not exactly symmetrical. There should be no ripples or taught sections and should lay flat.

Below is a comparison of the metal spacer with the Phenolic black spacer on top. The black spacer has a very slightly larger diameter bore holes than the metal one below. Most of the spacers have a single way to fit them. The open side is the underside to lay on the gasket. Underside of the spacer is showing here in the pic below.

Place the spacer onto the gasket. The smooth side (top) of the spacer should be facing up as in the picture below.

Now add the second gasket on top of the spacer, making sure it too also fits correctly with no tears, ripples or stretched areas.

Now you can take your carb and gently lower it onto the spacer and gasket. Lower the carb evenly in order to not dislodge the gasket position.

Note of observation:

The old metal spacer had the PCV valve breather attacher to it under the carb itself. With some of the phenolic spacers they may do away with the breather port and use the carb’s own intake port. Below is the comparison of the spacer on the left and the carb fitting on the right. Both connections are still situated at the back. Those who are eagle eyed among you will see that the carb is a slightly smaller diameter and will require a little more tightening to get a good seal. This is fine as I used a jubilee clip as before. The carb uses a flanged end so a push fit should be possible depending on the internal hose diameter itself, but I want to make sure it stays on so I use the clip just to make sure.

Now you will need to secure the carb to the engine intake. Tighten the fasterners and washers finger tight into each of the corners. If you have a spring bracket then replace that as required. Tighten fully with the correct torque settings for the carb in an opposite corners sequence.

How you reconnect the all the linkages and fittings is up to you of course. But, with the throttle linkage out of the way the PCV pipe is much easier to fit.

Refit the mechanical throttle linkage to the carb throttle linkage and refit the springs. Check that everything moves without any snagging or any of the moving parts being hindered under the full motion of travel.

Lubricate any of the fittings that need it with the correct grease or oils. In my case the self locking nut will need a little white grease behind the washers to avoid any sticking, marked with the arrows.

Next up is fitting the electrics back to the choke, this is the single 12v wire.

The fuel fitting (banjo fit) needs to reconnect, ensure that the filters are cleaned and seated correctly when refitting them. Failure to do so could allow debris through or not allow fuel to flow through at all in the worst case scenario. Check that the O-ring is in good condition, not split or perished or you could be introducing a fuel leak. Below is the O-ring seal in place and the cleaned carb internal metal gauze fuel filter.

Vacuum pipe should be a straight push onto the carb if it’s fitted or required.

Finally check that all the connections are in place and secured properly. You can either start the car with the air filter off to see what is going on, or put it back together again.

With everything in place you can start the car. I would suggest cranking the car over for a few seconds to make sure that there is no fuel leaking after the fuel has been pumped up to the carb and fills the carb bowls.

Once you are happy there is no leak and everything is OK, then start the car normally.

1) If there was a spacer there before, you shouldn’t have to adjust anything – as long as it was the same size of course.

2) If this is a new spacer you will probably need to adjust air fuel mixtures and idle for the carb.

3) In rare cases you may have to make some minor timing adjustments.

Time Taken:

Two hours with all the cleaning.

Like I said at the beginning it was after replacing this spacer and going for a test run that I noticed the noise in the gearbox. The two are completely unrelated and didn’t cause the gearbox issue. But there is an improvement in the car’s performance.

This is definitely a worthwhile project if you are having issues in the heat with fuel evaporation, or warm starting problems. If you want a little more power then this is a quick win for relatively little money. However as you have to take the carb off the engine this isn’t for the faint hearted. It’s a straight forward enough procedure, but you need to put things back where they should be. The fact you are playing with fuel lines tells you that you will need to take care of course.

If you mess it up – don’t blame me! 🙂

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Big Name Wax vs Luxury Hand Blended Wax

During this lockdown I have been asked a number of questions about car detailing, which surprised me a little as everything I know is self taught, trial and error, research with an empty wallet as a result. I love detailing the Mustang so the questions are a pleasure if i know the answer. These questions are probably being asked because like me they can’t get to car shows, so they clean their cherished vehicles instead. I had been working on a little something a while ago and decided to finish it off for todays little article.

So what is the question that is often asked, but never really answered; is there a difference between big name brands and the much more expensive luxury hand poured waxes?

Just quickly before I answer the questions; a little while ago I had done a comparison test of ten products from the top manufacturers to find out what is the best. The results were not quite what I expected to be honest. You can read my comparison test here.

Top Branded Waxes Side by Side Showdown

Or watch the full video review here.

This article will not be a repeat of that testing, but more of an explanation why some waxes cost more than others due to their ingredients, performance, processes and of course that all important name on the tin, bottle, spray pot or what ever you bought. There’s even an amount of snobbery if should be so bold to say that.

I must state that trying to find out exactly what’s inside the products from anybody is a closely guarded secret, for obvious reasons. Although I will not be mentioning brand names, as in who has what in which product, the following information is from various sources that I have managed to find out about and collate myself with phone calls and research. I may not be 100% accurate, but it all makes perfect sense in a bigger picture.

Firstly a little about the main product used for car waxes; Carnauba.

Most car products contain some sort of carnauba percentage within their products, unless it’s fully synthetic of course.

Carnauba is also known as Brazilian wax and palm wax. Carnauba is a wax from the leaves of the palm Copernicia prunifera, a plant native to and only grown in the north eastern Brazilian states of Piauí, Ceará, Maranhão, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Norte.

Carnauba is also known as the “queen of waxes” when in its pure state it usually comes in the form of hard yellow-brown flakes.

The wax is obtained from the leaves of the carnauba palm by collecting and drying them, beating them to loosen the wax, then refining and bleaching the wax. It’s also used as a food additive, its ‘E’ number is E903.

Fact 1: Did you know that raw Carnauba can be harder than concreate.

Fact 2: Carnauba is used in many other products such as; candy (yes you can eat it, but the body can’t digest it), medication coatings to aid swallowing, dental floss, hair crème, leather to aid in waterproofness and is also used in explosives like TNT. For the ladies carnauba is used in many cosmetics formulas where it is used in eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, foundation, deodorant, soap, to thicken lipstick, various skin care preparations, sun care preparations, etc. It is also used to make cutler’s resin and adhesive.

Fact 3: Carnauba wax is sold in several grades, labelled as; T1, T3, and T4, depending on the purity level. Purification is accomplished by filtration, centrifugation, and bleaching or not as the case may be.

Fact 4: It is practically insoluble in water, soluble by heating in ethyl acetate and in xylene, and practically insoluble in ethyl alcohol. (More on this as a percentage in the base carrier notes later.)

Fact 5: Carnauba’s Melting point is 82–86 °C (180–187 °F), among the highest of the natural waxes, considerably higher than beeswax which is 62–64 °C.

Fact 6: There is no synthetic equivalent for carnauba.

So to have a product based on say half carnauba, it would be incredibly hard to apply. Carnauba needs to be reapplied due to the natural product. The synthetic wax products have a longevity advantage and will adhere to the surface better, due to the chemicals designed just for that job. In fact it would be virtually impossible to have 100% carnauba product.

Big Brand Shop Wax.

Most of these products are price based and to keep the cost down there is one main ‘base’ ingredient. This carrier (base) is petroleum based usually Kerosene or paraffin or a combination of both. (I will just call it kerosene from now on). Other chemicals are added to the ‘base carrier’ in order to make it pliable, UV protecting agents, spreadable and even maintain a shelf life. Ever noticed that old wax tend to dry out and crack? The quickest way to tell the product is kerosene based is the smell. Some have that quite distinctive petroleum based smell, but most of the time that potent smell of paraffin, kerosene or aviation fuel or heating oils, an additive is used to disguise that base smell and make the fragrance much more appealing to the user, such as vanilla, apples, mint, roses, coffee or chocolate etc. What ever works best for various manufacturers. Often the fragrances are used to sell the product, but in actual fact the artificial fragrance is a disguise. How’s that for marketing?

Percentages of the product;

Most of the time base carrier tends to be around 70% (maybe more maybe less), and the rest made up with the actual performing ingredients for the product. For the majority of time the remaining 30% can be made up of Carnauba, beeswax, silicon, acrylic additives, cleaners etc. Now this is where things go a little bit fuzzy and grey areas appear should we say. The remaining 30% could be made up of 50% carnauba. Now that carnauba 50% is of the remaining 30% which will leave a remaining 15% for other additives which I will get to in a moment. The label stating that it has 50% or 54% Carnauba and so on for the carnauba content is not necessarily 50% of the total product by volume! In other words a 200g tin of product is not necessarily 100g of carnauba. But, this is open to interpretation should we say. What is the “50%” actually of within the product? Is that 50% of the total of waxes used with the other 50% being beeswax for example?

The remaining percentages can be beeswax, or silicon or microscopic aluminium particles for cleaner pastes, colourings, fragrances etc. Messing around with the mixture’s formula will obviously give different properties and products. The remaining percentage apart from the ‘base’ could then be made into a synthetic formula if no carnauba is used, replaced with the silicon content which could be increased, dyes for the wax, maybe fillers to hide minor swirl marks.

To make the liquid version of the product (see ‘Fact 4’ above), the base needs to be blended with other chemicals to make it pourable as you would expect. The original 70% may now be 40% / 30% mix of kerosene / ethyl acetate for example, or what ever the formula mixture requires. However, the carnauba content will still be the same as in the paste equivalent to keep the product performance the same. In fact Meguiar’s told me there is “no difference between their wax paste and liquid variation of the same product”. By pure definition there may not be a difference with the product ingredients formula as such, but the base carrier has to be different as one is a paste and the other is a liquid or crème as they prefer to call it.

Application;

The application from a tin is fine application to spread thinly. The main reason being the chance for the base to evaporate and leave the product behind on the paint to do its job. This evaporation is also known as the “flash point”. The flash point could be speeded up or slowed down depending on the requirements of the product. The haze or white misting of the product is what is left after the evaporation or flash point. In order to check the product has ‘cured’, or ready for buffing is the wipe of a finger across the product technique. If nothing is left behind then the product can be buffed to a shine removing the haze which in turn leaves the carnauba behind, which will leave behind the gloss shine you want.

Have you noticed that if you apply heavy layers of wax onto the paint it becomes a nightmare to remove it? This is due to the fact the base is unable to evaporate properly and you end up pushing around the base kerosene with the buffing cloth which will cause drag on the cloth. The principle is simple; the smoother and even layer the product can be applied, the better light will reflect from the paint surface, giving a better finish, impression of depth and overall clean look.

Synthetic blends.

These are predominantly more silicon based still using the carrier base which also gives a great shine and various additives to make the product bond to the paint. There is also a growing trend to use ceramic hybrids which provide exceptional hydrophobic properties and some nice gloss. The principles are the same for the base carrier, but obviously the formulas are heavily altered to make sure the ceramic, silicones and base carriers all stick together. Notice how you have to shake the product as they separate out when left standing?

Price;

The cost of the base carrier is much more affordable than the high end products (which I will get into later). The variations of the remaining product such as scent, carnauba content, colourings, fillers, cleaning agents, gloss enhancers, silicon etc. will all determine the cost of the raw materials. I am not including the marketing or the R & D in this, just the basic ingredient costs.

The better the quality of carnauba T1 or T3 etc. has the overall bearing on the costs.

Premium Waxes

These products can vary in costs wildly, from a reasonable £50 to £1,000 and more. The main difference here is that these products are naturally occurring oils base. The carrier base oil maybe something like melon oil or a coconut oil, maybe a mixture of both. Here is a view of natural Kalahari melon oil in the top picture and raw coconut oil in the picture below.

The remaining ingredients are then mixed into the base oil product for its desired results, gloss, filler, longevity etc. The most basic of base blend carrier of a premium ‘wax’ can be made from three base oils. The more complex blends having a formula of around twenty to thirty five ingredients.

To find out what’s in these products is very difficult due to the secrecy involved. However, I have it on good authority that these premium hand blended car waxes also have a lot in common with the beauty industry as well.

Carnauba has a naturally sweet smell, and it can be said that candy and carnauba smell similar.

Application:

You will notice immediately when you open these products that they feel very different. The wax feels greasy as you would expect from an oil and they smell very different. Very little fragrance is used unless a particular oil doesn’t smell to good, but could be great for reflection or a filler for example. Some oils when blended can thicken the formula and add shelf life or natural UV filters.

Again application is very much ‘little and often’, the more purest of waxes are almost clear on application and can only really be seen when the light catches the applied product on the surface of the panel. It’s sometimes recommended to use these waxes when they are warmed up slightly in the sun for a little while, which will allow softening of the wax and oils to aid in ease of application. These premium waxes can feel like spreading a soft butter with very little effort. The main difference between these natural products and petroleum based product is the ‘flash point’. The premium waxes and oils as such don’t tend to evaporate leaving the product behind in a haze. In fact the applied product is the majority of the product you buff to a shine. Again carnauba can be treated, reduced, added to or thinned out maybe, whatever the specification for the product needs to do in order to achieve the consistency and required formulas. I have been told (from my very reliable source), that there are better oil combinations for gloss than just carnauba alone. The down side is they are extremely difficult to harvest and cultivate and a single fluid ounce can be extremely expensive, much more than any precious metal comparison.

The flash point of the premium waxes could by design be a little carrier evaporation. So in theory, the longer these premium waxes are left on the car to ‘cure’ and bond to the paint, the more time they have to settle into the microscopic pits and troughs to form a smooth even barrier. It’s recommended to leave these premium waxes to cure for at least an hour. If you can apply in the morning and remove in the evening that would be ideal, or even overnight. However this may not be ideal depending on atmospheric conditions with dust and pollen flying around.

Percentages:

The carnauba used for the hand blended product tends to be the top percentage of the T1 classification for raw carnauba. filtering and decontamination is the highest priority as is the quality control. As I mentioned above the product you apply is the product that is applied to the paint, as there is very little if any flash point. So if for argument sake it is noted that the carnauba content is 30%, that is still potentially double that of the shop brands by volume in the example I gave above. Other ingredients could be added to make the oils last longer on the paintwork, hydrophobic properties, gloss, wetness, warmth of colour, or the other way around to make the exceptional gloss for car shows, but it may not last very long. So a balance is often dialled into the mix for the blend depending on the market it’s aimed at.

Some small fragrances like Jasmin can be used, just for the user’s experience or perhaps just to add a bespoke brand product fragrance.

For something extra during a hand blend there is the option to add some random ingredients such as gold or silver particles to give that glittery look. Some additives are used which can enhance the metallic fleck in paintwork.

Price:

The raw materials being a natural product, and only found or created in very small quantities drive the cost of these products. Some of the ingredients are very rare and sometimes unavailable for what ever reason maybe seasonal etc. The oils used tend to be super filtered and again the best of the best purest oils used.

Due to the availability and quantities of a number of the ingredients, some hand blenders make extremely limited batches or bespoke “pours” to order. In fact some of these top branded waxes are only made in a single 200g batch per year.

Additional points for waxes:

No mater what you choose the waxes are better when they are layered. This is especially true for the premium hand blended waxes, but the whole process of layering a premium wax and curing can take a long time for the reasons I mentioned above.

If you have a great quality paint job, and use the cheaper market brands the wax could in fact reduce the gloss refraction of your paint. Just as you can’t make rubbish paintwork glow with premium wax, but you will protect it.

So the fact of the matter is that most of the time, off the shelf or big name brand products are more than capable of doing their intended job. A great shine and longevity to protect the paint finish and there isn’t much to choose between them as I found out.

However, if you want to use the best of the best it’s all in the prep work. Cleaning, decontamination, correction, sealer and then the wax, then a couple more wax layers to get the very best results. Big name products tend to do most of the hard work for you, especially the cleaner waxes or the all in one products from multiple suppliers.

When paying big money for a top quality hand blended product, you may be disappointed if you don’t put in the prep work and blame the wax, it about the time and effort to get the rewards.

Is there a difference apart form the obvious price banding? Well yes, I have noticed the difference after a single application of a hand blend. The cost is the downside, but the results are visible and from my point of view, the money is worth it. I enjoy the whole car detailing thing so I want results from my products I use.

Conclusion:

For a daily run around, then big name products are perfectly acceptable. Even some hand blends made with predominantly silicon can be used for a daily. But if you have a show car, classic car or something you cherish, then perhaps treat yourself to some quality hand blended products. Work out what you want from your wax, gloss, beading, protection etc. before making your purchase.

I hope that answers some of the questions, and I learnt a bit from the research as well.

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Most Revealing….

For a number of years since I started my blog I have keept my identity off the web. A little background as to why. My blog was intended to be a diary of the build progress of my Mustang and nothing much more. Somewhere to store my thoughts and photos if you like, my build diary. The posts back then had a little write up so I could read it through a number of years later. That little diary has evolved into something much more now, almost a website with lots to look at, obviously something I’m very pleased about. I now do reviews of car detailing, books, tools, memorabilia, collectables and articles. After a few early posts on the blog I started to get emails from people to say they enjoyed what I was doing. Thinking about what was happening I stepped up my game pretty quickly and started to create more how to guides, processes and instructions on what I had done or I was doing at the time. This of course was a view from a man on the street who had never done anything like restoring a classic car before. I made mistakes and they were corrected with the help of Mustang Maniac and all was well again. All of that hard work comes to a giddy height when I go to a car show. Late November 2019 I was invited to attend the “Lancaster insurance Pride of Ownership” at the Birmingham NEC. There was ten of us (finalists) there and I did a comprehensive write up of the show over the three days which it ran. The only downside was that it was marred by cheating of the winner which I proved and fully documented. All that aside there was some massive plus points about that show too; I meet some wonderful people, shared many laughs, got foot ache, back ache, lost my voice, I got a severe case of larringitus thrown in too, all in the name of a great time at a car show. And where is all this going you may ask?

Well, during the time at that show I was asked so many questions by many people. A few people recorded a conversation via mobiles etc. One notable instance was a nice guy who wanted to take a photo of me with the car and recorded what I was saying. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking at the time, but I agreed and so the photos were taken and his questions were answered. I thought no more of it. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when out of the blue I was contact by a weekly journal called “Classic Car Weekly” here in the UK. A link to their website is here. There was a couple of phone calls and emails to confirm a couple of points. I was asked if I had any photos of the original state, just a few maybe around 4,500 or so at last count. I had to pick a few out to send them of the car during that long build process over the four and a half years it took to complete.

The result is that I featured in this week’s edition of the paper released on the 8th April 2020. If you are quick you might even be able to get a copy. I even made the front cover;

The article is a full page interview and pictures.

The main heading refers to a reveal; where there it is, a picture of me.

To mark the occasion I bought a copy or four, one to read, one to keep prestine and the others just in case.

Now that you know what I look like, please come and say hello if you see me at a car show. That’s of course providing that Corona virus doesn’t keep us locked down and we can actually get to a show this year. I need to drive my car, it’s been five months now – FIVE MONTHS, just sayin’!

Until that next car show, keep safe and stay at home.

UPDATE: 13/4/2020

I have been asked by Richard if I can make a readable version of the article.

As requested here is a high res scan of the article converted to a PDF to download.

ccw-8-4-2020 Download

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I just wanted to wish all my readers and followers;

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

I wish good health and a prosperous new year.

It wouldn’t be a proper post without a picture of Mustang now would it? I’m not sure where this came from on the Internet, but it’s a great pic.

More posts to follow in the next Decade.

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End Of Season Show?

It’s almost the end of the car show season and I have potentially attended the last car show of the season for me. There are two more shows in my diary that I intend to go to, one of which is at the end of this month and the other in the middle of October. Past experience tells me that these are going to be rained on due to the UK winter being under way. So I won’t be getting the car out for those, even if there is the slightest chance of rain.

Last weekend was the Fornham Classic & Sports Cars by the lake show, a lovely setting that is more like cars by the large pond rather than lake to be honest.

This is a popular show and you have to be booked in, to get in. There is a huge selection of different cars on display without it being to big a show that you rush around to see it all. The weather forecast was for a sunny day and it did last all day I’m pleased to say. The car show is only located twenty odd minutes away from me, so I even had a little snooze before I needed to get up and be there by nine thirty. I arrived at the farm’s turn off and we were ushered in without hardly any delay, they had opened both ends of a field to filter the cars in. A great job by the marshals all day in fact. I was parked up and a huge Plymouth Road Runner pulled up next to me, now I thought my car was long! So less words and on with the pics. These were taken as I worked up and down the lines of cars.

There were some amazing super cars there which I have grouped together here;

Perhaps the best looking Fiat to be accepted as a Ferrari, the achingly beautiful Dino!

Then ultra modern Lambo, the first I have seen in the wild as it were.

A nice selection of Mustangs, both old and new;

Some super old pre war category cars;

By around lunchtime the show was packed and full to the brim.

Then I found this Triumph at the end of a line, for me this was my car of the show.

Yes, that really is two child seats that pull up in the trunk area almost hanging out the back of the car. Seat belts? Nahh, not in those days.

Some more of the cars that caught my eye;

When I got back to my car I decided to get the hood up and compare the Plymouth next to mine. It must have been a good half meter longer than mine.

My final arty pic of my car, please with the shine on this one.

I hope I have a more shows to finish the year of nicely. But, I’m not gonna get to excited just yet though, knowing my luck the clouds are already gathering for me. This is a popular show and seems to be getting bigger by the year, but with the other hugely popular show in the area ‘Nowton Park’, being cancelled this year because it got to big for the small car club organisers to handle believe it or not. This show looks like it would need to restricted the numbers, or at least make it only for cars that are over twenty years old. There was a lot of cars that were pretty much brand new in show, like I have said before, I can go to any super market car park to see those. And yes, that goes for the new Mustangs as well.

If this is the last show of the year for me, it was a great way to end the season.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2019 (Part 2)

As promised this is part two of the Helmingham Hall Classic Car show where I moved to the private entries where pretty much anything goes. As the day wore on the weather was warmer and the visitors just kept coming in. I spoke to many people that day and even a guy who purchased a new ’65 and wanted some pointers. By the time he had finished talking to me and David, we think he was sorted if not a little worried about what was ahead of him!

So in no particular order – some more cars;

Some military vehicles.

More random cars.

Some pics of the location.

This massive car took my attention, I have no idea what it was, but it certainly makes a statement!

This little guy was on a photography stand, he was just loving all the attention he could get!

There was no rain, and leaving was a straight out breeze, maybe because I left half hour before the rest of the fields. A great day and the show still lives up to my expectations. Can’t wait for next year now as well.

Note to self: get there earlier!!

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Strike Three – But Not Out!

Last weekend I went to a car show at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring, and guess what? It rained; OK it wasn’t a bad downpour, but it was still wet stuff from the sky which landed on my car. That’s the first three shows this year that I have attended and rain has appeared, although to be fair it wasn’t until later in the afternoon. This won’t put me off car shows, it just makes me check my useless weather apps more to see what lies they are going to tell me. It seems as though my luck this year with car shows is not going very well at all. I drove to the end of a field and parked up on the Mustang Maniac stand where I meet Adam, Yogi and Paul who were busy getting their priorities right, making the cups of tea. My priority was to start cleaning my car. Simple reason being that the previous day Saturday was a hot day for a change at the show and the entrance car park had dried to a dust bowl. The show cars that were driving into the event were going slowly so as not to kick up much dust and gravel. In other words, showing respect for other people. However some selfish a-hole in a van decided to do mini burnouts every time he moved. Needless to say the dust cloud that enveloped the car park was like cloud of nuclear fallout and just as toxic. Not a great a great start to the show, I wasn’t best pleased.

I have continued to review lots of car cleaning and detailing products as I get a few questions now and again about what products I use on my Mustang as well as the daily driver cars too.

Contrary to popular belief I am not a one brand product devotee, far from it in fact. A big pet hate of mine is where somebody will buy a single product and be brand loyal refusing to admit that some of that brands products are in fact a useless waste of money. Those same people will have blinkered and tunnel vision when it comes to trying other products. My outlook on the matter is simple, I’m still looking for the perfect combination of products for each step I perform whether it be; snow foam, drying, decontamination, cleaners for paint, cleaners for wheels, glass cleaners, polishes, waxes, microfiber cloths, brushes, carpet stain remover, rubber restorer, vinyl cleaner etc. Just about everything I use is in a combination of many products such as Meguiar’s, Auto Finesse, Chemical Guys, Poor Boys World, Mirror Bright, Valet Pro, Dat Wax and so on depending on what is need, and what I intend to do to get the results I want. This time I decided to use a Chemical Guys EcoSmart which is a waterless wash & wax product I have been using for a while now, but just couldn’t get it right to use it properly. The results are amazing (now) which have improved a huge amount since I started to use top quality plush, deep pile microfiber cloths at £5 each and not the 25 cloths for £5 scenario, which aren’t much better than toilet rolls if the truth is to be known. Round two was onto the quick detailer, a brand new product recommended to me which is Chemical Guys – P40. (Yes, I buy ALL my own car cleaning products, and I am unbiased in my reviews.)

The car finished and it looked quite clean again.

The Mustang Maniac stand was starting to get full as I was almost done and was easily the Mustang place to be. There were customers who turned up for a chat, people interested in getting a Mustang, and people who were just happy to be around the cars.

With the car finished some one and half hours later I went for a wonder around the show to look at the cars and stalls.

It was an fairly good show in general, but I think that this show is getting more mainstream rather than car focussed stalls. There were lots of house clearance stalls selling cheap rubbish, stalls that sell plenty of plastic toys and stalls selling a selection of tools (I use that term very loosely), which were aimed at people with an extremely tight budget should we say. For once I didn’t buy anything at all from anybody. The wife says I should take her out for the day with the money I saved, she’s right of course, there is a car show this weekend, I could take her there and maybe get her a burger and buy more stuff for the car.

Classic car owners second worse nightmare? Stone Chips.

The worst nightmare has to be rust, the second has to be the dreaded stone chips. I always drive with an extra spaces between the car in front of me and I back off if somebody pulls into that gap. It seems as though I have been caught out with the hated stone chips. Let’s just say I was pretty pi55ed off and the air was filled with the colourful language that may have slipped out of my mouth on a repeated number of occasions.

I spotted the evil craters from the previous car show and fixed them up before the trip down to Enfield. Although I got another one on the way back from Enfield, I spotted this one when I cleaned the car on Monday. I have done a walkthrough or tutorial guide that works for me under the Menu ‘How To…Projects/Fixing Stone Chips’. Here is just a taster of what I did to fix them. This is only the basic explanation, I fully explain it all here.

Identify the location of the chips by marking with a piece of masking tape.

Thoroughly clean the area with Isopropyl Alcohol (or similar) to remove all waxes and sealants, use lint free panel wipe or similar. Then take a little colour and place into a pot. I had some left from the original paint job so I was lucky in that respect for colour matching.

isopropyl alcohol

lint free cloth

There are various ways to apply the paint, with a brush, paper, matchstick, toothpick or similar. I use a wooden burger skewer as they are longer, easier to hold and I can sharpen them well without splintering.

tooth pick

The idea is to place a tiny droplet into the centre of the chip so that it sits just proud of the rest of the paint around it. Place the tip of your choice of applicator into the paint and remove it which should now hold a tiny droplet which is held in place by the wood and not running straight off. If you get a big drop you have the chance of it dropping onto places it shouldn’t be, with a lot of recovery work for yourself later.

With the paint drop as small as possible, covering the chip itself and sitting proud of the paint – leave it to dry and cure. Not an hour or two, I’m talking a couple of days, I left mine for a week. This will also allow any waxes to apply to the fresh paint properly.

Next is to get the sanding paper out, I got a wide selection of wet & dry papers starting with coarsest being 1500grit all the way to impossibly fine 8000grit. They are different colours for identification.

I then take my special stone chip tool, a pencil eraser and mark out the width I need on the grades of paper to cut to the size I need. These erasers come in various sizes and shapes for your needs or what suits you.

The idea is to start with the courser grade and work finer to remove the previous sanding marks. I prefer the rubber eraser as it will give slightly to a contour as it’s not rigid, but firm enough to hold the paper flat to the surface. I marked the back of the papers as the cut strips may not show the grit grade itself.

Patience, then use lots more patience.

Wet the area, I use a small travel spray you can get from eBay. Then gently rub the paint drop down keeping the paper flat as possible. A few gentle rubs then check. This will give an idea of how the paint is reacting to the paper and also you don’t want to sand the topcoat or lacquer of the paint if you can help it. You can adjust your technique accordingly.

water spray bottle

wet area

initial paste rubbing

after drying

When you are getting close to the flat paint, swap the papers over to a higher grit. With the sanding the paper may shed and give you a light paste look depending on the type of paper you bought.

The higher the grit number will reduce the previous marks and stop you from rubbing the paint to hard, keep the area wet. Repeat as necessary all the way to the fine grades. When you rub your finger over the chipped area you shouldn’t feel anything at all, it should be glass smooth. If the paint has sunk and you have a pit, stop sanding and add another tiny drop of paint by repeating all the application steps above and let it dry.

Once you are happy with the sanded area then it’s time to bring the car paint back to life. Use a polish that you normally use to remove swirl marks or light scratches. This will remove all the sanding marks, I used Tripple on this occasion as it’s hardly abrasive. Rub into the area using a DA machine or by hand as in my case using the ‘Handipuck’ to get the shine back.

With the area polished it just leaves the protective wax to be applied, this after the hand polish. Pointed out stone chip area with the wooden paint pick tool.

My next step to wax and protect the area. Dat Wax which is show wax and is heavy on oils not the paste style which is ideal for this type of work. Oh, its also blue and smells of beautiful bubble-gum which I reviewed here.