So, ten minutes of reading about resistors and I'm ready to electrocute myself, if only I knew how.

This is about the simplest explanation of how resistors affect voltage I could find and I still have no idea what they're talking about -

http://www.learningaboutelectronics....-resistors.php

I'm so glad I decided to run a (nominally) zero resistance wire to my coil and give it 12 volts under all conditions.

The reason I've got myself in a tizzy about this is that when my midget developed a misfire I noticed that the coil was getting red hot, so replaced it with a non-ballast 12v one as I didn't realise I had a ballast resistor in the circuit.

First run out after fitting it the misfire had gone and the car ran fine suggesting the old coil was on the way out, but at the end of a 30 mile trip to the coast the engine conked out as I pulled on to my driveway and wouldn't restart.

After a bit of investigation I replaced the coil with a ballast coil but still no spark, then I took out the fancy electronic ignition module and put the points back in and it ran. A bit of research revealed that the electronic ignition module probably failed because of the wrong voltage going to it.

By then I had already committed to electronic ignition on my Speedster's engine and I don't want to burn it out by under or overpowering it. At least now I know that it's connected in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions so it shouldn't fail.

Fingers crossed.

I've just taken a commission to build an outlaw styled Formosa 236CM .....

Sounds good Gary, are you going weather-beaten patina paint and faded numbers?

Sounds interesting

Quick update as it's been a couple of months.

Progress has been a bit slow for a couple of reasons: First off, engine issues, more specifically trying to get a leak free cooling system. I've had two cracked water pump housings and the third one I tried had stripped threads on both bolt holes for the thermostat cover. That's all sorted now and I'm hoping to fire the engine this weekend.

Second reason is that it's now the season for my other hobby, grubbing around in muddy fields looking for 'treasure'.

I'd like to say 'There's gold in them there hills' but I live in Norfolk. Gold, there is, nonetheless -

https://i.ibb.co/3p7bDXy/IMG-20201106-154109922.jpg

Et Voila, one Ambiani Gallic wars gold stater, struck in about 57BC by a tribe in Gaul (Northern France) to pay an army of Celtic warriors to fight against the invading Roman army led by one Julius Caeser.

Nice.

That's a fantastic find, well done!
Do you get to keep it?

Nice little rippa ! Some good pay dirt over in Norfolkshire !

Thanks guys.

Norfolk has the largest number of 'treasure' items recorded under the 1996 Treasure Act in the UK. Its history is one of the reasons I settled here from my native Essex back in the early 90's.

What I'll do now is record this find with the local archaeological unit then have it properly valued. I have a 50:50 agreement with the landowner for any valuable items I find and this certainly qualifies.

Once we know what it's worth I'll hopefully be able to afford to buy out his half so I can keep it as it's all about the connection with history for me rather than the value.

After all, the last person to touch this before me was almost certainly an Iceni warrior who fought in battles against Julius Caesar. You can't really put a price on that!

Wow - fantastic find. Doing an online search (which you've probably already done) suggests about £500 - £1000, but as you say it's the history that's important. It irritates me how the TV programmes (and indeed classic car magazines) highlight the 'value' in ££s as the main objective - In fact if I see the classic car mags with covers saying 'what's the best investment car to buy?' or similar, I deliberately avoid them. Hope you will be able to keep your coin!

Whose been watching Aussie gold hunters

I also enjoy Aussie Gold Hunters - a good 'escape from reality' viewing experience. Apparently, the best way to get gold these days is via scrap electrical equipment!

Electrical equipment gold recovery is too messy. Nitric acid needed gives off too many toxic fumes that will make you puke !
The local car boot yields some nice little nuggits from time to time !
Well done on your find Mr Towed!

Thanks for the kind words, guys. It is a spectacular find and in pretty much as minted condition once I rinsed the mud off it.

Given that, I'd estimate it to be at the high end of the value range for one of these, so around £1,000 to £1,200

Luckily I can afford to pay my half of that so I should be able to hang on to it, but if the valuation is much more then my (wealthy although he'd never admit it despite the pristine E Type roadster/other classics/new Velar etc.) farmer friend might have to buy out my share.

He's also really interested in the history of his land and I often hand over small items that have a connection to the land he owns as he loves them just as much as I do.

These have included a lovely 14th Century bronze seal matrix used for impressing the owner's personal coat of arms in molten wax to seal documents, and most recently, an enamel badge from the National Agricultural Labourers and Rural Workers Union, which was an early 20th Century land workers' rights movement.

It's a great hobby which gets me out in the fresh air, but it does eat into the time I have for car building. It won't be long until all the land I have permission to search is under crops, though, so I'll be back in the garage soon.

It's nice, soft metal - easy to cut in half if you have to :rofl:

I'm afraid not ... I'm doing shiney paint etc but with an outlaw attitude towards stance etc.
Customer has some definite ideas and comes from a VW / Porsche background

Is it because your product is much cheaper than doing a beetle outlaw or a 356 replica outlaw .. can’t wait to see what ideas he has

Looking forward to seeing the Outlaw Formosa. Will you be doing a build thread or does the customer want to keep it private?

Ive been missing in action for a while on here and had wondered how your outlaw build was going Mr T, its good see you are making good progress. Are you going down the rebody route for registration?

I also liked the coin you found and the history it holds, just thinking of the last person to have held the coin and how did it come to be originally lost is worth more than the money value, hope you manage to keep it.

Hi Swifty, thanks for your interest in my little piece of history.

I will be putting my Speedster through the rebody process - I'm going to be crossing my fingers as I bought the bodyshell second-hand and don't have a manufacturer's receipt. I do have a screenshot of the ebay sale transaction though, so I'm hoping they will accept that.

Current delay is that I haven't managed to get the engine running yet. I have fuel getting into the cylinders, I have a nice, fat spark and I have provisionally set the timing to 6 degrees before TDC with a timing light on turnover, but it isn't making any attempt to fire.

Last thing yesterday I tested the compression on one cylinder with a compression tester and it read zero. That could be one of two things: my (cheap Chinese made) compression tester might be faulty or I've installed the new camshaft in the wrong orientation so there's a valve still open on the compression stroke.

I ran out of enthusiasm yesterday so I'm having a day off the car today, but I'll pick it up again next weekend (Thursday for me) and test the compression tester on the Midget's engine to see if it's the gauge that's faulty. If it shows compression on the MG then it must be the cam timing that's the issue.

Hopefully my next post will have some better news about starting the engine for the first time.

I shouldn't worry about not having a receipt. The photo shot of the ebay ad will be fine as is the case with a hand written receipt for second hand bodies. Mick didn't have a problem with his Monaco recently, he got that second hand as a swop for a bottle of JD and a bacon sandwich. I think he wrote that in the comments second of the form !