TORQUE TALK

Regarding the measurement of high torque settings as per your correspondents J.E.Kirby (August) and Nigel Cox (June), I ran into this problem when replacing a rear wheel bearing on my daily driver Mk1 Focus estate. Machine Mart sell a very neat Clarke PRO238 ½in Drive Digital Torque Adaptor for a shade under £46. This measures up to a maximum value of 265.5lb.ft and has a healthy crop of good reviews. I'd certainly recommend it, with the small reservation (as others have noted) that the sound emitted when the pre-set torque value is reached could do with being louder.

The article about Danny Wright's fine Mk3 Cortina brought back many happy memories of a facelifted 1975 Mk3 2000 estate I owned from 1982-1985. Seeing the picture on p37 showing the door locking knob, I was reminded of just how easy these vehicles were to break into. A flat flexible strip of plastic could easily be pushed between the door frame and B pillar via the rubber seal and slipped over the knob. It could then be yanked upwards, unlocking the door. To avoid this happening, a standard fix was to sand off the top of the knob and polish it well so there was nothing for a potential tea-leaf's strip of plastic to grip. Those with the chrome effect knobs sometimes replaced them with the 'cheaper' black versions so they were harder to see at night.

I don't think I'm revealing any secrets here as potential thieves will undoubtedly already know this trick, and today's remaining Mk3 Cortina owners will hopefully have taken appropriate anti-theft measures.