James S Graham & Co. Ltd.

20/07/2026

15/07/2026

Another neat upgrade we engineered. BMW/Mini diesel swirl flaps.

Despite what a lot believe, they have an important function to improve low rpm torque.

Unfortunately the originals are made of plastic and become brittle, ejecting fragments into the engine's air intake.

So we manufactured brass swirl flaps and their actuator bar on the lathe, integrated them into the original intake manifold and after thorough cleaning, installed into the vehicle.

The flaps themselves have been tapered more than the originals with a round shaft used, all to aid laminar air flow.

12/07/2026

We now also stock solid Ford wheel nuts for fitting upon request which eliminate the cam out/rounding that occurs when high torque or impact drivers are used on them, causing them to require destructive removal.

If we require removing a vehicle's wheel nuts in such a way we now always replace them with solid replacements as standard.

12/07/2026

Another interesting and permanent repair we did to a CLK roof hinge. Mercedes wanted a fortune for a replacement plastic unit which are known to snap if there's any twisting force on it. We manufactured steel support arms for the plastic sections, removed the plastic pins and replaced them with brass rods. Fitted first time, worked perfectly and will outlast the plastic units hands down.

We don't replace parts with flawed designs, we design flawless replacements.

11/07/2026

This was another nice repair of someone else's bodge. Someone cut a nasty hole to access a Renault Zoe fuel pump and just stuck it back with body filler.

We cut the hole as square as possible, cleaned up the edges, manufactured a custom plate to fit including the grommet hole. Then used rivet nuts and machine screws to secure it so it could be removed for access in the future. Finally used a light bead of removable seam seal to keep the water out the cabin and painted it to prevent rust.

Possibly overkill for something no one ever sees but we felt we couldn't leave it like that.

11/07/2026

This one was a challenge even for us. Everyone including Ford said the ecoboost couldn't be rebuilt after such an enormous overheat. Cylinder head was cracked, cylinders filled with water and the crank and crankcase were extremely rusty.

We carefully removed the high spots from the head where it had undergone plastic deformation due to the heat. Cleaned, resurfaced and honed the bores, cleaned out the crankcase, every oil way and coolant path and had a friend weld the head crack. We even polished the sump to help oil drain in the future. After a lot of work, new piston rings, bearings, timing belt, water pump and thermostat it fired up first time.

11/07/2026

We were rather proud of this repair, BMW E36 328i ZF gearbox manual shift valve. Original is plastic and crumbles over time due to heat and oil. So we carefully manufactured a duplicate out of brass to ensure the fault never occurs again. Valve body reinstalled in the vehicle and it worked perfectly.