Pugglt Auld Jock said:

I seem to remember the AP box ran on the engine oil didn't it? I do remember there being a lot of problems with them, our boss always tried to talk anyone out of buying this option and thankfully we didn't see many. Problem cars were shunted off to the local automatic specialists.

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Yes, the AP box ran on engine oil. It gave a lot of problems, can't remember much detail, but I suspect that running in the engine oil was a significant factor. The control valve mechanism relies on tight tolerances, at odds with unfiltered engine oil. Expected lifespan, around 50,000 miles between rebuilds. Fine for the Motability Mini and Metro doing 3k/pa.
We had one guy who specialised in these, and could remove and strip one in less than a day, and once replacement parts arrived (3-day emergency order in those days) could have it back up and running same day.
One day he had a Metro with a reported 'funny noise'. What the owner had failed to tell us was that it would frequently put itself into forward gear. With the car in the bay, and ticking over, to listen to the noise, there was a strange clunk as it engaged forward gear, and another louder clunk as it parked itself under the workbench. Within a few minutes a notice was applied to the wall above, "No vehicles beyond this point".

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Very interesting about the SD1 Rover. I never knew it had been fitted to that model anywhere. The Wiki page on BMC (Australia) makes for an interesting read and then search for Leyland P76 - I'm interested in the Australian V8 Supercars and have been, just incidentally, aware of the P76 for some time. It used that 2.6 E series as well as the Rover V8.

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I seem to remember the E6 would tickover at less than 500rpm.
Just remembered, the E6 in 2.2 and 2.6 was used in the South African Marina. I imagine corners were quite frightening above 20mph.

Love the pic, thanks.

portland_bill said:

Just remembered, the E6 in 2.2 and 2.6 was used in the South African Marina. I imagine corners were quite frightening above 20mph.

Love the pic, thanks.

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The 1.8 TC was quite terrifying enough for me thank you very much!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

The 1.8 TC was quite terrifying enough for me thank you very much!

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There were so many different rear springs through the years, each change made the handling quite different. Initially the TC was set up quite stiff, but that really didn't help the handling at all.

When they introduced the Marina 3, with the fat bumpers and replaced the B series engine with the O series, all saloons got 130lb/in rear springs. At last they found a good compromise between comfort and handling. Typical of AustinRover at the time, by the time they got it right, everyone had lost interest.

A well-driven 1.8TC was faster than an MGB as it used the same engine in a lighter car.

All this talk of BL stuff!

After the success (!) of the Allegro Vanden Plas track day... my friend and customer has dragged an old Wolseley Six out of the back of his barn, which is currently undergoing fettling for a track day at some point in the future.



Not a lot of transverse (!) 6-cyinder E-Series power mated to a dumb auto box.

But it's stuffed with polished wood and soft velour seats!

I'm looking forward to piloting it at some point. Maybe at Castle Combe.

Schumi2001 said:

All this talk of BL stuff!

After the success (!) of the Allegro Vanden Plas track day... my friend and customer has dragged an old Wolseley Six out of the back of his barn, which is currently undergoing fettling for a track day at some point in the future.

View attachment 200683

Not a lot of transverse (!) 6-cyinder E-Series power mated to a dumb auto box.

But it's stuffed with polished wood and soft velour seats!

I'm looking forward to piloting it at some point. Maybe at Castle Combe.

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It is a very heavy engine up front.
Corners need care and properly setting up.
Fast corners need notice in writing.

Probably why the Wolsey Six was known as the "Land Crab".

As you may know it was actually the 1800 which first attracted this "Land Crab" moniker. It was a most unlikely competitor and very successful. Here's a link to an account of it's very interesting history - an enjoyable read.

https://www.landcrab.net/mainframes/main_rally.htm

Moving!

It's just 2 rooms of my house and me that are moving out but already I'm grumpy and finding reasons to skive off onto the internet instead.

I really hate moving and in two weeks time I will need to do it all again once the work in the house is finished

Yodel appear to have delivered a package to the wrong place, or are lying and have not yet delivered it.

A friend has a 2005 Clio. The electric boot lock is playing up, a common problem apparently, so last Sunday I ordered a new actuator motor, £8.50 on Ebay. Estimated delivery, Friday.
Friday came and went, no delivery.
Today, at 17:02 I got an email, advising parcel delivered at 17:02.
I notice vehicle movements outside, and there were none at that time. I was next to the upstairs window, above the front door. No doorbell, (it works), no knocker. House clearly displays the number outside, as do each of the ones either side, so no excuse for getting wrong house.
No package through the letterbox, nothing outside.
Ebay order tracking shows delivered at 11:55am. I was here then too.
Yodel customer service closes at 1pm. If they'd generated the email at 11:55, I could have queried it then. Now we're stuffed until Monday.
I guess the driver has delivered it to the wrong street, and whoever has received it can't be bothered to walk it 150yds through the alley. (Last time I took something through to them they were stunned)
From the main road, the road forks. The houses at the fork are all in 'my' road, so the divider is not central. The two street signs are therefore next to each other, but offset to the right from the entry road. People often go the wrong way, including the postmen.

Stroppy notes sent to Yodel and the seller.

portland_bill said:

Yodel appear to have delivered a package to the wrong place, or are lying and have not yet delivered it.

A friend has a 2005 Clio. The electric boot lock is playing up, a common problem apparently, so last Sunday I ordered a new actuator motor, £8.50 on Ebay. Estimated delivery, Friday.
Friday came and went, no delivery.
Today, at 17:02 I got an email, advising parcel delivered at 17:02.
I notice vehicle movements outside, and there were none at that time. I was next to the upstairs window, above the front door. No doorbell, (it works), no knocker. House clearly displays the number outside, as do each of the ones either side, so no excuse for getting wrong house.
No package through the letterbox, nothing outside.
Ebay order tracking shows delivered at 11:55am. I was here then too.
Yodel customer service closes at 1pm. If they'd generated the email at 11:55, I could have queried it then. Now we're stuffed until Monday.
I guess the driver has delivered it to the wrong street, and whoever has received it can't be bothered to walk it 150yds through the alley. (Last time I took something through to them they were stunned)
From the main road, the road forks. The houses at the fork are all in 'my' road, so the divider is not central. The two street signs are therefore next to each other, but offset to the right from the entry road. People often go the wrong way, including the postmen.

Stroppy notes sent to Yodel and the seller.

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I know this is the "grumpy" thread PB but this put a smile on my face - which is very welcome as I'm suffering a very sore throat, feeling dizzy and generally very sorry for myself today, thinking of taking out shares in Lemsip!

So why am I amused? Well, our estate, which was built new around 35 years ago, has the house numbers arranged in a very strange and confusing way. Our street, which is a "T" configuration with both ends of the "T" being dead ends and the tail of the "T" connecting to the main road going on into the rest of the estate, starts off with number 1 being on the right as you drive in. Given this being No 1, you would expect (well I would anyway?) that houses on the right are Odd Nos - 1,3,5,7, etc - and those on the left evens - 2,4,6,8, etc. But no! Walking up the street, looking to the right they go 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Then there is a small 3 storey block of nine flats which are very oddly numbered before number 12 is the first garage in a block of lockups all of which have their own number??? Then the houses start off again and so it goes on right round until it comes back down our side of the street 44,45,46,47,48,49,50, with 51 being the last house, opposite No1!!

It's not unusual to see visitors wandering around with lost expressions on their faces and parcel delivery people find it a nightmare. There are several times this number of houses and 3 more blocks of flats on the estate in it's entirety, all numbered in this strange way with the pedestrianized area seeming to confuse many. I like gardening and I'm often in my front garden doing a bit of hoeing or dead heading. Of an average I would think I'm approached for directions at least twice a week! I've even twice had to inform "new-to-the-beat" postmen.
Regards
Jock

The general rule of street numbering is odds on the left, evens on the right, from the start of the road, that being the end nearest the town centre. A lot of older, and a few newer streets do number up one side and back down the other, consecutively, I know of streets like this in Swindon, Bristol and Reading. (sad?)
There's a set of streets in Swindon like a grid, where the numbers go up one side, across each junction all the way to the end, then back down again. So number 1 is opposite 105a, but the two middle sections will be strange to anyone who does not know how it works.
There's a newish estate with one road that as you drive in, the first house on the right is number 73, then 30yds later, number 1 on the left. I train supermarket delivery drivers, so need them to follow satnav and locate addresses without inconveniencing other traffic, and planning turn-around and parking, so I use these odd roads a lot. This one I get them to look for number 76.
As they enter, they see 73, then it is counting down sequentially on the right, so they start to think there is nothing after 73. Then comes the small close off to the right, with a helpful sign declaring 111-114. After a while, there is a narrowing, and immediately after that is 74 onwards.
They built the estate, numbered it sequentially up and back, then extended it further, so continued the numbers. Then added the small close mid-way.
Confuses everyone.
My street is conventional, but the start is slightly offset, which seems to confuse a few, but it trouobles me that the delivery driver did not determine the name of the recipient, or the correct address, and that whoever accepted the delivery did not notice the wrong street, but accepted it anyway. They all need a slap.

Whilst cutting some meat for dinner, managed to put a small cut into the end of a finger.
There was a bit of hopping about and much fuss made.

Yesterday my partner had a cataract operation, under local anaesthetic.

Guess who made the most fuss?

portland_bill said:

Whilst cutting some meat for dinner, managed to put a small cut into the end of a finger.
There was a bit of hopping about and much fuss made.

Yesterday my partner had a cataract operation, under local anaesthetic.

Guess who made the most fuss?

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To be fair your partner would have had anaesthetic

Incontinent washing machine!

People who do 25mph in a "60/NSL" (admittedly country back road, but even large vans can manage 40 down there. I usually do about 50, it's not single track), and then do 35 through the village with a 30 limit, and continue to do 35 when the speed limit changes to 40...
:bang:

Do you mean not more than 10mph below the posted speed limit. Unless it's a national limit (60) where you only need to do 40 and should get upset when someone has the temerity to overtake.

DaveMcT said:

Do you mean not more than 10mph below the posted speed limit. Unless it's a national limit (60) where you only need to do 40 and should get upset when someone has the temerity to overtake.

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If that's a question, finish it with a ?, otherwise make an actual statement.
However, my point is: why drive so far under the posted limit, then speed, then drive under the limit again? It's bloody stupid.

Stupid Italian electric have annoyed me today, more to the point the total botch job which is cornering lights on the evo

portland_bill said:

Incontinent washing machine!

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Dragged it out, tilted it, checked inside and under, supply and drain hoses. All seems ok, so just a leak around the door.
Door scrubbed clean, seal wiped. Will test tomorrow.

Walked it back under the worktop.

My first two machines had wheels at the back, just lift the front slightly and pull it out. £3 saved, so everyone has to struggle to move it. Later machines sometimes had wheels as an option, but all gone now.

Eklipze3k said:

If that's a question, finish it with a ?, otherwise make an actual statement.
However, my point is: why drive so far under the posted limit, then speed, then drive under the limit again? It's bloody stupid.

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Sorry for the lack of punctuation. I'm sure you coped.

Many drivers these days accelerate painfully slowly (probably hammering the clutch in the process) then stop at least a car length short when queuing. The same ones crawl up to 40 in posted 60 zones and otherwise never do more than 10mph BELOW the posted speed limit. They cause long snakes of cars on A roads and they make peak period queues much more hassle than they need to be.

These people are simply selfish gits and are absolutely not safer drivers, though they will claim to be of course.