What's made you grumpy today? (Part II)

Unfortunately it was Twinkle our 2016 Ibiza - bought new - which, at least up 'till now, has looked immaculate! Which is not to say I wouldn't have been just as depressed had it been Becky, the Panda, with all her little blemishes!

On the other hand I suppose one just has to be philosophical about it and say to one's self, OK, the next one won't be so traumatic? Yea right!

By the way, Becky really enjoyed her little jaunt out to the SICD at Hopetoun House last Sunday. The run has done her the world of good, she's running very sweetly.

Oh dear, I seem to be on a bit of a loosing streak just now. For many years I've bought many of my VAG spares (for our SEAT and Skoda cars) from TPS (Trade Parts Specialist). I have not done so for a good couple of years now as my Ibiza has been still under warranty and my boy sold his Fabia replacing it with a Kia. The Ibiza's warranty expired in March so I thought I'd go on the TPS website just to re-familiarize myself with it (I had learned that, for instance, their oil supplier had changed from Castrol to Fuchs).

I like Fuchs oils - the Punto's running of it just now - so I was wondering if their "Quantum" branded (but supplied by Fuchs) oils could be cross referenced for other manufacturers. I found it could so started listing what I'd need for the family cars. Then rang them to get some prices to see if I could save money compared to ordering from Opie, Power enhancer, Shop4parts, etc, where I usually place my order. Got a bit of a shock. They won't sell to me. Strictly trade accounts only. and yet I've bought from them for all those years previously. So something's changed. Just makes it a bit more inconvenient for me as I'll have to see if the chaps at AVW will be prepared to get stuff for me. Then again, if I want genuine parts, I may just look to online providers and forget about TPS altogether. Wonder why this change?

Maybe Fuchs manufacture the oils for the big name brands and have contracts that prevent them selling under their own brand.

What happened to Silcolene which (IIRC) was bought out by Fuchs?

Silkolene, as far as I know, is now bikers oil grades?

https://www.silkolene.com/

I've still got a big old metal silkolene can which holds enough waste engine oil that i only need to visit the recycling centre once or twice a year to empty it. As I get older it's getting increasingly difficult to lift it up to the storage tank! Must look out for a smaller container!

From previous dealings with Fuchs as a supplier of 'own brand' oils, they do a lot of that, so marketing theirs under their own name is not something they seem to pursue with much effort. It is out there somewhere, but not heavily promoted.
That made me smile.
I have an old Unipart 25l can that I use for my waste oil, and now tend to visit the recycling centre when it is about two-thirds full, for the same reason.
Back in the early eighties, my mother was running a Morris 2200 that consumed oil quite voraciously. Working at an AustinRover dealer I was able to buy a 25l can quite cheaply, so I've had this one a long time. This was the first. Subsequent ones were fitted with a tap to make dispensing twice a week easier. It used so much we stopped changing the oil, just the filter. The sump, which included the gearbox took about 7-8 litres I think.

Didn't know that Fuchs were so much into supplying other brand names - interesting. Isn't the world a funny place now a days? Got Fuchs in the Punto just now but will probably use S4p's Petronas option this time which is what they supplied for the Panda.

My boss had a Wolseley 2200, silky smooth and really howled if you reved it - well out of hearing distance of the garage of course! My 2.0 litre "O" series Ambassador took around 6 litres to fill it's sump. I remember being surprised that the automatic version only held about 3 and a half litres until I realized that the gearbox had a separator plate between it and the engine so the gearbox ran on it's own ATF fluid. It was a Borg Warner adapted to fit the transverse application wasn't it? Unlike the smaller engines which used the problematic AP box.

That's right, the 2200 auto used a borg warner. As you say, housed in the sump, but separate oil. I think the 1800 did the same. The AP unit was used only in A-series and E-series 1500/1750.

The 2200 had a long stroke and narrow bores, to get a straight six across a car. Heavy unit, cast iron block, ok in a straight line, corners needed care. It didn't like revving, although made a lovely noise as you said. With the manual gearbox, it would pull top (4th) gear from about 15mph all the way to its max at around 105mph, in one long wave of torque.
Somehow they made it into a 2600cc unit, used in South Africa and Australia. There was a Rover SD1 on Ebay recently, ex SA, with the E-series 2600.

K called me just after lunch break at my trackday as she'd managed to drag the rear 3/4 of our campervan along a pillar on the entrance to a car park.

Makes me very grumpy.

Luckily, I have an acquaintance with a bodyshop, and it's salvageable without panels.

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.

The 6 cyl E series had the smoothest tickover of, I think, any engine I ever worked with. You could get it to tickover at ridiculously low revs, almost counting the firing impulses, and yet still be able to balance a coin on edge on the cam cover (no, actually I never did that, but you get the idea?).

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.

In parting, With your driving instructor hat on, I thought this might amuse you PB:



Bought many years ago to embarrass my boy after his first car (Allegro) was written off when an old codger reversed his Volvo out of his driveway into the main road right in front of my boy who was cruising along at 30mph! Astonishing amount of damage done. Luckily no serious injuries, lots of bruises though. The old chap was most honorable and completely admitted liability. We heard he handed in his driving license following this. Shame about the Allegro which was in excellent condition and would have gone on for many years. Just so he doesn't get to "cocky" it now occupies pride of place on our "jokey card" board on the back of the downstairs loo door.

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".

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.

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

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.

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".