Thanks. Grancor? another wee bit of the grand automotive jigsaw of knowledge!
What's made you smile today?
- Thread starter angel
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What's made you smile today?
Allard? an absolute legend! When at automotive college in London I shared a house with 3 other guys at the bottom of the hill leading south out of Putney. Allard's premises was just a short distance away and I used to go along just to drool over stuff like Shorrock superchargers and alloy rocker covers - all stuff well out of the monetary reach of a student! Owning a Ford at the time, the Shorrock was of great interest as Allan Allard campaigned an Anglia with a very potent Shorrock supercharged 1500 ford engine which I saw at Santa Pod. If you'd like to know more Google "Allan Allard Drag racer" and click on the "European Drag Racing News" link. Makes interesting reading.
The front axle was a split design. That is a beam axle cut in half and hinged onto the chassis in the middle - so basically a "swing" design, like the rear suspension on the beetle, Triumph Herald and others. It was a compromised solution to achieving independent movement of the wheels but caused some undesirable camber angles when the car was pushed near it's limits. For those who've never heard of Allard cars here's a video about them, some of the pictures illustrate the "weird" front wheel camber. I suppose not such a problem with "skinny" tyres but unacceptable with modern, much wider, tyres.
I always fancied one of them, but when they were still cheap s/h none came my way and these days no way my pockets would match current prices.
Funny enough an ex boss of mine bought one a few years ago, but I have yet to see it.
I have only seen one drag race it was a demo in early 70s at Dunkerswell Airfield, quite impressive back then, sadly nothing locally around here.
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Owning something like an Allard, or a Cobra with the big engine option, or any one of many other cars I drool over will remain just a dream - but one of the "dreams" which keep me going when feeling down in the dumps. Probably all for the best because I get a bit "silly" behind the wheel of stuff like that and would just end up killing myself and probably others along with me. Better to just concentrate on enjoying joy riding around in Becky!I always fancied one of them, but when they were still cheap s/h none came my way and these days my pockets would match current prices.
Funny enough an ex boss of mine bought one a few years ago, but I have yet to see it.
I have only seen one drag race it was a demo in early 70s at Dunkerswell Airfield, quite impressive back then, sadly nothing locally around here.
Drag racing, and speed hill climbing to a lesser extent, has been a passion for me every since my late teens when I would save up my shiny pennies to buy enough fuel to get up to Santa Pod from my digs in London back in the 1960s. The sight and sounds of these very unusual vehicles and the variety of classes and vehicles is just so interesting. Standing next to a Top Fuel "rail" or "funny car" running Nitro methane fuel is just something you have to experience to appreciate. These cars are now producing in excess of 12,000 horse power from engines of about 8 litres capacity and the sounds and smells of the exotic fuels is just part of it. Britney Force, the famous John Force's daughter turned an eighth mile time of 3,65 second with a terminal velocity of just under 335 mph recently - fastest ever recorded so far. Traditionally it's always been a quarter mile distance but the speeds were getting so fast over the quarter mile that it was considered to be too dangerous so they reduced the racing to eighth of a mile some time ago. I always made a point of going to watch the racing at Budds Creek drag strip when my daughter and her family lived in Maryland. https://goracemir.com/ It was always one of the highlights of the trip.
On the other hand the variety of "home grown" machinery which turns up at a big hill climb and the innovation you see is fascinating. I just miss the engine noises since they insisted on silencers on the engines. There's something "wrong" when the straight cut gears make more noise than the engine! Doune is the easiest for me to attend, but I go to Wiscombe and some of the other southern ones when i am visiting relatives down south, time permitting.
AC Ace was a pretty car before the Cobra, wouldn't say no to one of those either.
Been to Wiscombe Hill Climb a few times in the past, they also used to have a local one here at Oddicombe up from Babbacombe beach.
Certainly takes the excitement away watching silenced engines, even the designers of EVs have realised that with their fake engine noises.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Kin wiring (first fix) is done. Nearly all the chasing is filledcin and walls rendered. I forgot the return wire on the last ring main! All sorted with a cable up and over the loft to close the ring. All my tests have been good. Plastering supplies coming Thursday so finally we are closing it down. Hoo-kin-ray.
I ache for England now.
I ache for England now.
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The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
My roofer came today. £500 will see all bad tiles replaced and the hole repaired and 6 new ridge tiles plus stopping the rats getting in at another corner. I think its a bargain especially as it will be done tomorrow. Its only money....
Going by what some of the bills were when my boys got their extensions built on their houses, that does sound like a bit of a bargain indeed.
Beat the Toyota nav into Submission..firmware and maps updated, will now connect to the internet.
Here is a strange one, do I need a psychiatrist or a classic mini mechanic to check my thoughts?
I don't usually dream much, but woke up just after midnight dreaming about a clutch job on a classic mini, bear in mind the last time I did one of those was around 35 years ago, I was going through the process required, even down to adjusting the throw on the release arm 15/16ths threaded shaft, where you adjust with clutch pedal down till nut touches housing, then release and move another flat of the nut to stop too much throw then locking the two nuts together and removing the starter to jam a 5/16ths spanner in the ring gear when undoing the flywheel nut and removing the spacer before fitting the puller for the taper on crankshaft.
It was completely out of the blue, before going to bed I read a fiction book about a paddle steamer and railways in America so nothing related to 1960s minis, weird.
I don't usually dream much, but woke up just after midnight dreaming about a clutch job on a classic mini, bear in mind the last time I did one of those was around 35 years ago, I was going through the process required, even down to adjusting the throw on the release arm 15/16ths threaded shaft, where you adjust with clutch pedal down till nut touches housing, then release and move another flat of the nut to stop too much throw then locking the two nuts together and removing the starter to jam a 5/16ths spanner in the ring gear when undoing the flywheel nut and removing the spacer before fitting the puller for the taper on crankshaft.
It was completely out of the blue, before going to bed I read a fiction book about a paddle steamer and railways in America so nothing related to 1960s minis, weird.
Did shed loads of those Mike, on all the wee FWD A series engined stuff - Mini, 1100/1300, etc. Our boss always insisted on us replacing the primary gear oil seal when doing a clutch regardless of the condition of the old one. I also remember checking primary gear end float with feeler gauges, luckily that seldom required adjustment! As you know, but younger readers may not, the end of the crankshaft was one big taper and the inside of the flywheel was tapered to fit - no bolts as on most other cars - If you got a customer who habitually slipped the clutch then the flywheel would heat up so much it would expand slightly which allowed the flywheel to move slightly further onto the tapered end of the crankshaft. When it cooled down again it would be so solidly locked onto the taper you had no chance of removing it with the pulley. I vividly remember having a complete power unit removed from the car for a gearbox change where this was a problem. I ended up with the puller done up as tightly as I could get it and then turned the welding torch on the centre of the flywheel to expand it and help it loose it's hold on the taper. After a rew minutes heating there was a very loud BANG and the entire flywheel jumped about a couple of feet sideways off the crankshaft, missed the side of the bench and landed on the concrete floor! I nearly had to go home for new underpants! Unfortunately when it hit the floor it also damaged the ring gear which required to be renewed too. The boss wasn't best pleased with me over that one! Later they brought out the Verto clutch for them but I've actually never done one of those so don't know how they differed?Here is a strange one, do I need a psychiatrist or a classic mini mechanic to check my thoughts?
I don't usually dream much, but woke up just after midnight dreaming about a clutch job on a classic mini, bear in mind the last time I did one of those was around 35 years ago, I was going through the process required, even down to adjusting the throw on the release arm 15/16ths threaded shaft, where you adjust with clutch pedal down till nut touches housing, then release and move another flat of the nut to stop too much throw then locking the two nuts together and removing the starter to jam a 5/16ths spanner in the ring gear when undoing the flywheel nut and removing the spacer before fitting the puller for the taper on crankshaft.
It was completely out of the blue, before going to bed I read a fiction book about a paddle steamer and railways in America so nothing related to 1960s minis, weird.
Edit. Mrs J wants me to go to the supermarket with her. Her bad back hurts her when lifting the milk or anything heavy. I'll come back to this later.
Yes they regularly went off with a bang
It was a Churchill flywheel extractor, very well made.I have done the Verto versions, they needed some different studs on the extractor from memory.
I did have the tools to do all that, including the primary gear removal tool to pull the oil seal out and the replacement tool also, plus the engine crane adaptor with the two positions for the chain to allow engine to tilt for easier removal.
Strangely enough considering the amount of effort we used to put on the extractor bolt socket and long bar, the one 5/16ths Britool combination spanner jammed on one tooth of the ring gear never gave any problem, in fact I may still have it somewhere from the early 70s.
Had a long weekend there. Thursday evening, got the brake parts from a dealer across the border (much closer than Belfast, fairly decent cost same as discounted England based dealers with websites, less the delivery cost). Even got the special little Toyota branded toothpaste like tube of grease that our local dealers say they get from a motor factors. Turns out it was something to do with the brakes causing that creaking after all. Smile from that.
Very black, caked up brakes all around. No sign of grease behind any of the shims, long since dried up. Discs 1.5mm below minimum. Pads not so bad but clogged up down the middle with their own dirt. Lesson: even if they last a long time, still need to pull them apart and clean them as often as with a normal car. Pins perfectly fine / greased. Very satisfying to spend the time with a wire brush cleaning these up knowing they'll slide freely / properly now. Greased the shims according to the manual. Smile from that.
Discovered a chunk missing out of one of the pistons (Same side as all the damage). Priced up a new one around £200 genuine and comes with the pins / carriers / boots and all that. Ended up deciding the damage isn't enough to affect the brakes, no further cracking, no damage to the rubber seals etc. Will check it every few months to ensure it's not actively deteriorating. No idea how this could have happened, but I suspect before I owned it as it's the side with all the damage repaired under warranty... But smile from not having to replace it so far.
Brakes all now sorted. No more creaking. Ongoing smiles.
Then spent Friday doing a full on detox of the car. For the first time overdue, should have / usually do it in March but been so busy with this programming stuff and other goings on. Iron fall out / tar remover. Clay bar. Resin polish. Then a ceramic coating left to sit in the garage for hours. Surprisingly very fast and easy to apply in lines compared to even normal wax, fair play AutoGlym. That's after the hours and calories burnt 'preparing' it. But it's done for another year now and the car is looking quite good compared to usual.
and after so much money and timewasted spent on the car, I now turn my attention to forgetting all about it as much as possible and hoping for an easy life free of unexpected repairs or untimely consumable items needing done... Smile to the wishful thinking of that.
Very black, caked up brakes all around. No sign of grease behind any of the shims, long since dried up. Discs 1.5mm below minimum. Pads not so bad but clogged up down the middle with their own dirt. Lesson: even if they last a long time, still need to pull them apart and clean them as often as with a normal car. Pins perfectly fine / greased. Very satisfying to spend the time with a wire brush cleaning these up knowing they'll slide freely / properly now. Greased the shims according to the manual. Smile from that.
Discovered a chunk missing out of one of the pistons (Same side as all the damage). Priced up a new one around £200 genuine and comes with the pins / carriers / boots and all that. Ended up deciding the damage isn't enough to affect the brakes, no further cracking, no damage to the rubber seals etc. Will check it every few months to ensure it's not actively deteriorating. No idea how this could have happened, but I suspect before I owned it as it's the side with all the damage repaired under warranty... But smile from not having to replace it so far.
Brakes all now sorted. No more creaking. Ongoing smiles.
Then spent Friday doing a full on detox of the car. For the first time overdue, should have / usually do it in March but been so busy with this programming stuff and other goings on. Iron fall out / tar remover. Clay bar. Resin polish. Then a ceramic coating left to sit in the garage for hours. Surprisingly very fast and easy to apply in lines compared to even normal wax, fair play AutoGlym. That's after the hours and calories burnt 'preparing' it. But it's done for another year now and the car is looking quite good compared to usual.
and after so much money and time
I've got all those tools somewhere, half of them home made copies. I'll try to find them and get a picture for you all.Yes they regularly went off with a bang
I have done the Verto versions, they needed some different studs on the extractor from memory.
I did have the tools to do all that, including the primary gear removal tool to pull the oil seal out and the replacement tool also, plus the engine crane adaptor with the two positions for the chain to allow engine to tilt for easier removal.
Strangely enough considering the amount of effort we used to put on the extractor bolt socket and long bar, the one 5/16ths Britool combination spanner jammed on one tooth of the ring gear never gave any problem, in fact I may still have it somewhere from the early 70s.
I had a look in my garage, but think I must have sold them off along with the Churchill Hydrolastic pump etc. as no longer used.
Ah, the Hydrolastic pump! I found one with leaky seals at an auto jumble and bought it for peanuts - I'm not sure the chap knew what it was. Anyway, it was an interesting wee project stripping it down and rebuilding it. At that time I was sorting out a 1500 Allegro estate - which turned out so well I ran around in it for a number of years. When I moved on from that I gifted it to the Scottish Allegro Club on the understanding that I could use it if I needed to. I never have and have never been back in contact with the club so they probably wouldn't know who I am now!
Alien will…if you know, you know
Hi porta. I'm famously slow on the uptake - I'm the guy that laughs at the joke before last when the next joke is being told! I'm afraid I find myself in this position again, in that I've no idea what you're talking about here, can you be bothered to explain it to me?
Alien (punk nickname) is an old mate of mine from Leeds, now lives in your neck of the woods…he has always had allegros and is VERY well known in allegro circles…I think he’s still got a pre-production estate…anyhows, his dual personality is known to those in the know
