Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge. And are always at the head of the queue, in the middle of
the road. Perhaps they should be sold complete with flat cap and pipe?

--
*Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor

You are clearly an idiot troll, please eff off.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably manufacture two
or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It may pollute a little
more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always worth keeping a clear
distinction in the mind between pollution and green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's MPG -
can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always tried to thin
the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by turning the big nut
on the underside of the SU carb.

Julian.

HI All

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:11:26 GMT, "Julian" wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably manufacture two
or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It may pollute a little
more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always worth keeping a clear
distinction in the mind between pollution and green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's MPG -
can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always tried to thin
the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by turning the big nut
on the underside of the SU carb.

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler, and (lacking an
in-car consumption computer !) I've been keeping a rough tally of the
mpg - which has been round about 35 - 40 so far.

Now we don't tend to drive very fast out here (too many sheep /
tractors / & old bu**ers in Moggies in the way) - but a lot of our
motoring is fairly short journeys, and / or up and over the
mountains. I'm not sure I'd consider a Moggie as practical transport
on UK motorways - but out here it's fine.

In terms of 'life cycle costs' I guess the fact that this one's still
going 43 years after manufacture (albeit with an unspecified number of
rebuilds, spare panels etc) must count for something.

For me, the attraction is the overall simplicity of the thing - which
equates (I hope!) to low maintenance costs....

It's also great fun to drive g

Regards
Adrian

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
It's also great fun to drive g

Yup. The steering feel of a Minor is quite superb. Something denied to a
Prius driver.

--
*The average person falls asleep in seven minutes *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

HI Dave

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:59:30 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
It's also great fun to drive g

Yup. The steering feel of a Minor is quite superb. Something denied to a
Prius driver.

Kind of a 'direct' relationship with the road....
you get very adept at spotting / remembering the little imperfections
in the Irish country roads, and taking evasive action..

Bumps that you wouldn't even notice in my RAV4 become
quite 'noticeable' in the Moggie....

....hence the need for those d-ring luggage retainers to stop my
market stall & associated bits from joining me in the front seat...

On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..

Not a big worry - the 'running on' - fairly comical, actually...

Regards
Adrian

Adrian wrote:
On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..


I had a similar thing with my Metro which also used the A series engine.
I was told that it was 'Dieseling' and that this was caused by carbon
build up on the cylinder which heated up to the point where it would
ignite the compressed mixture without a spark (in the same way that a
Diesel engine works). So after turning off the ignition and depriving
the engine of a spark it would continue to ignite and hence 'run on' for
a short while.

There are however people on this group much more knowledgeable about
cars than me and I am sure they will be along in a moment.

Andrew

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..

Oh dear. That 'magic thingy' does precisely nothing - lucky you didn't pay
for it.

Unless the exhaust valve seats have been modified to incorporate hardened
inserts you're in for problems sooner or later if running on unleaded only.
The A Series engine is one of the worst around for valve problems with
unleaded unless modified. But don't worry - it won't actually break down
totally so you can wait until it shows symptoms before doing anything. A
sensible choice would be to have a modified cylinder head standing by.

As regards the running on many fit an electrically operated valve
connected to the inlet manifold after the carb which opens and lets in air
when you switch off. But you should first check the ignition isn't
retarded and that the mixture isn't too weak - either can cause running on.

--
*If you think this van is dirty, you should try having sex with the driver*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Adrian" wrote in message
...

On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..

You can often cure the problem by reducing the idle speed, reduce it as much
as you can , but stop short of it staling on you all the time.

Ford had a real problem with this with their Kent (escort etc) engines years
ago. They provided a retrospective modification kit which was an
electrically powered air solenoid valve that was plumbed into the intake
manifold - switching off the ignition removed power from the solenoid and
air flowed into the manifold, the mixture was weakened and it didn't run on.

Julian.

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..

And ripping people off for 20 years then too.

http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/

http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/unlead01.htm

http://www.fuelsaving.info/catalysts.htm

A complete con. Tin pellets in a black tube. Tin isn't soluble in petrol to
start with and even if it was it wouldn't do anything constructive. You're
running OK on unleaded because the valve seats are hardened from years of
use and the engine isn't in a high state of tune. The black tube is doing
feck all to help the situation. A series engines tend to run due to
combustion chamber heat which is why the A+ SU carbs had a fuel cut off
solenoid operated by the ignition switch.

Adrian wrote:
HI Dave

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:59:30 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
It's also great fun to drive g
Yup. The steering feel of a Minor is quite superb. Something denied to a
Prius driver.

Kind of a 'direct' relationship with the road....
you get very adept at spotting / remembering the little imperfections
in the Irish country roads, and taking evasive action..

Bumps that you wouldn't even notice in my RAV4 become
quite 'noticeable' in the Moggie....

...hence the need for those d-ring luggage retainers to stop my
market stall & associated bits from joining me in the front seat...

On the subject of Moggies - anybody know why mine has a tendency
to 'run on' for a few seconds after the ignition has been switched
off? Somebody told me it was to do with the unleaded fuel - she's
originally a leaded engine that the Morris Minor Centre in Bristol
'unlead-ised' with the aid of a 'magic' thingy that fits in line with
the fuel - apparently they've been fitting them for 20 years..

Not a big worry - the 'running on' - fairly comical, actually...


It's red hot exhaust valves, or carbon thereon.

You get a sort of glo-pug compression ignition.

Probly needs a decoke and a shade of ignition advance..that keeps the
valves cooler. Set the gap correctly, and then loosen the distrubutoir
and rotate while idling until it start to slow down, then set it as far
advanced as possible without slowing..a shade of over-rich also helps
keep the valves cool.




Regards
Adrian

On 2007-07-04 14:34:04 +0100, Adrian said:

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler,

There's quite a few of those in Ireland :-)

HI Andy

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 16:05:03 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-07-04 14:34:04 +0100, Adrian said:

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler,

There's quite a few of those in Ireland :-)


g
you've visited then...?

Adrian

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
HI Andy

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 16:05:03 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-07-04 14:34:04 +0100, Adrian said:

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler,

There's quite a few of those in Ireland :-)


g
you've visited then...?

Adrian

Don't they call them Tinkers as well?

On 2007-07-04 16:39:07 +0100, Adrian said:

HI Andy

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 16:05:03 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-07-04 14:34:04 +0100, Adrian said:

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler,

There's quite a few of those in Ireland :-)


g
you've visited then...?

Adrian

Can I interest you in any clothes pegs?

Adrian wrote:
HI All

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:11:26 GMT, "Julian" wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.
Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably manufacture two
or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It may pollute a little
more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always worth keeping a clear
distinction in the mind between pollution and green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's MPG -
can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always tried to thin
the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by turning the big nut
on the underside of the SU carb.

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler, and (lacking an
in-car consumption computer !) I've been keeping a rough tally of the
mpg - which has been round about 35 - 40 so far.

Now we don't tend to drive very fast out here (too many sheep /
tractors / & old bu**ers in Moggies in the way) - but a lot of our
motoring is fairly short journeys, and / or up and over the
mountains. I'm not sure I'd consider a Moggie as practical transport
on UK motorways - but out here it's fine.

In terms of 'life cycle costs' I guess the fact that this one's still
going 43 years after manufacture (albeit with an unspecified number of
rebuilds, spare panels etc) must count for something.

For me, the attraction is the overall simplicity of the thing - which
equates (I hope!) to low maintenance costs....

Depends on how you cost your labour replacing engine bearings every 30k
miles.


It's also great fun to drive g

Regards
Adrian

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...


Depends on how you cost your labour replacing engine bearings every 30k
miles.

I'm not sure if this is a serious comment - sorry if it's not. The A series
engine will easily do at least 70k with regular oil and filter changes. And
when it needs re-building you can DI(mostly)Y for pocket money.

Julian.

Hi

On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:20:32 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Adrian wrote:
HI All

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:11:26 GMT, "Julian" wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.
Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably manufacture two
or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It may pollute a little
more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always worth keeping a clear
distinction in the mind between pollution and green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's MPG -
can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always tried to thin
the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by turning the big nut
on the underside of the SU carb.

As it happens g - I've just taken on a '64 Traveler, and (lacking an
in-car consumption computer !) I've been keeping a rough tally of the
mpg - which has been round about 35 - 40 so far.

Now we don't tend to drive very fast out here (too many sheep /
tractors / & old bu**ers in Moggies in the way) - but a lot of our
motoring is fairly short journeys, and / or up and over the
mountains. I'm not sure I'd consider a Moggie as practical transport
on UK motorways - but out here it's fine.

In terms of 'life cycle costs' I guess the fact that this one's still
going 43 years after manufacture (albeit with an unspecified number of
rebuilds, spare panels etc) must count for something.

For me, the attraction is the overall simplicity of the thing - which
equates (I hope!) to low maintenance costs....

Depends on how you cost your labour replacing engine bearings every 30k
miles.

Ah - I know a man who can g

Regards
Adrian

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
For me, the attraction is the overall simplicity of the thing - which
equates (I hope!) to low maintenance costs....

Depends on how you cost your labour replacing engine bearings every 30k
miles.

There's something very wrong if you have bearing problems on a Minor 1000
at those miles. More than double that would be a decent average. The
earlier 803 cc engine didn't last long, though.

--
*Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Julian wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably manufacture two
or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It may pollute a little
more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always worth keeping a clear
distinction in the mind between pollution and green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's MPG -
can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always tried to thin
the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by turning the big nut
on the underside of the SU carb.


Yup. The old A series with an SU carb in a minimally equipped 50's body
on skinny tyres would turn in around 45-50mpg.

If you kept it down to a daring 55mph or so ;-)

Which, considering the cooling, engine wear, adhesion and brakes, was
only wise.


Cat converters knocked about 15% off fuel economy, which was largely got
back via fuel injection and slightly lighter cars.

Modern low profile tyres reduce it a fair bit more.


Julian.

In article ,
Julian wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven.
Despite claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate
like a side valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes
clamped on the economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius, and you could probably
manufacture two or three Minors with the materials needed for one P. It
may pollute a little more out of the exhaust pipe, but it's always
worth keeping a clear distinction in the mind between pollution and
green house gas.

My dad had many Minors and Travellers, I'm sure he always got mid 40's
MPG - can't ask now because he's dead. I do remember that he always
tried to thin the mixture off as much as the engine would tolerate by
turning the big nut on the underside of the SU carb.

My father had the first Morris Minor in Scotland fitted with the Austin
803cc OHV engine - in 1953. It being a business car, he kept accurate
records of the fuel used over the three years he had it. And that averaged
out at 53 mpg. He was averaging about 12,000 miles a year and much of that
open road motoring, and of course traffic wasn't so heavy. But then the
roads were less straight and level than today.

--
*Born free - taxed to death *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Julian wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...


It being a business car, he kept accurate
records of the fuel used over the three years he had it. And that averaged
out at 53 mpg. He was averaging about 12,000 miles a year and much of that
open road motoring, and of course traffic wasn't so heavy. But then the
roads were less straight and level than today.

My dad did too. He was a freight manager for a large shipping company, (now
part of P&O) and travelled the length and breadth of the country in his
Minor on a regular basis meeting customers etc, also often travelling to the
far east - but in a VC-10! Weekends often partially spent servicing it.
(front lower swivels need regular grease) I also remember that he kept two
or three paving flags in the boot in winter and used proper winter tyres on
the rear - snow came every winter in the 60's. The world's moved on a fair
bit since then and I don't think people today would tolerate driving such
huge mileages in a basic vehicle. Having said that he seemed to laugh and
smile a good deal more than people in similar positions today.

Julian.

"Julian" wrote in message
...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a
side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius,

The Minor did 0-60 in 30 mins. Please get real.

In article ews.net,
Doctor Drivel wrote:
Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved
a similar or better MPG than the Prius,

The Minor did 0-60 in 30 mins. Please get real.

That is real? Seek treatment now. Please.

--
*The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ews.net,
Doctor Drivel wrote:
Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved
a similar or better MPG than the Prius,

The Minor did 0-60 in 30 mins. Please get real.

That

Please eff off as you are a worthless idiot troll.

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 14:09:50 UTC, "Doctor Drivel"
wrote:

"Julian" wrote in message
...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a
side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved a
similar or better MPG than the Prius,

The Minor did 0-60 in 30 mins.

Better than your Prius then.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Jul 2007 14:09:50 UTC, "Doctor Drivel"
wrote:

"Julian" wrote in message
...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven.
Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a
side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge.

Which touches on an old thread. (IYR?) I'd bet that the Minor achieved
a
similar or better MPG than the Prius,

The Minor did 0-60 in 30 mins.

Better than your Prius then.

It that wit? Please give advanced warning of funnies so we can try and work
it out.

On Jul 4, 11:14 am, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Now they've become quite common - in London at least, due to the
artificial tax advantages - just watch the way they are driven. Despite
claiming to have nippy performance they in practice accelerate like a side
valve Morris Minor - the owner obviously with his eyes clamped on the
economy gauge. And are always at the head of the queue, in the middle of
the road. Perhaps they should be sold complete with flat cap and pipe?

If you're talking about the Prius then they are hardly common in
London. While I respect your otherwise informed posts, you really are
heading into Jeremy Clarkson style fantasy land here.
The only thing that has ever frustrated me is just crap drivers, I've
yet to see any correlation between Prius drivers (on the rare occasion
I've seen one) and holding traffic up.
All those black London taxis accelerate like lightning, as we all know.