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Post by jeff on Nov 3, 2023 18:52:52 GMT
Some will have read my plight of trying to find a lower servo bracket for a MK1 Morris.
Looking at the old butchered bracket, and the parts manual, and a very detailed later parts manual sent by Chris, (thanks Chis). I've discovered from that, and Tony Wood, from LOCI, there are in fact four different lower servo brackets across the range.
I fully understand that cars using the "Girling Supervac" servo, which is direct acting from the brake pedal and left hand drive cars requiring a different set up.
All others are a remote Girling MK2A, or MK2B SERVO, fitted on the other side of the bulkhead. The difference between those two servos are mainly internal, but the MK2B has as different vacuum tank, but no bigger.
I'm intrigued as to why there are so many different lower brackets, each which require different piercings in the bulkhead to accommodate the hole centres in the brackets.
I don't understand why all the expense of redesigning the bulkhead pressings, at least three times, to accommodate a similar servo.
Sorry folks, but I let my mind drift into such things and hope someone has the answer.
Have a good weekend if you can.
Jeff
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 3, 2023 23:33:32 GMT
I can only guess that Girling may have designed (provided) the brackets as well as the servos which were fitted to a number of cars at the time. If this was the case, when the RHD crab changed to the Mk2B servo, BMC made the car fit the component - don't look too hard for logic!
David
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Post by jeff on Nov 4, 2023 1:19:58 GMT
Thanks David, I never thought of it that way.
Ha! Asking me trying not to try and understand logic??? 🙃
Sorry mate, it's the way my limited career in the police rewired me.🙃.
If something is what it is, I have a fault in that I have to know why it is what it is, or worse, it was what it was.
Mad men and motors eh?
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Post by Penguin45 on Nov 4, 2023 18:12:22 GMT
The effects knock on down the line. You couldn't get a bulkhead on it's own as a spare part, only the front end assembly - bulkhead, inner wings and front cross member. There were 5 (yes, five!) listed for the cars.
Chris.
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Post by jeff on Nov 4, 2023 18:30:00 GMT
Yes Chris, I see that in the parts book. The cost though of re tooling must have been enormous and no doubt adding to the losses made on ADO 17.
Certain modifications and upgrades for the greater good I understand. But, in this case I just don't see why.
No doubt somewhere lurking in the archives the reasons will be obvious. Maybe Anders clausager, the BMC archivist knows. I'd love to have a few beers with him. Wouldn't we all??
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 5, 2023 0:01:14 GMT
Remember those were the days when the Hillman Imp was made in Scotland but their engines were sent to Coventry for machining - a round trip of some 600 miles. Actually there was some sort of twisted logic tied into government grants and it was good for rail traffic income. You will do your head in trying to understand the motor industry of the 60s and 70s. Many manufacturers didn't actually know the cost of building their models - an exception being Ford from what I understand. David Thanks David, I never thought of it that way. Ha! Asking me trying not to try and understand logic??? 🙃 Sorry mate, it's the way my limited career in the police rewired me.🙃. If something is what it is, I have a fault in that I have to know why it is what it is, or worse, it was what it was. Mad men and motors eh? |
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Post by jeff on Nov 5, 2023 10:48:41 GMT
Yes David, I also read about costing being a subject where heads were buried deep in the sand, particularly in BMC.
A lot of this was down to Leonard Lord, who would ask "what's Ford's ex works price of the Popular? He'd be told for example £395. He'd reply well let's make the Morris Minor £325 with no clue of the real cost.
Wheel nuts were a good example of costing logic tho'.
The more they bought the cheaper they became, almost to the point of being uncostable per unit. I think tho' they had an idea of what they were into with the landcrab, hence its high starting price.
As far as the servo brackets go, and why so many changes I'll just settle for the correct one turning up. I can't even modify a later one. At a push I suppose I could mackle up a hybrid from what's left of the original,and a later one which I have. But that would ruin a perfectly good one which somebody else might want, maybe possibly, someday, meh.
Jeff
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Post by dave1800 on Nov 6, 2023 1:00:52 GMT
Although it is easy to ridicule, in practice it is very difficult to accurately determine the cost of producing a vehicle. Although the total cost of running a factory can be determined with reasonable accuracy, trying to break this down to individual components that comprise material, waste, research, storage, machining, assembly,energy consumption, volume effects, inflation etc is highly complex and was even more difficult before computerisation. Factoring in strikes prevalent in the 70s only added to the problem. However, if the bottom line resulted in a loss the vehicle prices were set too low or costs too high. The prices were constrained by the market and we are well aware of the inefficiencies that prevailed often from lack of funding, poor management practices and wage pressures.
David
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