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Post by steve4487 on May 7, 2015 19:59:12 GMT
Though I have owned my Landcrab for sometime and been a member on here for a while I haven't had time to put on any info about my car. I bought this crab from the chap that used to rally MTB 150G and he started modifying it and I have continued to do so. So far it's been bored +60, gas flowed unleaded head, Maniflow stainless manifold Kent Cams 718 cam, auxiliary front dampers, rear bump stops, rear roll bar auxiliary instruments etc.    I've included a few pictures and when I get some more spare time I'll add a bit more later. |
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Post by tommydp on May 7, 2015 20:52:10 GMT
Lovely! It looks great!
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Post by Penguin45 on May 7, 2015 23:43:35 GMT
Hi Steve. Lovely looking car. A quick read of your updates suggests that you and AndrewA are going to get along just fine....  I'm going to move this over to "Your Cars etc.," before somebody contacts you wanting to buy the car. Could I also ask you to consider using a hosting site to upload pictures from? This is a free-to-use site, with limited storage space for pictures before we have to start paying for the priviledge. I use Photobucket - there are plenty of others available. Many thanks, Chris, Admin. |
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Post by dave1800 on May 8, 2015 1:47:38 GMT
Another fine Maidstone registered car (Nickrs kindly posted the other one earlier this week Kent 1800Perhaps you and Andrew A can enter the next Sydney London Classic Car Marathon  regards David |
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Post by andrewa on May 8, 2015 12:41:18 GMT
Hi Steve - welcome - we do "know" each other via the power of internet ! oh err missus. Your's is the car I went to see first and with hindsight should have bought, instead of mine. Am sprinting the 1800 at Goodwood tomorrow so if you or any other local crabbers fancy coming to see what it's all about be nice to see you - am there all day nothing to pay you just drive in under the tunnel and park somewhere out of everyones way! Am praying for rain as car handles nicely in the wet ..as you can see from the entry list www.brightonandhovemotorclub.co.uk/files/goodwood/2015gw1entrylistv1.pdf they've put me in with the Caterhams (!) which will be all over the shop if there's any dampness about....I hope. |
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Post by Nick RS on May 8, 2015 16:12:04 GMT
Hello Steve,
Properly nice looking car that.
Nick
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Post by steve4487 on May 9, 2015 13:55:46 GMT
Just another short bit about my "S".
Thanks to everyone for their comments about my car. The pictures do make it look better than it is, while it's in a very nice condition it did suffer somewhat from being stored from '87 until 2010. It would appear to have been buried under a pile of stuff that has left various marks and dents. The trouble is that to do anything about these features would mean painting some, or all of the car which is not worth it at the moment.
My car has never had a corrosion repairs and doesn't need any apart from a small bit on the right front wing and right rear door. It did have a minor front end accident repair years ago which meant the bonnet and bonnet closing panel and bumper were replaced and the front cross member repaired. So overall it is very sound and doesn't look too bad.
The list of work that has been undertaken is enormous and is as follows.
All 4 displacers.
Overhauled calipers.
All 4 brakes hoses.
All brake pipes.
Brake servo.
Both wheel cylinders.
Brake shoes.
Both master cylinders re-sealed.
Gearbox bulk rings.
Engine re-build. which included
Gas flowed head
lightened balanced
Bored +60.
Kent Cams 718 cam.
Short cam followers.
Long push rods.
ARP main bearing stud kit.
ARP big end bolt kit.
Clutch.
Oil cooler with thermostat.
Maniflow stainless manifold.
Lower arm bushes.
Poly bush lower engine steady bushes.
Solid driveshaft inner joints.
Battery.
Auxiliary front dampers.
Rear anti roll bar.
Rear bump stop kit.
Left hand top swivel joint.
Steering rack.
Facet fuel pump.
Malpasi fuel pressure regulator.
All fuel lines and hoses.
All coolant hoses.
Oil temp/pressure, ammeter, voltmeter, water temp and rev counter gauges.
Rear seat belts.
I have no idea yet what this lot comes to as I haven't added it all yet but after all it's a hobby and you can't have one of those for free.
And a little bit about me.
I started my working life as an apprenticed motor mechanic at an Austin/Morris main dealer in 1971 working on Landcrabs and lots of other models. That lasted from 1971 until 1976. I then worked as a skilled motor mechanic for my local Police force from 1976 until 1986 and then it was on to the Automobile Association as a staff engineer, that was from 1986 until 2000 when I started my own vehicle inspection business which has occupied the last 15 years. Also I was the technical secretary for the Landcrab owners club when it first started.
When I can fathom out how to load some more pictures I will do and also I'll have to try and get along to one of the club events.
Hopefully I haven't bored everyone stiff which apparently i'm good at doing.
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Post by steve4487 on Sept 15, 2015 18:59:22 GMT
I thought I would add a few more pictures of my Morris S as I have fitted a few more goodies in the form of an auxiliary radiator and a Mota lita steering wheel. I fitted the rad as having a modified engine more cooling capacity was needed for the occasions when I get stuck in long ques at the Dartford crossing. Also I've added an auxiliary electric cooling fan to try and reduce the effects of heat soak once the engine has been switched off. Testing both of these items on one of the hottest days this showed that by and large these items worked though I could do with fitting a small 12 volt electric fan to add a bit more cooling capacity when standing still. One problem I found was that once I had started to use the crab more silt that has formed in the fuel tank over the 24 years the car stood in a garage caused the front fuel filter to block. I had the tank out and gave a good clean and about a hand full of sh*t came out. With the tank clean and new filters fitted it is back to running normally.   |
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Post by dave1800 on Sept 16, 2015 0:43:08 GMT
When you mention heat soak, are you having problems re-starting the hot engine if you stop for a short time ie 5 minutes or so. Is the fuel vapour locking and is that why you are thinking of an additional 12v fan? ? Have you measures the underbonnet temperatures for example? The reason I ask is that temperatures here often float around 40C and my friend is having these types of issues with his MG Midget and we are looking for a solution.
Regards
David
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Post by steve4487 on Sept 16, 2015 17:50:52 GMT
Hi David
The heat soak problems I was having originated from fitting a Maniflow stainless manifold. Though this is the correct item from the people that manufactured the manifolds for the rally cars the centre branch of the manifold has a less sharp radius than the original and is therefore closer to the carburetor float chambers.
When I fitted this manifold I found that the fuel was boiling in the float chambers so I fitted longer carburetor studs and 6mm spacers to move the carburettors further away from the manifold, and at the same time, wrapped the top parts of the manifold branches in heat wrap. This cured the fuel boiling but the under bonnet temperature was still to high for my liking.
To complicate matters further previously I had fitted the oil cooler and as you can see from the pictures (which obviously I don't know how to load properly) the oil cooler is in front of the engine radiator. This was the only sensible place to fit it from my point of view, but the down side is that the hot air from the oil cooler exits directly in to the engine radiator. This causes the engine rad to ingest hot air instead of cold air which causes the coolant temperature to steadily rise, a bit of a vicious circle really.
My next plan (I have a lot of those) was to shield the back of the oil cooler so that whilst the hot air could still exit the oil cooler it wasn't ingested by the engine radiator so much. This reduced the coolant temperature but still not enough. So my next bright idea was to fit an auxiliary radiator (after having the engine radiator flushed and flow tested, and the engine flushed) which is actually a mini heater matrix, this proved to work not too bad at all. In an ambient temperature of 29c and standing still for a good 20 mins in the Dartford crossing traffic the water temperature didn't rise above 90c, it was a bit touch and go, and that is with a 74c thermostat. This isn't too bad and the engine idled ok all that time with no sings of fuel vaporization. Bearing in mind my car is fitted with a Kent cams 718 cam.
I have fitted an electric radiator fan in the left hand wheel arch (only a cheap one to start with to prove, or not that it works) running off a thermo switch set to come on when the heat soak begins to rise. The theory is that the electric fan will draw out heat from the engine bay when the engine is off which hopefully reduces even more the issues from heat soak. This fan does work but being a cheap fan it isn't very efficient and the place it is fitted in reduces its efficiency even more. Now I know this fan does work I will get a much more efficient fan and that should improve matters even more. What I could do with though is more cooling capacity from the auxiliary radiator when the car is stationary and that is where a small 12 volt fan would do the trick. The problem is it needs to be very slim so that it will fit in front of the radiator and between the radiator grille.
I reckon that with another small fan that would give me a bit more through put of air at idle and that willtake the edge of the coolant temperature.
As my engine is modified and producing in the region of 125 bhp it obviously produces much more heat and that heat needs dissipating. With the car on the move engine temperatures are always normal even when driving at 100 mph plus for extended periods. As the colder weather will be with us soon this problem won't be an issue for a while even when I refit the 88c winter thermostat, which I have had fitted before.
Of course all that could have been avoided if I hadn't modified the car in the first place, but where is the fun in that. I have fitted most of the rally car suspension modifications and I've just put my winter tyres back on as I was due to go to Lydden Hill to watch the rally cross but the car kept cutting out so I didn't use it. I traced the cutting out to silt in the fuel tank which blocked the filter in the pressure regulator. I took the tank out and gave it a good clean, changed the filter and cleaned the carburetors and it runs fine again. What I will do is remove the fuel tank once a year and given it a good flush out as the fuel we now have has an element of ethanol in it which is corrosive and hygroscopic which in turn will corroded the tank and fuel lines, so a bit of preventative maintenance is called for.
I hope to attend the club annual general meeting in November and give the old girl a last run out for the year.
Regards
Steve
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Post by Penguin45 on Sept 16, 2015 20:26:06 GMT
Fascinating stuff, Steve. Have you left the belt driven fan in place? They can interfere with each other and reduce overall efficiency.
Hope to get down for the AGM, so might see you then.
Chris.
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Post by dave1800 on Sept 17, 2015 1:38:17 GMT
Thanks Steve that's very interesting. I've spent many a happy hour at the Dartford tunnel back in the 70s /80s. I guess it is even worse now despite road improvements. Chris raises an interesting issue about air flow with your under wheel arch electric fan. From what I can see from an earlier photo you are still running the mechanical fan and the sealing around the cowl is in good condition. I have seen a Japanese spec classic Mini here with MPI (one of the last cars made). It retained the side radiator and had an auxiliary electric fan mounted under the wheel arch and a fan on the engine side of the radiator. It looked as though it was an original fitting but I am not a Mini expert. I also can't recall whether the engine side fan was mechanical or an electric one. UK MPI Minis moved the radiator and fan to the front to meet drive by nose emissions. The Japanese version I saw had an aircon fitted (I think it was standard) so I think this prevented the front mounting of the radiator. The thought of working on that car was a nightmare. The electric wheel arch fan was set up to run all the time the aircon was on and there was another one on the other side of the car to cool the aircon condensor (radiator). Japan Mini I see there are a number of products available to seal old fuel tanks against the ravages of time and modern fuels. Tank sealer No idea whether they are a good idea or not? regards David |
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Post by steve4487 on Apr 3, 2017 14:29:34 GMT
Just an update on my Morris. I have now sold it to a chap in Preston for the princely sum of £7500. Over the 3 and a bit years I had the old girl it cost me the equivalent of a pint of beer a week.
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Post by andrewa on Apr 3, 2017 16:33:26 GMT
I reckon he got a bargain - or at least an extremely good deal.
What's your next project and just one question if you don't mind - what are the solid drive shafts like (presume these are the ones off the auto) - are they as harsh as some make out?
Good luck with whatever you get next.
Cheers
Andrew |
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Post by steve4487 on Apr 3, 2017 19:13:17 GMT
Hi Andrew
If you add up my time he did get a bargain but I don't do it to make a profit, if I did I'd go bust.
The solid driveshafts were from an auto and make absolutely no difference at all. I had the original rubber jobbys, then the quinten hazel plastic things and then the solid driveshafts and I couldn't see any difference at all other than the solid driveshaft U/J's would last for much longer if kept greased.
Regards
Steve
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