midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Mar 25, 2016 16:11:04 GMT
If you are climbing an Alp, with chains, the BW35 autobox gets a bit hot and bothered. It is, after all, suffering a bit of cognitive dissonance: I'm supposed to to be transmitting energy from the engine to the road, but the road isn't solid. The BW35 is not a modern, electronic autobox, but it still does its job perfectly well if you treat it properly.
So you need to take it slow. The carb is gasping a bit at the thin, cold air too. It's a good idea to adjust the mixture a bit as you climb. I am sure members who live in Norway, Northern Sweden, Switzerland do this anyway.
***Use CB***. The HGV road hauliers have times and budgets to meet, and a car making 50 km/h (the legal minimum) in the slow lane is stopping them making their targets.
Talk to them, they will box you in, two in front, two behind, one to the left of you.
They are totally happy about this. You are helping them meet their targets, and they get to see a beautiful classic car. If they weren't interested in motoring, they wouldn'd be doing their job.
Don't worry about the language issue. Most HGV drivers speak English to some extent.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Mar 25, 2016 15:42:27 GMT
I have just been reading on another forum about a very nice Brooklands Capri that was stolen over the weekend. I know our cars are not necessarily as desirable and as easy to part out as a fast Ford but I'm just wondering how everyone keeps their pride and joy reasonably safe as just about anything from the correct key to a screwdriver will open my locks. I have a couple of classic cars, the 18/85 and the Rolls Royce Silver Spirit, which aren't garaged, they just have car covers. Under the driver's seats, they have motion sensors which link into the house security system. As far as the house is concerned, these are just two more rooms in my house. I had to adjust the sensitivity down a bit, the neighbour's cats like to sleep on the bonnet of the RR, and they were triggering false alarms. You can buy a wireless burglar alarm for about £ 60 on Ebay. Remember that, as the motion sensor is on all the time and it runs off batteries, you do need to change the batteries. It is not connected to your motor car's electrics. A slight caveat: these burglar alarms use the mobile phone GSM technology, also known as 2G. Some countries (e.g., Finland) have already turned off their 2G networks. There is a pledge from the current Tory government that this will not happen in the UK until at least 2020. You can believe this as much as you believe any of their promises. Overseas 'crab owners might want to be aware that they may need to look for higher tech solutions. Because of the frequencies in use, 3G burglar alarms don't work that well from within cars, which are essentially Faraday cages. 4G uses 700 MHz, this works well within cars, I'm not aware of any burglar alarms that use 4G. Yet. MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Mar 25, 2016 15:03:08 GMT
Section N.27 in the workshop manual. Chris. My Manual ends at N.25 on page N.8. It's a manual for a Mk I. While MDM 146G is a Mk I, some things seem to have been upgraded over the years. I can't, for example, find the horn. It was simpler for the MoT to install an aftermarket one. I never use the horn anyway, it just annoys people by pointing out their bad driving. They will continue to drive badly anyway, just not at me, if I don't beep at them. A horn to me is an anachronism, like having a handbrake on an automatic (what's the 'P' position which locks the transmission for?) which is only used once a year at the MoT. It may be simpler to remove the BMC seat-belt thingie and install an aftermarket three-point harness. Does anyone know where I can source this? I have two aims for this vehicle, which don't always converge: I want to preserve it as a part of Britain's motoring heritage, and restore it, but it's also my main car. It didn't cost me much, it's reliable and economical transport despite its years. It goes across the Alps to Italy. In winter. With chains. I don't think things like changing it to negative earth and fitting three-point seatbelts necessarily detract from the historical character. MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Mar 5, 2016 4:46:20 GMT
Do you have a scanner? I don't. If you can send this to me as a .pdf I can print off, this would be an enormous help.
---
People ask me: when are we going to see the Wolseley on the road again? Answer: when the rain has washed the salt off it.
My 'crab is a bit of Britain's motoring heritage, and I'm not going to drive it in conditions where it is going to be unhappy. It is, after all, one of six or maybe seven remaining 18/85 autos.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Myopia
Feb 27, 2016 21:03:33 GMT
Post by midnightblue on Feb 27, 2016 21:03:33 GMT
I know brothers (one in Seattle WA, one in Surrey) who own MGBs. An MGB V8 rubber-bumpers and and an MGB respectively. Their surname is Chater-Lea. This may mean something to some forum participants.
I've had lots of advice from them about the B series and the SU carbs, and how to make both work with E85. So not all MG owners are arrogant bastards.
I have long hair and after open-top motoring, it stinks of unspent or partially-burned diesel, so I'm not keen on MGBs. They refer to my 18/85 as a mobile greenhouse (well, it does have a lot of glass).
Our respective wives and kiddies are used to the fact that the bonnet is going to go up, the carb or carbs are probably going to get disassembled. Wives swim, kids play (despite not having a language in common) and they return when food seems likely. The MGB owners' wives and kiddies seem to consider it normal that parts of their return home are scattered around the beach.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 27, 2016 20:19:54 GMT
The Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club does events like these. You can recognise the organisers by their grey hair, their trembling hands, and their tendency to jump at loud noises.
Insurance is the big problem. This may be easier for 'crabs worth thousands, some RRs from the 1904 - 1914 era are worth millions, and if one of those gets dropped in the harbour being loaded onto a ferry, that's part of Britain's motoring heritage sleeping with the fishes. If you look at the small print of your insurance policy, I think you will find that participation in such events is specifically excluded. The organiser has to have a blanket policy covering all cars, all personal damage, everything. This is not cheap.
There was a RREC trip to Jordan a few years back, essentially you hand your keys to a guy, you arrive in Amman, your car is waiting there for you, you drive around Jordan a bit, your car is waiting for you after you've flown back. Hot and cold running flunkeys, champagne galore and Michelin-starred chefs preparing food for you, and the King is an RR enthusiast. But it was £ 8,000 for two weeks. And that was one of the cheaper of these little jaunts.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 27, 2016 20:03:03 GMT
This is a valuable and friendly forum, and I don't think a low level of activity is anything to worry about.
The Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club has the same problem but in spades. The average age of a RR club car is over 65 (the pre-war cars are almost all owned by Club members; post 2000 ones usually aren't) and membership is correspondingly elderly. Older people tend not to be internet users. There was a move a few years ago to make the glossy magazine available online, as the LOCI mag has been for ages. It died the death.
I think it is realistic to accept that for whatever reason, some people just don't like the internet - they use e-mail but not much more. Well, fine, that's their choice. They are missing out on some very helpful advice (and some gorgeous pix) that I for one have received here, but if people don't wanna, they don't wanna. And you can't make them.
So, in my humble opinion, accept things as they are. I've found people helpful and informative, and they've put up with my witterings.
There is something which is perhaps relevant: this site accepts dynamic IPs. The Wolseley Owner's Club site doesn't. I access the 'net with a mobile broadband connection, three.co.uk, and this uses dynamic IP. Therefore I can no longer use the WOC site.
And, despite what someone else said, I'm not a WOC member (you might have thought this because I used to post on a WOC site - any LOCI member can do this). So I can't fix the problem, only a WOC member can. This means, this forum is my lifeline for all things 'crab.
Completely off topic: my County Councillor broke down in Yorkshire a couple of days ago. Landcrab to the rescue. She used to drive an Austin 1100 and was *so* nostalgic! She drove it for a few km down the A1. Ear to ear smile, shoes kicked off, all we needed was Radio Caroline on the radio. As she said, there's something very tactile about the mini/1100/1800 cars. They just *feel* different, to drive, to modern cars, and the comparison isn't all in favour of the newer stuff.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 27, 2016 19:34:13 GMT
My 1969 18/85 has those strange seatbelt thingies that look like inertia reels but aren't. It's coming round to MoT time again. Last time I downloaded and printed off a relevant page to show the MoT tester last year, so he wouldn't fail it on seatbelts.
Later on, I took the SDHC which has all my files on it through security at Lester B Pearson Toronto aeroport and it was destroyed by the X-ray machine. Not wiped, destroyed. If you are flying through Toronto, don't take SDHCs in hand baggage.
Can anyone remind me where I can find this page again?
Thanks in advance,
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 27, 2016 19:18:05 GMT
Sorry for the belated reply, I've been in the Yukon, where internet provision is a bit patchy. (No, I didn't take the 'crab).
The battery does *not* like driving the inverter for any length of time. The 270 second limit I mentioned is from experience. So, definitely no baked potatoes.
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 1, 2016 20:26:20 GMT
Classic cars are about picnics, at least for me. The vehicular picnic has in my family been honed to a fine art, from about my parents' marriage in 1948. I wasn't around then, but can I offer a few tips?
1) Open flames and petrol vapour are not a good combination. If you are going to use a Camping Gaz stove, keep it well away from your car.
2) You can get 12V microwave ovens. Don't, they are useless. Get a 1500W inverter and a 750W microwave oven instead. Having an inverter with excess capacity for the oven means the inverter is not going to get hot and bothered.
3) Your motor car probably won't start after you've used the microwave oven, unless your battery is in optimal condition. One of those jump-start car-starters is a good idea, as it prevents the risk of getting a jump-start from a positive-earth car if yours is negative-earth, or vice versa.
4) 12V fridges that fit snugly into the boot of your 1800 are available, inexpensive, and work well. They're not freezers, though. If you want ice, bring it in a freezerbox.
5) Don't run the engine while the microwave is cooking food, unless you like the taste of soot. Let the battery go flat and start the car with the car-starter.
6) Champagne is de rigeur at Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club events, but is actually pretty stupid, because after it's been shaken up it's all froth and no wine. If you're not the driver and want a drink, just about anything from the Loire valley or from Portugal stands being shaken up on the way to the picnic. If you are driving, a small amount of white wine topped up with lots of mineral water - a spritzer - is refreshingly thirst-quenching and won't put you over the limit.
7) If it's cold, a mug of hot soup offered generously to anyone who wants it will make you everyone's friend. This is where the boot-mounted microwave oven and inverter come in.
8) A salmon steak, a pat of butter, and a bit of dill only take 90 seconds in the microwave and people go 'OMG! Hot food at a car rally!' Add a generous dollop of potato salad (which is actually just spuds, mayo and chives) and a glass of vinho verde and you're their friends forever.
Dill is actually a weed that grows wild here in Lincolnshire. You don't need to buy it. It goes well with salmon. Some people like a squirt of lemon, too.
9) If it takes more than 270 seconds in the microwave, your battery isn't going to like it.
10) if it's cold, wet or windy (or any combination of the three) and you can even do hot popcorn, suddenly you are everyone's friend.
MidnightBlue
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MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 1, 2016 19:28:59 GMT
Clip on top of the PCV valve is 27H 7760. In stock at Leacy Classics - HERE. P+P will no doubt cost more than the clip. Chris. Brill! Thanks! MB
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Feb 1, 2016 17:26:58 GMT
Awesome - got any pics? Andrew I don't actually own a camera. There is one in my BlackBerry, but I'm still learning how to use it to make phone calls. As you can't get tetraethyl lead any more, you can use Castrol valvemaster plus, but in the long term it's cheaper to get the valve seats hardened. Engine out, £ 200 or so, no more worries about running the engine at speed. I'll tell you about my experience when I've had the job done. It's not something I consider myself qualified to tackle on my own. As my father's Austin 1800S Mk II used to go from Whitehall to Milan regularly in the early 1970s, and he didn't have a clue what went on under the bonnet, I don't see any reason why a Wolseley 18/85 shouldn't do the trip on a regular basis, especially as it gets a full service every 1500 km. It hasn't even been around the clock. There is a sort of clippy thingy that presses down the top of the recirculating thingy that needs replacing. I made a replacement out of coathanger, but I may need to speak to P45 about a proper replacement, once I have worked out how to take a photograph of it. --- There is a certain amount of curled lip in the RREC (Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club) about cars which arrive on a car transporter, drive 20 metres to receive their concours trophy, and 20 metres more back to the car transporter. Cars are meant to be driven. Yes, I do want to restore the car back to the condition is was when it rolled off the line, but it's also transport. And perfectly adequate transport at that. --- There is some irony that my father's LHD Austin 1800 spent most of its life on the left, and most of the km I have done in the 18/85, which is RHD, have been on the right. (-: MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Jan 31, 2016 19:56:31 GMT
I now have a scanner. Does anyone still own the copyright to BMC/British Leyland documents? If not, I'll put them up on a website.
The Haynes manual *is* in copyright, and is useful. You can buy it on Ebay for 99p plus postage.
MidnightBlue
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Jan 31, 2016 19:20:55 GMT
I've just driven my 'crab from Grantham to Verona and back, at autoroute speeds, on unleaded, using chains where the snow made them necessary. I added tetraethyl lead at each refill. It is my intention to have the valves hardened within 2016, because I'm running out of 4ePb, which it is now illegal to sell.
I weakened the mixture at 1000 m, the SU carb runs rich at altitude, which can lead to plug fouling.
I *checked* oil, grease, transmission fluid etc in Verona. Apart from transmission fluid (there is a leak which I intend to get fixed soon - it's an engine-out job which I can't handle on my own) all were fine.
Normally the 'crab sticks to Lincolnshire backroads, and 50 km/h.
The engine got a bit hot and bothered climbing an Alp in snow, and if the temperature gauge moves above normal I switch off and let it cool down. Microseconds later a Swiss police car arrived and wanted to know the problem. Apparently they attend every breakdown in snow because there is a risk of hypothermia to the people in the car. I explained the problem was not insufficient heat, but too much.
I think it was the transmission which was getting a bit hot and bothered, does anyone have experience of installing a temperature sensor in the BW35 autobox?
The roadside interview was unnecessarily prolonged because Swiss police were amazed that I'd drive a 47 year old car across the Alps in winter ('my father drove this very same model through the Alps regularly. These are very dependable cars.'), because one of the officers wanted to practice her Ladin, which is Switzerland's fourth language and which very few people speak, and because both officers were very attractive young women. They then drove behind me, blue lights flashing, at 80 km/h, to the border. I think the engine was happier for their attention. At the border, shake hands, profuse thanks from me, and a couple of sweet Swiss smiles and I was on my way.
While I wouldn't swear an oath on it, I'd say this is the first time a 'crab owner has conducted an interview in Ladin (also known as Rumantsch, Rhaeto-Roman, Sursilvan or Sutsilvan - there are lots of dialects). Although we could have conversed in English (they were both fluent) French or Italian (We are all fluent) or German (they are fluent, I can pick my way through a sentence to find the verb) we spoke about my car in a language which, like the 'crab, is rare, venerable, and refuses to die.
MidnightBlue
This message is not copyright. Use it as you will.
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midnightblue
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Post by midnightblue on Jan 18, 2016 16:21:43 GMT
'Took reply outside quote'. How do I do this? It *is* confusing. Midnight Blue.
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