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Post by Ben N on Feb 15, 2019 18:41:28 GMT
"Britian's first space vehicle"
The 1800 ad starts at 3:25.
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Post by Ben N on Apr 14, 2018 22:43:26 GMT
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Post by Ben N on Apr 12, 2018 0:05:20 GMT
That video is too hard for me to watch. Those cars being wrecked were only a couple hours away from me.
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Post by Ben N on Apr 11, 2018 4:53:39 GMT
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Post by Ben N on Jan 12, 2018 22:17:31 GMT
Interesting cutaway model Morris 1800 on display at the motor show. You can see it from a few angles from 15 seconds in, and another glimpse at about 3:43.
The Big Drive - Technicolor (1966)
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Post by Ben N on Nov 18, 2017 3:46:53 GMT
Flushed the heater core with the garden hose both ways, looked clean, no grit. Bottom hose goes to open valve on the block, top hose goes to the lower radiator hose. Swapped temperature sender for an identical one, and crimped a new end on the sender wire. Exchanged the old "180°" thermostat with a 82° one. (same temperature rating) Then I went for a 15 minute drive - the temp gauge was just on the C side of the N (back where it was in the summer) and the air from the heater was noticeably hotter. Great!
So tonight I put the old thermostat in a pot on the stove and it was opening/closing around 76°/77°. I had thought the car was running a bit cooler because of the weather but the thermostat's operating temperature was slowly going down. Well that one's going in the bin. Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
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Post by Ben N on Nov 7, 2017 6:00:00 GMT
I had the thermostat in a pot on the stove (with a few others from the shelf) a year ago and watched it work then. The car usually runs on the C side of the N, though it has been edging more toward the C recently. I'll swap it for another thermostat when this cold snap is over, and flush the heater core then too.
thanks, Ben
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Post by Ben N on Nov 5, 2017 15:08:31 GMT
Good to know the heater should work well in cold weather. The rubber hoses were replaced a year ago but not sure if anything else could be clogged up a bit. Searching the forum, I found this quote from Tommy: My door seals have likely never been replaced and I do hear some "whooshing" noise from the drivers door especially at speed. Some of that could be the sound of the warm air being drawn out.
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Post by Ben N on Nov 4, 2017 20:26:04 GMT
One of the wheel cylinders was starting to leak so replaced both sides with new. Previous owner had inventive ideas on how the clips go, and had done it differently on each side. I also bent and flared new brake lines as the nuts and pipes were well rusted together at the old wheel cylinders.
Drove down to Comox yesterday morning to visit a very sad looking MGB in a shed, with an overdrive gearbox I'd like for my BGT. It was about -4°C so I had the heater on hot-boost-car, and side vents closed. Warm (wouldn't say hot) air was coming out by my feet but after about 45 minutes, mostly at 90km/h, it was nowhere near warm enough to be tempted to take your coat off. Should I expect more heat or are 1800 heaters known to be a bit weak? I greased the heater controls when I had the parcel tray out this summer so I don't think anything's not moving there that should be. Perhaps it's just hard to keep the 1800's tardis-like interior warm.
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Post by Ben N on Oct 21, 2017 16:04:46 GMT
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Post by Ben N on Sept 25, 2017 22:48:33 GMT
Yes, I did notice it in the spotted thread. Scott was VERY excited to see another landcrab as they are nearly extinct around here. I am yet to see another one in person.
I'm also fond of vintage hifis, and have a quadraphonic amp in my living room. My father-in-law used to have a '77 Lincoln Continental that I think had a quad 8-track player in it - the height of 1970's luxury!
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Post by Ben N on Sept 25, 2017 4:58:35 GMT
Compared the speedometer with my wife's phone's speedo app a couple weeks ago and confirmed my suspicion that it read several MPH low at highway speed. So, I checked the size of my tires - 185/75R14, a bit big. Then found the DOT code - the tires were made in 1985! Time for new tires... 165/80R14 is not easy to find here and whitewalls almost as rare these days. (I will miss the whitewalls) Canadian Tire had a sale going on Michelin's last week (basically bringing them down the the price of the other brands) so the lucky Austin now sports a set in 175/70R14. And the speedometer is now close enough to accurate to not bother me. It also now has an era-correct radio/8-track player. I picked it up at a swapmeet this summer and coaxed it back to life with new rubber belt and patient greasing of its moving parts. I also had a broken Archer Voltage Inverter given to me (for putting a -ve earth radio in a +ve earth car) that only needed a new transistor. The inverter is now hidden above the passenger side parcel shelf and powers the 8-track/radio which is grounded to the car normally.
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Post by Ben N on Jul 31, 2017 4:08:55 GMT
New hose fitted, everything back together and suspension pumped up to level again. That's both front hoses failed within the one year I've owned the car. I'm starting to worry about the rear ones... Without access to a proper pump nearby, I have made one from an old MGB clutch master cylinder I had. The end of the hose has a bleeder button and screws onto the schrader valve of the suspension. I remove the Austin's clutch master from the bulkhead and set it just to the side, and bolt my pump one in its place. Once bled of air, it pushes fluid reasonably quickly past the schrader valve into the system. The reservoir on the MC I use is rather small though, so I do have to top it up quite a few times to get the car from sitting on the bumpstops to the right height.
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Post by Ben N on Jul 23, 2017 5:15:31 GMT
Well the hose is definitely cracked, so that's a relief. The rubber has badly decayed at the outside of the bend. The connection to the pipe did not give in easily - took hours of penetrating oil and nervous attempts before it surrendered. The whitewall tires were on the car when I bought it, and I think they suit it too. It's a ring of white rubber in the tire itself so I found sanding off a thin layer makes them bright again.
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Post by Ben N on Jul 21, 2017 4:48:17 GMT
Finally got my 1971 Austin 1800 mk2 insured and on the road again on Saturday. What a pleasure! It hadn't been out since October when the tandem brake master cylinder dribbled half of its contents into the engine bay beneath. On Sunday I took it to the classic car (and airplane) show at the Campbell River Airport. 150+ classic cars and mine was the only Austin as usual. Unfortunately, this morning I found it listing heavily to the driver side of the car. This was bad timing as we'd stayed at my uncle's overnight so had a good hour of driving on bumpstops to get home again today. When I bought the car last year, the passenger side was down and was luckily just a cracked hose and not a displacer. I can see green drips in the front displacer housing tube (where the hoses go in) so I'm hoping that when I get the displacer out this weekend, it may just be another hose leaking.
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