midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52 
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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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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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 1, 2016 0:03:54 GMT
Section N.27 in the workshop manual.
Chris.
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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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.
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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
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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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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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 25, 2016 18:03:14 GMT
As the cars developed, there appears to have been a short phase of "Mk1.5" cars. EUG seems to fall into this bracket. Anyway, this is what the book has to say about seatbelts:   This refers only to the front fitments. I had to fit rear (static) belts, as I couldn't have the kids rattling round loose in the back. My car lacked any rear mounting points, so reinforcing plates were made and welded into the rear body, before Securon belt kits were added. Securon fitments for Austin applications is HERE. There is a separate listing on the site for the various plates, nuts, bolts and stuff you might need. As far as the MoT tester is concerned, the original belts worked on the pendulum principle. Deceleration swung the pendulum, which locked the ratchet. I had to remove the cover from one of mine one year to show the tester how it worked, as the "snatch" test won't lock the reel. Chris. |
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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 25, 2016 19:11:09 GMT
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Post by charlypm on Mar 27, 2016 4:13:06 GMT
Wow, that's a lot. Thanks.
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midnightblue
Member
Posts: 52
Attribute: International Man of Mystery
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Post by midnightblue on Apr 10, 2016 11:48:34 GMT
Likewise, thanks! I think this thread could usefully go in the Mag. Loads of useful stuff! Don't forget to include the link. I think I might go for static belts after all.
I like the description of my motor car as a 'Mk 1.5'. After pension day, I'll keep an eye out on Ebay for a Mk. II manual, as it seems there are quite a few things about my motor car which aren't in the Mk. I manual.
The advice 'in no circumstances remove the end covers to inspect the reel' was invaluable as I was about to do precisely that.
How many other ways could I damage this bit of Britain's motoring heritage, or myself, or bystanders, through not having the right manual?
As regards 'having my kids rattling around in the back', this is part of the charm of the vehicle for my kids. When they are strapped down in the back of the RR, which has quite a high 'waistline', all they can see is sky, and the occasional tree. This gets monotonous after a while, so they'll watch Frozen for the thousandth time, even though they know it now, in English, Spanish and Italian, word-perfect. If I hear '¡Libre Soy!' one more time I may be tempted to twinfanticide, which their teacher has threatened several times. (The Frozen song in Spanish is '¡Libre Soy!', 'I am free!', and they sing it every day nanoseconds after the school bell rings. Their teacher has heard this 220 times. I can understand her murderous feelings.)
In the Wolseley, the rear of the passenger cabin is quite spacious - due to better use of space, actually more spacious than the RR, and there is no transmission tunnel - and the twins can stand up, walk around, look out of the windows, make a picnic, make faces at people, and do other five-year-old things.
In the RR it's 'are we nearly there?', but in the Wolseley it's 'slow down, Papa, I want to see this!'.
I took them to Disneyland Paris, and we never actually got there. They kept on wanting to stop the car and look at France. Saved me heaps of money.
21st century kids just ignore the TV/McDonalds/Disney hype (except Frozen), it just washes over them unnoticed. But anything natural, like their first sight of a Percheron, and they're rapt. Because the Wolseley has a big glasshouse and no seatbelts in the back, they love it.
The only rule which *has* to be enforced in an automatic is that they can't squirm between the front seats because they might kick the transmission lever into reverse. This doesn't apply in an 1800. The selector is over on the right. In any case, if they are up front they have to wear a seatbelt. As there aren't headrests, they can see forwards almost as well from the back as they can from the front.
When I'm on the continent and stuck behind an HGV, I rely on a twin to say whether I can overtake (both I and the Wolseley prefer the more relaxed pace of the Routes Nationales to the Autoroutes). I'm risking my life, and theirs, on the judgement of a 5-year-old. They actually err on the side of caution, I've never pulled out yet without a safe distance of not only the vehicle I'm passing, but another one besides.
And 55 years ago my father did the same. The two main difference between then and now are that I don't have diplomatic immunity, so I can't drive drunk, and we have a woman in the car with us who says 'a trois cents metres, tournez a gauche.'
When you cross into Italy along the coast (all the other approaches are through tunnels), she says 'Benvenuti in Italia. Dopo dodici chilometri, al sinistra' and the twins go 'Yay! We're in Italy!', there's really no other way to tell you've crossed a national border. I think it's kinda cute that the satnav welcomes you to Italy. It doesn't welcome you to France on the way back.
MidnightBlue
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