Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Morning all,

Over the years you've spent behind the wheel, have any mods you've made with a view to improving some aspect of your car(s), actually been a complete failure? Perhaps you have a go at tuning for extra performance, or undertook mods based on a magazine article recommending them???

RJ
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[Ray White]

I once fitted a high compression cylinder head to an Austin Seven engine expecting an improvement in the abysmal performance. Unfortunately, all it did was make the big ends knock. I retarded the ignition but that just put the performance back to what it was before and so I refitted the original head.

On the same engine I tried to open up the inlet manifold only to suffer a flat spot. I read that the the cam followers could be flattened to good effect but it made no difference. Several other modifications seemed to make no difference so I gave up trying to polish a turd (to use a political expression).

The mods that did make a difference were 1) altering the fulcrum point on the clutch levers to improve on the normally short travel and 2) utilising one of the front shock absorber arms in place of a vertical link to locate the front axle - and eliminate steering wander.

[kevin2306]

When I was 17 (was I ever 17?) I had a mini 850.
I bought a 1300gt manifold and twin carb set up (why didn’t I buy the bleeding engine too!) and fitted it, together with the lovely leather steering wheel.
Made no actual difference to the performance other than using a lot more fuel 😁

Kev

[BigJohn]

I had a Bedford Beagle (Viva HA Estate) 1156cc which I broke the engine on, I visited my local scrapyard on Saturday morning after driving to work for a week with mayonnaise for oil. I acquired a Viva engine with a 4 branch manifold, a Stromberg like a bucket, and a remote servo, £20, happy days! I fitted it all that afternoon. I then discovered it wouldn't start, foot flat on the throttle nothing, then thinking it might have flooded I took my foot of the throttle, it fired and screamed its head off. The throttle linkage was the wrong way round. It was a right sod to drive to the village pub that night, I needed 3 feet, one for the brake, one for the clutch, and one to shut off the throttle. I walked home and collected the car on Sunday morning. a new linkage was soon made up in the workshop for Monday mornings drive to work. (It went like the clappers, so not actually a failure)

[ukdave2002]

[viteran]

I also acquired an HA viva as a student in Glasgow.when the clutch cable snapped I had the bright idea of running a cord from the clutch around the wing mirror so I could operate it out of the drivers window.
Initiallly it worked butI forgot Vauxhall’s rust and the wing mirror collapsed into the wing. Incidentally it was green and you had to be careful where you parked it if Rangers were playing!
Ian

[Miken]

When I got my first motorbike at age 17 ( a 1976 Suzuki 125) someone at work informed me that if you warm up the petrol before it gets to the carburetor it makes your bike go much faster!
This sounded so obvious to me that when I got home
that evening I cut the rubber hose that connected the fuel tap to the carb and inserted a length of copper tube. I routed the pipe so it went between the fins of the cylinder head before rejoining the rubber hose at the carb end ("Why don't the manufacturers do this? " I was thinking).
Later I sped round to my mates house to show him my handiwork. The first thing he said was " why is there petrol p#$%ing out of your carb overflow? "
Clearly it had affected something in the float bowl so l quickly bodged it back to how it was before and then rode home
So, does hot petrol make your bike to faster?
What do you think! (This is a rhetorical question by the way).

[Ray White]

[peter scott]

I guess it's a compromise. You want to heat the mixture in a cold engine to improve vapourisation but you also want to cool the mixture in a hot engine to get the maximum volume of oxygen.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[JonV2]

When I turned 18, my parents bought me an old Triumph 2000 Mk!, which was positive earth. I also spent my savings on a new car radio/cassette player but only realised after buying that it was negative earth.
I built a wooden cradle to insulate the radio from the body and even insulated the aerial mount. I ran heavy duty power cables directly from the battery terminals to the radio.
It turns out I wasn't as good an automotive carpenter as I thought I was; the first pot hole I hit the radio bounced out of the cradle and jammed against the gearstick. It shorted out, and started smoking. Before I could pull over it burst into flames.
1 x dead radio
Burnt plastic smell for 6 months
a 'weld' mark on the gearstick.
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Jon
1950 MkV Jaguar Saloon (On the Road)
1968 MGB
1959 XK150

[Penman]

Hi

[emmerson]

I fitted a heater motor on top of the carburettor on an A40 Devon to act as a "turbo" All it did was restrict the air flow and in crease petrol consumption.
I also fitted a piece of cardboard to strike the spokes on my bike! It sounded just like a piece of cardboard striking the spokes, but I thought it was great!

[Ray White]

When I was at college (hall of residence) some of the lads thought it funny to change the wheels of my A30 over for mini wheels. I couldn't find my wheels so had to go into college like it. The car handled very oddly but worst was trying to get over road humps. The exhaust was damaged but not badly. Fortunately when I got back my wheels were stacked up ready.

I tried to see the funny side but in truth I was not amused.

[BigJohn]

[Ellis]

I can relate you a true story of a young Land Rover enthusiast in this area.
Car mechanics and Land Rovers are part of his and his family's DNA and about three years ago he decided to create the ultimate trialling machine.

He had a Land Rover 1952 Series One 80" "in stock" and he turned his attention to that.
He grafted on Series 2 88" sports parabolic springs, pro comp dampers, a highly tuned ex Discovery 200TDi engine with a huge intercooler.

He added ex Range Rover 3.54 diffs, Series 2 front swivels and more. The whole task took months of his skills and a great deal of money. On testing it drove magnificently and he looked forward to entering local trials.

He was disqualified from his first event, and the second and the third............
Other competitors complained about the extensive modifications and the scrutineers agreed.

Disullusioned, he rebuilt the 80" Land Rover on a modified ex Discovery chassis and was then eligible to enter the "Special" classes of competition.

One day, he knocked on my door and asked if I would be interested in buying his erstwhile "illegal" chassis as a donor suspension component source for mine. I politely refused at first but three weeks later we agreed a paltry price and he delivered the chassis to me on a trailer.





It will all go on my '62 2a.

Modifications that go wrong and some...............
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet