Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

This afternoon I decided to clear the marina of snow and ice. I managed to clear the bonnet and get into the car eventually. It had been lying for about 6 weeks and was covered in sow and ice...Full choke, no throttle..second turn of the key and away it went. You just cant beat that..For an engine that was developed years ago it takes some beating.
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The Clan Chieftain

[michael1703]

most classics will do that, my 58 p4 starts in minus 10 weather no problem, my 400e,mgb and a few other daily drivers will too, just my mk10 jag that struggles

cold starts are dependant on battery health, battery warmth (some are situated better),bonnet insulation,engine bay moisture and dependant on surface the vehicle is parked on, parking on grass makes things much worse, also the earth lead from battery to earth and chassis to engine/gearbox needs to be good too

[clan chieftain]

Mind you it does have new leads and battery and starter,, plugs points and coil Oh and a reconditioned A Plus engine
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The Clan Chieftain

[Jim.Walker]

I'm probably on my own, but I regard the "A" series engine as probably the classic design of all time. Having undergone many capacity increases, suffered many performance enhancements, all in the period when Ford (for instance) changed their engine designs several times without any great improvement in power or fuel economy.

Although introduced in the Austin A30, it is claimed that the design concept goes back to World War 2 when Austin were comissioned to produce an engine for a British "Jeep" type vehicle. With the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic turning in the Allies favour and the shipment of Willy's Jeeps becoming reliable the project was cancelled. The engine so designed became available as the Austin 16 and later Austin A70 engine.

The "A" series engine is very much a scaled down version of that engine, so that from conception to final demise the engine served for over 30 years. I know the Beetle engine went on longer and probably the "T" Ford also, but whoever heard of those winning the Monte Carlo Rally etc.?
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[peter scott]

It's certainly true that it had a long run and was successfully upped in terms of capacity but it's a horrible looking lump and the Austin gearboxes that were fitted to it were horrible things to use.

The Kent engine didn't look very interesting either but it also coped well with many increases in capacity and was mated to very much nicer gearboxes.
It was also happier at high revs than the A series.

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

[clan chieftain]

Well said Jim Walker Mind you Peter is also right....The gearboxes are chronic..1st and reverse especially.
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The Clan Chieftain

[exbmc]

I have to disagree with Peter about the "A" being horrible looking, I always thought it a nice looking unit. There was also lots of "bling" available to tart it up, if you wished, such as chrome rocker box, pancake filters and polished dash pot covers. When the service items were correct, they could be guaranteed to fire up first go, whatever the weather.
Have to agree about the feeble gearboxes though. The driving school Minor 1000's usually had a new (well gold seal anyway), gearbox annually.

[Richard H]

I too agree about the feeble gearboxes....noisy first and reverse gears, weak/non existant synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd gears, I've seen it all before

Although in fairness the later (1098) gearboxes were much stronger, as were the fwd gearboxes (Mini, 1100, Allegro) etc.
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Richard Hughes

[Jim.Walker]

I have never really considered the "beauty" of an engine to be important. Admittedly I have been impressed with tidy underbonnet layouts, but not to the point where it would influence buying a car. I have always been more concerned with reliability and performance and particularly fuel economy. I have had around ten cars with "A" series engines without gearbox problems of any kind and never really felt the gearboxes were particularly bad. But then, in my formative years as a driver, sliding mesh (crash) gearboxes were still quite common, so perhaps I learnt to change gear properly. I could certainly select the sliding mesh bottom gear on these boxes quite easily at up to about 10 miles per hour without "crashing" it. I mentioned in another thread that I had an early Mini and never suffered the gearbox complaints that so many drivers did (early Mini gearbox problems got a hammering in the motoring press Richard H)! As a BMC Test Driver said to me at the MIRA test track open day for Members of the Institute of the Motor Industry, while he was trying to break a landcrab with driving abuse, "We might make the cars foolproof, but we can never make them idiot-proof".
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[Penman]

Hi
I well remember teaching DDC to learners on Minis when going down into 1st on that last creep up to a giveway junction, no problem at all when they did it, otherwise they had to stop and then engage 1st.

Incidently, why do Minors and A30/35s sound so different on the overrun even though they have basically the same engine?
You just don't get that crackle from the Austins.
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[peter scott]

I sat my test in my sister's Ford Prefect and I took a couple of lessons from a driving school before my test. Like you, my instructor suggested that I DDC into first to impress the examiner. It worked!

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

[Richard H]

[Jim.Walker]

I believe, but could be wrong, that Minors had absorbtion silencers (similar to, if not actual Burgess ones). Whereas A30s etc. had baffle silencers. Years ago a Burgess silencer was often substituted after market by boy racers to "improve" exhaust sound.

By the way, back to gearboxes. I have found that almost all "modern" drivers are amazed when it is demonstrated that on most modern cars gear changing can be done smoothly and quietly without recourse to the clutch. So much for modern driving knowledge/ability.
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[pigtin]

My Sprite has the usual gearbox problems on first and reverse. And the gearing is low for long distance work. There is a kit to convert to a five speed type 9 Ford gearbox. I have the gearbox sitting on the garage floor but have not yet managed to justify the £700-800 for the kit. I'm told it really transforms the economy.
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[Ashley]

I'm sure it will be more than worth it because all old cars are horribly under geared by modern standards.

I put an overdrive on my Bristol so that it does 25mph per 1000rpm instead of 20 and now it cruises comfortably at 70-75 instead of noisily at 60 and will do 28 mpg on a run. Noise levels are well down, so I'd go for it if I were you.

Ash