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Post by tommydp on Jul 18, 2014 11:35:45 GMT
Hi all! I'm happy to say the blue one continues to behave great since I had it back on the road. Very happy with that, and decided to give it a new thread here, as the previous one developed into quite depressing reading:-) Anyway, a great way to learn about misfires and bad performance! I'm now enjoying driving it, and just do cozy stuff with it. Fitting a pair of Lucas fograngers being the latest. It's also had a period stereo and speakers fitted, and I'm about to fit a pair of Wipac reversing lights. I'm looking for a rear exhaust section, as I now only have a single box system. Makes quite a sporty sound when accelerating, and the 13 year old here likes it:-) Going to the dentist at 8 o' clock in the morning yesterday, I was able to park at the exact spot where my grandfather used to pick up my grandmother after work in the seventies, so had to take a picture. I guess the crab recognised the spot:-) Some pics for you to enjoy: Regards, Tommy:-)
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Post by tommydp on Aug 26, 2014 21:44:18 GMT
Hi all! A long time since I posted an update from up here, so here we go! The holidays are over, school has started, so busy days again. Luckily, I'm not on strike as many Norwegian teachers. Hope there's a solution soon, before we too have to go on strike. Well the cars then.. The blue one has been my daily driver since I had it back on the road in June. It's working very well and there hasn't been a single issue. Very happy with that! We've taken it for longer trips too. I've ordered a stainless steel exhaust from Earlpart, so looking forward to getting that. Until then I have to "enjoy" the sporty sound of a home made single box system. I got an old Riken CO- meter this summer. A monster of a thing, but it seems to be very accurate and works well. A fun toy! Done some tweaking to the mixture settings on both cars, and they are around 4% at idle, which seems fine. Weaker than this seems to cause slight miss at high speed cruising, so rather a bit rich at idle than too weak at speed. Quite small adjustments on the mixture nut really makes difference to the CO content. The difference between the new carb on the blue and the well worn on the white is also showing up. I have the blue one 12 flats down on the mixture nut, which is the base setting, while the CO on the white will go through the roof if more than 7-8 flats down. I'll give it a new needle and jet one day.. 98 unleaded is disappearing from the petrol stations here now, so I'm preparing for running on 95. The white one is a guinea pig on this issue. It's still adjusted to the factory setting, 12 degrees BTDC at 600 rpm, and so far I haven't noticed any difference. No pinking. I'm only on the first tank of 95 though, so prepared to retard it a couple of degrees if pinking shows up. So, all good news on the cars. Only some minor, cozy stuff on the to do list. Fitting high level brake lights being one. People are not used to old style rear lights any more, it seems. So safer with a third brake light on the rear window. I got some old style ones at an autojumble this weekend, along with some other more or less useful bits, see pics. At the autojumble the 1800 was happy to park next to another good looking British car. Funnily, I think the 1800 received most attention:-) Hope you and your cars are all fine! Best regards, Tommy
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Post by Penguin45 on Aug 26, 2014 23:25:55 GMT
Now that looks like a really good tool, does the gas analyser. And you appear to have had fun at the autojumble. Mine runs on standard unleaded - it really doesn't like the 95 octane stuff at all. Chris.
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Post by dave1800 on Aug 27, 2014 1:06:26 GMT
What strikes in Norway? That sounds more like England in the 70 when your Marina was made Can you use the exhaust gas analyser to take samples at higher rpm? If so you may find a difference between the old and new carbs that would be interesting to examine. Good to hear they've been running well. Not surprised the 1800 received more attention that the RR regards David Hi all! A long time since I posted an update from up here, so here we go! At the autojumble the 1800 was happy to park next to another good looking British car. Funnily, I think the 1800 received most attention:-) Hope you and your cars are all fine! Best regards, Tommy
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Post by tommydp on Sept 9, 2014 6:44:21 GMT
Hi all!
Not much to report on. The blue one continues to be my daily driver until the winter and salt on the roads arrive. It still works very well. I'm now about to send a cylinder head to Peter Burgess for lead free conversion/ overhaul, which I'll fit to the blue one as a winter project. This will make it more original, as it has got a Princess head (smaller inlet valves) now. Also, the valve guides are well worn I think. I have fitted a Smiths vacuum gauge and the needle flickers rapidly at idle and goes steady at higher rpm, which points at the valve guides as far as I understand. Vacuum is 21 at idle, so very good I guess. Will be interesting to see if the new head makes the vacuum gauge steady.
Fitting the new head I'll also have to go into the timing chain again, as it now has a single chain and single valve springs. Be prepared, Dave! At least I now have original BL old stock double chain and sprocket wheels to fit. I'll also have someone checking the valve timing before I put the overhauled head on.
I'm also curious to see if the CO goes down with the new head. To run well at high speed it seems to me both cars will need a mixture setting which makes the idle CO quite high. Judging by the plugs, the mixture is more or less spot on and they both use less petrol than 1 litre pr 10 km.
Looking forward to have the head rebuilt, and to finally receive the exhaust from Earlpart. It could take up to six weeks to make it.. It's been five now:-)
I'm also doing some touch up painting to the white one. Sills and so on. It has some surface rust here and there, lots of stone marks etc from spending most of its life on rural roads.. I'll have it re painted once..
Regards, Tommy
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Post by tommydp on Sept 28, 2014 19:57:22 GMT
Hi again! I just noticed I never replied to Dave's question.. Yes, you're able to watch the CO at various idle speed, revving etc. Very interesting. It seems to be a high quality analyzer, and seems very accurate and stable. In fact I found information among the BL service bulletins, which confirmed BL Norway had tested several different gas analyzers and decided to recommend this very analyzer to the Norwegian BL dealers in '75. It cost a fortune back then. It's obvious a new/ reconditioned carb is different from a well worn one. The blue one now has a perfect CO at idle, 3,5% and is adjusted to 11 flats down on the mixture nut. It idles sweetly and pulls very well. Also, it's very kind on the petrol. It's now on its second tank of 95 btw. Setting the white one 10-11 flats down makes the CO go very high, so guess it's time for a rebuild of the carb. Needle and jet worn I guess. As far as I can see, they'll hesitate at speed/ load when less than 9 or so flats down. So probably a worn carb will give high CO at idle if it's adjusted to behave well at speed. Anyway, just returned from a 300 kms trip around the mountains this weekend, to the family's mountain house. The blue one behaved great, as it's done ever since I had it back on the road in June. No problem climbing the mountains and cruising at high speed. The powerful and responsive way these cars can climb a steep hill must really have been impressive in the 60s/ 70s. I really enjoy when someone enter the road behind me and almost stick to the rear bumper, ready to overtake the old car, then suddenly realise I go even faster than them and just remain driving behind me:-) So, just happiness in my crab world these days. It's soon time to put them into storage for the winter, just enjoying the remaining weeks until the damn salt is spread all over the roads again.. Regards, Tommy
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Post by indianajones on Sept 28, 2014 23:46:36 GMT
Hi Tommy, glad to hear the car's going well. Not to hijack the thread or anything, but what sort of MPG are you getting with the blue one now? just to compare notes etc -Andrew
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Post by tommydp on Sept 29, 2014 14:50:01 GMT
Hi Andrew!
On average, with mixed driving, it's somewhere around 9 litres pr 100 kms on every tank, which translates to 31.4 mpg.
On the recent long trip it's better, judging by the gauge and mileage, but haven't filled up and calculated yet. Will report back. My right foot is rather heavy btw...
Tommy
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Post by tommydp on Sept 29, 2014 20:58:53 GMT
Just filled the car up, Andrew! 8.4 litres pr 100 kms, or 33.6 mpg.
Happy with that. Of course it had a long drive, but the terrain was far from flat and as mentioned I'm not exactly a slow driver:-)
After installing a vacuum gauge, I notice I have a look at it now and then in order to keep the economy as good as possible so I guess that helps things a bit.
Tommy
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Post by Penguin45 on Sept 29, 2014 23:15:38 GMT
I'm getting about 33mpg as well - mostly pottering around town at the moment. But - very gently. Chris.
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Post by indianajones on Sept 30, 2014 9:31:45 GMT
Cheers Tommy & Chris. I'll need to look at mine again and do more brim to brims, as I think I've been getting around 12-13L/100km around town. I think my best on the open road was around 8L/100km
-Andrew
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Post by tommydp on Sept 30, 2014 18:18:49 GMT
33 mpg around town seems very good.. 12-13 around town and 8 on the road at the same setting seems a bit strange. 8 l/ 100 kms on the road is about as good as it gets as far as I can understand, but who knows. Any others with info on fuel economy here?
I've never seen any official numbers on 1800 fuel consumption, but at least the 1977 Princess 1800 handbook has the following for a manual Princess 1800:
Simulated urban driving: 24.8 mpg/ 11.4 l pr 100 km
Constant speed 56 mph/ 90 kmh: 37.3 mpg/ 7.6 l pr 100 km
Constant speed 75 mph/ 120 kmh: 27.9 mpg/ 10.1 l pr 100 km
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Post by tommydp on Sept 30, 2014 18:28:02 GMT
The book "The cars of BMC" has the following on 1800 overall fuel consumption:
mk 1: 24 mpg = 11.8 l/ 100 km
mk 2: 27 mpg = 10.5 l/ 100 km
"S" : 22 mpg = 12.8 l/ 100 km
All seem to bad to me.. No idea where they got the information.
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Post by indianajones on Sept 30, 2014 18:33:20 GMT
Cheers for the info Tommy.
I can handle around 10-12L/100km overall, given the technology of the engine and the weight of the car, it's not that bad actually!
-Andrew
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Post by dave1800 on Oct 1, 2014 1:15:46 GMT
Tommy I believe all these figures. I kept meticulous records of mileage and fuel for my Landcrabs as they were used primarily for work purposes. The MK1 recorded just over 30mpg over tens of thousands of mixed miles. The Mk11/111s were frequently in the mid thirties. I didn't thrash the cars but I certainly didn't drive slowly either with fairly high daily mileages to get to work. One of my friends would not believe the figures as one of his neighbours had a Mk11 Austin, as a company car, that only did 22mpg. I found out why. He had been used to driving cars with low torque that needed lots of revs and low gears and drove the 1800 the same way. If you look at the 3rd and 8th attachment in my Autocar Road Test post Road Test you will see that the 1800 and Morris Oxford are very economical "touring" but heavy on fuel "overall". I suspect the road testers of the time drove more like my friend's neighbour and didn't take advantage of the impressive low down torque. At one time I had a MK11 1800 and a new Saab 99. When I had to do journeys involving heavy town traffic I always took the 1800 because it consumed 25-30% less fuel. David The book "The cars of BMC" has the following on 1800 overall fuel consumption: mk 1: 24 mpg = 11.8 l/ 100 km mk 2: 27 mpg = 10.5 l/ 100 km "S" : 22 mpg = 12.8 l/ 100 km All seem to bad to me.. No idea where they got the information.
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