Car electrics question

Don't remind me (that's what our Mk1 GT was). ;-(

Yup, with a 'barn find' mostly-rust car going for many thousand. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

I know ... ;-(

I'm envious. One of the cutest cars I've driven (it was my first company car) was a 1300 Mk2 Escort. I stuck a tow bar on it and it towed my disco or dinghy trailers pretty well. ;-)

Tell me about it.

You wouldn't want a 1300, 1300GT or 1600 (Kent) engine for your 1100 would you? ;-)

I'm not sure just how interchangeable the 1100 is with it's bigger brothers, (13/1600) are fairly so I understand?

If yours is historic I think an engine change (for something that might have been fitted in those days) is still acceptable?

I was going to upgrade my 1300 to 1600 and possibly with the GT head (better gas flow) but if I do anything I might make it electric instead.

Cheers, T i m

The Austin 7 (Ruby) we had in the 60s used a lot of oil. But the bearings seemed OK. Bought an engine from a scrap yard for £3 with the bearings shot. The Austin engine had a separate block and crankcase, so made one out of the two. Worked just fine.

Cool ... and you never know what you can do / achieve till you try. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

We were at that age when everything was possible. ;-)

It always amazes me how many people seem to err opposite to that though (not here of course), even things that were simple and not dangerous, like car electrics?

It seems that even applies to many (adult / male) workers where it's usually daughter re-wiring trailer plugs when they get ripped off, re-assembling more complicated machinery or building display furniture and decorating the sets when she worked for a Co that sold such stuff but she worked in the cash office?

Ok, maybe she was unusual in that I saw her as 'a child' and not 'my daughter' and so she 'helped' her Dad and I encouraged her to do / try any stuff that I was doing and knew that she should also be able to do (reasonably safely, managing risk is also a good lesson).

Given the superficial involvement many adults seem to have in anything 'practical' these days, I guess it's not surprising that many kids don't know where to start.

Thank goodness for Youtube. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

:) I bought an RS1600BDA engine soon after I bought the car in 84 but then decided the car was too original to mess with, was going to find another MK1 to use the engine but never got around to it I sold the engine about 18 months ago and got around 700 times what I paid for it the only thing I have changed on the escort which originally had drum brakes all round is new struts with disc brakes a girling remote servo and a master cylinder which holds more then the original egg cup full of brake fluid photo

Yeah, it is quite a thing, going from 'original to 'not' for all sorts of reasons / people.

And probably too late now, if you were looking for something 'cheap' as a project.

Wow.

You didn't say if it was on the road or registered under 'Historic' but that even allows for things like that (to improve safety or ecology).

;-)

Very clean!

A lad at work inherited his Dads MGB GT and I believe spent much more than it was worth (at the time) having it restored.

Cheers, T i m

my wife wanted a MGB GT in the 80s I looked at loads which were rust buckets or stupidly overpriced so bought the 924 (which I still have) for much less then the cheapest rusty MG it would not start at all once Hot the owner had spend more then I paid for it on new Porsche ign and fuel parts and garage charges. It was a simple fix and not elec or fuel related :) it was totally reliable for the next 8 years that she used it The 924 is a much underappreciated car but so much better then an MGB in every way

... snipped I've now had the plastic covers off the column and can see that the indicator and light+wiper switches are all part of one moulding. It would be easy to remove the assembly once the steering wheel is off but I'm ignorant about air bag systems so don't fancy doing that myself (I must be getting old!!)