Austin Allegro 1.3 sdl

[DodgyBastard]

Good news on the allegro front, i went back today for another look... Photos to follow...

[DodgyBastard]

DSC_0988 by srblythe, on Flickr

[drum]

Apparently the owners club is where all the spare body panels are. It costs £25 to join though so I'm a tight wad non member.

[derskine]

As much as I don't like them it is some top shelf shite.

[Cavcraft]

Bloody brilliant, keep the updates coming please.

[DodgyBastard]

That photo of me sitting in it looking pleased is because after going down to Glasgow again I managed to get it started and run it around the industrial estate. I borrowed the battery from the 340 and cleaned up the contact points in the distributor, after turning it over for what seemed like a very long time it fired into life, I pulled the choke on and let it warm up, I rocked it back and forward until the brakes freed off then took it for a wee spin up and down the road...

 

 

DSC_0994 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Bernadette had a go too and now wants to put it into daily use instead of her polo...

 

DSC_0997 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_1000 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_1003 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_1006 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

The clutch needs some adjustment before I take it on the hour drive back to Dunfermline.

 

Anyone fancy a mk2 polo breadvan?

[Lankytim]

Get some carpet tape on that wing!

[nisfan]

good luck

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Aside from that wing, it looks really clean. Well done, love it. 

[DodgyBastard]

DSC_1007 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

Living the dream...

[Alexg]

Super stuff

[Lord Sterling]

Sweet. When I was in the South of France, I seriously thought about getting an Allegro, there are loads of old cars there but mostly French tat. An Allegro would give me that exclusive* ex-pat look

[kinkersaab]

Lovely, we will have to have a scottish autoshite antique gold allegro owners meet.

[DodgyBastard]

Just out of interest, what are these worth? I got this one for a very good price, a price I could barely refuse. I put the agreed value at £500 on my classic policy. Hopefully it'll be on the road in the next couple of weeks...

[trigger]

Jammy bar Stewart.

[Wilko220]

GAWJUICE. I R ENVY

 

I'd love to roll in one of these one day. Especially one in such a fine colour.

[Squire_Dawson]

If you can get hold of a new wing, put one on. Unfortunately they are hard to find now; ebay is practically the only source and you're talking big money. If the indicator/sidelamp bezel is still firmly in place you could perfectly acceptably use filler on the wing as it's not an MoT failure point (just watch the lamp bezel). The trouble starts when rot eats its way into the inner wing front corners and front panel - it's worth drilling the rivets of the two fake vents out of this, cleaning out the inevitable leaves and crud and then treating it and coating it in cavity wax. Other than this, and the suspension, providing the front swivels are well-greased you will have no problems at all.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Do you know, I found a new unused genuine wing for one of these lying in the back lane outside my house in about 1993/4. I picked it up and kept it but have no idea what i did with it in the subsequent 20 years sadly.

 

I think that wing is beyond fillering, one light touch and it will all crack and fall out, but its not beyond having a patch stitched into it, in fact that would probably be better than a new wing TBH.

[derskine]

Just load it with filler and we'll call it Renault #2.

[Lankytim]

Hey Boll, you said the wing was thrown away by an ex_gfs dad.

[DodgyBastard]

I have a spare wing made of fiberglass, I'll use that. Anyone know anything about clutch adjustment? the clutch doesn't seem to fully disengage making it difficult to change gear...

[mat_the_cat]

DSC_1007 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

It has a temperature gauge, which is more than can be said for some cars nowadays. Rather have that than a clock anyway.

[320touring]

Good work

[Squire_Dawson]

I have a spare wing made of fiberglass, I'll use that. Anyone know anything about clutch adjustment? the clutch doesn't seem to fully disengage making it difficult to change gear...

 

On the bellhousing note the clutch operating arm - there is an adjustable return stop. Undo the locking nut and screw the stop bolt in. There's supposed to be a clearance here of 0.5mm or something silly; in practice you'll no doubt end up with the operating arm touching the stop. See what works for you. But first it'd be worth giving the clutch hydraulics the once-over. Master cylinders can leak into the toe-board and slave cylinders can rust up - just peel back the rubber cover to inspect. They sometimes weep from here which is not a problem as long as it is only a weep. Also, get the oilcan on the pivoting areas of this clutch arm. If all this fails to cure it, some part of the clutch is on its way out. Hope this helps.

 

P.S. In my experience of these cars first is naturally tricky to engage. The 'cure' is to depress the clutch and wait a few seconds for the hydraulics to catch up, before trying to engage. Same for reverse.

[Skizzer]

Superb, just superb.

 

I reckon that's a sonar display where the clock should be. A ghostly green line should sweep round and enemy submarines will show up as little green shapes. This was probably quite a rare option on Allegro 1300 Supers, and may well not be working any more.

[DodgyBastard]

Went for another look at the eggroll...

 

DSC_1037 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

After getting it started the clutch pedal was really light, checked the fluid and there was none left. I think it's leaking from this hose...

 

DSC_1041 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

Does anyone know the name of the hose or if it's metric? It looks similar to polo brake hoses so I could always try bodging something together... I suppose I should join an owners club/forum but if it's anything like the Arseonline facetube group I might not bother...

[barrett]

There is an Allegro Facebook group which seems mercilessly free of morons though they take it a bit seriously. They seem like a knowledgeable bunch though and have solved a couple of mysteries for.me in the past. I reckon even full of fluid the clutch will still surprise you with its lightness, in fact all the controls save the steering are really light which can be a bit unnerving. Luckily I drive everywhere flat-out so don't need to worry about throttle response

[wuvvum]

Allegros are GR9.  As long as you avoid the 1-litre, which are dire.  Perfect BL colour scheme, too.

[406V6]

P.S. In my experience of these cars first is naturally tricky to engage. The 'cure' is to depress the clutch and wait a few seconds for the hydraulics to catch up, before trying to engage. Same for reverse.

A serial ADO16 / Allegro BL/BMC driver of experience will engage first gear via second gear. Works a treat.

[derskine]

I probably should of mentioned I have some imperial brake hoses if it turns out they're not metric.