Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - 50 Years ago this month I passed my driving test.

[hairnet]

9 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

It will certainly bring a new dimension to the FOD magazine exchanges!

anthony g may never give mags away ever

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

 

Hairnet seems to have been rendered speechless...

[New POD]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Innocent that I am, I had no idea Jps were cigarettes - I had a black gilet with jps branding in the late 1970s for school! I thought it was just a racing team.

With a name like morris, I'd have assumed that a distant relative of yours (Philip Morris)  had founded the Marlborough brand...... 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Innocent that I am, I had no idea Jps were cigarettes - I had a black gilet with jps branding in the late 1970s for school! I thought it was just a racing team.

Really? Player's No. 6 were coveted in my youth. The Fords were sponsored by the tobacco trade.

Did Gilet's exist in the 70s, or were they just waistcoats? 😀

[Wibble]

4 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Really? Player's No. 6 were coveted in my youth. The Fords were sponsored by the tobacco trade.

Did Gilet's exist in the 70s, or were they just waistcoats? 😀

Weren’t they just called “body warmers”?

[High Jetter]

25 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Weren’t they just called “body warmers”?

Yup. Sleeveless anoraks. No idea why.

[Six-cylinder]

Spring has Spung!

Slowsilver came out of hibernation today to help me with planning the fitting of the trunk to the Rolls Royce 20/25. I like how it looks, now I need two leather straps 2m long and 45mm wide with buckles to attach it. The Rolls Royce started up with ease and apart from dropping oil from the chassis lubrication on the floor all is well.

Guest appearance of Slowsilver's Vauxhall Zafira to carry the trunk.

A nice day so we decided to wake the Opel Manta up while we were at storage. Thanks to Slowsilvers instruction the battery had been disconnected. Battery reconnected, it cranked but took a while to get fuel up and start, but still on its own battery. Slowsilver then took it out onto the road for a test drive and all was well.

Next was a wake up for Morris 1300, fuel pump pumped, but in spite of the battery being left disconnected it did not have the power to turn the engine. We did not have the jump pack with us so we used the Manta and jump leads. It readily started with a boost, but the brakes were a tiny bit stuck. Slowsilver took it for a run and declared it in good working order and thinks it is one of the best cars I have.

[hairnet]

23 hours ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

 

Hairnet seems to have been rendered speechless...

look at his original post

 

[hairnet]

6 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

 

OOF

manta hnnng - not a huge fan of bl tat but soft spot for ado16 cos we took one to ireland 66 i think it was - never came back tho - beats the shit outta minis

[richardmorris]

16 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Spring has Spung!

Slowsilver came out of hibernation today to help me with planning the fitting of the trunk to the Rolls Royce 20/25. I like how it looks, now I need two leather straps 2m long and 45mm wide with buckles to attach it. The Rolls Royce started up with ease and apart from dropping oil from the chassis lubrication on the floor all is well.

Guest appearance of Slowsilver's Vauxhall Zafira to carry the trunk.

A nice day so we decided to wake the Opel Manta up while we were at storage. Thanks to Slowsilvers instruction the battery had been disconnected. Battery reconnected, it cranked but took a while to get fuel up and start, but still on its own battery. Slowsilver then took it out onto the road for a test drive and all was well.

Next was a wake up for Morris 1300, fuel pump pumped, but in spite of the battery being left disconnected it did not have the power to turn the engine. We did not have the jump pack with us so we used the Manta and jump leads. It readily started with a boost, but the brakes were a tiny bit stuck. Slowsilver took it for a run and declared it in good working order and thinks it is one of the best cars I have.

I’ve read of a couple of leather workers doing custom jobs maybe lanx in the ribble valley?

[Six-cylinder]

15 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

I’ve read of a couple of leather workers doing custom jobs maybe lanx in the ribble valley?

It might be for a Rolls Royce but this is Autoshite so a custom leather job is out and a cheap solution needs to be found.

[richardmorris]

16 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

It might be for a Rolls Royce but this is Autoshite so a custom leather job is out and a cheap solution needs to be found.

Ok try Etsy…

[richardmorris]

22 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Really? Player's No. 6 were coveted in my youth. The Fords were sponsored by the tobacco trade.

Did Gilet's exist in the 70s, or were they just waistcoats? 😀

It was a body warmer then!

[richardmorris]

On 01/03/2026 at 21:20, New POD said:

With a name like morris, I'd have assumed that a distant relative of yours (Philip Morris)  had founded the Marlborough brand...... 

sadly there is no money in the family .

[hairnet]

https://www.saddler.co.uk/?cr=3150&cdesc=leather_straps_and_strapping

https://wested.com/products/leather-strap-for-gas-bags-1498-p

https://www.heritageabrasives.co.uk/other/leather-craft/leather-straps-127cm-50-inch-widths-30mm-75mm-ox-blood-red-75mm

width yes length (fnarr) maybe

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

now I need two leather straps 2m long and 45mm wide with buckles

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144964587581

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126926122465

Bit of hole punch action.

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

two leather straps 2m long and 45mm wide

Metric??? Rolls are Imperial!

(Though my late Grandad b. 1900 was taught metric at his grammar school)

[Six-cylinder]

4 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Metric??? Rolls are Imperial!

(Though my late Grandad b. 1900 was taught metric at his grammar school)

So why does it have a centigrade water temp gauge!

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

It was a body warmer then!

My point.

[High Jetter]

3 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

So why does it have a centigrade water temp gauge!

Celsius. Swedish. 😀

[New POD]

14 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

So why does it have a centigrade water temp gauge!

I love the way the temp gauge has more degrees between 90 and 100 than 30 and 40.  Almost like you arent really interested until it gets to 80.  

Also interesting that it stops at 100, which suggests its not under pressure. Most systems go up to 120 before the coolant starts boiling due to it being under pressure. 

[Six-cylinder]

12 minutes ago, New POD said:

I love the way the temp gauge has more degrees between 90 and 100 than 30 and 40.  Almost like you arent really interested until it gets to 80.  

Also interesting that it stops at 100, which suggests its not under pressure. Most systems go up to 120 before the coolant starts boiling due to it being under pressure. 

Correct non pressurised system.

The highest I have seen is 96ᵒ C, that was going 55mph on a duel carriage way on a 31ᵒ C day. As soon as I slowed down the temp fell back. Even at 31ᵒ C ambient, at idle it stays below 90ᵒ, strange you would expect stuck in traffic to be when the problem arises.

[Six-cylinder]

This weekend I plan to use my Mini Mayfair, it was covered in a layer of dust after sitting in an open barn for the winter. Today I have taken it to the hand car wash and was pleased to find the guy who spoke perfect English and did as instructed was on duty. The paint was very old and tired and has now been rattle canned, but the gloss finish is more satin. He used no traffic film remover and keep the high pressure jet back from the paint just as instructed. Well done.

Oil and water checked, Saturday I will be at the MK Modern Classics breakfast meeting at the Rose and Crown, Ridgemont, MK43 0TY. All welcome if anybody wants to meet up.

update - I also topped up the petrol, 2.73 gals for the last 90.7 miles, 33.2 mpg not very good.

[richardmorris]

On 05/03/2026 at 14:12, Six-cylinder said:

This weekend I plan to use my Mini Mayfair, it was covered in a layer of dust after sitting in an open barn for the winter. Today I have taken it to the hand car wash and was pleased to find the guy who spoke perfect English and did as instructed was on duty. The paint was very old and tired and has now been rattle canned, but the gloss finish is more satin. He used no traffic film remover and keep the high pressure jet back from the paint just as instructed. Well done.

Oil and water checked, Saturday I will be at the MK Modern Classics breakfast meeting at the Rose and Crown, Ridgemont, MK43 0TY. All welcome if anybody wants to meet up.

update - I also topped up the petrol, 2.73 gals for the last 90.7 miles, 33.2 mpg not very good.

What's happened to the modern?

[Six-cylinder]

35 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

What's happened to the modern?

Its was anti theft ploy for a remote lock RR!

Or the truth, I miss judged the end of our wall reversing in off the road.

Some friend, you had to bring it up!

[hairnet]

bernie and leepu to the rescue for the RR?

[Six-cylinder]

A weekend in a Mini Mayfair!

Thursday I got it out of storage, got it washed and fuelled after spending 4 months in an open barn.

 I came out of the house Friday morning to find it covered in sandy coloured dust so it looked worse than before it was washed.

Although a bit drizzly, as the car was dirty again, I decided to use it for errands on Friday and giving a friend a lift.

Saturday was the MK Modern Classics breakfast meeting. It was quite cool and I found the heater gives no warmth, another job to investigate. The heater cable is seized but I operated the valve under the bonnet that was replaced in 2024.

Sunday morning was another classic car gathering at a local garden centre.

The last two times I have used it, it has needed the coolant topped up This weekend I was advised to tighten the rad cap down further and it hasn’t used any water. Over the weekend I have done 90 miles. It started easily every time and seems sweeter to drive with a bit more use or maybe I am getting used to the interior noise level! I very much enjoyed driving it all weekend, but have gone back to the Fiat now as the Mini headlights need setting up, since they were replaced.  

[Six-cylinder]

Sunday afternoon was a change of flavour as @ianbmw found me some time to finish reassembling the Sigma.

What engineer thought it was a good idea to bolt the lower end of a bracket to the exhaust manifold that mounts the coil.

We were hopping to get it running, but no such luck. It cranks without horrible noises. we disconnected the fuel line and petrol pumps out of it and the spark plugs get damp. We have a spark at the plugs. One concern was the hydraulic tappets were empty and therefore not operating the valves but we did a lot of cranking at a good speed with jump leads to Ian’s Defender. We were unable to check the timing as we did not have a timing light today so that is our next move.

[ianbmw]

My plead here is, it was in bits when I first saw it and I’ve never worked on one before.

the fact we have spark, compression and popping out the exhaust indicates to me the timing is our……but the timing marks line up.

I just need the sit down and go through the basics…..it could be a crank position sensor is loose or u plugged.

 

May I suggest upgrading to a Vauxhall Carlton sir?

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, ianbmw said:

May I suggest upgrading to a Vauxhall Carlton sir?

if you had fixed the Bedford CF beaver tail, you would be able to move *both* the Sigma and the Carlton without them ever having to work!