HMC architecte britannique

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted a bmc 1100/1300. I even rang Derek Bayliss of the 1100 club when I was 15 to ask about buying one.  27 years later I’ve got one incoming- currently being loaded onto a polish registered  beavertail in central london….

Looks like Bermondsey - never seen it about.

[somewhatfoolish]

11 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I've had two of those (basic though rather than Plah) and they are a pretty decent steer.  One of them wasn't even all that rusty.

Must be the only one then. 

[HMC]

This surprisingly solid but scruffy little thing arrived yesterday, offloaded by a gruff polish man, and promptly refused to start. Turns over readily. had to leave it on double yellows all day with a rain soaked note of apology. Surprisingly I didnt get a ticket, maybe they took mercy?

Anyway i towed up up to my car park and at the weekend I’ll have a play and see what’s what. It was happily driving around London, and it’s got fuel in the tank. Apparently the fuel gauge was working but now it doesn’t. Could there be an issue with power to the pump? I’ve checked the fuses and beyond that I’ll start checking for fuel and spark at the engine on Saturday. At no point did I hit it with a stick. Any go to ideas?

[BeEP]

Assuming it still has the electric pump in the boot, check it ticks with ignition on (will be a very slow tick once float chamber is full).  If not check it has power.  If it has power give it a tap or take the rear cover off and clean the 'points'.  Fuel gauge wire comes through boot floor adjacent to pump so it's possible something has dislodged/damaged both.

[sierraman]

Could be damp on the ignition. Looks pretty wet there and if it’s been took through the driving rain the distributor could be piss wet through.

[High Jetter]

Gruff polish man syphoned the petrol out hence guage reading zero?

[HMC]

31 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Gruff polish man syphoned the petrol out hence guage reading zero?

Good point, although I’ve since put 10 litres in, and gauge not registering toward “e” from bump stop, with ignition on makes me wonder if power to / wiring associated with the pump could be an issue if the gauge also affected? 

 

1 hour ago, BeEP said:

Assuming it still has the electric pump in the boot, check it ticks with ignition on (will be a very slow tick once float chamber is full).  If not check it has power.  If it has power give it a tap or take the rear cover off and clean the 'points'.  Fuel gauge wire comes through boot floor adjacent to pump so it's possible something has dislodged/damaged both.

Thanks for this, definitely no “ticking” going on, I had a quick check of the wires but nothing more than a quick once over, will report back once I’ve done what you’ve suggested.

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

At no point did I hit it with a stick.

Well, there's your problem m8. These things need a damn good thrashing from time to time.

Says so in the Haynes manual.

[Six-cylinder]

@HMC As many know we have a small holding and we can supply a thrashing branch to your specifications.

Just tell us length, width, weight, colour and bushiness' required and I am sure we can grow you something! 

Lovely car in spite of the hiccup.

[PhilA]

Go roll the fuses in the holders, they don't like the damp. That sometimes cleans the contacts up.

Your fuel gauge and fuel pump are on the fused side of the ignition switch circuit. 

[BeEP]

You can also test the fuse theory by trying the indicators (or wipers, or heater fan), which are also protected by the single fuse on the ignition switch circuit.

[HMC]

9 minutes ago, BeEP said:

You can also test the fuse theory by trying the indicators (or wipers, or heater fan), which are also protected by the single fuse on the ignition switch circuit.

Ah right, yes the wipers and fan are working. I’ll get a multimeter and test that power is getting to the fuel pump later, thanks.

[HMC]

Meanwhile I’m using the crown vic, as a daily, for which it’s totally capable; the council neglected roads around here are matched well to the rugged enchanced police spec. 
 

Currently I’m toying with offers of either a swap for a 2010 merc e class estate, an Austin maxi, or some money with it against a rover p5b. Or just keeping it. Or a swap/ deal against anything any of you might suggest?

[hairnet]

did you close the trunk or were they too quick for you

 

[egg]

These boys are going to have a lot of tales to tell about their pa when they're older! 😀

[sutty2006]

Keep it. All the others are crap in comparison 

[hairnet]

hes crazy

we're related to him

oh shit

[Mrs6C]

Did you manage to fix that broken window?

I like that series of Crown Victoria very much. I hired one once when I was working in New Orleans. It was triple green, with pale metallic green paintwork, mid-green leather seats and darker green for all the rest of the interior, plastics, carpets, seatbelts and all.

It was a lovely thing to waft around the bayous and the sound of that V8 up front was very pleasing.

[HMC]

5 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Did you manage to fix that broken window?

I like that series of Crown Victoria very much. I hired one once when I was working in New Orleans. It was triple green, with pale metallic green paintwork, mid-green leather seats and darker green for all the rest of the interior, plastics, carpets, seatbelts and all.

It was a lovely thing to waft around the bayous and the sound of that V8 up front was very pleasing.

I’ve got some glass on the way from the USA. Any of your fleet you would want to trade?

[Mrs6C]

3 minutes ago, HMC said:

I’ve got some glass on the way from the USA. Any of your fleet you would want to trade?

Sadly not, though it is a very nice car. Worth an advert on Car and Classic, I''d have thought?

[hairnet]

52 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Sadly not, I'd thought about the ZX for a minute.............

 

[Surface Rust]

8 hours ago, HMC said:

Ah right, yes the wipers and fan are working. I’ll get a multimeter and test that power is getting to the fuel pump later, thanks.

I have come across a kill switch for the electric pump on old cars before. Just an unmarked toggle switch, sometimes hidden under the dash.  

Was a guaranteed* anti theft precaution, 'back in the day'.

[PhilA]

I would say keep the Crown Vic.

It's got the later lights which makes it look more modern (yet still retaining the American melted-candy look).

It'll go on and on and on with only the most basic maintenance too. Police Interceptor model gets you all the performance upgrades too. Needs the small chrome hub caps though, to finish the package off.

[AnthonyG]

On 3/11/2023 at 8:09 PM, jon.k said:

I was reading a CAR magazine from 2000 yesterday, and there was an article on the state of the american car industry. I think it said that in the US the "sub-sub-compact" Focus cost the same as a Crown Vic, so everyone bought a Crown Vic.

That was the Contour (US Mondeo) and the Taurus (nearest European equivalent would be the Scorpio, although the Taurus was FWD). The Contour didn’t sell that well in the US, as it was considered too small, the Ford fans just bought Tauruses, the import buyers stuck to Accords and Camrys and those into new fangled ‘cab-forward’ styling bought the Dodge Stratus. Even in 2000, the Crown Vic was for fleets or grandparents, who tended to buy the posher Mercury version, or even better - the positively sybaritic Lincoln Town Car. 

The Focus in the US was dirt cheap, and the 3 door hatches were mainly designed for college students. The 4 door saloon was a much bigger seller there than anywhere else. As usual Ford US lost interest in it after about two years, particularly as the first year or so of their versions suffered from major quality problems unrelated to anything built in Saarlouis, and Yanks got a shite really cheap facelift of the original in 2007 instead of the European Mk2. They did get the Mk3 on time but as usual it was semi game over by then. Why buy from a company who doesn’t really give a shit, and would rather their dealer talked you into an Escape SUV, when you can be treated like an adult by Toyota or Hyundai? 

Now, if you want a Ford ‘car’ over there, you can buy the Mustang or just FRO, frankly.

Sometimes I wonder why Alan Mullally bothered, the family should just have kept the rights to the brand and the F-150 and flogged/licenced the rest to VW when it was worth something. 

[HMC]

Thanks for all the go to advice on the non start VDP1300. 

I broke out the multimeter and found I’ve got power to the pump, and a pulled off the feed to the carb and it’s delivering fuel to the carb like a champ. There’s power to the coil, and I pulled a spark plug and found no spark. The plugs are all ancient so I will change those tomorrow. So it’s narrowed down to ignition but unsure if plugs or distributor- surely if it was dodgy plugs it would cough a bit at least? I also wondered if the carb float could be stuck and shutting off the fuel feed. The plugs didn’t look particularly “wet” 🧐

 

[Rocket88]

Any spark at the points?

[wesacosa]

sounds to me like something between (but including) the coil and the rotor arm. As you say you would expect a cough if it were just plug.  Sounds like either nothing going down the leads

How does the rotor arm contact and contacts on the dizzy cap look?

[bigstraight6]

2 minutes ago, Rocket88 said:

Any spark at the points?

That’s what I was thinking, I had a similar problem on my Zodiac a few years back and I found a break in a wire between the ignition and coil. Electronic ignition is also a must do…

[NorfolkNWeigh]

8 minutes ago, bigstraight6 said:

That’s what I was thinking, I had a similar problem on my Zodiac a few years back and I found a break in a wire between the ignition and coil. Electronic ignition is also a must do…

What he said.

Had a broken “low tension” wire to distributor once on a Renault 16, even the RAC couldn’t find it, got a 200 mile petrol saving recovery home out of it though! Bonus as a teenager.

[RobT]

I had similar on my 1300 once.  A new condenser sorted it, but i also put a new coil on for good measure.

NOS condenser if you can find one as the modern stuff is shit.  I initially put a new Intermotor one on, but it didn't last long.