Ask a Shiter

[nacho man]

Are car covers anygood? The williams lives outside with the stag in the garage and bits are off it at the moment, i.e. a wing. Dont mean the £12.95 ebay jobbies but also I aint paying £100+ any thoughts?

[DeeJay]

What's wrong with the traditional cat piss tarp, liberated from a handy skip?

[Pillock]

If it's personalised letters though It'll just be a random group of three so no way to be sure. Maybe they got a £250 plate for their birthday 9 years ago and haven't got the guts to let it go on a car.

[TimothyClaypole]

I have/had a Stormforce cover for my BMW, VERY expensive but it's kept it in the same rusty state it was when i bought it for the past 4 or so years (cripes I ought to get some work done on it...)

 

Anyway the recent winds have killed it by ripping it to bits but it's gone brittle from UV I think so just tears easily now but it wasn't too bad lasting 4 or so years.

 

 

(the cats still piss on it). 

[dollywobbler]

Drum's dumbass question #452 -

 

Why does a cold engine start and run better when it is 'choked'?

 

This is the opposite to what I do when I light the wood burning stove.

 

Is it because cold air is dense and therefore the mixture isn't actually rich or something ?

 

I should know this by now.

 

#453 - how does an automatic choke work?

 

The choke makes up for the fact that petrol condenses to the sides of things like carburettors. It won't then combust. So, a choke just hurls more fuel in to compensate, as well as shutting off air flow. Too much air and you get too learn a burn. The choke also raises the tickover, to compensate for thick, gloopy oil. It's all a different dynamic to burning wood, where more air flow is all good. I don't really understand why, but presumably it's something to do with petrol needing to be a gas to burn properly in an engine, so exact air flow becomes more critical.

 

Autochokes vary. Early ones just ran in fully-choked mode for a set length of time. Cav Mk1s have them. They're infuriating as you can't over-ride them, so they'll quite often over-rev a cold engine. ie tickover at 2000rpm. I've no idea what magic was used by the autochoke on my Bluebird, but it could be cancelled by giving the throttle a quick prod.

[Asimo]

Drum's dumbass question #452 -

Why does a cold engine start and run better when it is 'choked'?

This is the opposite to what I do when I light the wood burning stove.

Is it because cold air is dense and therefore the mixture isn't actually rich or something ?

I should know this by now.

#453 - how does an automatic choke work?

Choking richens the mixture: more petrol in each inhale. Rich mixtures are easier to ignite when cold because some of the petrol condenses out of the mixture on the way in, weakening the mixture again, droplets of petrol don't atomize as well with slow moving, cold air, ie the air at cranking speeds, so the mixture available near the spark plug is weaker..... Loads of fuel, it'll burn (except when it is overdone and the damn thing floods, ie too much petrol)

 

Auto choke is just a crude heat sensitive and / or time delayed choke. When things are cold, the choke Is applied and then as something warms up (either electrically or by engine coolant) the choke is progressively relieved.

[willswitchengage]

 

 

The choke also raises the tickover

 

 

Does the choke itself actually raise the tickover, or does the choke mechanism also slightly open the throttle to raise it? I always thought it was the latter

[drum]

Cheers gents for the choke answers. Both my allegro and maestro are on manual choke and even after 5 - 10 minutes of running, they like a bit of choke. The condensing fuel explains it. My chain saw needs choke until it kicks then no choke to start.

[mat_the_cat]

Does the choke itself actually raise the tickover, or does the choke mechanism also slightly open the throttle to raise it? I always thought it was the latter

 

You're right - the choke by itself doesn't raise revs but they usually have a separate mechanism to raise the idle speed.

[dollywobbler]

Yup. Sodding pedants. You pull the choke control, and two things happen. Mixture adjustment and throttle opening.

 

5-10 minutes sounds like quite a long time, though I think our old Mini was also a bit choke hungry. Generally, by the time I reach third gear, the 2CV's choke can be entirely closed.

[M'coli]

5-10 minutes is about right for A-series engines on an SU carb, especially with the HLE carb.

 

There's always one exception, too - aircooled Fiat 126 carburettors choke worked on a seperate by-pass channel that both raised the idle and spat more fuel in at the same time.

[tooSavvy]

A:-  All Morris/Austin/VDP/AllAggro 1300s which appear in Tat thread "...must buy & save, or will be B-raped for M*N*scene!"

 

B:-  All M*N*s are terminal minginng rotboxes - so goes all A$ Wisdom.

 

 

..... tell me, are there enough M*N*sceners, currently bell polishing, to account for the BR of every 1300 to appear on BayofEvill/Glumtree?

 

TS

[HH-R]

I thought it was only Metrots that get bought for Mini engines. Pretty sure Aggro and Maestego donkeys don't fit anyway. Could be wrong though! There are probably enough Mini ruiners in the UK to kill off the number of A-Series Metros off.

[MrDuke]

Yup, only Metro engines will do, the A-series in Allegros and Maestros won't hook up properly. Although the boggo-spec Metros are probably safe, it's the A+ engines from the MG etc that are sought-after.

[wackywacerwill]

 

 

 

..... tell me, are there enough M*N*sceners, currently bell polishing, to account for the BR of every 1300 to appear on BayofEvill/Glumtree?

 

TS

Probably.

My old base spec mk1 metty was an 1 ltr A+ and faster than my mates 1300, and the 1300 I picked up some years later come to think of it.

[Station]

Why have I had no interest in my Volvo?

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/161041/1994-volvo-440-wirral-leamington

[alf892]

Ad says 'but it or don't' so they haven't? I can see that you don't want wasters but maybe you could soften the message?

[MrDuke]

Inspired by said ad (I would if it wasn't a gold 440 in Leamington etc etc) - what was the largest production engine to be run with CVT? I always assumed it was limited to small cars of 1.3l or less, but apparently not. Is there a limit on the amount of torque or power that CVT can be made to work with?

[Jim Bergerac]

Most of the hybrid Lexus stuff has a CVT and the most powerful of those has a 3.5 V6 as well as the battery. Somebody else could probably think of something with a bigger engine and CVT, though.

[TimothyClaypole]

What is the name of the Autoshite font?  

 

There look to be two different styles, one maybe Cooper Black?

[Asimo]

Inspired by said ad (I would if it wasn't a gold 440 in Leamington etc etc) - what was the largest production engine to be run with CVT? I always assumed it was limited to small cars of 1.3l or less, but apparently not. Is there a limit on the amount of torque or power that CVT can be made to work with?

This link to some folk who make the chain/belt mentions 400Nm in Audi applications.

 

http://www.luk.com/content.luk.de/en/products/transmission_components/cvt/luk_kette_sv/LuK_Kette_sv.jsp

[Sloth in a bowl]

CVT has been considered for use in railway engines, though I don't know it it ever got off the drawing board. You just have to scale up the components to take the load.

[willswitchengage]

CVT is extensively used in modern agricultural tractors

[daveb47]

many battle tanks have cvt.

[willswitchengage]

many battle tanks have cvt.

 

Some even have jet engines

 

 

Ironically for invading countries because the attackers have run out of their own oil. POLITICAL SATIRE

[Inspector Morose]

 

 

Experimental CVT Leyland National. That part of Leyland Experimental Department was hived off and became Torotrak.

[cort1977]

Big nissans here in the states have cvt with a 3.5 liter. I saw some Brit on another forum going on about how great it was in his hire car, the idiot. ( I hate cvt).

[Jim Bergerac]

Something that I have wondered about for a while...

 

If I buy a car that is on a cherished* numberplate is it possible to transfer it back to its original numberplate if that is known or would it just end up on a different age related plate?

[twosmoke300]

As will said tractors use cvt.

 

Fendt do a 7.1 litre turbo diesel vario with 396 hp and 1550 nm of torque !

[nigel bickle]

Sandie,  if you know the original registration ,and can give DVLA a good reason why it should go back (etched windows is my favourite) they will PROBABLY do it.

 

I've been successful 3 times, but there is no guarantee.