Tommy's A-series Misery - Cornwall road trip!

[High Jetter]

Oh, you ARE a petrolhead then! That mini is class!

[tooSavvy]

12 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Oh, you ARE a petrolhead then! That mini is class!

W-O-T he said 😍

[BorniteIdentity]

Delighted to meet this rancid old heap earlier as I delivered the Montego workshop guide. I bought it 5 years ago from a fete knowing that it’d be useful for someone one day - never thought it’d be such a perfect new home for it though.

Good luck with the future, Tom - and look forward to meeting you soon!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 10/14/2021 at 9:14 PM, Tommyboy12 said:

........am already pretty deaf without making it worse...

.... ticking time bomb. ...

These are the two bits I like most.

[Tommyboy12]

3 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Delighted to meet this rancid old heap earlier as I delivered the Montego workshop guide. I bought it 5 years ago from a fete knowing that it’d be useful for someone one day - never thought it’d be such a perfect new home for it though.

Good luck with the future, Tom - and look forward to meeting you soon!

It looks like even more of a heap than normal 😂

[Tommyboy12]

Out with the old and broken

In with the new old and working

Out with the old and broken

In with the... Wait a minute... That's not right... Why are the washers on constantly...

Bugger. Got to love eBay listings. Basically I've ended up melding the two together using the base plate from the old stalk cleaned up with a light sanding, rubbing alcohol and conductive grease and then used the new stalk with the old base plate. The eagle eyed may notice the new stalk is without a downward position on the stalk. I bought a stalk that was advertised as Metro/Maestro/Montego and did spot it was a non-intermittent stalk. As this car doesn't have intermittent wipers anyway I didn't see it being a problem. The down position on the original stalk was actually the same speed as the slow speed up on the stalk.

[Noel Tidybeard]

putting the stalk and relay for variable intermittent was the best mod i did on my '89 1.6 bASe

...oh and lumbar support seat

...and folding rear seats

...& rev counter clocks

[Tommyboy12]

This morning I set to getting the hubs fitted again. I also changed the track rod ends as I had some and they were a bit loose. Treated it to some new discs too.

 

Obviously the best way to do the hub nuts is to use a pry bar jammed against the ground...

I also changed the selector shaft seal on the gear box. Was really surprised to get the new seal in a tiny little cardboard box!

Finally I risked the manifold studs and took the down pipe off. It came off quite easily but I did preheat the studs with a blow torch before I even tried them. It's definitely showing a few battle scars from our trip!

And once it was all back together I treated it to having a load of crap thrown in the cavernous boot and a trip to the local tip! Ran really nicely and it's nice to not hear the exhaust or any ticking from the Speedo!

[High Jetter]

Top work! Seals used to always come in cardboard boxes, wrapped in brown waxy paper. I hope you retained the hose-clips from the old down pipe for future use?

[Sham]

Seeing this car being maintained and kept going makes me happy.
I can't explain why, but it does.

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Top work! Seals used to always come in cardboard boxes, wrapped in brown waxy paper. I hope you retained the hose-clips from the old down pipe for future use?

Of course! Wouldn't want to waste them!

[danthecapriman]

Great work with this old beast! I love reading and seeing stuff about cars like this, surviving against the odds when they really shouldn’t still be here!

That down pipe though🤣 someone certainly got their money’s worth out of that.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I love the way the scruffy low-spec underdog has outlived 99.999% of its cooler, sportier counterparts by a country mile. 

That, and the fact it almost completed a drive of the entire length of the country after a decade sleeping. This thing is bloody fantastic. You definitely need to be awarded that virtual beige trophy. 

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Great work with this old beast! I love reading and seeing stuff about cars like this, surviving against the odds when they really shouldn’t still be here!

That down pipe though🤣 someone certainly got their money’s worth out of that.

The downpipe was my doing after it blew on our trip up the country. It just kept blowing and blowing the further up the country we went 😂

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

The downpipe was my doing after it blew on our trip up the country. It just kept blowing and blowing the further up the country we went 😂

It’s certainly worthy of a spot on the mantlepiece!

[Tommyboy12]

So @sharley17194 and I are in conversation about finishing our LeJog trip properly. However we are both short on holiday so.... JohnO and back in one weekend including getting to the point I broke down? Seems reasonable...

[Saabnut]

Whilst not on the direct route (Aberdeenish) I am closer to your destination than you are and if you have major problems again I have a trailer and workshop facilities (I was in France last time so could not offer to help)

[Eyersey1234]

Must admit I quite fancy doing LEJOG myself. I'm seriously thinking about doing it for my 40th in 2027, would be more fun to do it in a car that cost less than the train fare though. 

[Tommyboy12]

13 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Must admit I quite fancy doing LEJOG myself. I'm seriously thinking about doing it for my 40th in 2027, would be more fun to do it in a car that cost less than the train fare though. 

Honestly I enjoyed the overall experience, especially as we took costal roads through Cornwall/Devon/NC500, but I would say that it is A LOT of driving if you do it in one person per car. Obviously actual LeJog can be considerably shorter if you stick to the motorways and a direct route but its not particularly interesting if you do that. The blast up the M6 to Glasgow was a quite tedious day. The advantage with this go is that @sharley17194 and I will share the driving which obviously halves the load!

[sharley17194]

17 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

So @sharley17194 and I are in conversation about finishing our LeJog trip properly. However we are both short on holiday so.... JohnO and back in one weekend including getting to the point I broke down? Seems reasonable...

Im not sure it does seem reasonable....more a necessity 

13 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Must admit I quite fancy doing LEJOG myself. I'm seriously thinking about doing it for my 40th in 2027, would be more fun to do it in a car that cost less than the train fare though. 

From a man that's done it....don't try and do it in 5 days, also buy something comfy that m5/m6 run is a beast!

Who thinks Tom should keep monty and take it on next years road trip?

[sharley17194]

and as Tom says share the driving....and don't let @Tommyboy12 book your accommodation! 

a shed with no heating in Scotland....what were you thinking!

[Tommyboy12]

13 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Must admit I quite fancy doing LEJOG myself. I'm seriously thinking about doing it for my 40th in 2027, would be more fun to do it in a car that cost less than the train fare though. 

Honestly I enjoyed the overall experience, especially as we took costal roads through Cornwall/Devon/NC500, but I would say that it is A LOT of driving if you do it in one person per car. Obviously actual LeJog can be considerably shorter if you stick to the motorways and a direct route but its not particularly interesting if you do that. The blast up the M6 to Glasgow was a quite tedious day and its hard work in a car that can barely sustain 70mph. The advantage with this go is that @sharley17194 and I will share the driving which obviously halves the load!

 

2 minutes ago, sharley17194 said:

and as Tom says share the driving....and don't let @Tommyboy12 book your accommodation! 

a shed with no heating in Scotland....what were you thinking!

Yeah the shed wasnt great...

[Noel Tidybeard]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Honestly I enjoyed the overall experience, especially as we took costal roads through Cornwall/Devon/NC500, but I would say that it is A LOT of driving if you do it in one person per car. Obviously actual LeJog can be considerably shorter if you stick to the motorways and a direct route but its not particularly interesting if you do that. The blast up the M6 to Glasgow was a quite tedious day and its hard work in a car that can barely sustain 70mph. The advantage with this go is that @sharley17194 and I will not be taking the shitroen this time which obviously eases the load!

FIFY 🤣

 

[Eyersey1234]

@Tommyboy12 and @sharley17194 thanks for the advice. 

[Tommyboy12]

Despite all the work I've done to the car I never did a compression test. Thought I'd check the compression and plugs before we do lejog part two. Needless to say it's pretty good! 190-200psi across the board. Plugs are quite sooty, although 3 and 4 have a slightly browning to them, it clearly runs rich so I've dialled a little bit more fuel out.

[carburettor]

I was not aware you could buy any 1.3 A+ engined Austin Morris ve-hikle with a 5 speed gearbox, I remember the Metro hell (HLE) with a 3 plus E gearbox gr9 on the jewel carriageway 

[Fumbler]

4 minutes ago, carburettor said:

I was not aware you could buy any 1.3 A+ engined Austin Morris ve-hikle with a 5 speed gearbox, I remember the Metro hell (HLE) with a 3 plus E gearbox gr9 on the jewel carriageway 

Indeed you could get a 3 or 4+E for the 1.3- I think all Ledbury and Apple2000 ones were 5-speed ones

[dollywobbler]

My Maestro van was 1.3 with five speed. A surprisingly nice drive.

Good luck with the Second Attempt.

 

[Tommyboy12]

So what I really needed to do today was replace the throttle cable on the Montego. Which is about a 10 minute job. Instead I spent three hours doing this.

 

[Tommyboy12]

The reason I did it was several fold. This is an 80k engine now so a bit long in the tooth for a non-rebuilt engine. I've abused it some in the last 6-7 years of ownership too and only ever fed it the finest quality bottom shelf oil of random viscosity.

It smokes, blows headgaskets on the regular, has very positive crankcase pressure, and the gearbox was whining in 4th which is a really bad sign on these.

I found the following.

Cracked.

Ruined.

Collapsed.

The block is scrap. The crank needs a regrind as the mains are shocking and the big ends are no better. Might explain the suboptimal oil pressure. That bearing in the gearbox is the main double roller bearing that supports the entire motion shaft. Needless to say it should not be poking out the side with a cracked cage.

However, I will say one thing. The A series is a damn tough engine. It had no right in running with a cracked block and that gearbox whined but was otherwise fine.