moving a car using its starter motor

Wasn't it pick up with one hand, spin the wheel with the other?

There's a Mini 850 *Automatic* that lives down the road from us. Now that takes dedication.. must be like driving a moped.

When the autos first came out they fitted a modified engine to cope with the power loss - so they weren't quite so slow as you might expect, compared to the standard car. Nothing like as bad as most small engined cars of the time where they simply tacked on an auto.

I remember driving a Hillman Minx estate auto with an IIRC 1600cc engine that was about the slowest vehicle I've ever driven. Including pre-war Austin 7s. ;-)

On 2009-01-13, asahartz wrote: [...]

I agree that was awful. Then you'd keep dropping the clamp and/or the nuts and bolts and have to start again. Often you'd find it had cracked the flange at the end of the exhaust.

The trick to preventing it coming loose is to make sure the bushes in the engine tie rod aren't too worn. It's the engine rocking backwards and forwards that loosens the clamp.

didn't that have a magnetic torque converter? It had some special name, but it sounds a similar sort to the iron powder auto clutches that are around today on Micras/

IIRC the easy way to do the job was to take off the carb. that certainly works on Metros, giving goood access for two hands.

I see your Hillman Minx auto, and raise you a 1300cc Morris Marina auto.

Now That's slow...

:-)

Chris

Particularly interesting on a Cooper "S" with a long centre branch manifold, I recall...

Chris

No - a bog standard Borg Warner.

There was the semi automatic (easydrive?) system by Smiths which had a servo operated automatic clutch that Roots and others used in the '50s. Dunno about magnetic clutches in those days. The one I'm referring to was approx '70.

I raced one with good success, I am certain that it was the quickest one ever built, it ran very quietly and seemed to get up on cam and go. Perhaps it was a tooth out on the cam timing or something, either way it was certainly quick enough to place me in the races it did, the weak suspension was the problem for me, it just couldn't take the knocks. I kept the engine intending to put it in something but eventually scrapped it.

If you want slow, then I raise you a 1700 V4 transit twin wheel minibus, or an early diesel mercedes auto.

Bet it wasn't an auto though!

Yep, pretty much straight out of the Moggie.

OK, I see your V4 twin-wheel Tranny, and raise you a twin-wheel Luton Transit of the same era with the Perkins diesel. That would also win the category for the most unreliable van ever, having a propensity for constant overheating, and a total lack of starting in the winter.

Ford even brought out the biggest aftermarket bodge for them I've ever seen; it consisted of a container of an inflammable liquid (ether?) mounted in the cab by the driver's feet, and a manual pump like an original screen wash pump. You pumped the thing like mad whilst cold starting. It was a sort of on-board Easy-start.

Not their finest hour...

Chris

I am of course ignoring the obvious: the CF diesel auto, it is painfully slow and quite recent.

The marina was an Auto 1300, I would not have mentioned it otherwise. One old diesel I had (can't remember what) had a huge glowing bulb in the inlet to heat the incoming air, that was rubbish at starting too. A burning rag had to be used in cold weather.

The V4 twin wheel transit was an ex police minibus AND was Auto, the fuel consumption was around the twelve mark and was more of a problem than the lack of performance.

Umm it was easistart, ether's what makes easistart work, you can still buy such systems for low temperature/high altitude work.

You *raced* an auto Marina?

The mind boggles!

Chris

Chris Whelan gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Banger racing.

My Perkins diesel engine has something called a Flamestart, which is a white-hot glowing coil of wire in the inlet manifold onto which diesel is dripped until it bursts into flame. Simple, but very effective - it even started instantly in the hard frosts last week.

That sounds familiar but cannot fully picture it. This was a pre reg mini.

Mark

Oh yes. IIRC Mafco (M & F components - are they still with us?) did a special concertina style bypass hose, an absolute bugger but you could stuff it in...

Julian.