do I look like @bunnspecial ?
(also he can correct me but I dont think there were any MGs with the specs that I have listed? )
it is TECHNICALLY a hardtop convertible(although was not sold as such)
Defender
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The Car Thread ... !
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Defender
lets do a Roundup of clues and see if anyone gets it?
its a car that was designed and built by a famous british sports car manufacture, it has a hemihead all aluminum flat twin 4 stroke engine, fully independent front and rear coil over suspension with gas adjustable shock absorbers its a 2 door, technically could be called a hardtop convertible, three wheeler, with an American automatic transmission coupled to a Gearbox built by the company that made the car
its a car that was designed and built by a famous british sports car manufacture, it has a hemihead all aluminum flat twin 4 stroke engine, fully independent front and rear coil over suspension with gas adjustable shock absorbers its a 2 door, technically could be called a hardtop convertible, three wheeler, with an American automatic transmission coupled to a Gearbox built by the company that made the car
I haven't got a clue. Normally I can figure these things out but we've ruled out the common Brit sports car makers of yesteryear and of current. Though I suspect once you do tell us it'll be one of those ballaches when you realize you were oblivious to how easy it were to guess it right before the reveal.
You also said that the company is still fully British.lets do a Roundup of clues and see if anyone gets it?
its a car that was designed and built by a famous british sports car manufacture, it has a hemihead all aluminum flat twin 4 stroke engine, fully independent front and rear coil over suspension with gas adjustable shock absorbers its a 2 door, technically could be called a hardtop convertible, three wheeler, with an American automatic transmission coupled to a Gearbox built by the company that made the car
more clues?
its a single seater with the driver smack bang in the middle of the vehicle, combine this with the low slung rear mounted flat twin engine, and fairly sporty suspension setup
gave the car much better handling then looks would first suggest, especially given its a 3 wheeler
its a single seater with the driver smack bang in the middle of the vehicle, combine this with the low slung rear mounted flat twin engine, and fairly sporty suspension setup
gave the car much better handling then looks would first suggest, especially given its a 3 wheeler
Forums are a place where mostly people complain about whatever. So say you see 20 people complain about the drive units going out...out of what? How many sold? And what's the end result? Tesla replaces them.
I guess Tesla is unique in having issues with vehicles.....
oh wait:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/ford-reca...otential-suspension-failure/story?id=63660776
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/f...st-series-of-recalls-in-us-history-2019-01-04
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/fiat-chrysler-recalls-ram-pickups
https://www.motor1.com/news/313764/ferrari-recall-defective-door-fire-risk/
I could go on.
When Ford came out with the redesigned Escape, they had 4 recalls on it within the first year
https://www.cars.com/research/ford-escape/recalls/
The new F250 had an issue that had to be recalled
https://www.cars.com/research/ford-f_250-2019/recalls/
Just left a deposit on the Marina-I can't believe I'm going ahead with it, but so be it.
Might be the stupidest car purchase of the year(short of buying any form of Tesla)...
Might be the stupidest car purchase of the year(short of buying any form of Tesla)...
So we should arbitrarily ignore forum users and anyone without an official voice? That's settled, then. We should ignore everyone who's ever complained about Mac products failing or having spastic problems. They're obviously going to complain about everything, right? Apple could do no bad. They certainly don't have a problem with their hardware failing. Give me a break.
Fair points, but:
1. How many cars does Ford produce daily compared to Tesla?
Your link claims Ford recalls over a million Explorers produced between 2011 and 2017, correct? Yes. Ford makes over 200K Explorers yearly for the B2C market, whereas they make very small number of Explorers for the B2B market (Police, Federal Agency, etc.).
Tesla made a total of around 350,000 vehicles IN TOTAL in 2018. In 2018, Ford made and sold over 6 million vehicles.
2. Your second link for proof is pure stupidity on your part. Those cars were recalled due to TAKATA airbags. TAKATA is not owned by Ford. Did you also miss the fact that Tesla also issued a warning on 2012-2013 Model S vehicles? And then expanded that to 2014-2016?
https://www.fenderbender.com/articles/12136-tesla-model-s-affected-by-takata-airbag-recall
Did you also miss the fact that Tesla themselves recalled over 14,000 Model S vehicles sold in China?
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/t...l-s-cars-in-china-over-faulty-takata-airbags/
3. Good article. Fiat is straight trash and has been since their inception. No car system is immune from bugs. Tesla has had dozens of performance and safety bugs.
4. Ferrari produces a small number of vehicles. These cars aren't driven daily like a Tesla would. I'm willing to let this slide but it makes no sense to include this. Though Tesla has pushed out fixes when their cars caught on fire for no reason, too. You also missed the part that a Tesla's underbelly is not hard to puncture at speed with a hard enough object. After enough incidents, Tesla pushed out an update to increase ride height at highway speeds to limit or reduce the chances of an object striking the underbelly and causing damage to the batteries that initiate a fire. Tesla also had to extend their warranty coverage to fires due to how often an issue they'd become with their cars. Between that and now, Tesla cars are known for combusting out of nowhere.
https://www.greencarreports.com/new...rranty-to-cover-fire-damage-ride-height-tweak
The difference between what's happened with Teslas and what's happened with other cars is that the other cars will issue a recall long before someone ends up hurt. Or they find it on one vehicle and issue it immediately. They don't languish like Tesla.
I'm not hating on Tesla. They're not perfect. They have a lot of work to do to become more respected. From the way they deal with design decisions, hardware, software bugs and issues, it seems as if there's little quality control when it comes to their vehicles. Or charging $1,000 for black paint now.
woo! im very much looking forward to you resurrecting it and seeing how you get on with it
as for stupidest car purchase of the year, once y'all figure out/see what im buying, a lot of (especially british) people might argue that point
and there's another clue, previous models of the car i'm buying where available in electric form
it can also do its top speed in reverse because CVT
Hadn't thought of that. When he brushed off the Polaris comment it made me think about the possibility but I doubt it. I don't know of any British made and owned/living motorcycle companies.
Yeah but with the Marina you'll get to work on her and make her pretty. Plus, the memories you'll develop. Beats whizzing like the Jetsons and hearing just wind noise instead of engine and wind noise.
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Oh just tell us.woo! im very much looking forward to you resurrecting it and seeing how you get on with it
as for stupidest car purchase of the year, once y'all figure out/see what im buying, a lot of (especially british) people might argue that point
and there's another clue, previous models of the car i'm buying where available in electric form
it can also do its top speed in reverse because CVT
Does the sidecar's occupant keep the sidecar from crashing down by way of their powerful farts then?wouldn't motorcycle with sidecar technically be a 2 seater?
Let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone buying a hybrid Ferrari or other sports car is buying one out of efficiency. The purpose of putting a hybrid drivetrain in a sports cars like a Ferrari has nothing to do with improving gas mileage. And certainly no one has ever bought a Ferrari or other exotic sports car with reliability in mind. No one is cross shopping an exotic sports car with a Tesla sedan.
Hybrids frankly plenty of sense for someone who wants better mpg without being limited by the restrictions of a full EV. Personally I’m not a fan of the extra complexity of hybrids, but I think it’s a reasonable option for certain segment of people. Plug in hybrids seem especially practical for people who generally drive short distances but also desire the extra range/practicality/assurance of an ICE vehicle.
I do find it a bit ridiculous how many Tesla fans are EV proponents until it comes to Tesla competition, in which case there is a lot of negativity. Certainly Tesla is the leader in EV tech, but there are many valid reasons why someone might not want to buy a Tesla specifically. And competition is never a bad thing when it comes to pushing what is possible in terms of technology.
It’s well known Model S’s, especially earlier models, had high rates of drive unit failures. That said, my GF’s fathers 2016 model had a drive unit failure. Now that they’re using model 3 drive units in the model S hopefully whatever problem they had has since resolved.
They ought to use the Model 3's battery design system in the Model S to prevent heat issues. The Model 3 seems to be advanced in a few aspects such as that. And, IMO, it looks better than the X or the S.
Most people complain about the exterior design of Teslas, but I think people have simply gotten used to the wide, gaping ugly front ends on a lot of cars that are often hardly functioning. I forget what car I was looking at a year or two ago in a parking lots, and it had a major front end intakes on the bumper fascia that narrowed as I shined a light from my phone into it only for it to narrow and cool down the front disc brakes. There's a reason for that, but I thought the air cooling method of disc brakes wasn't wisely designed. There's a point where you'll want and can cool more, but there's a bad ROI as too much will allow for air buildup in the wheel well and contribute to bad MPG and NVH.
Most people complain about the exterior design of Teslas, but I think people have simply gotten used to the wide, gaping ugly front ends on a lot of cars that are often hardly functioning. I forget what car I was looking at a year or two ago in a parking lots, and it had a major front end intakes on the bumper fascia that narrowed as I shined a light from my phone into it only for it to narrow and cool down the front disc brakes. There's a reason for that, but I thought the air cooling method of disc brakes wasn't wisely designed. There's a point where you'll want and can cool more, but there's a bad ROI as too much will allow for air buildup in the wheel well and contribute to bad MPG and NVH.
Even though it's a really crummy car, the rarity of US spec models makes it appealing plus I know the engine inside and out.
I still have to figure out the logistics of actually getting the thing here. It's fun trying to solicit transportation quotes since most carriers don't even acknowledge that it exists
I've been calling it a VW Beetle just to get in the size ballpark, although there obviously are some quirks specific to the Beetle that aren't present on a car that actually has the engine in the correct location
For the next round of quotes, I might try quoting it as a Nash Metropolitan. That actually has a very similar drive train(engine and all), although I think it's a bit smaller.
In any case, once it's here, barring anything nuts(and assuming the 90º temperatures pass) I'm giving myself probably 3 days to get it running and then a couple of additional days to get it roadwothy. The basics to get it running should be just a few doses of MMO with hand-turning the engine to get the rings free, a basic tune-up(I can do that on a B series engine in my sleep, and know things like valve lash, plug gap, point gap, and timing off the top of my head) plus change the coolant and oil-the initial will probably be with Wal-Mart junk for a few hundred miles until I throw in my preferred Valvoline VR-1. The carb will need a quick tear-down to get the 10 year old gasoline cleaned out, and I'll evaluate it at the time to see if I need floats and needle valves. Actually, for that matter, when time gets closer I'll probably call Joe Curto and order those parts along with a solid throttle disk(~$40 in parts) so that I'm off to a good start. The initial start-up will probably be running off a gas can.
Once I know it runs(or probably while I'm waiting on some of the other stuff) I'll go through the brakes and get those in good shape, which are priority #1 for actually driving it on the road. The friction material is all supposedly in good shape, but I want to at least run some fresh fluid through the system and make sure the calipers/cylinders are all free. Of a lesser concern, but probably still something that I'll do, is to change the transmission fluid-I'm waiting on some advice on what the BW35 units like. Finally, the gas tank will need to be drained/pumped since I don't trust 10 year old gas, and really don't want it pumping in to a cleaned/rehabbed carb. At least the Marina has a mechanical fuel pump(admittedly I actually prefer electric SUs) so at least I know I'm probably not going to have to pull it apart and clean points or do other maintenance on it.
Even though it's a really crummy car, the rarity of US spec models makes it appealing plus I know the engine inside and out.
I still have to figure out the logistics of actually getting the thing here. It's fun trying to solicit transportation quotes since most carriers don't even acknowledge that it exists
I've been calling it a VW Beetle just to get in the size ballpark, although there obviously are some quirks specific to the Beetle that aren't present on a car that actually has the engine in the correct location
For the next round of quotes, I might try quoting it as a Nash Metropolitan. That actually has a very similar drive train(engine and all), although I think it's a bit smaller.
In any case, once it's here, barring anything nuts(and assuming the 90º temperatures pass) I'm giving myself probably 3 days to get it running and then a couple of additional days to get it roadwothy. The basics to get it running should be just a few doses of MMO with hand-turning the engine to get the rings free, a basic tune-up(I can do that on a B series engine in my sleep, and know things like valve lash, plug gap, point gap, and timing off the top of my head) plus change the coolant and oil-the initial will probably be with Wal-Mart junk for a few hundred miles until I throw in my preferred Valvoline VR-1. The carb will need a quick tear-down to get the 10 year old gasoline cleaned out, and I'll evaluate it at the time to see if I need floats and needle valves. Actually, for that matter, when time gets closer I'll probably call Joe Curto and order those parts along with a solid throttle disk(~$40 in parts) so that I'm off to a good start. The initial start-up will probably be running off a gas can.
Once I know it runs(or probably while I'm waiting on some of the other stuff) I'll go through the brakes and get those in good shape, which are priority #1 for actually driving it on the road. The friction material is all supposedly in good shape, but I want to at least run some fresh fluid through the system and make sure the calipers/cylinders are all free. Of a lesser concern, but probably still something that I'll do, is to change the transmission fluid-I'm waiting on some advice on what the BW35 units like. Finally, the gas tank will need to be drained/pumped since I don't trust 10 year old gas, and really don't want it pumping in to a cleaned/rehabbed carb. At least the Marina has a mechanical fuel pump(admittedly I actually prefer electric SUs) so at least I know I'm probably not going to have to pull it apart and clean points or do other maintenance on it.
Wouldn't the rarity and really short run of the car being sold here be a reason for the importer or are you using a UK exporter? I knew a guy years ago on another forum who was attempting to import a Nash Rambler into the UK. I'm not sure if he ever succeeded because it was at least 16 years ago and he was in his 60s then. I think you get where I'm getting at.
I had to Google out MMO because that's an acronym I've never heard of. Interesting product. Is it like 3 in 1? Which I am familiar with and it's something I used and still use, just not on engines. You make the job sound so easy given how well-versed you are in these older cars. I guess you'll do a full tear down at some point when you've got more time and can deal with the issues that may arise? When you say mechanical fuel pump does that mean it uses some kind of engine vacuum to pull the fuel in? And it's supposedly easier to disassemble and fix than an electric one or did I read your sentence incorrectly?
I admire your patience with older cars. My experience with engine tear downs when I was much younger led to frustration and I promised myself never to do it again. Ever. I know of guys back then who could tear down an old auto and put it back together with their eyes closed. I thought they were nuts. Hagerty put out a video maybe 4 years ago that showed a time lapse of a rebuild. The guys I knew then did rebuilds on newer transmissions, but I suspect it was as difficult. I think most modern transmissions are replaced because it takes too long to fix them, especially fancy dual clutches. The material is recycled.
If I’m not mistaken the Model 3’s battery doesn’t have a warming system for use in cold weather- I believe the his is part of the cooling system in the S/X. Therefore its plausible the model 3 battery performance may not be ideal in cold climates compared to the S/X. Tesla has a little bit of a workaround for this, basically sending power to the inverter when parked to create a small amount of heat. I’m not sure how effective this works in practice and I’m not sure it’s well understood when this system is activated.
The updated S uses the battery cells from the Model 3, so I’m not sure if it uses the same cooling system as the Model 3 or if they stuck with the previous system.
I'm buying a US market one.
As far as MMO goes-it's actually quite similar to 3-in-1-they're both basically kerosene with one extra key additive that I suspect doesn't actually do anything other than impart each products trademark smell
. 3-in-1 has oil of citronella, while MMO has oil of wintergreen. MMO is a whole lot less expensive than 3-in-1-a 1 qt. bottle of it is less than a 4 oz. of 3-in-1. It's been used for a long time as a fuel additive with-like a lot of additives-a whole lot of claims that probably aren't true
stil no one guessed it? I guess a few more clues are in order
they were once common street furniture on British roads, and there's even a song written about them
they were once common street furniture on British roads, and there's even a song written about them
I suppose you must agree with the performance point on hybrids, since it was unaddressed. And by clinical I mean no feeling of the engine rumble or the sound. Part of the fun of driving for enthusiasts is hearing the wonderful sound of a good exhaust note and hearing the engine roar to life on highway on-ramp pulls. I was at a light next to a Ferrari the other day and you can bet I turned my radio off and put my window down so I could hear what the engine sounded like when the light turned green.
I assume that's some kind of black metallic or pearlcoat perhaps, not just a standard gloss black? That's not really any different than what the luxury car makers do. For instance on a Mercedes C 43, 'Black' is no upcharge, but 'Obsidian Black Metallic' is an extra $720. If you want to see completely ridiculous, look at what Ford is charging for painted racing stipes on the new GT500. If you tried to guess, I guarantee it wouldn't be high enough. A whopping $10k! Those stripes had better have 24k gold flake or the pigment in 'Structural Blue' used on the LC500 in it.
I realized that I didn't answer this one.
Mechanical fuel pumps come in a few different styles, but usually "mechanical" means "directly driven off the engine." AFAIK, the one BL used(and probably the most common type) is a diaphragm pump driven directly off the camshaft.
Basically, it has a "tab"(for lack of a better term) that gets pulled out of the pump body by the camshaft, and then a spring to return the pump to its rest position. When the pump is pumping, a rubber diaphragm gets pulled out and fuel gets sucked in via a one-way check valve. Then, the spring pushes the diaphragm back in and the fuel exits(toward the carburetor) via a second check valve. If the needle valve in the carb is closed and the fuel line is blocked, the diaphragm just sits there full and doesn't do anything until the fuel can flow again.
An SU-type electric pump effectively works the same way, except that rather than being driven off the camshaft, it has a solenoid and a set of points. The solenoid pulls the diaphragm back, and then opens a set of points to shut the solenoid off(until a spring pushes the diaphragm back in and the process repeats).
Of course in this context I'm talking about pumps for carburetors, where the pressure is low. An SU carburetor wants 2-3 psi, while a big Holley or other 4 barrel+ carburetor meant for an American V8 might want 10 psi or so. EFI wants much higher pressures-sometimes this is done by an electric "low pressure" pump submerged in the gas tank and feeds fuel to a smaller, engine driven mechanical pump, or sometimes the big pump in the tank sends high pressure directly to the EFI rail.
Mechanical pumps are dead simple and rarely fail, but there are a few reasons why I don't like them. For one thing, if the car has sat long enough that fuel has evaporated from the float bowl, you have to crank the engine a decent amount to get fuel into the carb so that it will start. This isn't an issue for a car driven every day, but for something driven only occasionally, it's a problem. On the MG, with its electric diaphragm pump(there are plenty of other types of electric pumps, but the OEM type SU pump is what I prefer), I normally flick the key to the "run" position and listen for the fuel pump. Depending on how long it has been since the car was last started(and also the ambient temperature) the pump might "tick" a few times or it might tick for several seconds. Regardless, I don't try to start the car until the ticking stops.
The second issue has more to do with location of the pump. Old cars usually have the tank all the way at the back(the Pinto was notorious for this, but it wasn't the only car with the tank behind the rear bumper). An electric pump can be-although isn't always-mounted next to the fuel tank, while an engine driven pump must by necessity be on the engine. There is only a few inches of line on the MG connecting the pump to the tank, and it will flow out of the tank in to the pump by gravity. Cars with pumps under the hood can "vapor lock" at high ambient temperatures, which is where the fuel boils in the line and the pump makes a futile effort to pump vapor rather than liquid.
SU electric pumps aren't without their problems. One of the most common issues is that the points can become non-conductive both with wear and with non-use, and the pump won't run. I've solved that on my car by fitting an "electronic" SU pump, which uses a hall effect sensor in place of the points.