18-06-2019, 07:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-06-2019, 08:10 PM by PedigreeChummy.)
Well... I have finally gained my Austin wings and taken delivery of my little tourer. It's been a bit of an epic, involving the delivery woes of the company I was using to get the car from Sheffield to me here in the French Pyrenees. 3 blown turbos on his wagon (avoid Nissan like the plague, it would appear...) in a 4 month period, and the resulting backlog of deliveries have set the schedule back some 5 or 6 months, but the car is finally here... and just in time for summer.
The drive back home was something of an adventure... the car was delivered to within 10 miles of my house, as access in the mountain roads was too tight. Unfortunately, he turned up at 4am, but I wasn't going to pass up this delivery window, given the long wait to get the keys. 6v lights and a badly running little 7 meant the trip back was eventful and needed some imaginative driving techniques, most notably full choke to keep me going, the result of a 6 month-standing gooed up float bowl and blocked jets, all cleared on arrival at the house, but not possible in the half light half way up a mountain. The faces of the three farmer walking their cattle up the road to the higher pastures was a picture, as they were approached by a spluttering, 6v firefly-power illuminated 30s toy car.... ils sont fous ces anglais!
Said clean up of carb and jets and fresh fuel means she is running nicely though a bit rattly on tickover thanks to a missing fan pulley felt up top... smoothes out under revs but disconcertingly clattery at idle.
Various test runs up and down have so far resulted in a rubbing noise from the passenger side front when turning left (only), so far not located (any ideas...?), a nut falling off the throttle linkage, resulting in coasting to a stop with no power (hastily replaced by temporarily nicking a similar sized nut off the horn) and a bit of overheating on the climbs. Fourth gear seems very tall compared to third, quite a big jump, especially on the uphill slopes. Any tips?
So... second day of driving and loving every minute. Smiles per mile ratio off the scale... and that includes those of passers by, who so far have included a very chic young lady in a Clio who asked me if everything was okay when I was repairing the linkage, and then proceeded to tell me the car was "très, très jolie...." (who'd have thought it a potential pulling tool) and an old dear whose day was made by me getting her to successfully turn the car over with the starter handle.
More to come I'm sure...
The drive back home was something of an adventure... the car was delivered to within 10 miles of my house, as access in the mountain roads was too tight. Unfortunately, he turned up at 4am, but I wasn't going to pass up this delivery window, given the long wait to get the keys. 6v lights and a badly running little 7 meant the trip back was eventful and needed some imaginative driving techniques, most notably full choke to keep me going, the result of a 6 month-standing gooed up float bowl and blocked jets, all cleared on arrival at the house, but not possible in the half light half way up a mountain. The faces of the three farmer walking their cattle up the road to the higher pastures was a picture, as they were approached by a spluttering, 6v firefly-power illuminated 30s toy car.... ils sont fous ces anglais!
Said clean up of carb and jets and fresh fuel means she is running nicely though a bit rattly on tickover thanks to a missing fan pulley felt up top... smoothes out under revs but disconcertingly clattery at idle.
Various test runs up and down have so far resulted in a rubbing noise from the passenger side front when turning left (only), so far not located (any ideas...?), a nut falling off the throttle linkage, resulting in coasting to a stop with no power (hastily replaced by temporarily nicking a similar sized nut off the horn) and a bit of overheating on the climbs. Fourth gear seems very tall compared to third, quite a big jump, especially on the uphill slopes. Any tips?
So... second day of driving and loving every minute. Smiles per mile ratio off the scale... and that includes those of passers by, who so far have included a very chic young lady in a Clio who asked me if everything was okay when I was repairing the linkage, and then proceeded to tell me the car was "très, très jolie...." (who'd have thought it a potential pulling tool) and an old dear whose day was made by me getting her to successfully turn the car over with the starter handle.
More to come I'm sure...