Bell's Banter 2022

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

That's what I remember, the one I used for a while was brilliant and could certainly go faster than 70mph.
I know that BL (or what ever they were called at the time) used to supply BT/GPO with vans that were governed for economy and had a lousy top speed. One of my mates bought an ex GPO post van and asked me to look at it as it had rubbish power and speed, it was a petrol van and after looking at it I threw the carburettor to manifold mounting block away and fitted one with a decent sized hole in it !
It would appear that they were supplied new from BL like that

I seem to remember that the Morris 1000 Post Office vans had a simple plate between the carb & the manifold with just a ¾" hole in it. Removing that helped the performance no end!

[midgetman]

But they never went *that* well, they had the very low diff much sought after by triallists in MG Midgets or anything with that rear axle. 5.3:1? MGD will know better than me it's a long term me since I was involved in that scene.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[VIVA GT]

No ignition key either, just a simple pull switch in the centre of the dash marked with an 'I'.
(Why does my brain retain all of this useless information, and very little information that would have been some use?)

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Why does my brain retain all of this useless information, and very little information that would have been some use?

Well, after 15 years or so of marriage no one can tell…

[midgetman]

Whilst we're talking about high performance Morris 1000s....

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Whilst we're talking about high performance Morris 1000s....

And the last of them had "staggering" performance with the 1089cc engine in it, I remember supplying a brand new Moggie 1000 van (complete with the "new" column steering lock) in the 70s that BL were offloading, the guy that bought it used it for 10 years with no problems.

[The Fat Clerk]

They were even slower when the back was full of tools, telephones & cable and a ladder was on the roof.
Happy days.

[grantp]

A pal of mine at school had a moggie 1k as his first car.

As I recall some spirited driving was required to maintain the aforementioned 60mph once it had been achieved.

[Lancsbreaker]

Don't knock the mighty 948cc A-series


When I had to do the engine change in our A35 (as mentioned in post #1349 ) I was delighted to discover that the engine I'd sourced - which came from a defunct Minor convertible - was of course a 948cc - but the engine we removed was a measly little 803cc from an A30..... Not quite sure how as the A30 was apparently only made from 52-56, and our van was a 57..... presumably sometime in the intervening 10 years it had had a previous transplant


It did feel perkier with the "new" engine

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Don't knock the mighty 948cc A-series


When I had to do the engine change in our A35 (as mentioned in post #1349 ) I was delighted to discover that the engine I'd sourced - which came from a defunct Minor convertible - was of course a 948cc - but the engine we removed was a measly little 803cc from an A30..... Not quite sure how as the A30 was apparently only made from 52-56, and our van was a 57..... presumably sometime in the intervening 10 years it had had a previous transplant


It did feel perkier with the "new" engine

Perhaps someone did a surreptitious swap whilst no-one was looking!

Many years ago when I lived in Norfolk, a local lad on his way home to Cromer in his A35 after a night out, ran out of fuel. He was only just outside the town so he pushed the car into the gateway of a field & walked home. He returned in the morning with some petrol but there was no life from the engine, nothing, so he opened the bonnet to check it over only to find the engine had gone!!

[GORDON STREETER]

Talking of transplanting things, a firm that I used to do a lot of work for hired out Transit vans, and a few times they were returned with noisy differentials and once a rattly knackered DI engine !
They did manage to get the cost of the engine back after a court case but as the vehicles weren't always (or never) road tested after they were returned things like transmission swaps were difficult to prove.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Perhaps someone did a surreptitious swap whilst no-one was looking!

Many years ago when I lived in Norfolk, a local lad on his way home to Cromer in his A35 after a night out, ran out of fuel. He was only just outside the town so he pushed the car into the gateway of a field & walked home. He returned in the morning with some petrol but there was no life from the engine, nothing, so he opened the bonnet to check it over only to find the engine had gone!!

Not so easy now with anything "modern" when things like a Viva or Escort
engine/gearbox could be whipped out in 15 mins

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Talking of transplanting things, a firm that I used to do a lot of work for hired out Transit vans, and a few times they were returned with noisy differentials and once a rattly knackered DI engine !
They did manage to get the cost of the engine back after a court case but as the vehicles weren't always (or never) road tested after they were returned things like transmission swaps were difficult to prove.

I seem to remember that the early DI transits were very noisey even when new .

Back in the 90s , when I was doing a lot of miles as an engineer / tech courier , we had some vehicles loaned to us by Ford research / developement at Boreham .
It was handy for them as an independant testing idea as we would normally do about 100,000 miles per year .
One Transit was a really wonderful machine , it would whistle straight up to 115 MPH and in another quarter mile would be doing 120MPH.
On a dual carriageway you would get a Rep in their Mondeo etc come up alongside going into a roundabout and leave them standing accelerating out of it .

After about a year with 100,000 miles on it was returned to Fords and they were pleased with the results , but they never said quite what the spec of it was . I do think it was perhaps a bit too quick to go into production for sale to the average White Van Man .

[Lancsbreaker]

My rally service barge - originally a LWB V4 2 litre - would pull about 85mph unloaded, but after one long haul back from a rally near Bury St Edmunds, towing the Lada rally car, I was so unimpressed by its pulling ability when fully loaded that I went out next day and sourced a 3 litre Capri engine. It went an awful lot better after that (whilst of course looking like a diesel as you needed to use the diesel front panel to accommodate the V6 ) . Amazingly the fuel consumption was barely affected - maybe 14mpg for the V6 when towing compared to 16mpg for the V4 - but it was so much better And out-dragging other service barges was fun

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

My rally service barge - originally a LWB V4 2 litre - would pull about 85mph unloaded, but after one long haul back from a rally near Bury St Edmunds, towing the Lada rally car, I was so unimpressed by its pulling ability when fully loaded that I went out next day and sourced a 3 litre Capri engine. It went an awful lot better after that (whilst of course looking like a diesel as you needed to use the diesel front panel to accommodate the V6 ) . Amazingly the fuel consumption was barely affected - maybe 14mpg for the V6 when towing compared to 16mpg for the V4 - but it was so much better And out-dragging other service barges was fun

A friend of mine had a V6 Transit as a rally service barge .
He liked it a lot until one day the shaft driving the distributer & oil pump failed .
The trouble was , this was during a rally in Holland , [ possibly the TULIP ].
He had also just rolled his manta rally car .
So , while the rest of us carried on rallying , he set off for the ferry with his rolled Manta towing the Transit towing the trailer
In those days we used the Felixstowe /Zeebrugge route , and he lived in Felixstowe , so he did not have far to go off the ferry this end .
I think these days you would get pulled over before going very far like that .

[grantp]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Perhaps someone did a surreptitious swap whilst no-one was looking!

Many years ago when I lived in Norfolk, a local lad on his way home to Cromer in his A35 after a night out, ran out of fuel. He was only just outside the town so he pushed the car into the gateway of a field & walked home. He returned in the morning with some petrol but there was no life from the engine, nothing, so he opened the bonnet to check it over only to find the engine had gone!!

There was a time, back in the 80s or 90s iirc, where the car parks at Heathrow had a reputation for similar issues, although in some cases it appeared that swaps were completed rather than just straight removals.

[Mike Harte]

Not a Ford, but about 20 years ago I had occasion to have to drive a LWB high roof Mercedes Sprinter from the Southend area back to Hertfordshire. As I was running really, really late, I put my foot down on the M25, which was surprisingly quiet, and was astounded by not only the acceleration but also by what the top speed might have been - I was doing well over a 110, and there was still more to go if I had pushed the pedal down to the floor.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

My rally service barge - originally a LWB V4 2 litre - would pull about 85mph unloaded, but after one long haul back from a rally near Bury St Edmunds, towing the Lada rally car, I was so unimpressed by its pulling ability when fully loaded that I went out next day and sourced a 3 litre Capri engine. It went an awful lot better after that (whilst of course looking like a diesel as you needed to use the diesel front panel to accommodate the V6 ) . Amazingly the fuel consumption was barely affected - maybe 14mpg for the V6 when towing compared to 16mpg for the V4 - but it was so much better And out-dragging other service barges was fun

Had a 2.5 LWB V6 from Ford at Tyrrell. Fitted with overdrive and a sort of mechanical anti-lock system for the rear brakes. Plus the diesel front.

Somewhere around the 15k miles mark one of the senior team guys drove it back from the Spanish GP, towing and well loaded, over night in order to get a full extra prep day before the next race and the DFVs back to Cosworth for their refresh.

Unfortunately to do that had had filled up the tank and some jerry cans with regular, not great quality at the time, petrol in Spain. Then driven it flat out for about 1200 miles. I seem to recall that the things was absolutely covered in a fine red sand as well and the air filter looked dreadful when someone finally got around to looking at it.

It sounded a bit rough for the rest of its life, though as far as I can remember there was never any serious rebuild for the engine. It never seemed quite a peppy after that trip.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Not a Ford, but about 20 years ago I had occasion to have to drive a LWB high roof Mercedes Sprinter from the Southend area back to Hertfordshire. As I was running really, really late, I put my foot down on the M25, which was surprisingly quiet, and was astounded by not only the acceleration but also by what the top speed might have been - I was doing well over a 110, and there was still more to go if I had pushed the pedal down to the floor.

I've never driven a Sprinter but back then they did have reputation for ridiculous speed and when cruising at sensible speeds on motorways, as I did commuting back in the late 90s and early 00s, it was usually wise to get out of the way of Sprinters.

Never buy a used one was a message of the times as I recall.

[John Elwin]

In the late seventies I used to accompany a friend who was competing in the European F Ford Championship. One of the other racers, an American, had an ex BRS Austin walk-thru type van. On one occasion it staged one of its frequent breakdowns at Hockenheim, so one of the other lads volunteered to tow him back to England with his V6 Transit. En route, they both got done for speeding!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

In the late seventies I used to accompany a friend who was competing in the European F Ford Championship. One of the other racers, an American, had an ex BRS Austin walk-thru type van. On one occasion it staged one of its frequent breakdowns at Hockenheim, so one of the other lads volunteered to tow him back to England with his V6 Transit. En route, they both got done for speeding!

I can imagine that.

The one I drove was good for about 85 iirc. 2.5ltr V6 with lower compression than the car version of the engine.

The thing was that the trailers we had were both quite heavy and the long ramps were vertical when raised, acting line 2 giant airbrakes. Not quite as bad with a car on board but certainly not aerodynamic.

It could keep up 70 on the flat but show it a hill and one was dropping back through the gears (using the overdrive) quite quickly.

I doubt the trip back from Spain, mentioned above, was anything less than torture for the engine. Especially with dodgy fuel.

[Peter Mallett]

OK enjoy dinner. Got rain here too and a dog to walk.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by grantp

I've never driven a Sprinter but back then they did have reputation for ridiculous speed and when cruising at sensible speeds on motorways, as I did commuting back in the late 90s and early 00s, it was usually wise to get out of the way of Sprinters.



Never buy a used one was a message of the times as I recall.

Mine is more of an ambler than a Sprinter, but I very much enjoy driving it. Sunday night coming back from Sittingbourne kart track, set the cruise to 65 when I join the M20 and I don't touch a pedal until I come off the A303 at Andover. Podcast or GP re-run on the radio and I actually get home less tired than I started! 28mpg is definitely a bonus these days.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[Lancsbreaker]

My race partner's first motorhome/race car tow-barge was a LWB Sprinter with the 5-pot turbodiesel lump, and I can vouch for the fact that it was quick! You barely noticed when the loaded trailer was attached And it was a lot more fuel efficient than my old V6 Transit

[gary396]

MSV expands:

https://news.msv.com/msv-wins-tender...-in-spain.aspx