alastairq

I once had a 1098cc A series out of a Midget [A struggle?] It had been modlified with , at one time, a larger valve head.. The valves being big enough to need the block relieving at certain points next to each cylinder. The two centre cylinders had their reliefs next to each other....and as a result the gasket 'land' was insufficient, so the gasket blew roundy around every 180 miles. The engine was in my old Cannon trials car....so taking a gasket, torque wrench, and bottle of water was a necessity....changing a head gasket by the roadside was not a problem, and took less than 30 minutes.. Went like a bomb [with a short fuse]!! Then I got sick of the constant spannering and fitted a 1275 cc engine from a Marina van. I left it more or less as it came [low compression and all] but with a 1 1/2 inch single SU carb [better for plonking] The car went well, but I found out the propshaft eyes were cracked, the hard way....Then the rear axle A frame was too weak, and so on. Now it will run a Ford sidevalve E93A engine and converted box...which is what Mike Cannon would have fitted to it originally [whenever it was in the 1950's he made it?], judging by all the mounting holes...The sidevalve engine didn't rev as high as the A series, so top speed reduced to around 55 mph or so... But hey, sitting on half a bus seat, all exposed to the rain trying to hold a short wheelbase car in roughly a straight line at any speed over 45 mph is a challenge. The Ford mtor is a lot lighter than the A series....and is tuned anyway....on a rolling road there was around 55 bhp at the wheels...twin 1 1/8ths SU carbs , modified exhaust, 8 horse Ford cyl head....100E cam...all cooled by a mini radiator laid on its side[with a solid gasket cap]... Other road going Cannons have things like Zetecs and crossflows in them, with slanting radiators..the 'profile' of the car is remarkably thin....Mind, they're not still using Mike Cannon's original idea for rear suspension either....Or front suspension.....unlike mine!

The General Motors V6 engine ran in various iterations from 1980 to 2010 [albeit in China]

I should add, the timeline for the Ford inline 6 cylinder OHV engines alone is from 1952, to 2010 [ final production date of the inline six, in Australia!] Ford also sold this engine for use in various industrial applications.

The US Ford inline six engine might also be in contention, or thereabouts? OK, so it started off as a sidevalver, but soon went to OHV. {OK, so the VW aircooled engine pre-WW2 was not really anything like the VW aircooled motor of the 1970's either]... Whilst not the most powerful of big engines from Ford, in bhp terms, it certainly powered Ford's world for many decades...and is strong too [stronger than a V8]... [Mine is certainly adequate for keeping ahead of today's traffic] Ford , as usual, were penny-scrimping with production costs, so the inlet manifold was cast in one piece with eh cylinder head...no gaskets to leak, of course, saved on a few studs and nuts....but the internal runners could be somewhat iffy....leading to weak mixtures on the end cylinders, and rich mixtures on the middle 4. Eventually all makers preferred the V6 layout, which avoided that long runner mixture issue....and made it easier to meet emissions standards too. Ford went back to the inline 6 on the later Mustangs due to supply problems with their V6....

That must be very depressing indeed? The ultimate failure in life? Almost qualifying.....

Indeed, by the 1950's it was considered a bit of a lame duck! A local AC aficionado [with some Bucklands!] reckons, for useability, doing what AC did with most of their cars of the era, and fit a Ford 6 cylinder engine..more reliable, more power too.. I believe the AC Ace was also offered with the Ford {2.5 litre?] 6 cylinder engine, instead of the Bristol lump? I believe that, with some Raymond Mays work on the Zody engine, it would be more powerful by far, compared to the Bristol lump? Certainly cheaper to maintain?

The original Elan being the first, that is what I'm asking about. Colin Chapman apparently had a habit of sizing up the seats & cockpits of various Lotus models [Elite, etc] to suit himself...and his size! Which most certainly wasn't 6 foot 2 inches!

Hah....I get that all the time! It's quite useful really, since folk are less disappointed if I act a bit thick.... However, I find that those who treat me as an an idiot, invariably are the idiots themselves, at least in my book! Post what you will, wherever you are, and be damned, as they say.

Echos?

Am I right in thinking, the elan was the first [production] Lotus in which someone over 6 foot tall could fit, comfortably?

Just heard, two distant family friends{?}, & ardent anti-vaxxers [married...too each other, which might say a lot?], about a decade younger than myself...have come down with covid, and are, by all accounts, quite poorly with it! As my Ex commented, they are of the type who always must be controversial, in their views. Whatever the issue, they just have to swing the opposite way! I would say, being an overt anti-vaxxer can be as much about appearances, as anything else. Like being an ardent vegetarian, or an ardent eco warrior [or an ardent EV supporter?] Nothing to do with logic or reason, everything to do with Facebook! Anyway, they're both poorly [the fella just couldn't wait to get back down to the pub! So hardly surprising, really?} As an aside, the landlady of his 'local' has had to close down.....due to covid! Oddly, I cannot summon up much in the way of sympathy for their plight, either. They were, after all, the Ex's friends, rather than mine. Thankfully the EX & my Son-&-Heir haven't 'seen them for some time.....All the same, we're all testing regularly, just in case? Also, DD and new Hubby just returned from a trip to London, [den-of-iniquity, in my view] so further reason for mucho testing here? We're all jabbed as it happens [SIL was an early jabberwocky, being a lockdown hospital volunteer], but being a jabberwocky doesn't preclude being infectious...

https://lada4x4.co.uk/ Not costly when compared to the cheapest electric car, either? Handy if one doesn't get along with today's modern cars and their clicknology?

SW10 switcher...a re-build, using, amongst other things, the fans and radiator segment of redundant EMD GP9s? https://utahrails.net/articles/up-sw10s.php

The 'dumping' of military gear on leaving was, and still is, commonplace. Much that has been left, has been done so for a reason..IE, its broken or otherwise unusable. For example, most of the aircraft either cannot fly at all, or will soon be grounded through lack of access to spares, or qualified ground staff. On the other hand, if the current regime [aka taliban.....is that really what the call themselves? Or is it a western media thing?} are to subdue or elimiante any terrorist upstarts, they need some simple means of doing so.

I believe condensed milk is efficacious in the making of Tablet? Taking over, as it did, from cream..which has issues when heated. I recall making tablet at home...oddly, rarely being able to sample my own handiwork...

I think it's maybe a tad late to be Bush-beating?

I can think of many occasions when situations which we , now, find intolerable, were in fact, considered by all & sundry to be for the very best of reasons. For example, the Canadian Government's policy of 'civilising' children of First NAtions Families' by enforced removal from said families, and incarceration in Government run [or, more likely, outsourced] ''Schools'' , with parents denied recourse, appeal, or even, visitation rights! Said schools being run often by religious groups of both sides of the coin.....the whole misguided scheme being conducted for what were seen by the 'elders' of the State , the very best of reasons! Still happening right up until just over 20 years ago......[think, Tony Blair's Prime ministership, Gulf War 1, turn of this century, to put things into a proper time perspective?] Except now they are finding the mass graves of children who died in ''State'' care, far too many deaths of which went unrecorded! Many children dying of abuse & neglect by the very religious groups who pontificate about the woes of the world! Not very well publicized as it is too embarrassing for certain quarters to contemplate, even today..... In my lifetime, the US Army practiced a rigid colour bar.....not in the slightest bit acceptable in my eyes.... Let us not forget, how close, time-wise, to this day, are those things we now abhor, but did little about at a high enough level, as I said, even in my lifetime!!

Hmmmmm...Grandma?

That's what a diet of porridge did for you....

As the US has just [apparently] demonstrated, to combat whoever they take a fancy to, they no longer need 'boots on the ground'.....they can strike with relative impunity, wherever and whenever they like. So endeth the concept of losing many military lives to maintain a presence...one simply has a competent system of drones..unmanned, therefore expendable. Talking of Chinese [economic] takeovers... [as per East Africa?] what about Somerset?????

Patton? {Not Patten, he was a reasonable fella, not a gun-totin' yahoo]

Correct me if I'm wrong [a habit of you lot, I note?] but with the above, it was 'British' [and Indian?]...effort , alone? Whereas the current situation was/is primarily a US issue, with the British [and others] acting in 'support?' In other words, the original, most recent, 'push' was in response to what? The 11/09 affair? Would the UK have ever 'gone in alone', with our own agenda? Would we have had a need to? I reckon we might have got it right in the 1930's, when the-then US govt drew up war plans for an eventuality of going to war with the UK? [And, as it happens potentially losing?] Certainly the Canadians, on a minuscule budget, were actively conducting reconnaissance in the USA at the time, as they 'feared' invasion by said US of A....and, even if they could not have stopped the US from invading, they certainly had plans to pee on the US bonfire in the process. Maybe even counter-invading, which was a possibility..the US not understanding at the time, how to be in two places at once? I firmly believe the US had the same attitudes towards 'life' as the Chinese....in other words, sodd the casualty figures, keep going until at least someone manages to achieve the original objective? Numbers didn't seem to matter to the US command. Or the Chinese? They mattered to Monty though, and the americans vilified him for it.

You mean, become vegan????

The one on the left is definitely acting suspiciously.

A Bond Equipe might do just as well? Less tin to rot too. [Although getting the body orff the chassis to mend the chassis might be an issue?]