Ohh dear me, Memories! Got rid of the last one about 2003, Wife managed to get two speeding tickets in it. Kids loved it. Basic set of tools and a Workshop Manual and away you go. Such a fun little car.
I've just received the new set of front wheel bearings, speedo cable and hydrolastic pump (yep, within days of getting home, hydrolastic fluid pissed out of the LH front valve.) I'll set up a project for these repairs.
@@jl991825 If I recall, you could go into "limp mode" and drive at 20 mph back home. Then its a case of measuring from the wheel arch to the centre of the wheel as you pump it up.. Was it 11 inches? Ohh the fun of it. Best Regards Steve
My family used to have one of these when I was a kid, about 50 years ago. I was very much into cars and I remember the hydrolastic suspension as actually being very good, rather than it just being a gimmick? How would you rate it compared to today's small cars? I'm just wondering if I am remembering this car accurately or rather through rose coloured glasses. Still love these cars. Cheers.
Hi Richard. Trust your memory. The suspension system is very good compared with modern cars. The term they used to use was "roadholding", not "handling". In this car you do not feel the minor road imperfections. When you hit a series of larger, let's say lumps in the road, the whole car responds by a sort of level bouncing. Over the minor stuff you marvel at the ride quality. On the bumpier stuff you laugh at the "I'm on a bouncy castle" sensation. All in all, it's a blast!
Hello. 🙂 Very much enjoying these videos, thanks for taking the time to make and upload them. Lovely wee car you have there. With respect to the wheel-bearing/hub issue, as I have owned about twenty of these cars in my time from Austin/Morris/MG/Wolseley badges, I can say that a SMALL amount of play in the bearings is OK. By small, I mean no more then about 1mm or so if you rock the wheel top-and-bottom. Any more then that, they need work. IDEALLY, you should have no play at all(as you suggest), but on these cars, a SMALL amount is OK. As you noted once you removed the hub, there is no spacer between the inner and outer bearings on these hubs. I think very early models such as your one would have had a spacer originally, but new bearings come with a flange on the inner-race of each bearing. They are installed into the hub flange-to-flange, and when you do up the big shaft nut, it squeezes them so the flanges butt up against each other, and that is SUPPOSED to give you the correct bearing pre-load, but as you have discovered, that is not necessarily the case. THE SOLUTION to this, is that you have to shave a tiny amount off the inner-race flanges in a lathe. Normally about 0.5mm off each flange I have found works well. When re-installed, this allows you to squeeze the assembly up by a further 1mm, and that usually takes up any slack, removing the play, but not excessively pre-loading the bearings. I have not yet watched the rest of your series of videos, but I most certainly will, so apologies if you have already found that as the solution on on of the other videos. Thanks again for posting. The first two episodes have been very enjoyable to watch, and I have linked the series to some other 1300 fans I know.
Hey mate, thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah, there's a lot of play. I'll take it all apart and shave off a small amount as suggested. I certainly can't leave it like this as it won't pass a roadworthy inspection. Thanks also for the feedback - much appreciated 👍
Ohh dear me, Memories! Got rid of the last one about 2003, Wife managed to get two speeding tickets in it. Kids loved it. Basic set of tools and a Workshop Manual and away you go. Such a fun little car.
I've just received the new set of front wheel bearings, speedo cable and hydrolastic pump (yep, within days of getting home, hydrolastic fluid pissed out of the LH front valve.) I'll set up a project for these repairs.
@@jl991825 If I recall, you could go into "limp mode" and drive at 20 mph back home. Then its a case of measuring from the wheel arch to the centre of the wheel as you pump it up.. Was it 11 inches? Ohh the fun of it. Best Regards Steve
@@scroggins100 Cheers mate. I've got no idea of the specification, but am being careful not to go too hard on these old bags.
My family used to have one of these when I was a kid, about 50 years ago. I was very much into cars and I remember the hydrolastic suspension as actually being very good, rather than it just being a gimmick? How would you rate it compared to today's small cars? I'm just wondering if I am remembering this car accurately or rather through rose coloured glasses. Still love these cars. Cheers.
Hi Richard. Trust your memory. The suspension system is very good compared with modern cars. The term they used to use was "roadholding", not "handling". In this car you do not feel the minor road imperfections. When you hit a series of larger, let's say lumps in the road, the whole car responds by a sort of level bouncing. Over the minor stuff you marvel at the ride quality. On the bumpier stuff you laugh at the "I'm on a bouncy castle" sensation. All in all, it's a blast!
Hello. 🙂 Very much enjoying these videos, thanks for taking the time to make and upload them. Lovely wee car you have there. With respect to the wheel-bearing/hub issue, as I have owned about twenty of these cars in my time from Austin/Morris/MG/Wolseley badges, I can say that a SMALL amount of play in the bearings is OK. By small, I mean no more then about 1mm or so if you rock the wheel top-and-bottom. Any more then that, they need work. IDEALLY, you should have no play at all(as you suggest), but on these cars, a SMALL amount is OK.
As you noted once you removed the hub, there is no spacer between the inner and outer bearings on these hubs. I think very early models such as your one would have had a spacer originally, but new bearings come with a flange on the inner-race of each bearing. They are installed into the hub flange-to-flange, and when you do up the big shaft nut, it squeezes them so the flanges butt up against each other, and that is SUPPOSED to give you the correct bearing pre-load, but as you have discovered, that is not necessarily the case.
THE SOLUTION to this, is that you have to shave a tiny amount off the inner-race flanges in a lathe. Normally about 0.5mm off each flange I have found works well. When re-installed, this allows you to squeeze the assembly up by a further 1mm, and that usually takes up any slack, removing the play, but not excessively pre-loading the bearings. I have not yet watched the rest of your series of videos, but I most certainly will, so apologies if you have already found that as the solution on on of the other videos.
Thanks again for posting. The first two episodes have been very enjoyable to watch, and I have linked the series to some other 1300 fans I know.
Hey mate, thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah, there's a lot of play. I'll take it all apart and shave off a small amount as suggested. I certainly can't leave it like this as it won't pass a roadworthy inspection. Thanks also for the feedback - much appreciated 👍