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General Euro rating 169

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General Euro rating 169

The Panda Nut said:
Ah ha. Another zero emissions product from the VW stable....

I know fiats are just as bad. I so miss my 2017 70mpg twin air. The 2019 one only does 38mpg... and costs £150 in tax rather than £30. This does rather show how daft these bands are.

Funny how it uses a lot less petrol than its predecessor though.

I feel we should return to capacity based bands or even better power based and the graph should rise VERY steeply once 150HP has been surpassed. This would be more equitable and at least tip a nod to environmental concerns.
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The £150 is just a tax for buying near new and not really anything to do with emissions.
I think the fair way would be no RFL and it should all be on fuel, whether you drive a gas guzzler or are very eco small car, the use of the road would be what you are paying for.
 
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Pugglt Auld Jock said:
Very nice car but not one I know anything about at all. For years I've lusted after a Vauxhall (Holden) Monaro. https://www.evo.co.uk/vauxhall/monaro/7637/vauxhall-monaro-vxr-60 An utterly impractical car which I could never justify and will never own anyway, but oh deary me, I do want one!
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Very interesting car similar to the sports astra or cascada but very rare which means unless they share parts with other models, very expensive and would be a pain to get.
I suspect as it's a Vauxhall it's probably not as reliable built in as most other manufacturers, I like VX and I used to work on them for a job and have owned many but not the sporty lust after for me, if you had a test drive in a sporty merc you would probably buy it.
 
Jockcl500 said:
The £150 is just a tax for buying near new and not really anything to do with emissions.
I think the fair way would be no RFL and it should all be on fuel, whether you drive a gas guzzler or are very eco small car, the use of the road would be what you are paying for.
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I am just leg pulling, but I think I agree, and that living in a rural area where car use is a necessity. It would have to be on the basis that they didn't go mad on this tax.... Thats the problem I suppose. Watch this leopard change its spots and get an electric car if they do!! Its the obvious way to go if you can afford to have one of each. I just wonder what flood water does to electric cars as its been pretty waful here in Norfolk for the last 3 or 4 winters.
 
Jockcl500 said:
Very interesting car similar to the sports astra or cascada but very rare which means unless they share parts with other models, very expensive and would be a pain to get.
I suspect as it's a Vauxhall it's probably not as reliable built in as most other manufacturers, I like VX and I used to work on them for a job and have owned many but not the sporty lust after for me, if you had a test drive in a sporty merc you would probably buy it.
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I had Vauxhalls as company cars for quite a few years and at least 500,000 miles, and they are very very strongly made indeed. Also I found them allvery reliable with no breakdowns apart from a hydraulic clutch pipe in all those miles. In all this time the majority of the time they were driven about as hard and badly as its possible to do as well!

I remember fitting radio speakers into a vectra at the rear. I have never seen anything so over engineered!
 
I find Vauxhaul seats incredibly uncomfortable. They have always given me back pain and newer one are no better.

Given my choice I'd have a Citroen CX 2.5 turbo. The Mk2 is not yet old enough for classic (zero) road tax but still great cars. Sadly anything from the 1980s will go wrong so some sort of cheap backup has to be part of the plan.
 
Jockcl500 said:
My name gives it away a bit
Mercedes CL500 on a 2008 reg I have always wanted one, I love the power but also very smooth and comfy, downside is they are very long at more than 5 metres and don't fit most parking bays.
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Is that the V12? I so covet that machine. It does date us though as its clearly a more mature gentleman's not quite pocket rocket.
 
The Panda Nut said:
Is that the V12? I so covet that machine. It does date us though as its clearly a more mature gentleman's not quite pocket rocket.
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Sorry seen your statement below. Nice motor!

... and PA Jock please don't mention the Monaro as its an itch I am resisting. I know I go on about huge engines in cars, but its only because of the way they are sometimes driven. But the Monaro has a lot of appeal, I just wouldn't be able to go far in it which is a bit self defeating. Also I would be one of those bad drivers, so I must RESIST.
 
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The Panda Nut said:
... and PA Jock please don't mention the Monaro as its an itch I am resisting. I know I go on about huge engines in cars, but its only because of the way they are sometimes driven. But the Monaro has a lot of appeal,
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I've always been attracted to large engined Unusual cars - Think Facel Vega, Gordon Keeble, Sunbean tiger, etc - and I think there's a lot of that in what makes the Monaro interesting. Probably also because I love watching the Australian V8 Supercars and after all, the Vauxhall version of it is quite largely a rebadged Holden isn't it?

However it will remain an itch I can never scratch because I couldn't even afford to keep it in fuel let alone insure it!
 
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The Panda Nut said:
Is that the V12? I so covet that machine. It does date us though as its clearly a more mature gentleman's not quite pocket rocket.
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Mine is the V8 which I think is fast enough 0-60 is 5.4 seconds
The V12 is slightly quicker but lots more to go wrong and I had researched that the V8 is more reliable.
Although loaded with electronics when something goes wrong they are all expensive to fix. Tyres are about £200 each so running costs are huge compared to the Panda.
 
Pugglt Auld Jock said:
However it will remain an itch I can never scratch because I couldn't even afford to keep it in fuel let alone insure it!
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Snap. Well I suppose I could but I just couldn't. The twinair uses more than I think is sensible for day to day. But the idea is so alluring!
 
Great links Dave, thank you very much. I've watched another one by the MultiAir guy but not this one. I'm into it to about minute ten as I'm writing this. Those mains shells sound like a nightmare? I must search out the rest of this build now. I've come across selective fits before, more with regard to piston sizes though, but the idea of having perhaps every single shell different - He talks about the half shell in the crank cradle being one size and the one in the block another? I can see why Fiat say to leave them alone if possible.

For those who may be thinking, Ball Converter - what the ---- is that? here's a wee explanation. You can buy a ball converter for your micrometer but a carefully selected ball bearing does just as well. The converter includes a special wee sleeve to hold the ball onto the end of the mic. I went through a container of loose ball bearings I have and selected one which is exactly 0.25 inches (my mics are mostly imperial):

P1090558.JPG

So if you need to measure a curved surface you place the ball on the inside of the curve and then measure the whole lot with the mic:

P1090560.JPG

All you do then it to subtract the 0.25" from the measured value and you've got the true thickness of the curved material. Without the ball the flatend of the mic anvil would bridge the curve and give a false reading. As you can see in this instance the barrel reading it on the 14 line and because The barrel reading is on the 0 when the ball is on it's own and I've wound the thimble out by less than one turn from the 0.25, the metal is 14 thou (thousands of an inch) thick. Voila!
 
Watching the top fitters fit a 120 megawatt steam turbine bearing was boring and stunning all at the same time. 14" diameter (or bigger) blued and scraped to fractions of a thou. Obviously mere apprentices always got to "have a go". In yer dreams chum.

That plant got hoiked out and sent to China. turbines, feed pumps, feed heaters, the lot. Whoosh.

I put new shells into an MG Midget A Series 1275 only to find it wouldn't start. I though the starter or battery has failed. But a bump start locked the wheels. Sump same off again to find a big end seized solid when torqued up. It needed a new con-rod but I needed transport. I scraped the shell until I had a good fit and put it back together. All was well 12,000 miles later so I got away with that.
 
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I'd built a couple of quite "agricultural" engines, likes of "A" series BMC, before I got involved in IMPS. As far as crankshaft mains and big ends go I've always "wiped", or would you call it "rotated"?, the shell into place to chase out anything which might be invisibly hiding in both the block/rod and caps. Then I've always checked the caps for "nip" by tightening the cap in place and then slackening one side. The cap should show a small clearance - maybe a couple of thou - which proves the cap is really tightening the shell into place. Not too much though or the shell will distort and grab the shaft. People don't realize how important a good contact between the shell and the casting is in relation to heat transfer let alone in preventing the shells rotating! I was taught to never rotate the crank before the caps are tight in case a shell moves. So, having checked for good nip apply a good coating of assembly lube (or oil if the engine is to be run very soon. Assembly lube tends to stay where it's put so better if the engine might be stored for even a wee while) and gently lift the crank into place. Assemble and tighten the main caps, then see if the shaft rotates smoothly and easily without any "stiff bits". Big ends go together the same but you can check each one as you go. The problem if you end up with a shaft that won't turn or doesn't feel "right" when you tighten the mains is which one is it? So then you slacken them one at a time until it frees up but you still don't really know what the problem is. So then you take all the caps off again and mic up the journals (which I would do as soon as the shaft came back from the engineers anyway) but if the shaft is Ok you need to find out what the problem with the shells is. The next bit, below, might help. - Of course there are a load of other things which could be wrong like a bent crank or distorted block etc, but we'll not go there now.

Then I got involved with building Imp engines and they can rev compared to the stuff I'd done up 'till then so I got a bit more preoccupied with bearing clearances - amongst other things. I'd heard of Plastigauge when listening to pit crews talking at Santa Pod and it had even been briefly mentioned in the engine shop at college so I decided to try some : https://plastigauge.co.uk/about/how-plastigauge-works/ It's great stuff because it removes all the guesswork from your bearing clearances. Also you can clearly see if there is any tapering or barreling of the journals if you're reusing a shaft without regrinding it. It's been some years since I've done an engine rebuild but I'd always want to check my clearances in this way if I ever do another one. Bit of an overkill for a Briggs lawnmower engine? then again, maybe not? Of course in a lawnmower engine you could only use it on the big end!
 
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I had plans to put a 998 Imp engine into a Norton frame, but I bought a house so it never got done. Squeezing an intake manifold around the headstock was always going to be an issue but the biggest by far were time and money.

I remember following a rally prepped Imp along Long Lane between Derby and Rocester (where they make JCBs). He had all the gear but on every bend I got closer. I managed to get ahead before a long straight and he never caught up. Mine was a bog standard Mini 1000 with a claimed 40bhp.
 
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Mini vs Imp was always entertaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCOPYTecPyU
And then there are the specials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxkaVOxj3eU. Of course whether you can really call this an Imp I'm not sure. Perhaps Imp bodied special would be closer. But it's still based around the good old Coventry Climax derived imp engine as far as I know. I've not seen this car in the flesh but I've seen a couple of more standard bodyshells with engines that rev out to not far off what this is doing.
 
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