1985 Austin Metro 1275 Auto
Discussion
Looks very clean.
A tip my father gave me for this engine was when you shut it down until the next day, in the same movement as turning the key, pull the choke out fully. When the engine has stopped, push the choke back in. In the morning, pull the choke out fully and start. As a youth with a 1.3 Marina doing this and keeping the plugs clean it'd start on half a turn, saving the battery.
A tip my father gave me for this engine was when you shut it down until the next day, in the same movement as turning the key, pull the choke out fully. When the engine has stopped, push the choke back in. In the morning, pull the choke out fully and start. As a youth with a 1.3 Marina doing this and keeping the plugs clean it'd start on half a turn, saving the battery.
A manual conversion?
Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
I remember this book had a table with every mod rated against every application of the A Series - as well as as much information as you could want.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tuning-Engine-Definitive-...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tuning-Engine-Definitive-...
Touring442 said:
A manual conversion?
Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
I had an auto Mini as my first car and put a 998 A+ engine and manual gearbox from a pre-production Metro in it. No idea what work had been done to the motor, but it was rather nippy !Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
Red9zero said:
Touring442 said:
A manual conversion?
Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
I had an auto Mini as my first car and put a 998 A+ engine and manual gearbox from a pre-production Metro in it. No idea what work had been done to the motor, but it was rather nippy !Auto Metros were never that good. A good MG was excellent fun. Avoid chasing bhp. 75-80 bhp is as much as you need. I put together quite a few back t'day. 1340 cc, 10:1 compression, 1 3/4 inch SU (but a std 1.5 will do), MG Metro cam, good exhaust on the MG manifold, 3.44 diff from a 998. Yeah.
Touring442 said:
It may have been an 1100. It's not widely known, but BL trialled the A Plus block in the 1979 Mini 1100 Special and quietly introduced it into the 1100 Clubman and Allegro for 1980. A pity BL didn't use it in the HLE versions of the Mini and Metro - it had excellent torque and pulled the 2.9 final drive with ease.
among the many Mini variants I owned over the years, I also had an 1100 Special - quite nicely specced from standard - I just swapped the wheels and removed the graphics. Went pretty well, but as with many Minis it was a bit oily. 
Edited by ttthilvester on Wednesday 2nd November 05:48
ttthilvester said:
Touring442 said:
It may have been an 1100. It's not widely known, but BL trialled the A Plus block in the 1979 Mini 1100 Special and quietly introduced it into the 1100 Clubman and Allegro for 1980. A pity BL didn't use it in the HLE versions of the Mini and Metro - it had excellent torque and pulled the 2.9 final drive with ease.
among the many Mini variants I owned over the years, I also had an 1100 Special - quite nicely specced from standard - I just swapped the wheels and removed the graphics. Went pretty well, but as with many Minis it was a bit oily. Edited by ttthilvester on Wednesday 2nd November 05:48
A lull at work earlier today had me sat on eBay looking for some MG Metro seats. The couple of sets advertised were looking pretty saggy, which is understandable given their age. I then went off on a tangent and started looking at seats from other makes.
I came across a set of front seats from an early Suzuki Swift GTi and put in a cheeky offer of £100 less than the seller had them advertised for. Within a couple of minutes he'd accepted the offer. I've just got to arrange the four hour round trip to collect them now
I think they look old enough to blend in reasonably well with the rest of the Metro interior
I came across a set of front seats from an early Suzuki Swift GTi and put in a cheeky offer of £100 less than the seller had them advertised for. Within a couple of minutes he'd accepted the offer. I've just got to arrange the four hour round trip to collect them now
I think they look old enough to blend in reasonably well with the rest of the Metro interior
bongtom said:
ttthilvester said:
Touring442 said:
It may have been an 1100. It's not widely known, but BL trialled the A Plus block in the 1979 Mini 1100 Special and quietly introduced it into the 1100 Clubman and Allegro for 1980. A pity BL didn't use it in the HLE versions of the Mini and Metro - it had excellent torque and pulled the 2.9 final drive with ease.
among the many Mini variants I owned over the years, I also had an 1100 Special - quite nicely specced from standard - I just swapped the wheels and removed the graphics. Went pretty well, but as with many Minis it was a bit oily. Edited by ttthilvester on Wednesday 2nd November 05:48
Those '79 Mini Specials are sought after now, aside from the natural attrition rate due to tin worm, a lot of them were bodged and customised even further from their original BL spec.
P5BNij said:
My second car was a '79 1100 Mini Clubman, it was a great improvement on my first, a ''77 Mini 1000, it had a bit more get up and go and I wish I'd kept it.
Those '79 Mini Specials are sought after now, aside from the natural attrition rate due to tin worm, a lot of them were bodged and customised even further from their original BL spec.
An anorak-y observation - many photos show the Specials with the 'normal Mini' round-edged bumpers, where other photos show them wearing Clubman sharper angle-edged bumpers (which mine had). Maybe they just raided the parts bins, and used whatever was available on the day?Those '79 Mini Specials are sought after now, aside from the natural attrition rate due to tin worm, a lot of them were bodged and customised even further from their original BL spec.
Mine also had rather nice rubber factory over-riders, which I haven't seen anywhere else.
Edited by ttthilvester on Thursday 3rd November 07:10
When discussing buying this car with the seller he mentioned that the choke cable needed to be replaced. Not a problem thought I. However it has been a problem. So far I've bought two different choke cables and neither of them have been long enough 
Thankfully I think I've found the correct one and it's winging its way to me as I type! Once that arrives I'll actually go out for my first drive in the Metro. So far it's just sitting in the corner of the workshop at work looking all sad.
Also, my hydralastic pump arrived today so I can raise the suspension a bit
I've also spoken to the local graphics company about making another of these stickers to go on the other side. Not a standard Metro sticker but I think it suits the car really well.
Thankfully I think I've found the correct one and it's winging its way to me as I type! Once that arrives I'll actually go out for my first drive in the Metro. So far it's just sitting in the corner of the workshop at work looking all sad.
Also, my hydralastic pump arrived today so I can raise the suspension a bit
I've also spoken to the local graphics company about making another of these stickers to go on the other side. Not a standard Metro sticker but I think it suits the car really well.
ttthilvester said:
P5BNij said:
My second car was a '79 1100 Mini Clubman, it was a great improvement on my first, a ''77 Mini 1000, it had a bit more get up and go and I wish I'd kept it.
Those '79 Mini Specials are sought after now, aside from the natural attrition rate due to tin worm, a lot of them were bodged and customised even further from their original BL spec.
An anorak-y observation - many photos show the Specials with the 'normal Mini' round-edged bumpers, where other photos show them wearing Clubman sharper angle-edged bumpers (which mine had). Maybe they just raided the parts bins, and used whatever was available on the day?Those '79 Mini Specials are sought after now, aside from the natural attrition rate due to tin worm, a lot of them were bodged and customised even further from their original BL spec.
Mine also had rather nice rubber factory over-riders, which I haven't seen anywhere else.
Edited by ttthilvester on Thursday 3rd November 07:10
I popped down to Dorset this morning and picked these up.
They’re from a Mk2 Suzuki Swift GTi. They’re in really good condition and they were cheap! Should look good in the Metro
Just need to get the correct rails welded on and then they’ll be going in!
They’re from a Mk2 Suzuki Swift GTi. They’re in really good condition and they were cheap! Should look good in the Metro
Just need to get the correct rails welded on and then they’ll be going in!
Edited by Sammo123 on Thursday 15th December 15:16
I got my insurance renewal through this morning. The price had gone up by £100 from last year 
After a bit of messing around on the various comparison sites I bagged myself another years insurance for the princely sum of £98. I also went through Topcashback so will get £43 back from that I'm not gonna complain about paying £55 a year for insurance 
After a bit of messing around on the various comparison sites I bagged myself another years insurance for the princely sum of £98. I also went through Topcashback so will get £43 back from that
I'm not gonna complain about paying £55 a year for insurance Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff