Starting handle
Discussion
Not a British sports car but more fun than one British sports car I owned (it had an octagonal badge - sorry ) was my 2 CV. It was a 1976 car and did have a starting handle. Not that I ever needed to use it.
I do have memories , now very distant , of dad starting one his Humber Hawks with a handle . GPs had strong arms and wrists back then .
I do have memories , now very distant , of dad starting one his Humber Hawks with a handle . GPs had strong arms and wrists back then .
coppice said:
Not a British sports car but more fun than one British sports car I owned (it had an octagonal badge - sorry ) was my 2 CV. It was a 1976 car and did have a starting handle. Not that I ever needed to use it.
I bought Mrs Banana a 2CV while she was at uni. I ran it for a week before handing over to her and one evening, on the way home from work, it stopped. The AA were quick to respond and the guy spotted immediately that it had no fan belt. In fact, judging by the rust on the pulley, it hadn't had one for a while. The battery had accumulated and provided enough energy to start and run the car, up until I had to drive with the headlights on.I bought a new belt and fitted it (which you could do in 2 mins because the fan was flexible enough to bend the belt over). Mrs B never knew.
InitialDave said:
I would assume the series 3 Landie up to the mid 80s would mark the last car you can start with a handle, but I don't know if they came with one.
Yes they did - the starting handle was part of the standard tool kit up to the end of production in 1985.My 1982 2.25 diesel SIII had one - mostly used it for doing the tappets but I did once, as an academic exercise, start it on the handle. It was a summer's day, the Landy had just done a 2hr trip, and the hand throttle was set wide open. It needed the same technique as a Lister-Petter cement mixer engine - get it on the start of a compression stroke, then sort of karate chop it over TDC.
You wouldn't have a hope in hell of starting a diesel Landy on the handle from cold (when you're most likely to need to do so...).
2xChevrons said:
InitialDave said:
I would assume the series 3 Landie up to the mid 80s would mark the last car you can start with a handle, but I don't know if they came with one.
Yes they did - the starting handle was part of the standard tool kit up to the end of production in 1985.My 1982 2.25 diesel SIII had one - mostly used it for doing the tappets but I did once, as an academic exercise, start it on the handle. It was a summer's day, the Landy had just done a 2hr trip, and the hand throttle was set wide open. It needed the same technique as a Lister-Petter cement mixer engine - get it on the start of a compression stroke, then sort of karate chop it over TDC.
You wouldn't have a hope in hell of starting a diesel Landy on the handle from cold (when you're most likely to need to do so...).
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