Motorbike In A Taxi

[Peter]

I always fancied a dolly sprint.

I also knew a chap who had a standard 1850 with overdrive.A nice car

[TomGoodheart]

I'm still curious about the bike! I was behind a TX1 the other day and I have to say, it didn't look terribly wide. I wondered if you'd need to remove both back and front wheels, or it would be sufficient to take the back one off and rely on the fact that you can twist the front round to fit in the space.

[Chris Perkins]

Rear wheel to rear wheel, which is also about the inner dimension too, it's 1.4m / 4'8" wide. I think you're right, the rear bike wheel would also need to come off. I'll have to see. The way it's looking though, I may not even have time to find a bike and try it.

[Peckris]

Yes, the Triumph straight 6 is a very tuneable engine. The Injected 2.5l version in the TR6 was good for 150bhp as standard. Better exhaust manifold and downpipes instantly add 10-15bhp and the 1998cc has been bored out to a 2.7l. I'm sure the 2.5 can be increased to over 3l and must be good for 225+bhp when tuned. Plenty of room in many Triumphs for engine upgrades too, like this one with 434bhp and enough torque to actually wheelie:

http://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail.php?prod=11secondRWYBTriumph2000Streetcar

It's a lot of work and expense though, so hence most people just buy a Subaru.

He lost me at

it was then meticulously cleaned water and oil ways bored +30 decked to within 1 though eagle cast steel crank eagle rods forged keith black pistons file fit rings balanced of course stroked to 347 girdle windage tray arp studs race oil pump rear sump morroso double hump sump with 2 drain plugs all arp stainless steel bolts hold the parts to this engine on the outside all new timing gears cloys all new covers all bearings camshaft is a lunati flat tappet cam lunati lifters manley 100though push rods heads are 200cc runners last of the pro topline aluminium large manley race swirl valves comp cams valve springs double springs with damper special stem seals and valve collets promag roller rockers guide plates head studs arp ford raceing covers welland uprated water pump aluminium pullies proper crank ballancer air gap inlet manifold carburettor 4150 750 vacume secondary full electronic ignition curved advance disi for correct advance

I did get the "bored" reference though.

Having said that, the Triumph Herald engine started life as the Standard 948cc block. The same block was bored out to 1147cc to give the Herald 1200 series, and AGAIN to 1296cc to give the Herald 13/60 series. (Yes, yes, all right, I'm boring now...)

""

[Chris Perkins]

Quite long winded that, esp without being broken up into paragraphs. I've never read past about the 2nd line. It's a Triumph 2000 doing a wheelie, and that's all that counts!

The 6 Cylinder 1998cc and 2498 cc were also based on the 4 cylinder Standard engine... so was the V8 Triumph Stag engine. It was typical British practice (not just at Triumph) to spend about £50 per year on product development in order to keep using 1940s engines for at least 60 years.

In my opinion that is why the British owned car makers are no more. The R&D people simply didn't have enough money and that meant a new car design was more about raiding the existing parts bin than actually making something radically new to compete with the other world car makers. In saying that though, even with the limited funds they had, there were some gems created against all odds. We can't even successfully make London Taxis now without Chinese help.

[Peckris]

Quite long winded that, esp without being broken up into paragraphs. I've never read past about the 2nd line. It's a Triumph 2000 doing a wheelie, and that's all that counts!

The 6 Cylinder 1998cc and 2498 cc were also based on the 4 cylinder Standard engine... so was the V8 Triumph Stag engine. It was typical British practice (not just at Triumph) to spend about £50 per year on product development in order to keep using 1940s engines for at least 60 years.

In my opinion that is why the British owned car makers are no more. The R&D people simply didn't have enough money and that meant a new car design was more about raiding the existing parts bin than actually making something radically new to compete with the other world car makers. In saying that though, even with the limited funds they had, there were some gems created against all odds. We can't even successfully make London Taxis now without Chinese help.

Well, certainly 50 years! The classic Austin A series appeared in 1951 and its final variant - used in the final Mini - was used until 2000. I think the A / A+ got shoved into just about every Austin / BL / Austin-Rover small to mid-size saloon. Not a bad lifetime! And it was a good engine.

[RLC35]

Quite long winded that, esp without being broken up into paragraphs. I've never read past about the 2nd line. It's a Triumph 2000 doing a wheelie, and that's all that counts!

The 6 Cylinder 1998cc and 2498 cc were also based on the 4 cylinder Standard engine... so was the V8 Triumph Stag engine. It was typical British practice (not just at Triumph) to spend about £50 per year on product development in order to keep using 1940s engines for at least 60 years.

In my opinion that is why the British owned car makers are no more. The R&D people simply didn't have enough money and that meant a new car design was more about raiding the existing parts bin than actually making something radically new to compete with the other world car makers. In saying that though, even with the limited funds they had, there were some gems created against all odds. We can't even successfully make London Taxis now without Chinese help.

The Triumph TR-8 sold in the USA was a "Pocket Rocket" utilizing a small Buick V8! The car was a basic TR-7, with the small Buick engine. It was a cute car, but did not sell well. I don't know if it was offered in the UK or not.

[bagerap]

As a young man with lamentably few driving skills and arguably too much money I owned a Sunbeam Tiger which had a Ford V8 lump. .Great on the straight but useless on a curve unless you had a bag or two of cement atop the rear axle. Had a wonderful burn up with a police Daimler Dart on the Western Avenue, which I politely let him win.

[Chris Perkins]

The 'Rover' V8 was the engine used in the TR8, but I know it was based on the US engine originally. The TR8 is very rare in RHD form, I think they made less than 20 for the home market. It's common to find TR7's with retro fitted V8 engines. That's another engine that saw decades of use. Range Rovers had them until recently and TVR may still be using them I think.... just googled and complete engines are still made for when people need replacements.

Peck rightly mentions Austin.

The Jaguar XK engine is another that was used for many years, from 1949 to 1992 in sports cars and saloons.

The Rolls Royce 6.3 and later in 6.75l form is still in production and has been used since 1959!

A police Daimler Dart bagerap! That must have been a few years ago. Dad had a Daimler V8 250 saloon in the 80s, which of course had the same engine, at least I think it did.

[bagerap]

It was in the late 60s, maybe very early 70s. Sometime early in the morning, just about dawn, we were lined up at traffic lights and the police driver leant over and said "how fast are those anyway?" The upshot was that we both bombed along the A40 from Hillingdon Circus to Hoovers in Perivale. at which point I backed off. Discretion being the better part of not getting nicked, but I had about 15 mph advantage over him most of the time.

[Peter]

I got caught doing 120mph on a duel carriage way after following numerous caravans on a trip to Cornwall.(The duel carriageway was about 2 miles and I floored it)

The unmarked police car stopped me and gave me a ticking off.

I have slowed down and reduced my BP.

My thanks still go out as I'm now a calmer driver.

BTW I commuted to London for about 20 years (190 mile round trip) and have been accident and conviction free.

Mrs Peter still drives too fast...I think I will have to put something in her tea.

[HistoricCoinage]

I got caught doing 120mph on a duel carriage way

Was it a duel between you and the speedo or you and the caravans?

[Peckris]

I got caught doing 120mph on a duel carriage way

Was it a duel between you and the speedo or you and the caravans?

No - with a mysterious truck driven by an unseen Steven Spielberg

[HistoricCoinage]

No - with a mysterious truck driven by an unseen Steven Spielberg

Wrong Spielberg film, Peter was in the one where he had to sit in the front basket of a bicycle with the Mrs cycling.

[Peter]

LOL

She always seems to be on her cycle.

[Peckris]

No - with a mysterious truck driven by an unseen Steven Spielberg

Wrong Spielberg film, Peter was in the one where he had to sit in the front basket of a bicycle with the Mrs cycling.

Brilliant!