Fast Marina Magazine

Hopefully this nice weather wil hold out so I can actually use him a bit while I'm off work.

Brilliant - get out there this weekend - drive and smile and smile and smile.







Chris
www.marinacoupe.co.uk

Excellent. Always a nice feeling. I've got one of my cars booked for Thursday morning. I hope you have started a trend.

I need to get mine done before the end of the month.







Chris
www.marinacoupe.co.uk

Same here :-)


www.fastmarinamagazine.com - Check out my V8 conversion in Readers Projects.

Well done Phil!, now get out there and use him mate

Well done

Come on lets fill the roads up with 1.3 saloons My problem is now mine is roadworthy I'm not doing any jobs on it now, I just keep driving it

IOW for the bank holiday Philip?

Not sure. I would like to come to the IOW. I had fully intended to but life has got in the way a bit lately. What are the dates?

JoshWard wrote:Well done

Come on lets fill the roads up with 1.3 saloons My problem is now mine is roadworthy I'm not doing any jobs on it now, I just keep driving it

Do you notice much difference between the 1.8 and the 1.3?

Philip wrote:Not sure. I would like to come to the IOW. I had fully intended to but life has got in the way a bit lately. What are the dates?

Sat 25th for the long weekend. Bring a tent, book into Ninham camp site near shanklin - quite a few of us there!

Philip wrote:

JoshWard wrote:Well done

Come on lets fill the roads up with 1.3 saloons My problem is now mine is roadworthy I'm not doing any jobs on it now, I just keep driving it

Do you notice much difference between the 1.8 and the 1.3?

I have noticed a few differences.

0-60 is a fair bit slower in the 1.3, but Ducky currently has an overly heavy throttle (correct spring is on it's way) which may have something to do with it (it's hard putting my foot to the floor!). Once I'm up to speed the 1.3 cruises nicely.
The gearing is of course different, in bends I would previously drop into second for in the 1.8 I find myself staying in third as second sees the engine thrashing away in the 1.3, although at 50mph it seems reasonably civilised but then again I didn't have any carpets or soundproofing in the front of JWC (although my 1.3 being a DL has rubber flooring rather than carpet).
At idle I have noticed the 1.3 is a lot more civilised, it doesn't idle as smoothly as my 1.8 did but that had electronic ignition, the 1.3 seems a bit more 'refined', it doesn't surprise me to realise the A series seems more refined than the B series, after all the A series stayed in use until the 90s whereas BL saw fit to ditch the B series and develop the O series from it instead.

Handling is a lot better. My 1.8 had telescopic shocks, rear van (four leaves) leaf springs, uprated van torsion bars and poly tie bar bushes, the 1.3 has lever arm shocks and poly tie bar bushes, she may even have the early 'suicide' suspension, I'm not 100% sure when they changed over. The 1.3 seems a lot tighter around corners with less body roll. I've not driven a 1.8 with standard leaf springs and torsion bars so can't comment on how they compare as standard.

The clutch has a much lower biting point, but then again it is an entirely different clutch having the early 1 inch bore slave cylinder and 6 1/2 inch clutch.

Brakes in the 1.3 are slightly more 'interesting' being drums with no servo, but it's more of a case of getting used to them after driving around with discs upfront and a servo, they are certainly adequate at stopping the car, you just have to press your foot down harder!

A whole lot less weight in the front of a 1.3 , so it shouldn't understeer as much.

That's certainly how it feels to me!

Went for another run this morning with my new throttle spring and it's made acceleration a lot better, still a fair bit slower than the 1.8 (obviously!- Lost 0.5 litres, and have a smaller carb and possible a low compression engine?) but certainly workable.

I love driving it

Josh

Easy to tell if engine originally low or high compression engine.

If the engine block number has an H in its High and if it has an L in it, it's low compression.







Chris
www.marinacoupe.co.uk