Image 01

Posts Tagged ‘engine’

Peel Microcars

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

The Peel Microcars were produced in the 1960s by Peel Engineering on the Isle of Man and were the world’s smallest cars.

The Peel P 50 was a single seat 3-wheeler with a German 49 cc two-stroke engine produced by Zweirad Union (DKW) and originally was a moped engine.

The car was a simple glass fibre construction with no chassis, a length of 54 in (1.37 m) and a width of 41 in (1.04 m). The car was available in red, white and blue. As the engine was placed under the driver’s seat the car was very loud.

It also had hardly any comfort, no speedometer and not even indicators or brake signs. The driver had to use hand signs, which wasn’t too easy as only the window on the right hand side could be opened.

Less than 50 cars were built from 1963 t0 1964.The Peel Trident was a 2-seater 3-wheeler and a few cars had a 99 cc Triumph Tina/T10 engine and an 8” rear wheel, instead of the 49 cc Zweirad Union engine. The car was a little bigger than the P 50 with a length of 71 in (1.81 m) and a width of 42 in (1.07 m). Some of the cars were fitted with a shopping basket instead of the passenger seat. The colours available were red and blue and a little more than 80 cars were built from 1964 to 1966.




Car Parts English-German Part 3

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

This is the third part of my car parts dictionary. Next month I will add more.

English German
engine Motor
engine compartment, under bonnet area Motorraum
engine cooling system Motorkühlanlage
engine number, engine identification number Motornummer
engine oil Motoröl
estate car, station wagon Kombi
exhaust Auspuff
exhaust system Auspuffanlage
fan, fan wheel Lüfterrad
five-speed-gearbox Fünf-Gang-Getriebe
floor pan Bodenblech
fog light Nebelscheinwerfer
forward gear Vorwärtsgang
four-wheel-drive Vierrad-Antrieb
front axle Vorderachse
front track Spurweite, vorn
front wheel Vorderrad
fuel consumption Kraftstoffverbrauch
fuel filter Kraftstofffilter
fuel filter element Kraftstofffiltereinsatz
fuel gauge Tankanzeige
fuel pump Kraftstoffpumpe
full beam, main beam Fernlicht
fuse Sicherung

Classic Car Restoration

Monday, November 9th, 2009

If you want to restore a classic car, you have to decide what you really want, as there are different ways of how to restore a car.
You can of course restore a car in a way that makes it look and be, better than new. That sometimes means to change and improve the engine and brake system. Especially when upgrading the engine, you should also improve the brake system. Better than new can mean completely new bodywork, paint and interior, too. In the end no signs of use will be visible. And it might even look little different than the original car.
But you can of course restore a car in a way that it will be as good as it was on the day of sale. This means using original parts, materials, and manufacturing techniques. The car will in the end be like new, without any sort of improvement.
A third way would be to restore a car in a way that is more a conservation of the present state than a renewal. But even though you might not change a lot, no completely new upholstery, new paint, and buckles still visible, you should take good care of the technical and security aspects of the car. Improvements out of security reasons might still be necessary. In the end you will have a car that is technically OK and save but still looks like an old car. You don’t really need an anti-ageing treatment for a car, do you?
Why don’t you leave a comment telling others about your car restoration?

The Volkswagen Beetle

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

After having passed the driving test in 1982, I really hated to drive my mum’s old Beetle.

For some reason I always managed to kill the engine and sometimes wasn’t even able to start the car again. Today I’d be more than happy to have a Bug.

Even though I was of the opinion that my mum’s Beetle hated me, the cars generally were pretty reliable and of course high build quality. And the sound of the engine was somehow unique.

They haven’t been the most sold German cars until 2002, for no reason, have they? More than 21.5 million units were sold from 1938 to 2003, 330,000 of them were convertibles. 15.8 million cars were produced in Germany.

Before WW2 the idea was to produce a car that is affordable for most people. The idea of manufacturing a Volkswagen (the people’s car) is much older though. More or less responsible for the design of the Beetle was Ferdinand Porsche. This is why the Beetle often was called Kugelporsche in Germany. Kugel is a German word for ball or sphere.

The production of civilian Volkswagen cars did not start until after WW2.  The official name at that time was KdF-Wagen and refers to Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy), the leisure organization during the Third Reich. Later it was Type 1 before it was named Beetle after WW2. During the war, the Beetle was produced for military use only. Mechanically it was to be as simple as possible.

After WW2 the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg was under British control and was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain. Luckily no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory. Thanks to the British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst, who was able to convince the British Army to order 20,000 cars, the factory survived.
After Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen Factory the production increased. The one-millionth car came off the assembly line in 1955.

The first Beetle was sold in the UK in June 1953.

Specifications:

  • Production 1938-2003 – 21,529,464 units
  • Body styles – 2-door sedan, 2-door convertible
  • Length – 4070-4140 mm
  • Width – 1540-1585 mm
  • Height – 1500 mm
  • Wheel track – 2400-2420 mm
  • Kerb weight – 730-930 kg
  • Layout – rear engine, rear-wheel drive
  • Engines – 1.1 L, 1.2 L, 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L H4
  • Transmissions – 4-speed manual transaxle, 3-speed clutchless manual (Autostick)

Mini

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

As during the Suez Crisis in 1956 more and more German Bubble Cars were sold in Britain, the head of BMC, Leonard Lord, decided to design a miniature car.

It was ‘to drive the Bubble cars off the roads’. The car should be no bigger than 10 x 4 x 4 ft (3 x 1.2 x 1.2 m) and an already existing engine was to be used.

A front-wheel-drive car with a conventional BMC A-series four-cylinder water-cooled engine was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis. The engine was mounted in transversely, with the radiator on the left and had an engine-oil lubricated four-speed transmission in the sump. The Mini was born. The first of the in Birmingham produced cars were sold in 1959. And from 1959 to 2000 5,387,862 cars were sold.

The Mini became at least as popular as the Volkswagen Beetle.

Here are some of the specifications of the Mini:

  • Production – 1959-2000
  • Manufacturer – BMC to MG Rover and Innocenti, Authi
  • Class – Supermini
  • Engine – A-series 850-1275 cc 14
  • Transmission – 4-speed manual, 4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual( a few models only)
  • Wheelbase – saloon: 80.3 in (2.14 m), estate and commercials: 84.3 in (2.40 m)
  • Length – saloon: 120.1 in (3.05 m), estate and commercials: 133.9 in (3.40 m)
  • Width – 55.1 in (1.40 m)
  • Height – 53.1 in (1.35 m)
  • Kerb weight – 1,360 to 1,512 lb (617 to 686 kg)

There will be a Mini4kids Show at Gunway Quays, Portsmouth on Sunday, October 11, 2009. All Minis and Mini based cars are welcome.

Bad Behavior has blocked 102 access attempts in the last 7 days.