Preping Series 2A for Summer....Help.

[Robbiellewellyn]

I have sadly just sold my baby (the 90 in my display pic) and so am now left with my Series 2A, Beatrix. Now she's my one and only, im looking to make her a little more economic and more reliable for pretty much constant use in the summer/spring, because at the moment i daren't take her for more than 20 miles. Any help on what to do or buy to make her a little more fuel efficient and reliable in general would be greatly appreciated. Cheers in advance guys.
Rob

[Devon-Rover]

servicing...

walk around every week and check all is well. rock the wheels to check for loose wheel bearings.
Check engine oil, washer, brake fluid, and water everyweek.
Check the axle, swivels, Steering box, gearboxe's levels, grease Prop UJ's every month.

Give the fuel system an overhaul and makesure all the pipes are in good condition, run a bit of fuel cleaner through and that'll hopefully flsh out any rubbish and let her run well.
Check and if nessacery set the points, clean the rotor arm and contacts with a bit of emery paper. If the plugs and leads haven't been changed for a while (few years) then it might help by changing them.

A good road / AT tyre will be more efficient to run on the road than a MT pattern and correctly inflated helps too.
If there is any slack in the steering then removing that will help when driving it.
And going over most of the electrical connections with emerypaper / wirebrush will prevent the corrsion build up that casuses electrical probs.

Nice seats help too.  :)

That's a starter.

Maybe popping over to the Series 2 club forum. will help a lot as there is a huge amount of technical help availble from those who do use their series 2's daily.

[Pete]

Best thing I ever did with mine was fit an overdrive, makes a hell of a difference if you use it for any trip over a couple of miles. cuts noise, and fuel consumption.
 Pete.

[Robbiellewellyn]

yeah, i was considering getting an over drive and have heard lots about them. What exactly would it aid? Does it kind of give me a 5th gear? Cheers for all the help so far.
Rob

[Devon-Rover]

an Overdrive gives a 26% increase in gearing.

So you can either go faster with the same engine revs.
Or keep the same speed and reduce the engine revs.

This allows a good crusing speed to be kept and also the engine will not be screaming. so makeing it a little more fuel effiecient and little less noisy.

Have you got a petrol or a diesel?

[Rich_P]

I suspect he's got a petrol for being afraid of doing any decent distances in it.  :lol:

[Robbiellewellyn]

Yup you'd be correct. Its a 2.25 petrol. Thats the kind of thing im looking for. Something to reduce the fuel consumption as well as making it easier to cruise longer distances. So how much does one of these over drives cost? Is it a simple bolt on job? how would you use it when your actually driving? I like to cruise at around 50/60 max but it drinks fuel so would one of these help?
Cheers,
Rob

[Rich_P]

An overdrive won't really decrease fuel consumption.  20mpg is the best you can possibly hope to achieve out of one of these engines.

To use the overdrive, you simply depress the clutch, push the lever into the engaged position and release the clutch like you normally would in a gear shift.  It's the reverse of engagement to disengage.

[Devon-Rover]

well as a guide an good overdrive seems to be around the 250 pound mark ATM.

As for fuel economy. i'd expect most to better what i got last year.

on 235/70R16 mud tyres. Roof rack, Crusing on the motoway at 50 / 55. on a worn engine, that used a 4 litres of oil over 300 miles.
I returned an average 21 mpg on a run.

now having rebuilt the engine, Set the timing, and removed the roof rack i'm expecting better results.
So those series owners should be up around that mark as well. The only mod to the engine was a K&N filter.

I too have an OD and it is a very usefull.

I'm hoping to get a ACR free flow rear exhaust section in a bid to improve the gass flow which should aid the running. I know of one fitted to a petrol and the results are positive.