Just heard this programme on Radio 4, mostly about cars in Cuba. I can't identify the model of Italian sports car they're on about, I wonder why they don't say?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33884714
Engine from a Lada, don't think those seats are original either..........
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"Is this a Che-vrolet?" - groan!
I remember a TV programme 10-15 years ago that showed the locals making their own 'brake fluid' from washing-up liquid, which seemed a bit risky..!
"I wonder why they don't say?"
It's the Beeb - they don't do technical.
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Thu 13 Aug 15 at 12:26
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I suppose you could make a heavyweight fifties American jalopy run with a Lada engine, a horrid thing as I know having rebuilt one, but I doubt if any Cuban mechanic would be half-witted enough to bother. What they used to use when parts for the original engine became unobtainable was a lorry diesel transplant, a Gardner five-cylinder or something like that with enough torque to haul the thing noisily about.
I still love the look of some of those forties and fifties US behemoths. They are ornate in an endearingly childish way, suits me down to the ground. Under the chrome flourishes, their front suspension joints, king pins and so on must be a joy to behold close up, after years of loving cobbling by chaps driven by necessity. Probably quite audible on bumpy roads, nice bit of shimmy and vibration over 40mph, heh heh...
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Wasn't the Lada engine the same as that in the Fiat 124? A bit small to lug an old Chevy about, I grant you. I'm with you on the appearance of the old Yank tanks - I used to think they were hideous, but not any more. I'd love a Hudson Hornet, especially the convertible.
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>> Wasn't the Lada engine the same as that in the Fiat 124?
No, it wasn't.
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"The ancient Fiat based OHC range of engines.." according to Wiki, although it does later say that they used the Ford Pinto cam belt, so clearly not entirely Fiat based!
I liked the joke about the 16-valve Lada, though...
(8 in the engine and 8 in the radio)
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>> Lada engine the same as that in the Fiat 124?
>> No, it wasn't.
It was a Soviet-designed version which had massive, heavy cast-iron cam followers floating on adjustable ball posts at one end. The inertia of the cam followers necessitated very, very stiff valve springs. It was fiddly to get the clearances right and the ball posts were a weak point, the ball much inclined to wear lopsidedly. The parts were cheap apart from the camshaft itself, but they needed to be.
I find it hard to believe that Fiat of Turin would have made such a thick-ear sort of engine. I would expect to find lighter pressed-steel followers in the Fiat version, and other differences too. Dunno for sure though.
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Some of the old Yank tanks in Cuba are actually in quite good nick. I suspect that folks with family in the US get them to brings parts in when they visit or have them shipped through intermediaries in Central or South America.
Their numbers have reduced a bit over the last ten years or so because imports for the tourist car hire operation usually end up as taxis after a few years. Most new cars are either Pugs or now Roewe but I've seen a few Audi A4s on Govt. plates.
We'll be there again in Dec. if anyone wants to purchase a classic. Commission negotiable.
www.cubaautos.org/
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Over there 3years ago.went most places by lada taxi..the driver had had his taxi for 14 years.and once built a piston from a coca cola can.brill
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See, now that's a good story, but its probably apocryphal.
A coke can wouldn't work, it would simply melt and deform.
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In the 21st century equivalent of the old kid's tv programme "Why don't you...", here's the King of Random melting coke cans. Great stuff.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSoWxG30rb0
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Couldn't you fill it with something hard and heat-resistant - concrete, say? There's probably a reason most pistons aren't made of concrete but it would at least keep the can in shape.
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Steel can rather than aluminium?
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Maybe he melted the cans down and used a mould to make a new piston.
Mold?
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 20 Aug 15 at 13:44
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>> Mold?
A place in Flintshire.
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>> >> Mold?
>>
>> A place in Flintshire.
Yr Wyddgrug to the locals?
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I've heard of a Jeep that melted or broke a piston in the absence of spare parts, and had a wooden hand-carved piston replacing it (without a spark plug in that cylinder of course) to keep the whole engine in some sort of balance, albeit only firing on three cylinders.
Needs must when the devil drives. Weirder things have happened.
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Some years ago, I heard a tale about an Austin 7 in the UK having a wooden piston, but firing as normal. Since then I've heard of it happening to other vehicles, but in not one case, any pictures, let alone any other evidence.
Turning 4 cylinder into a 3 etc, I've heard of being done in the early years of motoring, but there was no added piston and the relevant con-rod was removed to stop it scratching the bore.
Nothing on Snopes that I could find.
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Yes I remember he said used concrete. Lovely young man trying hard to better himself.think the car was 32 years old we drve a few hundred miles with him. .could hire a car, they were all out on hire. .that's what it's like out there.
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Cuba - About to change forever? - J Bonington Jagworth
