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Redex

arkrite brought a smile to my face as he is right about the flowmeter i too had an anglia but got round the carb problem by fitting S U carb conversion cut down on fuel consumptin and the smoke something I learned from me dad who used to repair all his vehicles cause he was too tight to put any shots in:D
 
The S.U. Carburretor was probably the best around. Certainly better than Fords Zenith. Just like a lot of young lads today I spent a fortune on my motor. Looking back it was not money well spent. Experiance and youth are difficult words to put in the same sentance. Glad it made you smile. That engine taught me alot about maintanence.
 
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ran my Standard Vanguard 1952 model half petrol half parrafin could not afford petrol ,them were the real days
robb
 
Now your talking Standard vanguards mk 1 and 2 had both although the mk 1 was a lot rarer the mk 2 I bought later in the 80s was indestructible almost we nicknamed it the tank going back to the mk1 I was one of the people responsible for a lot of these cars being destroyed rather than being saved in pursuit of my hobby of banger racing although I have no regrets I wish I had saved some of them in hindsight a couple of lads who we shared a unit with aquired an old mk 1 from somewhere we stripped it out and couldnt believe the state of it rotten as a pear we welded patches here and there worked on the engine etc and went to Grimley Dave the lad who used it won Two demolition derbys with it I dont know if the pictures are still there but they were hung behind the bar at The Holte Fleet vanguards rule yeh:(:cry:
 
Louis Dalby said:
I worked in a garage ( Greenhill Moseley ) 1947 petrol was still POOL and rationed, Redex was asked for and DE - cokes where all part of the day's work. We had four pumps one for RED !. I remember the companies coming and fitting the new globe's four different brands !!. We had a oil cabinet outside from which we would top up customers engine oil. Some garage's had petrol / oil dispensers but the modern two - strokes do not use a petrol/oil mixture
Click to expand...

Hello Louis,
When did you leave Greenhill Garage, my mate started work there when he left school c 1954
 
Holts Decoke came in tube i removed my s/plugs as per instructions squeezed equal amounts into a hot engine leave over night, tried to start it next morning no joy, hotted up the s/plugs and it started, had to run out of the garage to escape the choking white smoke, drove to work in Coventry from Brum (15mls) when i got to work smoke had cleared, car was a Standard 8 circa 1956, Len.
 
Somebody tried to sell me a Standard like that one in the advert. It must have been a very basic model. It had one windscreen wiper, the bootlid was welded shut and no heater. No deal. I bought a Morris Minor with a split, and permanantly leaking , windscreen but the boot opened and a heater ( sort of). Max 55mph from 803cc engine. I gave that a RedeX decoke and soon fitted oversize rings , new valves and guides.
Perhaps the decoke was a bad idea but it got my hands dirty and I was never afraid of taking an engine apart. Putting it back together was a different matter.
 
My Standard 8 was the basic model, the boot was loaded by folding the rear seats forward it did not open from the outside so Arkrite the boot lid was not welded shut only the the model shown in motorman-mike`s advert had normal boot lids. Len.
 
Darby said:
Hello Louis,
When did you leave Greenhill Garage, my mate started work there when he left school c 1954
Click to expand...

Started there in c1947 till Oct 1949, It was run by the Smith family, Grandfather ran the shop on the corner. I know David there son who was at school in these day's played with my brother and I think still runs the garage, I noticed a sticker on a car here in Bournemouth and the owner told me the car came from them. From there I went to the BSA for ten years. Lou Dalby Ex BSA Test.
 
Lenscop, Your car was the same as the one offered me in 1968. would you have any idea, roughly , how old that car would have been. I remember it was in better condition than the 1954 Morris Minor I had instead of it. In those days when you opened the bonnet you had a good idea of what was what. These days it does not even look like an engine.
 
Used to take a sauce bottle to the garage for 20 shots, mixed then with 50% ether it made an excellet fuel for the compression ignition model aeroplane engines. Half the the price of the commercial product
 
OtherHalf, thank you for that interesting link. Standards were lovely cars but lost out to boring badge engineering. I must say I could not spend every Sunday messing with the car these days. I would not know where to start any way.
 
You have missed out greasy clothes dirty fingernails smells of redex:Dand the cuts and scrapes from diy ON THE OTHER HAND:D maybe not:D
 
Arkrite, My first car was a pre WW2 Ford 8 price was £100 new, i bought it for £65 s/hand passed my test in it 1956, i bought the Standard 8 for £265 with £60 p/x for the Ford from Stockland Garage, small mileage first class condition. traded it in for a new Vauxhall Victor 1959 at Lisle Garage (became Ryland later), Broad St price £707? got £225 p/x allowance, saw the Standard in their showroom 1 month later, it had been re-sprayed and was priced at £265!! ono, good small car went to work & holidays in it and it never let me down. The Standard offered to you was 15yrs old. Len.
 
redex good stuff and standard engines not bad i have 2,both in tractors.a 23c and 20c,1947 and 1957.The redex i found good for decoking my old petrol engine,after emptying a tin down the air intake and leaving it all weekend.then running it.sorry to the folks down wind.:D
 
Earlier I mentioned the Carburol Upper Cylinder Lubricant that competed with Redex in some areas. At 1d a shot it came out of a heavy duty squirter that looked like a an industrial pub optic. When full it took some lifting but of course we had petrol attendents to serve us in those days ;)
 
Talking to my brother-in-law about Redex, he went into his garage and brought out the bottle shown below. This led to chat about old stuff we keep in garages and I owned up to having a 35 year old tin of Castrol grease. I've also got a 1971 AA book.
 
extract from
PRACTICAL MOTORIST 1960

[SIZE=+2]TUNING FOR EFFICIENCY[/SIZE]
with REDEX additive
Getting the most out of our available horsepower without extensivemechanical modifications, is an ambition that can now be realised.
Engine efficiency is reflected either in more miles per gallon, or inimproved acceleration—one cannot normally have it both ways atonce!
Willing horsepower is usually the hardest worked and REDEXengineers are concerned to ease the burden on over-strained 'horses'.REDEX is an Oil and Fuel Additive which performs a number of vitalfunctions in a highly stressed engine.
In petrol, REDEX is an uppercylinder lubricant providing lubrication to dry cylinder walls on everycold start.
It will prevent hard carbon deposits forming on valves andpiston rings—a major cause of poor compression—and give muchlonger periods between de-cokes.
A s an extreme pressure lubricant in engine and gearbox REDEXincreases oil film strength, cuts down frictional heat.
As a syntheticliquid wax, it ensures lubrication at high temperatures, preventingpossible seizure during periods of high stress and tight bearing con-ditions. REDEX blends completely with all fuels and all grades oflubricating oil. REDEX is added to petrol, one penny shot (approx.1/2oz.) to each gallon of fuel, and engine oil in the proportion of onepart REDEX to three parts oil.
In gearbox one part REDEX shouldbe used with five parts oil.
The table below shows how acceleration and fuel consumption figurescan be improved after the cars have been 'REDEXED', and subse-quently after ignition and carburation have been adjusted to takeadvantage of the power released by REDEX.
Fuel Consumption20-40 MPH in top
at steady 30 MPH(yards)
MPG MPG MPG Before After Afterbefore after after REDEX REDEX tuningREDEX REDEX tuning
Jaguar 3.420.95 23.5 24.15 131106106
TR332.85 36.05 37.61059084
Morris Oxford 33.7 36.58 37.6140126119
Austin A3551.21 55.65 58.19988784
Standard 844.14 49.2 51.21 126112105
Before REDEX treatment the engine is checked. After taking per-formance times and making an accurate petrol consumption test thesump is drained and filled with REDEX. Plugs are removed and2 or 3 ozs. of REDEX poured through each plug hole and left to soakfor 20 minutes. Plug holes are covered with rag and the starter motoris operated to eject surplus REDEX and plugs replaced. The engine isstarted and set to run at a fast tickover for 15 minutes, during whichtime i pint of REDEX is bled into the inlet manifold. The sump isthen drained and refilled with one part REDEX to three parts oil.Sparking plugs and contact breaker points are then cleaned and ad-justed, and the timing accurately reset. It is possible to obtain a quickand more accurate ignition setting by using a REDEX tuning gaugethan by reference to flywheel markings. Carburettor adjustmentsshould be made and the car can be rechecked for performance andconsumption.
For more details of REDEX and REDEX instruments, write your nameand address in the margin and send this advertisement to:-
REDEX LIMITED,DEPT PM/12.365 CHISWICK HIGH ROAD,LONDON W.4.
REDEX is a Registered Trade Mark of REDEX Ltd.:)
 
In the mid 1960's we put Redex in our scooter tanks. We swore it made them quicker. That is until petrol stations selling 'Jet' fuel came along. we reckoned that made them even faster.
 
The depth of knowledge the average motorist picked up in those days was quite impressive. My Dad never owned a car but had a good grounding in how they worked thanks to his wartime army service. As a small kid I read manuals on all kinds of engines ( Yeah sad or what, but we had no computer games then).
I cannot recall most of what I knew because now, when I collect my car, the salesman says" Just check the oil and water, anything else you need a servicing terminal to fix." They dont even look like engines any more.
Can any one remember COLOUR TUNE or should I start another Thread?.
 
Oh the joys of tuning cars yourself and that special plug that lets you see what you are doing? yeh right :) the colourtune plug where you could see the mixture? was it lean normal or rich?:D I could never tell and It is still in my toolbox !:)
 
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