1968 Wolseley 1000

[Battenberg]

New acquisition arriving next week, it’s not a build thread or a showcase until it arrives.

A few pictures to keep you interested below, I hope to get out and about as much as I can this year…

[colnerov]

Hmm, where do I start?

[Battenberg]

[igor]

Ex South Africa?

[Battenberg]

Apr 2, 2022 7:53:16 GMT igor said:

Ex South Africa?

Indeed, 1 of 3 or 4 in the UK and 341 out of 456 ish ever made.

Quite a rare piece of kit!

I will post the spec up later in the week once I have gone through the paperwork but as you can see it is full of period modifications.

[ovimor]

www.evoke-classics.com/auction/1968-wolseley-1000/

[Battenberg]

Apr 2, 2022 18:41:30 GMT ovimor said:

www.evoke-classics.com/auction/1968-wolseley-1000/

That’s the one……

[Battenberg]

Arrived today, quick engine spec below:

998cc +100 with Keith Calver pistons
Block Decked and the crank ground
Lightened flywheel and clutch plate
Sccr straight cut close ratio gearbox
3.76 diff.
12g202 Mini Cooper skimmed and ported
29mm exhaust valve and 35mm inlet valve
Evo II Race Cam
1.5 Keith Dodd rockers
Vernier duplex timing gear
LCB manifold
Mini Sport Exhaust system
Nikki twin choke carb

Desperate to finish work and go for a drive!

[Battenberg]

Welll….. about 6 weeks ago on the way to Hooky Classics at Hook Norton Brewery (every second Sunday of the month) I came to a halt near Oxford BMW and with limited tools had to call the RAC who were phenomenal. An ex Army Tank Engineer and this was his first job after 24 years in service, went out of his way and was more than happy not to be plugging diagnostics in.

I did a compression test once home and had 180, 175, 50, 25…… that was a dry compression test and not wet. I put the Car back into storage and replaced rear fuel lines and pump which had started leaking but had trouble finding anyone to take on the work. Several Mini specialists were emailed and called but no responses which was quite disheartening, one local garage I went to is a proper old school engineers and work on all sorts of older metal with the focus being on Jaguars. Graham the owner was more than happy to take on the work investigating what the problem is and carry out the work plus a few other items.

Happy to say the car was dropped off today and I had I call confirming it was the HG and they were going to take off the head and keep me updated.

I’m looking forward to getting the W back when it’s done and just enjoy it for the rest of the year, more to come!

[75swb]

Glad you found someone to do the work, but wow. For a pricey car with a built engine to need a hg so soon after purchase is a kick in the teeth. Hope they sort it quickly so you can enjoy the good weather!

[Battenberg]

Jun 27, 2022 20:52:21 GMT 75swb said:

Glad you found someone to do the work, but wow. For a pricey car with a built engine to need a hg so soon after purchase is a kick in the teeth. Hope they sort it quickly so you can enjoy the good weather!

Yup, the vendor went quiet soon after I posted on FB it had curse word itself!

If it was a Cooper it would be worth twice what I paid, it’s rarer but does not have the ‘badge’ so intrinsically worth less, think polo v’s Fabia ? I’m basically driving a half price Cooper!

On the plus side I’ll now know that it’s put together again properly and ‘might’ look at building it out to full Cooper S spec next year!

[grizz]

I like this car, a lot.

Watching……

[Battenberg]

Head being resurfaced yesterday ready for the rebuild

[Battenberg]

Graham had put a few more pictures on FB so I stopped my house painting and ran up the road to have a look:



Above was this afternoon and they were hoping to have the W running either today or tomorrow….. One of the guys I spoke to called George is classically trained via Bicester and he said the W is causing a lot of attention, forget the XK150, Bentley T2, Alfa GTV 2000 and other wonderful machinery, everyone who goes into the workshop are bemused by my W.

Lots of people ask why have you not done this yourself? The truth is this is a highly tuned motor and I want an engineer to work out what may have caused the issue and to ensure reliability moving forwards.

Hoping to have it back on Friday to enjoy the weekend putting some miles on.

[Battenberg]

Back today, thanks to Birks Motorworks in Thame for the fantastic work they have done rebuilding and resurfacing the head. Ive done about 60 leileisurely miles today just enjoying it.

I’ll try and add a few shots tomorrow when I’m out and about again as long as the rain holds off!

[Battenberg]

Out and about today and all seems good, one moment at the petrol station where it took a bit of cranking to start. I suspect the timing is slightly out as it stalled a couple of times when coming upto junctions. Stopped for a pint and a mate was out and about in his Zephyr ‘Ute’

[bmcnut]

Now this is very cool. I knew they were South African and quite unusual, but I had no idea there were so few made. Watching and following.

[Battenberg]

Adwell fete and car shoe today, about twice as large as last year and a very eclectic selection of cars. I was the only Wolseley in attendance and had a good chat with a few people.

Noticed sitting in traffic on the way out I’m smoking a little when hot after idling and the clutch/release bearing is rattling away! I have a longer outing on Tuesday to the six bells in warborough for a meet up so we’ll see how it goes then.








Photo shy as my phone was flat and my mate with the pickup is a technophobe who lives in the 50’s

[misterm]

I really like that. And until I clicked this thread, didn't even know they were a thing!

I've only seen external hinge, wind up window Mini doors once before on an Elf that gave up it's dashboard for my van, but I can't remember if it had quarter lights. I'd just spent £80 having the front end repaired and a respray in Ford red velvet, so didn't contemplate the swap. That was the late 70's though.

[westbay]

Jul 10, 2022 22:04:57 GMT misterm said:

I really like that. And until I clicked this thread, didn't even know they were a thing!

I've only seen external hinge, wind up window Mini doors once before on an Elf that gave up it's dashboard for my van, but I can't remember if it had quarter lights. I'd just spent £80 having the front end repaired and a respray in Ford red velvet, so didn't contemplate the swap. That was the late 70's though.

Mk2 ( '68ish) mini Cooper S had 'em ...