oiltreader:
Hi transporter man, as I have mentioned before on the Transporter thread, I had a brand new BMC FJ with Carrimore 6 car (the coupling position and fore/aft depth of the cab allowed 2 Minx and an Imp on the bottom deck without a well) on Progressive when that cab was first introduced 1964ish, compared to the previous motors I’d had, the cab was roomy and comfortable, a willing engine 5.7 if I remember rightly. The downside was the downtime, man that wagon broke down a lot, mostly fuel pump throttle linkage and injector pipe problems, last straw was a broken halfshaft. Never saw it again,out of warranty I heard they put a Comet 400 in it, I was now the happy driver of a new Leyland Comet with 7car Carrimore and no downtime.
I have quite a few Morris, Austin and BMC pics which I will sort and post.
Oily
The FJ was the beginning of the end for BMC our first one had 3/4 engines in the first year numerous head gasket problems, if you needed a gasket you had to take the old one down to compare it as there was that many variations in the cylinder layout. the problem been the engine was laid on its side to give a level floor in the cab which resulted in water problems. I collected this truck at Bathgate & delivered down to Finchley the Carrimore man congatulated me on been the first one to arrive with the spare wheel & carrier still intact. I collected the truck at Finchley & only managed about a mile before the trailer brakes came on, travelled home with the air lines turned off. It turns out the air tank capacity wasnt large enough to cover the useage. If you remember they had Air-brakes, wipers, 2 speed & clutch. Not surprised you broke a 1/2 shaft the clutch was embarrassing. They give us another one as a seed vehicle to compensate for our problems.