Glass

[Mad Mart]

Can someone do a quick check for me please. I am about to put the doors back together and noticed on the rear quarter lights that on one side the etching is on the outside. Question is, did they make the rear quarter light glass handed ie. the etching is always on the inside as per the rest of the glass or is it just the seal that is handed.

[MIG Wielder]

Interesting ! I'd never noticed that before. My 1850 has the nearside rear quarter light with the etching on the outside, while the offside has it on the inside.
I suppose it makes sense to use a common part.
Tony.

[Mad Mart]

OK, thanks Tony. That's the same with XJX so I guess it's something I'd not noticed before either.

[xvivalve]

No, none of the side windows are handed, you should find the same with the two drop glasses and the front quarter light also.

The only 'handing' as such is how the metal channels are fixed to bottom edge of glass on the drop windows.

[Dolly-Dimple]

How interesting, you do learn something new every day!!

[Edin Dundee]

No, none of the side windows are handed, you should find the same with the two drop glasses and the front quarter light also.

The only 'handing' as such is how the metal channels are fixed to bottom edge of glass on the drop windows.

That's good to know, I've swapped all of the glass for Sundym and thought I'd got it wrong..............
Still, is there rhyme or reason to what is done from the factory? Or is it pot luck, just any mix and match (I'm aware of the dot codes)?

[markas]

Still, is there rhyme or reason to what is done from the factory? Or is it pot luck, just any mix and match (I'm aware of the dot codes)?

Er... I don't think there was much rhyme or reason about many things within BL.
A friend who looks after my cars & trained as a mechanic in a Triumph dealership in Leicester in the early 70s tells the tale of a newish Marina they had in with poor braking - turns out it had been factory fitted with a drum on one side at the front and a disc on the other side!!

[xvivalve]

It makes sense if you think about the manufacturing process, why would you double up on the processes required, just to get the manufacturer's etch mark on a consistent face?

I fear the story about the Marina is a wind up, monocoque, just like the Dolomite, would see the suspension and brakes assembled onto a subframe before being offered up as a complete unit; such a discrepancy would be obvious.

[GrahamFountain]

I fear the story about the Marina is a wind up, monocoque, just like the Dolomite, would see the suspension and brakes assembled onto a subframe before being offered up as a complete unit; such a discrepancy would be obvious.

I've heared that one before, too. Apparently the story was first in the AA's Drive magazine in 1973, as follows:

British Leyland have changed their system of production line procedure and inspection on the Morris Marina following 'Drives' discovery of a new Marina fitted with two different brake systems on one axle.
An AA member's Marina was fitted with a disc brake on one front wheel and a drum brake on the other.
A spokesman for the dealers involved in this case, Pride and Clarke of Brixton Hill, said: "There is nothing in the pre-delivery inspection check list about taking the wheels off to see if the right brakes are fitted......"
Austin-Morris said this was an 'extraordinary' case and they had naver heard of anything like it before. They have taken measures to eliminate any chance of repetition.
Les Sims, Manager of AA Technical Services, comments: "This is quite incredible - I don't know how a car could come to be built like that, never mind to be sold by a dealer. Drum and disc brakes have entirely different characteristics and the owner was very lucky he never had to make an emergency stop on a wet road; it could have been very dangerous."

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1136753

Graham

[Carledo]

This is definitely NOT a wind up, and I think must have affected more than one car as I also found a Marina so fitted in Stewart and Ardern in North Harrow in 73. Marina 1300s in that period had a recall on failed front wheel bearings and I had to recover the car from EMI records at Hayes, Middlesex (it was one of their fleet) cos the drum braked o/s/f wheel had almost fallen off. Back at the shop, I replaced the wheel bearing and the upright with stub axle cos the bearing race had welded itself on, then proceeded to the nearside, only to find a disc and caliper!
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between management and stores and the warranty rep, I ended up replacing the new drum upright with a disc one and making the car all disc on the front. As far as I am aware, the whole thing was hushed up and the customer was definitely NOT informed!
Whilst a subframe on a Dolomite would have been built as one piece and both sides would be plainly visible during the process the Marina has no such thing and though sub asemblies would have been built up before fitting, they would have been fitted to the shell from opposite sides of the track and not immediately obvious to the staff. The Dolomite never had a drum option anyway and the Toledo changed from drum to disc in one go with no option for either.

Steve

Whilst we are on on the subject of factory Gaffes, I have also found a complete newspaper INSIDE the petrol tank of a new 72 Granada and saw a new mkIII Cortina delivered to the Ford agents in Uxbridge with no conrods or pistons in the engine, that would have been late 71.

[markas]

That's at least three cars with a drum/ disc braking system then; my mate worked at Browett's in Leicester. Apparently it turned up on the first (1000 mile) service. The owner was offered the choice of whether he wanted discs or drums. Not surprisingly he chose discs and the necessary parts arrived from the factory a few days later.