1985 Austin Metro Auto - Overheated!

Popped down to Dorset this morning to pick these up.



They’re from a Mk2 Suzuki Swift GTi. In really good condition and they were cheap! Just need to get the rails changed and they’ll be going in

I ordered this from France about a month ago and it finally arrived a couple of days before Christmas. It wasn't particularly expensive and appears to be very well made. It'll go in once the manual engine is fitted

A long overdue update.

I lost my job in January so all plans were put on hold. I’ve managed to get an interim job driving a recovery truck for pretty much minimum wage and I’m in the process of getting my HGV licence but that won’t be for a few months yet. All this has meant I’ve had to scale back my plans for the little Metro as I don’t know when I’m going to have a decent amount of money coming in again.

The bike head conversion will have to wait. I’ve got the spare block stored in the garage so that can be done one day. I’ve found someone locally that can modify the auto block to convert it to manual. He’s done hundreds of them for his race cars so I’m happy he knows what he’s doing. While the engine is out I’m replacing the various bearings to freshen it all up and I’m going to chuck a Swiftune cam in there to liven it up a bit too. Along with the manual gearbox and a slightly larger carb’ this should make it much more fun to drive.

I need to sell my F56 Cooper S as I can no longer afford the monthly payments or fuel in that so in preparation for finally using the Metro as a daily I decided to sort the cooling system out. When I drove the car to the Brooklands New Years Day Gathering it was getting a bit warm going along the A3. I decided to replace the water pump, thermostat and flush the cooling system through as well.

This is what I was greeted with this morning. The curse word weather the other day had blown the cover off the car.



I got straight on and removed the front fog lamps. I haven’t been a fan of them since I bought the car. The bumper isn’t great under the brackets but I can get another one at some point. Then the front panel came off and I started draining the coolant. I say coolant, it was more of a pinky rusty colour that came out.



Once the rad, alternator and coolant hoses were all off I got on with removing the thermostat and water pump. The pump didn’t look very old at all but I’d already bought a replacement so it was getting used. Annoyingly the only replacement I could find was one with a water bypass pipe. These aren’t used in the Metro so I tapped the hole and thread locked a bolt in there along with some silicone for good measure. Hopefully it doesn’t leak!!



With that done I bolted the new pump in and reattached everything. It started raining at this point so this is the last photo I took!



The front panel went back on but I’ve left the Rover grill off. I’ve got the proper Austin one to go on so I’ll give that a clean up and then fit it. I also realised I didn’t have any coolant so I’ll need to pop to the motor factors and get some during the week. Once it’s filled up I can drive it to work one day and see how the coolant temp is looking. Nothing was blocked when I flushed it so hopefully it was just a knackered thermostat causing the car to get hot.

Oh, I also found a nice puddle of water in the passenger footwells when I looked in there earlier. Looks like it’s coming through the passenger rear window seal so I’ll need to order a new seal for that. Not the end of the world. I think I’ll do the other side while I’m at it too!

Interesting; we have a Motamec trolley jack at work - I didn't know they do steering wheels also! Certainly looks very smart.

How did you get a specific boss to fit the Metro?

Another quick update.

I decided to take the Metro to work today. It still isn’t running right but it made it there with no dramas. On the way home I had to jump on the A3 to go and get dog food. It started getting quite hot on the way there and then on the way back it started boiling over! The section of A3 I was on has nowhere to pull over so I had to just keep going. The engine was rattling its poor little head off by the time I got off the A3. By that point I figured whatever damage is done is done so I carried on the extra five minutes home with it rattling and steaming away frown I got home and couldn’t get the bonnet open so it’s been abandoned outside the house for now.

Absolutely no idea what to check next as I’ve flushed the cooling system, replaced the water pump and thermostat and checked the fan is working.

Also best to carry out a compression test after such an episode; a healthy A-series should have at least 170psi or so on each cylinder.

I wouldn’t write it off until you’ve had a quick look at it. Back in the day I drove my daily Mk1 literally until it rattled to a stop ( thermostat had stuck and I was too busy talking to my brother to notice the temperature gauge was pinned to the top stop 😂). Let it cool down and refilled it with water and it drove home fine and with a new thermostat it never missed a beat afterwards.
Assuming it does run again I also reckon it’s worth checking timing and for lean mixture/ air leaks as culprits for why it overheated, along with checking the fan and making sure the radiator is hot all over and not partially blocked

Haha the auto gearbox is terrible so I can’t wait for it to go! Also the original wheel wasn’t nice to use at all. Too big and with the steering wheel being offset from the drivers seat it just felt awkward to steer.