Lagondaforum

Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my New Acquisition

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A good buy at £45. Only criticism is that it could do with more photos, but Geoff Seaton's book has all you need. Beyond that, there are books of reprints of period road tests, which you might find interesting; unfortunately the print quality of the original magazines wasn't great, so photos in particular come out poorly.

Laurence

Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my New Acquisition

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Long out of print though it may be, this is the holy grail of Lagonda books, IMO. I spent a long time looking for my copy and paid a silly amount of money for it.

http://www.palawan.co.uk/books/lagonda.html

NB One edition of the book to avoid purchasing (by mistake) was published in German (unless you happen to want that edition, of course).

Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my new 16/80

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Lovely sunny day yesterday so I spent a great morning driving her around the quiet back roads of Berkshire. Just need to master the "black art" of that crash gearbox now. And trust me, I will!

Incidentally, heel & toe seems physically impossible because the brake pedal sits almost 3" higher than the centre throttle. Is that typical? I would expect the brake pedal to align with the accelerator more or less when it's pressed down and fully applied?

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Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my New Acquisition

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Richard, Looks like a very handsome 16/80 - if you are near Silchester do pop-in (I know it is just in Hampshire but our address is Berkshire!) I haven't driven a 16/80 but with an M45 I only tend to "heel & toe" if I need to blip the engine revs changing down from 3rd to 2nd other than that using the clutch stop adjusted to your style should ensure you have sweet gear changes, most of the time. You are able to adjust pedal heights if you wish however do be careful as you would not be the first member who has managed to get his foot stuck between the pedals while driving...! Best wishes, Stephen

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Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my New Acquisition

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Hi Richard

My 16/80 has the ZE gearbox with has a high third gear. I love the acceleration in the intermediates. This suits the revvy 16/80 nicely. Sometimes this is called "twin top" and on one occasion I was in traffic going like a train at 60 mph and looked the rev counter and discovered that I was still in third!

I hasten to add that I have new Phoenix rods in the engine.

To get changing gears right with the Z box is "interesting". As Stephen says, on the way down you just need a quick dab on clutch pedal while blipping the engine whereas on the way up the clutch stop is needed to slow the shafts and avoid crunches.

Driving my M45 is different. The Meadows engine does not rev like the 16/80 but to have the sweet gear changes Stephen referred to you still need to manage use and adjustment of the clutch stop.

Both models are great fun - but different.

Colin M34

Subject: Re: Saying Hello and my new 16/80

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Hi Colin & Stephen,

Thanks for the kind comments about the 16/80. Regarding the gears I agree, mine feels like 3rd & 4th are very close whereas the gap between 2nd & 3rd is wide. I am finding changing up through the gears is fine, and best done quickly making for a snappy change. Confession... I don't actually know if I am utilising the clutch stop but as I find it so easy to change up I am not too concerned.

Going back down the box 4th to 3rd is easy but I am finding that I need a good boot full of revs to get down into 2nd from 3rd. I guess it's the wide gap between the ratios to be aware of.

Regarding the need or otherwise for heal & toe, I suppose if I am slowing down I can do all the braking and then sort out the gear afterwards but it's nice to know one can do it if necessary. It feels to me as though the brake pedal is exceptionally high in relation to the accelerator. I've looked at pictures on the web and while it does seem on other cars the brake is not so high. What do you think?

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