Hillman hunter engines

[kokomo]

looking at buying a 76, can someone gimme an idea of what to check for under the hood etc? How to spot a lemon..?

[fuel]

they are all lemons.

oh snap!

Donna (HUNTD) would be the girl to ask (if she even comes on here anymore) as she has a '77 cunter 1725.

As far as I know there can be problems with the alloy head 1725cc models with blowing head gaskets. Being an english car it's bound to leak oil (to self lubricate the chassis of course ).

[kokomo]

meh, it just gets worse n worse dunnit

Fuck it then. I aint no mech. Theyre asking 2-3k which is ridiculous compared to $200.

Nice car looks wise tho.

[thminiman]

dont buy it.

if your really going to, just presume it needs a new headgasket.

for that sorta money i'd be thinking its completely spotless rust wise, mint interior, and low k's. in orig condition

either that or its modded, which means its worth fuck all

[Jay GTi]

When I was a kid, a mate's Dad used to always take the piss out of me for driving a Mk2 Cortina. He was a fuckwit. He owned 3 Hilman Hunters. I think that tells you something.

[kokomo]

for that sorta money i'd be thinking its completely spotless rust wise, mint interior, and low k's. in orig condition

Yah, its all of the above..

[thminiman]

im keen to have a look

[kokomo]

im keen to have a look

Te A missions on again! hahaha.

Ill take my camera up n post up ome pics of it. Its like 2 seconds up the road from my house

[thminiman]

will think bout it

doubt they're getting much interest so no hurry, probably a trade in, cunts like

"fuck i dont want this POS but i need my sale for the month to keep up with my quota"

[Toucan]

You'd be better off buying an escort

They are crazy little cars, everythings backwards and yea as said above they have a reputation for blowing head gaskets.

Thats quite a large sum of money also. They can be found incredibly cheap as there isnt alot of demand for them, so at that price I would expect a minter.

[avenger79]

I've owned two, old mans owned about the same. Brother even used to roll in one. None have ever blown a headgasket, and all flew though warrants.

Awesome cars, are strong engine& drivetrain wise. One of the most solid cars exterior wise aswell. Easy to work on, drive nice for a four speed.

3k is far to much, i'd pay 2k easy for a mint one however

Nothing major to look out for when buying one, just the basics.

[HUNTD]

3k does sound pretty high. They are going up in price, but yea it better be mint for that price

iv only ever blown one headgasket and dont have any heating problems so to be honest i think thats a bit of a phallacy with todays technology with coolant and shit.

And to agree with zane, they are awesome. iv only failed a warrent once, and that was when i got it and had to get it road legal. Just put KYBs in mine and fuck it rides good. my old ones were shot, but yea handles like a spring chicken now

[thminiman]

this thing passed 10m rule for me, but tbh, me = couldnt be fucked getting outa car to have a decent look, i lold hard at dealer having big "sale of the day" sign on it or some shit.

was mean origional, but fuck paying 3g for it/any hillman

[rxsumo]

In my experience the Head Gasket issue generally comes about when the cars have been sitting for a while. They can continue to be problematic because people put the wrong headgasket on them.

There are a couple of variations on the motor, cast iron head and alloy head, its more desirable to have the alloy head, as the engine has more HP. The cast iron heads were fitted t the early Hunters, some of the Station Wagons, and the last of the Hunters.

NZ made Hunters way after British construction had finished, and the Iranian Peykan contruction started, so most of the late model Hunters built in NZ are actually Peykans.

Other things to look out for rust:

Front Guards....over the headlights where dirt gets flicked of the wheels and stuck behind the headlight boxes

....and the rear has a box section like an Escort/Cortina which typically never got paints....like the Ford

Sills....Check the full length of the inside sill.

Engines are generally pretty noisy in the Tappet gear, and they will have "blowby", as the engines base is a fairly old design with not so flash piston ring sealing, a good Hunter engine should pink a little under load...they ran fairly High Compression engines

There are still heaps of repair parts for the engines, and belonging to the Hillman Humber Car Club, the Rootes Car Club or the Sunbeam Car Club might be useful.

Have a good look at the condition of the wiring, like most British cars of the late 60's design, the Hunter wasnt overly equiped with fuses, and as a result electrical faults generally meant melted wiring .....my Sceptre Wagon had a front loom replaced using "chocolate block" connectors, and a few hours had to be spent sorting that out.

Other than that, The Hunter was probably a better car than its British rivals like the Cortina, and the British Leyland stuff. The engines are a good performing (although really not as tunable as the Fords) reliable unit, and the driveline is pretty simple to maintain.