hello again, now the car is off the road with brake issues just at the moment but have another question if that is okay? i have read that the standard diff on a 1000 is a 4:22, but what does 4:22 actually mean? also i have been told that morris 1000s can zoom about happily at 60 - 65 all day, but little Bell gets very noisy at 55 (well thats what the speedo says anyhow!). so was wondering maybe it had a van diff on it?? how could I tell?
4.22 is the number of turns the engine must do (in top gear) to turn the road wheels once....... Yes of course it is noisy! But a good 1098 will run at 70 mph without any great problem - probably not able to hold that up long M'way hills, but otherwise ok. It's a fair enough ratio for a standard engine. Best bet will be to check the speedo against a GPS or a Sat Nav. Usually they read 5 to 10 % fast -so your 60 mph is very possibly only 55 mph........
Yes - you need to jack up a rear wheel off the ground. Then turn the prop shaft 4.22 turns.......however - because it's working through the differential - the rear wheel will turn 2 turns !
Fourth -- the lowest gear is the lowest number, the highest (topmost) is the highest number! Seconded with the starting handle, but I would suggest having a friend to either do the counting or the turning.
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Alternatively you could look for external markings on the differential itself. You should find '9/38' stamped somewhere on there if it's a 4.22 diff. If there's a filler plug on the diff itself, it's probably a 4.55 diff.
In your original post you say that ' i have read that the standard diff on a 1000 is a 4:22'. This is only true for a 1098 '1000', around 1963 onwards. A 948 '1000' (1956 - 1963ish) would have a 4.55 diff.