![]() This would prove to be the Metro’s sole power unit from 1980 through to its demise in 1991, but would still produce more than effective performance and economy figures when used in the car. Lessons learned from the A-OHC programme were, however, pressed into an even lower-cost and higher value project: A-Plus. It was now clear that the government would not be giving the company unlimited cash reserves and so, the existing engine was left to soldier on for a while longer. What the engineers were up against hough, was a very thermally-efficient long-stroke, overhead valve engine which delivered impressive torque and most importantly, class-leading fuel economy.īecause the engineers could not develop the new engine to produce significantly better numbers, A-OHC was dropped. Round the time of the formation of British Leyland, a low-cost overhaul of the A-Series incorporating an Overhead Camshaft cylinder head (dubbed, unoriginally A-OHC) was being planned with a view to giving the smaller-engined cars in the group a badly needed fillip. To be fair to Spen King though, BL’s market share was falling so rapidly, that everyone in the company must have felt compelled to rush the development of the car – and just get it into production – such was the sense of urgency.Work had been undertaken on the venerable A-Series engine, which had been in service powering various British Leyland cars since the 1940s. ![]() He was vindicated in 1990 when the world’s press saw just how capable the R6 (Rover) Metro was on front/rear interconnected Hydragas. Speaking in 1987, Dr Alex Moulton, the father of Hydragas stated that Spen King wanted a more conventional suspension system on the Metro and so, Moulton was unable to develop the system thoroughly for the Metro, being constrained by cost and time. Unlike the Allegro, Metro’s Hydragas was interconnected side-to-side, not front to rear, which resulted in a compromised final product that although did the job, didn’t show off the system’s advantages as well as front-rear interconnection would have done. This gave designers more freedom and resulted in a remarkably spacious and airy interior, for a car of such short length – Something that was inherited from the Mini and demanded above all else by Griffin. Hydragas had distinct packaging advantages over the industry standard arrangement adopted by all the Metro’s rival manufacturers (and the 9X and ADO74 predecessors), lending more interior and under-bonnet space to the Metro. Out went the Mini’s rubber cone springing medium and in came Hydragas, recently developed by Dr Alex Moulton for the Austin Allegro. The ADO88 was to use the A-Series engine and gearbox-in sump: the classic Mini arrangement, but variance was made on the suspension.
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