What is this in the engine bay?

[Redline]

From a coupe I may look at in Germany:



What is that cylindrical thing and filler tube sitting on the right side of the motor? Distributor is under the air cleaner housing, so I am sort of scratching my head.

[Redline]

Contrast with another AC engine bay:

[Curly]

Interesting !!
The cylindrical object seems to located in the same position as an exhaust cam driven distributor, so I am presuming it could be an auxiliary pump of some description, which ties in nicely with the filler neck that has a Fiat oil cap on it. I'm wondering if somebody has dry-sumped this engine or fitted power steering to the car, or even some sort of hydraulic power take off to drive who-knows-what
Any other pictures?

[Redline]

Did the 1.4 ever have a cam-driven distributor, or at least a blanked off port? Anyway, that's the only photo, so it's a mystery to me. Maybe it is indeed for something agricultural!

[MNspiderman]

did ya notice the collapsed upper radiator hose on the second photo. must be a bit low on radihater fluid.

[Redline]

did ya notice the collapsed upper radiator hose on the second photo. must be a bit low on radihater fluid.

Also the first thing I noticed.

[Redline]

Mystery solved. This car had an "idroconvert" semi-automatic transmission installed. Apparently this was a hideous version of the already poor semi-autos of the time. It has since been converted to a 5-speed. The combination of 5-speed, AC Coupe and generally good condition (scruffy engine compartment notwithstanding), I am interested, but I really wonder about all that leftover hardware sitting in the engine bay (and also running off the cam).

[Curly]

..... but I really wonder about all that leftover hardware sitting in the engine bay (and also running off the cam).

It wouldn't take much to get rid of the extra hardware. If necessary find another exhaust cam box to replace the current one if you can't just fit a blanking plate to it. The filler neck is obviously going nowhere now, so there shouldn't be an issue with removing that either.

[kmead]

Beyond all the odd hardware, it looks good. All the parts are there and some hard to find parts like the original brake fluid reservoir is there along with the electrical stuff along the left side of the compartment (regulator, wiper delay relay and so on).

Being a 1438 it has the distributor on the left side mounted to the block.

I have never seen info about Idroconvert on a coupe. That is quite a mechanical interaction and given the interference nature of the valve train I can't imagine wanting to interconnect the two.

[Redline]

They have since installed a blanking plate and removed the filler pipe. Digressing for a moment from the engine, what are your thoughts on the general shape of the engine bay? Kind of hard to see, but I'm wondering how rusty those suspension points are.

[kmead]

I don't see any rust, though the pics are not exactly the best for seeing those parts of the car.

The area to look at would be more on the inside of the wheel wells where the spring and shock goes up into, there are some good pics of this defect in a few of the Spider threads here, this is a common structural feature on the coupe and the spider. There are a few common rust areas on coupes:

Alongside the battery
The upper spring/shock mount
The front of the rockers as seen from within the wheel well
Around the front and back windows (windscreen and backlight) it tends to start inside/under the stainless trim and migrate outward
Along the bottom of the trunk behind each rear wheel
Across the seam that runs across the back of the car just at the rear bumper level, it sticks out and you should be able to clearly see spot welds across its width

The doors tend to get a stress crack where the window frame emerges (it will be above the handle and looks somewhat like a tear)

Overall that car looks very good. The colors of components are correct and look appropriate for the age of the car.

[Redline]

Thanks. It's looking like it's worth the 5-hour drive.

[kmead]

Thanks. It's looking like it's worth the 5-hour drive.

Yes I think it is. Bring money. You likely won't find one much better at least from what I can see in the pics.

Good luck and when you decide to turn it I am sure one of us can find a shipping container for you to put it in...

[Redline]

It's taken some time, but I have some time off this week so will look at three, including the green one.

One question for the US and Australians: what kind of seatbelts did the AC Coupes have in those markets? The two I have seen so far just had odd static 2-point belts, but they were not lap belts. They were static diaganol belts, an instant recipe for major injuries. Although I'm not planning to crash the car, I'm curious what the retrofit options are.

[kmead]

My 69 and my 70 both had fixed adjustable 3 point belts with the upper attachment being fairly low near the base of the B pillar. My 69 850 SC also has the same belts. Mine are made by Kangol as I recall.

There are a number of replacement belts you can buy. You would want to replace old belts anyway, I have yet to to do so but will be in the future.