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MG MGB Technical - honda s800

Hi, i made a craze move, bought a honda s800 rodster to
work on, i just hope i get as much as help from honda chaps as i got from you guys to solve my problems.
Sold Bgt, but kept 71B and 80B Le.
alfredo
alfredo

The 800 is a nice car albeit very small. Unfortunately getting parts for it ain't easy according to a guy I met who specializes in them. Good luck.
Mike MaGee

Someone used to race one at Ingleston way back when, it was the noisiest car I've ever heard!!
Ron
R. Algie

Alfredo,
Isn't that the one a little smaller than a midget and powered by an upgraded motorcycle engine?If so Classic Cars magazine did a comparison test with it and a Midget about a year ago. If I can dig up the issue I'll try to scan it into my computer and email if you would like.
John

Its this little bugger,
http://www.hondasportsregistry.com/brochures/brochures_s800.php
i remember in late 60s, they use to beat the bms2002ti, coopers, r8s, on a short trips, and its sounded likebikes engines, reach the max output at about 8000 rpm, and it reaches 11000. very nervous engine.
i still have to get it from france.
alfredo
alfredo

Hi Alfredo,
The Honda S800 was the first car I ever owned. This was back in the 1970's and I was young and never had the finance to repair it and keep it running properly. I always regretted selling it. To me the engine was the closest design I have seen to what I think a Formula car would look like ... 4 carbs, extractor, overhead cams, aluminum engine head and body, very high reving engine. It was way ahead of its time. Good luck on your restoration. You are a lucky man.
Andrew
A. C. Gibbs

The 800 had shaft drive to the back axle and the earlier 600 had chains.
Both used constant vacuum carbs (Keihins or Hitachi as I recall) based on SU design philosophies combined with Japanese manufacturing quality.

It was a little jewel of a car and gave a good insight (Honda Insight...get it?...never mind!) to the potential of Honda and other Japanese car makers standars which seemed to go right past the contemporary etsablished car makers.

Cheers , Pete.
Peter Thomas

this is one of the pictures,

http://groups.msn.com/Carrosemotasclassicas-/hondas800.msnw?Page=1

hope to get the car here by 4th of september,
i think it will be a nice project, but my best bet is always chrome Mgbs..
keep you informed.
cheers
alfredo
alfredo

Thanks john, if you could trace that comparisson test it i will appreciate,

alfredo
alfredo

You must be a pr ick.
In the same week as VJ day, you go and trade british iron for a slant eyed rice burner.
What did they die for then?
You have no honour.
Graeme Anderson

I do not know this car. Was it sold in the US?

Ropbert
Robert Browning

"You must be a pr ick.
In the same week as VJ day, you go and trade british iron for a slant eyed rice burner.
What did they die for then?
You have no honour."

Thank goodness fools such as Graeme Anderson are in the minority on this forum.

We fought not one, but TWO wars with Great Britain, so I guess then MGs are out.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many WWII Japanese war criminals are currently involved in producing Hondas.

I suppose a black man who buys a car made in Alabama hasn't any honor, given that Alabama was a slave state and fought in the Civil war to maintain slavery.

And God forbid that we buy a Chrysler, now that they are owned by Nazis.

Graeme Anderson, you are a despicable fool!

Now that I've let my temper get the best of me, I guess I'll sign off this forum for a while.
Dan Masters

Is it possible he may be a GRAEME CRACKER?
conrad sanders

Only two words for Graeme.. elohssa.
Robert I think they only sold a few cars in US, because of the fuel restritions,
alfredo
alfredo

Alfredo,
I was unable to find the magazine article I told you about, I will keep looking. Sorry.
Oh, and don't listen to Graeme, sounds like he's just trying to stir up trouble.
John

The Honda S800 and its earlier varients were never sold in the USA and they all arrived as imports from other markets.

Hey Graeme, I've encountered people like you at car shows when I drove my 66 Datsun Roadster to a show and received a similar reception. I just shake my head, as many other people who heard the comment did, and ignore those fools. I've known several neighbors who fought in the Pacific theater in WWII and they never said squat to me including one neighbor who was severely injured at Iwo Jima and this was in the late 60s when the memories were fresher and the WWII vets were in their prime. Many went on to purchase Japanese as well as German cars with no regrets.

Sometimes you need to forgive and forget and get on with your life and if you can't you're screwed.

Mercedes is one of the top sellers in Israel and if anybody should have a grudge it would be those who live in Israel.
Mike MaGee

Grahame, how sad are you?
phil

Cool little car! Wish I had one of those and an S2000! And maybe a 600 coupe for the family.

I really see the MG influence in the design of the body. Honda seems to lead rather than follow (copy) nowadays. Not that this is an MG copy, especially in the mechanicals. The Datsun roadsters were quite MG like too, even mechanically. 70's japanese engines seemed kind of BMW like in their design. I really liked the 20R Toyota motors I had. I was an early adopter of mini pickups, and used to get flack from people about not buying American. But I got a sportscar like drive with good mileage for the loads I was carrying. I don't like them, but the big Nissans are trying to set a trend. It's a world market now. The Korean makers seem to be trying very hard, while making affordable cars. When will GM start making Cadillacs in China?
Tom

OK, let me get this straight. I can't buy a Japanese car because of WW 2, and I guess that means no German cars either. Forget anything Chinese because of the Korean War, nothing from Russia because of the Cold War. I better not buy anything English because of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. No Mexican built cars because of the Mexican- American War. Italy was with the Axis in WW2 so they are out. Now, we did have a war with Spain so SEATs are not allowed. French made cars, I don't think we fought with the French, but the cars are junk so forget them. Australia, well we never did fight with them either, but, they were an English colony so off them from the list. Northerners can't buy cars made in the South, and Southerners can't buy cars made in the North because of the War between the States. Sweden, I guess we can buy Swedish cars, but those Vikings were a pain a thousand years ago. I'll stick with my bike, besides, it was made in Switzerland.
????????????

"The Datsun roadsters were quite MG like too, even mechanically. "

The Datsun Roadster was designed and debuted prior to the B. The exterior design was influenced by Italian cars such as Fiat and Alfa and not by MG. There are mechanical similarities such as SU carbs and dash design of the early 'low windshield' cars, but more than 90% was far different and after restoring a 66 B and 66 Datsun I conclude the Datsun is far easier to work on and has many superior design elements to it, however I do like the unibody consruction of the B better than the body on frame design of the Datsun. BTW, the emergency brake system of the Datsun actually works with a far simpler design.

They both leak however and in that regard they are similar :)
Mike MaGee

i would stick to skate rollers made in Taiwan, and assembled in Singapura...nut case
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just was looking at an Innocenti (S model? can't remember for sure) that has a kind of TR6 look to the front, though I'm sure it's smaller. I stand by my
"The Datsun roadsters were quite MG like too, even mechanically. " Sorry if I irritated you, Mike. They don't look or act anything like any Fiat or Alfa I've driven. Did an Italian designer do the Datsuns?

Tom

There are actually many similarities between BMC and early Datsuns - mostly mechanical. Interchangeable camshafts, rocker shafts, commonality in brakes between some models......

I never liked the styling much on the Datsuns, but they knew whose technology to licence!
Bill Spohn

I was a young mechanic at a Datsun dealership in 1976. The dealer decided to build a 66 datsun pickup into a show car. When the engine was being assembled, a J series, the experianced mechanics could not figure out how to intall the distributor drive. I went over to my box and came back with a long bolt that I had used to install the drive in my MGA, did the job. Every other bolt on the truch was metric but the threads in the center of the drive was 5/16 fine thread.Not a real coincidence a look at that series of engine and later the A series engines will show their english heritage. The 1600 datsun roadster engine was more English while the 2000 was more German.
R J Brown

Mr Multiple ????s,
You cite many examples, but as Dan Masters states, not many WAR criminals would work for companies in Alabama.
Stay Proud of Your Heritage.
Honour is at stake.
Graeme Anderson

This thread was discussed between 19/08/2005 and 28/08/2005

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