Messerschmidt bubble car

[klogan45]

Hi guys,
I was talking to someone today who said that some or maybe all messerschmidt bubble cars could reverse. He says that this was possible without reverse gears. Apparently the driver would switch off the engine and by either turning the key the other way or by pushing the key (and barrel) in and turning it the wrong way the engine, as it was two stroke, fired but basically backwards this meant that it had as many reverse gears as forward. It had something to do, he says, with two sets of points, though he was a bit sketchy about that. Is he right? It sounds feasible(ish).
Thanks
Regards
K

[Plasticpig]

Did'nt they have a little hatch in the floor which you opened, and stuck your foot through to push it backwards?

[digger06]

2 sets of points?....more to probably with the fact that the timing was very near tdc, and could run backwards ,like a lot of old 2 strokes

[morrag]

Nope, the little hatch was for dropping the very large bombs in 1940! or was that the Heinkel? one or the other anyway!...................

[Plasticpig]

They bombed our chipshop.

[spanners]

they missed ours and hit the sh#te works 

[cunningplan]

never knew that, your right 
"The KR200 ran on a 191 cc (11.7 cu in) Fichtel & Sachs air-cooled single cylinder two-stroke engine positioned in front of the rear wheel,[6] just behind the passenger's seat.[3] The engine had two sets of contact breaker points and, to reverse, the engine was stopped and then restarted, going backwards. This was effected by pushing the key further in the ignition switch than normal, whether intentionally or not. One result of this was that the KR200's sequential, positive-stop transmission provided the car with the same four gear ratios available in reverse as in forward movement.[6]"
taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_KR200

[nabsim]

Did'nt they have a little hatch in the floor which you opened, and stuck your foot through to push it backwards?

That sounds similar to the reverse gear on my outfit Doug

[Plasticpig]

I thought reverse was telling your mrs to get off and push it backwards.

[morrag]

That info. Tony reminds me of a story from my youth, a long, long, time ago, so are you siting comfortably?....then I'll...being about 14 at the time, and having an older brother who had this Villiers engined Ambassador, which had recently "ceased to proceed". So, whilst he was in work, I decided to use my vast experience of motorcycle engineering to 'fix' it. I decided it required re-timing, and having seen my Dad, who was an ace mechanic, carry out this procedure many times proceeded to do same. Unfortunately, I still did not quite understand what a seriously retarded 2-stroke engine could do, i.e. run backwards! so when I started the motor it indeed ran backwards, like the Sachs engine, but unlike the Sachs engine the large brass outside flywheel spun off its un-keyed shaft! spun across the workshop floor, bending the overhung crankshaft in the process, so not quite like the Sachs then!!. Fortunately before I left home for good fearing the wrath of my older bro. my Dad arrived home from work, sized up the situation in a trice, which is what they do, straightened the shaft with the aid of a piece of scaffold pole and a clock gauge, and reassembled all to my great relief.Older bro. never guessed, so pleased was he that his transport was returned to rude health, so there's a moral here somewhere, but I haven't a clue what it is!....Morrag

[BikerGran]

there's a moral here somewhere, but I haven't a clue what it is!....Morrag

The devil looks after his own?

[spanners]

i have a petrol/parrafin ,, petter two stoke oil engine that i almost completely restored (all but final paint) for my late father ,, just before he died i was pissing about with the magneto ,, to make it easier to start,,it was sat on a trolley on the back of the truck ,,,well i swung the handle as fast as i could to start it a the b,,,stard ,,kicked ,,back ,,, knocking me of the truck ,, the cow then followed me of the truck , and landed on its side on one flywheel on some very solid earth,,its cracked the flyweel spoke,s in several places and buggered it up ,,,the flyweel that is ,,,luck has it the crank is ok, and no other serious damage was caused ,, dad passed away a couple of weeks after and never knew what had happened ,,,,
well its nearly two years now and i still have the engine  kept it in dads memory but,,,,,, i,v been unable to sort the flywheel ,,,,, so after ,,hyjacking this thread ,,, this is sort of an appeal ..

wanted flywheel for 1 1/5 hp petter M type ,, or a good man who could repair or cast and machine me one  (magneto side)

thanks for reading this 

[nabsim]

I remember a mate telling me he was once on his Brit 2 stroke but don't know what it was, he revved it up and dropped clutch thinking he was going to impress with a racing start. Bike shot out underneath him backwards and almost took his dangly bits with it.

Was always wary of my 2 strokes