Change the engine in a Acoma comtesse break,getting insured

[hippybuspete]

Hi my name is Pete i have just brought with my friend the acoma comtesse break.Well i would like to use it to go to work  in but with the speed only being 18 mph its a bit slow to keep up with todays cars, is there anyway of making it go faster  about 30 mph.Would i have to change the engine,if so what will fit.Or can i tune the original engine.Any idea were i can get this car insured for the road thanks all.

[Bob Purton]

Hi Pete. Good to have you aboard the rum forum. Im no expert on the late stuff but my advice would be to try and get it registered first . Thats your first hirdle. Regards, Bob

[hippybuspete]

Hi the trouble is you need to get a mot first but you also need insurance to get it registered.Thanks

[burford57]

Footman James quoted about £130 TPFT for my Arola
with the 49cc Sachs engine and 4 wheels - not too
dissimilar from the MC Break so might be worth a try.

Nick D.

[Bob Purton]

Thats what I mean, it is a bit of a hurdle. Is there any reason why it shouldnt pass the mot? About the 18mph, i wonder if gearing up would be possible by the change of a drive sprocket but not by too much or the thing would never pull away from stationary. The fact that they dont keep up with traffic is proberbly the reason why the 49cc sans permis cars never really caught on over here but I have to say that on the few occations that I have been offered a drive, once by Bob Dobie in a flipper and again by Nick in a Ligier I thoroughly enjoyed it! Great fun! Dont give up on it Pete, getting them on the road is all part of the fun!

[burford57]

Hi Pete

If your engine is the Mobylette version, you could try a bigger barrel and piston kit.  I've seen these in French magazines (Mob Chop etc) for 75cc conversions.  However,
you need to consider the balance of the engine - yours will have a "contre-piston", a volumetric compressor arrangement which consists of a second piston under the
main one which compresses the exhaust gases and uses them to increase torque at low revs to get the body moving.  This effect lessens as the speed increases.  A larger piston will obviously weigh more than the standard one and might upset the balance.

Another alternative, of course, is a motor from a twist and go moped but I wouldn't make any modifications irreversible as the option to restore it to its' original specifications might be important when the time comes to sell it on.  I'm not sure what would fit if you followed this course of action so a trip to a bike breaker might be a good idea!

If you email me with your postal address (nick_devonport@hotmail.com) I'll send you some basic technical info on your car and the one your mate bought.  It consists of some pages from "RTA Les Voiturettes", a French book on the sans permis class of vehicles.

Regards
Nick D.

[cuscus47]

Hello Nick:  Can you e-mail me the same tech info. on my 800E, Mini Comtesse if you have it?  Thanks, Ian.

[Stuart Cyphus]

 Hello Pete, welcome abourd! Any chance of you & the car being at Jean's next Open Day? Regarding insurance, I've always found Footman James to be worse than useless no matter what the vehicle. In the end Carole Nash covered me for £160 fully comp, and here was a company that went right out of their way to help.

 Regarding speed, leave it be. Not wishing to be rude here, but if a 30mph speed is so important, why go for something like the Comtesse in the first place when (for example) a 125 Liger would be more suited? No doubt I will be offending just about everyone here, but I've seen this so many times before. Small cars + slow cars + bigger engines + differant gearing + more speed + faster slow cars. It all equals up to the same thing, another rare car needlessly messed about with and ultimatly ruined, becuse the car is so seldom the same again afterwards, no mater how "irriversable" the work.

 I impore you, leave it be.   

[Bob Purton]

Hi Stuart. Sorry to contradict you old fruit but I have always found Footman James to be the best of the bunch.

[Dan Rodd]

yep,me too, when i had passed my test Footman James were the only people to give an insurance price that wasnt three times the value of the car,and ive gone over to them now for my bike from carole nash,saved £150.
Carole Nash is now owned by Norwich Union,who dont like insuring old cars and from what i remember,nothing at all over 30 yrs old.

re the Acoma,if you want to go to work at 30mph,get a moped!

[g-o-g-g-o]

I would advise agaist changing the engine on your Comtesse Break, most classic car insurers do not like "uprated" cars and if they do insure you it will more than the standard car - they may insis on an engineers report on the car. I would phone around all of the classic companys to get the best quote - I am with AON on my collectors cars and it suits me - just ring around.
  Just a thought how are you going to improve the brakes on your car?