Dear All,
To my intense surprise, my PA/B rebuild has now reached the stage of
being road legal! It passed the MOT test on 11th June and is now
motoring for the first time since the 1950's when a long-distant
previous owner mothballed the car after it caught fire.
It's taken around 3 years to complete the job (that's ignoring the
previous 24 when it sat at home unloved) and although there are numerous
little jobs to do before it is "as first built" the car is up and
running.
Thought this might be a good moment to thank all on the mailing list for
the invaluable information that has flowed to and fro over these past
few months. I think the pre-war and mmm lists are an invaluable
resource and we all benefit thereby.
I reflected on this yesterday whilst puzzling over why I could not pump
any lubricant into one of the king-pin oilers. The only solution seemed
to be to remove the pin, which I can now do in half an hour, and this
revealed that the oil hole into the bush did not meet up with the
machined ring in the bush - ergo - no way through for the grease.
(Incidentally, do you folks use grease or oil in the king pin?) Another
half hour and a tweak to the bush later, we were up and running once
again.
First impressions of driving the car are "interesting". The brakes are
not as poor as rumoured, and if needed, an extra heave on the handbrake
brings you to a rapid rest. One lister recently asked about how to
connect up the brake stop light switch to the mechanics. What I did
was to fashion a wire rod with a profile like a flattened "Z" and fixed
one end to a clamped on bracket at the rear of the main brake rod, and
the other to the switch. It works well and has enough resilience so
that it can flex when it is at full stretch.
I'm running with the original (rebuilt) 3-brush dynamo and cut out with
2 resistors linked to the half charge and full charge. The dynamo is
set at 8 amps and it does actually produce a decent charge.
The disappointment is the PA gearbox. 2nd is very noisy (sounds like a
veteran car!), presumably because it has had to be driven hard to get up
to 3rd gear - and the ratios are not very well-matched to the abundant
(!) power put out by the PB engine. A change of cogs over the winter
seems likely.......
The PB engine was a factory exchange some time in the early life of the
car. It's now got a Phoenix crank, carillo rods and decent pistons. =20
What do you do to run new engines in? 2000 RPM seems a desirable max
(according to the book), although the prospect of 1000 miles at 30 mph
may be more than my patience will allow...... especially as the car is
going to Silverstone in 9 days' time to parade round the circuit.
Limiting the road speed is not everything though - light loading of the
engine is probably a better criterion and coule allow me to press on a
bit? =20
Regards to all
Dick Morbey
E mail: richard.morbey@taywood.co.uk
Telephone 01784 428650 (switchboard) 01784 428745 (direct)=20
Fax 01784 428797 Mobile 07785 224836
**************************************************
The information contained in this email is intended only for the person or =
entity to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileg=
ed material. If you have received this email in error please note that any =
review, retransmission, copying, dissemination or other use of, or taking o=
f any action in reliance upon its contents is prohibited. If you are not an=
intended recipient, Please delete the material from any computer that may =
have it and contact the Taylor Woodrow I.T Helpdesk on +44 (0)20 8575 4811,=
or send an email to helpdesk@taywood.co.uk. Thank you for your co-operatio=
n.
The contents of an attachment to this email may contain software viruses wh=
ich could damage your computer system. We cannot accept liability for any =
damage which you sustain as a result of software viruses. You should carry=
out your own virus checks before opening any attachment.
British Cars Web: http://www.team.net/sol
MMM list subscription info: http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
|