junkuser
-
Posts
1,071 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Events
Downloads
Gallery
Membership & Shop
Everything posted by junkuser
-
Quite a milestone Hazen. Congratulations! The rest will take time, but should be straight forward. A great story. Mal.
-
Early had a nut retaining the Bendix and later had circlip and retaining ring. There are repeated shock loadings on this over the years and the ring is hard. Having had one of those retaining rings fail on the Spitfire years ago, have only used the nut type since. I have driven several different vehicles, many thousands of miles since the 60s fitted with the early type and this was the first one of the ring type I had ever come across, so please accept my feelings on them. There is no warning, just a starter motor revving high, so need a push or a cooperative slope. Probably rare to happen and I can't be sure of the cause, but mention in case of interest.
-
The bits of plastic U section I used are only about 15mm long and only on places that are two layers of body metal at the edge. Spaced at similar spacing to original clips. There is plenty of space left under the trim for air circulation. No requirement for sealing. No rust has ever occurred under mine.
-
Piece of wood on wing either side and lever off with screwdrivers. Work along carefully starting at end, small amount at a time. Feel will tell you where the clips are and then just lever at those points and then just work along them. Use plastic, bits of U strip as used on metal edges and found on various non-Triumph stuff, or short lengths of strip, instead of the clips, to refit, to avoid paint damage. Hold well if correct thickness used. This is what I used on mine when originally restored 1996. Original plastic still there and have survived several removals since, the last time about 3 years ago. They have UV damage on the exposed edges, but otherwise OK.
-
Most of the water from the block and head. Drains the block and head. Removing the radiator cap to allow air in is handy to remember though. Just a bit cautious about saying completely. Some may be remaining due to angle of engine possible blockages in block. Many, if not most, modern cars have no block drain Iain.
-
Plugs are more practical than taps. Taps usually block and or jam after not being used for a long time and in any case have to be removed to poke wire in the hole to check the waterways. Easy enough to remove bottom radiator hose to remove most of the water from the cooling system, if the water is not too hot. Polished taps look nice for show though.
-
With the belt removed, placing a piece of dowel or rod in the V of a pulley avoids the variable of different pulley overall widths. This will show if the pulleys are at right angles to the driving shaft as well as showing the alignment the belt will run at. It is also a way of checking that the pulley is not bent by rotating the pulley and seeing if the end of the dowel moves.
-
Pump pressure too high certainly can force fuel past a needle valve that behaves itself when engine is running, but it seems that you have covered this point. Warm engines require a leaner mixture than cold ones, so become rather sensitive to richer mixtures, particularly when starting, which you also appear to be aware of. "at the minute i have to floor the throttle with a little choke" is leaning off the mixture, as wide open throttle simply lets in air on a constant depression type carburetor with no accelerator pump and a little "choke" would cam the throttle rest position up with little or no pulling down of the jet, which is your logic behind using this method. Have you tried just leaning the mixtures a tad by adjusting jet level? I still suspect a needle valve sealing problem causing an elevated fuel level resulting in a richer mixture that a cool engine can tolerate but not a hot one.
-
Pete, I was asked to apply the bush conversion to an MGB box. Turned out the spigot had been turned down and sleeved for a previous problem. The sleeve had moved towards the end of the spigot and what a mess that made of the roller bearing used there. Also damaged the spigot further as the sleeve and bearing jammed and stopped rotating. I did shrink a sleeve onto the spigot by making an interference fit sleeve, bringing the sleeve to red heat while not parted off, mounting shaft in the lathe and forcing the new bit on using the tail-stock centre whilst rotating and piening when in position. Next parted off, outer surface finished and suitable bush made. Have no idea if it was ever used as the owners had fitted a second hand box. So much for love jobs, but at least it was an interesting challenge.
-
I made a 3 legged puller that hooks on the deep end of the roller type bearing as mine was very tight and trying to hook it out by pulling on the close end just broke the lip off the outer case. Glass hard. I have dismantled half a dozen of these Herald/Spit boxes since and on one occasion that original type bearing just fell out when the shaft was stood upright on its gear end while I was washing the parts. After that I always tried tapping the gear end of the shaft on a piece of hardwood, but only one more fell out using this method, still worth a try. Varying amounts of pull required for the rest, but none as tight as that first one.
-
Pete, I have posted the bush idea at least twice previously on this forum over the years and yours is the first response I've seen. Thanks for it being positive. Dave, what you say is quite possible, but I can't understand why someone has gone to the trouble of dismantling a box to replace that bearing and not drained and cleaned out the box. To change that bearing, at least the cluster gear (many names for that part) must be dropped to the bottom of the box and the box must be disconnected from the input and output mechanisms. Anything is possible though. Mal.
-
But no, there's more! Before people write off the idea of bushes on the spigot, how long does a 4 speed box spend in an indirect gear? This is when it is receiving side loadings and even then the speed difference between the spigot and input shaft is relatively low. It is the side loading rather than the wear rate that is the problem if wear rate seems a possible problem. The difference in rolling and sliding friction in this use is not a primary consideration. The main factor for my decision to use modified bronze bushes was the amount of damage that could be done to boxes when the spigot bearing failed. A bush under these conditions will not break up. If it wears, the gears may start humming due to changes on meshing angles but even this is unlikely. Mal.
-
"The needles are just over 1mm in diameter." That suggests they are from the spigot on the mainshaft mazfg. Original bearings had rollers in an outer shell. I do not like small diameter rollers on small shafts which ar subjected to side loadings. Bushes handle such conditions much better and that is what I put in there, same as Rootes Group and others used to for a long time. I'm sure that the change to bearings by manufacturers was a cost saving/ease of assembly move. Small rollers under these conditions tend to roll out of parallel to the shaft causing shaft surface damage due to the skidding action and even breakage of the rollers. A more extreme example is in universal joints and many people on this forum have see what they can look like. Yep, I use special bushes in these too! Enough rave, Sounds like an overhauled box from a known good gearbox person will be the way to go in your circumstances mazfg. There may be some reuseable parts in the box that could give a bit of a trade-in consideration but professionals really should only use parts that have no faults. Unlike what we mugs can do.
-
Actual diameters of those rollers would help in working out where they came from mazfg.
-
The rollers have nipples on there ends which would suggest they have been in a bearing with an outer case or a cage. For either type to escape suggests something dramatic has happened. The longer the box is used, the more the damage to teeth due to incorrect meshing at least, so best have it dismantled to see what can be saved. Hopefully overdrive type main-shaft is OK so it can be used to convert a non-overdrive box, which should be easier to find. If you do not feel like working on the box yourself, talk to someone competent to do so, but best not to use till something is done.
-
That is a good thread Sparky. It brings up a lot of worthwhile things to think about and evaluate from which others can make their own decisions. Good pictures showing what happened in one case at least. Bill's point about the step in the drilling in this particular upright would certainly localise stress. Marcus mentioning corrosion is the one I had thought about, especially with the design of the "seal" that runs here which seems designed to hold water in the area, particularly as it ages and loses its flexibility. As for Rose joints, the critical thing in my mind is getting the directions of loading correct. The lower end Rose would be subjected to vertical loadings and lateral loadings but Rose joints are primarily designed for one direction of loading. Just my feelings.
-
I was assuming bike also. The experience I was calling upon was from 40s British bikes, early post war production of pre-war design. The smaller corks, used by chemists, were the ones to use and readily available new from most local pharmacies. Some of the clutches used round inserts, just push the cork in and trim, my BSA used key-stone shaped ones so the cork was forced in sideways after a little trimming.
-
I wonder if the new inserts hold oil to a different extent to cork and so, different pressure settings are required. Sounds as though there was oil being held on the faces as you could see no damage after the slipping. May be the different inserts are better at retaining oil. Possibly there is a different oil specification for the application the new type inserts are designed for. When corks were commonly used in bottles, these were used to make replacement inserts and worked well. Times change.
-
Whilst there are instructions to not loosen the set screw and nut, I feel that this may not now apply considering the age and previous owners and mechanics that have worked on these cars. They were originally set with new parts. Present owners will not know if they have been undone and incorrectly tightened in the past. Over-tightening may have notched the solid shaft in the past, which would rule out any ability to slip, even if the original setting was now applied. Instructions for setting the set screw were available for the Spitfire 4, but would only apply IF the solid shaft is undamaged. As with all safety features much thought and checking should be put into this. I'm afraid I set mine by testing how much effort was required to get the shaft to slide, which may not go down well with people on the forum, but post this for what it is worth.
-
No mention of new tyres Jules, but, if you have changed them, tread squirm car give feelings like you have described. Some tread patterns allow the tread to move from side to side when changing direction. Soft tread rubber also a factor. I purchased a set of cheap 155/13 tyres many years ago and had excellent performance out of them so purchased another set same brand same specs from same dealer when they wore out. These were dangerous to use so took them off and purchased Bridgestone as I knew these were good. The first cheapies used a copy of the Bridgestone tread pattern and the second set have a less blocky, more liner tread pattern with rather narrow tread runs and rather wide grooves. Negotiating roundabouts was very interesting. On entering a turn, lateral load on the front tyres caused tread movement requiring extra steering input followed by lateral load on the rear tyres resulting requiring extra steering input when correcting the initial under-steer. This then reduced the lateral load on the front tyres allowing the front treads to return to their original position and so on. How these tyres were allowed to be imported to Australia and sold as fit for purpose was probably down to them having the same description as the earlier ones that would have passed as suitable. Not an ideal system. This is a rather extreme example but posted in case of interest, Mal.
-
Great to hear Nick, both the sound and the news. There will be many on here very happy for you. Just hope that stories about the local "Boys in Blue"(Actually khaki in some parts up your way) being unfair are not to follow. Congrats, Mal.
-
Seeping from that area is so common, if I ever have the head of my Spit I intend to wad-punch the hole in the gasket to a hole large enough to put an "O" ring in there with adequate clearance to accommodate the O.D. of the ring when compressed but small enough to support the ring when under oil pressure. I only have experience with the old copper sandwich gaskets and so, this idea is based on them. Don't know if this is possible, but thought I'd post this in case anyone would like to comment. Getting the enlarged hole in the gasket concentric with the average of the head and block drilling centres would take some judgement. Can't assume they actually line up perfectly as manufactured.
-
Dave, the"Even minute changes in the characteristics of the contact surfaces" are not necessarily visible to the naked eye. The first box I worked on was in a 1937 side valve V8 Ford when in my teens while dealing with other transmission problems. This car had done a very high mileage and all gear teeth surfaces were in excellent condition. In my 20s I repaired cars to pay uni fees and these were mainly Morris 8/40s and early Morris Minors which never seemed to have problems with the synchromesh, but dreadful selector wear. I was surprised how many had surface damage on the straight cut gears. The specified oil for these boxes was SAE 30, so I always put in Shell 90 gear oil, the grade specified for the old Ford. This seemed to cause no problem with the function and hopefully helped with the tooth problem. When assembling my own Spitfire 4 from bits in '76, I used Shell 90 in the box that I had on hand and everything worked perfectly. (Apart from quite noisy straight cut gears, as the only Spit sets I had were not too good, but I wanted to know what the ratios were like.) After a couple of hundred miles I drained the box to check for any evidence of metal and by then Straight 90 gear oil was less available so put in a well known brand of 80/90. From then on there was clashing changing down to second unless done very carefully. Drained the oil and put in some straight 90, but the problem was not overcome, so I assume the problem was due to some additive in the 80/90 that had altered the the surface characteristics of the bits involved. That was the first Triumph box I modified the spring loadings on. The gear noise became worse after a year or so of daily use so built another box from bits using Herald ratios, modified synchro and straight 90. For commuting I like the lower 2nd. Only have to use 1st when starting up hill really. This box is still in the car and no problems.
-
Dave, this puts me in an awkward position, whether to say something or not, as what I am going to say has not been warmly accepted when previously mentioned on the forum. The factory setting will work when every component involved is in "as manufactured" condition and should continue so for the expected life of the gearbox. These boxes are now very old. Even minute changes in the characteristics of the contact surfaces of any of the parts involved in getting satisfactory gear changes can reduce the efficiency, so not only the hub but also the cones and rings. New rings on old cones can also give problems. I aimed at adjusting the factory spec up by about 20% on old boxes to overcome problems changing down gears, using 4thou shims. Usually takes 2 with good balls and springs. Results in good gear changes with hardly noticeable changes using the gear lever. Worked on other makes of boxes just as well when I used to do boxes. Sounds like someone in the past has tried this approach in your case but has overshot somewhat, so decided to post the above for your consideration in case you get problems when the box is back in the car. Mal.
-
The wheel brace that came with a very second hand Spit 4 had the removal bit on the end of the handle. I have no idea if it was original equipment but someone on here will probably know. The only mod I made to it was slip some garden hose over it where it pivots on the paintwork of the wheel when in use.