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New to the forum: 1937 Daimler 15 & 1969 Daimler V8 250
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
Posts: 43
Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:32 pm    Post subject: New to the forum: 1937 Daimler 15 & 1969 Daimler V8 250 Reply with quote

I've just joined the forum and wanted to "show off" my 2 Daimlers.

The first is a 1937 Daimler 15 Mulliner Sports Saloon. She sports a straight 6 2166cc engine linked to a fluid flywheel and a Wilson Preselector gearbox. Note the unusual headlight configuration: one pair for main beam and another pair for dipped beam. The brakes are Girling mechanical (in 1937 Daimler replaced the hydraulic systems they used on the 15's with the new Girling mechanical system which gives better braking). Lovely red leather interior with "art deco" door cards. She also has an opening windscreen, a rear window blind and, of course, trafficators.

I'm the 5th owner in 75 years! She's largely original and unrestored but in surprisingly robust condition (passed MOT in October with no advisories). The chrome work is pretty poor but the paintwork is fairly good. I'm of the school that believes a 75 year old car shouldn't look brand new. Lots of work to do to keep her running: I'm in the middle of restoring the "owl" light (3 lenses: rear light, brake light, reversing light) which is very fiddly but rewarding.

The 1969 V8 250 saloon has a 2.5 litre V8 engine rated at 140 bhp. She sports an auto gearbox, power steering, power brakes, full leather seats, walnut dash and an original radio (am only, no FM in those days!). The twin SU HD6 carbs are tricky to keep perfectly in tune with E5 fuel, but when they are properly adjusted she runs smooth as silk. Sheer luxury for its time, and pretty good by today’s standards. The last major run was when I took her from Cambridge to Goodwood for the Goodwood revival. Don’t ask about fuel consumption!

Again, lots of tinkering and repairing to keep her roadworthy. Keeping those wire wheels clean is a labour of love! As with the 15, she passed her MOT in October with no advisories.

Here are a couple of pictures of them both on my drive just before I put them away in warm dry storage for December through to March.





Best wishes, Dave B
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
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Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome to the forum Dave - good to have another 15 owner on here Smile

There were two or three 15s at Cholmondeley Castle last year, so that gave me chance to have a good crawl over a coupe of good examples. A local gent also has a Lanchester Coupe, I keep meaning to give him a bell as he wanted to pop over sometime for a nosey at mine.

Hope you enjoy the forum

Rick
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
Posts: 43
Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Rick,

Just a thought: are you a member of the DLOC? If not, they've got a fantastic forum with many active 15 owners (me included) and a couple of specialist members who remanufacture odd parts for the 15. If you need anything for your 15 project there's a lot of support within the DLOC.

Best wishes, Dave
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Rick
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

captain bobo wrote:
Hi Rick,

Just a thought: are you a member of the DLOC? If not, they've got a fantastic forum with many active 15 owners (me included) and a couple of specialist members who remanufacture odd parts for the 15. If you need anything for your 15 project there's a lot of support within the DLOC.

Best wishes, Dave


I'm not in the DLOC, I did try signing up for a Daimler forum but I think my application crashed each time I tried it.

Are head gaskets available for them? mine's a '34, 1800cc or thereabouts.

thanks, R
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
Posts: 43
Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes Rick, head gaskets for all 3 different engine sizes are bormally available. There's a club member who makes them if we can't get any "regular" market stock.
Best wishes, Dave
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1937 Daimler 15 Mulliner Sports Saloon & 1969 Daimler V8 250 Saloon
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Rick
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting, what are they like to drive?

R
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
Posts: 43
Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Rick,

One can sum up the way they drive as "temperamental and full of possibilities"!

The preselector gearbox, if properly adjusted, is smooth as silk. If not, can be jerky or offer too much slip. The fluid flywheel is really interesting: you can drive off from a standing start in any gear, but if you pull away in top gear the acceleration is very very slow. In fact, the word "acceleration" didn't really exist in the Daimler vocabulary - instead they "progress elegantly"!

To keep the engine smooth it's essential to adjust the tappets in accordance with the brass plaque mounted on the rocker cover. Each engine was hand built and the final tappet adjustements were made by senior engine "craftsmenn". After test running for the best part of a day the final adjustments were made and the gaps were then recorded and punched onto the plaque. Don't be put off by the massive gaps: in my case each tappet is different, the closest being 47 thou and the biggest is 55 thou! So, of you strip down the engine make sure that you record which push rod goes in which position!

The worm & peg steering is usually quite direct and adequately geared. The main thing that affects the steering is getting the camber and toe in spot on. A 1/8" error in toe-in adjustment means that the steering is all over the place.

Suspension and wheels also affect steering. Narrow cross-ply tyres at 28psi in my case on 17" spoked wheels. I think yours might be 18"? Lower tyre pressures make turning the wheel at low speeds hard work. Keeping the leaf springs well greased keeps the suspension predictable, and if you've got Luvax hydraulic shock absorbers on all 4 corners (which are adjustable in my case, presumably yours too) then you can fine tune the ride.

The brakes on mine are Girling mechanical. Daimler used hydraulic brakes on earlier models like yours, but replaced them with the superior mechanical braking system in 1937. They all stop well and the drum brakes are easy to keep adjusted properly.

Getting these cars sorted is a case of working out the best settings, largely by experimentation. Once they are sorted, they really are amazing fun to drive.

The biggest problem that I have is those "humps" that are put in each lane of a bidirectional road as traffic calming. Most modern cars can straddle these, but the distance between the wheels on the 15 means that the car gets thrown about a bit.

Whereabouts are you based? If it isn't too far away I'll bring mine over and you can check it out.

Best wishes, Dave B
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Rick
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very interesting, thanks for the tips Dave.

I'm in Cheshire.

My '34 is also on mechanical rather than hydraulic brakes, I believe the ones after mine went hydraulic, then reverted back to mech.

I'll have a look later at the plate on top of the rocker cover and see what it says, I assumed they'd all be the same adjustment.

RJ
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
Posts: 43
Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Rick, I should have looked at your profile: it says Cheshire!

Sadly I'm near Cambridge, so it's a bit far to "pop over".

"Never let a day go by without learning something" my Dad used to say: today's learning for me is about early 15's having mechanical brakes. Interesting that none of the write-ups that I have seen mentioned this!

I looked at some of the photos of your engine in your other posting. What are the shiny copex tubing covered cables that are shown hanging down in one of the pictures?

Best wishes, Dave
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Rick
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Dave,

If you're looking at the engine pics on the main site (http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/daimler-15.htm), I can only see the plug leads, dangling down from their tube/holder.

I had a look at the plate on top of the rocker cover today, they're all stamped up as 0.048.

Also on the main site, have you read about Ced's Rye cabriolet?
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/prewar-daimler.htm

There are also some old photos of 15s on this page:
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/daimler_15.htm

rgds, Rick
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
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Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh bl**dy hell, senior moment! The photo I was referring to was actually from another 15 restoration that I'm supporting, sorry! I've looked at so many pictures the last couple of days.

Rick, I'd like to ask a small favour please. If you are happy to let me know the chassis number and engine number I 'd like to pass the details to the DLOC club Daimler 15 registrar. We're trying to build up as much knowledge as we can about the whereabouts of the cars. Also there should be a brass plaque with a body number (Mulliners usually put these just aboove the running board on the passenger side).

Interesting that your tappet clearances are all the same, that's pretty unusual for a 15. Aren't the gaps large compared to otrher period engines!

Best wishes, Dave
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll dig out the numbers, the chassis and Mulliner plates are all there.

cheers, R
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you have any photos of the interior to hand?

If I read your intro right, do you mean that the main headlamps only do dip beam, and the smaller lamps handle main (or vice-versa)?

RJ
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captain bobo



Joined: 02 Feb 2012
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Location: South West Cambs

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Rick, interior photos no problem. Seats, door cards, headlining, etc. How best to get them to you?

Re. headlights - yes you're right. One pair act as dipped beam and when I depress the dip switch that pair extinguishes and the other pair switch on. The dipped beam units ar 9 inches and the main beam pair are 8 inches. Both are Lucas originals as fitted to the car but the previous owners removed the solenoid from the main pair and wired in a second light to match the passing light.

Best wishes, Dave B
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably easiest to post them on this thread, as with the earlier photos.

I'll have to check the lighting arrangements on mine!

R
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