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1927 Morris Cowley Flatnose
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A while ago I mentioned that I was having trouble with fuel leaking from my filler cap when going round left hand bends.
Im still having trouble so today I have made a little one way valve to hopefully let air in but not let petrol out.
The valve uses a nitrile rubber ball which I hope is fuel resistant and is simply soft soldered to the underside of the filler cap..





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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's annoying. Photobucket have removed all my pictures from here and appear to want me to pay $400 to upgrade my account before they will put them back.
This sounds like blackmail to me.
They can poke it.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Flickr, perhaps?
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ive gone back to "Tinypics" because i know how to make it work with them . Hope the pictures stay this time.
Anyway;
Morris commercials that had the same engine as my car came with a useful mechanical piston pump for inflating tyres called the "Maxfield tyre inflator".
This looks like fun and I would like to have one.
On the engine there is a cross shaft that revolves and drives the magneto on one end. The other end is free to drive the pump.
I didn't think I would find one for sale so I have started making one.
I dont claim that its a replica because I have virtually no information on it so Its purely conjectural and really just a lookalike.
It looks like this and bolts on in place of the original timing cover:


Here is the crankcase. My guess is that the Maxfield had a crankcase cast in iron. This is not really practical for me so I have fabricated it from bronze offcuts.
I bored the cylinder and turned a liner from cast iron bar which I bored and lapped round.





Here silver soldering it together in the back garden






Here is the little con rod made from a tough alloy with phos bronze bearings;

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Penman



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4748
Location: Swindon, Wilts.

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi
Have you seen this?
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-cars-parts/maxfield/pump/194363

The advert implies this one is later.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the crankshaft. It is a simple "overhung" type and runs in a couple of ball bearings.
The only reason I made the web from bronze is because i didnt have any suitable steel.



Here is the rear part of the crankcase;



This shows the dog drive that engages with the slotted nut on the end of the magneto cross shaft;







Here is the piston made in cast iron.
I like making iron pistons to run in iron cylinders for the simple reason that I dont have to do any expansion calculations. As long as they are a good close fit with minimal clearance they always seem to work.
I made the gudgeon pin free floating with soft brass ends. I find this this is the simplest method when making small pistons.
I made the piston ring from ptfe.
I dont know anything about compressor pumps but felt ptfe would make a better seal than cast iron rings in this application. I dont want it passing oil upwards and pumping it into the air line.



Last edited by Miken on Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Penman wrote:
Hi
Have you seen this?
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/classic-cars-parts/maxfield/pump/194363

The advert implies this one is later.


Thats interesting. I expect its long gone/sold.
I wonder what vehicle used it in the 50's 60's?
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here it is loosely assembled and showing how the drive is engaged and disengaged.
I plan to fit a nicer handle.




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colwyn500



Joined: 21 Oct 2012
Posts: 1745
Location: Nairn, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Amazing!!!!
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47Jag



Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 1480
Location: Bothwell, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike,

Nice work. I worked in large computer systems when they would fill a building. The disk drives had 26" platters with the read/write heads driven by air against the disk by compressed air ala disk brakes. The compressors used there had a carbon ring.

As an aside, in case you are wondering why the disks didn't come to a grinding halt, the heads were aerodynamically profiled and 'flew' a few microns above the surface. Different (critical) pressures were applied in three zones across the diameter of the disk.

Art
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

47Jag wrote:
Mike,

Nice work. I worked in large computer systems when they would fill a building. The disk drives had 26" platters with the read/write heads driven by air against the disk by compressed air ala disk brakes. The compressors used there had a carbon ring.

As an aside, in case you are wondering why the disks didn't come to a grinding halt, the heads were aerodynamically profiled and 'flew' a few microns above the surface. Different (critical) pressures were applied in three zones across the diameter of the disk.

Art

I dont think I'd like to make a carbon piston ring.Sounds rather fragile.
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the cylinder head.
I used balls for the inlet and outlet valves.
and also incorporated a pressure relief valve which is a sprung loaded ball which I will probably set to about 50psi which should be plenty.



New valve chest cover from alloy plate. I should think the original was in cast ally.






Here assembled. Im waiting for a round knob to come for the operating lever;



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Peter_L



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 2680
Location: New Brunswick. Canada.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful engineering ! Smile

So pleased that Photobucket didn't steal your photos
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its coming up for 12 months since I got my Cowley back on the road after the refurbishment described in the preceding pages.
This is the first proper "vintage " car that I have owned and i still consider myself a newbie to old cars in general. So i thought I would write down a few of my thoughts and observations on how ive got on this last year.
So, in the last 11 and a bit months i have manged to cover just over 2700 miles (I think this is more than my wife does in her modern car).
I use it mostly for driving to and from work a couple of times a week, a round trip of 20 miles and going out for drives mainly on weekends.
Ive learnt that driving an old car is great fun. Almost everyone either waves , shouts, points or toots at you when you are in one. I find small boys and older men like it . Teenage boys and young men ignore or look at it with disdain and females of all ages love it. A slightly strange lady ( her car was covered all over with pictures of dogs) pulled alongside and wound down the window "darling i simply love your car!" Or come and talk to me when its parked.
If i was 19 and single now (which I'm not) this is definately the sort of vehicle to have!
When I go out with my wife in it, I tell her that its her turn to do the smiling and the waving.
I was filling up with petrol the other day and a guy asked me how old it was. When i told him it was 91 years old he said; "Oh, you've looked after it well." I told him "I haven't had it form new you know!"
People are always asking "do you take it to rallies?" No I dont.
"Do you show it" Ive got better things to do. Rallies bore me rigid. I dont see the point of sitting in a field in a garden chair all day when i could be doing something else(interesting).
I live on the South coast and my daughter lives in Scotland. Occasionally I toy with the thought of what it would be like to make the 600 mile journey up to see her in the Morris. Realistically, i think I know the answer, "Bloody awful".
Suspension and comfort has definately improved since the 1920's
The longest non stop journey ive made in it so far has been about 3 hours and when i got out I felt very windswept and my legs were wobbly. It felt like I used to feel after I had been on a long motorbike trip.
Anyway, during the engine running-in period I changed the oil a few times. I'm now changing it every 1000 miles. The hand book says not to fill the sump to the full mark on the dipstick but to fill it just to the 3/4 mark, which I do. Filling it higher can apparently result in high oil consumption. Normal oil consumption is supposed to be 1 gallon per 1000 miles!! But I have found that my engine uses barely anything. I fill it to 3/4 full and 1000 miles later its only dropped to in between 1/2 and 3/4. This is excellent and i put it down to the modern JP pistons from Australia which have an oil scraper ring. The original type had only compression rings. No wonder the book says to decoke twice a year. i dont anticipate having to decoke it any time soon.
The fuel consumption has not been so good. My friend has a gas analyser and he set the SU carb up to the correct mixture. A cowley is supposed to do 28-30 mpg. Despite trying, im averaging around 23 mpg. I find that in the winter, the car barely gets up to temperature on the 10 mile trip to work and it still takes about 5 miles in the summer, so this wont help.
As mentioned, I like driving it to work, its a very pleasant drive along 30 mph roads along the coast. I like to see what ships are in the harbour, I pass a pretty lighthouse, look at the house boats and the wind farm out at sea. At 6.30 in the morning the roads arent very busy but its a bit chilly in the winter. I never put the roof up and I just dress warmly , trapper hat, motorcycle gloves and a blanket over my legs.
Coming home at 3.30pm along the coast is not so nice. The traffic has built up and its stop-start all the way, So i go home a different way along the A27 which is also busy and not as nice, but its a 2 lane road and everything keeps moving . I can maintain a steady 40-45 mph on this road. There are a couple of hilly bits so i try and get it up to 50 briefly so as to get a run-up for these parts.
Im very aware that this is a 91 year old car and whenever I go very fast (50mph!) I imagine something is going to break.
I like going out in the evenings, There are some nice windy country lanes round here and when it starts to get dark and im bowling along at 40mph through the tree lined roads and everything is creaking and rattling the way old cars do, it seems much faster.
Ive almost got the hang of double de-clutching now. Sometimes i can go out and hardly crunch the gears at all.
Not much has gone wrong with it in the last year. The wind-up clock went "twang" one day. I had a look inside, the winding mechanism is a ratchet and pawl device. The pawl part had rounded off so i drilled out the rivet so I could remove it and filed a new point. I turned a new rivet from bronze on my lathe and put it back together and hopefully it should be OK for another 90 years.
I had been having trouble with it starting now and then and thought it was the magneto getting tired so i swapped it for another. I though this had cured it but started having similar problems . It turned out to be another reason that was my fault. see here; http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20370
I think the original mag was fine.
Today on the way home from work the engine started running rough and I just got home as it conked out. I had to push it backwards into the garage. I checked the points and found that the gap had reduced to just 6 thou. further investigation revealed that the armature was rattling up and down in its bearings. Which would reduced the gap further when running. I have just come in from changing back to the old mag. It started first time so im pretty sure the old one is fine. I will pull the other one apart shortly to try and reset the bearing end float.
All the time ive had the car on the road so far, although the dynastarter starts all right, it hasn't been charging the battery. I haven't been too bothered about this as being magneto ignition its not that crucial. I just put the battery on charge every now and then and its all worked out ok so far.
I purchased a non working dynastarter off ebay and last week recieved it back from Armoto who refurbished it (£680!! that hurt). I cant be bothered to crawl under the car at the moment to fit it so will wait until this winter when i want to do some work on the chassis/suspension. The rear leaf springs are a bit tired and its got a bit of a list to starboard. But its ok for now.
When i first got the car on the road I found the handling a bit strange/ frightening. I looked inside the Smiths shock absorbers and found that there was a) no friction material in them and b) the bores had worn oval and the man at "vintage shock absorbers" said that they cant be repaired.
He made me up a set of suitable period Andre Hartfords which look very nice (they cost enough) and now its not nearly as scary going around bends and hitting potholes.
When thinking about fuel consumption I thought the brakes might be binding so I jacked it up and checked and everything was fine. I thought something was wrong and so I experimented with coasting down a long straight hill in neutral and found that whereas in my modern car I would accelerate. Depending on the incline, in the Morris I would stay at the same speed or even start slowing down.
I have put this down to the Longstone tyres which look great, but I think they have more rolling resistance than a modern tyre. They look a bit like a motorbike "Knobbly " tyre to me. Having said that I think they may be improving with use. the car seems to freewheel a bit better but still not like a modern. Maybe they just need a lot of running in.? I pump them to about 35psi.
If you have read this far you may have gleaned that I am very interested in the mechanical operation of my car but i can state that Im not that bothered about it being pretty. Ive never polished it , I thrown a bucket of car shampoo/water at it a couple of times but thats it.
I like to see a restored shiny old car but I think vintage cars look just as nice dirty and used with a bit of rust around the edges. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Conversely, Cars from the 60's and 70's that are dirty and rusty just look like old bangers to me (sorry).
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bjacko



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 351
Location: Melbourne Australia

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:39 am    Post subject: Morris engines Reply with quote

Morris engines and gearboxes made in the Morris factory up to about 1952 have metric threads as do axle nuts on most models. The reason is that Morris took over the Hotchkiss factory (which moved to UK during WW1) and because it was French all the equipment was metric. So Morris decided to keep the metric machinery and got the bolt, nut etc manufacturers to produce the hardware with metric threads and BSF/BSW spanner sizes so that service centres and garages would not have to buy metric tools.
Engines and gearboxes made in the Wolseley (owned by Morris) had normal Imperial sizes such as the Overhead Valve Morris Minor.
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