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1909 Alldays and Onions 2 seat Runabout
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
peterwpg wrote:
To Rick & Richard.

Is there anyway that the early (2007+) photos can be put back into the thread. ?


It usually happens when the original photos have been deleted from the online storage location, or possibly renamed. If the photos exist online at a different location, then R can edit the post(s) accordingly if he likes, linking to the new location(s).

RJ


There was a problem with this forum a while back and I had to re-register IIRC and Difflock, where I host the main thread (I'm a Mod there) has moved server and had it's own problems over the years.

I have been attempting to create a specific website with the whole restoration story at http://www.alldaysonions.me.uk/ and almost all my photos are there. It's no easy task to recreate 8 years of restoration story so it may not get updated so quickly.

If you have any questions then just ask.
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roverdriver



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 1210
Location: 100 miles from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard, I have followed your work on the Alldays through all of your Forum posts, and have found it all most interesting. I particularly congratulate you on persevering when at times the tasks ahead looked most daunting.

Now I have started to read the story on your website, and I am finding that really interesting. Thank you very much for sharing your experiences.

Dane.
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A very fine weekend driving around Dumfrieshire.

The normal VCC event format is as follows

arrive at a nice hotel/B&B and settle in before meeting everyone for drinks and a nice dinner.
Up promptly and have a full breakfast before heading out.
Drive for around an hour or so and stop for coffee and cake then drive another 90 minutes before stopping for a nice lunch.
After lunch (and possibly a tour of where you've stopped, you drive for another hour or so before getting back to base and having more tea & cake in anticipation of drinks and a very nice dinner.

Repeat for 2 - 7 days

This weekend was just brilliant; great company, great cars, virtually no rain and no mechanical problems whatsoever. I made a few discoveries, first was that I don't need to use any choke to get the car started even from stone cold and using either petrol or brake cleaner it fires up 2nd time (first time just pulls fuel through the carb). All it needs is the throttle held open so it catches. My current thought is to re-purpose the choke assembly as a fast running device or remove it altogether (its a recent cobbled together thing that is neither authentic nor pretty) in favour of a brass clamp affair on the hand throttle ring.

I'll have some fun making a clamp and see how that works before I make my decision but I also have to get on with making a sprag brake for hill starts - I need 3 hands and 3 legs to do a proper hill start at the moment. Sprag brakes started off as rods that dug into the ground like a shooting stick to prevent the car from rolling backwards. They caused a huge amount of damage to cobbles and tarmac and are not supposed to be used any more. The Alldays has a toothed ring around the transmission brake onto which a rod is lowered which jams against the teeth and prevent the car from rolling backwards even in neutral. As you drive forwards it bounces off the teeth and clacks until you lift it up. I have a design in mind but I need to get it finalised and made ready for July.



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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On a separate but related subject, one of the joys of these events is the chance to get hands on with some of the most arcane, unusual and oldest cars in the world.

I know a statement like that can be seen as pure hyperbole but at the weekend there were about 10 cars including mine (one of 4 remaining), a De Dion Bouton which is the oddest thing ever conceived to drive, a Swift 6hp which has been had the same owner for 59 years and 1902 Benz which should not exist! It is this car that has fascinated me since I first saw it last September.

Bought from the stand at the 1902 Paris Motor Show, it was cobbled together to showcase the new innovation from Benz - front mounted engines. Up to that point they had rear engine/rear radiator configuration which did not work well for obvious reasons and in 1902 moved the engine to the front but kept the radiator to the rear which was better but they also moved the radiator to the front to stop overheating problems. This particular car is the ONLY front engine, rear radiator car to be built and it was a conversion from rear/rear.

It's got a complicated story that someone else can tell but it is not, as one might imagine, a very reliable vehicle and has not been restored (at all!) and has a host a minor problems that the owner, David, is working on by himself. Like most of us he a determined and rugged individualist and is not keen to accept help but after a couple of silly reliability issues at the weekend a wee team of us help him and his daughter (a mechanical engineer) identify potential solutions to problems that have plagued the car for years. The unadulterated joy of being able to get 'hands on' with such a car and, even better, help keep it on the road. It is an honour.



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Peter_L



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

PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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kevin2306



Joined: 01 Jul 2013
Posts: 1359
Location: nr Llangollen, north wales

PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterwpg wrote:


And a long piece of rope attached so you can haul them in on the move?

Kev
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kevin2306 wrote:
peterwpg wrote:


And a long piece of rope attached so you can haul them in on the move?

Kev

I have a set very similar to that but in yellow. The problem is having to exit the vehicle to place them under the wheels as one gets to the junction Laughing
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A recent discovery ...

I was cleaning the car ready for the Strathmore Vehicle Extravaganza at Glamis Castle and after a serious washing session The valve caps (the castle shaped plugs at the top of the engine) were filled with water. I reckoned that the most efficient way of drying them out was to run the engine. Imagine my surprise when I turned the engine over to hear bubbling sounds.

It turned out that the engine was losing a lot of compression simply by the spark plugs failing to seal properly. I tried tightening them, using different washers and even using different plugs with a slightly wider base which were better but still not perfect.

Once I looked closely I realised that the threaded hole for the plugs was tapered at the top so they were unlikely to ever have been sealing perfectly. Cue a visit to my favourite machine shop to get 4 new valve caps made.

Photos once I get the new ones back
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More on the 'recent discovery' .....

The things one learns on the way through one's mechanical life; spark plugs are meant to be single use, you can buy replacement crushable washers for them and machine shops (precision engineers) get very excited when you tell them you expect to do some fitting to any new part you have made.

Forrest Precision Engineering have again seen me right with a fantastic job on making the new valve caps out of phosphor bronze. When I dropped in the old ones, Scott noticed that they seemed to be just a shade under the standard imperial size (about 0.8mm under) so we agreed that he should make them to the standard diameter and I could turn them down a touch, if needed, in my lathe at home. Sure enough, when I started working on cylinder 2 (Cyl1 is fine, making 65psi, which is very good) I had to turn the thread down by a bawhair (Bawhair: def'n the smallest unit of Scottish engineering measurement. English equivalent is approximately 0.678 of a gnat's chuff) to make a nice tight fit to maximise the chance of a gas tight seal. This had a knock on effect on the copper washers that I'd had made last year at great expense (7p each!) and I had to turn them down as well until I found I had standard ones to fit!

So Cylinder 2 took a decent amount of work to get a proper seal but eventually I got the compression up to a decent 55psi. Cylinder 3 was more of a faff and I couldn't get more than 25psi but after lots of diagnosis and fannying around with copper washers and testing it came up to 50psi which is close enough. Cylinder 4 proved that I was right to get the caps made to standard size because it needed no fettling whatsover and I got an immediate seal and 55psi. All good so far and a pleasant and successful few hours in the garage, but you might sense that this was far from the end of the story.

I popped the spark plugs back in and poured water into the valve caps to test the seal around the plugs and to my horror I saw that is was worse than ever. I even started the engine and by revving it I could cause the water to be sprayed out like it was a wet whistle. ******. I spent hours taking the plugs out, swapping over the new valve caps, taking them in and out and trying to see what the problem was and eventually resorted to fitting a set of brand new plugs and ....... they sealed perfectly!

The engine now makes proper compression you can feel, it runs more quietly and certainly feels like it has more power although it has not stopped raining enough for me to want to take the car out for a proper test drive but it certainly won't be worse.

I'll admit to being a stingy git and not wanting to bin 8 otherwise perfectly good spark plugs, even though they only cost £1.50 each, but I gathered them all up and dumped them so I have a fresh start. I'd ordered 2 sets of Champion D21s which are hotter plugs (ie they dissipate the heat more slowly so they get hotter and burn off residue better) which arrived today. I called The Green Spark Plug Company and spoke with Tim, their plug guru, and he confirmed that the washers are easily damaged when used on a sealing face which is not totally square but for £1 I could buy 10 new ones or 4 copper ones. Good news, so I bought 40 steel and 20 copper ones Laughing as well as proper plug box spanner and some other goodies as a reward.

I'll admit to being a little peeved that I can't get 65psi on all 4 cylinders but it's a truism for really old cars that they get better with use so I'll check the compression after this weekends 140 miles day and see what the results are.

As ever, photos once I download them!
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

and in response to a reply on Difflock ...

rhinoman wrote:
When I read of all these new discoveries I wonder how it ever ran at all.


I suppose it can seem that way but really it's just part of the learning curve of running and maintaining an archaic engine. They are so simple and low stress and compression, modern engines can make 200psi, even 1970s cars should make 170+, that they will run with settings way out, almost no compression and oil leaking everywhere. All that's needed is fuel, air and spark and not even much of each! I had this one running with way too much air (slow flow) massively over fuelled and with barely a spark. Sure, it didn't drive anywhere, but it ran. Getting it spot on, oddly, doesn't make it faster, it simply means it pulls better up hills and uses less fuel.

When I got the engine rebuilt, exactly a year ago, it was making great compression on the starting handle but the carburation was massively out. Part of the process or sorting that out involved checking the plugs to see how the combustion was changing which, it turns out, was wrecking the crush washers on the spark plugs. I didn't know that the valve caps didn't leave a flat mating surface for the plugs so after taking them out 3 or 4 times they were all but knackered. By coincidence, the only rally left last year was the VCC main event and I'd fitted the new, hotter, D21 plugs and didn't remove them!

6 months later and I've forgotton what the engine should feel like as I turn it over, I've taken the plugs out a few times to check stuff and there we have it! This shouldn't be a problem again now I know.
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a wee idea this morning. As I've taken a few days of work I had the morning to take a few wee videos of the car and upload them to youtube. The last one is a 5 minute video of me starting the car from cold ... yes, it takes 5 minutes to get it started!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X-1--bwbEc&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osTT2sRH9FU&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bq_yvInMDE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XQIhGIb3s&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCoCqZZjlL0&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cINfHu6e6aU&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTN0g_1AQV8&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgyxrWh3JdU&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2h-_jzo3lA&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXgfU39Ml2I&feature=youtu.be
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SpiggyTopes



Joined: 17 Jun 2014
Posts: 43
Location: Portugal

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just watched the lot ..... fabulous.
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apart from getting usefully annoyed at computers I've mostly been driving Cool

The 3 Lochs Classic was an absolute adventure. We left home at 7.30am and drove from Newton Mearns, through the city including the Clyde Tunnel and on to Helensburgh. The traffic was a lot heavier than previous years but the weather was good and people were nice. With the new valve caps and new Champion D21 (hotter) plugs I decided to try driving a little differently with remarkable results. After ~40 miles I filled up and found I'd used just 8.6 litres of unleaded; roughly 18.8mpg - my best yet. This was accomplished by keeping my speed down to 25-28mph and staying in 4th whenever possible and not advancing the ignition too far.

We arrived in time for a cuppa before heading out on the run which was from Rhu, along Loch Long to Arrochar (HQ for Agyle Forest Challenge), along the A82 and up the old 'Rest & Be Thankful'. We got held up by some nasty modern cars (1970s) so we went for another go, which was nice.

The downside of the 2nd lap was that, due to a fatal accident at Luss where the A82 was closed, we got caught up in a massive queue and even though we stopped in Arrochar to have our packed lunch the traffic just got worse. Mind you, the weather was nice and the people who saw a couple dressed in Edwardian clothing eating a picnic were confused mainly because we were nowhere near the car!

Eventually we got back on to the Loch Long road (A814) but only got about 2 miles before we got caught up in the worst jam I've ever been in - some Council moron though it was a good idea to send trucks, tankers, coaches and caravans down a road barely wide enough for 2 normal cars! It was 4 hours later that we got back to Rhu.

A 1 hour stop for tea and biscuits and we drove home through hellish traffic in Dumbarton and busy traffic all the way home. The car was running as well at the end as at the beginning - the same could not be said for me!

A week later and we're off to the Biggar Albion Rally. A 50 mile drive across Lanarkshire, up hill and down dale, to our overnight stop in Symington completed in 2.25 hours. The weather was lovely and the roads quiet. The next morning, up and running first turn of the handle and off to the show which was really, really busy and an excellent time was had by all. Come 4pm it was time to start the 2.5 hour drive home back through Lanark. The car was pulling smoothly but slowly so I swapped on to battery 2 despite battery 1 only having had 3 hours running and the difference was noticeable. I'll be buying either new batteries (after 4 years) or one much bigger battery for our week away in Elgin in late September.



Now you'll start to notice a theme here. Almost every trip out ends up in an adventure and this one was no exception. About 1/3rd of the way home, going through Kirkfieldbank, I dropped down to 2nd to get up a very steep hill and there was a godalmighty BANG and 2 bits of red metal came flying out the right hand side of the engine bay! I immediately pulled over and killed the engine (still running fine but with huge vibrations), jumped out to pick up the bits and then opened the cover to survey the damage.



It was obvious that one vane had fatigued off and taken out the other. There is a big dent in the engine cover which could have been my head if it had let go when I was working on the car.

Next post: the repair
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 413

PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was not a happy boy. A broken 100 year old fan made of cast aluminium is unlikely to be either cheap or easy to repair and all but impossible to have remade inexpensively given the complexity not to mention a large dent a cracked paintwork - very expensive to sort Mad



Now it could have been a whole lot worse, the radiator was undamaged and I still had all the bits. I called Hagerty Insurance's rescue and recovery service and within an hour a very nice chap appeared with a flatbed recovery truck and was very happy to let me do the loading a strapping down (No RAC/AA/Green Flag thankfully) and took us home.

Come Monday morning I had removed the fan (2 minutes) and was casting around for people I could trust to try and weld it. I remembered the guys who repaired the manifold, Star Radiators, and called by. Their guy looked at it, thought he could do it so I left it with them. I got 10 minutes away and was called to come and collect it. £25, 2 lumpy but solid welds and it was fixed.



Got it home that evening and a happy hour spent with a dremel, a file and some emery paper and the welds were smoothed down. I then removed the red paint ready for a proper repainting and refitting. Nice!



The next job is to source a bigger deep cycle battery that I can still easily lift in and out the car. The stronger a spark I can get for as long as possible gives me better running. I can carry one of the small batteries as a back up.
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Rdover



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last maintenance update.

I'd noticed, whilst driving, that occasionally you'd hear a puffpuff noise of leaking compression so I started looking for a sealing compound that could cope with the different expansion rates of the spark plugs, the phosphor-bronze valve caps and the cast iron cylinders. Eventually I spoke to Hylomar who said Hylomar Blue is best for the job - I've got loads of it and should have bloody used it in the first place!
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