Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[bjacko]

I would put it in the vice with some wood or Aluminium round it for protection and nip it slightly to close the slot little by little then it might tighten up alright.
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP

[Ray White]

[badhuis]

[ukdave2002]

[Ray White]

The old and new shafts are the essentially the same. The new shaft measures 0.0875" and if anything the original is very slightly smaller but this may be due to wear.

The boss on the old wheel is the same thickness as the new one. One difference is that the new one has a gap (at rest) of 0.080" but the original one is only 0.050".



The other main difference is that the old boss was made from aluminium but the new one is stainless steel.

So far I have only managed to reduce the gap by 0.020" by clamping in the vice.



Possibly the only solution will be to use the original boss. It could be polished up to a high standard but would take me quite a long time.

I suppose I could always paint it black to match the column?

(That would please the purists.! )

[bjacko]

Did you try tightening the bolt after it was squeezed? I would use a temporary high tensile bolt and if it broke under tension it would not matter. I would continue to squeeze the gap to get close to the same gap as the old one by going slightly further and letting it spring back to the desired gap.
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP

[ukdave2002]

[Ray White]

Another idea I had was to paint liquid PTFE onto the shaft. Perhaps it would take up the slack?

[ukdave2002]

[Ray White]

[Ray White]

Just one more spanner in the works.

I have just noticed that the original wheel was attached to it's boss by three machine screws and nuts but the new one has four!

This means that to use the old boss I would have to machine a new top to fit as the original is completely different and will not work with the new wheel.


Having left the boss in the vice overnight I am still unable to pinch it up to closer than 0.080"...still not close enough to clamp onto the shaft.

I spoke on the phone to Melvyn (of Melvyn Rutter) who produce these things and he said he had not come across this problem before. At his request I have sent a couple of shots with an email and hope he will get back to me.
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Incidentally, he has confirmed that the boss would have been machined from aluminium just like the original.


I thought about putting it in the press... but that is something Melvyn advised against.


Incidentally, he wanted to know if the old boss would clamp onto the new shaft. I confirmed that once tightened the wheel would not pull off.

As an aside I can confirm that the bolt does have enough threads!

[ukdave2002]

Ray, they way you have the boss in the vice wont apply the force in the right place, I'd put a couple of sockets (or suitable diameter steel bar) in the screw recesses and then put into the vice with the force applied to the sockets. Dave

[Ray White]

Melvyn Rutter has asked me to return the boss to them. I think before doing anything else I will let him see it. He may simply send me one that works as it should.

[Ray White]

With the new battery installed the car now starts but there is another problem. No oil pressure.

I have had this before and apparently it is not that unusual for an XPAG engine that has not been started for weeks.

The answer is to jack up one of the rear wheels and remove the plug at the top of the (external) oil pump. To do this the rear dynamo bracket has to be removed giving access. Then,with the car in gear, someone has to rotate the rear wheel backwards while I inject engine oil into the oil pump. (I have a transparent hose attached to a narrow funnel that goes in the hole. The other end is pushed over the end of my thumb pump lever oil can. Injecting oil directly into the pump in this way encourages it to "suck" oil in and expel any air locks.

(Or, so I am told!)

It is a tiresome, although not difficult, rigmarole. An alternative to jacking up one corner is to roll the car backwards (in a forward gear) while priming the pump... but you still really need two people.

The moral of the story is to regularly start the engine.!

[Ray White]

An update. Ploughing a lonely furrow as I do, there was no one available to turn the rear wheel so I thought I would see if I could do it alone.

Success. I now have good oil pressure. In fact there is rather too much pressure...but fortunately, early on in the build I acquired one of Peter Edney's adjustable oil pressure relief valves, so it should not be much of a challenge.

What is no so clever is an oil leak from an oil pressure warning light union. This is another silly high tech gizmo that I thought would be a belt and braces backstop... but it needs looking at. Probably a fibre washer or such like to stem the leak. Lowering the oil pressure might also help.

Probably the biggest disappointment for me is the trouble I am having with the brakes. In addition to not getting a firm brake pedal; when I touch the brake pedal with the engine running, it cuts out. I assume this is something to do with the servo.

As mentioned previously, these cars did not originally have a brake servo; but then neither did they have a supercharger. Having a pressurised inlet manifold I am limited to taking the 'vacuum' from the carburettor.

I have been concerned for some time that there may still be a conflict between the pressurised manifold and the carb take off. If I can't get the servo to work I may need to put it down to experience and take it off.

That would be a terrible waste of hours spent trying to improve the car. Maybe the "hot rod" guys may know what is going on and if this is a modification too far.