Is this possibly the most boring Forum any where!

[GSouthee]

My god this is Forum is so lacking in input from members and non-members it may qualify for the most boring Forum out there.

Is this were a horse it would be put down.

G

[Jam2]

Sadly you are incorrect, the Bentley Drivers Club forum has even less activity.

[Shamea2]

I was enthusiastic (with my Brookland Mk2), but have given up.

[Big col]

Well G at least you are trying to stir a little interest so 10 out of 10 for effort.
I am getting on slowly with the assembly of the 16/66 but it is slow and so that doesn't make for interesting reports.
At least the wiring is done and tested. It's just a pity that it will all have to come of again at the end of the season for it to be tidied and harnessing.

[Flyinghorse]

Inactive maybe but boring when something does come up not so sure! I could bore people to death with tales of my  Volvo brakes,Ride on mower starter motor, Freelander 2 rear drum handbrake adjuster issues  or log splitter hydraulic leaks but that may be deemed boring.

I suppose it suggests covers are on, trickle chargers running and not many people spanner-ing their AC. My tow cars are in storage offsite unfortunately (I have no garage)  but I did buy some taps on ebay to fit the overdrive inhibit switch to my Bristol 400 once I can get it.

Graham

[Nev]

It has been very quiet recently, but it is generally a forum where quality overrides quantity.
I have been active on various forums for other marques over the years, and they had much more inane chatter, which gets tiring and Cliquey  after a while. Also harder to search the archives to find the technical info.

[GSouthee]

Hi Guys

Glad to see life is out there.

It just seemed to me to be very dead, I cant believe that no one is tinkering, planning or having a sort out.

It would be nice to hear what is going on with members etc.

Hydraulic leak in a log splitter, I just use an axe :)

Yes some items are interesting and useful but these are very infrequent.

And Colin good luck with the wiring.

G

[B.P.Bird]

Gary,
I always find something worth learning on this forum. Quality is certainly to be preferred to quantity. By the bye that photo' on your post about 2 litre spares looks like the Oil Feed not the Fuel Feed ?
Whilst on the subject of the Weller Six and as an antidote to isolation, although that can lead to some productive time in the workshop, what is the single most annoying and work generating component on the A.C. engine ?
Barrie

P.S. A picture of progress



Unusual bottom on UMB 2043

[GSouthee]

Hi Barrie now that looks lovely and thanks for info re pipe. (Its been a long time since I had an AC engine).

Keep up the good work.

G

[Big col]

Looks slightly different to mine Barrie !

[B.P.Bird]

Only slightly different, what year was your engine erected ? UMB 2043 comes from 1954 so separated by some 2 or 3 tumultuous decades ? Gearing up here for final disassembly, clean up and erection having measured everything umpteen times. During the course of this I have progressively drawn back from making too many compromises with used parts. Sleepless nights thinking about how much torque old big end bolts will take or how well located old short liners will be without the designed asbestos gaskets. More cost and time has resulted, but risking having to take the engine out of AE 22 after only a short while is, I decided, foolish.
By the bye can I repeat my question - what is the single most annoying component on the Weller six ?
Barrie

[Big col]

I struggle to answer your question as to what is the most annoying aspect of the Weller six. Barrie as it's my first one so have done it as needed. I'm a Daimler V8 man usually.
Actually That said the most annoying thing is the cost.
Mine is 1935 build. The only bits still used on mine were the lower block, head and rocker cover. Everything else has been replaced including the water jacket which had been patched at some point. I decided to stick with white metal bearings as the car is not intended to be used in anger and rather for high days and holidays, hopefully including continental travel.

[Big col]

As an aside, I actually managed to fire up the engine today and warm it through a little.
I thought I had taken a video on my smart phone but then realised I had not. Muppet !
It all felt right so I threw caution to the wind and drove the car around the block. No front wings or bonnet on.
The brakes definitely need bedding in and the oil pressure gauge is a little incontinent.
Still loads to do but that's fine. I am going nowhere soon.

[Robin A Woolmer]

Barrie
The Weller  Engine was for the period very advanced, there were quite a number of changes relating to the camshaft drive & clearly in the PVT era lubrication of the main bearings, The most restrictive part of the engine was the low fundamental crankshaft resonance which restricted the ability to safely rev over about 4500 RPM, however as we know it made up for it with the torque & lightness of the engine.
It is disappointing that little was done to overcome the crankshaft resonance issues which were well know back in 1907 when Rolls experienced crankshaft failure on the six cylinder engines, six cylinder engines all suffer from resonance issues & the third harmonic, Rolls overcame this with there friction crankshaft damper which was positioned in the crankcase at the front of the engine. I believe other engine makes such as Riley also used this solution!
AC came up with the damped flywheel which is questionable & in the Post War period the front bonded disk damper, this mainly i believe was to deal with the fundamental crankshaft resonance, but it is doubtful if it had any effects on the harmonics, unfortunately these bonded dampers also deteriorated with age & exposure.
As we know the CL version of the engine basically specified the thin wall bearings & increased the main journal size marginally, this was a clear improvement over the thick wall white metal bearings as they are able to handle higher loads as the bearing bond stress was reduced.
The unfortunate thing was not to take the opportunity to specify even larger journals Main & Big end so a stiffer & higher resonance crankshaft could be designed so allowing the engine to Rev safely & more freely above 4500 RPM, this would have allowed the Weller engine to be more competitive against the much developed BMW/Bristol engine.
The other aggravating issue was the wet liner sealing which became much more difficult when Asbestos was banned, a key cause if leaking has been the movement of the liners particularly at the lower liner seal, a key requirement is the ensure the liners are not allowed to move once installed as the water seal can be broken!
The engine is well thought of by quite a few people & is used extensively in GN &Frazer Nash cars in competition.
The engine design still has good potential, obviously in older series cars!                 

[B.P.Bird]

Robin and Colin,
Well in the absence of any specific answer here is my view on the most aggravating widget on Weller's rather elegant design - The wee Pin that locates the Weller Tensioner. To get at this requires access to the rear face of the block. So engine or gearbox out, right ? Clutch off. Flywheel  off. Remove pin ? Sadly not as it is so close to the axis of the crankshaft that it is located behind the crankshaft Flywheel Flange. So if you decided to do the job by removing the gearbox then you guessed wrong. Remove Oil Pipes. Remove sump. Remove Oil Manifold. Remove Big End caps. Remove Main Bearing Caps. Remove Crankshaft. Now you can see the Blanking Plug nestling close to the No.5 Main Bearing. Remove this plug and beneath it is the head of The Tensioner Pin. The blanking plug has likely rested undisturbed since it was tightened at Taggs Island or Thames Ditton and can put up considerable resistance. This is scary as it is screwed in to a thin part of the block casting; an impact screwdriver is not recommended. If the plug can be removed then one at last sees the wee pin, or at least its screwdriver slotted head. It is about half an inch down a blind hole. It has something less than half an inch of thread on it. Can you see where this is going ? Well let's see: The pin unscrews til it stops coming out because the thread has disengaged, but it is still down in the hole by an eighth of an inch and still a snug fit in the counterbore. Oh me the air turns blue !
All kinds of magic is required to get the pin that last fraction so you can get hold of it. Putting it back with a new tensioner is easy. Just have to rebuild and install the engine (maybe install the gearbox as well if you were one of those who guessed wrong.) Just as well the Weller tensioner is long lived, but any time you have the engine apart replacement would seem to be A Good Plan......