Classic Maintenance

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Lots of pretty cars in the recent round Taiwan rally of visiting Japanese based classics, which was a bit of a novelty since there are almost no classics in Taiwan, and imports can’t be registered.

There was also a 1929 Bentley on a truck. Dunno what the story is, but I'd guess it'd broken down so they decided to use it as a touring static exhibit. This allowed a more detailed look at the underside, though I didn't have much time, and I wasted some of it in a pointless attempt to explain to the gf that the car couldn't possibly be 223 years old, whatever the bloody Chinese sign said.

[EDIT: From press reports in English, seems the 223 years was the combined age of car, driver and co-driver. Lost in translation somewhere. ENDEDIT]

Despite Ettore Bugatti's famous "Fastest truck in the world" jibe, leading me to expect solid simplicity, it was quite complicated under there, and I didn't have time to work it all out, what with having to be somewhere else, and being conscious I was blocking other people's shots while I was poking around.

Some features:

Aftermarket oil filter.



Doesn't look big enough, but I suppose they change it quite often. Puzzlingly, there only seems to be one pipe, so I guess it must be co-axial. I'd hope something like this would also have a bypass filter. Wonder what oil they use.

You can also see the leather end-covers on the elliptical leaf springs. Not sure what they're for, but I'd guess to retain grease.

They don't cover the axle shackles area though, which reveal a very surprising feature. Someone (and its presumably a JAPANESE someone) has allowed a 1929 Bentley to RUST.

I find that completely astonishing.



Adjustable suspension damping



Oops! Inspection fail. (Big in Japan.)




There’s a loose drive chain just visible behind the exhaust, perhaps handbrake adjustment work in progress, though I didn’t have time to confirm that.

Overall, made me feel a bit better about my sloppy maintenance.

Nice car though.

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Thanks for the pictures. They reminded me of something I once saw: a "fire chief's car". The car was built by a fire engine manufacturer. With it's heavy frame, long hood housing a large engine and small passenger compartment, it looked more like a race car of the time to me. It's one of those odd niches in antique car history.
There's a good picture of one, an American LaFrance, here. I bellieve they were more popular than the article implies.
 
Whoa, that's really cool! I like the grease fittings on the leaf spring bushings and the cover over the springs. I'll bet with proper maintenance that vehicle would last 85 years or more!!!

I'd love to own and/or drive a vehicle like that.
 
makes you wonder if there'd be value to greasing and covering modern springs... reduction in stiction and friction for smoother motion?
 
Originally Posted By: meep
makes you wonder if there'd be value to greasing and covering modern springs... reduction in stiction and friction for smoother motion?


I always spray the leaves of our trucks with lube during an oil change. They slide on each other, so...
 
Your supposed to grease those leaf springs and the leather covers keep the dirt out. Those friction dampers are very cool, they work like shocks to slow the rebound of the spring.


That Bentley is in about average condition compared to the ones I see at the track. They were called trucks because when compared to a Bugatti they were big and quite heavy. But the Bentley club is very active and they drive those things just about everywhere. Something Bugatti drivers can't claim...

How big of a motor was in that car? WO never believed in forced induction, he liked displacement. So he just kept making bigger I6's. The latter blower cars were not done by him and not as successful

BTW the chain you saw was for the brakes, those cars are not chain drive.
 
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Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Your supposed to grease those leaf springs and the leather covers keep the dirt out. Those friction dampers are very cool, they work like shocks to slow the rebound of the spring.

BTW the chain you saw was for the brakes, those cars are not chain drive.


Yeh, by "drive chain" I just meant it was that style of chain. It was about the same size as the chain on my 133cc motorcycle, so it wouldn't be handling engine loads on this beast. I speculate above its a handbrake linkage or adjuster.

Stuff I've seen written on the friction dampers suggests they weren't much good because the static friction is much greater than the dynamic, the opposite of what you want.

I'd have thought this could be at least partly addressed by making the friction disks meet at an angle, giving a wedge effect/progressive action. Someone must have tried this but I havn't seen any description of it.

Still surprised they let it rust, though my view of the meticulousness of the Japanese was already a bit dented by Fukushima.
 
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