"Full Noise"? Not quite, but still...

I am one of the many fans of the amazing V16 BRM - a glorious failure in truth but with one exception: It had the best sound of any racing car - ever.

1.5 litres, 16 cylinders in a 135°V with a Rolls-Royce-built centrifugal supercharger eventually providing about 4.5 Bar boost, it developed near the end of its career (1955) nearly 600bhp at about 11,000 rpm.

First a video showing a VERY BRAVE man driving a V16 up the narrow bumpy hill used at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Second a collection of images accompaned by Nick Mason's well-known recording of his V16 at Donnington Park

I think you might enjoy these!
À bientôt

Rolls-Royce Merlin & Bentley: Eccentric Britons

I stumbled across these madmen whilst looking for something else. Well worth watching (ignore the silly music at the beginning)



À bientôt

With Added Body - Part II

Many thanks for the comments; thus stimulated, here I go.

A bit of a cheat actually this time. First a couple more early photos from mid-1990 I would guess:

Photo: Dave Tweddle

Photo: Dave Tweddle

The upper picture gives an idea of the welding tasks undertaken - all the usual rotten Fulvia areas. Note at the front that I have "triangulated" by boxing-in the flitch thus vastly increasing its stiffness. The second snap shows "The Happy Welder" (probably forgotten about the can of Stella and thinking about a pint of proper beer).

In September 1996, three months after the car finally took to the road, I wrote a fairly brief history of the project fror the English Lancia Club magazine. I propose to repeat it here since it does give an overall idea of the project; a few things have changed since then, but in those days I probably had a better memory!

Here is the first part of the article:

At the recent Castle Combe track day, my car finally made its appearance after what seems to have been an interminable gestation period (seven years).

It is not and never will be, finished.

However, following an all too brief spell on the track due to a faulty condenser and a cracked cylinder block (which was due to my negligence!) many visitors expressed interest in the car. For me, an inveterate fiddler and modifier, this was very satisfying, as I am aware that specials are, to say the least, not nearly as much "the thing" as they were in Julian Jane's day.

Anyway, this piece is neither to be a cri-de-coeur nor a tedious account of every weld or piece of fabrication until the triumphant day when the car "passed its MoT with flying colours" - why do they always say that? (it did actually).

No, apart from a few disconnected jottings, I just wish to express my grateful thanks to the many kind friends who have helped and also to the numerous motor-manufacturers whose designers (unwittingly) contributed parts. These I list at the end.

And now a little about the project

Thanks to Gerald Batt and Harry's neighbours, the Deadmans, I was able to collect OMY 142E from Harry's premises after his death

· The car, for which Harry had paid £60, turned out to be composed roughly of 65% steel, 25% filler, the balance being mostly oily filth, holes, cobwebs etc.

· After about three months of weekends welding, I had a shell.

· Since the project was not done "aircraft-style" - i.e. drawings first (I can't draw) it developed organically. Examples of this include the purchase of various steel wheelarches, the three different mounting-places for the oil-cooler, two mountings for the injection, three radiators etc.

· Why injection? A number of people asked me this at 'Combe. Well first of all, I've always admired the Lucas mechanical system both for its success over twenty years of motor racing and for its ingenuity - just three moving parts in the metering unit and two of those running at clearances of .0001"! I was, of course, aware of the works efforts with the Kugelfischer system, but no-one's ever told me how much power was obtained. There are rumours that such a 1600 came to England but after fifteen years of Lancias I have yet to meet anyone who has seen a VAR 1016 Fulvia, let alone an Iniezione! Anyway, I was very fortunate to be offered a Lucas 6mm 4-cylinder unit with a Cosworth drive and 4 injectors at a price I could afford, so then I was committed.

· The idea was to reduce the overall length of the inlet tract, which is especially long and tortuous if the works manifold with 45s or 48s is used. I have plans to shorten the tract still further. The reason is that a shorter tract will improve top-end power and together with injection, provide much-improved throttle response - never the Fulvia's strong point. Additionally, injection provides superior atomisation of the intake charge - essential with long ports - and thereby additional mechanical "octanes" by virtue of a better burn.

At a recent rolling-road test, the engine delivered 110 b.h.p.(and climbing) at the wheels at 6700 r.p.m. Unburned hydrocarbons were very low - 95 p.p.m. proving the "burn" theory. Incidentally the power output is equivalent to about 145 b.h.p. at the flywheel. I am still using the original Cosworth F2 fuel cam which came with the injection which is hardly suitable, whilst the ignition timing is actually a guess - we didn't touch it during the test session - there wasn't time; neither has the cam timing been addressed.

· More work has to be done on the exhaust system. I have found that Fulvias respond very favourably to attention in this area. This may seem a platitude, but take a look at the dismal exhaust valve-throat area on a standard Fulvia head and I'm sure you'll agree. Another thing: why did Lancia use the 1300 manifold on the 1600? The fact that stainless steel was used is really an admission of failure - I've seen them red-hot! The fact that I have virtually to dismantle the entire front of my car to remove my fabricated 4-into-1 manifold is another admission altogether of course! There's really very little room; back to the (virtual) drawing-board, I suppose.

· As for the rest of the car, the approach has been to make it as solid as possible keeping weight to a feasible minimum; it is still too heavy. Following Peter Gerrish's suggestion in the Fulvia Journal, the sills have a central membrane. Seam welding serves to integrate the "A" post into the sill structure with further triangulation of the flitches forward and above, that. I have done away with the troublesome boxes by simply removing the rear portion of the sub-frame and mounting it where Nature (and Fessia) intended - in the original place; a lot of work, but weight is saved and rigidity gained. There are solid bushes (from Barry Waterhouse) and my ball-race front spring mounts beautifully executed by Doug Ellis.

· Next? Well, how about a mechanical fuel-pump (always the Lucas bugbear) dry sump, rose-jointed outer front anti-roll bar mounts, alloy brake-disc bells etc? It's nice to dream...

Actually, before Goodwood (next spring), I have to dismantle the car and rebuild the engine, hopefully with the magic head that Peter Ward has been threatening to do for me which he says will (with a proper fuel-cam etc) provide 175 b.h.p. with torque to match. I have to re-think the exhaust manifold, the heat from which causes great suffering to the steering idler box and I also have to polish out the runs in my paintwork. As I said, it will never be finished...

***************************

Next time, the rest of the article which gives some specifications and other details.

À bientôt

Pour mes Lecteurs Français

Picture source: here

Chers lecteurs et lectrices, ici un lien utile pour vous : un dictionnaire technique mécanique français/anglais.

J'espère qu'il permettra d'améliorer le plaisir de vos visites ici !**

À bientôt

**Merci CM, pour la traduction

Waiting! (Was "With added body")

Photo: Colin Marr

Hello. I have started looking through some pictures with a view to starting this mini-series; now I am waiting for your input (please see the original piece).

Meanwhile I came up with a nice snap made by a good photographer; it was taken on a pleasant one-off test day held a few years back at North Weald Aerodrome in Essex. I gave Colin the photographer what I think was quite an entertaining ride...

À bientôt

Get A (Second) Life

Lancia is appearing to be going increasingly "virtual." First we have their involvement with the Chat tool Weblin, which features little people at the bottom of your screen and now Lancia has gone in big with "Lancia Island" on Second Life - the virtual world.

I haven't visited yet, but there is apparently a showroom...

Virtual motoring: should please the "greens"!

Lancia official site (where you can hear a clip of Mme Sarkozy singing "Bang Bang": quite appropriate really...)

À bientôt

Long Overdue

From Picato (see RH side of page). Source: here

I said a long time ago that I love cats, and from time to time I would put a picture up with a quotation to suit.

Well the cat this time is a fine fellow sure enough, but I couldn't find a quotation to suit him, so I have added two quotes that I hope might amuse.

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat. ~Albert Einstein

A catless writer is almost inconceivable. It's a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat; they make nests in the notes and bite the end of the pen and walk on the typewriter keys. ~Barbara Holland

Source of cat quotes: http://www.quotegarden.com/cats.html

À bientôt

More Miscellanea - TechRepublic

TechRepublic is an excellent institution for those who wish to keep up with the world of computers etc.

An excellent feature is the forums. There are two: one for discussion and the other where one can ask a question, for example about software problems. The attitude of the many IT professionals there is superb and they are most helpful - even I can understand their advice (!) and they have solved a few problems for me.

It's not all serious there though. Each Friday there is a feature called, rather self-deprecatingly, "Geekend". This week's edition included the following, which amused me:

A major research institution recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science, tentatively named Administratium. Administratium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons and 111 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic weight of 312. The 312 particles are held together by a force called morons, which is surrounded by vast quantities of peons.

À bientôt

And if there's a hose-pipe ban, what then?

Land of the Free (if you look after your lawn)
Image source: here

To me, this story from the International Herald Tribune beggars belief.

Government encroachment has really got out of hand - this time in the "land of the free."

À bientôt

A Kindred Spirit

As an "ex-pat" one of my pleasures is to receive my copy of Private Eye, a publication that I have enjoyed for many years.

I had never imagined that I would have had anything in common with "Quin" in Knife & Packer's "It's grim up North London", but the latest one certainly should ring a bell with those of you who are familiar with my "little computer difficulties"...

Click on the image to Enlarge
From Private Eye 1203

Another Interesting New French blog

Right here

Presented to us by the enigmatic Constance Prunier.

Look, I know that there are millions of blogs, so please bear in mind that I am aware of this fact. I also know that many are just gratuitous rubbish...

Confession: I have wanted to be perceived as "arty" since I was about 20 years old, a fairly long time ago, so when I see something that looks "arty" I am inclined to be sympatique.

This one started just a week ago and as far as I can tell, given my lamentable French, is about love, sex and arts.

Come on boys I know I shouldn't say it but there's more to life than cars (which will probably be soon banned anyway - I mean what I call "cars").

À bientôt

Intimité

Source

This rather nice image was sent to me by another of those who take the trouble to comment hereabouts!

It comes from an interesting place - a place for which I wonder what the future holds. It is "Le Musée du Fumeur" - "The Smoker's Museum" which is situated in the 11th arrondissment in Paris. Those who are interested may like to know that the site is available in both English and French.

I am amazed that the government has not closed it down yet... There appear to be plenty of pictures of smokers enjoying themselves. These days I think that enjoyment is off the menu.

Thanks Fleur!

À bientôt

"With added body"

To my posting entitled "What would you do?" I received the following comment:

Hi Paul I also read your blog occasionally. You combined the 2 most beautiful things in this overheating/ozonlayer destroying earth: Fulvia & France. And then you're writing about them. That's what we call: Magnifique! I read them with a lot off interest. Like Paul asked: please give some info on your Fulvia coupé bodyworks (the baby blue one). And off course: we're going for the juicy details! ;-) Greetings from Belgium Bart Berlina S2 Zagato S2

The sort of posting that warms the cockles of my heart. Of course you all know that really the engine is the thing for me; having anything to do with bodywork I generally feel is a bit of a necessary pain, although it is undeniably rewarding: "No pain, no gain" as the saying goes.

I am happy to accede to Bart's request, although it will have to be another series, and looking at the collection of old photographs I have, I shall have to spend quite a lot of time scanning them.

Looking back, I was really very disorganised, and I was also very poor (as now) which meant that many compromises had to be made. I do not seem to have a picture of the car as it was originally, but I have added a couple of snaps here to show a couple of fairly early pictures that were taken after about three months' work (three months of weekends of course) and a third picture taken about four years later when the project was a little nearer completion.

The car was quite unusual, being an early 1300 coupé - not a "Rallye" - it was all steel and did not carry the "rallye" insignia (look at the rot in the bonnet). It was first registered in April 1967 and its serial number is 2002.

I have no intention of making this series a "blow-by-blow" account of the progress. I hope to find enough pictures to enable me to write about specific aspects.

If any of you have specific things that you would like me to write about in connexion with the car, then let's hear from you.

À bientôt

[P.S. Usual disclaimer about the terrible layout: not my fault and nothing to do with me]

Spot the Non-Smoker!

Général de Gaulle. Source: here

President Roosevelt Source: Here

Adolf Hitler Source: Here

























"Uncle Joe" Source: Here




W.S. Churchill source: Here


Funny how things turn out sometimes isn’t it?

Sorry about the layout, I know it’s rubbish but I am incapable of understanding how to place pictures and wrap text etc. And I cannot align the captions, so sorry again. "Blogger" offers a preview which bears no resemblance to the final page: neither does the composition page, so one is rather in the dark. Perhaps one day Blogger will offer a WYSIWYG service?

Perhaps I should offer a caption prize!

A bientôt

Sprung

Front spring specs from the factory data book
Click on the image to enlarge it

In this part of my suspension “mini-series” a few words concerning springs.

First, naturally enough the front. The table here shows a range of six different specifications and a couple of observations are worth making. First notice that the Fanalone had the same front spring fitted as the SI 1200 and 1300, 1300S and 1300 Sports. Second, notice the special spring fitted only to 1200 and 1300HFs (818-140 and 340). This spring is flatter and softer than any of the others, so if you have one of these, my advice is don’t break it, as they are hardly likely to be found in your local breaker’s yard!

Not much to add about the front spring: after all they are a pain to change and as the list shows, practical choice is limited. If you do want to change one, take the greatest care as they are installed with considerable pre-load and are perfectly capable of taking your arm off. You have been warned!

Rear spring specs from the factory data book
Click on the image to enlarge it

Turning to the rear, there are just five types. This time the Fanalone shares only with the SI 1200 and 1300 Zagatos (Sports) – the 1200 Zagato 818-132 gets mentioned here – and once again the early HFs have the flattest and softest springs, reflecting no doubt the reduced weight of these types.

Rear springs do corrode badly: this tendency is not helped by the plastic interleaving fitted. I have frequently rebuilt rear springs and since the plastic is usually shredded – and even if it isn’t – I discard it. I remove all the rust and if I had an industrial polishing machine I would polish all the leaves too, just like old Bugattis and Grand Prix cars. I then apply grease and Waxoyl. The simple buckle clamps (two per spring) I fix very tightly and weld up afterwards, this keeps the spring aligned and in good order.

For those who wish to lower the rear there are two approaches. First one can invert one of the leaves, usually the third counting from the bottom. Alternatively an additional leaf – a third or longer fourth - may be added at the top again inverted, which has the effect of both lowering and stiffening the rear. To do this you will need a longer centre clamp bolt, but a 6mm cap screw works perfectly.

Finally, Fulvia springs do sag and sometimes break (as do front ones sometimes). Some of the modern spring makers’ ideas of replacements are frankly laughable. I once was given an SII sedan fitted with replacement rear springs. Instead of six thin leaves they had four thick ones. The car’s ride was very hard on my liver and of course on the chassis too!

À bientôt

Democracy in Action: Spot the Difference

What? No seat belt, smoking, and a war to win? Perhaps he sometimes drank!
What chance has he got?
FDR
Picture source: Here

There are soon to be a presidential election in Russia and parliamentary elections in Iran.

The Russian Electoral Commission has barred former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky from running, on what may be perfectly legitimate grounds although personally, I have my doubts given the complexion of Putin's Russia and the enormous backing Putin has given his chosen candidate (not to mention the quid pro quo of Putin's guaranteed job as Prime Minister after the people have made their choice (!)). Full story here.

Meanwhile an Iranian of distinguished origins has been barred from his country's elections:

Among many hopefuls barred from running in the election is Ali Eshraghi, a 39-year-old civil engineer who is also a grandson of Khomeini, founder of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Eshraghi told the Kargozaran newspaper he had not been told why he was rejected. "My neighbours told me they were questioned about my private life, including ... whether I shaved, whether I pray or fast or smoke," Eshraghi said. Full story here

The article about Russia doesn't specify if Mr Bukovsky was asked about smoking or not; personally I think that after what he has been through he is entitled to a puff or two, and anyway it's his business after all.

In closing I have to say that none of the present "hopefuls" in the United States primaries appear to me to have the look of the smoker about them; as a result, I predict that none of them will achieve the deserved renown of that Great Smoker and President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

À bientôt

Where there's not smoke...

In a recent posting here I introduced my case against "Big Government" and I complained about increasing encroachment on the private lives of the public (citizens in many countries, subjects in others).

With the rubbish pumped out by the nannies in Engand and in France it is easy to assume that such outrages are limited to one's own country. This is not the case:

CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT ENCROACHMENT

CITOYENS ANTI GOUVERNEMENT ENVAHISSANT

This headline appears at the top of a bi-lingual Canadian Website whose purpose, although motivated by the very severe regulations in Canada (prisoners are not allowed to smoke!) takes a stance not dissimilar to my own.

The trend continues: if you are overweight, you may well be denied medical treatment - in the UK. You have "lifestyle choices" so long as they happen to be in agreement with those that the Government has chosen for you. It is ironic that there are moves afoot to ban battery chicken farming (quite right too) whilst before too long there will be "battery people" chained to their TV sets - where by another irony they will be free to watch "Big Brother" or some such garbage.

A more hopeful outcome may be possible in the USA: it seems that sense may prevail in Mississippi if this article is to be believed, but what is terrifying is that somebody proposed the law in the first place. And remember that in some states there are even non-smoking parking meters!

Finally, and a lot closer to home, in Paris, Mayor M. Bernard Delanoe is proposing to ban all cars over eight years old from the city.

What price Fulvias in France then??

And there are proposed new laws limiting students to four drinks maximum in an evening.

Can you see where all this is leading?

Real leadership is needed and fairly soon: everybody must understand that this is not just about the smokers...

À bientôt (If I haven't been censored by the health KGB)

Suspension - That Rubber Again

In my first article about the Fulvia's suspension, I apologised for the lack of pictures to illustrate the points I made.

The more recent articles have managed pictures, but now thanks to Neal, I have a good picture of the original front suspension arrangement. This shows S II 1300 front suspension (pressed steel wishbone), but the installation is identical to other models.

Note: the rubber is brand new. Picture: Neal Sims

In my original article, I wrote:

The one, to me, unpleasant compromise at the front in all series, is the means of coupling the upper wishbone to the transverse leaf spring: the famous rubber. Consider how the suspension operates: as the wheel rises, the upper wishbone moves towards the horizontal. At the same time (since they are joined) the spring is gradually straightened, so of course it effectively “lengthens” in positional terms. Of course as the wheel falls the process is reversed. This all means that the rubber is subjected to considerable shear loads and thus offers substantial resistance to suspension movement.

A little study of the picture should help you to appreciate my points!

À bientôt

Monte Carlo or Bust - Part II

A very nice part of the world: view from end of the stage

Each year, after the Monte Carlo Rally, the Historique is run. Today I went down to have a look as there was a stage due to start at 1:00, a very civilised time indeed. The stage was due to start at Laffrey, about 25km south of Grenoble so not an enormous distance for us to cover to get there.

There was a slight problem: a stack of snow fell overnight: we were debating whether or not it was worth going, but after battling through heavy stuff hereabouts (at nearly 3000ft altitude) when we got to the motorway it was just pouring with rain...

This nice Fanalone (complete with Spanish crew)
needed a bit of attention

We found on arrival that the snow wasn't just around home: in fact the stage had been cancelled since one of the cols was closed and the cars had to be re-routed. This meant driving a further 20km to just south of La Mure on the N85 where we were able to see at least a few cars arrive at the end of another stage.

The "opposition" had fine service facilities.
This is former F1 driver Eric Comas's rental operation

À bientôt

Big Brother Can Watch You - Even More Soon

I daresay that some of you have yawned and others sighed, on reading my numerous posts about the French anti-smoking regulations, that are identical to those imposed on the British population last July.

Whilst I obviously have a vested interest since I am a dedicated and enthusiastic smoker, this is not quite the whole story. Those of you who know me will be well aware that for many years I have complained and grumbled about increasing government interference in the lives of the population. This kind of intereference has become almost a raison d'être for so-called Liberal Western "Democratic" governments.

You motorists should know what I am talking about: after all would speed cameras for example receive a democratic "thumbs-up"? I don't think so.

So have a read of this article from Slashdot; it will give you an unpleasant look at the unpleasant future.

À bientôt

More on the "Rubber Solution" - Suspension Again

Picture: William

Arguably my most loyal reader/commentator, William (see comments on recent articles) has not only sent a picture of his solution to the problem of the rubber between the top wishbone and spring but has allowed me to publish it here.

And so I have! As may been seen, William has opted for a simple mount, using a 10mm bolt supporting a row of ball races each 8mm wide. Looking at it I should say it will work very well.

À bientôt

Another Jaguar Tale

I recently mentioned the story about Jaguar borrowing John Coombs's Ferrari 250GT for evaluation, and in that piece I touched on Jaguar's optimistic horsepower claims in the 1960s. I should add at this point that others were equally guilty: Aston Martin for example.

When the Aston Martin DB4GT was first announced, there was apparently a conversation at the works along these lines: "What should we say about the power output - 300BHP?" (asked the first of the two protagonists whose names escape me) "No" replied the second, "say 302 - it sounds more honest." So 302HP it was. For the delightful DB4GT Zagato they claimed 315HP, presumably even more honest!

Reading such stories has always been a great pleasure for me, and whilst retailing the Coombs story earlier this evening I recalled another, which returns us to Jaguar and their horsepower claims.

In 1960, Jaguar acquired from BSA the assets of the sadly declining Daimler company. Soon after, in 1961, Jaguar announced the Mark X saloon complete with the famous slogan "Grace, Space, Pace." Jaguar of course had had a look at what Daimler was making although there were no exciting surprises really in the "cupboard."

Daimler was producing, apart from a rather ancient 6-cylinder engine which powered the "Majestic" model, two V8 engines, one of 2.5 litres that was fitted to the remarkably ugly SP250 sports car and the other of 4.5 litres that was fitted to the "Majestic Major" model. These V8s had been designed by Edward Turner, father of the Triumph parallel twin motorcycle engine, the "Speed Twin." They were good engines, nicely made although not especially radical as I recall. Daimler claimed 220HP for the 4.5 litre engine and having actually owned one of these enormous cars (17 feet (5.1m) long and weighing 37cwt (1883kg)) I can assure you that the engine has plenty of steam - they were real horses and if there were not 220 of them, there very nearly were. The great barge went like a bomb - I paid only £60 for it too!

Jaguar's Mark X was powered by the famous 3.8 litre XK engine, with " gold-top straight port" cylinder head and three 2" SU carburettors - very similar to the E-type installation. Jaguar claimed 250HP for this version.

Wondering whether the 4.5 litre Daimler V8 might have a place in Jaguar's future plans, some bright spark sent an engine to the experimental department and had them install it into a Mark X. When the assembled "special" was tested it managed 135mph (217kph): rather more impressive than the 120mph (195kph) that the Mark X could manage with its "250" Jaguar ponies.

I do not know whether or not there were some red faces at Jaguar on hearing the outcome of the tests, but if there were not, then there was no sense of shame at Brown's Lane!

A postscript to this story: the very dated-looking Majestic Major continued in production until 1968, whilst its connecting-rods were used in the Repco-Brabham 3-litre Formula one engine in 1966; a pretty good recommendation I should say.

À bientôt

Skype

Since I read this evening that 9,696,534 are online with Skype, I can imagine you thinking, "Why is he telling us about this?"

The answer is of course that I am now subscribed to Skype.

It looks to be a useful service and it is free of charge - as dear old Harry Manning would have said "That's a very good price!"

Email me VAR1016@gmail.com if you would like to get in touch via this medium.

À bientôt

Act on that slack - SII Gearchange improvement

A glance at the gearchange mechanisms on SI and SII cars will show clearly an example of production economies practised after the FIAT takeover. The SI features an elaborate system of beautifully-made linkages; the SII is a different matter.

The ball at the bottom of the lever runs in a pressed-in plastic bush. It is inevitable that after many years of use the change action will become increasingly and depressingly vaguer.

I had had enough of mine going this way and so I had a word with the amazingly resourceful Phil at Evolution Engineering. As I expected, he came up with an excellent engineering solution.

I apologise for the small picture but it shows that the "push-through" bush has been replaced by a pair of machined brass cup bearings that are a good tight fit into the yolk that used to hold the plastic. Phil cleverly arranged a little additional material so that the bushes may be pressed in further to take up wear. So far no adjustment has been required.

A final note on the gearchange mechanism: the action is transmitted through a staggeringly heavy solid steel rod. Whilst renewing the bushes in my extension I replaced the rod with a piece of steel tube, thus making a useful weight saving. It would seem that Lancia imagined that
the gearbox would require enormous force to effect a change and/or it would be driven by gorillas in the peak of fitness.

À bientôt

"Global Warming" with a Difference

One memory of London summers that has stayed with me since I have been in France these past three years is the classic smell of barbecues in progress on Sunday afternoons. Some of these "barbecuists" seem to cook very strange things judging by the pungency that results. For the motor enthusiast who enjoys barbecues, the device illustrated would combine two pleasures at once, whilst those who wish to improve their "green" credentials could simply remove the "headers" and fit a nice catalytic converter (and make life bearable for their non-barbecue neighbours!). Thanks are due to Neale for sending the pictures.

À bientôt

[Yes I know the layout of this is rubbish but without a doctorate in programming, what can a poor "mecanicien" do?]

Desolé - Sorry - not my fault.

Sorry about the dismal layout in my last post; this is something to do with the impossible HTML which somehow has become completely scrambled on this blog. One of my regular visitors, CM, has complained about the over-sized text: this appeared when I installed AdSense, I do not know why of course!

Just looking at HTML makes my heart sink, whilst any attempt to correct it just makes it even worse. I have a little HTML code saved which I extracted from a decent-looking post, it worked Then but of course does not work now.

À bientôt

Rock 'n' Rollers: Suspense Again

The Roller Mount as installed. Picture: J.J.Hildreth

Silentblocs™ and rubber are, as I remarked earlier in this little series, an effective solution to many production and geometrical problems. And they are cheap. Rubber can be extremely effective as a suspension medium as in the original Mini, but in other places it is not quite so good.

One of rubber’s properties is hysteresis, but in our optimised suspension we would like to see unrestricted movement so that the road wheels, springs and dampers can all work effectively together without winding and unwinding pieces of rubber.

This brings me to the famous connection between the upper wishbones and the front spring. I have already drawn your attention to the rather nasty goings-on that must occur when the suspension is working. It was of course the works that originally attacked this problem. They used a roller (actually a lower suspension pin) mounted in a simple steel fixture that was bolted to the upper wishbone. There is plenty of pre-load in the Fulvia’s set-up so the spring is always in contact with the roller and with the freedom of movement (i.e. without the interference of the rubber) the suspension works much more effectively.

I never liked the rubber installation, and had been studying the transverse spring installation on a FIAT 130TC as a possible solution. It was at that time that I read somewhere that the works used a roller arrangement, but I was unable to find a picture of it. At the very next Surrey meeting of the Lancia Motor Club, I mentioned the idea to Doug Ellis (who owns a magnificent SI 1.3S) and we discussed the likely improvements that might result. The following month Doug turned up as usual and placed in my hands an exquisite piece of machining: a superbly finished aluminium mount fitted with a Nylatron roller running on a stainless steel pin. “Something you were talking about” he said. Neither Doug’s nor my car were running at the time so it was Justin (he has the Kugelfischer car I have written about here) who was the guinea pig. He reported a distinct improvement in handling, notably turn-in.

Unfortunately, the Nylatron roller soon wore out, the load from the spring being too much. Doug of course came up with the solution: a pair of ball races together with hardened steel pads that bolt to the spring. The system has been totally reliable: I have covered over 40,000 miles on mine and I still have the original ball races fitted. Doug wrote up the story in Viva Lancia (the LMC magazine not the web site) in 2006.

Justin has made drawings of the units, which I reproduce here. I have to say that I should think that they would be expensive to make. The Factory version would be much cheaper to fabricate – there is a photograph in Carlo Stella’s Zagato book for those who would prefer to take this route. A nice feature of the works design is that with rallying in mind, the mounts were designed to provide two height settings.

À bientôt

Champagne for the Brain?

So runs the slogan for this very long-established (about 250 years) English weekly. Despite the price, I used to buy it regularly when working in London and it made Fridays, naturally always a favourite day, extra special.

The "Speccie" covers a wide range of subjects and there is humour too, some of it amazingly politically incorrect - another reason for my endorsement.

From the current issue, I have selected Jeremy Clarke's Low Life column which I hope you will find amusing, I did.

Taki's High Life is usually excellent, but I think that he was a bit below par this time.

À bientôt

Aircraft Time Again

I know I have a small readership that likes to see the odd aircraft feature I include in this slightly unlikely location, so here's the next item in this occasional series.

I have so far neglected the less glamorous aircraft, but many did do sterling work and deserve a mention. The subject this time is the Bristol Beaufighter. Described as a "heavy fighter" the "Beau" as it was popularly known was developed very quickly from the previous Bristol Beaufort. This rapid gestation was valuable at the time: the Beau first flew in 1939. Despite being powered by two Bristol Hercules radial engines of 1600hp each it could manage only 335mph maximum speed, so it was presumably rather inefficient aerodynamically. [edit: very inefficient!] Equipped with four Hispano 20mm cannon it packed a real punch. Some examples were fitted instead with a total of six .303 machine guns for pure fighter service, whilst others carried torpedoes or rockets as may be seen in the film.

Not one of the "stars" of the time, nevertheless the film I include here shows that they could still present an impressive spectacle.

À bientôt

Monte Carlo or Bust! (Who'd be a Gendarme?)

Further to my piece last week about the Rallye Monte Carlo, I have been sent a clip by an English friend, which clearly demonstrates:

1. Sebastien Loeb drives bloody fast

2. Being a Gendarme is very dangerous

Enjoy it!




À bientôt

Run Your Car on Water! (It says here)

Yes folks! A dream come true: run your car on water.

No, I don't believe it either and I was just too damned lazy to read all the blurb.

However one line I enjoyed was:

DID YOU KNOW: Pound for pound HHO GAS IS 3 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN GASOLINE!!! HHO is a fast growing trend for boosting performance and MPG.

This line appears on the site promoting this scheme, which appears to be based on electrolysis of water. "HHO" is what they call the "gas" (mixture of gases) that is generated from the electrolysis: H2O of course, and if my memory has not yet deserted me, a highly explosive mixture. You could amuse yourself if physics or mathematics is your thing and calculate the volume of a pound (454 grammes) of gas that is two-thirds hydrogen.

Well, take a look for yourself and if it isn't bullshit let me know. If it isn't, I shan't need my Lucas mechanical fuel-injection system any more!

À bientôt

Improve Your French!

I have made a new on-line acquaintance via the "Ma Clope" blog. His nom de plume is Jarod Bendson and he has just launched his own blog: Du blog dans les épinards.

I am assured by someone who is well qualified to say that he writes excellent French and with great humour, so if you have a little more than "un peu de français" pay him a visit. Even I with my disgraceful French can appreciate the humour! I have added a link to my list.

À bientôt

More Suspense

Further to my recent discussion of the Fulvia's suspension, I now propose to suggest a few modifications that might be of interest to those of you who are not too concerned with originality and wish to improve the handling and road holding of a car that is already (when in good order) superb in these regards..

I start by reminding my readers that every production car is a compromise between various conflicting parameters: performance, handling, road-holding, comfort, price, running costs, luggage capacity etc. If you modify your car you will shift the compromise: this is usually the aim of course, but make sure that you do not create something that you will grow to hate!

My previous article described the general arrangement and construction of the Fulvia's suspension; in common with many production cars there is a fair amount of rubber about. Rubber as I remarked is something that gets in the way of precision handling (of course I am not alluding to tyres here although they are certainly intimately associated with this subject).

It is relatively easy to get rid of the rubber at the back: simply replace the Silentblocs with bushes of superior material. On my own car I have used Nylatron, a lubricant-impregnated nylon material. Each bush runs on a specially made stainless steel tube which is clamped between the spring hangers. It is necessary of course to ream the bush to size after it has been pressed into the "eye" of the spring. This is all straightforward for SIIs but SIs have a different arrangement at the front ends of the rear springs. I used Nylatron again with success but a certain amount of fettling was necessary to get it to work properly.

At the front, I again used Nylatron. here for the upper wishbone retained the original steel bushes but replaced the rubber housings, the steel shims and the original thin nylon bushes with a Nylatron part. It the making of these it was found that considerable precision was required to ensure an accurate fit. Sadly I do not have pictures of these, so I hope at least that the description is helpful. And you can always ask a question - use the "comments" facility at the bottom of this piece. Also I can point you towards someone who can make these parts 5he still has the sketches he made when doing mine).

For the lower wishbone bushes again I used Nylatron; with SII cars again this is simple with a solid bush running on a tube with small distance pieces to prevent the wishbone moving longitudinally. For S1s again, one would have to replace the original parts with Nylatron replicas.

Next, the anti-roll bars. It is most important to remember that tyre technology has improved enormously since the Fulvia's era; more grip = more roll, obvious if you think about it.

On discovering years ago that the 2000 sedan had a thicker front bar, I immediately sourced on and fitted it. The original bar is 16mm thick, whilst the 2000 one (Sedans only!) is 18mm, which makes it about 60% stiffer. I expected increased understeer but found instead that there was no difference in this regard and that turn-in was improved. As I made gradual improvements I started to sense (the Fulvia is always very communicative) that the rear of the car was rolling excessively. Unfortunately all Fulvias and Flavias that have rear bars have the same 14mm thick component so I had one made. It is 16mm thick so again around 60% stiffer than the original; it was a great improvement. Being a simple shape unlike the front bar, it was cheap. The firm who made it used EN16T steel and because of the relatively small size it was cold-bent thus obviating expensive heat treatment.

One really nice thing about these thicker bars is that they are a nice tight fit into the original bushes! In fact, I believe that it is now possible to buy polyurethane anti-roll bar bushes for Fulvias, which would result in further improvement, though I doubt that they are available for the larger bars I have described here.

Once again, I apologise for the lack of pictures this time. Next time I shall be having a look at the dreaded rubber that connects the upper wishbone to the spring and also I shall add a few words about the springs themselves. And I will have a picture or two.

À bientôt

French Anti-Smoking V: An Apology

No doubt a typical "Ma Clope" supporter if the "antis" are to be believed
Source: Here

Following yesterday's post, it seems that I owe the following Deputés an apology:

MM. André GERIN, Jean-Jacques CANDELIER, Jacques DESALLANGRE, Pierre GOSNAT, Maxime GREMETZ, Daniel PAUL ET Michel VAXÈS

Why? Because on 9th January they applied for a change in the law and so were 19 days ahead of the proposal I mentioned in my last post. Their position is that they feel that the various anti-smoking laws have, with the latest legislation gone too far.

My friends on "Ma Clope Ma Bataille" await developments with hope and interest.

A bientôt

Source: Here