Augusta special

[donw]

David
I am getting a little confused by your various threads!  How many cars are your restoring?  I thought your Augusta special was to be Aprilia powered is it going to have Aprilia rear suspension as well!!

I recall from having to change the diff on my Aprilia in the 60s that John Maltby had the ex Alperton rear transvers spring strecher which I borrowed It made the job of removal very easy.  On reassembly if you do not get the splines of the torsion bars correctly lined up you end up with the car sitting one side up and one side down at the rear!

On oil filters the vane type work with straight oil providing they are washed out in petrol every 2 t0 3 thousand miles.  There is a good mod for Augusta engines with a new aluminium peice that bolts on where the vane filter fits but it takes a modern screw on throw away filter enabling detergent oil (cheaper) to be used.

I have found what I think is half a hide 60"X34" useable red grained leather which you are welcome too, if you are not in a hurry we can probably arrange for it to get to you via the LMC network.

For cleaning and resussitating leather I use the various Gliptone products which work well.

What is the projected have it finished timescale?

Don

[DavidLaver]

The Aprilia rear axle comment was an aside.  My Augusta chassis appears to have basically sound front and rear axles. I think the front axle on an Augusta is the best Lancia ever did.  The back end looks very sensible.  I've heard nothing but praise for how an Augusta holds the road.  The reputation is of the best steering of any Lancia.  Word is the chassis is robust and easy to look after.  Am hoping with a bit more power and a bit less weight its going to be a really usable little car.

The timescale overal is "in its own time".   Spent a dirty morning wire brushing wheels as the short term deadline is to have it (and everything else) out that lockup by the end of the month.   Am hoping that's on sound and painted wheels with some leftover Aurelia tyres. 

Am hoping I'll be able to keep chipping away at it now.   At this stage I've the world of choice as to "what next" with it.  The dashboard and seats are good "winter sports".  I'm itching to experminent with coach painting the rad shell and bonnet.  The engine will keep being soaked - I had some stale petrol which is now in the bores. 

I'd be most grateful for leather - worked out yesterday that what's on the pair of seats is about enough for one seat.  Will be looking up Gliptone as yet to invest in leather reviver. 

I've two and a bit Aprilia engines.   Am keeping my fingers crossed this seized lump will come back to life without needing a big cash injection. 

David

[DavidLaver]

Car is now home...

David

[DavidLaver]

...and the spare steering box is apart on the bench...

I found it full of rollers which support the shaft at each end.  A couple of spacers are missing and the lid is cracked.  Unless some spares turn up will make the spacers and sandwich the cracked lid under a thick ali plate with some longer studs.

The good new mechanically is that the front suspension will compess and rebound - it is NOT seized.  Back axle feels pretty good as well.

David

[Scarpia]

Looks very similar to the aprilia unit.

I foolishly started to undo mine whilst under the car and all the needle rollers fell out on the floor.It was an absolute nightmare to reassemble with each roller being replaced with a blob of grease to hold it in place. Everytime I tried to replace the shaft they moved out of position and I would start once more.Took me half a dozen attempts at least.Despite replacing gaskets and using thicker lube the dam thing still ooozes oil out but is mechanically fine.

[DavidLaver]

What oil do you use?   When I first built the Austin 7 the tip was a mixture of engine oil and grease.  I've now got some Penright stuff I think is called "steering box oil".

David

[ColinMarr]

A well known south London specialist workshop used to advise fitting a grease-nipple to the filler cap for both the steering box and idler box on Fulvias, and then filling with grease. It has not been done to my car, but I don’t know of any adverse effects. Purists would object!

Colin

[DavidLaver]

If it was only grease in the Austin 7 box it was horrible...   I've no idea what ratio I ended up with.  Next time I have "that book" out will look it up.  I was pleased with the feel and it all stayed in.

David

[Scarpia]

It is a penrite heavy duty (read viscous) oil in mine but it is still is determined to escape....Not sure about the effects of trying a grease as described below but I need to re examine the thing; I'm fairly sure it wouldn't have leaked when new.

[DavidLaver]

I found the Austin 7 book I was thinking of but alas no reference.  It will occure to me at some point where I got the tip from...

Just had a little google and came up with this link from which I've pulled two quotes out below:-

http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/Tech/Lube.html

David

====

"The consensus, as expressed on many Jeep mailing lists, seems to be that whatever lubricant the manufacturer referred to in the early manuals, it is no longer available. The reference to 140 wt gear oil is interesting, as it seems to be a later one. 'Knuckle pudding' is a concoction many are using -- a 50/50 mixture of bearing grease and 90wt gear oil. (The 'pudding' comes from the fact that to make this stuff, one has to slowly heat the gear oil, while stirring in the grease.)"

===

"I have run 90 wt gear oil in mine for years (and years). I think Willys put plugs where gear oil goes and grease fittings where grease goes. The only exception I've made to this is the steering box and it is for the same reason I have reservations about pure grease in the knuckles. When it has room to do so, grease pushes away from the moving parts and tends to stay there, not having the viscosity of oil. Of course it lubricates some, but the parts are not in a "bath" as I think the knuckles were intended to be. Reed's 'pudding' is probably the best compromise if you have leaks you can't deal with right now. Butre-sealing these knuckles is fairly easy and inexpensive. I replaced mine near six years ago and have no leaks as of yet."

[JohnMillham]

Colin, certainly a bad thing to do on Lambdas. It was done on mine and then pumped full of oil without removing the "level" plug at the back (which many people don't know about). The result was burst oil seals all round! It's important to let the air out as the oil goes in. Regards, John

[fay66]

A well known south London specialist workshop used to advise fitting a grease-nipple to the filler cap for both the steering box and idler box on Fulvias, and then filling with grease. It has not been done to my car, but I don’t know of any adverse effects. Purists would object!

Colin

Some (at least) of RHD Fulvia Series 1 idler boxes have a grease nipple but not the steering box, so it's oil in the steering box and grease in the idler with "Fay" with no apparent ill effects, I did wonder if it was only on the idler box for convenience sake, as otherwise it would mean removing the battery tray to get at the idler filler, whereas the filler on the steering box is relatively easy to get at, anyone know if the same applied on LHD cars as the boxes and battery tray would be transposed so my reasoning  ???would still apply?
Has anyone used grease in the Fulvia steering box & if so what do they use?
Brian
8227

[johnturner]

Mr Lancia says you should oil and I think he's right. Grease doesn't work and the Penrite so called steering box oil doesn't flow unless its hot, but to avoid oil leaking all over the garage floor it is a good idea to fit modern lip seals in place of the tallow and string packing originally fitted.  Mr Lancia recommends Mobiloil CC which translates as 240 grade, popularly known as 'steam cylinder oil' which is still available from Morris at Shrewsbury and probably other oil companies. 

If you have got the shaft out of the box you should take care reassembling it.  As I recall, the housing for the rollers is eccentric which allows some adjustment between the worm and wheel. It is very tempting to take up any play, but beware.  The wear occurs mainly at the dead ahead position which means that if you close it up the clearance at either end disappears and this may not be discovered until you are going down the Stelvio when the box seizes on full lock and you find yourself going round and round in very small circles. I suspect that the adjustment was provided not to take up wear but simply to allow the box to be properly set up when it was first assembled. This may be common knowledge and I may be the only one daft enough to have wanted to fiddle with it.

[DavidLaver]

Having been told its adjustable all becomes clear. 

Here's a photo of the end of the box where the drop arm goes.  Inside the hole in the casting is a machined steel liner.  In the perimeter of that liner are a number of grooves that, end on, look like "half holes".   One of these "half holes" will be aligned with the "half pin" in the end cover to prevent the sleeve turning.  The photo isn't as clear as I'd like - the half pin is at the nine o-clock position.

For completeness a photo of the outside of that end cover with what I thought was a felt seal.

David

[DavidLaver]

A tiny bit of progress reported on Chugga's thread.

http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1259.90

Seat set was free - fronts fit well enough, rears can be narrowed, easy enough to recolour and will do until the original seats become the priority.  Not working to Cundy Standards here!!

Riley wing set sold on ebay - got sufficent elbow room for some sneaky wire brushing sessions.

Ultrasonic cleaning bath unearthed and sitting next to a pile of dirty engine bits.

David