Augusta progress

[Mikenoangelo]

Looks like three bushes for the front of the Augusta rear springs and in the second picture a pair of the roller bearing bushes for the shackle at the back (four needed per car). I've done mine but no doubt someone will need them. Good that you have saved all this Lancia stuff Simon.

Mike

[Kari]

Crankshaft:  Just to let you know, that I got my crank back from Magnafluxing and no cracks were found. Good news! I am aware that with that method only cracks at the surface or slightly below can be detected. Now I will go on with restoring my spare engine.

Regards  Karl

[Mikenoangelo]

I am negotiating for the supply of fabric propshaft Hardy discs (just the disc not the three legged locating spider) from a UK manufacturer. It looks like they will be £90 to £100 each plus VAT and carriage if I just get two but there would be saving of £12 per disc we can order three or more sets. 4-6 weeks delivery.

Anyone else interested?

Mike

[simonandjuliet]

Have you spoken to Morris and James Parry ?

[Mikenoangelo]

Yes - Morris has the jig and belting to make them but no time available. I decided to go ahead and order a pair of discs from GMS Polymers and will be doing this tomorrow so anyone else interested - speak up soon!

I've been fitting an Air/Fuel Ratio gauge and tried it today. This measures the proportion of fuel to air in the mixture via a sensor fitted to the exhaust and I found a similar gauge very useful when dealing with the somewhat unusual Royce carburettor of a Rolls Royce 20hp. A quick test today shows that the Weber on the Augusta produces a mixture between 12 and 14 to 1 air to fuel which is probably about right for the present alcohol level in unleaded. However a bit more fiddling is needed as the gauge sometimes turns itself off.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

I want to clean the oil pressure relief valve, not because the pressure is low but feel it should be looked at, having not done so when the engine was out of the car. However I am frustrated as the damned thing is too tight to unscrew. It has a domed slotted cap screwed flush into the block just behind the water pump but despite having made a 20mm wide screwdriver by grinding a 20mm wood bit I just cannot get the cap to unscrew. Any ideas? I don't think a right angle impact driver would fit. I must admit Lancia's aim of making the engine look tidy by using the domed screw insted of a hexagon for a spanner is not very fettler friendly.

Mike

[Kari]

I had the same problem once but managed to losen the cover with some kind of angle screwdriver. Perhaps you can make a tool which is wedged between the engine and the side of the engine compartment, so the blade of the screwdriver will stay where it should be. I am considering to make a cover with a hexagon, you probably will too!
Good luck  Karl

[Mikenoangelo]

That's just what I tried - the shank of the "screwdriver" lodges against the chassis rail and the tool is turned with a ring spanner whose hexagon fits the 20mm blade. So far no success even with a 300mm long ring spanner.

Mike

[Dave Gee]

  Can you get an induction heater on the head ?
 

  Dave

[Mikenoangelo]

After a fruitless search for a suitable impact driver to turn the cap I moved to ever stronger screwdriver ideas but again without success - it was extremely tight. I imagine an induction heater might do the trick Dave but I don't have one. Anyway I decided to make a new cap with a hexagon for future use so could sacrifice the original which was by then a bit dog eared around the screwdriver slot. So I drilled a notch toward one edge and with a punch and big hammer was able to move the cap.

The relief valve was pretty grubby inside so the exercise was worthwhile. Why it was so tight I can't say but perhaps because it did not have the copper washer shown in Karl's picture. The paint on the block when I got the car extended over the cap so I suspect the previous owner never took it out. It was my mistake not to take it out when I had the engine out of the car but to be honest if I noticed it I probably assumed it was to do with the water jacket on the block not the oiling department.

Mike

[Kari]

Mike,
Perhaps you want to make two new hexagon caps, the second one for the oil filter safety valve on the lower L/H side of the engine?
Regards  Karl

[Mikenoangelo]

Relief valve caps made and the one for the pump fitted. The oil pressure now stays within the Normale zone even at tickover and rises to about 2/3 across the zone to the "a" of Normale at about 1800rpm with the engine warmed up to 70C water temp. The pressure does not increase above 1800 rpm so I assume that is the point at which the regulating valve opens This is an improvement since cleaning the valve so the crud around the spring presumably was also between plunger and seat of the valve. I blew it through with the airline via the connection point for the oil pressure gauge.

I'm still struggling to get the Air/fuel ratio gauge to work properly as it frequently goes haywire, often after going down hill at which point the reading oscillates from one extreme to the other and then cuts out altogether. The sensor plugged into the exhaust just after the lower bend of the downpipe has a built in heater and at first I suspected a poor earth connection through the exhaust pipe and made a wired earth to the chassis. This seems to help but I now wonder if it needs the help of more heat from the exhaust - perhaps some lagging on the downpipe would help. When it is working the AFR fluctuates from 12.5 to 14 air to fuel on the level and on hills, dropping to 20 to 1 on the over-run downhill. I was interested to find out the effect of running with the mixture control pulled right out when driving with a wide throttle on a hill as recommended in the instructions for the Weber - it does make a slight difference to the pulling of the engine and the mixture strength increases from 12.5 to 11.5. The other option, running on a level road with the mixture control in the mid position where it acts as an extra air valve to weaken the mixture for economy also has the expected effect on the reading. All this was with the Winter/Summer setting on Winter. I did briefly try the Summer setting but the gauge playing up stopped me from seeing a sensible result.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

Making the relief valve caps was more difficult than I expected as although the thread is nominally 14mm x 1.5mm pitch it is in fact about 13.7mm diameter. I have noticed this before on other bits of Augusta so rather than splash out on a die to cut the thread I opted to thread cut on the lathe, making a test 14mm sample in brass to try the fit of the thread in the cylinder block. I then made a couple more in steel but having to take the cap out of the lathe chuck to try it then return it to remove another few thou - tricky job to keep it concentric and also pick up the thread with the tool but it worked in the end. It's always difficult to  match a thread to a hole when there is no possiblity of trying the fit with the work still in the lathe. I put a 17mm hexagon on the cap in place of the hopeless  (if prettier) slotted head).

I refitted the cap with a plain copper washer in place of the previous red fibre version. It seems to have sealed perfectly with no need of sealant. So far after about 400km since refitting engine and gearbox there are no leaks or drips underneath, apart from the sliding pillars. The refurbished water pump is also dip free.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

Now getting to some of the details - a couple of questions.

1. Has anyone a design for operating the radiator shutters by cable rather by thermostat?

2. I'm thinking of ordering new floor mats from Cicognani but question how the one which covers the firewall and pedal board is attached to the car - my car has carpet stuck with glue        but there is no sign of any other fastening and Cicognani's picture shows no holes or anything to indicate how the mat is fixed. Fitting this one looks a bit tedious as lots of things would need to be removed to get the mat to fit around pedals, steering column and various pipes and cables.

Mike

[Kari]

Please find below a suggestion as how to install the rubber mat. Perhaps not the most elegant solution, but it works fine for me.

Karl