Augusta progress

[Mikenoangelo]

Karl thanks - I took the old carpets out today and scraped off the mixture of contact adhesive and crumbling foam carpet backing from the footboard and firewall. Close inspection shows that there are some self-tapping screw holes in various places no doubt for the attachment  of the rubber mats. I rather favour using some ribbed fabric doormat material instead of the original style rubber mats as it has the advantage of being better at sound insulation and readily available in the carpet shop across the road. I use it in my Salmson and it looks  right. I've made a cardboard pattern for cutting the mat.

I came across this website on the tuning of Weber carburettors which I'm sure will help me shortly and probably will be useful for other Lancia owners equipped with Webers. It relates mainly to the setup of slow running jet screw and throttle stop screw. The Augusta engine tends to die when I stop after coming down hill, no doubt being too weak because the slow running is beig controlled by the throttle stop rather than the slow running jet. Once I get the AFR gauge working properly the answer should be clear as it was in my Rolls-Royce which had the same tendency.

http://www.redlineweber.com/html/Tech/carburetor_set_up_and_lean_best_.htm

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

Referring back to Karl's pictures of the radiator shutter mechanism on Sept 9th (p9 of this thread). I have all the linkage shown but lack the crank which fits in the bracket on the front of the radiator header tank and transmits the motion of the expanding thermostat capsule to the linkage on the shutters. Unfortunately the handbook drawings show the earlier flat radiator version which differs from that on Karl's car and mine. Could anyone offer a sketch or photo of that part which I shall need whether I go for cable or thermostatic operation? Might it be the same as on the Aprilia, Ardea or Appia? Also what are the springs like? These are also missing.

I'm also curious as to how the aforesaid crank is engaged with the ball joint of the lower arm (not shown in Karl's pictures) when the shutters are being refitted to the radiator shell. I assume that the shutters and chrome surround must be removed from the painted radiator shell to connect the springs to the brackets on the header tank but is there some kind of fork on the crank into which the ball is pushed? Come to think of it how to connnect the springs? These Italians are ingenious or am I just dim!!!

Mike

[Kari]

Indeed, not so easy to fit the whole assembly (chrome surround with shutters and the radiator shell). I have to do this as there are hidden screws attaching the chrome surrond to the the radiator shell. One more screw at the very bottom. On installation, I tie a string onto the rod 34-6849 and when the radiator shell is almost in place, with some fiddling, I can clip it to the lever 31-6857A.

The installion on my car is different from the factory set-up. Instead of the original steel cable, I use a rod with ball joints and the return spring is relocated to the top of the R/H shutter connection, as shown on picture 2958a further up on this tread. A long time I was without a working thermostat, Peter Renou in Melbourne did repair it.

Photo 100_4445a shows the original installation on the radiator. It is very difficult even look at the lever operated by the thermostat or take a photo when all is in situ. I wonder if Mike Raahauge would be willing to take photos and make a sketch from the lever 31-6851, as most probably his radiator is out of the car at the moment.

Please note that, on page 90, the lever 31-6857a is shown back to front.

I hope that helps.  Karl

[Raahauge]

Good evening, I will look at it tomorrow and take some pictures but ours is a flat rad and I had understood, perhaps wrongly, that the set-up was different.

[Mikenoangelo]

Thanks Mike that would be helpful. The main bit I lack is the crank which fits on the radiator header tank bracket and is moved by the thermostat. I guess this part is the same on both versions. If you can also messure the lever length etc on that crank I should be able to make one.#

Mike

[Raahauge]

Mike. It is a bit fiddly and will be quite time consuming to sketch comprehensively so I suggest that I send you mine to copy.
Please confirm your address to me at raahauge@btinternet.com and I will send it Monday.

[Mikenoangelo]

That would be great Mike - thanks. I'll email the address.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

With the borrowed widget from M Raahauge I've started working out how to connect the radiator shutters for manual control. It can be done using a cable to actuate the widget in Mike's picture (above) in place of the thermostat cartridge if the levers, rods and springs of the shutter mechanism are switched around so that the pushing action of the thermostat is replaced by the pull of a cable. The cable connects to the widget through the header tank just like the thermostat and goes through the bulkhead to be controlled by a pull out knob below the dashboard. The original thermostat pushes the linkage against a spring to open the shutters so the default position is shutters closed which would be a pest with a cable system if something broke so  I prefer to have it so that they spring open and the driver has to positively close them when needed. Actually that is the only way I could see to tidily get round the limited ability of the cable to push . Fortunately no original parts have to be altered and only one new hole is needed so the setup can easily revert to a thermostat if I choose.

The doormat carpets worked out well after a day of crawling painfully under the dashboard to make a pattern for the placement of numerous holes for pipes, pedals and steering column. Even with the seats removed it is quite a struggle to get under there. The ribbed mats approximate to the ribbed pattern of the original rubber and are very practical. I've yet too bite the bullet of ordering a new rubber cover for the transmission from Italy.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

More work on the shutter control, copying the complicated small bell crank which connects the thermostat capsule to the shutter linkage. Kindly loaned an original by Mike Raahauge, I made a CAD drawing (photo122) to work from and then started mowing metal from a 40mm steel bar on which I carefully marked the centres of the holes and of the various curved faces. The CAD drawing was very helpful in setting up the milling machine to do the curves using a paper cutout to line things up (123). The work piece was gripped in a three jaw chuck clamped to a rotary table which was rotated to machine the curves, each time relocating the chuck on the table to centre the chuck at the correct radius. I more or less followed the original design but simplified it a little to make life easier (125). I should have bought a bar of brass but being impatient to get on, used a piece of steel.

I planned to reverse some of the links and springs so that the bell crank could be operated by pulling a cable which passed through the original thermostat tube in the header tank and connected to a lever on the dash below the fuel gauge. However, impatience does not pay as I found that the mechanical advantage of the levers made the movement of the proposed dashboard control too small for fine adjustment. A rethink led me to make a more direct cable attachment around the offside (right side) of the radiator with the cable running inside the chassis frame by the engine, under the steering box, and up through the grommit for the steering column to an aged lawnmower throttle lever which had been waiting in my junk box for 50 years for just such a resurrection. The lever is fixed to a bracket clamped to the steering column below the dash. A fair amount of fiddling with lever lengths and spring attachments finally gave me a working system in which all the spring forces are taken between original fixing points on the radiator header tank so that no more leverage is applied to the outer radiator shell than is needed to move the shutters. It reverts to open shutters if anything fails.

I have now a working setup and a redundant new bell crank! Actually if I want to fit a thermostat of course the bell crank will be needed. Making it was fun  keep telling myself!

Mike

[Kari]

Brilliant! Very nicely done. In case you want to go for a thermostat, find below photos of mine. I think that the thermostat does not expand enough to make the slats go from fully closed to fully open. Therefore Lancia attached an adjustment screw which enables the thermostat to be moved fore and back in the tube. This way the slats opening range can be adjusted to the ambient temperature. The rear part has a  8 mm tread attached and there is a spring inside which holds the thermostat in the slot. The system must have been good enough, so that Lancia didn't install a water temperature gauge. I don't know if this is the same thermostat as the Aprilia, perhaps Aprilia owners can tell.
I hope that helps  Karl

[Jaydub]

Hi Mike,
You don`t know me but I have been following this thread and am constantly in awe of your engineering/machining abilities! I find things like this fascinating and at the same time frustrated that I cannot do it myself, as I have neither the machinery or the machining skills. Race car setup, spannering and electrics yes, but not your level of expertise. Keep up the brilliant work!

Jaydub

[Dikappa]

This tread puts a happy smile on my face time and time again! 

[Mikenoangelo]

Careful chaps I might get bigheaded. But thanks for your kind words. I've no real engineering training but had a half share in an engineering business in which I watched my business partner do all the clever engineering stuff while I did everything else. So what I know comes from 65 years of fiddling with old car bits for fun.

Karl thanks for the picture and measurements of the thermostat unit. I have the adjusting rod and the large nut but nothing else. Are there any drawings of the unit to show how it is made or has anyone a scrap unit I could dissect to either repair or copy? That could be an interesting project.

Mike

[Mikenoangelo]

Shutter control completed (photos 127 and 128) The link in my hand connects to the shutter actuating lever on the radiator cowl. The ball joint on this rod snaps onto the ball of the actuating lever and can only be disconnected if the radiator cowl is loosened and pulled forward. When the cable is pulled the shutters close and when released they are opened by the spring. The outer cable position can be adjusted as can the cable connection to the swinging lever. The small clamp on the  wire limits the travel of the cable when closing the shutters. (129) shows the control lever on the steering column.

While doing this I had to remove and refit the radiator cowl and grill many times and had to deal with a few problems. The bottom end of the cowl is trapped between the mudguard and the chassis so the bolts holding the front of the mudguard must be slackened. It is more difficult on my car because the normal leather or rubber strips between mudguards, running board and chassis frame have been replaced by an aluminium extrusion as they are on an Aprilia and these are a very tight fit. It looks OK so I will leave it in place but had to thin the extrusion  a little at the pinch point. The most difficult problem is to fit the upper bolts as there is very little room to manoeuvre bolt, washer and fingers in the gap between mudguard and cowl. I cleaned up the threads of the bolt holes which were  messy, presumably due to previous attempts to fit the bolts. I also made new bolts in brass so they could not harm the threads of the holes, making these bolts Bugatti style with an integral washer which helps a lot as they are fitted. Making these involves using round bar not hexagon as obviously the washer part is of greater diameter than the points of the nuts so this involved the milling machine as well as the lathe.  It is a job I am well practiced in from previous experience on a Brescia. The surviving original bolts were brass. I found it much easier to fit the tricky upper bolts if the two lower ones were fitted first so that the cowl only needed to be swung back and forth to line up the top bolt and hole.


Mike

[Jaydub]

Another excellent job Mike. Love the repurposing of the lawn mower throttle control lever.