Modestine

[SteveGales]

Great news Robin!

Fanalone gearbox rebuild next??

Steve

[rogerelias]

Steve. you don't know how close you are   Robin will explain, and i'm back in me chair again

[Sliding Pillar]

Here's a pic of Modestine at Malvern

[Dilambdaman]

Well, Modestine did make the ball but alas midnight came all too soon!

Having, well and truly burnt the midnight oil we arrived at Malvern on Sunday evening and Monday saw us off to the Fly In Picnic at Shobdon some 30 miles away. Those first miles were so stressful expecting any minute a drop in the fantastic oil pressure and noises from the engine. However, all was well and we arrived in fine fettle to be greeted by John Millham on marshalling duties at the entrance gate. Terrific day spent in the company of hundreds of vintage cars and their owners with the added bonus of vintage aircraft, some of which flew in spite of the wind and occasional rain.

The homeward journey was completed in a much more confident manor which confidence evaporated at the entrance to the Malvern Show Ground with a complete loss of forward motion.  We eventually coaxed her to our camping pitch and discovered that the tapered connection between the gearbox output shaft and the Hardy Spicer prop shaft joint had failed in a big way. Something which had happened once before.

Tuesday was Homes and Gardens day and we travelled with John Millham in his Augusta. Our first visit was to the home of Brian and Monica Gray who John knew and Brian came up with the suggestion that he ring Alistair Tempelton (a local well known in vintage circles engineer) who agreed to have a look so off we went. He cleaned the coupling up but could do little more except suggest that we visit a nearby agricultural engineers with a view to welding the whole thing together as a temporary measure. They wanted to see the gearbox shaft so we went back with the car on the trailer in the afternoon.

They wanted the rear end plate off of the gearbox and when we removed it there was so much damage and masses of swarf floating about that they advised against any temporary solution. John and I agreed and gave up the quest to get her operational for the rest of the week's activities.

So, as Roger said, you were close Steve, just the wrong gearbox! and Roger, sorry, but you can't vacate that chair just yet!

However, we had a great week, I'll perhaps write it up in the VSCC 75th thread and as Ade's picture shows, did make the static display on Saturday. She's back home again now waiting for the gearbox to come out for dismantling. I'll post some photos in the next day or so.

Oh, and the journey home was a disaster when the radiator on the tow van burst resulting in AA recovery and arriving home at 3am.

Robin.

[fay66]

Hi Robin,
Sorry to hear of your further problems.

Pleased to hear you had a great time despite everything.

Your not related to Captain Ahab or the flying Dutchman are you  
I hope you get her sorted soon.

Brian
8227

[SteveGales]

Sorry to hear that Robin.

I suppose some small (?) consolation is that the engine seems to be O.K so far.

Hope you have a change of luck soon!

Steve

[Dilambdaman]

Pictures of the damaged coupling.

The gearbox will need to come out of the car, be opened up and thoroughly cleaned. The taper on the output shaft will need machining, the keyway and thread re-cut  and the flange remade to suit.

Robin.

[fay66]

Hi Robin,
So sorry to see that amount of damage, I hate to think how bad you must feel about this now you seem to have got the engine problem sorted at long last, any idea of the sequence of events? did the break in flange wall come before or after the key came adrift? just as well you didn't try to drive it any further.

Good luck with the repair.

Brian
8227

[rogerelias]

Bu###r! just written a long reply and have to do it again, as Brian was posted as i was writing O ME GAWD!!  Look on the bright side, she let you down amongst pals and not in the middle of nowhere, so in a funny way she is trying to look after you, (Says he who's not paying the bills) Let me know when you get to the rear bumper,as then you will have been front to rear then maybe i can get orf this flippin chair all the best from i am sure, all in the LMC.

[DavidLaver]

Nice to be able to get the floor up like that.  Rather better than flat on your back or even working overhead.

David

[Dilambdaman]

Brian,

At least this time the problem is obvious which makes the solving of it that much easier, at least I haven't got to take the engine out! and as David notes, the floor coming out is a big bonus.

Most likely cause is that the last time it happened I had the taper in the flange made without carefully mating it to the shaft. It seems that it is vital that the two are a perfect fit. Even slight movement and the key wears and eventually comes out of its slot and bingo! Mike Benwell told me that you should be able to drop the two haves of the taper together and then not be able to move them.

So, lesson learnt and this time I'll have them machined and lapped together and ensure that everything is bolted up and split pinned properly. There's a hell'uv a lot of torque going through that taper with a 4lt V8 pushing along 2 tons of car so it needs to be right.

Roger.

Yes, if it has to happen then no better place. The help and sympathy offered was just amazing. There were those who were prepared to and did give up their planned activities to try and get her back on the road quickly, most notably John Millham. Thanks John.

So, Modestine continues to live up to her name, but like R.L. Stevenson from wence it came I still love her to bits!

Robin.

[DavidLaver]

I didn't know the Modestine reference - and having looked it up WHY !!!?  Perhaps if I read the whole book I might understand but that car is no donkey...

"What I required was something cheap and small and hardy, and of a stolid and peaceful temper; and all these requisites pointed to a donkey"

"so that Modestine,[11] as I instantly baptized her, was upon all accounts the cheaper article. Indeed, that was as it should be; for she was only an appurtenance of my mattress, or self-acting bedstead on four castors."

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annotated_%27Travels_with_a_Donkey_in_the_C%C3%A9vennes%27/The_Donkey,_The_Pack,_And_The_Pack-Saddle

David

[Dilambdaman]

True, David, she is not in her present form the accepted connotation of a donkey but when I bought her and the body it was an altogether different matter.

We named her when we were travelling across France in 2007 laden with lugage and occasionally being just a little cantankerous. Like RLS we had to prod her once or twice with a sharp stick! It's been a long and tortuous road but when RLS came to part with his Modestine it was with some regret and despite all the aggravation I've had with mine I would feel likewise if we had to part.

Anyway its a pretty name!

Robin.

[DavidLaver]

My Augusta project is "April".   One on from the Earl of March specials, and a nod to the Aprilia engine. 

Someone unkindly pointed out that April is also the month of fools...   

The Latin derivation is "opening" being the flowering and rebirth of spring.

David

[rogerelias]

I had a Flavia Vignale project once,that was called effin