Christmas Quiz

tonythecat

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Yesterday evening I was reading an old article about the 'Worlds Longest Road Test' ( I know sad innit) this was Tony Rose's effort to do 100,000 miles before a de-coke, which he succeeded in doing back in the 50's, this is well documented and has passed into legend for the Vincent Marque. However, according to the text he was in Scotland and at just over 50,000 miles was about to return home when QUOTE: "we diagnosed an engine fault, a weak valve spring. Immediate panic ensued! Was the test all over? Would the motor have to be stripped?. Second thoughts are often the best, and when we had cooled down a little and taken time out to think, we realised that due to the unique Vincent method of locating the rocker below the valve, it would be possible to alter things without disturbing the carbon ( an essential prerequisite for the test). As Tony's holiday was almost over we decided to leave well enough alone. I later heard that an inner valve spring had fractured, but that this had been successfully replaced by the method we had worked out. The carbon had not been touched, nor yet the valves ground in or anything else to the motor. So the test continued".........................................................................................

How did he replace the valve spring????

Answers on the back of a five pound note please (will reluctantly accept dollars from you Yanks) .
 

bmetcalf

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Stuffed rope in the spark plug hole and used a spring compressor that pivots on something connecting two head studs. Mine is simpler, but here is another http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/core/media/media.nl?id=142&c=317638&h=ca9ff5f3d55078292029

I looked harder and here is my tool 912.gif
 
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Comet Rider

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Method that we used to use many years ago;

Remove spark plug
Replace spark plug with remains of old plug coverted so you can fir an airline
Use device similar to Bruce's to compress spring and remove collets...

Only works if you can easily get tp the spings, unless removing the UFM was OK?

Neil
 

Robert Watson

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
And, If you believe the factory personell at the time, that engine was "decoked" on at least one and likely more occaisions, so I would suggest that they took the head off to change the spring!!
 
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