Vincent bodging

[Len Matthews]

Many years ago, at a small petrol station in rural Suffolk, I came across a Black Prince or Knight parked at a petrol pump. There was no sign of the owner. The clutch cover was necessarily missing and the clutch had been converted to Lightning spec. However instead of a Ferodo friction disc there was a replica roughly cut from a piece of three-ply plywood and with over extended 'ears'. I waited around for a while in the hope of meeting the owner but he/she didn't show. I have often wondered how this 'modification' worked in practice.

Hugo, can you remember which Suffolk village garage that might have been?
As John Cone says, it's not likely to have been his D or his father-in law's. Regarding home-made friction discs, I recall someone acquired a number of car clutch facings(Austin Seven perhaps) thinking that would be a cheap option. Unfortunately, these lacked the necessary reinforcement around the outer edge. Having patiently cut one these to shape the first attempt at a road test resulted in no drive after the first few yards-a failure that has ocurred in recent times I believe.

 

[Hugo Myatt]

Ply Clutch

Len,

Although I use the route frequently and have done so for thirty years I rarely remember village names. Going east along the A 143 from Ixworth and about 1/4 mile before the B1111 turn off to Garboldisham there are two petrol stations on the left in quick succession . It was the first one. The place could be either Stanton or Bardwell and there used to be RAF (?) living quarters on the right. I will take note next time I pass.

Hugo

 

[John Cone]

10 out of 10 Hugo. It is Stanton and the first garage is the Stanton Service Station, where i had the pleasure of spending lots of money tokens this week on MOT's for both my cars.

 

[John Cone]

Is this a mod or a bodge? It's to stop the gearbox selector spindle from undoing. See photo's.
Ps the white splodge is silicon sealer in the orifice of the spindle. On my "D" there wasn't a lot of metal left to dot punch the spindle tight.

 

[John Cone]

I will get the hang of uploading mutiple pictures one day!

 

[vapide]

On my Rapide, the clutch adjuster tore out of the KS cover, at the top of the Simplon Pass no less, shortly after I bought the machine. On examination it appeared that it had happened previously, and someone had fixed it by making a hex-shaped recess to fit a ET45/1, then locked it in place by running several set screws in from the sides. Unfortunately, this left so many holes that it was only a matter of time until the whole mess ripped apart like a tooth which has been filled so many times that there is no sidewall left to hold the filling.

What was so remarkable about this, as with all great bodges, is that the effort involved in cutting a hex recess seems to me to be much more than it would have taken to fix it right.

Oh, years later I read in KTB that all you have to do in this situation is put the locknut on the inside of the case.

 

[Mark Fraser]

More noise and no more go!

I'm surprised that Mk.2 cams made no difference to performance. Usually they really liven up a Comet even though the exhaust noise is bordering on the intolerable!

I didn't think there was any difference in performance Len. You are bang on with the exhaust noise, it was terrible. It was after this that I started building a new twin engine to punt into my Comet.