Vincent Clutch pushrod modification; MPH 734, page 16/17

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Hi Peterg, Absolutely yes. Washed or unwashed its all the same to me. The original batch of 10 went in the first day, I ordered another 20 but the orders were coming in so fast that that was increased to 35 with the 7 mm diameter push rod and 5 with a 1/4" diameter push rod. They were finished today but as I have been at the fiberglass factory all day (yes I still have other jobs that I do) I have not got round to collecting them yet. Hopefully tomorrow morning but I will still have to harden one end of all 40 silver steel push rods. So by the end of this week I should be in a position to start to send the next batch out. Transferring money from overseas to English bank accounts has turned out to be a no go area due to the greed of the English banks. It seems that the best way is going to be for me to set up a Paypal account and that should also be done by the weekend. In the meantime I have checked the extra cost of sending these items long distance and the total cost will be £40 (from £35 in the UK). Once I have the Paypal account set up I will put a notice on this Forum and then I should be able to swing into action on the overseas dispatches.

One other note for the Australian contingent; early on I had an email from 'piggywig' asking if I was prepared to send a batch to Oz to save postage. I sent him a personal message saying 'yes', which as far as I can tell from this end got through, but I have not had a reply. If Mr 'piggywig' sees this and has not had a private message then he should email me. However, as the increase cost of postage for long distance is only £5 for each set of parts then it probably is not worth doing the organization and re-posting in OZ.

Watch this space for news of when the next lot will start to be dispatched and the Paypal account set up. Cheers folks.
 

peterg

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Thank you kind sir.

Remember your description of tightening up the tolerances slighly by substitution of the 7mm dia pushrod over the stock 1/4. Though you list 5 of the latter on order here (reason for that unknown), I'd much prefer the former for a snugger fit and assume it'll fit a bone-stock clutch arrangement?
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
OK folks, we are now back in action. I now have the next 40 sets made and hardened and 10 of them have been taken to the Post Office this afternoon where they will sit until Monday. Those of you in that batch are mostly in the UK so you should be receiving your kits by Tuesday or Wednesday. Two more kits were sent, one to the South West of France and one to Sweden. You know who you are gentlemen so look out for the postman. As far as I can tell I now have a Paypal account set up so those overseas members who have contacted me can now transfer money to me via that. My understanding is that all you need is my email address as the link into the Paypal account and that is enw07@btinternet.com

I will be parcelling up more kits tomorrow and those who want them delivered by hand to the All Fools Meet will get them there. I will be busy with fibreglass much of next week so things will slow down again during the week. As I have never used Paypal before I need to see how things go and if you experience any problems accessing my account please let me know and I will try to sort it out. The price has gone up to £40 for all overseas customers to take into account the extra postage and the cut that Paypal takes of the money transferred. Thanks for your interest. Feedback either positive or negative is welcome.

Regarding peterg’s question above as to why there are some ¼” items in the list. I found one ‘D’ gearbox main shaft which would not take the 7 mm diameter item comfortably and one gentlman with a ‘B’ told me that the 7mm item would not fit. He returned it and then later found that it actually would fit. If you can use the 7 mm diameter item then that it the one to go for but, at least now, I have I have five ¼” items on the shelf if they are ever required. So far everyone who has actually tried the 7 mm item has found that it will fit although our Hon. Club Secretary tells me that many years ago he found that a piece of 7 mm diameter piece of silver steel would not fit inside his gearbox main shaft. Time will tell how many need the smaller size.
 
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timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Further to the above; Neil Diggens has kindly informed me that I should ask you all to make the payment as a GIFT, otherwise I pay all the charges. Thanks Neil. From a Paypal virgin!!
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
During the feeding frenzy which followed the production of the needle roller push rod modification for Vincent clutches two people contacted me to ask if I could do the same for Burman clutches. I have now been lent the appropriate bits from a Burman clutch by Ian Savage at the Open Day and so can now design the modifed parts. Two questions to Comet owners out there.

1) Would you please contact me if you are interested as I have no idea whether this is a frequent problem with Comets and therefor I have no idea as to how many to make? At the moment I only know of two people who are interested.

2) Would you prefer to have a new full length push rod or cut a small amount off your existing push rod?

The price is likely to be about the same as for the twin units.

Thanking you in advance enw07@btinternet.com
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
A WARNING

Gentlemen, two purchaser of the clutch push rod mod have contacted me this last week. Both bought the kits several weeks ago but have only just now got round to fitting them and both have had the same problem. It transpires that not all C23 outer clutch plates and all C26 thrust plugs are the same. If you look at the C23 you will see that the outside of the centre where the thread is has been raised outwards, presumably by swaging, in order to give enough metal to insert the thread. All the replacement C26s so far supplied are exact copies of my own which has about a 2 mm wide undercut where the thread abuts the hexagon head. Clearly one cannot take the thread right up to the hexagon. However, it seems that Vincents did not always deform the metal by the same amount and not all the raised portions have the same height. I have now measured two of my own and find the heights to be 2.7 mm and 1.9 mm. Unfortunately some are lower than this and for these Vincents have reduced the width of the undercut at the end of the thread on the C26. The two people who have had a problem have screwed in the replacement C26 and it has gone in so far that the thread on the C26 has passed right through the thread inside the C23. This note is a warning to anyone else who has purchased one of my kits and has not yet fitted it. Please check very carefully whether C26 has passed almost all the way through C23 before tightening it. If it has please do not tighten it or you risk damaging the thread on the nut.

There are two possible solutions to this problem. One is to fit a 2 mm thick washer under the head of the C26 before it is screwed in. This will solve the problem for anyone who already has one of the kits but has not yet fitted it. The other solution is to change the design of the C26 and to continue the thread as near as possible to the base of the hexagon. A new batch of nuts is on order and fortunately this problem, which has only surfaced this week, occurred early enough that I have been able to ensure that all the new batch will be of the newer design.

To reiterate

1) if you have already fitted the kit and C26 tightened into C23 with no problem then leave well alone. You have no problem.
2) if you have yet to fit the items then please do so carefully and check that the outer part of C23 has been raised outwards by 2 mm or more. If not then either get a washer made locally or contact me and I will get some made.
3) if you are still waiting for a kit to be sent then it will have a modified C26 or a washer can be sent if you need it.

Sorry for any inconvenience.
 
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peterg

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Howdy Chaps,

For non members lacking access to MPH below is the kit offered. I ordered one, it shipped last Saturday and arrived Thursday evening in the U.S. (along with MPH – what timing for a Vin oriented evening).

#1 points to the replacement for your C26. #2 illustrates how your pushrod now nests in this piece to ensure square lift off. #3 shows how the bearing is nested in the unit ensure/reduce any grease is not centrifuged off onto your C24. #4 indicates how centralizing is ensured. You’ll note the pushrod is hardened on the end abutting your bearing all trimming is done at the other end. Norman advises to back your ET27 out as far as possible, fit up the assembly and then trim (carefully) the end of the pushrod inserting into your new C26. Fitting instructions accompany the kit as well.

A lovely and sensible mod.

vinpushrodmod.jpg
 
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