Ben Sud to swim the channel. Yes he really is! At the end of August this year Ben Sud (Mors radiator builder amongst many other dubious skills) has decided to paddle from France to the island of Jersey, something which apparently nobody has ever done before. He has taken up a strict training regime of paddling up and down the river Rother every evening after work! Assuming he isn't eaten by sharks or caught in the illegal nets of a Spanish trawler he should cover 24 miles - surely much more impressive than driving a car 8000 miles!

Technical Trouble.

The Mors was entered at Loton Park hill climb at the weekend, however mechanical disaster struck at the eleventh hour! An inlet valve dropped upon trying to start the engine - the results are shown below - a very bent valve and a very large hole in the water jacket. Luckily we have a spare cylinder barrel ready to be fitted, it would just be nice to know why it happened in the first place!

Assuming the rebuilding goes well we should still be all set for an August departure from Peking.

Cydonia alarm

Further reading on the Hysteria surrounding this discovery can be found here

PUB WITH NO BEER!

All boys are away this weekend preparing William's 1929 Austin Ulster for the VSCC Loton Park weekend in 2 weeks time. I decided to have a sneak drive in The Sanglier after Olivers improvements during the past week...........and what a fantastic drive. This Mors is so much more "civilised" than the big 10 litre Austin. It was the local monthly VSCC evening meeting in a pub 15 miles away so set off at 8pm and the car was absolutly fantastic. It must be a lot lighter than the Austin and I reckon more usable power. Gearbox wonderful, pull it straight through on the upchange, really quick, almost Bugatti. Once in top seems to tick along at very high speed and low revs.
Anyway reach the pub in fine style and MY GOD........NO BEER ! Enterprise Inns have cocked up the licence application and whats more...........Same situation at our local pub too: The White Horse at Sutton. NOT ALLOWED TO SERVE ALCOHOL.
Returned quite quickly and managed to get a swift pint at the Welldiggers where the car was very much appreciated. The whole pub turned out to see my departure into the gloaming. The single central headlight causing a yellow glow on the hedgrows back to Bigenor.
Apart from the lack of beer a wonderful evening.

The last few days.

Rebuilt carburettor again.
Replaced missing valve gear screws.
Replaced missing exhaust bolts.
Made job list!
Strengthened starter motor mounts.
Ate asparagus.
Manufactured dynamo mounting.
Mounted dynamo.
Made reverse selector button and fitted.
Drank tea.
Bolted down magneto.
Built up starter motor shrouding.
Made flap jacks.
Replaced broken valve rocker casting on number 7 cylinder.
Swapped Champion sparkplugs for NGK.
Re-made bonnet mounting peg.
Drank tea.
Test drove - successful.
Lockwired all valve gear.
Replaced missing inlet valve collet.
Drank wine.
Sorted a small number of water leaks.
Be-friended a racing pigeon - fed it bread.
Adjusted valve clearances on inlet side until day-light is visible through them.
Strapped camera to back of car.
Test drove - very successful - see below for small slice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyiakP1yGbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U-ynRK4e6s

Recipe of the Week

A feature back by popular demand from the readers! It restarts with a simple number perfect for a hot Friday evening.

Put some ice cubes in a glass.
Fill glass 3/4 full with Tonic Water.
Add a slice of lime.
Top up with Gin.

Consume sitting outside, repeat as required.

Friday

Whilst we wait for news on our permits to travel in China being approved there is no point sitting about twiddling our thumbs! The Mors is now undergoing a test regime, this takes the form of using it for visits to the shops or local pubs and then assessing how it has performed and which pieces need bolting back on!

During this time it has been pointed out by several members of the curious general public that the small amount (gallons) of fuel seeping from the large Zenith carburettor when in use and stationary is poor form! So to the technical bit - I took the carb apart today and looked at it, adjusted the float level a bit and have put it back together. An interesting (to some people) photo of this is shown above. The results of my labours will be reported on in due course.

A Foray To Foreign Lands On Vintage Bicycles

The team were in training for the raid with a trip to France for the famous Boulogne Bicycle Rally last weekend. For the uninitiated this is a 26mile cycle ride on vintage bicycles with a mandatory bar stop for beer or Paul Ricard's Patis every couple of miles. Apparently the route follows a pre-war motor racing track although where the track actually went has long since been forgotten and a number of different routes are used to travel the short distance between each bar.


A special mention should be made of Matt Sheperd who decided that the gruelling 26miles on an ancient bicycle with the equally gruelling number of alcohol stops was not enough of a challenge and duly proceded to ride the entire route with two flat tyres. An interesting technique that probably won't be seen again for a number of years......


The Createure and Vicko tear down a track through the woods:

It was wet, very wet.

I thought a picture of the weekend taken from the other angle should be presented... Extreme weather testing seemed to go swimmingly! The morning practice session was completed in true mongolian monsoon conditions. I blame the slightly fuzzy edges to all my pictures on all that cider the previous (dry) evening!

Tea inside - very wet Mors, Jeremy (non-tea drinker), and dedicated bystander outside.


The car can cope with the weather, but can the support crew?! Thank you to Gazebo owners everywhere, especially the up market ones who have sides, which proved invaluable for the new types of sideways and upwards rain. I regret ever doubting their practicality and camping prowess.

and finally a marketing shot for the VSCC newsletter... inspiring! The cider seems to have made my head heavy in this picture, tilting it to the side slightly.

sud le cidre

WOW!

What a sight! The Mors arrives at Wiscombe after 150 faultless miles, headlight ablaze!


Oli flies up the hill - to miss first in class by a fraction of a second.

SATURDAY THE BIG DAY!

Weather forecast indifferent but Oliver is prepared for the 150 mile trip to Wiscombe Hillclimb in a car that has a total mileage in the past 80 years of approx. 10 miles!
Mecaniciens (Oli, Jeremy, and myself)worked through the car on final checks. Oliver fitting last few bodywork panels, checking Oils and water, final brake adjustments.
Jeremy checked over the locking wheel nuts and reseated the exhaust manifolds which were rather gappy.
I made up a MSA oil catch tank and breather system fitting it to the rear filler position. Fitted two Air cleaners (we will certainly need these in the Gobi)and did a nut and bolt check. Stopped for a bite of lunch and charged up the battery. We have not yet finalised the charging system.

Oliver and Jeremy then donned suitable atire (ties of course) caps and goggles.
jeremy was to drive the BIG Austin (10 ltre, 4 cylinder) and Oli the Mors. The Austin has no starter so this was attached to the Range Rover and after a short tug it fired into life.
Oliver pumped up the fuel pressure to 1 psi pushed the starter button on the Mors and with its usual instant bang it roared into life. Quick oil pressure check (50 psi)and they were off!

I had agreed to go with them in the Range Rover the first 10 miles to Midhurst down the A272 to ensure all well. I ran on ahead and what a magnificent site in the mirrors! Coming out of Petworth there are two short stretches of dual carriageway. As they appeared to be keeping up well I accelerated up to 65mph and then suddenly first the Austin flew past in a great wall of sound a thumbs up from pilote Jeremy and he was gone! Whilst fascinated by the sight now ahead, suddenly again, this time a different sound, sharper yet smoother the Mors flew past like an Exocet missile clearly intent on keeping pace. Another thumbs up from pilote Oliver who appeared to have a very large grin from ear to ear.
I followed them to the edge of Midhurst and turned for home wishing I could have been somehwere ahead and seeing these two Beasts forging through the countryside.

Tuesday Evening

Fitting of the body back onto the chassis is going well with just the fixings to finalise. Have fitted a couple of original Curtiss aircraft exhaust manifolds today to try and quieten things down a bit - just too noisy on stub exhausts for both the occupants and the neighbours! The manifolds have made a huge difference and I have run it for about half an hour in total today, the engine is settling in well and when warm ticking over at a couple of hundred RPM on all eight cylinders.

Wiscombe hillclimb and the 120 mile drive to Devon this weekend is fast approaching. It should be a very good test of all systems!......

WEEKEND PROGRESS

Most of us did the 2 day expedition First Aid course while Oli toiled away on the car.
We are now trained up for Snake Bites, Broken Limbs, Choking on Sheeps Eyes and even Gobi Desert Sunburn and Heat stroke.
Oli is sorting the final bits of body work and finally refitting various panels. Its really looking good!

Jeremy worked on EB4 (The BIG Austin) on Monday to prepare it for Wiscombe next weekend. It seems to only want to run at high speed and is very fluffy at low speeds.

I spent yesterday machining 8 magneto high tension lead adaptors for the original mag and early this morning finally finished soldering them to the HT leads. Also finished fitting a modern remote type oil filter which must be a sensible precaution.
Oli decided to fit the original exhaust manifolds at least for the Wiscombe event and although horrid on the bench they don't look too bad on the car.

We have an organisation who are making positive noises about getting us the permission to go through China.

Getting home early...........Maybe a test run tonight!

FIRST AID !

Most of us are going on an intensive 2 day First Aid course tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. This is set up for expedition members who may need First Aid but are not within reach of a Hospital. Looking at the front end of "LE SANGLIER" I can imagine we may have to treat shocked bystanders in remote areas.
As far as progress on China is concerned we are pinning our hopes on starting immediately after Prescott Hill Climb in August. This will mean very High Humidity in China and very hot conditions in the GOBI, not ideal but it is probably the only sensible window left for us.
The car is looking great. Made up some curved and swaged exhaust stubs today at work to be able to turn the 8 manifold pipes into a simple manifold.
I need to finish the oil filter system and also will be working on the Radiator plumbing over the weekend with revised hoses and water manifolds.
We need to run the Beast again on Sunday for more testing.
Would be good to drive it to work next week! Oliver is aiming to drive it to Wiscombe Hillclimb next weekend (130 miles) but we ought to get more running in sorted before then.

Run for your lives!

The Mors

Details of the Mors. The full shape of the bodywork will be revealed here within a matter of days! Until then you will have to make do with the following!

The Austin is Back!

Dear Readers,

We have been absent from the worldwideweb for some time. We are now back to our adoring public!

Work on finishing the Mors continues with a somewhat depleted workforce. A full unveiling of the car with minimal bodywork will happen here FIRST!

The delay in the departure for Peking does , at least, give us a little time to test the car and this has commenced. It also gives us time to enter the world famous VSCC Wiscombe park speed hillclimb and a race at Cadwell Park (See www.vscc.co.uk for event details).

Decided to enter the Austin Hall Scott at Wiscombe as well to give us something to do! The drive into deepest Devon should be exciting, with both cars there is a combined litreage of over 18l!

The Austin was dragged out of its barn this afternoon (photo above), a new set of plugs put in and dusted off. Then commenced a hair-raising test drive by chief pilot Jero. He reports that all is well especially at higher speeds.

DOWN THE PUB FOR SUNDAY LUNCH

I remember those Lotus advertisments where Dr. Someone or other bought his Elan in kit form (to avoid purchase tax) and it was delivered on the Friday and by Sunday morning he had finished building it! I think it was mainly a question of putting the wheels on and maybe dropping the engine in to the chassis. Anyway he had finished it to go down the pub for Sunday lunch..........so did we! The Mors was towed by Linda in her 3 litre Bentley well past our only neighbour and then fired up. Usual noise factors despite fitting 8 motorcycle silencers on to the stubs. Jeremy drove there and I back. Cooling was fine with the radiator running very cool. Oil pressure steady 55psi..........spot on. Dropped 3 cylinders on the way there. One pluglead off at the plug and one pluglead broke under vibration. ( We are using temporary leads we fitted to run it on the test bed). Also some arcing across the magneto output. Jeremy had geared up the braking during the morning by fitting a longer lever on the cross shaft and this improved things greatly. The steering definately needs sorting. Its sticky with little castor return and also vague dead ahead.
Jeff Theobald called in today with his magnificent Stanley Steam car. His wonderful permanent smile became even bigger when we fired the Mors up for a few seconds to demonstate it at tea time.
Becker top the day off with a great Aerobatic display in his Zlin 50. Stunning!
As Oliver has reportrd we now have a Registration number!

Photo.

Back in time to the radiator gilling phase - here is guest giller Robin Balloonist hard at work with second-in-command giller Sud Minor

Sud Special (not special Sud)

This is photo of the week - the extraordinarily large 'Le Sud Special' bicycle.

It's been an unusually quiet weekend now some of the pressure is off... Still plenty of visitors though such as Paul & Margaret Mayhead yesterday and various others today including a steam car.

We were at VSCC Silverstone just spectating yesterday which made a pleasant change, and today I started working on the Austin Hall-Scott beginning preparations for VSCC Wiscombe - such as replacing the fuel pump which Model A Ward nicked for fitting to the Mors.

Recipe of the week again is Buzzard of Garson's excellent tip of asparagus on the barbeque - 10/10!

As I write news comes in that William's moustache is coming on well.

Important Press Release

It has been decided to delay the departure of the Raid from Peking until circa August 6th. The main reasons for this are twofold:

1) William Way, mechanicien, requires the extra time to enable the growing of a fully functional moustache.

2) VSCC Loton Park Hillclimb takes place on 23rd/24th June when the raid would originally have been in full-force somewhere between Peking and Paris. This created quite a stir when discovered as it is well-known as one of the finest VSCC events of the year, mostly as it includes an excellent hog-roast on the Saturday evening.

There may also have been some other reason involving Chinese Import Permits but I shall gloss over that for now. This will make the departure of the 2007 raid 100 years and 2 months after the original raid - better than just 100 years some might say.

So Far

The Mors at 18.55 this evening.

Wednesday

Off to the DVLA test station early this morning to have the Mors inspected to get a period registration number.

All went well and passed through with flying colours. Unlike the nice gentleman who's car was next in line to be inspected - he managed to get himself handcuffed and arrested for perjury just as he was having a look at the Mors. Alarming - I naturally assumed there had been a mistake and that it should have been me being arrested. A third policeman cheerfully explained to me that this is what happens to you if you lie, luckily I hadn't embellished any of the Mors history to them!

Meanwhile Ben Sud has been finishing up the long job lists and making the machine complete whilst I have begun to attack the body panels with some zeal.

It looks increasingly unlikely that the machine will be shipped on target as it is taking so long to process the correct Chinese import permits. This may, however, be a bit of a blessing as some testing before departure can be carried out.

A LONG WEEKEND

It was another long (but must admit jolly weekend). Our friends Alain and Kate d' Arrison arrived at 18.01 Friday and the remainder was quite a blurr.......... Saturday: William and I removed the gearbox as the Friday test showed that the front bearing housing was getting hot. The problem was partly because a weld on the input shaft had picked up on the screw-in covering adjusting the preload on the front thrust bearing. William who is much better an Engineer than me redesigned the whole arrangement.We remachined it and also fitted a modern style front oil seal. A test run on Sunday afternoon showed it working really well. This was the first time I had driven (or been driven in the car). It is a Beast and requires much taming to become usable. We have had this before (the 10 litre Austin was the same, just like breaking in a Horse. It was great to be in the passenger seat with Will driving and seeing Horses Bolting, huge flames from the stub exhausts and the countryside a blurr.
Rad temp, ok. Oil pressure 55psi. Mag arcing slightly between terminals.Steering needs more caster return. Diff and gearbox running cool. Brakes rather ineffective. Delightful clutch and gearchange.
Much done and some to do........
Lots of discussion over weekend as to how long it would take to grow a decent moustache. Can anyone advise? To qualify the tips would have to be visible viewed from behind the owner. I presume waxing will be vital!

Choc O'Clock

Recipe of the weekend: Chocolate Crunch, courtesy of Ma Buzzard!

1/2 lb Rich Tea Biscuits - crushed into chunks

Mix the following in a saucepan and melt over a low heat:
1/4 Ib Marg
1 1/2 tbsp Golden Syrup
1 dsp sugar
3 dsp chocolate powder (preferably Green and Blacks!)
3 tbsp coffee granules

Throw in a handful of raisons. Add the crushed Rich Tea biscuits, stir and spread into square baking tin approx 8" by 8". Finally Melt one bar of Green and Blacks dark chocolate and pour over the biscuit mixture to top, cool in the fridge for 20 mins.

Serve with a generous cup of tea in the sunshine!

Back on the road!

Soldering on the radiator was finally completed by Ben Sud and myself this afternoon. Jeremy completed the pipework connecting the engine to the wonderful looking radiator tanks.

It was then time for a proper test drive! An experience that was so bad that it was really rather good! The noise from the 8 stub exhausts is something to behold - no doubt our neighbours were delighted. Cows and sheep scattered across fields and a large dust cloud developed as we got up to speed on the single track country roads surrounding the workshops. Vicko the upholsterer extraordinaire had the misfortune of meeting us coming the other way on a small hump-backed bridge - one must remember that the Mors looks quite brutal at the moment without any bodywork!

All went well with good oil pressure (60psi) and 3rd gear reached (for those interested in the technical details).

On our way back we discovered that a largish cow had escaped in fright and was being rounded up by some mildly irate farmers. Otherwise all went very successfully and we returned to the delighted mechaniciens for a complete debrief.

It's now half past drinks o'clock and the world famous artists and signwriters Alan and Kate Harrison have arrived to drink the Patrons cellar and put their trademark on the Mors.

Got to go and see a man about a Horse, a White Horse!

Attention Chinese Prime Minister!

Dear Wen Jiabao,

You will no doubt have been following this blog with intrigue and perhaps mild amusement. I expect you have been noting how many people have been assisting with this project and wondering how you can get involved......well here it is; we are having a spot of bother getting one these Temporary Import Permits that you seem to insist on - and this is putting the whole project in jeopardy!

I know there isn't much time for you to prepare for our arrival in Beijing and I apologise for this, but perhaps you can forgo some of the grand dinners and parties you would like to put on in our honour.

You will find we really are a decent bunch of chaps and I'm sure the lovely Mors racing car will slip into Beijing and glide out across the Mongolian border whilst receiving excellent publicity for China Tourism that will be of enormous benefit to your economy.

All you need to do Mr Wen Jiabao, Sir, is to have a word with one of your chaps in the import permit department and all will be sorted.

I look forward to seeing you on our arrival.

Kind Regards,

William Way (mecanicien)

PS, In your honour we may even christen the car with the name of this year's Chinese year - The Wild Boar (although I will have to run this by the createur as many people will know he is a bit fickle about these things....)

DRIVING VERY SOON !

The car is very nearly there. All power and transmission units finally placed and Jeremy has even fitted a starter motor on a rather spiffing bracket. This will be a real luxury to us as on the 10 litre Austin its a 'push job'. This will also please Jim Wood, the world's best start line marshall who I suspect we have frustrated many a time at VSCC events!
The radiator is now over half assembled with only 70 or so more tubes to solder top and bottom. Sud Major and Oli are working on this. Rather fine copper tube work is being bent up to connect the two engine banks to the bottom and top radiator tanks.
Vicko's seats are a revalation, the driver's which is an original one has been restored by her (but still well patinated), the Mecanicien's is largely a wonderful copy.
After the radiator will be the front body sections but the buck has already been made by Oli so much of the 'thinking' has been sorted.
The seats are quite far back and a chain guard, or body at that point would seem to be sensible.
The original registration number has been lost and we have had a frustrating time organising an age related number. Unfortunately the VSCC sent the official dating letter direct to Swansea DVLA which is not the thing to do. Once we recovered this I rushed down to our local office who then requested Insurance and an MOT. These sorted, we have an official DVLA inspection booked for Wednesday 19th. I think we will receive a number within a few days after that. The V5 which we may need for
some countries will be sent from Swansea and I'm fearful about how long this may take.
The BIG BIG problem is getting permission to run the car through China. More of this later. We have several strategies.............

It's Guillaume Sud's Birthday!

It is his birthday!

Here it is...

Back by popular request - recipe of the week.

Having just had the first asparagus spears from the extensive Bigenor vegetable plot, recipe of the week is asparagus (pleasingly I believe our crop beats Garson's of Esher pick your own farm????!):

Firstly mix 1/2 tonne of well rotted horse manure into a patch of well-dug soil. Plant some asparagus crowns as per manufacturer's instructions.

Wait for about three years, then cut the spears just below ground when they appear in April. Steam immediately, smother with butter, salt and pepper, and eat.

ALSO, on the topic of food and drink, the total consumption of various items over the four day weekend has finally been tallied up:

115 mugs of tea (PG Tips Loose Tea); 88 Hot Cross Buns; 18 Bottles Wine; 2 Bottles Cider; 48.5 pints bitter (guess who had the 1/2 pint!); 4 Gin and Tonics (can't think who had these...); 2 Grouse whisky; 2 chickens; 1 large gammon; 1 side of beef (4 ribs).

Jero.

Tuesday Evening

Chief Mechanicien Mr A.Ward leaves us for Oxfordshire tonight on a flourish with the completion of one side of radiator tubes attached and tested successfully. Should get the other side finished tomorrow and it will then simply be a case of connecting the tanks to the engine and firing her up!

In the meantime work on mounting a beautifully made luggage rack has progressed with Ben Sud and the starter and charging system are being fitted by J.Way Esq.

Mr Ward has worked tirelessly for the last ten days - absolutely amazing! The pile of stuff we had when he arrived from Oxford now resembles the car that it should.

A seasonal recipe is to follow.......

Afternoon Tea

We have stopped for coffee/tea (depending on preference) and a lovely cream egg after successfully soldering the first six gilled pipes in place on the "radiateur"! No one else really seems to be doing much, but Oliver and myself have been working like Stanley the steam car all day - silent and steady, but surprisingly torquey.

Unfortunately a lot of visitors arrived for a bank holiday lunch resulting in the easter dove being burnt; instead we have been forced to eat lots of chocolate. The visitors redeemed themselves by being very entertaining and promising to drop a fruitcake from a plane to replenish supplies when we run out. We are creating a parachute as I "blog".

LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY !

As recorded by Oli the beast was pushed out of the workshop yesterday with firstly 2001 Space ODYssey on the sound system then Land of Hope and Glory. Both somehow seemed so appropriate.
It had been another long day with a big team beavering away. Constantly amazed how/why everyone does turn up, maybe it is Linda's cooking?
The sound of these early Aero Engines is so atmospheric and it was a complete delight to hear it burst into life after a short push.
Still huge amounts to do but we will fire it up again today.
I think I'm on fitting starter motor duty.
Yorkstone left to go back north at 06.00 hours and at the time of writing there are 5 Mechaniciens tucking into a cooked breakfast.
MOT is booked for 08.30 tomorrow !

It's Running!

At 17.35 the Mors was wheeled out into the evening sunlight. A gallon of petrol was poured into the massive tank and Mr Ward pumped frantically on the fuel air pressure pump whilst W.Way primed the Zenith carburettor. The Patron of this foolish undertaking then mounted the beast, Mr D.Flintstone armed himself with two fire extinguishers and all others present gathered for the push start. Within 10 yards the engine burst into earsplitting life and the machine leapt forward.....

As yet no radiator has been added, so the excitement was short lived. However the engine was run long enough to ascertain that at least two of the forward gears work, the clutch works, the brakes slow the vehicle and the engine runs on all eight cylinders and has a good 60psi oil pressure.

Congratulations must be made to all those involved so far - an amazing effort!

EASTER SUNDAY LUNCHTIME

A cracking morning with big progress on the whole car. Oliver arrived with a borrowed bottle of Acetylene kindly loaned by Paul Mayhead to finish silver soldering the radiator tanks.
Engine now bolted up in final position.
Clutch working with only a little finishing work required on the Forchette.
Seats finished by Vicko and Sud Minor and in place. Vicko has also filled the gearbox and diff case with 140 grade oil. Engine filled and oil pump primed with straight 50.
Yorkstone has helicoiled the mag drive cover threads which were worn.
Sud Major has been making a styly radiator header tank bracket.
Jeremy has got the main drive chains on.
Adrian working on fuel, air and wiring.
We are not far off firing up the great beast. At least this afternoon we will give it a tow to check drive systems and obtain oil pressure.
Will report later!

The Car (boring) Brummel (quite interesting (or odd))

Here we see two photographs of the car with a Mongolian lad driving it. Followed by stunt dog Brummel doing his daily shoulder walking (a bit like aeroplane wing walking but for dogs).

Seriously though it has been a good day with work progressing well. AND the White Horse Inn is now serving food - s0 get down there everyone! We are expecting an important visit from landlord Michael this week to inspect progress on his major sponsorship deal....

Good old Tim Maron has finished fitting the all-important shock absorbers as well as the continuous flow of intriguing stories surrounding his life back in Oxfordshire (see profiles page)

That's all for now.

Jeremy. (writing in the name of famous driver Will Way who has succumbed to the pressure of this real work and gone to bed).

PROGRESS IS GOOD

Great progress this week with an average attendance of 7.4 people each day. The differential and rear sprockets are well set up and it's all going together rather well.
Attendance today (Friday) was:

Oliver (the governor header tanks and radiator)
Model A Ford Ward ( fuel and air systems)
Frank (the works boy Painting and engine mounts)
Jeremy ( brakes and linkages)
Tim (the stud) Brown (shock absorbers, amortisseurs)
William (chains and sprockets)
Yorkstone (brakes, chain drive carburettor)
Sud Major (Gilling)
Sud Minor (7 Gaskets in 7 minutes)
Vicko (restoration of the seats)
Le Patron (clutch release)
Vieux Sud ( Chainsaw )

Also in attendance but in the sky was Becker Aerobatically, Malvina Knickers( Goodwood Club plane) and Paul Mullins (Tiger Moth). All gave a virtuoso performance.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day............. report to follow....

Working Lunch

Photo taken at lunchtime today - a normal working lunch. Note the religious Easter themed halo over the head of Model Adrian Ward (NB. he is not a model).

No more visitors can be accepted due to a lack of trees to sit against.

No more gills!

The radiator department had a new recruit today in the form of "works boy" - aka Frank (I prefer the french pronounciation "frornck"). He arrived just in time to thread on the 16,ooth gill and complete the final tube! The 120 odd tubes were then dunked in molten solder to secure the fins against the rough parisian roads. Despite starting with 2kg of highgrade plumbers lead we quickly ran out and had to make a quick dash to Austen's home hardware shop for supplies. Surprisingly Austen's home hardware stocks large blocks of solder ready for melting, they have everything in that shop. Frornck sped us back in the racing styled fiat and we managed to finish 87.3% of the tubes before running out of solder again at the end of the day.

In celebration, and to cool off after the propane fired solder bath had singed my fair ginger eyebrows, we had a big bonfire. A big religious, chocolatey weekend of proper work to look forward to!

Hot Cross Bun O'Clock

Snapped at the weekend are many hands making light work of putting thousands of gills onto radiator tubes.(Guest gillers Matt Shepherd and James Talbot-Lago) 13,000 gills have now been fixed in place, approx 2000 to go! Then will come the major test, will it leak?

Meanwhile Mr Model A Ward is hard at work on the fuel and oil pipes and making a lovely job of it - as expected!

The radiator header and lower tanks are coming on with many pounds worth of silver solder joining them all together.

The front sprocket maching has been finished by Paul and are ready for final assembley.

Adrian serenaded us with a beautiful rendition of Bat out of Hell - all six minutes of it. (not pleasant).

Ben Sud's Dog Training Classes

Saturday Evening

Above from left Dave Flintstone (Sprocket Drilling), Tim Brown (Shock Absorbers), Model A Ward (Fuel Lines), Myself (Keeping Control), G Sud (Radiator Giller in Chief), W Way (Chassis Straightening!), Simon (Carburettor Mounting), B Sud (Radiator Giller 2nd in Command), E Way (Tea Pourer). Absent : J Way (No appologies recieved).

Captured at morning tea break the above had a productive day, so much was achieved that if it were listed the internet would meltdown. The day did ,however, include the commence of the radiator gilled tube production, so far approx 1500 gills have been soldered on - 15,000 to go.

We Have Gills

Friday Lunchtime - Great excitement as the radiator gills have just arrived. These are 1" square and are designed to fit onto the 5/16" radiator tubes. There are approx 130 radiator tubes and something near 16,000 (sixteen thousand) gills to thread on and solder in place! A task which may get a little tedious....The pieces to build up the brass header tank and bottom tanks are cut and ready for soldering, just need some flux, gas and a lot of solder! The kindly people who have offered to come round here this weekend to give us a hand don't know what they're letting themselves in for!!

STEADY PROGRESS

Got home early from work today and found good progress. Paul had finished the main machining of the front sprockets and Oli and Sud Minor working on the Radiator header and base tanks and the diff unit. Jeremy had fitted the relined brake shoes which had arrived this morning from Tim Stamper. Tim had also skimmed them to fit the precise ID of the LH and RH drums. The drums then fitted beautifully and so rear drums, hubs, chain sprockets now all done. A big step forward.
I worked on the Gearbox and drilled the mountings into the chassis a la Bugatti style to match the diff unit and the engine crankshaft line. Olivers careful alignment of the chassis when restoring it has paid dividends as there is only a little shimming required here and there.
Also bought some of the fuel line fittings to replace the old copper fuel line with new 10mm copper.Hope it's big enough to support the 8.2 litre thirst!
John Everett has kindly offered to restore the hub attachment caps and bring them down next week, collecting the wheels en route from Peter Richards.
Adrian Ward is also coming down to help for the week in this critical phase along with Tim Brown the shock absorber magnate who will be here for the week-end. Robin Batchelor is acting as our Weather Man and collating data for us for the whole route.
What a great team!

Edward

Injections...

Does anyone know what the photo is of?!......

Today I had the first of a complex series of vaccinations for the trip. Starting with typhoid and hepatitis A & B, with another hep A & B next week and final one the week after. Great that if you have a hepatitis B injection combined with the A you don't have to pay anything as A is free! Useful advice from the Petworth surgery that...!

Also spent the rest of the afternoon usefully working on the motor car, renovating parts of the original throttle linkage to suit the Curtiss engine.

WEEKEND PROGRESS

Good overall progress this weekend and two excellent lunches as well. Saturday at Bigenor with Bethany and Chris who had driven last year from London to Ulaan Baathar in Mongolia. It was great to learn about the road and climatic conditions. Today lunch at Bigenor with Margaret and Humphrey Avon and Michael Davis. They brought a duck which was promptly wacked into the oven all washed down with a rather excellent 2001 Claret.
Anyway to the car............around 110 manhours between us this weekend, refreshing to be assembling bits rather than making them. Most time for me spent lining and adjusting relative positions of the main units: Differential to Gearbox to Engine. All looking good and hope to have it all lined and bolted down during the week. Ben Sud making a great job of the steering wheel. Brake cams fitted, hoping to get the relined shoes back from Tim Stamper tomorrow so we can finally assemble the rear hubs and drums.
Lots of discussion about radiators and the relative merits of front or rear of engine mounting of them!
Must chase the DVLA tomorrow to see if we can expedite registration. Must take some time off work to get on with the build.

A Poor Performance from Makita

Vicko snapped this photo whilst I attempted to cut a 4" hole in a cross member with a hole saw.....the Makita drill soon gave up and I had to resort to a jigsaw - 8mm thick steel took a while! Perhaps Makita could supply us with a free replacement.....

Bad Equipment

Yet again we have been let down by poor equipment - this time the Apple iPod which ran out of battery halfway through Dire Straits 'Alchemy' and will no longer charge! Time to give Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple a call and see if he can sort out a replacement asap.

Otherwise all is going well this morning, with steering mechanism very nearly complete...

This week's recipe of the week has to go to the good old hot cross bun.

MISSION CONTROL REPORT ON PAPERWORK

Visa applications for Russia, Mongolia and China were finally sent off this week to the long suffering Thames Consular Services who are sorting it all out for us. They were due to be sent at the beginning of March but were delayed while Oli was seeking out a steering box from a cellar in Germany. Jeremy's passport was eventually found in his Land Rover where he seemed to be keeping it in case he needed to make a quick getaway. There is a problem at the moment with a lack of temporary import permit for the two cars entering China. If anyone knows of someone who can process this in under 3 months please let us know.

Code 1 Red Alert Reached

The workshop reached Code 1 Red Alert today whist I was heating a large lump of metal with the oxy-acetylene torch and the propane torch - there was a huge bang and a sound of rushing gas which caused a moment of panic before we realised that I had inadvertently melted the airline!

SATURDAY REPORT

Completed drilling the rear gearbox adaptor, and it fits the output flange rather nicely. Oli, William, Jeremy, Ben Sud and the Works boy all working away.
Boy and I are giving the machine shop a good clear out. Trackrod now painted and on, the extra long steering drop arm now nearly completed, steering wheel being completed by Ben.
All systems go !

Flying

Oli and I have just got back from the White Horse Inn, Sutton (the best drinking pub in Sussex), where we completed an important deal with Captain Duncan Green, the famous airman, as well as possibly drinking a pint or two of bitter.

Duncan will surely now provide discounted flights for us from hangar 3 at the London Airfield, in return for him joining us from Beijing to Ulan Bataar, where he reports temparatures are currently -39 degrees C.! (this should help the super-heated radiator to become even cooler - we may have to add some antifreeze to the champagne solution).

Now for some more eating and drinking as per usual... I don't like change.

LATHE CLUTCH PROBLEM

Just come in for Breakfast due to the big Fimap lathe running out of Hydraulic oil. The whole control system on this big machine runs on hydraulics and if the oil tank drops too low it cavitates and no clutch. Anyway, nearly finish machined a boss to locate a sprocket on the rotary table prior to drilling a series of radial mounting holes. Oli can get some more Tellus 27 from the local tractor dealer who opens at 07.00hrs.

Now to breakfast: Does this make me peculiar or what?

1 x tin Sardines in Olive Oil (skinless and boneless if breakfast snack)
1 x Apple sliced and cored (Brummel the Border Terrier likes the core)
1 x dessert spoon of pickled Capers
Crushed black peppercorns (must NOT be ground)

Pour off most of the oil, mash the Sardines, add Capers amd Pepper, then decorate a small earthenware bowl with the sliced apple. Stuff the whole thing in the top oven of the Rayburn for the time it takes to shave and serve with lashings of Tea.

An early finish

An early finish for beer in Northampton tonight. The steering drop arm is mostly done - the last few operations need to be carried out a little closer than 115miles from the car.
I dismantled the drag link ball socket and found all the parts to be in serviceable condition. I then attempted to remove the old broken drag link from the socket, it appears that aswell as the pinning it was brazed. Despite numerous attempts at heating and numerous small fires (its always amazing how much old oil is held inside these things) it wouldn't come out - a job for the lathe. Conviently the drag link is 7/8" outside diameter which I believe is the same as the new one that has been made at Bigenor earlier today.

Cobb - No food.

May Jonathan "opposite lock boy" Cobbs experience on Sunday be a lesson to all visitors to the workshops at Bigenor. He was NOT offered food or tea because he disrupted work and didn't offer to help - I know that even he might be able to sweep up swarf or something useful but instead he chose to chatter and offer advice on cooling systems which will ,of course, be completely ignored.

Thursday Evening

Productivity is high! A track rod and most of a drag link fashioned today by Paul. Sud Minor has almost finished the fuel tank ready for mounting.

It's almost time to start on the radiator - which is quite exciting..... (and probably should have been done a long time ago). It's a scuttle mounted device which obviously goes against traditional wisdom of putting it in the airstream at the front of the car. Still, why not ignore over 100 years of car design and every expert that visits and put it on the side of the car - it'll look good anyway!

Thursday Morning

Todays merry workers include Ben Sud (who is now employed full time for the next five weeks) and Paul Mayhead working the lathe at a furious speed. Snowing again here but I don't suppose it will dappen the workers enthusiasm! Paul has completed turing the new half shafts and is now turning up new hubs to sit on the half shafts and drive the front sprockets.

The three bulkheads are now back in the chassis and bolted down ready to start the body fitting and radiator mounting. Ben has been attacking the the fuel tank, making mounting straps and an underside protector for it out out of timber. The fully rebuilt gear box was lifted into the chassis last night and looks well, all that remains is to connect it to the engine/clutch!

It's all go.

The Steering Arm Drop Link

The steering arm drop link is taking shape this evening after some more work on the Bridgeport in Northampton (see photo).

I'm sure it was supposed to be 355mm between centres..........but it does look very long.......

REGISTERING THE CAR

Sent the specification details and a form 5/55 along with photographs off to VSCC today to try and get a quick authorisation for the registration document which we will need for the car's transit visa in China, Mongolia and Russia.
Hope DVLA respond quickly. Anyone know how long this will take from application?

IT'S A LONG WAY FROM PEKING TO PARIS

Worked late last evening to finally finish the gearbox. Looks to have full engagement of all the gears. All took a lot longer than I imagined. Keep lecturing the boys about the length of journey and rough roads on this journey from Peking to Paris..............it's a long long way! Jonathan Cobb called in in his AC Ace, a wonderful useable car. He suggested we consider putting a fuel bag in the tank. Probably very sensible, but now too late....... it's all put together with baffles in place.
Some discussion currently about length of splines on the Rudge Whitworth wheel centres. I'll speak to Peter Richards our wheel builder again today.

Back to Northampton

Spent the most of the day working on a new steering box drop link. Just about to depart for Northampton with Dave Flintstone. Will try not to get stopped by the police this week - last week a policemen seemed to get quite knarked when he was overtaken just outside Petworth by a 1400cc Ford Fiesta Zetec.......

Elevenses

Work has stopped for tea and mustard cake. David Flintsone/Longstone/Pavestone/Firestone has been noticeably struggling this morning - he was spotted drinking two whole pints and one half pint in the White Horse last night........

PUTTING THE LID ON IT

Gearbox now assembled and looking good. Welded a new rear output flange adaptor on the rear. Attacked the lid yesterday afternoon and had to straighten the handbrake and gearchange lever (with help from Malvina the Swiss Air Ace) which got badly bent when the car sunk through the ice after it's last race in Sweden. Managed to get the handbrake and reverse detent pawls sorted. Aim to get the lid on and the box mounted today. Hurrah!

Sunday Morning

It's 0730 and time to get to work.....too early I reckon.

Recipe of the Week - Steve Brays Scakes

Sultanas
Eggs - 1
Flour - finish the bag - DO NOT adjust other quantities
Butter - 200g
Sugar - 200g

This makes 6 large scakes, but most people would make 12. Mix all ingredients, dollop on a tray and cook for 20 minutes.

Scakes = cross between cakes and scones = heavy cake/scone type beast.

Saturday

Today we have Dave Flintstone/Pavestone/Longstone as well as the usual workers. Steve Brays has just arrived for work to find it is time to stop for supper.

Dave Flintstone has cleaned up the hubs so that the wheels fit on now which is useful; Will Way seems to have spent all day working on his brake levers; Oliver has done ?; Dad working on gearbox; Vicko Buzzardo on seats and webbo; and I have started machining a new steering wheel boss as well as making the most terrible angle grinding noise early this morning...

We have learnt about donkey racing today from a visitor which seems fascinating, and, another visitor in the form of Steve Hodgson led to the unexpected purchase of a large quantity of useful nuts bolts and washers from the back of his van, which we thought Sud Minor might enjoy sorting through!

Northampton branch behind schedule

It seems that I have failed to achieve my allocated evening tasks this week! The brake levers are now sleeved and ready for welding, but the brake backplate bushes have not been made neither have the holes been drilled in a drive sprocket!

GEARBOX PROGRESS

Just in from the workshop where have set up the endfloat on the output shaft and finally lapped the taper on after making a new key. Took great care to ensure the key was a good fit but not 'bottoming out' on the shaft or output boss. The amount of lap and therefore the distance the boss slides up the taper controlls the endfloat. It's all a bit tedious.
Having eaten venison for nearly a week had the final stew tonight.
Mr Plod called last evening and they are giving me a fixed penalty notice which costs £80 and I did give him the clamp back(in two bits). Can't really be bothered to argue. If ever you are involved in the removal of a clamp DON'T TAKE IT AWAY!
Must make a list of nuts and blots to buy from Arun Fasteners tomorrow.

The Steering Box

Good evening.

Firstly there seems to be conflicting rumours about where the newly acquired steering box, column and wheel came from. It is such a long and convoluted story involving a cellar in eastern Germany, arrests and questioning etc etc that it is probably best told at another time. I can confirm that its acquisition had nothing to do with meeting the world famous auto jumble purveyor Albert and an exchange of cash in the M25 services.

And so to fitting it back onto the chassis it was intended for. Everything going well, it seems to fit where it should although a slight modification to the somewhat unfinished dashboard was required. What doesn't fit is the drop arm from the box. This seems to be too short to give adequate steering lock so it's been decided to fashion a new one from solid in decent steel - not a bad thing, but another quite large job at a late-ish stage!!

Over and out.

Mid Week

I'm back from the land of Lager beer, Bratwurst and Autobahns amongst other things. I can report that the roads we have to traverse in Germany seem fairly smooth. Unfortunately the Lederhosen I had purchased for use in the workshop were confiscated by customs. We now have a steering box and collumn (with four weeks to go we thought we'd better get one) so am currently mid way through fitting it. I'd better get back at it.

Brake Levers

Just finished on the lathe; this time working on the rear (no front brakes) brake cam shafts. The bearing area of the shaft is very worn so I have turned it down ready for a sleeve to be pressed on. I have machined the sleeve blanks but unfortunately my lathe tailstock is knackered so I will have to take to borrow another lathe to drill them out.

GEARBOX PROGRESS

A long day with the only breaks lunch and a visit from the local constabulary. The former was Venison stew and absolutely fantastic, all to Jeremy's recipe. At least I have got something back from the significant damage to the Alfa.
The second was a visit from Chichester Police relating to the Alfa being wheel clamped a month or two ago and being slickly released by an angle grinder. I have undertaken to return the clamp however and hope to get off with some sort of legal reprimand and a small fine. If not Ford prison locally has excellent facilities and I believe even has COLOUR television!
Anyway the gearbox is nearly together after various modifications due to bearing sizes differing slightly and rectifying a thrust bearing design fault. Hope to have the main box ready to go back in by mid week.
Jeremy and Will worked like troopers to get the car on to it's wheels and it's looking GOOD !

Rolling Chassis!!

To all those hundreds of people sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear the latest news, the chassis is now rolling!

Still lacking any steering mechanism at all, the Mors was pushed out at 1730hrs. No doubt Oliver will have been doing something useful in Germany and will return with a steering box.

(Thanks Sud for the worldly advice which I unsually followed and did get on with it - 13 hours worked today!)

Jeremy.

Delays to the gearbox build

There was a delay to the gearbox build today whilst father was interogated by the local constabulary regarding an alleged incident involving a wheel clamp and angle grinder.......no more can be said on this matter at present as it is sub judice.

GEARBOX PROGRESS

Saturday went well and the gearbox assembly is under way. Slight problem with a new thrust bearing which is 4 mm wider than the old. I think I will use the original which looks ok.

Highlight of yesterday was that the Works Boy invited Linda and I to dinner. His staff produced a wonderful supper and also he gave us a great Cello recital.

Have just had Sunday breakfast and Will and Jeremy have just come in after a 6 a.m. start. Brake drums and rear trailing link looking good.

Back to the Gearbox..............

Oliver

Now back from the typically busy saturday night at the white horse to eat a fine recipe of the week below, and thought that some people (not quite sure who) might be wondering where Oliver is.... which is in Germany hunting for a 1907 Mors steering box - does anyone have one?

Brake Drum Skimmed

Just finished for the day. The first brake drum has been skimmed - harder than you might imagine........
I mounted the drum in the chuck on the relatively small diameter hub to ensure that it all runs true. I then clocked up on the hub, but unfortunately due to the quick start up of the lathe and the huge inertia of the drum with built in drive sprocket the chuck would often slip on the hub and start running out of true whenever you stopped and started. The solution was to clock it all up, ease it into gear, then skim it without stopping for inspection. Thankfully when I clocked it after skimming it hadn't moved.
Right, off to the pub......

A break for finger recovery

Just stopped for elevenses and to give Jeremy's severly damaged fingers a chance to recouperate. Work will continue shortly.

My fingers hurt

I've just really hurt three of my fingers when doing up a bolt that decided to break. This puts the whole project in doubt.

Recipe of the Week

As promised here is my recipe of the week for all readers to try, mostly involving fresh deer (for details of obtaining the main ingredient see Edward's posting below)...

2 lbs venison; 6-80zs pitted prunes; 3/4 pints Cellier des Gourmets house red wine; 2 cloves garlic; 2 strips lemon rind; 2 tbsps lemon juice; 3 tbsps olive oil; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 medium onions; 8 ozs chopped streky bacon; 1 tbsp flour; 1/4 pint stock; 2 tbsps reducrrant jelly.

Marinate meat, prunes, wine, garlic, lemon rind and juice, 2 tbsps oil and the cinnamon overnight.

Remove meat and prunes - heat remaining oil in a large pan and add the onion and bacon and fry for 3-5 mins until brown, then remove. Add meat and fry til brown all over.

Sprinkle over flour and cook for a minute. Gradually stir in marinade and then the stock - bring to boil. Add prunes, onion and bacon to pan and mix well. Season. Simmer for 2 to 2.5 hours. Add jelly and simmer for two more minutes.

This is really rather good! Handed down through generations. (And thanks to that most famous cook Mrs James too!)

On to less important matters... car really will be rolling by the end of the weekend bar any further disasters. Bit more machining to do on the rear hubs, and then hopefully final assembly.

Finally, if anyone ever needs an obscure nut or bolt try Arun Fasteners (see links page). Would be good to see if anyone can find something they do not stock! (having been in there today and picked up a left handed thread 27mm x 2 (fine) thread nut - for the old rear radius/torque arms.)

That's it for now! More updates shortly.

OH DEER !

Left work yesterday and just getting near home (album of the week in the CD, Tie of the week around my neck) when a Deer sprang out, skidded across the road and into the front of the Alfa. Front grill pushed into radiator etc. So instead of spending a happy evening in the workshop on gearbox duties I paunched, skinned and jointed the beast. At least I'll get something back from it! Venison this Sunday for Lunch.........Jeremy going to start a recipe of the week. What beasts are we going to face in Mongolia in the Mors?
Paul had done a great days work on machining the brake drum/sprockets and remainder of the rear axle bearing housings. Oliver repairing the rather fragile 30 gallon petrol tank. Steve arrived and continued work on the floor and body patterns. Workshop shut down at around 11.30 p.m.

POWER CAPACITORS SAVE THE DAY!

The Fimap lathe is up and running again due to fantastic service by Transwave/Power Capacitors Ltd. When I bought our phase converter unit from them I did research the market and felt these guys had a great product and were really helpful. The unit has been much misused since running a 10hp lathe motor in addition to the Bridgeport Mill and various smaller units all on rather low incoming single phase voltage.
Phoned them at 07.30hrs Monday and Tim Brown in their sales office was most helpful, guided me with some faultfinding and by 08.30 the bits were on their way to us. They deserve huge praise.
This morning bits arrived were fitted within the hour and the machine now up and running " Good as new "
Will finish some rear hub components tonight and I know Paul is planning a big lathe work day tomorrow.
We are back in business!

PHASE CONVERTOR ECLIPSE !

Yesterday was good with everything going really well. I was on the gearbox, still waiting for bearings but cleaning all the bits up and machining a new selector groove for 3rd/4th gear. It was great to see Annabel Jones and her brother Tim who called in at the same time as John Bevington in his M type MG. Annabel is also doing a Peking Paris run with some friends in a brace of Austin Chummies. Starting earlier than us in May but sensibly aiming to stop a little more en route it would be great to meet up somewhere with them. These Austineers are real heros with an engine less than a tenth the size of our 8200 cc! Saturday finished with a walk along the river at 10pm watching a stunning eclipse.
Front hubs were fitted and we had to make the decision......wheel size. It was agreed by all that running 21" wheels would look awful..........much too modern so we decided on 25" as per our Aero powered big Austin. Trouble is we normally only get 1,200 miles out of the Goodrich tyres so it means taking 20 spares!? Anyone feel like sponsoring the tyre bill? !
Sunday started well and then around 17.00hrs disaster! The phase converter packed up just as Will was machining some spacers for the rear hubs. Our lathe uses a 10hp 3 phase motor and without this big rotary converter we are stuck. Early phone call required to the makers tomorrow!

Sod it!

Disaster struck at 4.57pm when the lathe phase converter blew up. This prevents the final parts for the rear axle being finished, thus delaying the inagaural 'rolling out' of the rolling chassis which was planned for today. We were forced to retire to the kitchen to console ourselves with tea and chocolate cake (Vicko's birthday cake, made by Oliver), and discussions as to how to proceed ...... Sod it...!

Better get back to work.

A fine lunch has been consumed. Better get back to the workshop there is only a bit more to do to get the rear wheels on....

Sunday lunchtime

Two wheels now on and a very good luncheon of roast beef!

Sunday Morning

0750 - Got one wheel on last night then retired to pub to celebrate. Just got to see off a full English breakfast and then back to it.

The Working Weekend Commences

0800 Saturday. Apart from the usual, also present for work at the Sussex headquarters are Dave Flinstone and Will Way. The target is a rolling chassis by the end of Sunday and most components are here to do this although there is still a large amount of machining on the hubs to be completed.

Jeremy is missing, has anyone seen him?

Milling

Spent another three hours splashing around in coolant on the Bridgeport. Not much to report - no thefts today. Worked up quite a thirst and come in for a pint of bitter.

HOME GROWN OAK

Sorted out some oak boarding for the cockpit floor which we have had in store here since the 1987 hurricane. Steve attacking it tonight with Gusto.
Need to sort the steering box as the one that came with the chassis is really massive. Anyone out there with a 1907 Mors steering box lying around?

Split Pins

I've spent a happy evening tightening and split pinning the front axle bolts, snapping at least 3 drill bits which is quite a good record. This sort of work would usually be reserved for the talented Mr Clive The Knife Banner who seems to have mysteriously moved to Preston (about as far from us as possible) as soon as the Peking Paris project was mentioned....

Createur d'Automobile remains is in the workshop even now - just can't get him out of there in his fancy pink tie of the week. The 'Bray' is also in the workshop doing some fine woodwork routing - no doubt to the delight of our neighbours.

Theft delays work

Progress was delayed tonight whilst repairs to the workshop roof were undertaken after some bastards stole the lead ridge section. Some of the final machining operations were then carried out on the last few bits needed for the rolling chassis this weekend.

Wheels

In answer M.Dubois, we are to use wire wheels on this expedition. Although it would look fantastic putting it back on wooden wheels we feel wire are rather more reliable and ,of course, easily available.
Oli

Todays Work

Restored the chaindrive rear radius/torque arms today..... Cleaned, painted and new back nuts from our usual supplier Arun Fastners. Got the engine back into the chassis and the whole thing is now resting on it's own axles - should be rolling by weekend. More machined parts arrived from the Northampton this evening by special delivery : parts of rear hubs and brake backplate mountings which have been re-worked.

Tonight I find that Cotes du Rhone tickles my mouth a bit!! Strange.

More Machining

Another few hours work finished. Modified the rear hubs and backplate adapters to remove some unnecessary weight and to fit lip seals. These modern lip seals replace the old felt seals and should help to keep some of the sand out in the Gobi desert!

No Show

A media meeting scheduled for today had to unfortunately be cancelled due to excessive consumption by one Miss N. Ody. Disgraceful at that age.

A BAD DAY

Started early but hadn't got the right material to machine the differential to main gearbox connector.
Moved on to strip the gearbox down and found a badly worn and bent selector which I will have to build up tomorrow with braze.
Good thing is that these Mors gearbox and diff units are really nicely made.

More Machining

Just finished another shift on the lathe and the rear axle assembly is progressing well......if all goes to plan tomorrow I should be able to move on to the Bridgeport next week!

GEARBOX TO DIFFERENTIAL

Off to the machine shop to finally machine gearbox to diff connector before William arrives to monopolise the big lathe for the weekend. Hope to finally get the transmission aligned today.

The Lathe Work Continues.....

Work on the rear axle continues with plenty of machining. Unfortunately one large chunk of steel has just exited the chuck at 760rpm and a considerable amount of momentum.......

The White Horse Inn

One must not forget to mention our most important supplier - the White Horse Inn at Sutton.

Skinner

I'd like to make it clear that Sandy Skinner will NOT be taken out of the country - we can't get an export licence for him.

Website goes live!

Today the www.pekingparisraid.co.uk website has been launched!

Starter motor mounting

Engine now in chassis and with Sud Major (our short name for Guillaume Sud le Baron de Petworth) fabricated the starter motor housing which will be mounted to the chassis. Fitted the clutch cover plate after centering the centre plate using a dummy shaft. Things going rather well at this point!

Crank now in and Sump on!

Work has intervened and today first time back on the engine for 2 weeks. Oliver getting very cross as he needs to finally determine the mounting positions and the relative position of gearbox to engine. Got the the crank in and it's surprisingly difficult to turn once torqued up but we do have 8 new pistons each 4" diameter to move up and down in their bores. Hope all is ok. Sump on with new bolts and spring washers. Flywheel on and looking good. Torqued up the flywheel nut, hoping my crankshaft thread will be ok, to 350 ft lbs (me on end of 2ft spanner!) . Oliver and the other boys have been at some party at Shelsley Walsh over the weekend and thankfully he looked pleased on his rather hung over return.

Machining the Crankshaft

Up at 04.00hrs today and straight to the workshop with a large mug of tea to start machining the crank. These aircraft engine crankshafts have a long nose to hold the propellor and we are turning it around to attach the flywheel. Luckily our lathe is just big enough to fit the 1100mm long shaft with a steady giving intermediate support. Firstly machined the original slow taper down to a parallel shaft of 1.5" diameter and then cut off 100mm. Cutting a 12 tpi thead will fit a standard unf nut. (the Curtiss being American uses unf theads throughout and so we keep all theads true to type). Used the original propellor boss to which I had already machined up an adaptor to fit the flywheel. We intend to have the luxury of a starter motor on this car having pushed or towed the big Austin EBIV to start for several years and finding the practice tiresome.

Off to work at o8.00 to earn some money to pay for all this.

Back home from work at 17.30 and now have to fit the whole asembly back into the crankcase. Don't relish the 20 splitpinned main bearing nuts and the 16 big end nuts all which will have to be torqued up and faced back in the small lathe to line up the castellations. Noted the big Fimap lathe is roasting hot from Paul Mayhead working on it all day machining various differential components! I dread to think of the electricity bill...