Issues with a starter motor, mechanic's joints, a Telegauge, and suspension performance during vehicle testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 11\2\ 02-page198 | |
| Date | 19th April 1929 | |
| To Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} and RM {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} ; From G.W.H. Hotel de France Chateauroux(French test region) Indre The starter motor is still useless. It will not engage, when the button is pressed there is a crashing of the pinion teeth on the flywheel teeth. We have done all we knew to get it right it is perfectly free whilst on the bench for movement and as far as we can see it is mechanically O.K.. The one thing we do not believe is working as it should do is the contact arm at the commutator end. It's movement is very limited, not at all to the same extent as on the first starter motors. We have dismantled the mechanic's joints after the car has run 1229 miles since the attention was given to the joints. We found that the front joint had lost no oil at all, the rear one, one third, therefore there is not much wrong with the joints if the join is made O.K. We made our joints with a paper washer and Hermetique jointing liquid which is very good. We shall not change the felt washers for the time being as up to now they look in good condition and our leak of oil is very little. We should say that the felt washers will stand the heat better than the leather. We also find that gear oil lubricates the joints quite satisfactory for the work they do on these runs and to use engine oil that was adopted before we came out is not necessary and is more prone to leak. Our test with the new Telegauge has been short lived, it worked for one hour, then failed. We dismantled the instrument and discovered the glass tube had broken at the top joint. We knew no reason why this should have happened. We are going to try and seal the other gauge to get some results. We have this afternoon been trying the car again with it's original settings of dampers. The riding of the car up to 30 MPH is very little different and cannot be appreciated over this speed, the front of the car is definitely better and is surprisingly steady there is just the up and down movement corresponding with the condition of the road. We go so far as to say, there is no jellying. We are quite satisfied with the front damping, the rear we are not. The compression and the rebound are worse. The movement is not so much throwing off the seat but a continual up and down which is uncomfortable. When going over a ridge the compression is too rapid and the rebound is greater. We require more damping both ways and are going to try 100lbs H.P. and 75 lbs L.P. with no restriction. Steering under these conditions is definitely more selective but there is more fidgiting of the wheel, checks are less pronounced. G.W.H. | ||
From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).