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).
Car performance in India, detailing issues with suspension, brakes, and the engine after 10,600 miles.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 52\1\ Scan166 | |
| Date | 13th May 1932 | |
| 3. is used as a town carriage. Personally I feel inclined to favour maintaining the present flexible springs but would suggest in future that cars destined for India should be fitted with Hartfords as on the Continental Saloons in addition to the Hydraulics, for, the average conditions of use in India, to my mind, justify this fitting because a great many cars are used a greater part of their lives as town carriages in the cities or some of the Native states, and it is only occasionally that they are called upon to do highspeed touring on the open road. Under these conditions I suggest that the addition of Hartfords would make the suspension almost ideal, because they could be slacked off during the greater part of the car's life and tightened up when wanted for serious touring. It is surprising what a number of cars hardly ever leave the city of Bombay, and as soon as one gets 12 miles outside the city, most of the roads in Bombay Presidency are definitely bad and call for considerable increase in the damping. On the other hand, as one gets further North, the roads are long, straight and monotonous and there is every incentive to drive at high speeds, especially as the distances between towns and villages are usually very considerable. * ENGINE * BRAKES:- The brakes of this car have always been very satisfactory, although at times there is a tendency for a slight squeak from the front wheel brakes. This comes and goes, and one never feels sure when it is going to do it. The wear on the liners is extremely small.*On returning to Bombay, the car having done a total of 10,600 miles, I had the cylinder head off and it is gratifying to find that all the valves are in splendid condition and only required quite a light grinding in order to get a perfect bed, there being no sign of burning or distortion; during the last 100 or so miles of the tour, there was intermittent clicking from the valve gear. This was found to be due to carbon having built up on the stems of several valves, causing them to be tight in their guides. The valve gear has always been quiet after the engine has run for a few minutes but it rattles a good deal on starting up from cold and this disappears as soon as the thermometer begins to move. Fortunately, I decided to change the aluminium tubes in the cylinder head for copper tubes, and on driving out the aluminium tubes, many of them were found corroded almost through. We are also fitting new ball bearings to the first motion shaft end as these had become rough and make an appreciable grinding noise when the engine is idling slowly. The other bearings | ||