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).
Oil leakage onto brakes, insufficient bodywork clearance, and silencer backfires found during vehicle testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 5a\2\ 02-page145 | |
| Date | 7th July 1929 guessed | |
| -2- us losing the accumulators during our high speed tests. We dismantled the front hubs to investigate the cause of the oil getting on to the brakes. We are at the moment at a loss to understand how the oil has got on to the brakes. We cannot find any traces inside the drums on the brake anchorage where oil has leaked. We should like a confirmation from Whyman of the oil he has used for lubricating the front and rear axles. We are under the impression, by examination of his oil gun and the oil left in the bijur pipes, that engine oil has been used for lubrication purposes. We are not taking any exception to this, only that considerably more oil is forced into the system when using thin oil than when using amber Gear oil. Our theory of how the oil has got to the brakes, is a considerable amount of oil has drained down the outside of the brake anchorage plate and has either been blown or sucked into the drums. We are going to verify this by using engine oil for the lubrication. Also the oil gun on 21-EX is one with an intensifier on it, and we find that by using this gun against the one supplied to us for the 20-HP, double the amount of oil can be forced into the lubricating system by the same energy as applied in each case. We wish to clear this matter up as "P.H." is anxious about it, and the fault was put down to some peculiarity of this car, which is not the case. May we bring to your notice that on all cars, 3.3. and 20-HP, there has been insufficient clearance between the bodywork and the axles and propellor shaft for maximum bump; This car is suffering from the same feature. The cross member for the rear seat although hollowed out, the axle has been fouling it. This must be attended to, because on the maximum bump, instead of the passengers receiving a subdued shock due to the rubber buffers, he gets a nasty jar. We have not as yet investigated the cause of continual back fires in the silencer as P.H. complained of. The day has been fully occupied with the above. C.H.H. | ||