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).
Letter detailing repair delays, issues with engine mounting, timing gears, and an exhaust system thump on a car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 109\5\ scan0098 | |
| Date | 11th November 1938 | |
| ✓ 664 Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}1/R.11.11.38. WXA-1. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} has asked me to answer your Sg{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}2/E8.11.38. Our endeavour in the past has been to keep your car up to date, and, at the same time, inconvenience you as little as possible. The engine mounting is not made from production pieces, but it has almost precisely the same arrangement made from our experimental parts. When the car last came in on the 23rd September we could have changed the engine mounting but we could not deal with the timing gears because there was no up-to-date material on production. You will remember that we had just decided to go to the heavy camwheel. We understood that we should get your car back in a week for the camwheel job. It was hardly economic to change the engine mounting and then have the engine out of the frame a week later to tackle the timing gears. We, therefore, decided to run the two jobs in together. You will recollect that we told you we were ready for your car on the 5th October, and have only just managed to get hold of it on the 5th November owing to it being required for trial runs. We appreciate that using this car for trial runs has been the cause of the delay. As a matter of fact, when it came up at the end of last week it was accompanied by a note from Sales asking that it should be available for a trial run in Liverpool on Tuesday. Had we complied with this request it would not have been possible to make the necessary modifications. With regard to the thump complained of, as far as we can ascertain this was due to the exhaust system fouling the frame. This presumably came about when the parts were replaced, due to failure, in the first place. It is quite difficult to detect as it only occurs under full torque. We ran into the same trouble ourselves experimentally before we appreciated the necessity of taking particular care at this point. We are explaining the problem to Br.{T. E. Bellringer - Repair Manager} so that it can be avoided in future. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||