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).
Issues of slow running and misfiring related to the Autovac petrol feed system.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 40\4\ Scan265 | |
| Date | 8th July 1927 | |
| S/W Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Y3579 Bt{Capt. J. S. Burt - Engineer}12/GM/8.7.27. Re: AUTOVAC PETROL FEED. Ref. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/AJL1/LG5.7.27. Ref. Chassis 23-SU. Major Burnham. I have been very interested in reading your memo as above, and regret that the restriction valve was not returned to you with the autovac. We will follow this matter up and find out if any improvement has been noted by owner. The point is one of very considerable importance because we are having a fair number of complaints about this, and I feel that many owners are receiving a bad impression of the slow running of our cars owing to this misfiring and the fact that the majority of them do not appreciate that much is brought about by the action of the autovac. Here in London where slow running is so very important, this trouble is no doubt much more acute than anywhere else. This feature can be so irritating that in the case of my own car I am contemplating putting in a tap in the suction pipe line controlled from the dash board so that I can count on obtaining steady slow running whilst the petrol in the autovac tank lasts. Of course, I am sure to forget to turn the tap off again a good many times in going out in the country and so run short of petrol temporarily, but I dare say one can train oneself to look after this just as one has done to look after the shutters on the radiator. This may sound to you as if one were proceeding to absurd lengths but unless one drives continually in London as I do it is impossible to appreciate how irritating this hesitation becomes. Bt.{Capt. J. S. Burt - Engineer} | ||