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).
The development status of the 27-EX car, detailing work on the gearbox, S.U. carburettors, and modified valve springs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\1\ Scan177 | |
| Date | 2nd March 1932 | |
| To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. WOr.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. PN.{Mr Northey} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} X7120. Hsl/AD5.2.32. 27-EX CAR. We are sorry that 27-EX will not be in a fit state to send to London this weekend. The position of the car now is that we have got the gear box and the epicyclic third so that it is now reasonably reliable. We have made a much more complete job of fitting the S.U. carburettors, in fact if it is approved, there is no reason why the scheme as now fitted to 27-EX, should not be used on production. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} provided us with the induction pipe and the controls. The carburettors fitted to 27-EX are the standard S.U. type. We wish to get a definite opinion of the performance of the car with these carburettors before we commit ourselves to the modified S.U. built to the W.W. design. Bearing in mind that it is only proposed to use these carburestters on the Continental model, we believe the standard S.U. will be found satisfactory. We can definitely promise better slow running than the 8-litre Bentley. One other feature we have not quite completed is the modified valve springs. On the high performance Continental car which we have run so far we have had valve springs which did not allow us to fit the asbestos packing on the valve stems - this meant we got a lot of oil leaking down the valve stems which caused the car to smoke and soot up the plugs. We have now a W.W. design of valve spring which we hope will be fitted to the car next week. We shall have to let you know later the exact date we expect to send this car to London. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||