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 with autovac tank temperature causing petrol vaporization and starvation problems on Alpine passes.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 74\3\ scan0204 | |
| Date | 19th July 1927 | |
| X3908 To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. to BJ. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to RG.{Mr Rowledge} DA.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} W. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} absent. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}3/LG19.7.27. TEMPERATURE OF AUTOVAC TANK. X3579 As pointed out in Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/AJL2/LG14.6.27., if we maintain the radiator temperature at 80°C or above, by means of the shutters with no bonnet ventilation, we can bring EAC.Vlll chassis to a stand-still by driving hard. The reason for this is that the petrol in the autovac vapourizes and creates a lock in the petrol pipe. Although the standard car does not suffer so badly in this respect, its performance on the track or under other exceptional conditions is definitely impaired by the temperature attained by the petrol in the dashboard tank. We have therefore fitted a heat shield to 10-EX which very considerably reduces the autovac temperature. We believe that complaints we have received of starvation when climbing Alpine Passes have been due to this cause and not to filtration troubles, and we should appreciate something that we can fit to standard cars to overcome the trouble. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||