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).
Troubleshooting efforts for issues found on a Bentley in France, including vapour lock and exhaust system problems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 82\1\ scan0143 | |
| Date | 24th July 1933 | |
| [Handwritten annotation at top] To Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. Sft.{Mr Swift} TROUBLES ON THE BENTLEY IN FRANCE. With reference to Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}' letter of the 20th inst. (1) Vapour Lock. We have made strenuous efforts to reproduce this trouble. We ran a car with the bonnet ventilation blocked off until the water and oil temps. were approaching 100oC., and ran in 3rd. gear until the temperature under the bonnet reached 72oC on the exhaust side and 58oC on the carburetter side of the engine. We were quite unable to reproduce any petrol starvation trouble even at 4500 r.p.m. We then changed over from Ethyl petrol and ran on DTD.134 the aero spirit which is more volatile than Ethyl, and therefore more likely to cause vapour lock. Again we were unable to reproduce the trouble. We went back to the old type of petrol pipe which is being fitted to the first 15 production cars and repeated the tests, but the results remained unaltered. We therefore believe that the failure on the 10,000 miles test Bentley was due to some exceptional circumstances and not to the design. We have heard from Geneva that the trouble has disappeared for the time being. (2) Exhaust System. The exhaust system on the car in France is nothing like the one which ran on the previous 10,000 miles test. We could not stick to the original system because of insufficient ground clearance and alteration made to the brake leverage for the same reason. The failure may be due to the mounting or the material used in the system. Parts will cross before the end of the week to enable this point to be proved out. (3) Thermostat. No trouble is being experienced with this on production. We are making sure that we are reproducing our old Silver Ghost practice in the matter of clearances. (4) Coachwork trouble and Fixing of the front seats. This is being dealt with. | ||