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 addressing customer complaints about the 3.5 litre car, including pump failures, vapour lock, and modifications.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 130\2\ scan0100 | |
| Date | 20th August 1936 | |
| To G.W. Hancock, Hotel de France, Chateauroux, Indre, France. X1113 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}14/KW.20.8.36. Many thanks for your report on the 3.5 litre customers' complaints. We had three rounds with Skinner the other day - he came up to the factory. We showed him four Ph.III pumps which had failed to function on test, as delivered from Birmingham. We dismantled them in front of him. We showed him that the burrs had not been cleaned off the drillings, and that the valves were not flat; he promised to make a better job in the future. Whether he will do so is questionable. I am trying to institute an inspection of every tenth pump in the factory, to keep them up to the mark. We should like to know whether you think the filter on the rear cross member is going to be a definite asset in reducing pump complaints. From the reports we have had from Sr's customers this seems definitely to have eliminated vapour lock. If it has eliminated vapour lock, it seems questionable whether it ought not also to have eliminated noise due to heat, though of course noise due to leaking valves will always be with us. We have convinced Skinner that he can make the pumps quieter by adopting the suggestion of putting a soft pad to cushion the blow of the brass disc carrying the diaphragm against the solenoid. We are getting some lead weights made up in a harder alloy which has about the same specific gravity as lead. We shall be sending some of these out to you immediately so that you can try them on 6-B-IV. If we try and stop lead spreading we shall get some complicated and expensive pieces. I took up the question of the Paris Trials car with Mx.{John H Maddocks - Chief Proving Officer} and he had to admit that almost all your complaints were due to modifications which should have been carried out on the car to bring it into line with all the others that have been done, but owing to its going to a Continental Coachbuilder, it was missed. He is sending out the parts to Sr. post-haste. There may have been others missed so the report has done good. | ||