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Hi Colin,
Yes, I recollect the guy at Steering Services saying that we had dump trucks etc to thank for the continued availabilty of most parts for the Marles gear (as fitted to LG6 & V12 anyway).I’ve managed to find my set of Newnes…it’s actually titled “Motor Repair and Overhauling”. The Marles boxes are covered in a general chapter “Steering Gear”; you may be interested to know that there is a separate chapter solely concerned with “The adjustment and repair of Bishop steering”.
Laurence
Fred,
At a guess that probably means a type “L3” box, serial number (or just casting number if it’s cast, not stamped in.
That said, if you can get the Newnes set, I think you’ll find it pretty easy to establish the particular type if you compare your box with the diagrams. Unfortunately all my books are still boxed up (despite moving here 3 years ago!), otherwise I’d look up the chapter concerned.Laurence
The shims are actually brass, not steel, so your scissors can breath a sigh of relief. I went to Steering Services in Wimbledon to buy all these parts to do the job myself….and he was happy to sell them, so not essential to make your own.
The shims go where the column joins the box, and also the end plate at the other end of the box; their purpose is to adjust free play in the column bearings, and to centralise the worm gear in relation to the roller.
Colin refers to bushes, whereas my Marles has ball bearings; which emphasises that you’ll need to establish which model/variant of Marles box you have there, both to follow the correct instructions & to order parts.Laurence
Fred,
You could do worse than buy a set of “Newnes Motor Overhaul & Repair”, it’s a 4 volume set plus a 5th “volume” of data sheets (including prewar Lagonda data). The set I bought was fortuitously 1940….best you look out for that publication date or earlier as obviously post war sets will have less relevant content.
They are an absolute mine of information on all aspects of working on our sort of cars. They’re not rare, and they’re not generally expensive. My set cost ?8 about 20 years ago, but you’d still probably get a set for ?20 (ie less than the price of a Haynes manual for a modern!) odd today…..take care that the set includes the data sheets! As already stated, there’s an entire chapter on overhauling/adjusting the several different types of Marles steering gearbox.
I also recently discovered that one of the prewar Motor Trader magazine data sheet supplements was devoted to Marles steering gearboxes, so you could look out for one of those as well. Ebay could be your friend here!
LaurenceHi Bill,
Yes, that name sounds familiar. Only problem I had was that a needle roller bearing was obsolete, so he fitted a plain bearing. The steering was heavy, so he suggested getting the part ground out & having another needle roller bearing fitted (or perhaps it was to accommodate larger diameter needle rollers. That was all fine, except the firm I gave the grinding work to lost the component…for 6 years!
Hi Colin,
Yes Marles on the LG6, & of course the same on the V12. If I remember correctly, “Newnes Overhaul & Repair” has a very comprehensive chapter covering these steering boxes. One quick fix that is possible is to cut a corner of the adjusting shim/s, thus allowing them to be fitted without completely removing the column….indeed found just that on my LG6 box…a bit of a bodge as keeping it really oil tight after doing that must be an issue.
Incidentally the previous “professional restorer” of the steering box just tightened the bearings up….resulting in the bearings disintegrating & turning the oil into excellent grinding paste. Useful.Laurence
I had the Marles steering box & column for my LG6 completely rebuilt including machining & fitting a shaft seal by a steering specialist firm in Wimbledon about 10 years ago. It was only ?140 including all parts, so was literally a no-brainer to have them do it rather than buy the parts & try to do it myself.
Laurence
“all the dashboard instrumentation is original and correct…”; yet the dashboard photo clearly shows a smaller modern instrument inserted above the steering column. I hope the rest of what is said is more accurate!
Nevertheless an interesting car, and good to hear that FPJ553 survives. Strange it was allocated an (apparently duplicated as well) chassis number, yet is registered with the “true” E3007. Helpful as it also explains the early engine number in a (faux) late chassis.
LaurenceHi David,
You’re welcome. I must admit my second choice for the Riley would have been Blockleys, but I felt the 5-block tread pattern (it’s 3-block for “prewar” sizes was too anachronistic for a 1951 car. That said, I understand they’re popular with Jaguar XK owners.
Another issue to consider is the radius…and therefore circumference…of different tyres….these can vary quite surprisingly. The significance is that that will have a bearing on your engine rpm/mile so affects performance & speedo readings. The tyres on my LG6 special are Michelins; they are amongst those with the highest radius, but the tread area is rounded, not flat, which I don’t think helps with roadholding or tread wear. So many things to consider! Longstone Tyres and other sites give useful tyre dimensions. You could do worse than chat with Dougal at Longstone Tyres, he is very helpful; with the proviso that he doesn’t stock Blockley tyres…there is some unfathomable rift….he is prominent in the VSCC & Blockley tyres are made by a VSCC member. Despite what Dougal says, the feedback for, & popularity, not to mention competition success, with Blockleys, can’t be denied! He also doesn’t stock Excelsior, more understandably because of quality issues, but my understanding is that those are very much past history.
Good luck with whatever you choose
LaurenceHi Peter,
I’d suggest you carry a spare coil as this may be indicative of a developing problem with the coil itself. If it’s a new coil, I’d be tempted to replace it with the original, if that was working fine. Unfortunately many modern replacement electrical products for our cars prove unreliable…particularly it seems voltage regulators and rotor arms.
LaurenceMy Riley RMB is nearing the end of its restoration, and I recently needed to decide on tyres for it. I liked the idea of radials, but not the modern tread patterns or dimensions; usually smaller rolling radius and too wide.
I discovered Excelsior Stahls; they are radials with acceptable tread patterns (I believe copies of the now extinct Englebert Racing type), and dimensions of the 6.00 x 16 crossply as originally fitted. I was surprised to see they also do 18″ versions.
I haven’t driven the car of course, but I did do a lot of research, which gave a lot of recent positive feedback. Apparently there were out-of-round & balance issues when they were first introduced, but all resolved now.
The only UK supplier appears to be Northants Tyres; they confirmed that in any event they would replace substandard tyres.
If they prove good on my Riley, I’ll certainly fit them to my V12 & LG6.
LaurenceIf it is FLD1, yes, I recall the car at the Ellard sale….I think it had a 4-carb engine, furthermore I believe the first owner was a Lagonda director, Gordon Watney?
After the first few sales, prices went fairly silly at that sale, so someone paid over the odds for a perfectly good car, to just leave it to decay? Mind you, people buy puppies which go on to a life of abuse, so perhaps there is some parallel universe where this sort of thing makes sense.
Laurence
Yet more proof that the independent coachbuilders were generally incapable of matching Frank Feeley’s designs for the factory bodied cars. Perhaps this is unkind; perhaps their market was the old fogeys that amazingly wanted to pay extra for something less attractive but unique?
It’s not terrible, and a well chosen paint scheme could work wonders. An early car, but agreed, would be interesting to see the chassis number.Leather gaiters a nice touch, be nice if you can revive them for further use. The V12’s springs were made by Berry (I think that was the spelling), so interesting change of supplier.
This might help and it might not, but I got Paddington Springs to also make up another identical but less leaves and shorter pair, for my LG6 special (shortened chassis). Unfortunately Paddington could never set them correctly, and I ended up taking them to Jones Springs in Darlaston. I was a bit taken back when the guy simply asked how much higher I wanted the car to sit…that’s all the information he wanted. But…they did the job and they’re spot-on. Might help you if no other specs materialise.I must add that no criticism is inferred for Paddington. The springs they retempered for my V12 and Riley RMB are very good, furthermore they never charged me for the LG6 springs; also Jones Springs were impressed with Paddington’s workmanship.
Hi Barry,
Those thin strips probably are original, if so, they will be zinc. I think the purpose was to provide some form of dry lubrication, although I’ve been unable to discover if you’re supposed to oil/grease as well, or leave them dry. This interleaving was certainly standard on the V12, but I can’t say for definite for an M45. My V12 is a very late (1940) one, & the spring interleaving was strips of bakelite!
Incidentally, as well as the aluminium spacer plates, V12s had rubber & canvas pads, same dimensions as the spacer plates…perhaps you should have those as well?
LaurencePaddington Springs reset the springs for my V12 and clearly had the references to refer to…sorry no contact details to hand but should be easy to find by Google.