Time and timing revisited

What was it I said about never learning?

Back in my first year of ownership (2016-17) I did get the car back on the road with much better performance than previously. Acceleration and speed through all the gears was fine. Only exception was that top speed was now 50mph, when it had been 55mph before the work on the cylinder head (and on occasion had reached a terrifying 60mph). And there was a rather odd 'burbling' when I reached 50mph.

And yet again, I started off on the wrong foot. First and foremost, I thought fiddling about with the ignition timing would make a difference. Did it? Very slightly, but only by 1mph and the burbling was still there. Secondly, and to my shame, I wondered if it was a result of the work done the previous year on the cylinder head, including the installation of valve stem oil seals. Fortunately, I didn't embarrass my self by pursuing that theory with anyone.

Despite that niggles, Adam and I headed off to Lancashire for the 2017 Singer National Day, 200 miles each way. All went well until south of Moffat, when speeding down a hill at nearly 50mph, the engine died. Panic sets in. Open the bonnet, can't see anything obvious. Get back in the car and try to start it (more in desperation than hope). But start it did, and off we went quite happily until the same thing happened again 10 minutes later.  And so it continued the whole weekend, all the way to Lancashire and back up to Scotland.  (Mind you, we did win the 'most travelled' prize, so that was a bonus!)  Of course, once we got the hang of it we realised we shouldn't go above 50mph, unless going downhill with the engine turned off.

Back home, I tried everything to fix the problem, but it just wouldn't go away.  Not least being multiple attempts to get the valve timing right (involving lots bruised and scratched fingers with the timing chain.  But the problem was quite simple. 

In all my fiddling about I had been using this diagram from the original owner's manual.  And in doing so I interpreted the diagram as showing the exhaust valves as being the right side of the engine, looking from the front.  Yes, I know - but the diagram is actually showing a bottom-up view of the valves.  So I was setting the exhaust valves as if they were inlet valves.  How the car ran at all, I'll never know.  Once set correctly, everything was fine.

And it was only later that I found this video by Martyn Wray which explained it all very clearly, and clearly shows the inlet and exhaust valves from the top:

Every day is a learning day!

One thing leads to another

You put the car away in the autumn, with all sorts of good intentions. But as the weeks go by, other more important things get in the way (such as work, for me at least). And when you occasionally look at the love of your life (no, your Singer), you're not sure where to start and you know that when you do, one thing will lead to another and you'll be in trouble again for spending too much time on 'that car'.

I didn't touch BSG 8 (a Singer 9 Longtail) until after Christmas (don't get me started about Brexit, elections and the amount of ‘valuable’ work it created for this humble public servant - sorry, rant over). But in January I realised I had to bite the bullet and get on with moving the battery from above the passenger's feet (yes, I know - but that's another story). So, first things first, get it up on the stilts and remove the wheels. Should be straightforward enough. But not when a castellated nut falls out of the offside rear hub as the wheel is removed. How did that happen? What more should I be worried about?!?

So, being a modern chap I headed to the SOC Facebook page to seek help. And I wasn't disappointed.

First, there were no split pins in either of the rear nuts. This was quite a surprise seeing as dad had usually been very particular about everything.  What you need to do is tighten the nut to 60 foot-pounds and then slacken off just enough so that one of the slots in the nut lines up with the hole in the hub and hole in the half-shaft.  I used a pair of old (that’s very important for good marital relations) tweezers to guide a split pin through the hole in the hub, the slot in the nut and the hole in the half-shaft.  I then used a 90° pick-tool to draw back one of the halves of the split pin, and a screwdriver to flatten back both ends.
 

And then the same on the rear nearside, but didn't need to do anything on the front wheels because dad had fitted split pins in these.

Robert Elliot says he’s seen cases where the hub has been replaced and the hole in the hub does not align with the hole in the half-shaft, making it impossible to fit the split pin. If this is the case with your car he suggests that you fit a nyloc nut, clean the thread, apply loctite to the half-shaft, fit the plain washer followed by the nyloc nut and tighten to 60 foot-pounds. You should then allow the loctite to set for 24 hours before use.

Now that the brake drums were exposed it was all too clear that something had to be done about the rust that had formed over the last year or so.  This was very odd because I had thoroughly treated them all a year or so ago, including with a liberal covering of a well-known brake calliper paint.  Strangely, it was the offside rear that was by far the worst (in fact, the front drums were fine).  This time I used the POR-15 brake calliper kit from Frost, and they certainly look a lot better.  Time will tell.

But also … when scrabbling about underneath, the state of some of the metalwork clearly had to be addressed.  Again, I had treated it all thoroughly a couple of years ago, but I suspect I hadn’t cleaned and degreased some areas sufficiently, leading to some new paint now peeling off.  Fortunately, although the quantities of the POR-15 calliper treatments were quite small, they were just enough for the underneath sections (and I assumed the high-temperature quality of the paint, although unnecessary underneath, would be fine). 

Final job was to put the drums back together, but that offside rear drum again caused problems - as it has always done.  It’s consistently been the most difficult to get off (hint - screw in a couple of bolts to the holes in the face of the drum to gradually force it off - see the picture).  But even when on it was sometimes quite sticky (and, yes, the rear adjusters were properly set). So I thought I would try rotating it 90° so that each hole was presented to the next bolt round on the hub.  And that was when I noticed that the drum doesn’t sit true depending on which rotation of hole and bolt alignment is used (i.e. on one of the four alignments I could wiggle the drum from side to side slightly).  Aligning the four holes and four bolts differently and without any wiggle made fitting the drum much easier and seemed to remove the stickiness.  I do worry that this problem indicates a more serious issue, but it seems OK for now, so I’ll turn a blind eye … until one of you good folks point out the error of my ways!  I’m also wondering if the stickiness, wiggle and loose castellated nut might all have been connected to in some way.

Last observation about setting the adjusters at the back of each rear brake.  I noticed that once I thought they were set properly, after I pulled the handbrake on and off the wheel would sometimes still be ‘braked’.  Solution to that was to also pull the handbrake on and off when setting each adjuster, so that the brake drum could still rotate after the handbrake had been pulled on and then released.  Again, conscious there might be an underlying problem, but if it seems fixed, why go looking for more trouble.

Of course, ignoring problems is not to be recommended. Which is cue for a confession.  For most of last year there was a strange rattling noise from the offside rear, which I couldn’t pin down from simple visual inspection.  It’s now clear it was that castellated nut bouncing around inside the hub.  Doesn’t bear thinking what might have gone wrong (especially when competing, for the first time, in the Bo’ness Revival Hillclimb back in September).

I mentioned earlier that I’d consulted members via the Singer Owners' Club Facebook page.  So, I must acknowledge the helpfulness and good advice proffered by Keith White, Chris Allard and Robert Elliott.  But, in time honoured-fashion, they’re not responsible for any errors in execution or in the account - these are all mine.

For the mere mortals

This is an article published in May-June 2018 edition of 'The Mascot'.

It’s great (honest!) to read in the magazine and on the ASCO Facebook pages the various accounts of refurbishment and major restoration.  Although the authors usually admit to some upsets along the way, there’s no getting away from the fact that their achievements are usually quite stupendous.  The attention to detail is especially astounding.  Frankly, I didn’t even know that the ‘shelf’ at the back of the engine bay was originally set out to hold a variety of tools.  So, well done to all these amazing people.

Unfortunately, for this non-member of Mount Olympus, these accounts can be a bit dispiriting.

Over the winter I’ve been tackling two issues with my Singer 9 Longtail: a screeching noise from clutch/gearbox and some small patches of surface rust on the body.

I’m told the clutch/gearbox problem is probably down to the bronze spigot bush bearing at the end of the crankshaft.  Fortunately, some graphite grease on the clutch spline/shaft has lessened the problem for now.

For the surface rust I decided spray painting was in order.  Not the whole car, just some patches – and therefore only with rattle cans.  OK, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a perfect match, but the various books and websites suggested you should be able to blend the old with the new.  And, indeed, the front off-side panel didn’t work out too badly.

But because I was too heavy-handed there were runs on the rear and on front near-side panel.  So more paint was needed, this time from a local supplier (it’s better to go local I thought).  Except the shade seemed a bit brighter.  But it will be OK when it dries – won’t it?  Except it wasn’t.  So back to the local supplier, who was good enough to replace the two unused cans for free and therefore all was rosy again (except for the need to rub down and prepare yet again).

Colour match seemed OK this time and all was going well until, suddenly, the tin started spraying what can only be described as ‘gunge’.  Looking around me, I noticed that there was a fine green dust covering everything in the garage (the domestic recriminations are ongoing).  And then I read the label on the tin, which said it was 2-PK!!  Luckily, I’m still here to tell the tale.

I therefore went back to my original (internet-based) supplier to get the right paint to remedy the mess.  What I didn’t know was that cellulose on top of 2-PK doesn’t work.  Unless you’re aiming to achieve a crazy-paving pattern.

With the approaching better weather I decided to cut my losses and only fix the front near-side panel.  (The increasing amount of grief from the rest of the family was also a factor.)  So, out with the sander, lay down a new primer coat and purchase two more tins.  But why was it drying matt?  Because, you idiot, you purchased base coat rather than gloss.  I nearly wept.  Having had enough and there being a tin of lacquer to hand, a couple of coats of Halford’s best was applied.

Does the near-side panel look OK?  The section on its own isn’t too bad. But compared to the rest of the panel – very noticeable.

I’m hoping that, once polished, it won’t look too bad.  But I’m also resigned to my two-tone effect and rear crazy paving being a talking point on the show circuit this summer.  

Of course, all of this didn’t happen over a matter of a few days.  The whole saga has been running since before Christmas and it’s therefore been a long and painful lesson that I would be better leaving painting to the professionals.  But I also hope that this account is a comfort to my fellow mere-mortals.

I hate brake/clutch fluid

So, I sorted my clutch problems?

You know the answer.

I tried various settings for the slave cylinder push-rod.  But all to no avail.  I was still getting horrible crunching noises when trying to move into first or reverse gears, and sometimes also when shifting between 2nd, 3rd and 4th when driving along.  And then I noticed something very odd.  When I depressed the clutch, the slave cylinder push-rod would extend properly; but then after a second or so it would begin to retract.  Therefore, the gear crunching wasn't because the push-rod wasn't extended far enough.  It was because it was retracting.  Which meant a leak somewhere in the clutch hydraulics.  And since there was no obvious leaks in any of the pipes, the most likely culprit was the clutch master cylinder.

Deep breath, get the syringe out, extract the clutch fluid from the master cylinder and begin dismantling.  It's not a difficult job, just time-consuming; especially when you make stupid mistakes (which are a regular occurrence for me).  And while I was about it, I decided to do the brake master cylinder at the same time.

Cutting a long and brake-fluid sodden story short, cleaning out and reassembling the clutch master cylinder made no difference. So yet another bullet had to be bit and a new master cylinder bought. And what a difference! At last, beautifully smooth gear changes (leaving aside my not infrequent incompetence at double-declutching). Which just goes to prove that you shouldn't assume that old cars have to be difficult to drive.

Too tight

Checked rear axle oil after warming car up with a short run. Didn't need filling because already overflowing out of drain plug (must have slightly overfilled when filling from cold). When refitting drain plug I tried to tighten with pliers, not realising that the 'cap' on the plug is thin metal and therefore I ended up pushing it off by over-tightening. I've tried re-attaching it using Gorilla glue, and it looks to be a good fit. 

Since there is a gasket/washer inside the plug and the oil is very viscous, I'm hoping it'll be fine. But note for the future - only hand tighten!

Bling

Getting away from the mechanicals, it's right to also pay attention to the cosmetics. And having been laid up for several years, there is quite a lot that needs to be addressed. First up were the wheels and spinners.

Dad had had the wheels painted silver and the spinners chromed when the car was refurbished in the 1980s. But the years had taken their toll and both were in need of some TLC. The crunch, though, was when it was pointed out that one of the rear wheels had a serious wobble.

So off went the wheels to Rugby Classic Motor Garage and the spinners to Chromefix. Both did a wonderful job, as you can see from the photograph.   (And I also cleaned up and painted the brake drums, but you can't see them.)

At the same time I thought I should do something about the air filter. Dad had installed a plate to hold a Fiat rectangular air filter sitting on top of the two carburettors. Although functional, it looked pretty awful.  Only recently I found that I had the original carburettor bells. Although they might not be quite as effective, I felt they would look much better and therefore arranged to have them refurbished by the local firm Lyndene Engineering Co. Ltd. Again, a big improvement. 

Sometimes new is best

Having cleaned out and serviced all the brake hydraulics, I knew that I should really do the same for the clutch. However, because it seemed to be working OK, I took the cowardly approach and left well alone. 

By the end of last summer, it was clear that something wasn't right. Gear crunching was becoming more prevalent, and that wasn't just my incompetence. So, while the wheels were away I took the plunge and started scrambling about underneath.