Restoring a Top Hat

[Parazine]

Thanks Ruairidh, I'll give it a try....when I've worked out how to extract the bl***y bearings!

Tim R

[David Stepney]

Brake and Clutch Cleaner works very well. Don't buy it in spray tins, most motor factors will supply it in 5 litre cans. It is quite searching and a lot less unpleasant (and less dangerous!) than thinners or petrol. I have not long done this to the RP's back axle. That looked as if it had been filled with steam engine oil it was so thick. Refilled with SAE140 and ran it for about 100 miles. Just drained it and refilled and the axle is noticeably quieter.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Thanks Ruairidh, I'll give it a try....when I've worked out how to extract the bl***y bearings!

Tim R

The heat may help them...

[Parazine]

Well, progress I guess.

The bearings were shifted by getting a scrap later type diff case and gluing into the bearing with Loctite. Then (24 hrs later) I could utilize a pair of tyre levers to force the bearing out by levering on the diff case. 

Then, I took Ruairidh's suggestion and heated up the side cases with a blowlamp to get the wretched grease and oil mix out. It's horrible, horrible stuff, won't flow unless it's hot. The fumes were....interesting.


That left the diff and half shafts assembly to degrease. I used a hot air gun to heat it up to get the mixture to flow and drip into a tin (where it solidified again). Then washed the whole thing in diesel, several times, keeping it hot. The fumes were......even more interesting.

All now looking a lot cleaner but it has revealed that a bodger has been at work inside the axle.


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Sorry about the fuzzy photo's, the light is bad in that end of the garage.

I knew that the car had come off the road in 1931 due to some back axle malady; I had somehow assumed it was a broken axle key but it looks like someone has had the diff case apart, probably to change a halfshaft. Two or three of the lock tabs are broken and a nut is on back to front.

Fortunately, the tab washers are available so all is not lost.

The bearings are all in good order but the crownwheel is quite badly bitten into, lubrication failure?  The car had done very few miles when it was laid up but I'm expecting some axle noise when it's finished.

[Bob Culver]

My experience is limited to a few later cwps but the original Austin seem quality products, with fatigue pits developing before serious wear. I have only seen very distinct wearing in with a couple of Regent cws which seem not to be hard. Ran OK nonetheless. Were smoothed with emery paper and reused.
If there is significant wear setting up can be a ritual and really little option but to set as was. Can be very time consuming and care necessary not to overtighten a.c races. Wear steps on pinion particualrly should be ground off with a slipstone or Dremell, otherwise an adjusted gear may ride entirely on these. 

On the old chestnut of diff oils and effect on bronze, I recently stumbled upon Youtube GL4 and GL5 Transmission Lubricating Oils Explained ,which dwelt primarily upon a wrecked US gearbox. There are comments about corrosion. (Oddly the expert ommitted that GL5 avoided in gearboxes because it polishes synchro)

[Parazine]

The Top Hat project has been side-lined recently due to work commitments, a family wedding and a Westwood T1800 lawn tractor project!

However, the axle was washed out and reassembled carefully with new tabwashers and modern oil seals:

   

   

Finally put together:

   

Now need to fit the brake cam bushes and new cams (the old ones were really worn, despite the low mileage) and then start reassembling the chassis.

When I get the Westwood T1800 out of the garage so I get some floor space back

[bob46320]

Nice tidy workshop - What is the Baby talc for, smooth running of the crown wheel and pinion ??

[Hedd_Jones]

talc is good at getting oil off fabrics. I often use it on headlining

[Bob Culver]

Also useful for tracing cracks in alloy parts such as pistons. Soak in kero, dry with cloth, rap sharply, dust with talc. (Nowadays considered a health hazard.)
Your experience with mesh pattern would be of interest.

[Nick Lettington]

Talc is also fantastic for fitting tyres, as someone pointed out to me elsewhere on the forum... Though I nearly fell off the wheel when stepping arround the tyre to adjust the seating of the bead. It was surprisingly slippery!