30-10-2020, 07:57 PM (This post was last modified: 30-10-2020, 08:00 PM by Barry Townsend.)
I'm trying to quieten down my RN and I notice it very tight between the engine and the bulkhead. When I put the engine back in the car I noticed that it had previously been rubbing - as a stopgap I put piece of felt between but should it be that close in the first place. I'm not sure how quiet the cars should be as I've not ridden in another one but mine is quite noisy.
Buy an Austin 7 they said, It's easy to work on they said !
The gap between engine and bulkhead on my RK is very close but there still is one. The engine position is fixed by the mounting bolts so the only reason for lack of clearance is down to the body / floor pan being distorted or too far forward. This could be due to the sag of the rear body. In the case of my RK it was a badly welded floor pan. I spent some time fitting spacers between the body mounting points and the chassis. This helped bringing the starting handle central to the hole in the rad cowl and provided more clearance between engine and bulkhead. Lack of clearance between engine and bulkhead could also be due to the chassis rails being bent although this is very difficult to see unless the body is off the chassis.
I’d start with checking door gaps, starting handle position in the cowl and then consider putting spacers between body and chassis. Just a 1/4” spacer on the front mountings could make a sufficient difference.
You can buy special adaptor tools from various auction sites - they are known as 5 or 10 pound lump hammers, specially designed to improve gaps between engine and bulkhead.
There's quite a big difference between 'close' (fairly normal) and 'touching', which would doubtless result in the body acting as an amplifier for the engine. As long as there is a clearance I doubt there's much to be gained by increasing it.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,230 Threads: 33
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6 Location: Salop
Car type: '28 GE Cup. '28 AD Chummy '30 RL Saloon. '34 RP Saloon. Too Many toys!
there is usually sufficient wiggle in the various mounting holes to improve things, I would suggest you push the engine as far forwards in the holes as possible, and the body rearwards.
Same goes when the prop hits the handbrake. A bit of wiggling and all can be made to fit
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8 Location: Port Elizabeth, Sunny South Africa
Car type: '26 Chummy, '28 Top Hat, '33 Type "65", single seaters
Barry what I would do in your shoes is to make up a couple of very thin wooden wedges about 4" broad so that they spread the load more evenly
Then do as Hedd suggests and loosen the motor mounts as well as all the body mounts. Then find a friend to help wiggle the body backwards & also wiggle the motor forwards. That done slip the wedges in either side of the block against the bulkhead and gently tap them deeper, out of a sense of self preservation as well as as parts preservation I'd use a smaller hammer & a suitable timber drift to encourage the wedges in from either side - then wiggle the body once more, the wedges this should stabilise the 'wiggling' apart of the body & motor.
Check that the radiator handle is free & that the doors still open & close. Nip the bolts up a bit then gently tap the wedges out & then tighten the various body & engine bolts. Assuming you have a bit of tolerance in the various engine & body mount holes, you should have gained about 1/4" clearance
At the very worst you could replace the body bolts with thinner ones to gain more tolerance ??
As it happens I have the same problem on my '27 Chummy, I have attached a photo of the bulkhead showing a hole where the core plug sticks out, is this how they are or has someone relieved the pressure by cutting a hole?
