Engineering Endeavours
Just to make life more interesting, some of our Class VI fleet has not been behaving itself recently. Fleetline 6311 has been suffering problems with its transplanted Leyland engine and tests confirmed low oil pressure when hot. It was possible to have it available for road us on Wumpty Twenty day and it formed part of the display at Resolution (as Britannic is now called) and then performed a single duty in service at the end of the day. The best permanent solution is currently being investigated.
As is well known the Wendaway S23 suffered a rear brake problem on the route tour in September. Dave Parry, with some assistance from Jeremy Price, fixed this relatively easily. Unfortunately the bus obviously likes attention as a brake fluid leak developed at the front resulting in the front brakes being overhauled too. A tendency for the bus to stall was also investigated and resulted in a saga of getting the fuel pump right.
That solved, a test run was expected to show everything as OK but, no, this time it occasionally would not engage fourth gear. Being semi-automatic a simple electrical fault with the lever in the cab was anticipated, but after cleaning the contacts the problem persisted. Dave Parry then worked through the system and, again with Jeremy Price's assistance, has proved the fault does lie in the gearbox itself. Reassuringly, a contact who used to work with Self Changing Gears has recognised the symptoms and expects it to be relatively easy to fix, but it does mean taking the gearbox out of the bus. This has yet to be done and is scheduled to take place after the resolution of another gearbox problem.
That is the S15. People attending the 9 September tour will know the bus developed a rumble from the gearbox when in fourth. Although it did not affect performance, all is obviously not well and needs investigating. Rather than immobilise the bus the decision has been taken to check and repair a spare S15 gearbox and when this has been done the two will be swapped.
Just to confirm these things come together, drivers of the Bristol L5G have been reporting increasing difficulty in getting in to first or second gears. The gearbox was checked some time ago and was found to be in good condition (despite the number of crunches made when changing gear) so Dave Parry took the change speed box apart. This confirmed several very worn components. A machinist made or remanufactured these and after reassembly the problem has been resolved.
With the event day approaching, another vehicle problem was that West Bromwich Daimler 248 was parked blocking in both the Bristol FSF and BCT 1107 and would not build up air to enable it to be moved. John Townshend came to the rescue with this and as the photo in the last edition of 'Omnibus' shows it was possible to move 248. Although it moved to the position shown in that picture, further work was required to get it any further following a loud bang when another part of its air system failed. Releasing the FSF allowed Dave Parry to check it over for use on Wumpty Twenty day, replacing the S23.
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
