WINTER WOES
BRAKING NEW GROUND ON THE TRENT REGAL
A cursory inspection under Trent AEC Regal RC4615 in November confirmed a long held suspicion that most of its brake fluid was in fact on the shiny new floor of the Power Hall, rather than in the fluid reservoir as intended. Although this vehicle is not destined for use in the near future it was nonetheless decided to keep it in a roadworthy condition. New rear wheel cylinders were duly manufactured from my stock of high grade hydraulic tube (only about 8 metres now left in stock!) and the master cylinder was also treated to a stainless steel resleeving.
Avid readers of this magazine will query why I didn't also attend to the front wheel cylinders at the same time. Well, during a much earlier overhaul in the mid 1980s these 'cylinders' were also treated to a stainless steel resleeving and remain in excellent condition. I use the word 'cylinder' because thanks to the designers at AEC having a bad hair day sometime in the 1930s they actually form an inner part of the kingpin meaning that their removal is no five minute job. Aficionados of pre-war AEC products will know the history of why the cylinder was designed that way... ... The joy of that particular earlier rebuild in the 1980s was encountered by Steve Whitehart, myself and others when the kingpins / wheel cylinders travelled the length and breadth of the UK to be both metal sprayed and remachined (somewhere in South Wales), and resleeved (somewhere in the Lake District). I can now report that following this recent work the brake fluid is staying on the 'right' side of the various seals.
A TALE OF A 'CROSS MEMBER'!
After a spell of wallet recovery following the purchase of steelwork for the rear suspension crossmember for BMMO D9 4871 (the one in the wrong colours, sorry Mike!) it was decided to remove the old crossmember in as near intact condition as possible so that it, the new and partly preformed steelwork and the drawings could be sent to the fabricators. A long Sunday in February of angle grinding and drilling out of many cold rivets by Lloyd Penfold and myself, together with an ample amount of bad language (the benefits of doing this work in the closed season!) nearly managed to release it but revealed more places where it remained attached. Fortunately on the following Sunday, Lloyd managed its eventual removal. I somehow suspect that its eventual replacement will not follow the famous words encountered in many a Haynes Manual 'reassembly is the reverse of dismantling'... ... Meanwhile the newly fabricated and welded structure has just returned to Wythall. There are now no excuses for starting to put it back together again.
CUMMINS AND GOINGS
Following a rumour that the Daimler Roadliner might be displayed at the NEC later this year following a proposed repaint the problem of its failure to start (it was unceremoniously towed into the Power Hall last year) was addressed by resoldering and reterminating several of the battery and starter leads during a quiet(?) Sunday in March. The joy of that delightful Cummins engine bursting into life was enough to cause Dave Taylor to stand behind it for several minutes enjoying the vapours and doubtless wishing that 56 sounded as nice! I have a suspicion that Muggins will also have the joy of its preparation for a Class V test later this summer.
There cannot be many people in the Northern Hemisphere to have worked on the three 'blunderbuses' of the last century - Guy Wulfrunian, Daimler Roadliner and the D10; the classification of that last one will provoke comment from some quarters!
Jeremy Price
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
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