Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[Six-cylinder]

Thursday I was asked if I wanted to go to Caffeine & Machine today to meet two other 20/25s. I hesitated at driving my Rolls Royce though Banbury on a Saturday Morning with the dragging clutch because it was uncomfortable to crunch. This morning I woke up feeling a bit braver and organised to join the group.

A bit of gear crunching and I was through Banbury and out on the open road to Stratford upon Avon. The next problem was the temperature was going up while cruising at 50 mph. A stop at our meeting point revealed my radiator blinds were not opening fully and there is a thermostat in the radiator to control that. The quick fix was to disconnect the Calorstat and manually open the vanes to allow full air flow. Further investigation is needed.

The return was uneventful and that included Sun Rising Hill on the A422 with a 93m rise in 1 km including a hairpin bend. I was concerned about have to change down to 2nd gear or even 1st because of the hairpin and steep climb but we pulled to the top of the hill in 3rd gear after the relative simple synchromesh change out of 4th.

Flushed with the success of finding the car more familiar now to drive, I even went to Tesco’s in it on the way home instead of going home and changing into a more modern car like the Peugeot 404.

[Six-cylinder]

This evening before it got dark.

[richardmorris]

41 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Thursday I was asked if I wanted to go to Caffeine & Machine today to meet two other 20/25s. I hesitated at driving my Rolls Royce though Banbury on a Saturday Morning with the dragging clutch because it was uncomfortable to crunch. This morning I woke up feeling a bit braver and organised to join the group.

A bit of gear crunching and I was through Banbury and out on the open road to Stratford upon Avon. The next problem was the temperature was going up while cruising at 50 mph. A stop at our meeting point revealed my radiator blinds were not opening fully and there is a thermostat in the radiator to control that. The quick fix was to disconnect the Calorstat and manually open the vanes to allow full air flow. Further investigation is needed.

The return was uneventful and that included Sun Rising Hill on the A422 with a 93m rise in 1 km including a hairpin bend. I was concerned about have to change down to 2nd gear or even 1st because of the hairpin and steep climb but we pulled to the top of the hill in 3rd gear after the relative simple synchromesh change out of 4th.

Flushed with the success of finding the car more familiar now to drive, I even went to Tesco’s in it on the way home instead of going home and changing into a more modern car like the Peugeot 404.

The car behind is uncomfortably close.

[dollywobbler]

Regarding clutch, are any gears synchronised? If no synchro, I always snick into a synchro gear first before selecting. Tends to stop stuff moving, though naturally won't stop a clutch that isn't quite separating.

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Regarding clutch, are any gears synchronised? If no synchro, I always snick into a synchro gear first before selecting. Tends to stop stuff moving, though naturally won't stop a clutch that isn't quite separating.

Yes 3rd and 4th are Synchro. I have tried putting it in 3rd and 4th first but it makes no difference. When the clutch is pressed it should stop the internals of the gearbox turning but it doesn’t.

[Six-cylinder]

This afternoon was a trip out to a local car meet that favourers later fast Fords so my car fitted right in!

The @Prince_of_darkness91came along and if you think his Rover was tight up to my driver’s door you are right, it was because there had been a BMW the other side parked over the line. The fact I couldn’t get in my driver’s door does not matter as there is a hand brake and gear lever in the way so I get in the passenger side and slide over anyway.

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Yes 3rd and 4th are Synchro. I have tried putting it in 3rd and 4th first but it makes no difference. When the clutch is pressed it should stop the internals of the gearbox turning but it doesn’t.

if you dont mind me saying/forgive me for saying, but I cant help but get a sense of Deja vu from this  

as the clutch issue same issues that plagues @Mrs6C's AC Model 70! at first it would not idle and thus the clutch would not disengage, stopping you from putting into gear, and then additionally its shed its clutch shoe linings, so needs a new clutch, and goes Crunch when it does engage drive!

2 very different vehicles, almost the same problem! dont suppose you can sneak Dolly into the workshop also?

 

I am glad you managed to get to the bottom of the problem tho  it was something that was personally puzzling me back at the FoD last gathering, why it did go crunch, when I asked a couple people I was just told "because its got no syncros" and I know that if you are moving and dont double declutch, but the Royce was stationary when it went crunch, which made no sense, as with the clutch pedal pushed down the gearbox would not be turning, at all so syncros dont come into it, thus I could not understand why it still went "crunch!" however the clutch not fully disengaging explains it and solves that mystery for me  

 

[Six-cylinder]

11 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

if you dont mind me saying/forgive me for saying, but I cant help but get a sense of Deja vu from this  

as the clutch issue same issues that plagues @Mrs6C's AC Model 70! at first it would not idle and thus the clutch would not disengage, stopping you from putting into gear, and then additionally its shed its clutch shoe linings, so needs a new clutch, and goes Crunch when it does engage drive!

2 very different vehicles, almost the same problem! dont suppose you can sneak Dolly into the workshop also?

The Rolls Royce clutch is rather different, it is manually operated not centrifugal. It is also unusual as the friction material is attached to the flywheel and pressure plate. Then the driven plate is plain with slots. I am told there is a slight twist in the segments that enable the clutch to have a gentle take up.

I am told the most likely reason for it dragging is that sometime before I got the car the clutch was overheated and the metal driven plate has warped.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

This afternoon was a trip out to a local car meet that favourers later fast Fords so my car fitted right in!

The @Prince_of_darkness91came along and if you think his Rover was tight up to my driver’s door you are right, it was because there had been a BMW the other side parked over the line. The fact I couldn’t get in my driver’s door does not matter as there is a hand brake and gear lever in the way so I get in the passenger side and slide over anyway.

Nice Magnum!

[Six-cylinder]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Nice Magnum!

Nearly, the Magnum was the 4 door saloon and 2 door estate. This is a Firenza being 2 door and this one is a Droopsnoot. To make it special it had an uprated 2.3 Ltr engine producing 130 bhp, uprated suspension and the revised front styling.

[Six-cylinder]

I used the 200TE this morning as the 404 was frozen over and I hadn't left time to defrost it. Mrs6C has been hogging it and I had almost forgotten what a lovely car it is to drive.

 

[Six-cylinder]

My 2016 Range Rover has decided it wants to be a fully paid up member of this forum and has set about being a Land Rover product and becoming unreliable.

In the summer it went in for blocked DPF twice, I lent the car to  @ianbmw while I had his Monza and the warning came on the dash for the 3rd time. 

I took it to a different Land Rover specialist today and it went into limp mode on the way there. They diagnosed a sticking throttle body so now it is waiting parts. 

I didn’t want to drive away in limp mode so @Slowsilver came and collected me, thank you.

 

[Six-cylinder]

@Slowsilver after looking at this weeks weather forecast antisipated my next question, can you help me put the Rolls Royce away. He sugested we got it done this afternoon and so thank you again. 

[hairnet]

steve is some hoor beast

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

My 2016 Range Rover has decided it wants to be a fully paid up member of this forum and has set about being a Land Rover product and becoming unreliable.

 

 

did that on the first day no? - RING WBAC  NOW!

[Slowsilver]

Observations after following the Rolls Royce to storage. It gets down the road really well for an old'un. I didn't have any trouble keeping up with it in the Mondeo but certainly wasn't held up by it. It handles pretty well too, some body roll evident on corners but nowhere near 2CV levels. I'm not sure I would be happy (I was going to say not comfortable but that certainly doesn't apply in the lushy-appointed interior of this beast) doing 60mph on a twisty road in a valuable 90-year-old vehicle weighing about two tons with cable-operated drum brakes and skinny tyres but Chris seems to have mastered it. It is ironic that so far this historic vehicle has been more reliable than the equally expensive but only seven year old Range Rover. Old RR versus new RR - no contest.
 

[Six-cylinder]

36 minutes ago, Slowsilver said:

Observations after following the Rolls Royce to storage. It gets down the road really well for an old'un. I didn't have any trouble keeping up with it in the Mondeo but certainly wasn't held up by it. It handles pretty well too, some body roll evident on corners but nowhere near 2CV levels. I'm not sure I would be happy (I was going to say not comfortable but that certainly doesn't apply in the lushy-appointed interior of this beast) doing 60mph on a twisty road in a valuable 90-year-old vehicle weighing about two tons with cable-operated drum brakes and skinny tyres but Chris seems to have mastered it. It is ironic that so far this historic vehicle has been more reliable than the equally expensive but only seven year old Range Rover. Old RR versus new RR - no contest.
 

 

[LightBulbFun]

38 minutes ago, Slowsilver said:

Observations after following the Rolls Royce to storage. It gets down the road really well for an old'un. I didn't have any trouble keeping up with it in the Mondeo but certainly wasn't held up by it. It handles pretty well too, some body roll evident on corners but nowhere near 2CV levels. I'm not sure I would be happy (I was going to say not comfortable but that certainly doesn't apply in the lushy-appointed interior of this beast) doing 60mph on a twisty road in a valuable 90-year-old vehicle weighing about two tons with cable-operated drum brakes and skinny tyres but Chris seems to have mastered it. It is ironic that so far this historic vehicle has been more reliable than the equally expensive but only seven year old Range Rover. Old RR versus new RR - no contest.
 

I am just really enjoying watching it get used  

thats one great thing about this forum, not only do you get old cars but you get to see old cars actually getting used

I mean where else can you read "I took my 90 year old Rolls Royce to Tesco's"  

[hairnet]

16 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

 Mrs6C has been dogging in it

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

Our drive looks so sad like this.

There are lost urban explorers disappointed after hundreds of miles of travel to find this desert!

This is an urgent appeal to send any cars you can spare to fill this void, NOT really.

Mrs6C is out in the ZX

We have a perfectly good Volvo V70 at the FoD that just needs bringing home.

The MG TF has had a bit of trouble with emissions and the MOT, but shouldn’t be too long.

The Mitsubishi Sigma is waiting for parts to arrive from Australia, but they have now been found.

The Carlton Estate while currently being a non-runner and needing an MOT is not far from returning to the road.

The blue Range Rover is waiting for parts at a Land Rover Specialist, but shouldn’t be forever.

[High Jetter]

Is the 404 staying out and being used during the cold season or getting wrapped up as well?

[wuvvum]

I'd be more worried about the ne'er-do-well in a hoodie lurking at the bottom of your drive...

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Is the 404 staying out and being used during the cold season or getting wrapped up as well?

I am not sure yet. There are a couple of jobs I would still like to do and I need something classic for local gatherings, but it seems to be letting quite a bit of rain water in.

[Weird Car]

3 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I am not sure yet. There are a couple of jobs I would still like to do and I need something classic for local gatherings, but it seems to be letting quite a bit of rain water in.

It was my daily a few winters ago and it never complained, the lack of a working heater wasn’t great though.

[Six-cylinder]

6 hours ago, Weird Car said:

It was my daily a few winters ago and it never complained, the lack of a working heater wasn’t great though.

I took the 404 to a Triumph meeting tonight 38 mile round trip, Very little heating going and none on the way home with the temp gauge reading only 60° C. Better news is the new headlights I fitted work well and I never got flashed either.

[wuvvum]

I once took an elderly primer grey Peugeot to a car meet in the depths of winter with little to no heating.  That was a 304 estate and the meeting was at the Ace Café - I was a bit* cold by the time I got home...

[New POD]

5 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I once took an elderly primer grey Peugeot to a car meet in the depths of winter with little to no heating.  That was a 304 estate and the meeting was at the Ace Café - I was a bit* cold by the time I got home...

An ironic name for a mediocre cafe. 

I once drove across the pennines to Leeds, from Liverpool, taking my son to a University open day. In a mk3 cavalier with a partially blocked heater matrix. 

It got down to minus 14 outside. Luckily it was a sunny day, so it wasn't as cold on the way home. 

 

[hairnet]

20 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

 but it seems to be letting quite a bit of rain water in.

never rains in the sarf does it

least its not peeing out from underneath or similar

 

[beko1987]

12 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

 I never got flashed either.

Everyone was too busy trying not to crash whilst blind 😂

I remember the fun I had when the rear height corrector seized on my xantia, which sunk the back end down a tad, meaning I blinded everyone until I sorted it and the car sat level and the headlights did as they should

[richardmorris]

Is the thermostat working, or stuck open / removed?