Singer Owner July/August 2008

Roadster Repairs - The Twin Carburettor Crisis

Ashley Crossland

I trust those who went to Singer National Day enjoyed themselves. I have seen some photos of the event and there looked to be a good turnout of Roadsters - good in terms of both quality and quantity. Well done everybody. Regrettably I did not make it for yet another year. I used to be an avid attender, and the event is really well worth going to to compare cars and their originality and make acquaintances in the Roadster gang. For a few recent years the event has been on Father's Day, and I'm afraid that I have other duties on Father's Day that has made me miss out, and this year I was getting ready for my niece's wedding. Alexandra wanted me to take her to the Church in the Roadster that she has known all her life, so how could I refuse? On the day, the hood was down and the white ribbon was on, but the sky looked worrying. First to take to Church were my daughter Tracey and their other cousin Emily who were the two bridesmaids, and my sister Rosemary (mother of the bride) but just before I took them to the Church, we thought it prudent to put up the hood. Good idea, as it then started to rain. The hood remained up for taking Alexandra and her dad Paul to Church. After the ceremony, it was fortunately dry for the photos in the churchyard, but the rain came again and the hood still needed to be up to take Alexandra and her new husband Jonathan to the reception. Anyway, the customary photo was taken showing the bride and groom with the car's owner-driver looking on. What you don't see in the photo is some new black carpet that I had fitted in the car, and the best selection of hubcaps that I had. Oh and all the scars and scratches touched up, rubbed flat, and polished. This carpet had been in stock for some time but that's another story. Now I have for sale a very useful car accessory being one white ribbon, only used once! Going cheap. Anyone interested? On a more serious note, the subject of insurance for cars used for weddings should not be overlooked. Most normal policies will not include for wedding hire, and you will also have to comply with local authority regulations concerning the use of cars for hire and reward. We talked to our insurance company and in our case, for relatives, no money changing hands etc, they considered that this event was within the social domestic and pleasure category of the policy. Anyway, anyone fancying doing wedding hire should check carefully.

Now, over the last couple of issues (March/April and May/June) we've looked at the need for twin carburettors on a 1500cc Roadster. My opinion that "twin carburettors are nice if you already have them, but there's no need to bother with them otherwise" has apparently severely upset some owners, and grumblings are still going on. When I quoted some Autocar Road Test data in the last magazine to prove the point, I thought it would put this to bed, but apparently some people are still unconvinced.

Just to remind everyone what the dilemma is about, I looked at the Brooklands Book and compared the Autocar Road Tests on a single carb Roadster published on 26 Sept 1951, with the twin carb test published on 10 Sept 1954. Up to 50 mph, the single carb car was faster, not much in it at 60 mph, and only a smidgen difference in the final top speed. However, the following will serve to illustrate the sort of remarks that I am getting back.

"If you look at the Brooklands Book there is another Autocar Road Test report on a single carb Roadster which is dated 8 Jan 1954. In this the performance is inferior to the car featured on 26 Sept 1951. So if you use these figures instead, the twin carb car is clearly the winner."

Well, don't let it be said that I am not afraid to admit when my correspondent is perfectly correct when he talks about this other report on a single carb car. He is perfectly correct when he says the performance is inferior. I don't dispute this. I agree completely. The Editor of Autocar doesn't dispute it either. He fully agrees that the performance is inferior. And you see the Autocar Editor has already answered this question for Mr Anthony Gordon of London EC4, who wrote a similar letter on the subject and the Editor published his response in the Autocar as long ago as 12 March 1954. Mr Gordon pointed out that not only was the performance worse than the earlier Roadster test, but it was also inferior to the much heavier SM1500 saloon car tested in May 1952. In reply, the Autocar Editor pointed out that the Road Test report had stated that the Roadster had done less than 2000 miles, and adds that at this mileage the engine was unlikely to be completely free. I will also add that there was a bit of a problem with the carburettor mentioned in the test report. So on that basis we can rely on the reports that I first used and we can still say that there's no real need to bother with twin carburettors unless you already have them.

So, I'm glad to have got that one cleared up. Again.

Incidentally, I don't know if Mr Gordon was "simply" a reader, but there was the Singer distributors called Gordon Cars who were in St Albans Lane, Golders Green, London NW1 1. 1 wonder if there was any connection between Mr Anthony Gordon and Gordon Cars? Does anyone know who their directors were?

Now eagle eyed Roadster owners will have seen a bit of an error on the rear seat pan photo that I showed in the last magazine. On trying the rear seat pan I found that the up-stand at the back was a bit short, so there was nothing left to do but to un-bash the top flange and to put it right. If you look at that previous photo you will see it looks just a bit shorter that the Singer-made one in front of it. This is where I obviously have not made enough allowance for the metal that is "lost" in making bends. Anyway bashing out needs a bit of softening of the metal, and this is where a blowlamp helps. Let me explain this remark if it seems strange to you. When you bend steel it work hardens, and if you just try to bend it back the way it had been previously, it work hardens even more and you end up with a bit of a bashed up mess, and when you want to make a new bend close by, then it gets harder still and gets to look even worse. Ideally to soften the steel you should heat the metal up to a red heat and let it cool slowly, but this is perhaps a bit long winded, and the heat oxidises the surface a lot, but as an alternative you can do a lot of good with a gas blow-lamp at a somewhat lower temperature, and this is what I did. The rear seat pan now fits. And there's good news on the search for a suitable "bump" for it, as mentioned I needed in the last magazine. The resourceful Singer enthusiast Viv Littlewood has produced a WW2 tin hat from his treasure trove. On the face of it, it could be sawn in half and even make 2 bumps for rear seat pans. In the short period of time between the magazine landing on the doormat and getting off my next contribution, I've not had time to do anything with it, but it looks just the job. Thank you Viv.

Another bit of a job was to get the engine turning over with some oil in it. You know what happens. When you first put the engine together, you think the crank and pistons run easily but when you get the camshaft chain on and all the other things, you begin to worry that the engine is feeling a bit stiff. This engine was overhauled I guess some 15 years ago, hasn't run in the meantime, and perhaps there's the worry about engines stiffening up by not being run. Anyway, I got hold a gallon of some thin, SAE 20, oil to go in the car engine, (generally available as "flushing oil") this being about the thinnest oil that you can easily obtain. Thin oil is obviously easier to pump round the tight new engine clearances, hasn't as much viscous drag, and better "flies" all round the insides of the engine to rust-proof and lubricate, and so will be ideal for my purpose. (Also do this in the middle of summer.) Anyway, I put the oil in the engine (my grandson Adam did it really) and I connected up the battery off the 4AC Roadster and it spun round easily enough. That was a bit of a relief. Incidentally, the oil will obviously be replaced with more conventional stuff at a later time.

I have also made a bit more metalwork - I made the long panel that goes behind people's heels in the back seat. Again, fairly long folds to make, so it's down to bashing over with a hammer rather than pushing over by hand. Anyway that's now painted up and bolted down. Also I made the metal arched cross-piece that goes across the top of the boot, i.e. above the back seat and whose curve matches the boot drip tray, of which I had got so an exact shape was able to be obtained. This doesn't apply to everyone, but there are various bits of stuff that go missing when cars are dismantled for restoration - those people involved in the act always seem confident that it's no trouble to source replacements, but it's not always that straightforward. So whilst I measured up the 4AC Roadster to copy this arched crosspiece, it was useful to have a real bit of metal "off the car" (i.e. the drip tray) to match up the curve. After all, I didn't really want to have to dismantle the 4AC Roadster to be able to accurately copy missing parts for the new project. But there are people less fortunate than I am in having access to another car to check against. What do you do if you are labouring alone? For woodwork, it might be worth remembering that Robin Throp used to have available some full sizes drawings of the Roadster woodwork. The scuttle, doors, rear body and boot lid are all pretty much the same for A, 4A, 4AB, 4AC and 4AD Roadsters - its just the pre-war R model Roadster that was a bit shorter in the rear body. I should also like to mention that Bill Haverly has provided me with some parts for this car. I suppose that we are getting to the point where it's getting increasingly harder to complete a Roadster if you haven't got all the parts to start with! That is if you want the car to be right. I don't know how much intermediate restoration will make the car "not original", but there can hardly be a Roadster running that hasn't had something replaced or repaired over the years. So this month's top tip to anyone contemplating taking on a Roadster restoration is that it's fundamentally important to start with as complete a car as possible. You can remake rusty flat steel panels like I have been describing, but really in the areas of the safety critical parts you do really need the proper parts. With proper parts you have at least a chance to renovate and overhaul them back to a serviceable condition. And with the correct parts for the car there is no worry about "safety" when the car is submitted for an MOT test. Back to earth now. I'm off my soapbox. More next time.