[KPS]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

Very interesting, but how would you tend to the underside of the body, where it meets the chassis, or is the body bolted off and lifted/tilted up slightly ?

Checked with Chris, they use their hands and try and reach all points of the chassis. In the Daimler, the floor board is all wood, hence the chassis is easily exposed. However the points where the body is mated with the chassis will remain as is. Should we go for full tinker and remove the body, then those points too would be attended.

Currently only the front end is being worked upon. Since they strip the chassis to bare metal, they do it in stages.

Portion of the chassis stripped to bare metal and cleaned of any signs of rust


The etch primer coat is done within hours stripping and cleaning the chassis


Two coats of primer


Chris is seen applying the stone guard. The painting is done at a high 90 PSI, hence it penetrates all the nooks and corners in the chassis.


Cheers

KPS

[KPS]

Just a take one a few months back

It was late May, early June that we start the work of dismantling


Engine removal in progress








The engine, the gear box and the massive fluid fly wheel hub is seen


Engine bay sans the engine





View of the brake cables. This car has mechanical brakes both in the front and back.


Front suspension with wiring seen


The Luvax Shockabsorber


Chassis front view


The lubrication pipe to the front pins is seen


The lubrication expansion chamber which is heated by the engine heat and forces regular lubrication to the suspension


Brake drum. Shows signs that the wheel was painted yellow, without taking it off.


Steering and meters were removed






Cheers

KPS

[karlosdeville]

I'm still amazed by how clean and unworn everything is...!

Originally Posted by KPS

View of the brake cables. This car has mechanical brakes both in the front and back.
Attachment 1661231

Interesting to note that such a high end and otherwise fairly sophisticated machine continued with mechanical brakes as late as 47 - but I guess this was a pre-war design and many English marques did that. When did they move to hydraulics?

I am so glad to see the car getting so much love

[KPS]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Interesting to note that such a high end and otherwise fairly sophisticated machine continued with mechanical brakes as late as 47 - but I guess this was a pre-war design and many English marques did that. When did they move to hydraulics?

Thanks Karl,

Till 1948 all the cars had mechanical brakes. From 1948 Daimler moved to Girling hydro-mechanical brakes, with hydraulic brakes at the front wheels and mechanical brakes at the rear wheels.

I gather that it was only post 1955, they moved to hydraulic brakes.

Cheers

KPS

[shashanka]

Hello KPS,

Though coming late to this thread, I have followed it with absorbed interest. I would like to say how much I envy you and admire your love for the car as well as the devotion of the previous owners, particularly the multi-talented K.S. Raman and his sister, Manorama. Your narrative captures the saga very well indeed.

The subsequent – and on-going - process of checking up on the chassis, engine & coachwork at Rodrick Restorations is just as fascinating. I am particularly intrigued by the front suspension mechanism - the Luvax shock absorber. This was one of the earlier forms of independent front suspension, before the almost complete change-over to telescopic shock-absorbers, of one kind or another.

I look forward to the rest of the story as the process of a complete health check-up of this venerable lady continues! And I hope you can capture the process with the kind of detailed photographs you have treated us to so far!
Regards,
Shashanka

[KPS]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Hello KPS,
Though coming late to this thread, .......

..... I hope you can capture the process with the kind of detailed photographs you have treated us to so far!
Regards,
Shashanka

Thanks Shashanka for your kind comments. Ownership experience gets enhanced when the history of the car is documented. Past is easily lost or recreated wrongly! I have been fortunate to have been able to correctly document all my 3 major restorations of the 1932 Plymouth PB, 1954 Dodge convertible and now this Daimler in TBHP. It gives me so much pleasure when I revisit these threads, recollecting the stories and the joy of sharing here!

The engine was completely stripped and cleaned up

The engine before dismantling


No major surprises were expected. The long push rods are in great shape


View of the cam shaft and rockers


Cleaned before carefully dismantling


The Head Gasket is blown


The leak between the cylinders due to the blown head gasket is seen


The Fluid Flywheel which houses the torque converters


The fluid flywheel torque converter. For a better understanding, check this link on the Fluid Coupling


The two parts of the fluid flywheel


Sump cover


As expected there was sludge seen, when the sump was taken off.


The rear main seal shows signs of leak


Crankshaft sprocket removal. The crank shaft is in good shape. The original main bearings will need to be replaced


Timing chain assembly


The engine block is in great shape


The long stoke can be gauged by the length of the connecting rods. The camshaft is in good shape


Cheers

KPS

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by KPS

Just a take one a few months back It was late May, early June that we start the work of dismantling
Front suspension with wiring seen
Attachment 1661232
Cheers
KPS

Fascinating photolog of the mechanical work! Just a point of clarification - you mention the suspension with wiring. Is there some kind of electrical input to the front suspension, the Luvax unit? I'm seeing this for the first time.

Also, the sprockets for the timing chain appear to be secured by key/keyway on the shaft/sprocket. Did you find signs of fretting or wear, and did you need to renew the key or build-up & machine the keyway?

[shashanka]

Hello KPS, the more I go over this completely fascinating thread, the more the questions that pop into the head! I sincerely hope that I'm not going OT about this & being a nuisance !

The cylinder pressure leak down test - have you decided if you are going to resolve this issue in the #2, 3 &4? The head gasket would, in all likelihood, be changed as it’s a likely source of leakage. My respect for Chris Rodricks increases with each reading of this thread. And so also for your resolve to take no short-cuts – this grand old lady deserves no less!

What was the state of the shaft seals on the fluid flywheel / hydraulic coupling? This last is of interest, since my experience with a Caterpilar engine torque convertor ( similar principle) on the towing winch of an anchor handling vessel, resulted in moth-balling the winch altogether as repairs would be too expensive for the owners!

The long stroke of the Daimler engine (110.49mm?) is clear from the photo of the piston/connecting-rods, and is also indicated in the underside photo of the engine block, showing the transverse cut-outs at the bottom of the cylinder bores. The old adage “the longer the stroke, the higher the torque” is a great leveler when it comes to arguments on the issue! The 2017 Honda Accord (a typical contemporary engine) with a bore x stroke of 87 mm x 99.1 mm (a 1.139 ratio), has power/torque figures of 189 hp/182 ft-lbs. The Daimler DB 18 with bore x stroke: 69.6mm x 110.49mm (a 1.587 ratio!) has corresponding figures of 70 hp/ 117 ft-lbs! Both had comparable engine displacement, 2356 cc for the Honda and 2522 cc for the Daimler, though very different comp. ratios - 11:1 vs 7:1. Another reason for the Daimler engine’s longevity!

I hope you’ll excuse me for quoting corresponding figures from the net, which may differ in detail to the actual car being restored.
Cheers,
Shashanka

[manishalive]

KPS,

Commendable effort in mechanically sorting / restoring out the Car, I am surprised to see a car which is automatic but having mechanical brakes.

I caught up with Christopher during the recent rally, awesome young man. You hardly meet this kind of enthusiastic people. He has further invited me to visit his workshop to see over the stuff. Also see that he is using right tools on your car. That is such a relief, people these days just don't do that. All credit goes to Christopher.

Also you would you be doing the cotton sleeved wiring for the car?? This must have came that way in the past.

[KPS]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Just a point of clarification - you mention the suspension with wiring........

I am replying after checking with Chris.

The Luvax Girling shock absorbers are the fixed orifice type PR6, without electronic plungers, as did come on high end British cars.

For wiring we will use new fire proof insulation that is available and fenolex wiring. Looks a lot like the original finish. We will not be using cloth braided wires as that needs to be imported.

Originally Posted by shashanka

Hello KPS, the more I go over this completely fascinating thread, the more the questions that pop into the head.........
Cheers,

The leak down test - part was from the blown head gasket but most of the leak was from compression rings worn one way indicated by the decent compression values of 90-100 psi but horrifying leak down values of between 70-90% respectively.

Also taking into account the 20% remaining life of the main and connecting rod bearings , it only makes sense to do a complete engine rebuild thereby eliminating all issues in one shot.

Assume you are talking about the torque converter output shaft oil seal. It is still in good condition but will necessarily be replaced as it is just not worth taking a chance with due to the amount of work involved to replace it at a later stage . Only one seal is present in this type of converter.

The timing chain sprocket Keyway is just for initial setting and the sprocket is actually held in place by lateral torque from the main crankshaft nut and the crankshaft damper

Thanks to Chris for the support for this reply

Cheers

KPS

[SunnyBoi]

Excellent stuff KPS Sir! Please keep the work in progress pictures flowing!

Originally Posted by KPS

The long stoke can be gauged by the length of the connecting rods.

This is a common misconception, length of connecting rods do not determine stroke, its how far away the big end pin is on the crank in relation to its center. Even if the connecting rod length is cut by half, stroke remains the same.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Excellent stuff KPS Sir! Please keep the work in progress pictures flowing!
This is a common misconception, length of connecting rods do not determine stroke, its how far away the big end pin is on the crank in relation to its center. Even if the connecting rod length is cut by half, stroke remains the same.

Spot on, Sunnyboi! Length of stroke & length of c-rods are not related. Once again going a bit OT (mods' please delete if you think best), current large bore/ultra long-stroke slow marine diesels have bore stroke ratios of up to 1:5 (the current MAN-B&W G50 ME has a bore of 500mm & a stroke of 2500 mm, and puts out 1760 kw/2360 hp per cylinder), but in order to reduce con-rod length, they resort to the time-honored practice of using a X-head & a diaphragm separating the c/case & the scavenge space (https://marine.man.eu/docs/libraries...4.pdf?sfvrsn=0)

In cars though, X-heads usually have no place, engine height being a major restriction! However, the transverse cut-outs at the bottom of the cylinders (as in the case of the Daimler DB18) is normally a give-away that long stroke (under-square) design is at work.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by KPS

I am replying after checking with Chris.
The Luvax Girling shock absorbers are the fixed orifice type PR6, without electronic plungers, as did come on high end British cars.
For wiring...........Thanks to Chris for the support for this reply.
Cheers
KPS

There is always something new to learn! That there are shock absorbers which have electrical inputs has been a revelation (thanks to you & Chris!) - I had just heard of gas-charged shock-absorbers!

Seeing the thoroughness with which you are going about the mechanical restoration - new piston rings, new main & con-rod bearings, new torque convertor shaft seal - one can safely assume that you would be adding a new life-lease to the car. Looking forward to the rest of the work/photo record.

Cheers,
Shashanka

[KPS]

Thanks SunnyBoi and Shashanka for your explanations. There is always much to learn.

In the mean time, it is most interesting to see Chris, work on one section at a time. He details each and every part and patiently works on it. Chris mostly does the work himself.

A few examples of the detailed work be done

This is the primary transverse link (primary camber)


The ceased part is released


Bench setting


Link freed up


Permanent grease is applied


The brakes disassembly and assembly




















The completed brake


Cheers

KPS

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by KPS

Thanks SunnyBoi and Shashanka for your explanations. There is always much to learn.
In the mean time, it is most interesting to see Chris, work on one section at a time. He details each and every part and patiently works on it. Chris mostly does the work himself........
Cheers
KPS

For the genuine buffs on this forum, these photos (as indeed the entire photo log of the work!) are akin to automotive nirvana! For me it’s a straight path to nostalgia lane – to the ships' engine room-w/shops where, as junior engineers, we would be doing similar work (or rather the marine equivalent) day in day out! Mechanical hardware & its maintenance/repair is similar work the world over – whether it’s the bottle-screw for camber control of a Daimler DB18 or the bottle-screw for the fuel injection stop setting on a marine diesel – it’s more a matter of scale!

The big difference of course, is knowing that working on a vintage classic like this one is like working on a piece of rare jewelry - and requires that much more care & delicacy. And more importantly, being able to source the detailed information about the machinery at hand, that is needed to carry out the repairs.

Thank you KPS – looking forward to more of the same.
Regards,
Shashanka