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How (not) to make your Dauphine Handle

Just made me think of my gtt gearbox which has been dry stored for, “ahem”, a few years, I’ve absolutely no idea where it is now, they’re pretty easy to misplace as it’s not like they’re big heavy things 🤪
 
Shave and a Haircut.. two bits.
I am Quite good friends with one of our local engine re conditioners, over the years his business has changed from mostly Reconditioning engines, to building specific engines for Road,Race and Rally. He arrived on Fri Afternoon with a set of flat top Accralites for a chambered crossflow needing 60 thou off the top, as his lathe had packed up.
I am never keen on heath Robinson set ups in the Lathe, when 1. it's not my bits that might get damaged and 2. the parts are expensive. However needs must, so here we go.
Piston in Ally saver shim in soft Jaws:

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Before we had DRO we had DTI, this ensures the same amount comes off the top of each component.

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and away we go light cuts only....

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There's also a 5 speed on the go.....so it's all go.....
 
Remember this thread???
While waiting to take the Landy for it's MOT on Mon. I have managed to get the Steering damper fitted to the Dauph. Surprised to say it fitted just how I envisaged it would. Just need to make a small lateral adjustment and it could be road test time.
In other news an American customer, while gathering parts for a 5 speed Hybrid, had a late model 4 speed, he located here in the UK, sent to me for casings. A quick look at the ID tag identifies it as a FASA product either an 8 or A110.
Stripping it had me doing a double take. I counted 9 pinion teeth, so assumed it would be a 9x35 or 3.88 as fitted to FASA A110, which was a lucky find. It is actually a 9x34 which must be what was fitted to the last FASA Alps with the 1397 5G motor. Never seen this in 25 years of gearboxes. Given the purchase price, it was the buy of the century for someone looking for good gearing on an 8 or 10 & Alp without going into all the added complexity of a big 4 speed or Hybrid 5 speed.

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They are out there.
 
Tidy find that. Out of of interest where did he find the parts? was it more word of mouth or is there somewhere else I should be keeping an eye out?
 
Not completely sure. I think it was an RCCC member who has some extra bits. There are several people out there with parts they have gathered, who will never use them, but they won't just sell them on, unless they know that they will be helping someone else out. They don't just want to sell parts on. Usually you call round everyone you know and ask them, then they do the same and you get names and numbers you need to follow up. It is very time consuming. Last time this happened to me was a guy in the midlands with an R8 who had Dauph chassis legs and sills. He sold it all to me for sensible money as he knew of me, my car and what had happened to it.I don't think he would have responded to just a wanted ad. He preferred the context that his bits would put my car back on the road. If you find anything, mail me pics and I'll do my best to ID it for you or anyone else for that Matter. There are some profiteers out there, but they don't usually have anything that interesting.
 
The Landy disgraced itself yesterday, by failing it's MOT on a split Track rod end boot, which it had hidden from me at the rear, but an easy fix and pass today. Flushed with success I roadtested the Dauph to try out the steering damper - conclusion - Inconclusive - I didn't set it tight enough, but it did feel better, so need more adjustment.

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The main problem with making everything super adjustable is the amount of time you spend Buggering about trying to get it adjusted properly.
The Motor is impressive though, super smooth and pulls strongly. It pulls 4th like the 1400 pulled 3rd, Encouraging.
Got out of the Dauph and into the Landy and thought I had gone Deaf !! Landy feels like a Lexus compared to the Dauph

All things are relative..........
 
Hi Steve,
I must say that looks like a good installation and upgrade, I will be interested as and when you are happy with the set up to read your observations with the input from active steering damper.
Cheers
Dave
 
Just when I thought I would be able to hibernate for the winter it's got busy in the workshop... A Ghost of Christmas past to kick off with, none other than the gearbox out of Liz's 8 for a refresh. Funny to take it apart and see your own handiwork from nearly 30 years ago. I'm going to bring it up to current spec, so I'll kick off by machining the cases for the Diff, as they had been done with a Grinder before I had a Proper workshop.
What has not been so helpful is that 1st gear had picked up on the Mainshaft. This is more common on 5 speeds and is aggravated by low oil levels and sustained high speeds, what happens is that the mainshaft is turning at say 4000 rpm, but 1st gear which is freewheeling on the shaft is going at 1108 rpm, so there is a big speed differential between the 2 spinning parts, which must be well lubricated. It's usually worse on a 5 speed as the differential is even worse with the motor and input doing 4000 rpm, the mainshaft is doing 4651 rpm and the gear is 1108rpm.
As this car is still competing, I needed to find a solutionWhatsApp Image 2024-11-29 at 15.47.51.webp

It has damaged the bore of the spinning 1st gear which had to be pulled off the shaft, normally they have about 4 thou of clearance.

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After some debate with our Local precision Engineering company (Agra Engineering) The Shaft was undercut, metal sprayed and ground back to size.

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I need to speak to the owner as I think the original set of gears is at least 50 years old and has been getting thrashed for more than 25, it's time to change them for a later style set with a more truncated toothform which is theoretically stronger.

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The original early style is on the left and the later style '72 until end of production mid/late 80's you can see the different tooth forms.
I have managed to get some dirt/ condensation on the inside of my phone camera lens. Yet another job.......... FFS.

In other news and a big part of why it's been quiet. Malcolm and Leeann got a pup, but as they work I foolishly agreed to provide daycare facilities. Its mostly fun, but there have been a few moments.

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This is Stella a 6 month old Labsky, who is mostly good, except when she's not, must be her Husky side........
The things I get into ......
 
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What a Difference a Weekend makes with no 4 legged interruptions
Machined the case

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That's better

Sat the Diff in and the new pinion bearing to check there is no touching there are Mk1,1.5,2&3 pinion bearings. It Had a Mk 1.5 and is now getting a Mk2. You can go from old to new, but you can't go backwards. It's all to do with different sized bits and re-arranged centres, but cleverly the later parts supersede the early bits, sometimes Designers can be quite clever......

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I have dummy built it with a better condition set of gears. The hubs were a better fit on the mainshaft than the ones that were on it, which was nice.......

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Shift Mech in.

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Guts in next, it's as sweet as a nut, so going to button it up and run it through the gears to check it's quiet while I await the Diff bearings putting in an appearance.

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The wife's visiting her Pal next weekend, so no Wife,Dug or other distractions, should see it finished...
Ever the Optimist
 
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