Bush Mechanic

JV, I see that you are using the 1910-1912 edition of Heldt's work as a guide to materials. It may please you to hear that in the 1916 (5th) edition he goes into considerable detail on the use of Aluminium pistons. 'Aluminium Pistons. - High speed engines are often fitted with pistons cast of aluminium alloy......' page 161. So it appears that you are not too far ahead of the times, if at all, in using aluminium. I'm finding Heldt's work fascinating reading. I must thank you for recommending it in an earlier post . Keep up the good work, as there are many of us lurkers out here following it, I am sure.

On the occasions that I have split steel tubing, it has always been due to having too much material out of the flaring tool, and thereby asking too much of the tube. The more tube, the wider it has to stretch. Those were single flares on steel brake lines, but the principle should be the same on your fuel line. Worth a look, at least..

Also, there is a generous through hole for the spark/throttle shafts, which probably makes it pre-war. Not shown is a keyed 3 legged spider for a flexible drive. Being small, it may be British or pre-metric European.

Thanks Ed, you may be right. Perhaps the photo scale is deceiving, as I had regarded it as close to normal size, when compared to Austin Healey, Holden, Ford Falcon etc, though a little smaller than a Ford E250 box. 1.25 inches seems about right for a worm shaft, and the wheel is 3.5 inches. But I am not familiar with the steering in US cars in general, which could be beefier.

Possibly this should be in 'Technical', but I will try posting it on here. This steering box is fitted to a 1911 Itala, but there is a cloud over it's origins. Perhaps someone is able to identify it for me. The output shaft diameter is 1.125 inches, and has been grafted onto the original shaft. The Pitman arm has a part number, 1794371 GM. But the box itself is a mystery. The output shaft housing has been extended with an alloy section, and the box is mounted to the chassis using a fabricated sleeve clamp enclosing this part of the housing. The output shaft on the rear side of the wheel is 26 mm diam, but the input (worm) shaft is imperial, at 1.25 inches, and almost certainly original. Which leads me to believe it may have US origins. There is considerable wear in the gears, and eccentric bushes have already been fitted in the past. But the join in the shaft let us down on Tour, beginning with 270 degrees free-play at the steering wheel, and progressing to total seizure of the output shaft. It got fairly scary in the mountains, and I was not sorry when the owner decided to put it on a trailer. Any clues, Gentlemen? And thank you in advance.

That mystery item likely supported the sensor for a bicycle speedo, or a rally meter. I've been guilty of fitting both to older cars, when accuracy was paramount. Nice car, by the way.

Bob, wasn't Gustave's flight written up in the local newspaper? It seems the Wright brothers heard the news, and visited his workshop, to find out how it was done. They were obviously better at promoting themselves. Mr. Musk would understand that aspect of progress..

I do remember that you are the proud owner of the deux chevaux van. I have an incurable soft spot for them, as well.

All of this is spot-on, especially the last line. Some of the necessary goodies are there in the drawer. These lathes are much sought after in Aus, and normally sell for $700- $1,000 if they are complete. I have an Australian copy of the later 9" South Bend, known here as a Hercus model A. A bit light for some jobs, but indispensable for small work. In the last few days it has given me a new set of bronze bushes for leaf springs, a seat insert for a carb float needle, and several other small pieces. Just the thing for making metric bits for the 2CV. Have fun with it.

If by chance the original construction of the mud-guard utilised solder, is it possible that the patch at the bolt holes was an original reinforcing piece? Of course the solder may have been used in a later repair, but the holes do not appear to be torn. And as Luv2 suggested, an over-length piece of brake pipe slipped into one side of the cut rolled edge, and then teased back to also pick up and enter the other side roll, would go a long way toward strengthening your repair. It would give you a solid profile to work the sheet steel to. The Alaskan chainsaw mill used on the log brought back a lot of memories. I milled a quantity of beams and posts with one when I was young and silly, and it was definitely hard work, in Australian hardwood.

Mike, I see now that the rolled edge is substantially thicker than it appears in the photos. I have seen steel brake pipe used as reinforcing at stress points, tucked up behind a flange and welded into place. It has worked well on the bonnet of my Healey for 20 years. There is a stress point where the prop supports the bonnet weight, and the flange had cracked through. Actually I had forgotten it was in there, but I think it is 5/16". The gentleman who suggested using it is a talented body man, and I have no complaints with his advice.

Electronic funds transfer using your phone or computer is very common between individuals in Aus. The one to three days it takes to appear in your account is a bit of a pain though, depending on the banks involved. (I forget what the inside of a bank looks like). But any transaction involves some level of trust, if you aren't facing the person, holding the money with one hand and the goods with the other!

Is it possible that a former owner with short arms has been bending the levers to suit, and positioning them badly for a driver with a larger frame?

And have you considered leaving the wire in there after curving the piece? The only rolled edge mud-guards that I have played with had the wire in the roll for strength.

The clamps look similar to the set my father used when he was filing the teeth of horses. The idea was to keep the animal's mouth from closing. His had a metal bar across between them, from memory, but these may have used a pair of short leather straps with holes which clip onto the pegs at the ends of the 'jaws'. Of course, they could be something entirely different. It's a lot of years since I watched the old man work on a horse's mouth. So, Xander, you may have been closer to the mark than you realised, with 1900 dentistry.