by Vicki Humphrey on 27 November, 2012
Nicki Smith spent Saturday 24th November working on the Daimler with Ian Stewart, in the Museum Workshop exhibition. Nicki is really enthusiastic about the work, reporting:
“I’ve just spent a great day working with Ian Stewart on the Daimler. We began by looking at the inlet manifold, carburettors and throttle linkages, exhaust manifold, coolant thermostat and pipework and the thermostat housing.”
Even to my untrained eye I could see Ian’s words were true… “for its age it is unbelievable. All the nuts and bolts are unscrewable, they go in and out like you wouldn’t believe. All it needs is a normal clean, there are no problems.” The bolts and nuts on the Daimler are all Whitworth – British Standard Whitworth not so easy to come by in our metric world – but the Museum does have a Whitworth spanner set.
Even the exhaust flange gasket is in remarkable condition and is reusable. The only component that we looked at today that had any wear is the thermostat housing but it is still repairable. The corrosion had got into the top part, but Ian explained that that section had been made of lower quality metal in much the same way as a sacrificial anode on a boat – it is easy to get to and replace while protecting the pipework further on.
When we moved onto the water pump all the bolts came out easily. For someone who struggles with air-racket tightened components from the local garage I was amazed I could easily loosen all the nuts to remove the water pump with a squirt of “Rost Off” and a simple ring spanner.
I’m looking forward to more work on the Daimler – I certainly got dirtier than I would in my usual area of conservation but I really got an appreciation for the quality of manufacture of the Daimler. So now onto more dismantling in preparation for lifting the engine and gear box.
