Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc

Hornet Special Newsletter

Issue 46September 2011

Alec reports

I’m afraid I can’t recount any epic or heroic jour-neys - what could possibly match the Balthazar/Clucas trip to Canberra! Although I must say that not having driven a 76 year old car since my teens, my early drives assumed a certain heroic char-acter; particularly when trying to recall the gear pattern in a hurry. My use of the WHS consists mainly of relatively short runs with the local Car Clubs. Fortunately the hinterland of the Morning-ton Peninsula is ideal WHS touring country, with little traffic and lots of lovely winding roads. A cruising speed of approximately 80 kph suits the car and the driver and equates to roughly 3,000 rpm with the gearing that I have.

One recent modification I have made was to install wedges to the front springs to increase the castor angle. This improved straight line stability with but a minor increase in steering effort. One amusing episode occurred whilst fiddling with the steering box free play adjustment. I found that it would not unadjust giving me steering tightness either side of straight ahead. This resulted in my cornering being even more erratic than usual, sometimes to the dismay of oncoming traffic. My reluctance to remove the steering box to rectify this can be imagined. Consequently I thought I would wait a while before doing anything (a tactic used increasingly as a hedge against old age). Happily the solution was found in the form of a large bump on one of my back roads which immediately put everything back to rights. The downside is that I have to drive keeping a wary eye out for any further bumps which may reverse the process.

Alec’s 2 seater 1935 Eustace Watkins Daytona at a recent outing with the informal local car club called the “Peninsula Boys”. Alec says “This one was especially well attended as it was to one of the local wineries – Hickenbotham of Dromana. The car alongside the Wolseley is a 1923 Riley 9 which was built up from a saloon by its owner including the fabric body. The others are of course, Austin Healys”.

Alec Sturgess has been driving for nearly two years.

WHS Club ContactsSecretary

Bill Russell, ph (03) 9349 2262

PresidentPositionVacantEditor

Henry Hancock, ph (07) 3878 2850

3 Gilia Court Indooroopilly Qld 4068hlaevt@aanet.com.au

2011 AGM 11th - 13th November, Kalorama

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The distinctive style of Alec’s EW Daytona

The only other work I have done recently has been to have my three-brush generator modified to operate with a regulator rather than a cut-out switch. This seems to be working well.

No doubt the Wolseley will continue to present me with further challenges in the future, but hopefully the driving pleasure should counterbalance this, providing of course that I can continue to find appropriate solutions.

1931 Wolseley Hornet Coupe moves to new homeMike Hawthorne who with others from the Vintage Car Club of Queensland helped Bruce McPhail by stripping and cleaning his 1931 Wolseley Hornet Coupe after it was fully submerged in the Brisbane flood earlier this year, see Newsletter Issue 44, March 2011, has bought the car from Bruce. The car is a running chassis with the fabric body requiring complete rebuilding. Mike reports that the paper dials of the instruments were ruined and that the speedo still holds water.Mike’s other cars are a restored Porsche 911, a restored 1927 Riley 9, another Riley 9 almost at drivable chassis stage and a 1935 Austin nippy also under restoration.

John Ireland comments “This car is interesting as it has the ‘32 style radiator, with the centre chrome strip, and not the shuttered type. It is believed that this late ‘31 model was marketed in the UK as a “two-seater sports” with the ‘32 rad. Investigations are ongoing.”

Issue 46 Page 3

You’re invited to a Special Weekend in the Dandenongs!

WHSCA 2011 AGM and Dinner, Kalorama, 11-13 November 2011Our 2011 AGM and Annual Dinner will be held in the beautiful setting of the Dandenongs, east of Melbourne. The area is renowned for its temperate rain forests of Mountain Ash trees, and Kalorama, where our activities will be based, has been associated with vintage motoring for over 50 years. The district offers great scenery, fine country views, excellent winding roads, and many items of interest for visitors, such as the Puffing Billy narrow gauge steam railway, galleries, antique shops and restaurants. We will have our usual garage tour and the opportunity for a Sunday morning drive in your Hornet through this classic motoring precinct.

The AGM and Dinner venue we have chosen is The Country Place, Kalorama, an outstanding facility with every possible comfort – tennis courts, pool, open fires, fine dining and accommodation. There is a spacious car park with room for tandem trailers. It is away from the public gaze, so cars will be safe overnight. Our Dinner will take place there as the opening activity on the Friday night. Price will be $60 a head. We will do the AGM there on Saturday morning, and a star attraction will be an illustrated talk on Hornets by our Registrar Michael Santin, who will draw on over 20 years of careful collection of information about Hornets in Australia in all their variations. This is a rare opportunity not to be missed.

It is not essential to stay at The Country Place, but highly recommended if you can afford it. To do so you can book directly with the venue for one or two nights. But there are also many alternative motels, guest houses and bed and breakfasts in the district at a range of price levels.

Program Outline Friday 11 November - 7.30pm Annual Dinner at The Country Place Saturday 12 November - 10.00am AGM and Talk by Michael Santin at the Country Place Saturday 12.15pm - lunch - picnic at Mount Dandenong Arboretum Saturday 1.15 -4.30pm - Garage TourSaturday 7.00pm -Informal dinner (non-booked) at agreed pub

Sunday 13th November 9.30-11.30am-Drive through the Dandenongs Sunday 11.30am End of proceedings. Time to explore the district or start for home.

Accommodation at The Country Place if required should be booked directly with the venue by those wishing to stay there (for one or two nights). Country Place accommodation is $205 per head per night. Phone 03 9728 7070.

There are many other accommodation alternatives in Olinda, Kalorama and surrounding areas at a range of price levels for those requiring them.

Book your Place at the Dinner This will be a popular dinner, so please book for Dinner by sending a deposit of $25 per head to our Treasurer, John Ireland, by October 12. The dinner price is $60 per head; beverages are extra and can be purchased individually at the venue according to personal preferences. John Ireland’s address is 83 Riverside Resort, Riverside Drive, Coomera Qld 4209. Cheques payable to WHSC.

General Inquiries: Bill Russell 03 9349 2262

Don’t miss this Special Weekend!

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My 1933 Hornet has not moved since 1965. My son was interested in helping me rebuild the car in 1985 (I think he thought it would be good to pick up girls in!). He only lasted until lunch on the first day – saying I was only giving him the minimal jobs. Years later he told me he thought it would only take a weekend to fix.

As a result, this car was stripped right down and stood in bits for 25 years. After doing the chassis, differential, gear box and brakes, I commenced the engine. I reconditioned all the auxiliary parts i.e. generator, starter motor, clutch, oil pump, radiator etc. I next assembled the engine and finally lifted it into the chassis – and had a good glass of red that night!

In the meantime I had the road wheels re-spoked and powder coated then attached the new tyres I had purchased from England. As I had been able to obtain an old but correct exhaust system from Monty Schofield, I was able to get the pipes bent up to the original pattern. I also had the side water pipes bent up out of copper and wondered why the originals were made from steel.

Quite a few things puzzle me and I have dark thoughts about the Wolseley engineers. Things like the aforemen-tioned water pipes made from steel to carry water and consequently rust, as against oil pipes made of copper which wouldn’t rust (inside anyway). All the flanges on the exhaust pipes were made from too thin a material so they bow. The bolts to hold the exhaust flanges are too close to the pipes so that you can only use an open-end spanner to tighten the nuts. The washers that hold the inlet and exhaust manifold to the cylinder head are so thin that they bend. The cylinder head nuts being under the rocker shafts; the very complicated chain tensioner and on and on ... Perhaps I am being too pedantic – remembering that this was the early thirties and cars had only been around for 25 years.

Having the motor, gearbox, differential etc installed, I set to make the exhaust system. I made new flanges from 3/8” plate and tack-welded the pipes in place while assembled on the engine. I took the system off the engine and fin-ished welding the joints on the bench. I had previously welded the copper water pipes in a jig and found when assembled they were about 1” out. So I was determined that the exhaust system would not need to be re-welded.

However upon trying to refit the exhaust pipes, I found that the welding had so distorted the pipes that I had to heat and bend them to get them to fit. In the end not as big a job as I had first thought. I next saw the local muffler shop and they had a stainless steel muffler and tailpipe ready for me in a few days. It only took a few days to fit everything onto the motor and run some temporary wiring and gravity fuel tank.

The moment was here! I turned on the fuel ... gave a little choke ... retarded the distributor ... pressed the starter button – CLUNK! The starter motor jammed in the ring gear. Luckily Mr Lucas had thought to provide a square on the end of the rotor shaft so I could wind the rotor backwards to disengage the bendix gear. The motor was very tight, but I had turned it over a few times with the crank handle. I tried several times with the same result. I then took out the spark plugs and put a little oil down the holes and turned the engine over with the crank handle and it was still quite tight. I tried again with the starter motor - CLUNK!

I again had dark thoughts about the Wolseley engineers (the starter motor isn’t strong enough), but then had a bright idea, I persuaded my reluctant wife to help me - she depressed the solenoid while I turned the engine over with the crank handle. A broken arm coming up here I thought as I gave the 1, 2, 3. The starter cranked the motor over as I turned but it would not go by itself. Nothing else for it but to take the starter motor out – however that meant draining the coolant and removing the side pipes.

When I first put coolant in the motor it was dripping from the side plate bolts. When I had cleaned out the block I cleaned out the back of the side plate holes and ran a tap through each thread. I screwed stainless steel BSF bolts and finished them off with a die. I found that the thread would tear if I tried to just cut it with the die. That’s another story . . .

I removed each screw and used some auto silicone on the thread and under the washer and put it back together again. After leaving it overnight to cure I put the cool-ant back in and the side plates were fine but there were another two drips from the side water pipe and one from the bottom bolt in the water pump which I had replaced with stainless steel bolts and the other holding the cast

THE FRUSTRATIONS OF STARTING A REBUILT MOTORby Lyle Cooper

Photographs of Lyle’s engine running smoothly appeared in Newsletter Issue 44, March 2011

Issue 46 Page 5

fitting to the side plate. I went through the procedure again, drain, fix, refill.

Back to the starter. While on the floor I connected the starter up to the battery and it whizzed over like there was no tomorrow. I had reconditioned the said starter at the beginning of the rebuild. I ferreted another starter from Brisbane’s spares heap and made a good one out of two, so I was not surprised that it seemed to spin with ease. I now had dark thoughts about my battery supplier. They had sold me a 55amp hour squat battery with the terminals set down lower. I ripped out the battery, threw it in the back of the Prado and drove over to do battle with the battery supplier. They supplied me with a larger 77 amp hour battery. This battery would not fit in the battery frame so I cut the angle iron stop out and repositioned it to fit. Next morning I reinstalled the starter motor; put the water pipe back on with silicone on the bolts this time; coolant in; a quick look around and could find no leaks. Turned on the fuel and a bit of choke, retarded the distributor, a quick prayer to the God of Starter Motors and pressed the starter button - CLUNK!

I stood there open mouthed for a long time; a red haze before my eyes; I look around for the cat to kick but forgot he died 10 years ago! What was I doing wrong? I was thinking of a quick trip to the UK to deal with the Wolseley engineers – but they are probably all dead by now, so I shook my fist at the God of Starter Motors (it’s always best to blame someone else!).

I heard the phone ring and my wife’s gales of laughter – life’s alright for some I thought blackly – the call was for me. It was our editor Henry Hancock calling from Peter Baker’s place – would it be alright to come over and take some photos. Okay I said, you had better have a look at it before I push it into the creek. Peter says that he and our President Howard are on the way also. After quickly cleaning up the workshop they duly arrived and I showed them the problem. The consensus was that the motor was too tight as it was very difficult to turn over. The spark plugs were removed and some red oil put down the cylin-ders but still hard to turn over. Peter thought it would be a lot easier to crank if there was support between the dumb irons (there was a piece of angle iron between the dumb irons with the appropriate hole cut to support the crank handle. I had removed it as I wanted to remake the front

support and panel as it was originally). I quickly produced the piece of angle iron and bolted it to the front – all of a sudden it became much easier to turn the engine. Mental Note: when I remake the front rail, place an upstand to support the crank handle.The crank handle was removed; fuel turned on; a little choke and one notch retard and press the starter motor - CLUNK!

As the afternoon was rushing on, everyone had to leave but frustration was in everyone’s eyes. Peter suggested I take the starter motor out and take it over to his place and try it in his car as his starter works well. Next morning he rang to say he kept waking all night thinking of things that could be wrong. One thought was the high tension leads I had made from modern material might not be carrying the power required; he had some heavy grade stuff and we could remake the leads over at this place. So off I went to Peter’s with the starter motor and HT leads.

Peter’s car is also a 1933 and he demonstrated how well his starter motor works – then removed it; installed my motor and hit the switch - CLUNK!

Undeterred, Peter removed my starter motor from his car and pulled it apart on the bench looking at each aspect; everything seemed okay but Peter thought that the brushes were not making enough contact with the commutator. I learnt from Peter how to lap the brushes with a piece of fine emery paper over the commutator. We then reassembled the starter motor and installed it in his car – CLUNK!

With a heavy heart, Peter removed the offending unit from his vehicle without uttering one swear word, but he did mention he thought it was sticking somewhere as he had installed it. I slid under the car with a rule and vernier to check the distance from the ring gear to the hole were the flange on the starter positioned – exactly 1”. On the bench Peter checked the distance on both starter motors, his was exactly as I had measured, but mine was a little out. As the motors sat side by side on the bench we measured the diameter of the bendix gears and mine was 1/8” larger. Luckily I had bought with me the other starter that I had combined to make mine and I had used the scroll and gear from that one as they seemed in better condition than my original. Upon measuring the spare it matched Peter’s and we assembled it to my starter motor. I was not aware that later models had a different size bendix gear with such a small size differential as to be undetectable by the eye.

All thoughts of undersized cables were banished as I drove home. Starter installed, water pipe installed, remember silicone on bolts; refill coolant – where’s that coolant on the floor coming from? Oops left the pump tap on - put

THE FRUSTRATIONS OF STARTING A REBUILT MOTORPhotographs of Lyle’s engine running smoothly appeared in Newsletter Issue 44, March 2011

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the cables from the battery to the starter motor back in place. The moment had come (for the fourth time!). Fuel, choke etc – the motor turned over with ease but it didn’t start. Advance ignition as I noticed smoke coming from the exhaust. I loosened the clamp on the distributor and as I had moved the starter button back to the gear extension (where it should be), I was able to push the button and turn the distributor at the same time. My wife had heard the first attempt and was now standing at the workshop door. As I spun the motor a second time I advanced the distributor with my right hand – clouds of smoke came from the tail pipe (all that oil down the plug holes) – then the engine started to pick up, a little more on the distributor and the engine was running like clockwork. I have not

seen my wife so excited for a long time – for me it was just a sigh of relief! Now to stop the oil leaks – but that’s another story . . .

Wheels

Victor Kucinskas

Peter Baker - chromed drums

Lyle Cooper

John Prentice - Hispano Suiza

John Prentice - WHS John and Sharon Balthazar

John Prentice - De Dion Bouton

John ClucasMike Ryves

Malcolm Smith (and J. O. Sherwood)

Lyle’s “improvements” on Wolseley’s engineering

Issue 46 Page 7

John Summerfield has advertised on Ebay, the 1934 Coupe advertised in recent newsletters. He had two thousand “lookers”, sixty-seven “watch-ers” (people who put it on their watch list) and two serious enquires, one of whom is still interested (but wants to sell some motorbikes first). John still has the yellow 1933 Coupe shown here. He is also advertis-ing on Ebay, a partially completed 1934 Hornet “sports” built up from various cars.

John Summerfields other Coupe

Henry Hancock recently emailed friends querying whether when the tank is filled right up, does fuel run onto your feet because the fuel tank vent pipe is more than 100mm below the fuel filler and, if so, why was it designed like this?Lyle Cooper noted that the Parts List shows it like this and Peter Baker recalled an old Austin article which explained that it was so that the rheostat for the fuel gauge which is mounted on and open to the top of the tank, does not fill with fuel. Apparently the sliding contacts won’t ignite the saturated fuel vapour, but it doesn’t work too well if completely immersed.Henry now expects wet feet if he fills the tank, but if anybody has a better explanation, please advise!

Fuel Tank Vent Mystery

Roy West progresses with his NineRoy says:When I received the car it had been sitting for about 20 years. Previously the chassis had been cleaned and repaired and also the brakes had been renewed. I have had to replace all the timber in the body and much of the timber in the doors. I used mountain ash (tassie oak) which was ready available from Clarence Timbers at Lithgow, NSW, where it is plantation grown. My biggest problem so far (other than the cost) was find-ing parts; especially the rear shocks which I eventually got from New Zealand - this was also the time that I became aware of scammers, having been caught on the web. Cutting the timber was no real problem as there were partial wood sections that were not completly rotten, which I could use as templates. The door pillars had to be remade and getting them fixed in the proper position was a bit awkward. A really big headache was the fixing of the doors.I should imagine that there will be quite a few more head banging moments as the restoration continues.

Before.... Progress.... More progress....

NSW NEWS

The Wolseley Hornet Special Club of Australia Inc. (Victoria, No. A0035489S) exists to encourage the preserva-tion and use of Wolseley Hornets, Sports and Specials. The Club and its Committee take no responsibility for the accuracy of this newsletter’s content nor for the consequences of acting upon any information published herein.

SMART SPORTS MODEL Sports car enthusiasts will find much to interest them in the 1934 Wolseley Hornet Special chassis, which is now being displayed at the premises of Sneddon Motors, Ltd., Adelaide Street, Brisbane. The appearance and finish of the engine is something for the mechanically –minded to go into raptures over. The valve cover and petrol pipes are plated, presenting a finish which is most attractive. It has two down-draft carburettors of automatic self-equalizing type. Another outstanding feature is an oil cooler, which ensures that not only is the oil cleaned twice in circulation, but it is cooled to the right temperature before reaching the engine. The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld), Tuesday 27

March 1934, page 10.

Vale Bob GranthamThe Club’s condolences go to son Robert and the family of Bob Grantham who recently passed away in Western Australia. As well as his 1932 Wolse-ley Hornet Tourer, Bob had an extensive collection of Veteran and Vintage vehicles – a 1909 Renault AX 2 cylinder 2 seater, a 1913 Sunbeam 3.0 litre, a 1927 Austin 7 Sports and a 1929 Sunbeam 16.9 hp.

A photo of Bob’s car early in its restoration. Several Club members have enjoyed riding in the completed vehicle.

The Club has records and photographs of the Wolseley Hornet sales showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne. Does anyone know where in Ad-elaide Street, Brisbane Sneddon Motors Ltd. were situated and of any photographs. They advertised regularly in the Courier-Mail.

QLD NEWSPeter Baker is now fabricating the hood frames and has painted the car - Ferrari Red! But as he says there are about 30 shades and people who have seen the colour say the one he has chosen is very subtle; not too bright.

Lyle Cooper has his brother helping him with the timber frame and the rear section behind the doors is now com-plete. There are complexities with some metal framing that a previous owner has installed, but they intend to fit some bodywork this week.He now awaits the radiator surround, the bedstead and the lights back from the chrome plater.He has been corresponding with Robb Stewart from California USA regarding the restoration of his Hornet (article in Edition 140 page 3 of Hornet Special Club Magazine from the UK).Robb has little support over there and at Lyle’s sugestion, we’ll email him the Australian Newsletter.

VIC NEWSCome to the AGM in November to SEE it all.