Gearboxes

[Brian Cole]

There are, as Ed says, crankcases about that appear to be in reasonable order, but I am sure that there are also many like my own that are in an advanced state of corrosion in the water jacket. It can take a long time to find a matching pair that do not have some problem or other that makes them unsuitable for use without considerable and difficult remedial work. Further we all know that crankcases that appear to be sound have built in design problems that make rebuilding hazardous and difficult , and going for new would enable these problems to be addressed. I realise that my suggestion constitutes an ideal situation, but I am sure many of our members would prefer to be able to obtain a new pair of crankcases that can be relied upon for accuracy and longevity, rather than patch up old ones that steadily become less and less serviceable. The longer we leave it the more expensive and urgent it will become.
I wonder what our Australian buddies think, or perhaps they do not have the same problems in their climate. If they do then perhaps we could club together to get a scheme on the road.

[JohnSchofield]

There are people out there who can use modern engineering techniques to make copies of classic car engine blocks, using the latest aluminium alloys, CAD and CAM machining. Specifically a new series of blocks are about to be cast for the Rolls-Royce Phantom 3, a V12 engine of staggering complexity which will require about 3,000 machining operations on each block to finish it. Having the original drawings is a considerable advantage, and I guess we have those for the Jowett flat four. The P 3 price is £20,000 each fully machined at 20 off, falling rapidly if the high front-end costs are amortised over more units. For the Jowett engine we should be able substantially to reduce the unit cost because of increased quantity and reduced size and complexity.

If anyone wants to find out more about the P 3 project, I can provide contact details.