Ca, CB And CC Bradford Service Data

[Mike Allfrey]

I have been putting together as much Bradford service information as I can find here in Australia. It is my intention to place all material, including local brochures as PDF type files onto a CD-R. My hope is that younger folk who are not involved with books, may find useful information from this project.

Most of the material I have worked with is old stuff that has been photo copied and faxed a number of times. For that reason, some information is simply not readable - particularly fractions of inches, which came through, mostly, as black blobs. My method has been to scan each page and feed the text through my optical character reader (OCR), convert it into a MS Word document with endless spelling corrections. All illustrations have been scanned and fixed using Corel PaintShop Pro. This has been a long and tedious process and such as wiring diagrams require a heap of work. Any text in the illustrations has been erased and replaced using the Microsoft Paint thing. All very worthwhile and generates a fair amount of job satisfaction.

However, I have arrived at a stumbling block and need to complete some missing parts in a set of material copied from 'Servicing Guide To British Motor Vehicles', very likely from an old book, similar to those published by George Newnes. The missing information I am looking for is as follows:

Length of front and rear main bearings.
Camshaft bearing lengths.
Inlet and exhaust valve head diameters.
Inlet and exhaust valve stem diameter.
Inlet and exhaust valve seats' face angles.
Valve spring loaded length - inlet and exhaust.
Valve springs' pressure - inlet and exhaust.
Clutch springs - free length (CA and CB models).
Clutch springs- loaded length (CA and CB).
Clutch disc linings - external diameter (CA and CB).
Clutch disc linings - internal diameter (CA and CB).
Clutch disc lining thickness (CA and CB).
Brake lining thickness, front, rear, Bendix, Cowdrey.
Brake lining lengths - front, rear, Bendix, Cowdrey.

I assume the book was a local (Australian) publication and there is no title, other than the subheading. Any help with these dimensions will be greatly appreciated,

There is a glimmer of light at the end of what has become the Bradford tunnel! A disc will be sent to overseas clubs.

Thank you,

Mike Allfrey

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Mike, I can put most of this together for you. Give me till after the rally

Paul

[Mike Allfrey]

Thanks Paul,

Have a great Rally! I can wait.

I found it strange that bearing lengths had been listed in the document I have been restoring. I have made a start on another lot of photo copies that also seem to have come from a trade type of book. The only heading is 'TRUCKS BRADFORD Type "CA" 10 cwt.' A few oddities on the first page and the writer seemed to have a preference for using screwdrivers as levers! Will send a copy once done.

Jowetteer has arrived and congratulations are in order, for the Restoration Show results. Pity Drummond missed out, I think Ruby really deserves an award too, remember all those cups of tea she provided in the late 1960s. We read about the 'Great Tea Lady' in Jowetteer when George Mitchell was editor!

Kind regards,

Mike A.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Having had mains made for my Restoration show engine I can advise for CB engine: Rear bearing overall length 59.7mm (probably 2+11/32" in the Christian era!) with a flange thickness of 7mm. Front overall length 48.25mm again with head approx 7mm. Interesting to note that the mains are the same part number for all twins from 1930 to the CB Bradford. The CC uses a totally different bearing. I need to get at mine and measure for you.

Paul

[Mike Allfrey]

Thanks again Paul,

The dimensions of the main bearings have been noted. The 11/32" bit fits, because I could just make out the '32' portion of the fraction, but the part above was a black blob. I understand that the 7 mm is the crankshaft end-float controlling flange. Sort of reminds me of my Jupiter when I first got hold of it. The rear main bearing shells had to be built up by about that amount with white metal to fix an enormous end-float problem!

I will post to you a disc showing what has been achieved so far - not the finished project (could be never ending!), but will give you an idea of what I am trying to achieve. I think some of the information came from New Zealand and, some is from Bradford Motors Pty. Ltd., the Sydney agent for JCL.

All the best,

Mike A.

[Keith Clements]

Brochures and Service Data scanned and worked on by Mike Allfrey now in Gallery.