1929 Clutch

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

[ChrisE]

Sorry about the mass of photos but hopefully it will help someone!

[BarryCambs]

While it doesn't help me directly, as my car has a later engine fitted, they are very interesting and I finally understand how the rope fits!

Barry

[Dhbangham]

Great photos. Very helpful. Lovely to see an engine and setup so close to mine. Please could you upload some photos of the 6.5mm rope in place. I tried to use put four turns (as recommended for the later cone clutches) but i struggled to get the the rope flat enough and without spreading into the adjacent groove. The kevlar rope I have is very stiff and tightly braided, unlike the softer looser asbestos on it originaly. It is re-assuring to see another gearbox with less than 100% contact area.

[Dhbangham]

Notes on the rivets on the clutch. I notice that your cone clutch to hub is riveted with copper rivets. This is much safer and more sensible than the soft iron or possibly mild steel rivets that are use on mine. I recomment others to use copper in future.

[Keith Clements]

Why do you think copper is safer than steel? The shear and tensile strength of copper is less and its thermal expansion coefficient is greater so will loosen when it gets hot. It is more maleable so if pressed in cold may have less stress cracks.

[Dhbangham]

Hi Keith, I did have second thoughts this morning. It did not formaly think it through, it was more, well they did it originally, so it must be better. Now you have made me think about it, the question might be, they were smart cookies, so why they do it originally. I have just looked up the thermal expansion of aluminum, copper and steel. Aluminum and copper are closer to gether than steel wich is half the expansion of aluminum. So if the cone expands faster than the steel, then the rivets will get loose. When riveting, I wonder if the easier flow of copper will prevent too much strain being put on the Al. as the excess copper will flow over the edge of the Al casting, I certainly felt scared of cracking the cone when expanding the steel.

[Dhbangham]

Hi ChrisE, Looking at your pictures again this morning. I see that your hub to cone rivets are on the otherway round than on my mine. Secondly I see some evidence of rubbing around the hub. I can only guess it is because the cone was engaging so deep into the flywheel that it was rubbing on the flywheel. This would cause slip. It would suggest that when new clutch material is fitted and not bedded down, then the cone should stand quite proud of the flywheel, allowing for a lot of wear and settling.

[Dhbangham]

Correction: My rivets are on the same way as ChrisE's. Material choice is still interesting.

[ChrisE]

When I was a lad, working in my grandads's Merricks Motor Stores in Bradford, in the 1970's we used to use copper rivets to re-line brake shoes. There must be a simple reasone why copper is used.

Hope the photos are useful. One though has got me baffled. What is the redundant strut on the O/S under the floor? The 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st photos? It is sprung loaded and abviously intended for something but goodness knows what

C