Jemima my1938 8hp flat twin

[PaulB]

Some of you who were at the rally in May, will remember this car, and if you do. You will also remember the problems that I had, before and during my drive to Canon Hall.

The breaks were apparently locking on, or rather one of them was, and thanks to the efforts of Tim Brown, he was able to get me home on that rather wet and dismal Tuesday.

During the beginning of August, I had the car serviced at our adopted garage in Congleton. Whilst driving the car home, the clutch was slipping badly, which I put down to oil on the clutch plate. Then to my horror, whilst turning into my close; the car ground to a halt.

Oh Dear I said.

To cut a very long story short, a 11" bolt had sheared inside the diff, this bolt connects to, two bevel gears inside. And it was a piece of this bolt, that was causing the car to stop suddenly at Wakefield.

My self together with Tim Brown and David Mason, took the car over to Mike Fishwick's work shop in Derbyshire, and Mike dually disassembled the diff to find a broken connecting rod.

Wednesday August 11th my family and I travelled to Wyke to collect a second hand diff, and rod, care of Ian Priestly and JCS (thanks guy's), and then after a swift feed in Holmfirth, we sallied forth to Mike's to deliver the parts.

During Thursday Mike worked hard on the car to get it ready, for our local steam rally Astle Park. I had a phone call during Thursday evening and on Friday 13th, we drove over to collect her.

Mike told us that whilst working he noticed, to our horror's, there weren't any split pins in the wheels, the hand brake was falling apart, and the brakes had been adjusted to much. This was the reason why the clutch was slipping.

He repaired these faults, and also fitted yet another speedo cable, this time without any bends (my fault) And I have a working speedo.

Jemima is now road worthy again, and is running better I think, then she has in a very long time.

Have I learnt anything.

Yes.

Take the car out at week-ends for a run to get everything lubricated, even if there isn't a car or steam rally to go to (thanks Tony) And make sure the car is serviced before the start of the season! Something that I didn't do this year, and look what has happened.

Am I happy.

Yes, the car is going well, and I still have three local events to attend with the car. The final outing, sadly for this year. Is the Knot in three week-ends time. But; before the winter lay up. I will use the car at the week-end, and hopefully have some body work attended too in November, for next years JNR, which I will be attending with Jemima..