The Singer Le Mans is all ready to be displayed at Brightwells Leominster next week where I shall be joining her lucky owner Elizabeth Halls on the 3rd March at their viewing day. The most important aspect of the work to “Chattie” is that she should drive properly and reliably and this has meant attending to a number of items on the car to bring engine, brakes and handling up to scratch. The engine has previously benefited from competent professional attention in the past although clearly some miles have been covered since then. Attention to a faulty head gasket and to tired valves and seats as well as a good “tune up” have helped no end.
The handling of the car was a little below par and rectifying this has involved not only the replacement of kingpins and bushes as detailed in earlier posts, but also the restoring of the eyes in the axle beam to the correct diameter and the building up of the worn stub axles to restore the fit of the bearings. A thorough “going through” of the braking system was very well worth the effort for safety’s sake and the subsequent results are rather rewarding.
Chattie has been used to compete in VSCC trials in the past and as a result she has a remarkable accumulation of mud and old oil packed in to every considerable area underneath. Some of today has been spent cleaning things up: My most important consideration is to produce a reliable and dependable drive ready for the upcoming tour and there’s no better way to become familiar with every last part of a car than to give everything a through clean!
I can’t wait to drive Chattie – but having this virtual ‘spin’ down the lane is the next best thing. I love the sound of that engine kicking off!