Much of the pride and satisfaction which we are able to take in our work derives from working to a high standard of originality. Most cars built in the vintage period or later were very reliable when they were new and provided they are returned to a similar condition today they will give excellent and trouble free service. Nevertheless nearly everyone who uses an older car will become involved to some degree with modification to the original design. Some modifications make very good sense if we are to use these cars in todays traffic conditions, for example few people would consider taking a vintage car onto the roads at night if it were equipped only with its original single tail light.

We specialise in carrying out unobtrusive modifications where requested. The 1936 Riley Kestrel above was known for certain weaknesses in the original coachwork and often suffered from considerable "scuttle shake" on the road. When this example underwent complete restoration in our workshops the body was rebuilt on a much modified timber frame which is indistinguishable once the vehicle is assembled. This car has various modifications to the electrical circuitry to allow the use of more modern voltage control regulation, thermostatically controlled electric cooling fan with relay, double dipping lights and flashing indicators. The non standard electrical circuitry is contained in a sub assembly and concealed inside one of the original toolboxes. The connection into the main wiring loom is by multiplug which is also concealed and renders the sub assembly instantly removable.

Conversions to modern synthetic oil seals are a popular modification: Our mechanical units are usually more oil - tight than they were when new. This picture shows an orginal vertical drive shaft bush at the top of the photo. The single piece assembly provides the top bearing for the drive shaft as well as a spigot for locating the rpm counter cable.
The new 3 piece assembly at the bottom of the picture is of our design and manufacture. The modern oil seal is contained in the middle of the assembly to prevent oil leaks around the rpm counter drive. When we designed the conversion we took the opportunity to provide the improved thrust arrangement for the vertical drive shaft which is shown to the right of the new seal in the photograph.
The threaded portion of the new assembly allows it to be screwed into the engine crankcase as a direct replacement for the original. This is a good example of an easily reversible modification which has not caused the alteration of any original components.

This is an example of a necessary but irreversible modification. This cylinder head comes from a Delage suffering from some rather serious combustion problems which were tacitly admitted by the engine plate which reads "advance ignition as much as possible without causing knocking." The combustion temperature of this engine as evidenced by the temperature of the exhaust gas was high. The exhaust valve seats are by design cantilevered over the edge of the water jacket leaving only half the diameter of the valve seat cooled. The temperature difference across the exhaust valve seats lead to cracking. During repair of the cracked cylinder head the combustion chambers were filled with weld by pre - heated gas fusion. A revised combustion chamber and porting shape was designed with the object of lowering exhaust temperature. The combustion chambers were then roughed out using a turret milling machine before final working with a die grinder. The end result was considerably lowered exhaust temperature and no further cracking over the last 10 years. As a pleasant side effect the new, more efficient combustion yields considerably more performance on the road.

The cooling system on this Bristol 403 is pumped only through the cylinder head. The cylinder block relies upon water "percolating" in the water jacket for its cooling. This design was not uncommon between the late 1930s and the 1950s and was often implemented partly to aid the combustion of poor quality, low volatility fuel. Todays petrol has high octane and high front - end volatility rendering this design obsolete. Traffic is now heavier and overheating of such cars is often a worry. This car has a modified cooling system to our design which renders it suitable for use in the heaviest traffic. The large aluminium sump was never designed for use with such an efficient cooling system and the car now uses non original and removable undertrays to prevent overcooling of the lubricating oil.

When modifications are necessary for the benefit of your older car we have much experience in carrying them out discretely. Wherever possible we prefer to design modifications which leave original components unaffected so that the procedure could be reversed without trace at a future time.