As promised, here is a brief update of the 1993
progress made on the list's Riley representative, my
1948 1.5l RMA Saloon;
As some of you may recall, Mr. Riley offered up
his water pump just before last year's all british meet
in Palo Alto. Completely oblivious to both the
incredible complexity of this unit and the extent that
the PO had previously bodged it up, I blindly yanked it
off and began R & R-ing.
Now sourcing Riley water pumps parts is not
something that happens very quickly, but over the
course of the next month I did manage to locate sealed
replacement bearings (yes, bearings), thermostat
housing & thermostat (same as on a TC), make all new
gaskets, find all new O-rings, have new thrust bushings
made up out of Delrin, and have the whole shebang bead
blasted & painted. Unfortunately most of this time was
actually spent waiting for things to get delivered or
completed, and so in the meanwhile I began attacking
other sub-systems in need of attention.
First off was the oil filter & associated
connections. The filter is also the same
cannister-style as on a TC, and the unit is
hard-plumbed with banjo fittings on both sides. Trouble
was, one side had long broken away and the PO had
simply used a piece of rubber hose to connect the two
banjos. This simply would not look right against my new
water pump, so I pulled it, and between having Clif
@ MSI modify the relief plunger & banjo bolt to accept
SAE threads instead of me having to find a 19 TPI BSF
tap, I honed my tubing bending & soldering skills.
After a few trial & error fits the oil filter is now
installed as Percy Riley intended.
Now to get at all of this componentry the fuel
pump had to be removed, and what better time to go
through that, as it was leaking a bit of oil between
the body & the block. This R & R was fairly
straightforward except for finding the right size clips
to hold the pivot pin in place. The oil leak's source
was quickly made apparent when I passed a file across
the mounting surface and noticed it was slightly less
than flat. New clips from Orchard Supply, some file
action on the mounting face of the pump, & all's well.
One thing I noticed when I had the pump apart however,
was the presence of probably 45 years of accumulated
gritty sediment inside, and so I reasoned that this
stuff is probably in the carb. too. Off with the carb.
I was not disappointed, but more surprised that
the bugger would even run with all the varnish &
sediment inside. A few hours in the Berryman's yielded
all clean, and it went back together smoothly.
Unfortunately it literally poured petrol out of the jet
adjustment screw when the pump began pumping. It was
apparent that the cork jet gland washers had lost their
ability to seal against the jet, and so I was ecstatic
when mike @ O'Connors produced two sets of washers and
the proper jet return spring for all of $5. I was less
than ecstatic however, when after replacing all of the
gaskets the only difference was the fact that now I had
spent $5 and the carb poured petrol out of the jet
adjustment screw. I think it's time to go pilfer a few
o-rings from the maintenance shop ....
So that's where it's at; water pump, fuel pump, &
oil filter system are all renewed, and the carb is
clean & just waiting for some proper jet seal washers.
With the weather getting more favorable for driving
LBCs, I have a great desire to finish this up & log
some miles in the old chap. That, and I need the garage
space to do the Audi's clutch .... ;-)
cheers-
dstone@sc9.intel.com
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