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How I spent my day today...

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Yoda
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... though I suppose this post might go under "Other British Cars."
I'm only watching and providing advice while drinking coffee and eating delicious muffins. There were about 5 of us crowded around the car.

 
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Yoda
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For the curious, there are 31 studs to fit through the head... making it a bit more difficult. And, get this, the nuts are to be tightened to just 20 lbs. torque!!! That process will be done gradually over a day or so, and then again once warmed (and cooled back down).

The original cast-iron head had been welded a couple of times (and even pressure-tested OK), but the thought was that it was too much work to have to repeat if the iron mis-behaved (which was likely on the daily-driver); it would have been fine for a trailer-queen. The alloy head from England is a beautiful thing (that they only make in small batches of a dozen or so when enough people want them). This car has been off the road now for maybe 5 years.
 

Basil

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With that many studs I'm not surprised the torque wouldn't need to be super high. That head musta cost a pretty penny! That was fun to watch - thanks for posting.
 
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With that many studs I'm not surprised the torque wouldn't need to be super high. That head musta cost a pretty penny! That was fun to watch - thanks for posting.

Don't know the exact cost, but it was thousands! Interesting, too, that there were several kinds of studs: some that only went into the top of the block and others they went WAY down nearly to the bottom of the engine (and could be wiggled). The gasket was the thickest thing I've EVER seen and will surely necessitate many re-torques.

The owner has a wonderful garage that can hold a good 6 cars, and there is a lift. He's very generous with this cars, tools and garage.
He owns a 1924 Bentley "Speed" (the open cockpit red car in the photos), an 1950-ish Bentley Mark 6 and this 1933 Rolls-Royce... oh, and a mid-60s (?) Morgan 4+4. Nice stuff. All of the cars are driven and driven a lot.
 
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I still can't quite get over how far ahead of their time these cars were. There are SO many ingenious little things going on.
Here's the new head, and a shot of the car with the 1924 Speed behind it. Easier to see than during the video.
Another interesting thing on this car is that it has both a generator (big one) and a magneto, and a male plug that comes from each so that you can manually switch one out for the other.

2018-10-20 09.19.12.jpg
2018-10-20 09.13.04.jpg
 
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DrEntropy

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Brings back memories. A 'fiddly' job! Never had a new head to deal with but have done more than a few head gasket replacements on those old lumps in my past.
 

Roger

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By the way, the Bentley is a Speed Model, not just Speed. The word Model is part of the name, 3 litre Speed Model.
 
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By the way, the Bentley is a Speed Model, not just Speed. The word Model is part of the name, 3 litre Speed Model.

Sorry. Yes, hasty typing. The '24 3 liter Speed Model (that we call either the red car or the 3 liter) is, essentially, the same car that won LeMans in 1923 (I believe).
 
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Also, it has an interesting valve train. As you can see from the photos, it has overhead valves but they are not adjusted in the rocker assembly but down below the pushrods (a bit like flat-heads) from the side access panels.

I think the cast-iron head was about 130 pounds and the aluminum one about 30 pounds (approximately).
 
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waltesefalcon

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Great little video, thanks for sharing it, it looked like a great deal of fun/frustration.
 

DrEntropy

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On the later, envelope-bodied Bentleys it was almost easier to lie across the engine and do the valve adjustment "upside-down" as it were. Being a contortionist would be a benefit. :playful:
 

SD Bugeye

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Love these old depression era big displacement cars
ive only been able to get stolen glimpses of them at car shows
and not delve under ther massive bonnets
jelous of your opertunity to be there.
they didn’t happen to have blue berry scones be cause that would have been over the top :encouragement:
 
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To me the 1924 3-liter Bentley Speed Model is the most impressive, and WAY ahead of its time.
Dick's Bentley engine.jpg
 
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