Help identifying coupe

[davida]

Hi Colin

The 1937 coupe is described in page 26 of the Book of the Bantam.

Your car appears to be missing the correct radiator mascot. It should be a "9" with a streamlined back The same as the 1938 Bantam.

Best wishes
David Andreassen

[ColinB]

I posted a picture of David Priestner's mascot on page 16 David. I suspect it will be hard to find one and equally hard to make, but if you have one I would be delighted to fit it!

Do you know where I can get a copy of the Book of the Bantam by the way?

[davida]

Hi Colin

I am the author of the Book of the Bantam. It is due for an update. You can buy one of present print at $AUS 50 or wait for the new edition.

I have a spare radiator mascot with lots of patina. If I can figure out how to add an image in this system I can send you a photo OR you can contact me on singo1234@bigpond.com where I know how to attach images

Best wishes
David A

[ColinB]

That sounds great David thanks. I would like both the book and the mascot please. I will email you for price etc.

[cdk84]

Well, Colin,

For once I'm not writing to congratulate you on yet another impressive task done. Is that getting tedious yet?

I did, however, finally come to my senses and notice the address for you on your postings. I spent a fair bit of time visiting my father, while he was still alive (d. 1991) and thereafter my stepmum in Woodbridge. Had she not disinherited my siblings and me --a long story: suffice it to say what she did was Not Right-- we wouldn't exactly have been neighbors, but I would have been close enough to have leant a hand from time to time. ( Given my mechanical skills, you might want to thank my stepmum, can't be sure )

Hope all's well.

Keep at it, friend.

David

[ColinB]

I would have been delighted to have you as a distant neighbour David, and I could have visited your lovely coupe!
Isn't it a shame that family stuff can become so poisonous - the saying comes to mind that blood is thicker than water, but much nastier ……..

[ColinB]

Residual varnish from the fuel tank got me yesterday: as I was completing a nice little five mile run in the sunshine she started to hesitate then wouldn't pull at all, I could only coast in 1st with no accelerator. I gave the carburettor a whack with my rubber hammer that I carry and she ran well enough to get me home in third. On taking off the bowl I found the needle valve was sticking shut with some orange gloop and on running the pump without the bowl this seemed to flush it through. I have also drained the tank and put in a fresh 5 litres to see how that goes. There were about 20 litres in the tank which was a bit of a problem to store and dispose of so I'll keep it to 5 litres for a while until I'm sure the varnish problem has gone away.

[ColinB]

Second issue with the old and still dirty tank - the fuel filter sludged up today and wouldn't pass any fuel, so she stopped on a running-in trip around the village. I only had a short walk to pick up some tools and bypassed the filter with a piece of copper tube just to get me the mile or so back to home. This was obviously not the car letting me down but my own sloppiness in not changing the filter soon enough. I have ordered 10 of them and will monitor the situation more closely in future. Actually she ran really well without the filter so its possible that there has been some restriction in delivery for a little while.

[ColinB]

The fuel filter is very hard to see on ELA as it is underneath the body. So I have ordered some extra hose and will move it nearer the pump so I can inspect and change it without crawling under the car.

[jeans_old_man]

The filter looks about as effective as the one at the bottom of the fuel pump. Why don't you abandon the one that is hard to get at and rely on the one in the pump which is very easy to reach - or am I missing something here?

[ColinB]

I agree Brian, except that the tank is still fairly grotty although it is improving, and I think a visible and easy to change filter is a useful addition to the system.

[ColinB]

Still on fuel issues, I found that the copper pipe from the tank was rubbing on the rear suspension so I will install fresh copper pipe and route it more safely. While I'm thinking about fuel I need to fix the fuel gauge which shows full all the time the ignition is on. I have checked that it isn't an earth issue and at the gauge I get 12v from the battery and about 2v from the sender (at least I assume its from the sender). The real problem in getting to the bottom of the issue is that the sender is half-hidden under structure so is impossible to remove. I wonder whether I can rotate the tank slightly if I disconnect the filler hose and the fuel outlet so I can get at the sender? This is the standard Bantam round tank which seems to be secured by two straps bolted to the chassis. Any thoughts?

[jeans_old_man]

Hi Colin, the first thought is the earth to the instrument itself. Wooden dashboards don't help in this respect. Below is the circuit for my 1935 gauge - not sure if yours is the same. The gauge has three connections - 12V, 0V and sender. The series resistor inside the gauge is a contender. It is wire-wound and gets quite warm. It looks like a bit of an afterthought to convert 6V units to 12V but it is original.

petrol sender circuit.png (318.7 KiB) Viewed 40461 times

The most likely fault is the sender unit. A reading of 'full' equates to an open circuit sender. I would remove the tank and examine the sender. Whilst you are at it flush out the tank. There is bound to be some rust in there! If it has been coated in the past there is an issue with modern petrol dissolving the coating. You might have to consider a new tank.

[ColinB]

Thanks Brian that is really helpful. The only issue with removing the tank is I think I have to take the coupe body off the chassis to get at it, so I'm hoping to get to the sender without having to do so (in reality I will probably live with the faulty gauge rather than take the body off). You can see the issue in the illustration from David Andreassen's book where the tank sits on the chassis and is covered by the body.

The gauge looks very similar to yours but the coupe has a metal dash Bantam style so I suspect the gauge is earthed OK and I agree with you that the issue is likely to be in the sender. I will run a temporary wire from the sender to the connection on the gauge just to check that the open circuit is not just down to a broken wire but otherwise I'll have to see what options there may be for getting at the sender itself without removing the body.

[ColinB]

So Brian, I know this is your area of expertise: I ran an earth direct from the battery to both the sender and the gauge but it made no difference. I disconnected the lead from the sender and the needle on the gauge moved to the right and when I reconnected it the needle moved back to the full mark. Does this suggest that the sender is sending a signal but the arm is stuck?