1953 Slough Light 15, 802 XUD

Well I have the sockets and spanners, welder, angle grinder now all I need is large pockets. My aim is for the first year to keep it running and redo the interior first. I want to fit the DS engine and 4 speed box as I intend doing a few marathon journeys over the next few years.

My roadster has domed pistons, a cross-flow head and twin Solex carburetors on a CTA twin manifold.

back in 2012 I visited an engine tuning specialist in Blackpool as I was concerned that the jetting on the carburetors may have been wrong.
The car went onto a dynamometer(?) with an exhaust sampler.
There was little or nothing that was changed, original jets retained, my recollection was that the calculation of the power to the front wheels was 65BHP.

Has anyone else any figures to report?

Hi Den – yes, it was just a few millimetres but I had it machined anyway, so the domed pistons miss the edge of the head. Something I was not expecting to do when I bought the domed pistons (and something the seller failed to tell me at the time and shyed away when confronted with the question). But with all that I am happy with the result.

Ian

A trip down to London yesterday to see John Gillard. What an eye opener. If you are a traction nut, and you haven’t been to his shop in Old Kent Road, I suggest you go and have a look.
Unlike any other workshop, in our health and safety la la land, you are free to wander around with a cup of tea in hand whilst John deals with phone calls, customers, staff etc.
Managed to pick up 5 excellent Slough rims in stove enamel, 4 chrome hubcaps and a bumper iron (mine fell apart as I removed it). Wallet is now £500 lighter. Ouch.
Looks like I will now dispose of the tatty ‘pilotes’ on fleaBay….
I also left with a head full of ideas and good advice from John and his mechanics.
Next step. Get the engine lifted out, borrow the TOC tool kit from Jasmin, get the front suspension and drive assembly stripped down.
Rust. Lots of it!
Thinking of buying a Traction? Look for a nice one, a really nice one and talk the seller down if you can. Drive it and enjoy it.
Or, go cheap. Drive it for 10 minutes, whilst the realisation sinks in. It simply isn’t right. Wheel it into the garage. Take the wheels off for an exploratory look. Now the realisation really sinks in. You are going to spend all your free time on your knees or back in the garage getting covered in muck, whilst your car takes on the persona of the chocolate Easter bunny in the fridge. First one ear comes off, then another,then the nose. Eventually the car will be a worthless heap of bits on the floor and on the shelves.
Now you must get your wallet out. Pay to get the right bits, pay to get professionals involved with the jobs you can’t do well.
Did I say cheap? 😳

It is not so bad Norman.

Just look at each job as it comes, if not your mind will explode.

I worked from front to back. Took me 6 months of real work. Best to get in there and get it done just so you remember it all.

Good luck and keep this forum updated as it will prove a great resource for you to look back on too.

Ian

@tripyrenees wrote:

Just look at each job as it comes,

I worked from front to back

Ian

Exactly, I’ll try and keep it to bite sized chunks. Bit like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.
I’m working from front to back, probably because I reversed it into the garage!!

Radiator came out easily enough, as it has undergone a recent ‘overhaul’. Only to discover the lower tube has a chunk missing or corroded away. There was (just about) enough ‘meat’ on it for the radiator hose and ‘Jubilee Clip’ to form a seal of sorts……
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Meanwhile, the driveshafts have been uncoupled (almost impossible to move them out of the way on the splines due to the rust!)
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The ‘House of Horrors’ continues. This rust just about fell out of the door cill when the wing was removed. You can even see a lump of red leather amongst the detritus. God knows what it was doing in there!
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