1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project

That thin strip of metal should go on the other end where there are two cut-out places in the groove where the seal fits. This is sure not my favourite part of putting an engine together. The newer gasket kits come with a white rubber strip, the older ones with a piece of pump packing. Either one will work, both are a pain.

Then onto some of the miscallaneous bits and bobs. This Pyrenean mud seems to have preserved the metal pretty well.

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I stripped the carb all down first.

Then some time in the microsablage cabinet (fine sand blaster). This is not good on greasy things so a full degrease first and rub down, scraping any lumps out of the groves and corners first. Also my cabinet is getting damp now its winter so the sand is clogging up the pistol….. pain 🙁

Then, in the case of the manifold I polished it up on the wire wheel which takes away the dull finish the sand blasting gives.

For the carb I flushed it all out with degreaser and fuel to get any grains out. Then blew it through with some compressed air.

The individual brass fittings I wire wheeled, but it was not necessary as the carb refurb kit had come with absolutely every part – last kit I got had a gasket and a main jet replacement. This one from CAS came with every new removable piece including the brass float for €20. Will post of the photos when I rebuild it again.

I would highly recommend that you use relays for the lights and horn. I had my headlight switch melt once so I rewired it with relays and no problems since. The headlights are brighter too. 6 volt negative ground relays are on American Ebay for around 10-15 dollars each and most vendors sell as many as you want.

My latest and hopefully final wiring diagram for the 12 Volt conversion and added bits and bobs. I have everything now that is required except for the secondary electric cooling fan….any recommendations would be great.

And also what size 12 volt battery should I be looking for (amps not physical)

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PS- to Forum Admin, can you allow PDF extensions for attachment uploads and also increase size of file, say to 300kb and maybe the size to 1024 wide….. 😀

I would use relays for the horns as well, I have them on mine. The heater doesn’t need a relay as it has it’s own internal switch but you will need to lower the voltage to six volts. I plan to use a relay on the brake lights on my 11B this spring to (hopefully) make them brighter as well.

OK – so I have had my problem explained by Peter Larson of CTA Services. It seems that I have an ID oil baffle fitted and this unit does not take the graphite cord. Hence the reluctance of it to fit and subsequently snapping the lower unit.

My car came off the line in the 12th April 1955 and stood in a barn since 1972. I have had a few explanations as to why my bottom end is part 11D and part Perfo. It may have been built using new parts off the shelf when they ran out of Perfo parts – I tend to agree as there is no evidence that this engine had been removed before. But it does cause me problems specially as I am new to all of this and do not know what to look out for.

Here is what it is supposed to look like.

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I really wish I had known as this would have worked out a really easy job 🙁

I am going to have a go at repairing my unit and see how it goes.