1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project

I have the Fat Mat on my list from your previous advice. I have left the carpet loose for now in readiness as I had no idea of what to expect.

Plus, I am very reluctant to open the windscreen or the scuttle vent – they are nicely sealed at the moment.

……………

It has been done. But it is a good source of some cool air.

@tripyrenees wrote:

First oil change done – not so bad.

It was a little black though but no metal fragments that I could see although it floods out pretty fast, faster than my oil catcher could cope with and dumped most of it over the garage floor.

Need a better oil catcher, specially when the car is up in the air.

The oil always looks black when it come out of mine at 1,000 kms, any metal fragments get caught on the magnetic sump plug, which if you don’t have is worth fitting.

I don’t ‘lift’ the car to drain the oil, I simply turn the wheels to left hand lock and from the right can then reach the sump plug to remove. I use a £1.00 Asda plastic bowl to catch the oil and use a funnel to pour it into an old can to take to the recycling tank to empty a mile from home.

The work continues….

After snagging for several months I now have my list of work;

1. Oil pump change – due to low pressure at only 2.5bar. I had bought a new pressure relief valve but as the job involves taking out the pump anyway and there is not guarantee that this piece would resolve the problem, I went for a new pump from CAS and returned the valve for an added cost of only €60, so well worth it for me.

2. Water pump change – I have had an annoying drip from the pump ever since renovating the engine. I have changed everything on the pump other than the housing itself. So now I have a new pump complete and this BETTER stop the drip.

3. Diaphragm Clutch install – I have had a juddering clutch from day 1 – may be from the leaking water pump etc but on close inspection there was no water in the clutch housing. So after a lot of advice I went ahead and bought the new clutch kit to replace the original. I hope this will give me some smoother gear changes.

Here are all the new parts ready to go in ;

[attachment=1:14ib0wx2]P1070707.jpeg[/attachment:14ib0wx2]

So first bit of advice required – what is the best practice to replace the bearing in the thrust bearing housing. From what I can see, there are 3 rivets ?? . Do these need to be filed off. Is it a clip?? Anyone done this before and can let me know the secret…. thanks 😀

[attachment=0:14ib0wx2]P107070.jpg[/attachment:14ib0wx2]

Thanks for that – I just got a reply also from Daniel Eberli via that very handy Facebook page you mentioned in a different post 😀

From Daniel “The ring holding the bearing is fixed by three ‘nails” (oneof these can be seen clearly in your picture). When you pull these out, the ring will be free and the bearing can be replaced. You should get new “nails” to re-fix the ring.
Please be aware that the thrust bearing differs, if you use the “standard” or the “new” diaphragm type clutch.

P.S. To refix the small spring that retains the thrust bearing housing, it may help to cut a slit across the end the special bolt fixing the holder of this spring to the clutch housing. This will allow you to use a screw driver instead of any other tool…”

Which from the Floating Power article and the above I have realised I am missing the retaining spring and could also be part of my dodgy clutch problem.

[attachment=2:37snpzki]Screen Shot 2015-09-26 at 15.08.13.png[/attachment:37snpzki]

So when I look a little deeper into the clutch kit I find a new retaining spring and also 3 new nails to fit the oil guard back onto the thrust bearing…. so all is good.

Here it is all in pieces

[attachment=1:37snpzki]P1070713.jpeg[/attachment:37snpzki]

But I am finding it tough to adjust the thrust bearing and the gear changing rod (the small serrated/slotted units that connect the thrust bearing to the T bar on the gearbox). The thrust bearing operates smoothly until that is connected and then it sticks open at the end of the travel….. how much should the thrust bearing move, are we talking millimeters or centimetres, not sure if I am being over cautious ❓

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This is great help to me. Being new to Tractions and having some work to do it makes the jobs ahead look more feasible. Thanks for the help.