Category Archives: Bugatti Type 37 (R)

Winter Warm Up

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Winter is just about here, perfect weather to be in the shed and as it happens the cars all seem to agree. The Citroen has sprung a leak in the radiator, the Sizaire needs its clutch pulled apart as its wobbling all over the shop, the Douglas front brake has only servile* rather than servo action  and like a spoiled child the Bug has decided on a long confinement in case I get any ideas about spending time with its siblings.

The Bugatti clutch after originally giving me grief has been faultless, but when I last pulled the covers off to do the 1000km adjustment  I noticed brass filings in a nice arc on the inside of the cover and here is the mystery.  As you can see in the picture below the clutch output flange clearance has closed up (there was clearance before)  and is grinding on the brass tube the clutch mechanism slides on. For this to happen either the engine has moved or the crankshaft has lots of end float or the gearbox has moved or the gearbox  input shaft has moved forward or the spigot bearing is collapsing and pushing the clutch shaft back. I would put money on the last couple but I would be in real trouble former possibilities come to roost.

The other problem this has created is that the gearbox will now have to be removed as there is not enough clearance to remove the “Cotton Reel” (short flanged shaft between clutch and gearbox). Where did that clearance go? Send in your guesses and I will get a bit oilier tomorrow and hopefully come up with an answer..or not.

* Doug Kephart

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Incontinent Citroen with friends waiting in vain for attention.

flange clearance

Solex?

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This has been a bit of a Solex week, firstly the Bugatti seemed to be running a bit rough so I thought I would check the float levels. If you had any other sort of carburettor this may be a bit of a task, however with the Solex you undo the “nut” and the bowl drops, disengage the main jet, turn 90 degrees tighten nut then same with the other carb and you can eyeball the levels directly. Unfortunately the levels were both about 3mm from the top of the main jet tube so it’s probably something else or as the diff is no longer screaming my brain is looking for other distractions.

The second Solex moment happened on Sunday when out in the Traction (11BL Citroen) and was confronted with a Toyota Corolla road slug sailing along at 50kph in a 100 zone, so pulled out to pass only to find a gasping sound from up front and the Corolla obligingly slowing leaving me stranded on he wrong side of the road. Eventually the corolla got the message and buggered off, I came to a halt.

At this point I was wondering if the car had any tools in it…. No tool bag but I did find a shifter and a screwdriver. Now the hunt was on for the main jet and of course being a Solex they are all accessible from the outside, there were 4 in all and it was the last that proved to be the one and it was blocked although offering little resistance to me sucking on it.

The day ended nicely at Jinks Creek Winery where I washed the petrol taste away with a good red. So what happened to the Solex Company? They are now buried in Magneti Marelli with Weber, Veglia Borletti, Carello, Siem and Jaeger.

Low Hanging Fruit

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One advantage of buying a semi sorted car is the pleasure of sorting it, making it your own and gaining a bit of cred without doing too much work.  A case in point is the steering, Bob King told me in no uncertain terms that  “A Bugatti should have no play in the steering” my car had plenty of play and in at least three places.

  1. RH tie rod end was loose so needed adjustment (more shims).
  2. RH steering arm was loose on its taper also no split pin to stop the nut falling off,  the reason: split pin hole was originally half drilled with the broken drill bit still embedded. With much fiddling and the use of an ARTU cobalt and tungsten carbide tipped drill bit (bought on Ebay)  I drilled the  broken bit out and finished drilling the split pin hole, also had to use some shim steel on the taper as it still wobbled.
  3. Steering column leather joint had a fair bit of play, I could not figure how it was supposed to work, the way it was assembled the leather part was superfluous and obviously the original assembler did not have a clue either. Having a good look at a cross sectional drawing showed it had been assembled without washers.

steeringjoint

This ends the chapter of fixing stuff that might actually kill me.

Lastly I did take the car for a drive to Olinda searching for mid corner bumps but could not get it out of line, so the smaller wheels and no play in steering may have fixed it or the bumps in SA are engineered to some herd thinning Darwinian principle.