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.
- RH tie rod end was loose so needed adjustment (more shims).
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Mark, There is an important modification you need to make to your clutch assembly before putting it back together – I hope I am not too late. You need a spacer between the cotton reel and the flange on the clutch shaft – so you can knock it out and then slide the cotton reel forward to clear the drive dogs (the cross). Of course you have to machine off the same amount from the front of the cotton reel. I do this with a 1mm step so that the spacer is like a washer which is located by the step and thus central. Pop mark everything so it goes back the same way – or perhaps you are a sufficiently good machinist to make this is irrelevant. Bob
Bob,
As with so much on this car, it is never quite as it seems as I can easily remove the cotton reel. However when I had the input shaft out of the gearbox and compared it with my spare (that had other issues) it was shorter hence the clearance for the cotton reel but it means the clutch spigot may not be fully engaged. So thanks for the tip I will machine up a washer to remove the extra clearance without the need to machine the cotton reel.
Cheers
Mark