Chassis stripdown part 3

Next inline for removal is the engine and gearbox. Major items like these are simply removed and stored for the moment, although I did have a look inside the gearbox just to make sure everything was there, and still attached, and not lying in a coagulated mess in the bottom of the casing!
The engine was going to need to be fully rebuilt anyway, and most parts would need to be hand made, so it was assumed at this stage that the work would be about the same as Alfreds Aston Martin, only three times as much being twelve cylinders! - more later...

















There she blows, the engine crane just taking the strain, and creaking well!

The radiator is normally something I take to a local rad company, and have rebuilt with four cores, the V12 rad however is something else. Mel Crammer came up with a name for us, so on his recommendation off it went, along with the rechromed shroud and slats. All other chrome work went to S&T in Yate, a company I have used many times, indeed I have repaired quite a few pieces of brasswork for them so I know them well and would recommend them for any chromework, ah if I was only on commission...

This leaves the final part of dissassembly, all those brackets nuts and bolts pipes and... ah yes, the handbrake cross shaft! That caused a few sessions of head scratching. For those of you who have not been there? well, Mr Bentley seemes to love making things well, and also to possibly over engineer things a little?

















The photo above is me being kind to you, it shows part of the handbrake cross shaft restored and raring to go, however getting the thing out is a different matter, imagine this all covered with grime and grit and who knows what from years of storage let alone use! The bar to the right of the image does go all the way uninterupted to the other side, ending with a bearing housing just like the brass one at this end of the shaft - they hold a twin ball race that can run quite a way offest to the pivot line, but the housing is bigger than the hole through the chassis that they cover?

Eventually you will find a clamp, yes it is visible in the photo! by undoing this clamp not alot happens, though it will allow a little movement to collapse the bar, but only a little bit ####!
So the next thing is to take one of the bearing housings apart, preferably the other end rather than the one above, this allows you to draw the long bar through a hole in the chassis, which in turn allows gives you the room to take the short shaft apart and draw that out through the chassis on the other side - Simples eh!