The Rebuild
Returning from one such event in 1984, the No.2 conrod sheared at the pinch bolt
saw cut, and the resultant damage to crankshaft, crankcase, sump and camshaft effectively
brought an end to Robert’s racing career. Over the intervening 20 years business
commitments, grandchildren and the sheer scale of the task of repairing the damage
meant that the job was never really started. Retirement and relocation to Herefordshire
raised the possibility of repair, but it was diagnosis of terminal cancer which provided
the final impetus to finish the job.
Sadly, Robert didn’t live to see out the engine work, and I, as his son-in-law,
was left with a substantially complete car, but an engine reduced to it’s smallest
components. We had jointly decided to put a Phoenix crank and rods into the repaired
crankcase on the basis that if the car was to be used and not to become a museum
piece then we couldn’t afford the risk of another major incident. The new crank
and rods are, however, substantially lighter than the standard Phoenix offering,
although not pared down to the almost featherweight proportions of the components
Robert was using previously. A new cam to the original racing specification was
commissioned from Leonard Reece and the original block, sidelined in favour of a
later version after having cracked during a wartime-long soujourn in a field, was
repaired by Cast Iron Welding Services. A further two months was taken getting this
right and whilst the repaired block shows signs of all of this abuse, at least it’s
at home in the right place again.
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