LAST year, on the traditional London to Brighton run for veteran cars, this 98-year-old Daimler Phaeton broke down so often that it failed to reach the seaside town. Two weeks ago, after some minor surgery, it successfully completed the run.
The car鈥檚 fortunes were transformed by John Willn of the Motor Industry Research Association in Nuneaton. Willn found that the source of the problem was a spring which held the inlet valve against its seat. A support nut at one end of the spring was too small, causing the spring to bend and eventually break. Willn says a spring broke 鈥渆very hour or so鈥�.
The solution was to replace the nut with a larger collar to give the spring more support and reduce the bending. Not a single spring broke on this year鈥檚 run.
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