Squire's voitures

[fried onions]

The crimped silencer is a rarity these days, perhaps for good reason but I'm no expert on them. Thinking about it logically, there is a greater area where acids and condensation can get trapped at the ends of the silencer. I have given it several coats of zinc rich paint and never start the engine from cold just to run out of the garage for instance, my cars are always started up and then driven so the whole engine and exhaust warms up and dispels any combustion water. When it fails I'll just visit T.G. Silencers in Rochdale and have them make a copy, as I've done with all my cars when their exhausts expired.

[mercrocker]

I've never bothered with stainless on a Minor, they don't sound right and mild steel ones are cheap enough. As I said, mine has done well over 10 years and like Squire, I never run my cars unless to full operating temperature and neither do they ever see salt. Unfortunately anyone local who was once prepared to repair an exhaust system seems to have disappeared nowadays so no doubt I shall be looking into other options before too long.

I do run stainless on the Cowley, the T25 and did so on the Farina purely because of the high cost of the mild steel equivalents making it a no-brainer.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I replaced the original 1989 silencer on mine in 2007. I went to the dealers and spunked £600 on new genuine centre and rear boxes that are still on there. They are stainless steel double skinned and are bloody heavy. The pipes are mild steel but are still unrusty.

[fried onions]

Brake pipe clips cleaned up beautifully.

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Brake pipes are original, one half from the scrapper. Deemed fit for further use after cleaning and then applied a few coats of clear lacquer. Reproduction copper pipes with brass unions no good, I never liked the look of them and one actually caused brake failure on this very car when the union into the wheel cylinder fractured. It also wrote off the NOS Lockheed wheel cylinder. I stick with the original Bundy tubing when possible or for replacement use Kunifer.

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[Hooli]

Very pretty, almost a shame it won't be seen.

[fried onions]

Oil & filter change Humber 3 litre. Oil change interval 2,000 miles (call it 3,000), filter change interval 6,000 miles, i.e. every other oil change. I can't see how they got away with specifying the one 6,000 mile oil & filter change in the later cars which were the same engine despite metallurgical and detail improvements. I have found this engine to be very sensitive to degrading oil quality as mileage increases.

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Only genuine original quality parts for my cars... some people say avoid the old stock filters but I rather use them when they were manufactured properly on economies of scale over a modern reproduction. It's all about how they were stored and I am capable of using my eyes and brain.

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The battery and tray have to be removed to access the oil filter. Shortly after mine was built Humber moved the battery to the other side of the engine bay taking the place of the oil bath air cleaner which was substituted for a dry element air cleaner atop the carburettor. Hence later cars are easier to service on that count, but it gives me the opportunity to examine the battery tray and connections. The quick-release colour coded terminal screws are a godsend I found at an autojumble.

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The sump takes 12 pints for refill as approximately 3 pints remain in the oilways etc. I checked for leaks around the sump plug and oil filter housing with the engine running. I use Duckham's Q20-50 since they re-introduced it because I find it to be a good quality oil and economical for a high mileage man like me. Since I fitted overdrive and started filling the sump with Duckhams I rarely have to top up between oil changes.

[Hooli]

Back in the day I found the same with Duckhams Q in my MG.

[fried onions]

An important stride forward. Axle offered up and sitting in position. This, perhaps the most visible moment of progress, was also the quickest taking only about 10 minutes. But there are innumerable man-hours in this car and many more yet.

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You can see why I fitted the exhaust pipe before the axle. Studying it I think with the rear wheel off and the shock absorber out of the way I’ll be able to remove and refit this type of one-piece exhaust when the time comes again in future.

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I also removed a brake pipe I wanted from the scrapper so am quite pleased with this afternoon’s work. The Humber’s engine is indeed running noticeably smoother since I changed the oil, and my records show it’s been 7,500 miles since the previous filter change. That was this month last year. Not going to add up how much petrol its been through but it has been worth every penny.

[Hooli]

The Humber is such a splendid beast it is indeed worth all the investment.

[fried onions]

The axle has been secured in place using the correct U bolts with locking nuts, not the single Nylock nuts fitted before.

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This is the wrong brake pipe, wrong shape and it's copper with dreadful brass unions.

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This is the correct brake pipe removed from the scrapper, cleaned up internally and externally, and lacquered ready for further use.

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I cut some lengths of screenwasher tubing to fit over the pipe at the points where it clips to the underside of the car to prevent any possible wear and damage by chafing.

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See the difference the correct pre-formed pipe makes. Still a slight adjustment to be made where it bows in a bit but this is the real deal. And yes that is the wiring loom running underneath the car to the rear lights.

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More correct and incorrect parts. The large bung is right as it fits into the crossmember where the brake pipe emerges. The smaller one is a later replacement which was useless. As the brake master cylinder is under the floorboards on these cars as was the practice in the 1940's, replacing this pipe was not particularly easy and resulted in brake fluid filling that section of the chassis leg and leaking out of the drain. So many design details of this car are typical of its 1940's origins.

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Did I say am not restoring another car? It's too much time and effort although I enjoy it and it is well worth it for something you do to keep. But too much time is taken up by it and I only want to do ordinary maintenance and faults after this (he says).