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Recent Overhaul

Recent overhaul to Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

Engine bay.

Front suspension.

Full hydraulic overhaul to mineral system plus full brake overhaul.

Full S.U. carburetter and inlet manifold overhaul.

Recent Overhaul

Recent overhaul to Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

Engine bay.

Front suspension.

Full hydraulic overhaul to mineral system plus full brake overhaul.

Full S.U. carburetter and inlet manifold overhaul.

Rolls Royce Silver Shadow l Engine Bay

Recent general overhaul to engine and components in engine bay.

RR363 Hydraulic Brake Pumps

Brake pumps fully overhauled and re-sealed.

RR363 Hydraulic Brake Pumps

Brake pumps stripped ready for solvent cleaning, inspection and full overhaul.

Height Control Valve Assembly

Fully overhauled hydraulic unit.

Rear Drive Shaft Assembly

Fully overhauled final drive half-shaft with new trunnion joint rubber seal and clips. Universal joint cleaned and fully pumped with fresh grease.
Also trunnion joint housing filled with 150cc of oil.

Carburetter Overhaul Rolls Royce Silver Shadow l

Showing fully overhauled carburetter assembly.

Ignition Leads

New Ignition Lead set installed in harness plus new coil with ballast resistor and distributor cap. Showing ignition harness layout for 'A' and 'B' bank of engine for Shadow l cars.

Engine Bay Rolls-Royce SIlver Shadow l

Recent overhaul to engine.

Hydraulic Reservoir Overhaul Rolls Royce

Hydraulic reservoir overhaul on a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow l/ll

Hydraulic Reservoir Overhaul Rolls Royce

Hydraulic reservoir overhaul on a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow l/ll

Hydraulic fluid RR363

Scotts Motto

"Personal attention to detail on all cars through our workshop,

and our aim is to exceed customers requirements and expectations".

Mineral Sphere Valve Bodies

The Tools for the job -

Progressive stopping power is made possible with efficient brake sphere and valve bodies - for the storage and distribution of mineral fluid pressure to No.1 and No.2 brake systems.

Mineral fluid pressures are applied to four front brake callipers housing the brake pad set.

Hydraulic Accumulator

RR363 Hydraulic system fitted to

Silver Shadow ll, Bentley T ll and Corniche ll,

Accumulator assembly comprising of exploded view of valve body

internal parts proir to assembly with new seal kit and valves

and pressurised sphere with new internal diaphragm.

Accumulators Rolls Royce & Bentley

RR363 Hydraulic system.

Two accumulator assemblies fitted to a Silver Shadow l through our workshop.

Installed to off side of cylinder block showing the two hydraulic pressure switches and just behind them the two high pressure frame hoses.

Brakes

Generally whether drum brakes or disc brakes with power braking should be of the very best efficiency and pull up squarely in a smooth progressive manner without delay or snatching.

Power braking efficiency comes from stored high pressure from sphere/valve bodies. The hydraulic fluid is metered through finely machined distribution valves operated by the depression of the brake pedal, fluid will flow through brake lines to apply fluid pressure to caliper pistons at each wheel. Gas pressures should be checked regularly.

The braking wheels must also be free to rotate without any harsh binding of the brakes. Also with service the hydraulic systems should be checked and flushed with hydraulic fluid at regular intervals. Hydraulic mineral systems can be left for longer periods but after approximately 15 to 20 years the whole system needs overhauling due to heat, ingress of water/condensation and the breaking down of rubber particulates from hydraulic hoses and seals. Also small air bubbles ciculating through system will eventually lead to a softer brake pedal or delayed braking.

Front Suspension S/Shadow ll Bilstein Damper

Should always be efficient and road worthy but can be upgraded to achieve that whisper quiet feel with stabilty.

Always check suspension ball joints, bushes, dampers and road springs for metal fatigue and sagging.

Steering joints and couplings should also be checked along with drive belts to power steering, also check for oil leaks around the hydraulic system.

Photo shows section of complient front suspension from a 1980 Series II car.

S/Shadow l Front Suspension Overhaul

Showing new Bilstein dampers and upper and lower spring seating.

This early Shadow l suspension layout with original top plates were used with the long stroke damper.

Therefore the original top plates can be re-fitted with the new Bilstein damper assembly and new spring seatings.

Thus will retain original factory finish under the bonnet, but with far better ride quality by using the superior Bilstein damper.

Front Suspension Fully Assembled

Fully assembled front suspension unit with new
Bilstein damper
and lower ball joint
but with original coil
spring installed with new seatings.

Bilstein Front Suspension Overhaul

Fully assembled front suspension unit
with new Bilstein damper shows late specification
spring top plate reference
Silver Shadow l/ll or early Silver Spirit.

Rear Suspension and RR363 Hydraulic Overhaul

Shows newly installed
Harvey Bailey rear spring and
new Bilstein damper assembly with new spring seatings.

Also showing new brake lines fitted trailing arm to rear
brake calliper.

Rear Suspension Trailing Arm

Photo shows rear road spring and hydraulic damper removed.

Trailing arm fitted with new spring cup support fully cleaned and wax oiled. Ready for re-assembly with new Harvey Bailey spring and new Biltein damper.

Also new trailing arm brake lines fitted to rear caliper.

Suspension and Hydraulic Overhaul

New spring support cup welded.

R/Suspension Harvey Bailey Springs/Bilstein

Rear suspension overhaul of Silver Shadow ll showing two short Harvey Bailey heavy duty coil springs, two Bilstein dampers and new support cups with necessary spacers and shims, plus two new park brake cables to complete the fitting kit.

Suspension Upgrade - Rolls-Royce/Bentley

Suspension upgrades for pre- 1970 Silver Shadow l and Bentley T cars.
Before starting to apply any modifications to front and rear suspension make time to carry out detailed checks for worn front suspension ball joints and triangle lever bushes. Also check the condition of rear suspension trailing arms. Finally check the standing height, the car should be on a level plane and not sagging. Although measurements should be accurately taken from lower points of front and rear suspension, a rough guide is to take measurements at the rim of each wheel arch vertically to the ground at all four points.

The early cars built with short stroke front dampers perform better with the later Shadow l long stroke damper.

First de-pressurise the hydraulic system. Blank off ports to front rams. Remove the front road spring assembly from the frame of the car. De-compress the spring assembly and remove height control ram. Then with spring compressed again sufficiently to reduce spring pressure, undo damper nut through top of spring. Then withdraw damper from lower support sleeve and collect the split adjuster shims for the re-building of the new damper assembly.

Modified parts required:
1 Used late Silver Shadow l/ll spring top cover plate.
1 Upper seating felt/rubber.
1 Lower seating felt/rubber.
1 Long stroke damper assembly Bilstein (late type Shadow l/ll)
1 The original spring cleaned and lightly greased.
1 Spring support assembly (lower)
Clean and re-use original shims for standing height.

Continued below.................

Suspension Upgrade continued.........

When re-assembling the front road spring and damper assembly, the parts not required are the original spring cover plate, isolator and upper and lower spring support assembly.

The original lower spring support assembly can be re-used but usually needs to be replaced because of corrosion and wear.

The rear road coil springs are usually weak and need replacing with standard coil spring and new Bilstein dampers will make good improvements.

To achieve a good firm ride quality and reduce rolling action when cornering use shorter Harvey Bailey springs with Bilstein dampers to the rear suspension. This modification will require extra packing shims to be fitted to the upper and lower spring seating to maintain the original factory standing height.

Therefore, with detailed cleaning and careful re-assembly to achieve correct level standing height the car will perform well, and give an extra boost of power when accelerating out from a bend in the road.

Finally after bleeding out the rear suspension system re-check ride height with the automatic self levelling hydraulic system in operation with engine running in park g/selection. Re-check all four points of suspension; the car should be standing on a level plane.

Front Suspension with Active Ride Modern Layout

Here are two examples of brake/suspension set up with active ride from a late car, showing the different set up betweenwith complient suspension and the early type of double wishbone used by all early cars.

2nd example below........

Active Ride Suspension Unit

Front suspension active ride unit re-built with new road spring.

Note: The electric control unit at base of damper.

Bentley Turbo Engine Bay

This 1990 Bentley Turbo engine overhaul shows
stripped of cyclinder head and valve gear to cylinder block face to rectify cyclinder head gasket fault - clean, de-coke and re-face cyclinder heads.

Re-built with all new gaskets and seals and with the latest modified valve stem seals.

Next picture shows completion of overhaul.

MGB GT 1972 Historic Sports Car

Yellow MBG GT 1972 Historic Sports car, race / rally prepared for the Sicilia Rally.

The UK to Southern Italy route will run through the Swiss and Italian Alps and on down the leg to the southern peninsular of Calabria in Southern Itlay.

This car is lightened and lowered with an uprated power unit and new but standard brake system to provide excellent progressive deceleration to the wheels.

Two GT full leather seats also fitted for driver and navigator stability and comfort.

More photos below.

MGB GT 1972 Historic Sports Car

View of engine bay.

MGB GT 1972 Historic Sports Car

MGB V8 Carburettor Overhaul

Totally refurbished 2 inch S.U. carburettors.

MGB GT 1972 Historic Sports Car

Restored Silver Shadow l Engine Bay

New Ignition Lead Cables & Harness

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow / Bentley T including early Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

Park Brake Calliper Assemblies

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow / Bentley to late Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit

CARS THROUGH OUR WORKSHOP

Lagonda.

Scroll down to view more cars through our workshop.

Cars Through our Workshop

Bentley Arnage Red Label.

Cars Through our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

Cars Through our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud 2

Cars Though our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Camargue.

Cars Through our Worshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow l

Cars Through our Workshop

MGA Roadster 1500

Cars Though our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Phantom 2 Drophead.

Cars Through our Workshop

Bentley S2 Continental

Cars Through our Workshop

Bentley Turbo R

Cars Through our Workshop

MGA 1500 Coupe

Cars Through our Workshop

Engine bay of above MGA 1500 Coupe

Cars Through our Workshop

MGB GT

Cars Though our Workshop

MGA 1500 Coupe and MGB GT

Cars Through our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Spur lll.

Cars Through our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow l.

Cars Through our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit ll

Cars Through Our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Spur

Cars Through Our Workshop

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow l

Coach Building Crewe and London Mid Sixties

Coach building at Crewe and London in the mid sixties.

It starts like this: ---------->>>

The underframe built on first jig is shown of a Silver Shadow / Bentley T series.
Special styling of the two door saloon coachwork (shown here) was achieved by a joint effort by Crewe and H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward London.

And ends like this:

In the finishing shop for final fitting of window frames, completion of wiring circuit connections,
woodwork and seating fitted, and interior trimming completed. After which road test and final quality check is carried out.

The elimination of the separate chassis to the body (shown here of an original chassis built Sll with V8 engine has brought with it considerable design changes. The hand beaten panel has gone, panels are now pressed or stretch formed to allow more precise art form in the jigging and spot weld construction to form an integral part of the modern monocoque frame and body assembly.

In the press shop, roof panels are formed on a stretch press having side gutters formed on a brake-press. In the panel shop the various sub-assemblies, wings and panels are trimmed, welded and finished with final cleaning of flanges prior to the paint shop to receive its filler coats of paint ready for engine and suspension fitting, wiring and instruments. The final coats of paint are applied before fitting window frames and glass, woodwork, seating and full interior trim with best quality carpets are installed.

The Rolls-Royce School of instruction, at Hythe Road, Willesden, London ran technical courses for Rolls-Royce and Bentley mechanics on current production cars in five languages as well as English. Fortunately I attended Hythe Road school of instruction in the late sixties on the current production cars of that period.

Design work was started for a new V8 engine in 1953 for the new Rolls-Royce and Bentley models in the form of a 90 degree Vee with a 4.1 inch bore and 3.6 inch stroke, giving a displacement of 380 cu. inch, therefore overall width of the engine was reduced by means of the over square layout with a short stroke and short connecting rods.

Likewise, the identical cylinder heads feature wedge shaped combustion chambers fully machined in production with valve seat inserts of austenitic hard steel and by angling the in-line overhead valves close to vertical thus retaining a slim profile of the engine assembly. The valve guides one of cast iron for inlet and bronze guide for the exhaust valve having a compression ratio of 8 to 1 so low-octane could be used at that time overseas.

The aims for the designers and production were to increase power with extreme smoothness and reliability.
By using, high-silicone aluminium alloy for the cylinder block, cylinder heads and inlet manifold the weight factor was kept low – but costly in terms of materials and production time. Yet the main factor was to achieve perfection regardless of cost or time taken to achieve the desired result.
Continuing with engine details, wet liners are used in the V8 cylinder block and positively located only by the top flange seating in the cylinder block shallow counter bore.

Sealing the wet liners is by three rubber rings, one top and two at the bottom of each liner. The crank shaft is of high grade nitrided chrome molybdenum steel with integral balance weights and running on five main bearings. The single camshaft centrally located in the uppermost part of the cylinder block driving two banks of hydraulic tappets employed to reduce noise and to compensate for expansion of the valve train to each cylinder head.

The source for cooling the engine by means of a water pump impeller mounted directly above the crank shaft, having a five bladed fan unequally spaced and pitched to take thick and thin slices of air sucked through the radiator matrix for quiet running.

Similarly the exhaust system includes three mufflers each acoustically tuned to a different frequency for noise suppression.
This early V8 engine was run on a test bed for up to five years before being used in car production. These under-stressed units were judged to be smooth and silent running but capable of further development as time progressed. Early engines achieved approximately 200hp, but with a quest for slightly more performance the compression ratio was raised from 8:1 to 9: 1 for the series lll Silver Cloud and Bentley cars for countries where 100 octane fuel was available for maximum power.
Also a further addition of a big bore 2inch S.U. carburettors were fitted to enhance the capability of the engines performance.

The next giant leap from chassis built cars to the monacoque pressed steel body and integral chassis was the Silver Shadow l and Bentley Tl of the mid 1960’s.
The engine fitted was of the same V8 capacity of 6230cc.
The next modest increase in power came within a few years of Silver Shadow production and the V8 engine was increased to 6750cc by lengthening the stroke of the crank which also helped comply with emission regulations notably from the USA.

Moving on to the Silver Spirit and Mulsanne a further leap in power came in 1982 when Crewe launched the new Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. The V8 engine turbo driven with a Garrot TO4B turbo charger, blowing through a two-stage four-barrel Solex carburettor lifts the power of the engine close to 300bhp. at 4,500 rpm with a low 8:1 compression ratio.

V8 Turbo Engine Injected

With this massive boost of power it put the Bentley name firmly back to the days of the 4½ litre supercharged sports cars that five times won the Le Mans 24 hour car race in the 1920/30’s.

More changes came in by 1987 when carbs were phased out in preference to the more refined and economic Bosch fuel injection system being equally applied to both the Rolls-Royce and Bentley models.

Picture showing V8 6750cc turbo charged engine with Bosch KE3-jetronic fuel injection system.

Bentley Mulsanne 2011

The all new 2011 Bentley Mulsanne model built at the Crewe factory reflects the power and refinement with the exciting graceful lines of early Bentley Continental cars of the 1950’s era. The other link it retains the V8 6.75 litre engine but with twin turbos it achieves substantial boost to power with an output of 505 bhp. and maximum speed of 184 mph.

Therefore the new Bentley car shows how the Crewe factory still produces beautiful but powerful hand-built cars with some of the old traditional craftsman’s skills combined with modern production methods.

SCOTTS ROLLS-ROYCE HAMPSHIRE WORKSHOP VISIT

Members of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club on a visit to Scotts workshop, Hampshire, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Day were able to have an Engineer's Inspection and written report by Mike on their Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows.
With each car on the ramp, members found it interesting to learn more of what goes on 'underneath'.

A buffet lunch was provided and the inspections, questions and answers continued through the afternoon.