Harry P. Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 OK, one more question. On the Blower Bentley there is a rod that runs along the frame rail from the crank just behind the brake lever... up to the front of the car, and it disappears somewhere up there behind the front wheel... I don't have any photo showing what this rod connects to at the front of the car. Any ideas?
Cato Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Have you seen the headlight ring I suggested in your other thread?
Harry P. Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 Have you seen the headlight ring I suggested in your other thread? I did. But that doesn't help me here...
sjordan2 Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Your photo shows where it's attached behind the brake lever, but the cutaway drawing doesn't show where it leads to at the front (it's obscured after it passes in front of the radiator shell). However, the cutaway shows that it threads through a second eye on the frame rail to the side of the radiator shell. There's another one of those wires on the passenger side, too. Just thought I'd throw in how the parts in your photos vary on another car. Edited June 30, 2011 by sjordan2
spad007 Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 It has the look and feel of a front brake rod to my eye.
Harry P. Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 Your photo shows where it's attached behind the brake lever, but the cutaway drawing doesn't show where it leads to at the front (it's obscured after it passes in front of the radiator shell). However, the cutaway shows that it threads through a second eye on the frame rail to the side of the radiator shell. I just found it in one of the cutaways you sent me: Looks like it actuates an arm attached to the front brakes (I assume this car had mechanical brakes and not hydraulic ones). But if that is the front brake rod, why does it originate so far towards the back of the car? Far behind where the brake pedal is...
MikeMc Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 I suspect it is due to lack of clearance due to the flywheel and steering column locations, With the pedals so far forward, I suspect a bell crank was used to tie front and rear brakes together and let the brakes have full adjustment.
Harry P. Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 That was my guess, too. Sounds logical, I'll go with that!
sjordan2 Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 There's a series of 4 to 5 shots beginning here that may give you just a little more to go on. http://web.me.com/gawingrove/Bentley_Build/Gallery_-28.html#7
sjordan2 Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Oh, that Wingrove... what a showoff! Hey, it earned him the Order of the British Empire. Maybe you could get the MCM Medal of Honor.
Art Anderson Posted July 1, 2011 Posted July 1, 2011 Harry, On most any car with mechanical brakes, the pedal (or for that matter, a hand brake lever as well) has a short pull rod that runs to a cross-shaft BEHIND the brake pedal itself, which in turn has bellcranks at its outer ends which pull on the brake rods which in turn pull on individual bellcranks at each wheel having a brake. Why so, you ask? Why not just connect the brake pedal directly to each brake rod--skip the pull rod? Simple answer really: The foot pedals of any car with the engine in front, mounted longitudally (fore and aft) for rear drive, are right alongside the bell housing, and in order to have some sort of cross shaft in that place would mean its having to be formed around the bell housing, which would make it flex even more than a straight (or nearly straight) one would; and in fact, mechanical brake cross shafts do "twist" a little bit under hard braking, which does make mechanical brakes very difficult to set up properly for equal braking side-side (anyone who's ever worked on a Model A Ford (or for that matter, any Ford with mechanical brakes from 1928-38) knows what I am talking about here. As for hydraulic brakes, even though Lockheed developed the first hydraulic brake system in 1919-20 with Duesenberg becoming the first carmaker to offer them in 1921, acceptance was anything but rapid. The first major carmaker to offer hydraulics was Chrysler, beginning in 1924, but the rest of the industry took another 10-15 years to adopt them. There was a lot of distrust in the marketplace for years of anything hydraulic, squirting a fluid through flexible hoses was something adults of that era had a hard time getting their heads around the concept. Art
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