New 403 owner

[GREG]

Hal

We are having a meeting at the Bridge Inn at Walshford near Wetherby on the 10 /11th of April. There will be a talk on Bristols on the 10th and a run on the 11th around the Dales. I think it could be good for you to see the cars and meet a few blokes that have restored them.

Let me know if you want more info

Greg

[Hal]

Des,

I agree that it does have a quite nice patina. But i don't think that i'll be able to keep it as is, because of all the aluminium thats reacted and turned into a white powdery substance.

I was thinking that i should strip the car, remove it from the chassis, and then have the body soda blasted, and the chassis shotblasted.

This should allow me to see what corrosion there is on the chassis and steel parts on the body and come up with a plan to have repaired.

The alfa sounds nice. What about BMW's to keep lets say a genetic link to the design, distant cousins let say, but cousins non the less.

If i ever get to start and finish this project, i think that its a car i would like to use on a regular basis, in the sun and in the rain.

Cheers
Hal

[Max Tone]

Hi Hal,

You might like to consider the 3-litre Humber Super Snipe/Imperial engine as it has several historical connections with Bristol.

It was developed, maybe jointly, with Armstrong-Siddeley Motors as a development of their Sapphire 3.4 hemi-headed straight six.

Several racing versions of the 346 engine were built c. 1953, producing c. 190bhp with iron head & twin Zenith single-choke sidedraughts or c. 230bhp with alloy head & triple Webers.

Two engines went to Allard for Tommy Sopwith's "Sphinx Allard" and two were allocated to Frazer-Nash for 550F Le Mans Prototype. AC were also approached, but declined.

These engines were developed for the AS Hunter sports car project that might have been an XK-beater, but was shelved.

When Hawker-Siddeley & Bristol Aero bit merged to become Bristol-Siddeley at about same time that car division were looking to cease production of BMW derived engine in favour of more powerful off-the-shelf lump, they found themselves with an alternative engine in-house.

It is believed that Bristol took 4 Star Sapphire 4-litre engines + auto boxes for fitment in prototype 407s, of which one is known to survive. One engine was also fitted in "Project 240 mule", but proved far too heavy & messed up the handling. I'm pretty sure this car was the "Bullet" on which the Blenheim Speedster was based, as it is known to have been used to test various engines, as well as being light enough to have handling affected by big lump (& Star engine was extra heavy)

Its descendant Humber engine was much lighter, with shorter, lower block & thinner castings, but just as tuneable. There's a racing Sapphire 346 in Northern Ireland & no apparent problems with unleaded without hardened valve-seat inserts in iron head.

There are rusting Humber hulks all over the place, in danger of being weighed in for scrap...........................

Good luck,

Rob

[Hal]

Originally Posted by Max Tone

,

You might like to consider the 3-
There are rusting Humber hulks all over the place, in danger of being weighed in for scrap...........................

Rob

Hi Rob,

That sounds like an interesting idea.

From a purist's point of view, would this swap be considered "accurate" and in keeping, and also how would it effect the value ?

Is the Humber lump a reliable unit ?

Thanks
Hal