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Hello all,

 

Below are some photos of the frame-to-inner-shell spacers pulled from my Doretti during stripdown. I mentioned in an earlier post that some of them were heavily corroded; you can see in the photos the effects of the aluminum spacers reacting with the steel components they were sandwiched between.

 

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I also said earlier that I thought the spacers were rather crudely formed. Looking at them again, I might not say that as strongly, but they do not seem to be all that carefully machined. The close-up of the large spacer shows what I mean. Thoughts anyone? Do these look like the parts that have come out of other Dorettis?

 

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And here's a pic of #1092 as of last weekend. The bright orange stains on the front of the chassis are rust marks from the coolant: it contained no antifreeze, only water, and as a consequence there is an awful lot of rusty goo in the cooling passages of the engine. (The engine's to the left of the photo, on the dolly.) I do not intend to rebuild the engine right away-- I want to see if my Daimler V8 idea will pan out first-- but when I do finally get it apart I will be curious to see what the effects of that corrosion might be.

 

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Regards,

Vittorio

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I love the Doretti, but this is the first I have seen in restoration and appreciate your efforts. However saying that if they are alluminium I wouldnt be surprised to see origonal parts deteriorate to that condition.

 

Tyres look good...

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Hi Vittorio,

 

Doretti spacers do seem to have varied between cars. That's not entirely surprising . . . .

 

The UK suffered from a dire shortage of steel, all metals in fact, through the immediate post-WW2 years. Even by 1954 sheet metals were still in relatively short supply. Every manufacturer made the most of what was available to him. So I guess that unseen components like spacers, especially when required in small quantity, would be made up from what was available to hand.

 

In an ideal world, one would not wish to use aluminium spacers between a steel body and chassis - there may not have been a convenient alternative at the time.

 

You have previously commented on the apparent crudity of these spacers, if I recall correctly ? Corrosion has taken a significant toll, combined no doubt with at least some movement between body and chassis on occasion. What now looks like a pretty coarse item was probably originally a respectable-looking piece of handmade kit ! And yes, they do look like they belong.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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