Hi all T fanatics out there. Can anybody help me to identify the missing part (probably a blade spring) to open and close the vent door of my 22 Lamco bodied speedster.
I can e-mail pictures as the site max. limit is only 200Kbytes .
Any tips to fix it are welcome.
Many thanks upfront.
Paul
Paul
That body you have is very rare. Few of the forum members would be able to help without pictures.
Sent you a PM, you can email your pictures to me and will place them here re-sized.
Paul H,
Yes, pictures may help trigger some ideas. However, this is probably something that will require getting very creative. Depending upon what you have remaining of the vent assembly? You will likely need to reverse engineer the thing and figure out what is missing. Then design and make the pieces to fit.
Special springs can usually be made out of common available springs. Sometimes heat is required for some bends. Sometimes the heat ruins the spring metal and you will have to start over. Except for tight hooks on one end or the other, usually bending a spring wire cold will work.
A thought, or question I have. Would you want a "blade spring" on that vent? It would tend to force the vent either open or closed all the time. Perhaps you need a cone shaped spring between the vent parts (frame/mount and door) to reduce vibration so that the vent door will stay where you want it. A cone shaped spring would allow four or five full turns for tension, yet press flat between the vent parts.
Good luck!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
Here are the pictures that Paul has of the cowl vent in the Limaco speedster.
(Note, added this photo of print to show the Limaco body style and the cowl vent location.)
You can see the remains of what held the lid closed, guess too that it is some sort of ribbon spring.
Only have knowledge of the '26-'27 cowl gas tank door, it uses a ribbon spring to hold the door shut.
Perhaps some one talented in design could sketch up something to help Paul ?
Not like an Ames vent at all. Which is what I had pictured in my mind.
I haven't been able yet to reconcile the two spring brackets (?). The one on the door may have allowed a ribbon spring to slide through it? The one on the frame part. Is it spring metal? Are the ends complete, or has part of it broken off? Could there have been a small slot on the end of that piece that a spring may have slid through?
The best thing of course would be hopefully someone with a complete door could post a few photos. I can't help much there, I have never seen a vent door quite like that one.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
Recommend you try to locate some Lamco body owners. For example at the posting at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/184504.html?1295644611 Tim Morsher commented in 2011 that he had a Lamaco speedster. A few photos of an original set up, if they were the same, would really make it easier. Tim's profile is located at:
http://www.mtfca.com/cgi-bin/discus/board-profile.cgi?action=view_profile&profil e=tmorsher-users You can use that to send him a Private Message via the link at the bottom of that form.
One thought that may or may not help, is to check and see if a patent was filed for the Lamaco body. I have seen some of the patent drawings for the Mercury body but I don't recall if they went into that small of a detail. If one of the folks on the forum that is really good at locating the patents could provide a link -- it might or might not help solve the puzzle.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off