Towcester Classic Cars

Towcester Classic Cars Welcome to Towcester Classic Cars Ltd - helping to keep vintage and classic cars on the road We work on cars, vans, pick-ups, light commercials and 4x4s.

At Towcester Classic Cars we provide a full range of automotive engineering repair services using traditional skills and expertise combined with modern diagnostic equipment. We are able to restore, repair and maintain vehicles of all marques and ages from pre 1900 to current models. Typical work projects include: engine overhauls, gearbox and axle rebuilding, electrical fault finding / diagnostic

work, wheel alignment, suspension rebuilding, brake overhauls, ignition / carburettor tuning, cylinder head skimming / rebuilding, bare chassis restorations. Our workshop is located in Greens Norton, a village on the North edge of Towcester about a mile from the intersection of the A5 and A43.

A car in for repair from one of our younger customers
12/06/2025

A car in for repair from one of our younger customers

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day to embark on the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The temperature was very mild ...
07/11/2023

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day to embark on the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The temperature was very mild for November and no rain was a blessing. Our little 6hp De Dion Bouton travelled the whole 60 miles without missing a beat. The only minor set back was the fracture of a lamp bracket resulting in one of the brass lamps being damaged, but it was recovered and is repairable. Our newly fabricated fuel tank worked perfectly, holding enough fuel to complete the whole journey without the need for re-fuelling. The attached picture shows Sam and Steve as they arrive at the finish post in Brighton, to collect their well earned cup of tea and bowl of stew.

Interesting project this week to replace a cam sensor on a VW 'BKD' engine. This engine is fitted to a lot of VW, Audi,...
13/10/2023

Interesting project this week to replace a cam sensor on a VW 'BKD' engine. This engine is fitted to a lot of VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat cars. It is the 16 valve twin cam version of the pumpeduse engine. Unfortunately VW have not made it easy to replace this sensor if it fails. The following photos show the process we went throught. Previous work involved checking for +5v and 0v at the sensor plug to identify that the fault wasn't a wiring issue.

Stromberg carburettors were fitted to many classic cars of the 1960s and 1970s. Some of these carburettors had fixed je...
01/09/2023

Stromberg carburettors were fitted to many classic cars of the 1960s and 1970s. Some of these carburettors had fixed jets with adjustable needles (like the one shown in these photos). It is important, when overhauling these carburettors, that the fixed jet is located accurately to the correct depth. The Jet or***ce has a shoulder around it which is 0.6mm (0.023") higher than the or***ce. The spec for the depth of the or***ce is 2.7mm (0.106"). As it is important not to press on the or***ce itself, due to the risk of damage, the press tool must contact only the shoulder. The shoulder must be pressed to a depth of 2.1mm (0.083"). The press tool here was made with a suitably sized nose (0.083" long) so all that was necessary was to press the jet in until the step on the press tool contacted the alloy body of the carburettor. You will notice also in the photographs a support was machined to locate the lower boss of the carburettor, to avoid any damage and hold the carburettor squarely on the press plate.

A Rover P6 came in low on power. After removing the air cleaner to view how the SU carburettor responded to throttle mo...
01/09/2023

A Rover P6 came in low on power. After removing the air cleaner to view how the SU carburettor responded to throttle movement I found this. Instead of replacing the air filter gasket, a previous repairer had been a little too generous with silicone sealant. Both air holes, allowing atmospheric pressure to the lower surface of the carburettor piston, had been completely closed off.

The Ford 1.8 tdci diesel engine was previously fitted with a small chain, inside the engine, driving the fuel injection ...
16/07/2023

The Ford 1.8 tdci diesel engine was previously fitted with a small chain, inside the engine, driving the fuel injection pump and a short cambelt, outside the engine, transmitting the drive from the injection pump to the camshaft. This all worked very well and the short cambelt only required changing at 100,000 mile intervals. On later versions of this engine, the internal chain was replaced by a belt inside the engine, running in oil. This resulted in engines having the external cambelt replaced when required, not realising that the internal cambelt also required replacement. The end result is failure of the internal belt leading to damaged valves as the pistons collide with them. The photos below show exactly the consequences of the internal belt failure. In this engine, all four exhaust valve stems were seriously buckled and required replacement. The valve seats were bruised and required dressing. The piston crowns suffered some damage but this was well inboard of the ring pack and so should not have trapped the rings. The damage was only to the lip of the torroidal combustion chamber and after examining for cracks it was decided not to replace the pistons as this would have made the repair un-economic. With new valves fitted, new cambelts (inside and outside) and all relevent gaskets and seals replaced along with an oil change, the engine now runs beautifully.

Battery charging is very important on a vehicle if you want any of the electrical equipment to continue working. This is...
11/07/2023

Battery charging is very important on a vehicle if you want any of the electrical equipment to continue working. This is provided on a modern vehicle by the alternator. On older vehicles, the dynamo is used to perform the charging function. This particular 1931 Austin 7 was not charging the battery properly and could only keep up if no lights were used. A simple test, linking the dynamo field terminal to the output terminal, showed the charging rate still to be low and so the culprit was the dynamo itself and not the regulator unit. The dynamo was removed and dismantled for testing. The photos showed the commutator to be in good condition. Each of the armature windings was tested to ensure continuity of the windings and insulation from the iron core. Similarly, the field windings were teted for continuity and resistance as well as insulation from the dynamo body. All looked good and so why the low output? The problem was eventually traced when re-assembling the dynamo. The two field windings were connected with a soldered joint exactly where the through bolts pass. This effectively shorted one of the field windings to the casing and so the dynamo was operating with only one field winding working. Repairing this insulation restored the dyanmo to full performance once again.

An interesting job recently completed on a Nissan Navara D40. The photos show the vehicle as it was received (delivered...
09/07/2023

An interesting job recently completed on a Nissan Navara D40. The photos show the vehicle as it was received (delivered by a recovery truck). The rear wheel bearing has failed which allowed the wheel, complete with brake drum and half shaft, to drift outwards. This left the driver with no footbrake, no handbrake and no engine braking. What is more concerning is that this truck has a 'single' taper roller bearing acting as a wheel bearing. It has only the smallest of flanges on the outer bearing race, to hold the rollers in place. This particular truck carries quite a heavy load and so the lateral force on the taper roller bearing is high. I cannot understand why a pair of taper roller bearings has not been used on this truck, or at least a pair of angular contact ball bearings. This is clearly a serious design issue, where failure of a single component results in no means of slowing the vehicle.

We have just completed an interesting project on a Jaguar e-type series 1 with a noisy gearbox. There were the usual po...
30/03/2023

We have just completed an interesting project on a Jaguar e-type series 1 with a noisy gearbox. There were the usual points of wear to attend to (gear teeth, layshaft, needle rollers, front and rear bearings) and some difficulty in obtaining replacement parts. This meant using some 'used' parts for the rebuild. Jaguar gearboxes have many variations of gear ratios and so when replacing the cluster gear it is necessary to check the ratio of each gear and ensure the individual gears match the cluster being used. A further peculiarity with Jaguar gearboxes is that they use helical gears with different angles. This means that not all gears can be meshed together, even if they have the correct number of teeth. In this particular gearbox this difference is identified by the central groove seen on the gears in the photos. When obtaining gears from different sources it is essential to ensure they all have the same helix angle. Photos show extensive tooth wear on first gear and also layshaft wear.

Finished switch brackets
31/07/2022

Finished switch brackets

31/07/2022

Both brackets for switch stalks finished and installed on the dash panel.

Address

Blacksmiths Yd, High Street, Greens Norton
Towcester
NN128BA

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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