“Still working through the lesser know bits of the Sprites, and Sebring Sprites. These are;
- As previously related, I’m still trying to work out the Girling 64067580 slave cylinder arrangement. I suspect the Girling slave cylinder came about as part of a package deal from Girling, hence the use of the 8” Girling rear drum brakes, rather than the Lockheed 8” drum from the Wolseley. Reading Brian Moylan’s work, “Anatomy of the Works Mini” and his discussion of the Lucas reps onsite while the cars were being built suggests to me that it might have been a case of giving basic specifications and parameters to the vendor and letting their people sort out the details. It would be interesting to go through some of Geoff’s work papers to see how he addressed this sort of issue.
2. Two-speed wiper motor, as described by John Sprinzel in Modified Motoring et al. I’ve gotten one installed, in the red standard-bodied Sebring Sprite, using a two-speed Lucas DR-3A. I’d like to convert a Lucas DR2 75213 to two-speed operation by including an overwinding, rather than a resister. I thought I had located the specification of the correct nichrome wire and number of turns, but seem to have misplaced it. We do have the wiring and switch issue sorted for the two-speed wipers, so only a matter of getting the motors built/modified. I’m also working on the early Sprite wiper motors with the “domed” style parking brake switch housing for two of the early 1958 cars. Mostly a matter of sorting out which bits and pieces we have put together one or two. The gear assemblies with the correct sweep arc (degree) for the Sprite are getting harder to find, so we may have to watch the YouTube videos to learn how to change the sweep arc.
3. Lucas C40 generator with RB310 control box, as used on the 1959 Sebring Cars. Still looking for the rather distinct tachometer drive used on Sutherland car (see attached). I’ve located a somewhat similar unit used on agricultural equipment, but have not yet determined the ratio. I’ve also been referred to pictures of a power steering pump drive off the aft end of the generator as a possibility. The combination of right angle tachometer drive and double bearing generator seems to be somewhat unique. The double bearing competition generator referred to in Modified Motors as a Lucas 22290 is still being researched. I did note that John Sprinzel had included the wiring steps necessary to convert from the 5 terminal RB106/2 control box to the 3 terminal RB310 control box in Chapter 5 of “Modified Motoring”.
4. John Sydney Limited “Trafalgar” windscreen washer system, as noted in Service Parts list AKD829. Quite similar to the Trafalgar system used on the BN6, with reservoir, pump jet et al being same BMC part numbers. I’ve never seen the Trafalgar system on a Sprite, nor pictures of one, much less with a glass reservoir. The later 5th ED of AKD829 shows the part number for the glass reservoir, 17H579, as not available with plastic 37H9798 being the replacement. I have found a couple of the 37H9798, so we’ll try to build a couple of these Trafalgar systems for the early 1958 cars. One feature that I do have photos of are the single jet, rather than twin jet of Tudor system.
Best regards, Ken Grasing”
