Graham Brierley's 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre

 

"I have just replaced all of the lights with some new ones made by VHR is Sheffield. Their work is amazingly good and you cannot tell the difference between them and the originals. I now have all LED bulbs and the Lucas P100 headlights have front facing bulbs, as opposed to the original rear facing ones which are superb and I can actually see something in the dark at speed! I didn't want to fit the standard spot lights, as I don't like that look, although it would have cost a few thousand pounds less!

 

 

 

The fuel tank had been leaking and is now fully reconditioned and re lined. At the same time I had the Autovac reconditioned, the chassis shackles replaced for correct ones, which have all been rebushed. The wheel weights are now the correct ones. The rear axle has been fully reconditioned with a whole new differential, pinion and crown wheel fitted.

 

In 2018 the dynamo was rewound with a longer armature and twin brushes, which now creates over 13 Amps charge, at sensible RPM. It also has a modern voltage cut off fitted, so no need for the dynamo switch any more.

 

I have a paralysed leg and so use a clutch actuator, which is an electric system that pulls the clutch pedal down. This is controlled by a potentiometer switch on the gear knob giving full control of the clutch pedal position. Due to this I was keen to get a reliable charging system and opted for the original dynamo, pimped up, over the alternator.

 

The engine has been fully rebuilt in 2016 by William Medcalf using balanced crank and shell bearings, all of the internal components have been replaced for new. Too many of the parts were either worn or had cracks in them and whilst Stanley Mann stated that the top end had been rebuilt it was very tired. The magnetos were both restored in 2016.

 

A new overdrive was fitted in 2017."