Re: An Air Cleaner from a '33 - To Clean or Disassemble

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2014/8/3 11:10:25

Glad you got the air filter and carburetor squared away. It just amazes me how many folks have stripped the pivot screw for the accelerator pump (geez, be gentle with threads in pot metal and if it doesn't want to loosen and come out, try turning it the other way) and mount the lever upside down. Nice to have it fixed before any damage to the carburetor occurred.

Regards the Bijur, usually the physical piston pump itself never wears, after all it's immersed in clean oil it's entire life. But the felt inlet filter at the base should be cleaned. The automatic pump uses the variation in engine vacuum to operate the pump and as is common with such things, as with distributor vacuum advances, is that the rubber diaphragm fails. Easy to test with your mouth or a little vacuum pump and there are folks out there who can rebuild them if need be. When I had mine redone Bijur was still performing that service but they no longer do that work.

The other common finding with Bijur is that some of the drip plugs will no longer deliver oil - they also have a felt filter in them and sometimes just cleaning them does the trick. Also the passages internal within the shackle itself and the shackle bolts may be clogged. And be aware that there are several different shackle bolts with different internal oil passages and they are specific to specific locations - no telling what someone might have done in the past. Otherwise new ones are available from Bruce Blevins and others. Classic & Exotic also has Bijur parts. The network of lines can be disconnected both at the pump and at the drip plugs and then flushed with solvent to clean them. You might also physically check the lines for any breaks or pinched lines. It's a really odd size tubing but it is available.

If the Bijur is not functional I'd sure resist driving the car much as the wear on the spring bushings and shackle bolts, as well as the mechanical brake linkage and clutch throwout bearing (unless a sealed bearing has been installed) will be expensive to redo. If a sealed throwout bearing has been installed hopefully the installer remembered to block off the line. One thing you can do is disconnect the oil outlet from the Bijur pump and use a high pressure oiler like a Lincoln to force-feed oil thru the system, noting which Bijur drip plugs function and which don't. Friend Bill Robbins in Ephrata PA has just been thru a complete Bijur service and you might want to speak with him - he's doing a quite outstanding job of correcting many years of neglect (not to mention prior owner's butcher work) on a 34 1101, many of the same systems as your car. Bill is listed in the PAC Directory.