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MG MG Y Type - Drooping door handles

I recently visited the Schlumph collection in Mulhouse and noticed these cars all had drooping door handles, and wondered if we shouldent worry about it. If its good enough for a Bugatti Royal then its OK!

If anyone intends to visit the museum check first that they are not holding a wine and cheese festival. Its fine if that's your pleasure but the exhibits were obscured by the hundred or so stalls and crowds of people. I dont like French cheese anyway - give me a chunk of west country mature chedder.

B Mellem

Royal

B Mellem

Merc

B Mellem

It's just normal wear - you have to live with it or completely rebuild the door opening mechanism I would imagine. With the weight of the handle any 'slack' shows up.
D MULLEN

Brian, I corrected two of my droopy handles in different ways, but one would probably not be approved by Neil so he is not to read this.
One I took apart and made new shaped plates where the originals were worn, and the other I took the handle out and held it in a vice and heated it into submission with a butane torch and then gave it a slight twist in the appropriate place so that when back in it appeared level.Twist it the right way though, and gently, and don't tell Neil!
T Gardner

Im sorry Mr Gardner I cant place your name. In correcting the droop I assume in order to twist the shafts you heated them to a dull red, did you fit a heat sink to prevent the handles from becoming too hot? I ask this because I think they have a rather low melting point and could suddenly fall off! I had a rather distressing experience when I tried to reset a door hinge angle on my 105e Anglebox by heating it. Although I tried to heat it slowly it quite suddenly went a funny shape, and that was that! Bryan
B Mellem

Bryan,
I was Y Register Secretary until last AGM, Ted Gardner.
I put heat sink putty around the handle where it joins the shaft but I don't remember what colour I got it to because I held an adjustable spanner on the flats of the shaft with a gentle pressure and it turned when it felt like it. Only about 10 or 15 degrees. No ghastly melting problems but I did have a spare.
T Gardner

Just for those who are interested in railways visiting the Alsace Region and the Schlumph collection, one can buy a combined ticket for the national railway museum where the famous Bugatti rail car powered by a set of Royal engines is on display. The French know a thing or two about fast trains and certainly Andre Chapelon did!

B Mellem

For the last four months, a firm of Canadian engineers have been feverishly studying the "drooping handle" syndrome and are on their way to Stockholm in order to claim the 2010 Nobel prize in physics. Here are their findings: http://www.vaq.qc.ca/OLD/vaq/DroopingHandle.doc

I've had to hand-make a new "rotating steel part" because mine had simply broken off. Upon reassembly, I noticed that the handle wasn't drooping any more! When comparing my old and my new parts, I discovered that the only difference was that the old part had developped a "flat spot" which perfectly explained the droop.

He who re-manufactures this "rotating steel part" will know great fortune and his name will be pronounced in reverence for centuries.
Gilles Bachand

That looks like the perfect place to apply an AFC (Anti Friction Coating) which would replace grease forever. Molykote G-N Paste would be the easiest one to obtain and apply.
S.R. Barrow

This thread was discussed between 30/09/2009 and 22/02/2010

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