26 Feb Spanner Works: Wentsley Wicomb

A regular feature, outlining the activities of FMM’s workshop personnel who are responsible for repairing, renovating, refurbishing and restoring the museum’s large and varied collection of vehicles. This month, technician JP du Plessis reports on Wentsley going on a Roller…

The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was first introduced in 1965 to replace the ageing Silver Cloud III. It was the first model of this prestigious manufacturer to utilise the monocoque body and chassis construction method. With the Silver Shadow having been produced from 1965 to 1980, the museum’s 1972 example – it turns 50 this year – falls pretty much in the middle of the production run. It also boasts the updated 6,75-litre V8, coupled with a sublime, column-shift, three-speed automatic transmission. After a recent trip, it was found that the Roller’s water pump had failed, leaking coolant through and out of the system. Wenstley Wicomb was tasked with the repair job, and he straightaway started carefully disassembling the relevant parts.

First, he had to remove the radiator header tank. Then, there were a few auxiliary v-belts, along with the water pump belt, that had to be removed. With these out of the way, the water pump could be removed and was sent away to be refurbished. While the pump was removed, Wenstley flushed and cleaned out the radiator and header tank to ensure that no dirt was left behind in the system.

After returning from the water pump specialist, a new gasket was made and the pump was refitted to the engine with new hoses. Then all the v-belts were re-installed, along with the header tank and its hose connection. The system was then filled with coolant and left to stand a while to make sure there were no visible leaks.

With everything back in place, the car was started and left to idle to ensure the coolant was cycling through the engine properly, and to ‘burp out’ any air that may have been trapped in the system.  The final act was for Wentsley to test drive the Rolls, after which he came back with a big smile and a thumbs-up. All temperatures were staying normal and there was no more coolant leak.