Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

So Sisler did pony up and pay for the new Isky 102-A cam and '52 Olds valve springs...

I was told that Iskenderian early cams were all regrinds and that he preferred '32 Ford cams since he felt Ford used superior forged cam blanks instead of cast blanks after '32. That's why the bearings were .010" undersized. You guys would probably know better though.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1616628211
That is one neat 1952 Allard Roadster.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1617326290
Similar model Allard Roadster

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Forgot about this series of correspondence so the scans are a little out of order. This is to Stevens Motors Inc. in '54 and early '55.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Rotated some pages for you.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Thanks much!

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

No problem PM me on any others you want edited.


Glenn

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

One question: Does this car still have the "split" front axle, If so. Does it have Camber limiters installed. Might be a good safty thing??
Gramps

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Great question Ol'Ron. Yes - all the production Allards that I'm aware of up to the K3 and I think the JR model had the split axel front suspension. I know that seems really weird but Sidney Allards roots went back to hill climbs and rough roads of England. If you wanted a lot of suspension travel and didn't have lots of dollars to spend, that's the way to accomplish the task. For a more modern equivalent to this style of suspension think Ford truck twin I beam suspension. Basically the same thing but a little better execution with the Ford.
My car does have arrester straps although they need to be replaced. Believe it or not, I do have the document where Sisler requests them from Allard in England - attached.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Back to the Ardun engine story...
Sisler had all of the parts to get running in early '55, not sure exactly what he did about the valve guides (maybe C&T but he didn't save a receipt), he got the cam and valve springs from Isky, got his new oil spray bar from Stephens, and a few missing odds and ends directly from Allard.
Then apparently there was an incident. Sisler talks about a fire ruining the carburetors and manifolds in this note so needed new carburetors, fuel supply, linkages, etc. for the upcoming race season. Sisler also mentioned wanting a quote for the parts from Stephens in the last batch of letters so assuming this was also related to the fire and racing season drawing near. He did have an MG TC but the Allard was a big upgrade in performance with over 3X the power and not that much more weight so I'm sure he missed it and was eager to get back on the track.

(Looking at the car now, it has a little bubbling of paint on the bottom side of the hood but no other real damage related to fire so any damage from the fire must have been very contained.)

After Sisler ordered replacement parts from England, the correspondence goes quiet for the summer of '55 so assuming he did finally get it running at least satisfactorily enough.

Note: I have to take a break in posts for next week because of a business trip and won't be able to scan anything but some good upgrades to the Ardun coming in late '55 and '56 so stay tuned if interested.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

I'm using this suspension system in a 27 T track roadster. I know it was very popular in Europe back in the 30s/40s. However had a tendency to flip the car if the wheel tucked under. I knew of one of these Allards back in Connecticut, It had an olds engine at the time, not sure if it was original. I questioned the the use of this type of suspension as I'd never seen one before. Since I found out they worked very back in the day. I like to try thing that are different, might work. Thanks.
Ol' Ron

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Hi Ron,
I wish you the best of luck with your independent front suspension modification. Here's a little help from Allard... One thing that you may have already noticed is that you will want to split your center link too as the distance between the steering arms will change as the suspension flexes.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

I haven't ever had my car driving at any sort of speed so not sure how it handles but if you look through old racing records, the Allard J2 and some of the other Allard variations which all have the same or very close chassis and front suspension as the K2 was highly rated in competitions, oftentimes at the head of the pack with Jaguar and Italian sports cars and others. Somehow those guys were able to make the suspension work.
One thing that the J2's had was an independent rear suspension which was ahead of its time so that probably helped.

When I bought my car, I was a bit nervous about the front suspension knowing about the problems that the Corvair and Porsche 356's had. Here's an example of a rear suspension without something to limit wheel travel.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-pr...r-1-tatra-t87/

Here's the video:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/...atch_permalink

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Back to the Ardun rebuild story. Sisler (original owner of my car) was pretty quiet through the summer of '55 although did still have some troubles. Here are a couple of notes to C-T. When Clem TeBow is saying how they made the Ardun work by using Ford water pump bushings for the rocker arms, you can really see why those guys were the ones to make the Ardun show it's stuff.
And, Sisler is trying to work C-T for every little scrap of information he can in the next letter.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Welcome back,

Regarding the swing axle rolling under, the Porsche RKS used a low pivot, rear axle, to stop most of it. They did very well with that arrangement, it in the 50's and 60's.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Sisler must have had the engine running in '55 but after racing season is over, the wheels are turning in his mind. Here he's trying to upgrade induction and fuel systems...

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

I'm very surprised that Dean Moon would recommend something like that.

To begin with the Hilborn system, requires, at least 3 lines, from the tank. Feed, Pill and bypass. You'd have to plumb the injector side, back into the bypass while running the carb. The switch would take a lot of time, you also have to prime the injectors to start (hard to do with the hood on) and they don't run well at low speed (as he says) if, jetted for high speed. Not to mention the price, it would be close to $3k, in today's dollars. I do think it would well worth it, for a towed, full time race car.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

frnkeore - you are right. It would have been a pain in the butt to switch between the two systems.
Not sure if Sisler did swap back and forth but he definitely went for the Hilborn Fuel Injection system. Of course that wasn't as simple as I'm sure it was described to him in letters and over the phone. You can see on the last page, Sisler is mentioning that the fuel injection pump pulley isn't lining up with the water pump pulleys so trying to work through that issue.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Thanks for sharing. Can't imagine relying on ordering parts from a foreign country by mail for a limited build motor. Especially with apparently just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Re: Rebuilding an Ardun OHV 1954 - 1956
 

Uhh. What?