ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD II
RUN BY Martin Buckley OWNED SINCE August 2016 PREVIOUS REPORT September
We had good use of the Cloud over the summer, but had another occurrence of the dreaded fuel evaporation in the most embarrassing of circumstances. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t use it for another school-prom outing because they are an absurd affectation, but I couldn’t say no to this one.
Having collected a gaggle of schoolgirls, we sat ticking over in the queue outside the school on a really warm evening for a good half an hour (or possibly 40 minutes). There were no signs of the coolant overheating, but towards the end, there was a marked feeling that the engine was struggling. I should have switched it off, but I had a hunch the resultant heat soak might aggravate the situation.
It kept running until the moment we were supposed to emerge onto the forecourt and sweep around to the school entrance, at which point the engine coughed and died. It flatly refused to restart in front of several hundred jeering onlookers and had to be pushed into position where the horrified teenage occupants decamped. Ten minutes later it had cooled down and all was well, but I knew it was time to get the modification organised with Ray Hillier at specialist Hillier Hill.
This involves dismantling the carburettors to expose the inlet manifold and fitting a smaller replacement float chamber, which allows a greater quantity of fuel into the filter bowl, thus reducing the possibility of vaporisation caused by volatile modern fuels.
Modified throttlebody dowels are then fitted, along with a new riser gasket. With the carbs reassembled, Ray was able to measure the engine temperatures at various points: 85ºc at the thermostat housing, 70º at the inlet manifold, 46º at the throttle housing above the new riser gasket, and 58º at the float chambers.
There is no discernible difference in the way the car drives, so hopefully I now need to have no fear of sitting in traffic jams.
On the way back from Hillier Hill I was vaguely aware of having an Audi attached to my bumper. On the final leg of the journey my suspicions were confirmed by a man in an A6 estate. I was doing 70mph in the outside lane, going past everything, but he was suddenly trying to get into my boot, lights flashing aggressively.
Had he not flashed his lights I’d have moved over; instead I doubled down and prepared to let my feelings be known at the top of the hill. I don’t think he expected to see those hand gestures coming from a Rolls (Mia wouldn’t wind down her window for fear I was going to dive through it). All very silly.