Armstrong Siddeley Motors: Minutes of the meeting held Thursday 25 November 1954...

Present: Mr WA Henley, Mr L Hurdley, Mr NE Bassett, Mr JR Denham. 1 3.4 litre Limousine 2 CHASSIS: Mr Bassett indicates that the necessary design and details have been prepared for the necessary parts for left-hand drive Sapphire fitted with automatic box and has handed these to Mr Hurdley. (a) Revised rear springing: The revised rear springing has already been agreed. it is understood, however, that we are committed to the present rear spring up to a total of 6,500 cars.(b) Bump stop rubber: An improved bump stop rubber is available and will be fitted to PHP 135 tomorrow, Friday 26 November. (c) Anti-rolls bar: Tests have been carried out at Lindley which were the subject of a report dated 4 November 1954. Following these it has been decided to obtain more experience as to any possible effects and as a consequence the rear anti-roll bar has been removed from mr Ashley's Sapphire and also from the Mark II demonstration car PRV 116. The other demonstration cars will have the bars removed as soon as they are available. (d) Disc brakes: The first set of disc brakes were fitted to mr Ashley's car and were ready for road testing on the 22 October and mr Ashley's comments on these are that he experiences what appears to be fluid fade and the Dunlop people are visiting the works this afternoon to investigate. (e) Crankcase: As laid out in the minutes dated 19 october, an engine with a serious vibration complaint was installed in the Silverstone car ORW 429. The vibration continued after installation to a very marked degree. A redesigned Crankshaft was fitted and it is estimated, removed approximately 90 per cent of the vibration. Continuing on this investigation a stiffened crank case was substituted which showed a still further improvement. (f) Water pumps: A number of complaints are received about noisy water pumps. (g) Improved silencer: (h) Improved air silencer. (i) Improved accelerator linkage. (j) New-style hand brake. (k) Improvement of the transmission between the gearbox and the rear axle. (l) Adjustable ride control shock absorbers. (m) Petrol injection. (n) Powered steering. (o) Independent suspension. (p) Front suspension lower link arms. Body (a) Windthrash. (b) Hydraulic operation for seat and window movement. (c) Dust proofing and water exclusion. (d) Shutting of the boot door. (e) Headlights. (f) Restyled steering wheel. (g) Sound proofing against engine stroke exhaust noise. (h) Improved seating to give lighter eight and more comfort. (i) Replacing existing fog lights by horns and grills and fitting the latest Lucas type lights to the front apron. (j) Complete air conditioning and rear demisters. (k) i) Rehanging front doors. ii) New door locks. iii) Alloy body panels. (l) Alteration to rear light. (m) Paint spotting. (o) General. Report on power steering and petrol injection