• The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump
• There was severe vibration on braking
• Front suspension was worn
• Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor running and smoke at idle
• The gearchange mechanism would occasionally get ‘stuck’
• The gearbox had a bad oil leak

All the work on the car for these jobs was done by Jason at Pallas Motors.  I was able to source all the parts I needed from CCOCA, which makes keeping an older car like the traction on the road much easier.

The traction was originally fitted with a mechanical fuel pump that is driven by the engine.  For one reason or another this had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump.   These are often fitted because starting can be hard with the mechanical pump, but the pump is fitted with a primer lever to pump additional fuel up the carby if the car has been sitting for a while.

The gear change rods linkages were fairly worn and these were tightened up to improve the gear change as well.

The vibration on braking turned out to be number of factors.   The front suspension was fairly worn and was partially rebuilt with upgraded upper control arm bushings.   These are uprated units that can use rubber bushings instead of the original brass.    In addition, adjustable ball joints were fitted.   The originals require shims to set up.

The next thing that was contributing to the vibration turned out to be a bent wheel.   Luckily the spare was very good so this was changed.

Finally, the valves were adjusted which fixed the low compression on #2 and the gearbox removed and new output shaft seals fitted.   This seems to have fixed the gearbox oil leak.

All in all the Traction is starting to drive as well as it looks.   Its not perfect, but its a hell of a lot better than it was before this work was done.

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I also found the access to the fuel tank sender is in the boot under a little plate – and quite easy to get to.   Something for the future.

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The car was running nicely, so I don’t think the fragile Traction gearbox has given up.  My assumption is that the problem is to do with the gear linkages or clutch, but I am n0t sure.

I had to wait nearly two hours at a fairly busy intersection for a tow.   It was interesting to see the cars that were attentive to see my waving people around me – since the Traction does not have hazard lights.   From two hours and a few hundred cars, by far the most inattentive drivers are P platers and drivers of large SUVs.   SUV drivers were always the ones that got so close they had to reverse to get around me.

Since it was late Monday night, I had the car towed back to the garage, and I’ll need to work out how to get it going again from there.   It might need to be towed to a proper workshop.

The other thing I did today was extend the overflow tube from the radiator so it did not coat the inside of the engine bay.

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