prewar riley restoration

Finer Details – Rebuilding the 1905 Riley 9HP Rear Differential and Swing Arm

The 1905 Riley 9HP has had its rear differential and suspension pulled off the chassis to be moved to the workbench for the Bridge Classic Cars workshop to rebuild/refresh.

After testing last week, the team pulled the pieces from the chassis to pull apart and rebuild. The rear differential has had new ball bearings and races put in and everything cleaned up and regreased. The rear swing arms were also pulled out to be inspected and the mounting holes redrilled and cleaned for the new shackle bolts to slip through with no binding.

Finally, the team have been working on the spark plugs for the car and inspecting the correct gaps and spacing on the new adapter.

Test Fit – Testing the Fit of the Rear Axle on the 1905 Riley 9HP

The workshop team at Bridge Classic Cars have begun the process of test fitting and aligning the original rear axle into the chassis of the 1905 Riley 9HP.

Dave, one of our technicians, has been trying to get the shackles around the axle in order to test fit the mounts to the trailing arms. The shackle bolts which came with the car are believed by dave to be replacement pieces as they are of a different style and size to the single original which came with the hoards of spare parts.

But, the team have managed to get everything into place to test the operation of the chain driven rear differential.

Recreating the Past – Removing and Inspecting the Original Seat from the 1905 Riley 9HP

The Bridge Classic Cars in-house trim shop has begun the process of carefully taking apart the original interior of the 1905 Riley 9HP in order to recreate and understand the car better.

The original leather was brittle and stiff, so Brian carefully began to remove the trim pieces in order to best remove it from the car as complete as possible to use as a reference when it comes to making the new piece. Each item that has come off the car has been meticulously catalogued and stored for the restoration project even the original springs and hessian backing of the seat and all the hardware.

This is a very exciting part of the project and we’re excited to show you more progress on the 1905 Riley 9HP soon here on the Bridge Classic Cars news page.