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Rolls Royce and Bentley Cars

Service related telephone number   281.448.4739 

Spare parts telephone number     281.448.5165   

Times of operation :  Mondays through Fridays  9:00 am-5:30 pm Central Standard Time

A link to our parts and services E-mail address >>> Rolls Royce & Bentley Parts USA<<<

 If you own, desire to own or are working with a Rolls Royce or Bentley automobile and enjoy learning about these cars, have a need for parts or service and this is your first visit to our website, you’re in for a treat as there is a lot of information here. If you're back for more, as we are always adding new material here and there, welcome back! Our website has been evolving about since the internet was opened to the public.  We frequently add new photos and material, there and here, seemingly randomly but not necessarily seamlessly as interesting work moves through our workshops or as the notion strikes. We don’t track anyone visiting our website nor do we use popup ads, spy ware or any such thing so enjoy yourself. 

Where on the planet are we? Not where this photo was taken of a Bentley with a new winter coat of snow, sent to us by a friend that runs a wedding limo service in London. We are located in accessible and usually warm to very hot Houston, Texas in the same buildings that we have occupied since 1976 consistently offering spare parts, services, repairs and restoration for Rolls Royce and Bentley cars that were built primarily since 1955. There are pitiable people looking for 15 minutes of fame by fake flying balloons with children in them or crashing White House dinner parties and numerous politicians that fib about everything but most people are not like that. We are a genuine small business that quietly goes about our work of supplying parts and services so our clients worldwide can repair and keep driving the cars they enjoy. Our fame or reputation as such is based on the virtue of our talents, integrity and hard work developed during the last 34 years of active duty. This chapter of our website features many photographs of Bentley and Rolls Royce cars and parts of them with specific photos and commentary about restorative works we are or were engaged in. We explain about common misconceptions about Rolls Royce and Bentley such as what brake fluid is used in these cars and many other areas of interest to owners or would like to be owners of these fine automobiles. 

While we mostly supply new parts and a multifarious array of services for 1955-2009 Rolls Royce and Bentley cars, we also offer many parts and rebuilding services for pre-1955 models. For example we can supply new brake master cylinders, wheel cylinders, steering and suspension parts for Rolls Royce Silver Dawns, Bentley MK6 and R-Types. We supply new exhaust manifolds and exhaust systems. In other words, if we can supply parts for pre-55 cars we will as certain parts have a broader spread of applicability than others. However, we mostly deal with Rolls Royce parts for cars built since 1955 such as the James Young 2 door saloon, Silver Dawn, Silver Cloud, R-Type, Phantom, Corniche Convertible and Fixed head Coupe as well as Silver Shadow, Silver Wraith, Silver Spur, Silver Dawn, Silver Spirit and Silver Seraph. We supply parts for Bentley S1, S2, S3, Bentley T, Bentley Continental GT, Flying Spur, GTC, Mulsanne, Bentley 8, Arnage, Azure, Brooklands and Bentley Speed models. 

  Please keep in mind that we do not use a "shopping cart" for spare parts sales and our ever changing inventory is not listed on our website. Have you ever thought about how long it would take to list billions of  parts with only ten fingers? Call or e-mail us with your VIN for parts enquires and we will look up the bits and get back to you with cost and availability, it's that easy.

Here are photos of the new 2010 Bentley Mulsanne. We don't have parts for this one yet! 

Parts

  As we supply a great many parts and special fluids for these cars and the parts information was getting to long for this page, we created a new page specifically for parts. Henceforth all future photos and listings for parts will be in the new section. The parts listings are but a very few of the specific sorts of new parts we supply but we do want to give you a general idea of what we offer. Go here to look at a few of the specific Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer and please contact us for further information concerning acquiring whatever your desires are for your car. We ship just about anywhere.

Something New

Rolls Royce and Bentley cars built from the early 1980's  use radiators with plastic tanks. These tanks crack over time. As many of the various plastic tank radiators have been discontinued and are no longer available, we have decided to begin building new radiators with copper tanks and high efficiency matrixes as Rolls Royce used to do prior to the introduction of plastic radiators. Our radiators will last and can be repaired in the future as these cars can and many do have a very long run. Contact us with your VIN for information.

 Mechanical Minds

We cannot fix ALL the Rolls Royce and Bentley cars out there. Such a thing would take more energy and enthusiasm than even we can muster thus our firm enjoys working with Rolls Royce and Bentley dealers, independent shops, mechanics and car owners worldwide that also like working on these cars to keep them running as they were intended. We encourage brave shops in areas without a dedicated Rolls Royce and Bentley shop to not turn down an opportunity to service or repair a Rolls Royce or Bentley because they don't think parts are available or perhaps lack basic knowledge about these cars. The car owner needs someone to do the work and we are able to offer tips and guidance from our past experiences and can usually help with parts to get the tasks at hand accomplished.

Please have a look at our  Cars for Sale  section for Rolls Royce cars we have available. 

Let's say a decision has been reached to rebuild the suspension or hydraulic systems. As we have enjoyed working on so many of these cars for such a long time, once we know your intentions, we can make up comprehensive "parts kits" that will have the parts most commonly required so you don't have to diddle around and the work can be accomplished as quickly as your enthusiasm will allow. However, as all cars have parts that wear differently, we also supply parts less commonly used. Basically, we supply the same parts for your car as we do for our workshop. 

If a Rolls Royce or Bentley car should, perish the thought, "fail to proceed" or "proceed without grace" or "the car has taken a long nap and now has a hard time waking up", we can most likely provide graceful assistance. We work for Rolls Royce and Bentley enthusiasts and owners that reside all over the planet. We assist limousine companies with parts and services for maintaining and beautifying their fleets of Rolls Royce and Bentley wedding cars. 

Our Sport and Classic Car Company workshop often unties knots on cars or assemblies that may have experienced improper service or repairs that ended up costing an owner aggravation and ill-spent funds for an automotive experience that did little good for the car. We can and do sort out uncomfortable and unfinished automotive situations for owners worldwide. Give us a call, tell us the story and let's work together to get the project completed in a proper manner so the car can be enjoyed as it was intended to be. 

Rolls Royce and Bentley fuel injection and pumps

Concerning fuel injected Rolls Royce and Bentley cars such as very late Silver Shadow II, Silver Spur, Silver Spirit and Turbo R, the fuel distributors  are getting on in years and cause various running problems as they get clogged or deteriorate as a result of years of fuel and additives running through them. While new fuel distributors are no longer available from RR dealers, we have rebuilt units on the shelf and offer new injectors as well as all manner of fuel injection parts such as frequency valves, pressure regulators, accumulators, fuel pumps, special fuel hoses, fuel filters on and on. 

Here is a photo of one of our remanufactured fuel distributors. We offer these as exchange units off the shelf. 

This is the fuel pump used on all Silver Shadows up to around 1977 and we generally have them in stock. We also stock the 1977-1996 fuel pumps for all RR and Bentley cars. The original fuel pump for all Silver Cloud and Bentley S cars has a similar appearance to the Shadow pump but the center casting differs. We also supply parts used to rebuild these pumps but think they are a waste of time and money to try to do as the pumps are too old to be reliable and an unreliable fuel pump is like a unreliable heart. You can't replace your heart with a new one grown from your own DNA yet but you can replace your fuel pump with a new one. We also keep fuel pumps for all fuel injected Silver Shadow, Silver Spur and Silver Spirit as well as all Bentley models from 1946 to current models. 

Go here to look at some Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer.

Air Filters

 It's a dirty world out there. Plants like to live in dirt but engines don't and a car is not a banana plant so you surely don't want dirt in your expensive motor?

If your Silver Spur or similar vintage Bentley has an air filter that looks like this dirt packed filter,  your car has been neglected for far too long. A dirty air filter impedes the air flow into the engine resulting in poor performance and mileage. Look at how deeply the dirt has penetrated the filter media of this filter rendering it pretty much into an air dam as there is little flow. Sure, we have air filters for Silver Clouds and Shadows  as well. 

  A new circa mid eighties Rolls Royce Silver Spur air filter looks like this.  Replacing these filters is the same sort of service situation as your home a/c systems air filter. A heavily encrusted dirty air filter is not doing much other than serving as a air dam. Treat your car to a new air filter if its dirty and check your home filter for your lungs. Sure, we have air filters to fit every Rolls Royce and Bentley built since 1960. Previous to 1960, RR used an oil bath air filter design and these are to be cleaned and serviced.  

A link to our E-mail address >>> Rolls Royce & Bentley Parts USA<<<

Electrical Systems Interrupted 

If your electrical wiring has issues, we can supply new wiring looms for certain Rolls Royce and Bentley cars built front 1955-2009.  For many years these wiring looms have been unavailable and many still are.  The wiring in a car runs to every electrical device and component. Thus the wiring also goes under the hood where the wires are subjected to heat, oil fumes and water damage. On many cars, the main wiring section runs underneath the car where its exposed to, well,, everything the bottom of a car runs over. Many people, mechanics included, do not understand how electricity works or how relays work yet they will cut and splice wires, or cut them and twist them together creating a electrical nightmares or what we call "future fires".  We have seen countless live wires run to ground with the result being a burned up wiring system. It's a shocking experience to the pocketbook. 

 Wiring looms are made to be installed by professionals with knowledge of automotive wiring but a well skilled individual can install them. Vintage cars would tend to pack all the wiring into one big harness or may have individual wires to each terminal on coach built or very early cars.  Modern cars split the harness into many sections so a repair can be done without buying the entire loom. This said, many of the smaller sections become unavailable rather swiftly after cars leave the factories. If you need a wiring loom for an engine compartment or whatever, contact us with VIN and production date if you have it. 

Sure, we provide new engine rebuilding parts to replace parts such as this Silver Spur piston that did not survive an "unforeseen circumstance".  

We supply suspension and steering parts, electrical parts, body parts and A/C parts such as this accumulator/dryer for a late model Spirit. 

While we don't do pre-1955 car repair work very often, this photo shows a pre-war Rolls Royce carburetor the we rebuilt about to be shipped out.  We keep a good stock of parts to rebuild Rolls Royce and Bentley carburetors and rebuild many carburetors that are shipped in for this service. RR never supplied carburetor rebuild kits and many of the parts used fit no other carburetor.  RR supplied parts for the carburetors by the individual piece. We do make up carburetor "kits" by essentially placing all the usual parts we think ought to be replaced into the kit. We also supply the gas floats and many other parts for the carburetors and fuel related systems that are not normally included in conventional carburetor kits. For carburetors like those used on 1950's Silver Dawns and prewar cars,  parts from RR are no longer supplied. We rebuild these carburetors and make whatever parts are required. 

  This Silver Cloud is about to receive it's freshly rebuilt V8 engine. 

Bentley and Rolls Royce engines built from the 1940’s to now were not designed to call attention to the engines or engine bays through the use of polished cam covers with chrome head nuts like Jaguar and Alfa cars of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The typical purchasers of Rolls Royce and Bentley cars were more interested in the styling of the coachwork and appointments of the cockpit than the look of the engine. These owners already knew the mechanicals were well and stoutly designed to last. The engine and mechanicals were generally left to their service people to deal with. Rolls Royce and Bentley engines, many engine related components and the engine bays were painted a flattish black.

Once upon a time we rebuilt an engine for a Bentley SII owner and later found that he was disappointed in the appearance. This was a highly unusual event and we wanted to know what it was that he found not to his liking. 

   Here is a snap of the completed Bentley engine about to be installed. 

 The owner of the car the above engine was fitted to sent us a photo of his Thunderbird engine, year unknown, that had been extensively customized with polished aluminum valve covers, thick bright purple spark plug cables, a red distributor cap, red coil and a big chrome air filter among other T-Bird custom enhancements. The car was duded up like a muscle car.

Bentley Bling 

This customized look on a T-Bird engine is what he thought we were going to do for reasons unknown as nothing along these lines had been requested and none of the photos we sent had customized parts shown. Customizing American engines is an enjoyable thing to do for muscle car fans and there are countless suppliers of aftermarket stuff for American muscle cars and hot rods. We respect the shops and people that do this sort of work yet it’s a long way from what we are about as our work on Rolls Royce and Bentley cars is more dedicated to preserving the original look and feel of a car with certain  enhancements such as electronic ignition well hidden.

 The lesson here is to clearly impart your vision to whomever is working for you well ahead of time so details are sorted out in advance. Regarding the Bentley motor referred to here, we would not have agreed to make the engine look like an Ford hot rod motor and would have left those sorts of details to the owner to have done to his liking elsewhere. 

True Blood

Rolls Royce & Bentley brake and suspension hydraulic fluids and lots more about brakes

Over the many years that Rolls Royce and Bentley cars have been built, the designers specified several different fluids to be used in various models. These fluids serve as the blood of the car and only one fluid is the true fluid for each application thus none of these fluids are interchangeable and great harm can be done by using the wrong fluid. There is considerable incorrect information out there concerning the proper fluid to be used in Rolls Royce and Bentley cars so let's clear this matter up.

 Firstly, never rely on information provided by generic auto parts stores or from junk yards. This is nothing personal,  it is that these stores depend almost entirely on their computers for knowledge, generally have a lot of personnel turnover and it turns out that computers while great don't think about stuff like people do.  Computers are wonderful machines filled with whatever anyone programs into them and humans are kind of like that too.  We often supply parts to generic stores and help their counter people get the right parts for a customer. 

 Accurate information concerning RR and Bentley cars can only be had from those that actually care about doing the correct thing and that have considerable experience working on these cars. This is just the way it is as people can't just pour this sort of knowledge into their brains. There are plenty of self proclaimed experts on most any topic on the internet and the internet has been a boon for con men, creeps and grifters that prey on people that just want to know what to do. Some of these people have companies that use many different names and change names a lot. Once upon a time a new owner of a Silver Shadow called us to ask questions about brake fluids. It seems that someone told him the specified RR363 brake fluid should be poured into the engine! Fortunately this fellow knew enough to question this bad advice. Now why anyone would think that brake fluid should be poured into any engine is, well, a cause for concern! We are happy he called us before he did such a thing.

 Long ago, Rolls Royce contracted with Castrol to make a special brake fluid for their cars known as RR-363. This fluid contains special lubricants to service the very intricate and finely machined parts within the hydraulic systems. Non- RR-363 fluids do not contain these lubricants and the use of the wrong fluids will accelerate wear and tear on very expensive finely machined parts.  The RR363 Castrol fluid is NOT the same as Castrol LMA fluid used with pre- 1988 Jaguar cars and almost all other vintage ( pre 1980) British cars. All DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake fluids are not identical.  If someone tells you this, they are unquestionably wrong. If you use the wrong fluid, you will contaminate the entire hydraulic system and the rubber parts for all the brake components will be ruined if the system is not quickly flushed. 

 We have found that some shops do not know about Rolls Royce brake fluid and when we explain the fluid to them, we find they have already contaminated the car they are working on. We know this because all too often shops and individuals buy brake parts from us and don't purchase the correct fluid insisting all fluid is the same. Respectable shops always want to use the correct fluids and quality parts for their work.  Owners have to be adamant about informing shops about the correct fluids. Many owners simply buy the fluid they need from us and make it available to their shop of choice. We are happy to speak with any shop about these fluids. 

Go here to look at some Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer.

For this particular photo and ensuing discussion, you might like to play or hum the song Sprach Zarathustra, written by Richard Strauss and used as the theme song in the movie 2001, a Space Odyssey. Ready, set, hmmmhmmmHMMM.

There are many different Castrol fluids.  Don't mix them up! 

The above photo is of a typical bottle of  RR-363 brake and hydraulic fluid. This fluid used to come in metal cans. RR-363 is appropriate for all Rolls Royce and Bentley cars up to mid 1979. After the year 1979 particular attention has to be observed about which fluids are used as 1979 was a generational transitional year as some 1979 Corniche cars used the next generation Silver Spur brake and suspension systems utilizing green Castrol Plus Mineral Oil while Silver Shadows built in 1979 still used RR-363 fluid. The brake fluid reservoir on 1966-1980 cars using RR-363 is rectangular and made of metal. Cars that use green Castrol Plus mineral fluid were built from 1979 onwards use plastic reservoirs that are round.  It's VERY important not to mix Castrol 363 with the green fluids as a contaminated system will require a complete rebuild of the entire brake and hydraulic system for a substantial cost.  If someone tries to sell you a $5 bottle of generic brake fluid and says all DOT 3 fluid is the same, run!   If an owner or shop is unsure, call us with the VIN. 

This photo shows a bottle of the correct Castrol Plus brake and suspension green fluid for all Rolls Royce and Bentley cars built from 1980-1996 or so. 1979 Corniche cars went to the green Castrol Plus fluid.  Cars built after 1996 use several different fluids and the VIN is required. Notice the physical similarity to the bottle of regular Castrol. The Plus fluid has an anti foaming agent and the Jaguar fluid does not. This fluid has a Rolls Royce and Bentley identifying label and each bottle comes with a filler tube. "Some people say" that the Rolls Royce and Jaguar fluids are the same but those claiming this are not correct. Think of the fluids this way, a good Kentucky bourbon and  a good Scotch or a cheap wine like winos drink and a high quality wine that wine connoisseurs drink may look the same in the bottle but does appearance make them the same? Of course not. 

This Castrol mineral fluid is used on some Jaguar cars built after 1988 and is not for Bentley and Rolls Royce cars that specify Castrol Plus fluid.   If you own cars of both marques, be sure not to mix the fluids up. This bottle label states the fluid is specifically for Jaguar cars. There is no mention of an application for Rolls Royce or Bentley cars. Yes these bottles and fluids are dumbly packaged confusing but that is just the way Castrol supplies the fluids.  

Castrol LMA fluid is used for the brake system on later model cars such as Silver Seraph, Azure and Arnage.  This fluid is NOT for Silver Shadows, Silver Spirits, Silver Spurs and Bentley Flying Spurs or GT cars and also is correct for most all non RR and Bentley British cars made before 1980. 

  Pentosin CHF11 fluid is specified for the suspension system only in Silver Seraph, Azure and Arnage series. The proper fluid application must verified by VIN!  This fluid is absolutely NOT for Silver Shadows or Silver Spurs.  If in doubt, contact us with your model and VIN. 

Under Pressure

Rolls Royce and Bentley cars have very good brakes and stop the cars extremely well if the systems are working properly. Time has a way of diminishing performance as cars are not like vintage bottles of wine that improve with age. Frequently we receive enquiries concerning cars being brought back to active duty from a long slumber.  Owners and shops want to know what to do to wake these cars up and make them safe again.  Following is a brief discussion of some basic safety work that should be high on the list. The braking and suspension system on Silver Shadow and Spur series cars use 12-13 rubber flexible high hydraulic lines along with four or more rubber feed lines from the reservoir. Some models such as Shadows have flexible braided high pressure lines as well. These systems use very high pressure and old hoses are a usually obvious weak point. We suggest replacing all of these hoses if there is no historical record of them being replaced within the last 8-10 years. 

This photo is of an old Silver Shadow brake pipe that had snapped and was sent to us for replication with our new pipe ready to go back. The old pipe had rusted and was weak. We asked the fellow working on the car about the condition of the rest of the pipes and were told they were fine. 

There are approximately 68 metal alloy high pressure fluid pipes used for the brake and suspension systems on cars built from 1966 on and these pipes should be examined for structural integrity. If the pipes are rusted, they are weakened and should be replaced. Rarely are all the pipes bad but these cars all have history thus every pipe should be inspected. Blowing a high pressure hose or pipe and losing brake pressure is a bad way to permanently end your days. On Shadow series, none of the metal pipes are still available however we do make these pipes. Rolls Royce uses a special flare on their pipes that is like no other car other than certain Citroens. The special flare is rated to 2700 p.s.i. The typical flare used on most other cars brake pipes are rated to 750 p.s.i. The typical flaring tool most well equipped shops have will not make a proper flare for RR and Bentley cars. Thus those that insist on using a generic flaring tool to make brake pipes for these cars are rendering the car into a big heavy deathtrap and this is a very non RR thing to do. We have also seen some cars where unqualified persons have made and fitted copper pipes rather than steel. Copper pipe is not strong enough for the high pressures these cars use. If your car has had this done, the car is capable of bursting such a pipe at any moment. This sort of advice on the pipes is applicable to any car. Be safe, don't end up like Princess Grace before your time and stick around a while! 

Diamonds and Rust

Vintage cars can be like diamonds in the rough or can be terminally ill from rust and or abuse. Below are some gruesome photos of a 1967 Silver Shadow that was sold by a Kansas person with very bad karma to an unsuspecting buyer. The car was advertised as being in "great shape". What was done was to replace a great many of the badly rusted metal alloy high pressure pipes with copper pipe. This was sure to result in the death of anyone driving the car or others as copper will not hold high brake pressure. The car is extensively rusted out and the rear suspension is ripping right out of the body. The same someone cut all the brake pipes to the rear calipers as well. The pipes were just hanging in the air. The new owner was willing to spend upwards of $25K on this car but we felt this car could not be fixed in a road worthy manner no matter what sums were thrown at it. This sort of thing is why any vintage car should be inspected by an independent shop prior to purchase. It is sad to deem that a Rolls Royce should not be raised from the dead but cars are not vampires and sometimes a car should be allowed to end.

Look at the sliced and diced brake fluid pipes just hanging out in the air.

These pipes are made of copper, a sure way to achieve unexpected martyrdom by car.

Here are copper death pipes joined with pipe unions, a real no no and a disaster.

Here a brake pipe is held together with duck tape. The guy that did this ought to be waterboarded.

Here you can see a pipe union joining copper piping. These unions should never be used as or on brake pipes.

This assembly is known slang wise as the "rat cage". It supports the brake master cylinder ( not used after 1975) and the brake distribution valves and other components.  The weird red  wiring is another issue. This whole assembly is a disaster.

This may be hard to see but the inside of this tire is burned probably from burning brake fluid leaking from the seized brake calipers. 

Another snap of copper brake death pipes.

Here are the brake accumulators. They are missing their support bracket and both are leaking fluid in a major way. One is missing the high pressure placard.

  This photo shows a right rear axle that evidently snapped or was sawn  in half. Someone welded it back together rather than replacing it. We have never seen one of these axles actually break so we don't know if it was sawn in two for unknown reasons or what. This was scary stuff to find on any car much less a Rolls Royce.

  These photos are of the inside of two brake accumulator spheres each from two different Shadows and show the goop glop sludge crap that develops from mixing various brake fluids with moisture and from sitting for a long time. Not a very appetizing stew is it? This yucky residue results from a long term chemical reaction caused by moisture and brake fluid and is not what you want to see inside of your critical brake assemblies now is it? Interestingly the sphere halves seen in the photos are actually supposed to be dry and there should be nothing in there. What has happened is that the rubber diaphragm inside the spheres have failed allowing fluid to pass through where it became trapped. Obviously these accumulators were not operational. 

This photo shows the contaminated sludge that came out of a pair of 1980 Silver Wraith brake accumulators we were rebuilding.  This pan of nasty contaminated sludge is a long term result of moisture reacting with brake fluid causing a chemical reaction that end up locking up the accumulator valves. This sorry situation is a result of poor maintenance. We recommend that all cars have the brake fluid changed every two years unless you live in Arizona, the Gobi Desert, the Rocky Mountains or an area with little humidity. If your fluid has never been changed or you have no knowledge of when the hydraulic fluid was changed, have it done now with the proper fluid. Yes, we have plenty of all applicable fluids in stock at all times. 

This photo shows one of our typical rebuilt and charged Rolls Royce brake accumulator spheres with attached charging valve from a circa late seventies Corniche ready to back to a shop working with the car. The accumulator in the photo came to us missing the high pressure warning placard. The well intentioned mechanic that was working on the car was not familiar with RR systems and as someone in the past had "rebuilt" the accumulator and had not refitted the warning placard, this unit had been left in a very dangerous situation for anyone not intimately familiar with accumulators. As the placard was missing. this mechanic unknowingly removed the cap nut and if the unit had been properly charged, the cap could well have blown off like a bullet into his face or body resulting in serious and possibly fatal injury. Whomever removed the warning placards should never work on anything mechanical and should stick to, well, serving ice cream or washing windows at ground level. Fortunately this accumulator had little or no pressure remaining as it had been incompetently "rebuilt" and did not work.  If we receive an accumulator missing the warning placards, we keep them in stock for just such occasions as we want no one working on these cars to be injured in the future.  All accumulators on all Bentley and Rolls Royce cars built from 1966-1980 that use RR-363 fluid have two accumulators like the one on this photo bolted to the side of their engine blocks. Some cars have both on one side and others have one on each side depending on VIN. 

Go here to look at some Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer.

 The brake pressure accumulators used on 1966-1980 Rolls Royce and Bentley cars must be properly rebuilt and charged. They are not a throw away item. These accumulators should never be recharged without rebuilding them or rebuilding the attached charge valve as old rubber sphere diaphragms within cannot handle high pressure for long if at all. As we have rebuilt a great many accumulators and accumulator charging valves over the last 34 years and many cars have had their accumulators into before, these days an amazingly high percentage of them were not rebuilt properly and some come to us in a highly dangerous state or never worked at all after the previous work was done to them. The pressure spheres require special tools to disassemble and assemble properly and once rebuilt are charged with nitrogen at 1000 p.s.i. Special tools do not include chisels or hammers beating on them. Yes, we have seen this many times. We regularly find all sorts of weird parts that have been stuffed into them to replace parts that were probably lost, old poor condition parts re-used, parts installed backwards, orifices drilled larger, spheres with hammer and chisel marks on them. The accumulators in such sad shape could not have worked properly if at all thus the car would never have had good brakes after the accumulators were improperly rebuilt. A properly rebuilt accumulator and charging valve should last for many years and once our rebuilt and charged assemblies are refitted, as long as the two brake pumps are working well, the accumulators/charging valves  will deliver 1900-2100 psi output. This sort of pressure will produce a robust squirt when bleeding the system. We encourage those thinking about rebuilding their accumulators not to do so unless you have all the proper tools and have experience to know what to look for inside them. 

Therefore, DO NOT disassemble them.  Send them to us complete and untouched. These assemblies are messy and will leak fluid so before you ship them, please drain them well, wrap them in a plastic bag or wrapping and pack them like you are shipping cannonballs as they are heavy and rough shaped and will tear right through a box that is not well taped if the assemblies are not well packed. Throwing a piece of paper into the box is not good packing. These parts will move around with shipping so you should take extra care to immobilize them in the box with lots of packing material. Double boxing is best. We suggest insuring them for several thousand USD so the shipping firms will take extra care. 

Another factor to consider when having the accumulators rebuilt is that with the system returned to normal pressures after a unknown period of no or little pressure is that all downstream rubber parts will be subjected to the newly improved and much greater pressures than they have been used to for a long time. A hydraulic system is only as good as it's weakest parts you see. So for safety, all brake components should be examined by an experienced eye or better yet, two or three eyes including the ones on the back of your head. If you are unsure about something just send us a photo of the part you are worried about or call. Why risk total devastation? 

All post Silver Cloud series V8 Rolls Royce and Bentley cars built use two mechanical brake pumps fitted to the top of the engine and driven by the camshaft to power the hydraulic and brake systems. These pumps are hard working assemblies that are critical to successful operation of the brake and suspension systems. If they deliver insufficient pressure to the accumulators, the accumulators will not deliver correct pressures and the car will not stop. There are many parts inside the pumps. These parts are finely machined and after many years simply wear out. Mechanical wear is greatly accelerated when incorrect brake fluid has been used. Sometimes these pumps work well and will spring a leak. If the pumps leak, they can usually be re-sealed and we stock a kit for this purpose. However, sometimes the kit does not work as the outer sleeve will have corrosion inside and the seal parts just don't work so a new sleeve is required.

Call me.. unrebuildable?

While car manufacturing has been moving towards the age of unrebuildable and unrestorable cars by making car parts that used to be rebuildable into large expensive assemblies that cannot be rebuilt, we are obviously great believers in rebuilding things. However, sometimes it is best to go with new assemblies and an experienced person is required to make such a determination.  In our opinion, should the brake pumps fail to deliver proper pressure, rebuilding them is a waste of time and money. For example, a new plunger and barrel ( the inner assembly that actually does the pumping) costs around $700. Aside from a plunger and barrel assembly there are many other parts in the pump. We are aware that there are firms that sell "rebuilt" brake pumps for $3-400. Once again the definition of rebuilt can mean many things. It is simply not possible to rebuild a brake pump with the proper parts required for less than the cost of a new pump at this time.  It is likely that "rebuilt" pumps costing $3-400. are done by swapping used parts with other used parts and thusly cannot be expected to last for very long. 

This photo is of a new brake pump right out of the box and ready for action. The new pumps come complete with a new outer sleeve. Very nice. 

This photo shows a front brake pump nestled home in a circa 1990 Bentley taken during a cylinder head gasket replacement.  The rear pump is near the distributor and looks much like the front pump except the outer sleeve is different. When the pumps leak, there will be fluid leaking under the intake manifold. 

Some time ago but no longer, Rolls Royce offered their own rebuilt pumps and we sold a great many over the years but these were essentially new pumps as the factory replaced just about everything in them. Regretfully, they no longer supply rebuilt pumps but do supply the new pumps. Consider these brake pumps the heart of the car. Would you want your heart replaced with anything but a new one if you had the choice? 

No, this is not a hand grenade. This photo shows a green brake accumulator sphere for all post 1980 cars. This part IS a throw away part, are not rebuildable and when depleted are easy to replace. 

How's your Reservoir these days?

 Silver Shadow, pre 1979 Corniche and post 1977 Silver Wraith and all T series Bentley cars use a large rectangular fluid reservoir to supply RR363 fluid to the brake and suspension systems.  A great many that we see in our workshops on a cars first visit are found to be nasty and rusty appearing like this one. If they look this bad on the outside, the inside may well and most probably is as bad. Such a reservoir should be opened and all contaminated mud and debris cleaned out leaving the reservoir spotlessly clean. Inside the reservoir are fluid level floats, grommets, level sensor reed switches as well as fluid baffles and we supply all these parts. The hoses that carry the fluid to the pumps are special hoses made from material that resists the corrosive nature of brake fluid. Using generic hose is a very bad idea. Once all the hoses have been properly replaced and the system flushed, the car can be tested to find out if further work is required such as the brake calipers.  Calipers do seize solid as the internal pistons rust to the bores. For cars that are driven on a regular basis or that have been stowed, these hoses and pipes should be examined and replaced if they have not been replaced within 8-10 years. 

The above photos are of the inside of a circa 1980 Silver Wraith brake and suspension fluid reservoir. The dark contaminated fluid is a indicator of long term poor maintenance and is not what you want to find. We removed the fluid and found that the bottom of the reservoir was covered with thick layers of contaminated goo. The little round object in the second and third photos are the tops of fluid filters. The third photo shows a ruler inserted into the goo.

What happens to a hydraulic system with considerable trash and goo in the reservoir is that some of this goo is picked up and pumped throughout the system as the engine is running and thus all the components are bathed in trashy fluid greatly shortening their reliability. A good cleaning of the fluid reservoirs and replacement of the seals and whatever else is required is a very good work to do or have done on any Rolls Royce or Bentley built that is older than 15 years or so.

This a bit fuzzy photo is of a coin and a new fluid mesh filter that lives on the bottom of the brake/hydraulic reservoirs fitted to every Rolls Royce and Bentley model made from late 1966 to 1980 excepting a few Corniche Fixed Head coupes. No, these parts do not sell for 25 cents. In many instances, exposure to gooey contamination that can build up on the bottom of fluid reservoirs that have not been cleaned or serviced in a long time will have destroyed the filter mesh and unfiltered trashy fluid is being pumped through the system. This results in expensive repairs to the finely machined pumps, accumulators, distribution valves and other components. If you are planning on cleaning your reservoir and this is a great idea on 30 plus year old cars and want one of our resealing kits, you might want to examine the 2-3 filters as well. Yes, we stock them. 

This part is called a reed switch and two of them fit inside the Silver Shadow series brake reservoirs as seen in the opened reservoir in above pics. The fluid level floats ride up and down on the reed switch detecting fluid levels. The reed switches screw into the reservoir from the bottom. When they get corroded from years of sitting in contaminated goop, they will leak and fail. Sometimes the electrical connection will break off from the underside and they are not working at all so the fluid level warning lamps are not accurate. The reed switches have been unavailable for a couple of years and we just received them back into stock. 

 While writing this section, our workshop is rebuilding the brake systems on three 1980 Silver Shadows.  On one of them, three of the four wheels had seized up caliper pistons that were rusted solid to the caliper body. The owner of the car complained that the car seemed to stop itself and this was because it was stopping itself. When we unscrewed the fluid pipe fittings, several pipes snapped and broke apart. This particular car is a RHD model recently brought over from England where corrosion is a problem. Removing rusted pistons is a real chore and we made some special tools for this purpose. To order brake related parts, please send the VIN with your requests.

 Spur and Spirit series cars use a somewhat similar system but numerous changes have taken place such as very few of the brake parts were carried over from the Shadow series. Many parts have a similar appearance but are very different. The inspection of pipes and hoses is also very important and frequently overlooked on Spurs and Spirits as these cars were manufactured from 1981. 

Arsenic and Old lace or Death by incorrect fluid

  The use of wrong fluids, like drinking arsenic, will poison a hydraulic system in any car.   As you can see in this photo, an almost empty gallon of generic brake fluid was found in the trunk of this Silver Shadow when it was towed in and this discovery means the entire brake system is contaminated with wrong brake fluid. The Shadow brake fluid reservoir has a warning label that states in plain language that nothing else other than RR363 is to be used in this model.  Unfortunately, some people ignore this warning and to save a very little bit of money will use other fluids and end up badly damaging the brake system. RR363 fluid also powers the suspension so use of the wrong fluid is bad in every possible way. To rectify contamination situations and deliver a brake system that works very well as these systems were designed to do, we rebuild, clean and or replace the entire brake and hydraulic system. Would this sort of work be expensive? Absolutely.    

Call 281.448.5165 with your VIN for parts requests or send an e-mail. 

More Rolls Royce and Bentley brake system examples

  Here is a typical Silver Cloud or S series lower brake master cylinder (after 1956, they use two cylinders) after many years of service. As you can see, the brake fluid is oozing right through the casting. All metals are porous to some extent. All brake cylinders age and when they look like this, the inside is always in about the same condition. We stock new as in never fitted to a car new and experienced remanufactured cylinders.  

Here is a photo of one of a pair of 1968 Silver Shadow rear brake calipers that we rebuilt that were shipped in from Mexico City for restoration. Texas is close to Mexico and has a long sometimes colorful history and shared border. The Spaniards stole Mexico from the Aztecs and much of South America from the Incas. Texicans seized Texas from Mexico and formed a new nation in 1832 while Scotty's  Braveheart ancestors were still in Scotland perfecting single malt scotch when they weren't enjoying battling the Brits. 

These days all is forgiven and we provide parts for Rolls Royce and Bentley owners from Spain, the Philippines and Mexico when owners visit Houston. Check out this web site for a brief Texican history. http://www.texfiles.com/ERAmar02/sanjacinto.htm   

 The bleeder screws and steel lines on the above caliper had been replaced with parts from other cars and the calipers were a genuine mess. We rebuilt the calipers with new stainless steel pistons, made new pipes, repaired the damaged threads, reworked the handbrake mechanisms as parts had been lost over the cars life and we replaced the pads.  The calipers will work as new. 

We supply this nice front brake pad kit for most 1972-1980 cars that includes new hardware some of which was not used on early cars and makes a very nice non squealing upgrade. We keep brake pads for the earlier Shadows as well as brake shoe relining kits for Silver Cloud and Bentley S.  The brake kit we supply for 1980 up cars has the hardware as well. New hardware instead of re-using corroded rusty hardware makes a major improvement to a system. 

This photo shows typical Silver Shadow brake caliper piston bores after many years of service. In this example, the brake caliper pistons were seized solid into the body of the caliper and after we removed the rusted pistons, the inside of the caliper was found to be full of contamination debris, rust and sludge accumulated from 35 years of service and mixed up brake fluids. Brake calipers in this condition are not doing much good work and this is not good! We always replace the calipers pistons as well because they are rarely if ever found to be good. 

Here is a photo of a rear brake brake caliper on a 1979 Corniche two door saloon just before we removed and rebuilt them. The 1979 Corniche cars were the first models to go to the new green mineral oil brake system like used on the Silver Spur series. We are rebuilding the entire hydraulic system on the car for it's new owner. Although the cars brakes were working ok, the new owner wanted to drive the car a long time without brake problems so we rebuilt the calipers and replaced the hoses. 

Here is a photo of some front brake cylinders from a 1964 Silver Cloud III. The car had recently had a botched brake repair that resulted in the car having only about 25% of it's stopping power. It took both feet to stop the car...slowly. We found the master cylinders had been rebuilt incorrectly, the rear brake cylinders were rusted solid, the brake shoes on all four wheels were glazed and fluid soaked, the front cylinders as represented by the example in the photo were rusted internally and the mechanical brake linkage was bent and well out of adjustment. The steel brake lines were well rusted and fragile. 

The brake cylinder on the right in the above photo had recently been "rebuilt". Look carefully and you will notice the brownish stain inside the bore. This staining is rust damage (creating small  pits that work like sandpaper) from many years of old brake fluid and water sitting in the cylinders and it acts like sandpaper on the rubber seals. The rest of the internals in the cylinders were rusted and weak. Rebuilding such a cylinder was a waste of the owners time and money. The cylinder on the left has been machined with a new stainless steel sleeve allowing the cylinder to have a perfect bore that allows the rubber parts to seal properly. Replacing the rubber parts simply got the car moving a few more miles as they began leaking brake fluid all over the brake shoes in short order. We see this sort of 'repair" all too frequently. Is the object of the work to simply make the car stop a little for a short time for the least possible expenditure or do a proper brake job that will make the car stop as well as it ever did for a long time? We prefer the later choice and believe most owners want their cars to stop well. 

Rolls Royce cars have bad brakes- Let's end this incorrect myth forevermore! 

We have of course heard the erroneous rambling rumors that these cars have inherently bad brakes and this is just not true. There is a difference between inherently bad and worn out or poorly adjusted. Chronologically through the models we have found that most Silver Cloud and Bentley S series cars that arrive at our workshop for the first time have poor or little effective brake response. In many situations the car owners are under the miss-impression that the brakes are supposed to be vague as the brakes have "always" been that way. However, the assertion that these cars have inherently poor brakes is not at all accurate. All Rolls Royce and Bentley cars have a backup brake system either mechanical or hydraulic depending on the model. Lots of Silver Clouds and R-Types or MK 6's are driving around with only the rear mechanical brakes working as the hydraulics have failed so long ago no one remembers what the car drove like when the brakes were working well. As a matter of fact, 1940's-1960's Rolls Royce and Bentley cars have the inherent capability of having very good brakes when compared to other cars of the period. We know this to be true because we make them that way for owners on a very regular basis and find it very interesting that some owners have formed the notion that in the olden days, Rolls Royce would purposely design a car with bad brakes. 

All this said, it is not a fair thing to compare the brake systems on any vintage car with modern ABS brake systems like those on new Bentley cars and say that a vintage car has bad brakes. These are not the same kind of apples. The brake systems on Silver Shadow and Bentley T series have excellent brakes when all systems are working properly.

Go here to look at some Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer.

Stop in the Name of Love

Over time, brake cylinders inevitably become scratched and gouged from contaminants such as dirt that make their way into the system. The scratches cause a cylinder to become no longer smooth. The rough areas grind against the soft rubber seals and destroy them. Thus it's not good enough to install new rubber seals into pitted and scratched old brake cylinders and pronounce the system rebuilt.  This sort of repair is done by personal unknowledgeable about such matters and are also favored by people trying to "fix" a problem as cheaply as possible with no regard for the safety of the occupants. One has to ask themselves what their life is worth? How about the lives of others? 

We think that brakes on any car should be 100% at all times. We stock a lot of brake parts for these cars and it's amazing how many people will not replace the old brake pistons on 20-50 year old cars even though these pistons are almost NEVER good.  If a new part is expensive, its equally amazing how a bad decision may be made that the part is still good regardless of poor condition. A bad brake part is not good and saying so does not make it so. The cost of the replacement part should not be the deciding factor and if an owner cannot afford the parts at the time, it is best to park the car and save up for the right parts. On many modern cars, manufacturers no longer supply cylinder rebuild kits because they don't want people to take shortcuts and render a brake system unsafe as bad brakes are bad for everyone on the road. 

Rolls Royce Silver Cloud series cars require a number of time consuming adjustments to the mechanical linkages and to other brake related components to make them stop as designed. We have rebuilt many of these cars over the decades and have amassed a great deal of experience with Silver Cloud brake systems. As a result, owners can enjoy their cars with considerably more pleasure and confidence as the cars simply perform as intended. Ignoring scratches, gouges and rust pits in the bores is a bad idea. 

What is the question?  You know what the question is. 

" Is my life and the life of my passengers or other travelers worth the cost of new brake parts?" 

If the answer is no, wow, please start walking a lot more!

Great Expectations

These are worn front brake rotors on a '05 Bentley Continental GT.

  These 20.5 kg. brake rotors are the largest used by any manufacturer on a production car. This GT already has about 64K miles on it. The angry owner told us that for the money he paid for the car from the local Bentley dealer, he expected the brakes to last forever. However, forever is a very long time and reality has a way of interfering with such expectations. All brake parts wear out no matter how expensive the car may be. Besides, nothing lasts forever no matter how expensive the nothing is..

Ok, let's just ban the use of the word "forever" and "perfect" from the car world right now. 

Observe the deep groove on the outer edge of the brake rotor, the rear rotors have been considerably reduced in thickness. This sort of wear is about right for a fast city car with 64K miles.  The brake pads are worn down to very little as well. Owners of these cars should be aware that the rear brake pads cannot be changed on these cars without the Bentley dealer computer to reset the electric handbrake. We do not have one of these computers as our work is on more vintage models. This is a very annoying trend by some manufacturers to force owners to take their cars to a dealer for even the most basic work. Texas is the USA's second largest state yet we have but two Bentley dealers. It's about 800 miles from El Paso to Houston. 

What also happens with Bentley GT cars that have not received scheduled yearly services as seen in this photo, is that electrolysis corrodes the steel center wheel hub where it contacts the mag wheel. This car was probably driven on the beach somewhere and not properly cleaned.  It's a good idea to remove the wheels once a year, polish off the corrosion and apply a bit of anti seize compound. Otherwise, if the car suffers a tire puncture and the owner wants to change the tire, the wheel will most likely not be able to be dismounted on the side of the road. If you are a Bentley GT or Flying Spur owner, you might want to have this procedure done. 

Suspension dampers are also known as shocks and how is your Autoride? 

  Bentley Turbo R's, Rolls Royce Silver Spurs and Spirits are big heavy cars and the dampers feel the weight after 20,000 miles or so. The rear dampers exhibit this tiredness by leaking. If you examine the rear dampers, if they are leaking, you will notice the suspension Castrol Plus mineral oil will have leaked down the shaft and is soaking into the lower rubber bushings. Suspension fluid circulates through the dampers when the engine is running thus the rear dampers are a part of the hydraulic and suspension systems.  If leakage is apparent, its time for new dampers.

 Later cars after VIN 27700 or so with the "Autoride" active suspension use dampers with electric coils that operate internal valving within the dampers to adjust the firmness of the ride on each shock. We offer new Autoride dampers, activation looms and other parts for this system. To diagnose issues with the Autoride system, a special Autoride analyzer is required. We have one of these analyzers but it does not solve every issue.  For those cars that have seemingly unsolvable Autoride problems, such as the system is stuck in the "rides like an old truck" Sport (hard ride) mode, we have a solution that we have developed that allows the car to be driven in the Comfort mode and this is the mode most drivers enjoy. We restrict sales to our workshop only as the wiring required is intricate. 

  Post 1980 suspension design incorporates  rear "gas springs" as well. This part is a charged high pressure vessel or ball that also needs replacement from time to time, usually 20K miles or so.  When the gas springs are depleted, the rear end of the car will tend to hop or bounce around in a very un Bentley or Rolls Royce like manner. These parts are not rebuildable and must be replaced. Of course we supply all these parts and can insure you receive the correct parts with your VIN as there are many variations. 

  Here is a photo of a typical left rear damper (shock absorber) on a Silver Cloud series.  It's cocooned in a thick layer of road dirt mixed with hardened shock oil that slowly leaked out for decades until nothing was left in the unit. Dampers that look like this are happy to be there but are doing nothing and the car will ride like a rolly polly lump instead of a nicely designed luxury car. By now if a damper that looks like this one is no longer leaking, there may well be no fluid left to leak!  

This photo is of a Silver Cloud or Bentley S rear damper solenoid. It allows the driver to select a firm or softer ride on Silver Cloud series. many cars have solenoids that are dead and no longer work. When we rebuild these shocks, we test the solenoid and replace it if the part is dead. These solenoids have been unavailable for years but we do have a very limited number of new

( meaning never fitted to a car) solenoids in stock. In the photo above of the dirty old unit, you can see the solenoid near the rear. 

  Here is a photo of a Silver Cloud right rear damper after we rebuilt it and replaced the bushings. You can see an anti-rust solution we use on the bolts that help prevent them from seizing in the future. You can also see the rotten rear spring leathers that we will be replacing. These leathers keep the grease that services the spring from washing away. Behind the unit you can see part of the new stainless exhaust. We are sorting out a variety of mechanical deficiencies and as the car has a division window befitting a limo, we are resurrecting the ancient a/c system that had been worked on by Frankenstein's cousin long ago.  

These cars have a lovely ride when they have new shocks fitted. If your Shadow or Spur is still riding around with the original shocks fitted, those shocks are way past dead! As such, you are not experiencing the potential of the cars ability to provide once of the nicest rides of any car ever built.  What happens over the many years of either driving or sitting around is that the fluid within the shocks slowly leaks out and the internal seals deteriorate so that the shock is essentially doing nothing. You are riding around on the springs thus the car is bouncy and rides like an big old Chevy. Consider the point of view that if you want to drive a car such as a Rolls Royce or Bentley, the point of it all is to experience the charms of the car as it was built to be, not as a worn out relic. This can happen as new parts are available. We supply them and of course we want you to make use of and enjoy them! 

Contact us with your chassis number for e-mail  parts quotes or Call 281.448.5165 for parts requests. 

Rolls Royce and Bentley automatic transmission rebuilding 

Silver Cloud series automatic transmissions are another specialty here. We seem to specialize in specialties don't we? 

  This photo reveals a freshly opened late 1950's Rolls Royce Silver Cloud transmission that had been hibernating a long time. There is typical rust inside that has resulted from poor service and moisture laden storage. When we rebuild a Silver Cloud, Phantom or Bentley S series automatic transmission, we do rather intensive rebuilds.  Contrary to some miss-information floating about, these transmissions are not the common Turbo 400 units that were fitted to many American cars as well as later Silver Shadow and newer Rolls Royce and Bentley models.

We carefully and exhaustively examine each part and check for excessive wear as these transmissions are 40-50 years old or more and may have been "overhauled" several times before. We replace many bushings, springs, piston rings, clutches, plates, bearings and bands and do whatever it takes to make these venerable transmissions a lot better than what we found so they will last far into the future. Vintage automatics are tricky and take vintage special tools to deal with some of the component rebuilding. Our rebuilds may well cost more than some may charge to do because we usually replace a lot of parts rather than just call them good in the hopes they will last another mile or two.  All of our work is performed to a very high standard and are not compromised to achieve a low initial price point. Our rationale is that by replacing parts that get weak or worn with age (40-50 years in many cases) rather than trying to save the owner an inconsequential amount of money as related to the scale of the this sort of work, we are actually bettering the odds of the transmission lasting a long time and shifting properly as designed. This philosophy has proven to work well to save an owner the aggravation of premature failure. Contact us beforehand on shipping engine and transmissions for advice on how to best ship them to our service department.

  This photo shows the inside of a cleaned and painted Silver Cloud or Bentley S transmission case about to receive the rebuilt servos and drums, valve body and other parts.

This photo shows the rebuilt drums fitted into the casing ,

In this next photo the rebuilt valve body and filter screen are fitted.  

  Here is the completed transmission just before being mated to the original 6 cylinder engine ,also just rebuilt.

  This snap shows a restored RR transmission is mounted onto a restored rolling chassis.

In this photo we are fitting a freshly rebuilt transmission into a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III with division. 

Some owners complain about a "wallowy" steering on these cars and yes, this condition can be substantially rectified. All bearings, seals and bushings are replaced on our power steering unit rebuilds and the improvement in steering is dramatic. 

 Here is a photo of a power steering sector box assembly as used on Silver Cloud 2 and 3 and Bentley S2 and S3 cars. This photo was taken after a complete rebuild was performed on the unit and it's ready to be shipped. We stock most of the parts for these rebuilds as we do so many of them. Few Silver Cloud series cars have had their steering sector boxes rebuilt and this is evident when they are driven as the steering has a lot of side to side play, they leak a lot and the car steers like an very old truck. This is not how these cars were intended to handle and a vintage car that drives well is a joy to experience.

Working with enthusiasts or car repair shops is a part of what we are about. On many occasions an owner or shop may ship engines, transmissions or other assemblies to us for rebuilding that require special tools or knowledge. We are happy to help keep these cars going as they were intended any way we can. Everyone cannot be or have local access to an intense specialty shop such as ours so we are "worldwide" by virtue of shipment.

Contact us with your chassis number for e-mail  parts quotes. 

Here we have a scarce 1958 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Bodied by James Young, in for service and electronic ignition installation. This car was the RR Earl's Court show car that year and features many features such as a James Young roof mounted luggage rack, swivel reading lamps and many other delightful options. 

Here are a few photos of some details such as the drivers side outer door handles. This shows shows the signature James Young boot handle. 

The car features a division window and very nice woodwork. 

A James Young roof rack for extended touring is a not often seen period accessory. . 

 Here is a lovely 1961 Bentley Continental Convertible and this link will take you to a web page that describes a series of restoration work we did on the car. We rebuilt or repaired the brakes, front and rear suspension, rebuilt the transmission, performed tuning, built some wood pieces for the top and on and on. We also reworked the air conditioning system.

We have extensive experience with great cars  such as this 1964 Silver Cloud. This pitiable car had quite a few shops work on it the last few years and little of this work did much for the car as the car still has collapsing front road springs, a poorly installed A/C system, rotten suspension bushings, massive power steering leaks, poor brakes, a truly miserable electronic ignition installation, sloppy workmanship, lots of missing parts just left off and many other ailments that make this particular car a rather unpleasant experience to drive. It's truly sad to see a great car in such a bad mechanical state. The car looks good in photos though. We find all too many cars that have suffered from unqualified although perhaps well meaning attention as Rolls Royce has many ways of building cars which are quite different than other car manufacturers and Rolls Royce probably assumed that owners would have qualified people work on the car. 

Boxing Bentleys

  Here are photos of a Bentley engine and transmission that was shipped to us in a zillion pieces from San Francisco. This sort of job is called a "basket case". Someone had lots of fun disassembling it and tossing all the bolts and fasteners into the oil pan which was full of greasy goo. 

  In these photos we were inventorying the parts and hoping all is there. The water pump was shattered into pieces and  yes, this is a real mess and we resurrected this engine from doom and built it into a fine engine again with new pistons and we rebuilt the transmission as well.  The owner decided to ship the car for the engine and transmission fitting and once we inspected the car, he decided to have us re-wire the entire car and sort out the brakes. The car had some sort of $10K brake job just before it was shipped to us. 

In this photo you can see the sorry state of the brake reservoirs after the $10K brake job.  No fluid showing and rusty reservoirs on a fresh Bentley S2 new brake job. What can one say? Perhaps the work order did not include restoring the reservoirs or adding brake fluid or maybe the shop thought the car had air brakes! The steel brake pipes were rusted to the extent they broke when we removed them. 

These two photos are the completed Bentley engine on the stand. 

The rebuilt transmission ready to mount to the motor. 

Here is the nasty engine bay as received. We were told the bay had just been painted by a body shop. What do you think of the quality? 

  We thought the previous work was worse than simply bad and in this photo we have ground down the complete engine bay, removed all the rust that was bubbling under the "new" paint and are ready to prime and paint the bay.

  Here is the engine bay having new wiring fitted. Yes, we supply complete wiring for this model and we rewired the entire car.

  In these photos, we have mated the engine and transmission and next are about to fit the assembly to the car. This Bentley is in primer as it came to us from a body shop in California. 

How's the weather in your car?

 We reckon that we understand the intentions of the designers philosophy as well as anyone alive can and do our best to maintain these cars in the manner they were designed although we also undertake certain modifications that allow the cars to be driven on a regular basis in Houston, a sultry environment (some people call it a swamp). Some good modifications for modern day living in an increasing warmer world are custom air conditioning installations, discrete electronic ignitions and carefully considered and installed audiophile sound system installations. 

With the extreme heat and humidity of Houston as a climate test environment, we design and install custom air conditioning systems that are attractive and which work well for cars without A/C. Merely installing an A/C system into a car is usually not sufficient as an important part of the work involved is in making sure the new system will not cause the engine to overheat. Otherwise, what is the use of newly installed air conditioning? 

 Here is a photo of a boot (trunk) mounted  a/c system we are installing in a 1963 Bentley S3. The system incorporated a new state of the art high efficiency radiator core, our rebuilt water pump, engine block cleaning, new radiator hoses and fan belts, new electric auxiliary cooling fan, new state of the art a/c compressor and custom a/c hoses with a complete blower system mounted in the trunk where it runs quietly and effectively without ruining the nice wood dash appointments with ugly vents. The vents used on the ugly installations feature cheapo black plastic with silver painted trims, think of bad 1973 styling. As the a/c installation require more power to operate them, we fit a 75 amp alternator in place of the original generator. This unit delivers all the power the car needs to operate the power windows, a/c, stereo, electronic ignitions and other accessories. A "cool" thing about this particular installation is that it can be reversed back to the generator for a new owner that might prefer originality over reliability although insufficient power is sure annoying when the battery is dead after a long run with the A/C on.

Here is a photo of the old a/c system with pipes running all over the engine compartment in a Rube Goldberg installation. We also restore and upgrade the original under-wing A/C units or in the boot systems with new evaporators, condensers, compressors and hosing that vastly improve the reliability and efficiency of the system. Old a/c systems leaked refrigerant from the usage of the old style clamps. The new hoses we make are triple crimped and we have zero leakage problems. Life is better when you are not leaking something.

Rolls Royce and Bentley Electricals

Here are a few photos of a 1962 Phantom V during a complete re-wire.   

Early Phantoms were coach built cars that were hand custom wired when built.  We were doing the same thing, using correct cloth covered wire to replace the ancient wiring. While there, we are sorting out many problems under the dash so when completed the car will enjoy considerably better reliability. 

Please E-mail us with the VIN (vehicle identification number) for parts requests! 

  This photo shows the main fuse box on a scarce long wheel base Silver Shadow. As you can see, Frankenstein's cousin was working on it and this situation is all too typical of the sort of wiring "work" we are engaged to repair. Look closely and you can see that foil was wrapped around some of the fuses and a switch with unknown purpose was connected leaving bare hot wires dangling. Soon this car would have been up in smoke. We will remove all the funky wiring and make sure all the circuits are in good order. We supply new fuse panels for these cars when needed. In the trunk of this car, we discovered a very bad clue. 

 Here is a photo of the dash on a 1976 Shadow with the wood and fascia removed for restoration. We removed the gauges, disassembled and cleaned them so they will sparkle at night, replaced all the dash bulbs and cleaned and serviced the wiring while installing a new stereo of the owners choosing. The original Quad 8-track had been replaced years ago and several generations of stereos, phones and other accessories had been installed. We removed all the added on wiring +and rewired the speakers. The original radio between the seats was missing so we had a wooden door made for the "hole" with a nice wood knob so the owner had a useful place to place things. We lined the inside of this new cubby area with felt. 

This photo shows a scarce (on this side of the pond) Silver Shadow with the optional headlamp brush wipers. Look carefully and you will see that the wipers are actually brushes. 

Go here to look at some Rolls Royce and Bentley parts we offer.

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

These photos are of a 1987 Silver Spur as we received it. We received the car  from another shop that endeavored to replace a leaking heater matrix. They dug into the dash, perhaps while blindfolded we reckon. 

The previous shop removed a lot of components, tossed them into the back seat and that was that. When smoke began appearing from the wiring that was burning up from the manner of disassembly, we were contacted. They were doing this work with the battery connected and decided the job was over their heads. This shop asked us if we would take over the job and did we mind if they did not re-assemble it? We do take on such jobs because we are nuts and who else is going to do them in these parts? We sorted out the damage to the electrical systems, replaced the heater core and carefully reassembled the dash appointments and inner structure.   

Here is a starter we recently rebuilt for a 1935 Rolls Royce 20/25.  It was not painted as we wanted it to look like the rest of then engine bay parts which were pretty much original. 

The electric window lifts in the rear cabin of this Phantom V were totally worn out with the wiring frayed and exposed. In this photo you can see some red tape stuck on the wiring. It's hard to photograph the miserable condition with broken bushings and power window parts stripped. What a mess! We made a new wiring harness for both doors and are rebuilding the entire window mechanisms so they will operate smoothly and not burn up the wiring. We fitted a new stainless steel exhaust system to replace the hodge podge exhaust that had been spliced together on the decades. There were big pipes going into small pipes all over thus producing unwanted restrictions.  We updated the ignition with a Pertronix electronic ignition so the car will be more reliable and run better. This is a wide and large scale renovation that made the car dependable and drive much better than it had in many year

  Here are the engine and transmission just after removal.

Parts for limited production cars are made in very small production runs with smaller numbers of parts being produced as the car ages. As well, demand for parts for very limited production cars are much less than mass produced cars and costs are higher. This sort of explanation may seem to be Economics 101 for some people but we are often asked why expensive cars have expensive parts so perhaps the above information will be helpful. We are also asked why are parts for Rolls Royce and Bentley cars are not available at the generic parts stores. One reason is that generic stores focus on generic cars as they are into volume business. The bottom line is that if you want to own an expensive machine of any sort then expect parts for it to be expensive as well. 

Insurance agents and salvage car rebuilders:

  We are not a salvage yard and do not have piles of perfect used late model Rolls Royce and Bentley body crash parts laying about. We do supply new body parts yet we do have some used body parts. We do provide new crash related parts to repair cars that have had an unfortunate experience. We do not have "front clips" ( front clips are essentially the entire front of the car cut off to fit to a badly smashed usually totaled car) for RR or Bentley cars but we can and do supply many new parts for whatever is required to repair them. 

July, 2010