Franklin Service Station

1 Franklin Service Station March 2014 A newsletter of The Franklin Club Number 143. Written, compiled and edited by Scott Dwyer with contributions as noted All the news to keep your Franklin on the road. Photo sent by anonymous member Check with your Doctor Before Connecting rods usually fail because the main bearings are bad. How's that? Connecting rods get their oil Beginning an Exercise Program supply from the mains, and if the main bearings have too much clearance or are cracked, the oil to the rods is This photograph shows how not to keep your Franklin compromised. (And.. see Leftovers on page 5). on the road. This is what could happen when you find an old Franklin and start driving it without first checking Mains should be clearance. Bearings to see if your engine is sound and fit for the miles. should be smooth and free of any cracks or defects. If at all possible, replace 100 year old Babbitt with new What's particularly sad about this is that it's the first Babbitt.

2 Old Babbitt crystallizes and cracks. Franklin of a new Franklin owner, and a 10-B Sedan just like mine. And what's sadder is that this same thing Connecting rods should be - clearance. Do happened to my car before I bought it. And what's not merely hone or bore out old bearings (like was done sadder is that this happened to my Series 11 Touring to my car before I bought it). That just hides cracks. Old before I bought it. And what's sadder is that I just wrote Babbitt gets brittle and shatters. It's a fact of metallurgy. about the necessity of checking over the engine of a It's science. You can't pretend it won't happen to you. newly acquired car to prevent just this sort of thing. And what's sadder is that Franklin ain't making parts for Drop the pan, clean the sludge, inspect all the bearings. these cars anymore. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So you want to buy a But for most of us reality is somewhat different.

3 Franklin ? Here I will go out on a limb and caution against buying First in a multi-part series on the thrill of shopping. an older restoration --- especially one with an alleged mechanical restoration. Cosmetics can be judged easily I've been writing about the at first sight, but the mechanical condition of a car can experiences with my 10-B Sedan only be assessed when you take it all apart and inspect to illustrate all the things which the condition. I have concluded that in prior can go wrong with a newly generations, full restoration meant cosmetic paint and acquired car. I don't want to upholstery work to make the car look like new, with frighten newcomers away, but to some freshening up of the mechanical aspects --- impress that what you bought is change the oil, piston rings.. maybe do a valve job. more than a used Toyota needing tires and an oil change. That's it. No one seems to have bothered with engine More importantly I hope to convince that much by way bearings, new pistons and all the fussing to make an of preflight checks can be done yourself.

4 Good for you engine as good as new. It just wasn't thought necessary, if you can hire the best restoration guys out there to perhaps because the cars weren't that old. If it ran, that's restore your entire machine back to better than new all that was expected. Today, these are 100 year old cars, condition, but you don't need professional help for and age most certainly does show its ugly head as the everything. I've used a little of both. I had the bearings photograph on the front page sadly illustrates. Eight of on the 10-B engine done by a friend whom I consider to the ten cars I've owned in my life were sold to me as be the best Franklin man alive. I've also had him do having a rebuilt engine --- drive it home ! Yet each work on my Series 5 engine to assure that a car as was rebuilt so poorly that the car could not be driven special and rare as that is will be the best it can be. But very far at all without a complete tear-down and proper I've crawled all over both cars by now, learning as I go.

5 Rebuild. You'd think I would have learned by now.. This isn't rocket science. And I'm not a rocket scientist. So my advice is, if at all possible don't buy a car which If you are looking for your first old car or your has been worked on by a small army of well-meaning twentieth, here is some advice which is sound for us all. but ignorant mechanics for the past 80 years. It's better I've learned a bit over 37 years of car ownership, so I'm by far to acquire a completely unrestored car --- or at somewhat qualified to have an opinion. First, anyone least original mechanically --- and to therefore accept will tell you that restoration is shockingly expensive. that you will need to rebuild every mechanical aspect of Even if you do a lot of your own work, there will be the car before enjoying the miles. For if your engine some aspects which you will need to hire-out. My salary has been improperly worked on, it is often far more hasn't gone up much at all in the last ten years, but the difficult and expensive to undo years of ham-fisted cost of restoration work has skyrocketed.

6 For your shade tree wrenching than to rebuild and repair normal money, you must therefore be assured that the work you wear. Ask me how I know. Poor workmanship should hire will be done correctly and be done right the first be a criminal offense, but unfortunately it cannot be time. I've learned that lesson the hard way and recent legislated nor enforced. Let the buyer beware. The only outsourcing with the 10-B and Series 5 has been to way you can tour in confidence is when you are certain people I completely trust. Results have been good, but all is well under the hood. retirement is now significantly delayed. However, the future owners of my Franklins will have the best there is. Condition aside, if you are new or relatively new to And in that is my satisfaction. Franklins, how do you know which car to buy to suit your needs. Experience really is the best teacher. Your best choice is to find a car which has been either Sometimes you need to own a car for a while to realize fully restored, or a cosmetic original with mechanical that it's not for you.

7 But a little education helps the restoration done by a referenced, acknowledged and process so with this issue of Service Station I thought I'd competent expert. Documentation should be readily begin a few words about each of the various types of available for all work. Barring the pedigree, the car Franklins you might consider --- their abilities, strengths ought to have many tour miles on the odometer and you and weaknesses, charms and heartaches, availability and should have the opportunity to drive the car a long the parts situation. Perhaps this may help you to zero in distance to asses these things for yourself. The best a little better on which Franklin might be the best for option is to buy from a friend --- a car which you have you. If you are an old Franklin veteran, this stuff is fun seen being used and enjoyed reliably for many happy to read anyway, even if you probably won't own a Cross miles. Engine any time soon.

8 Besides, it beats doing your taxes. All that said, Cross Engines are still primitive machines Brass Era Franklins which require lots of tinkering and diagnosing and Cross Engine--1902 to 1906 patience to keep running or even to make run. Parts can be hard to find (original carburetors seem all but non- These are the coolest little cars. existent) but some people have created reproduction They defined Franklin as a engine parts including crankcases and cylinders --- a producer and allowed the huge benefit of being in the Franklin fraternity. company to be the fifth largest maker of automobiles its first decade. When asked later Cross Engine driving has limitations. You will find it in life of all the cars they made, which was his favorite, more challenging to drive on long tours on modern roads Franklin replied that it was the Cross Engine. than you would a later brass car. Although they can be geared to go pretty fast, like Peter's Type E, those with a The Cross Engine was ahead of its time technologically.

9 Tonneau or When most cars were stationary engines mounted in a back seat buggy chassis, the Franklin was wholly designed to be a are of real motor car using newly course developed technology, not heavier and the least of which was a geared a bit four cylinder engine --- more quite high tech for 1902. conservativ These great little cars can ely. And be highly reliable and very loaded with drivable, and many are four eligible for the London-to- passengers, Brighton run, which the little includes cars made engine is really working its heart out. Cross Engine through 1904 (so the 1905 Franklins, therefore, are most comfortable on HCCA 1- and 1906 Cross Engines and 2-Cylinder Tours. (Most of these tours do now allow are not welcome, oh bummage! ..And it's not Franklin Cross Engines based on size and horsepower). fruitful to finagle an exception. The RAC is strict !) Tom Rasmussen points out that the later 1905/1906 cars With the ability to alter drive chain sprockets, these cars have, however, a completely different character & feel can go 45 miles per hour !

10 Not that anyone would want than the early cars. Not to detract from the earlier cars, to because the steering is very quick and brakes are Tom says the later cars are simply more solid, more primitive. But the engine is powerful and smooth, and robust and have a more modern feel (in a relative the overall car quite light. sense!). The earlier cars are much more 'Edwardian' in terms of design and driving experience. They really are (I love driving and riding in any Franklin , but I've never been different cars, each giving a wonderful driving more frightened than when Peter Kunan took me out in his experience. Loving the Cross Engines makes one really Cross Engine at the Trek, long ago. Peter rebuilt his engine want one of each, both early and late designs. to give startling performance, and used a high-speed chain sprocket combination. There I was, perched way on top of As much as I'd love to own one, the desire to drive long that little 1905 distances makes these cars not my first choice with the Type E, zooming limited finances I have available.)