chason wrote: ↑09:17 Sunday 9th April 2017
Some great photos there, Tim. I see 'PEZ' several times a week and often wonder for how long it can carry on. When new, am I right in thinking that their intended lifespan was about 7 years? If so, it's continued regular use is quite remarkable although I guess it's present route is not particularly challenging. But a tribute nevertheless to those who designed and built it and to whoever at Clearway seems to manage to keep it going.
I think you are right about the 7 year intended lifespan; the earlier 608 buses were depreciated over 6 years, but generally ran for 12 years with some managing 14 years. They were simpler and more ruggedly built than the later O814. I sent a letter to another enthusiast in August 1999 on the subject of Worcester's O814s which I was then driving on City Service. At that time the general view was that they had disappointing reliability, heavier than expected fuel consumption and myriad body defects. At the time of writing most 'Varios' had completed 40,000 miles, had three or four replacement sets of disc pads and some replacement front discs.
By all accounts the cylinder heads and engine blocks were a bad match (one or the other reputed to be of Trabant's Zwickau factory manufacture) leading to diesel oil contamination of engine oil sump. Exhaust emissions were said at the time to be much worse than full sized Dennis Lances, and I thought the engineers had cut the Varios back on fuel and maximum revs to counter this problem. I recorded gear speeds on maximum revs at this time as 20 MPH in first, 30 MPH in second, 45 in third and 60 MPH in top, which was more than adequate for stage carriage services.
The Allison automatic gearboxes had a tendency to stick in second when changing up to third (or trying to be in both gears at once!) leading to snatchy 'kangaroo' progress until the foot came off the gas. This problem also occurred on Dennis Darts with similar gearbox. Most drivers tended to use the over-ride gear lever to change down uphill as the auto box held too high a gear otherwise and speed dropped off very quickly.
I have a note that some gearboxes over heat, and with the engine in front of the driver with gearbox by your left foot the cab was like a sauna in the summer months, with added bonus of the cold air vent supply passing over the exhaust to give 40 degree C relief! We were prohibited from driving with the passenger door open in these conditions, but did so when the buses were empty and no one was looking.
Also mentioned was the shoddy standard of The Plaxton bodies, with rattling doors (not properly shimmed) and that four of their workers were resident at Padmore Street on Fridays and Saturdays trying to sort out the fractured cross members supporting the body to the chassis. There were also problems in the emergency door area and with all the seat mountings. These buses always had rolled up tickets pushed into myriad positions to stop rattles! The screws holding the drivers door often worked loose and you would open the door and it it would fall sideways into your arms - hence I always carried a Phillips head screwdriver to fix it back into the door post.
I noted that all the steering boxes had got to be replaced, but no firm dates when the Serbian source could supply had been given.
The air suspension was dreadful, the front was harsh and the rear bounced up and down over the slightest undulation and crashed into small potholes with jarring results; it was never improved despite many efforts. Paradoxically, O814s fitted with standard suspension ride quite nicely.
Despite all the faults, they were suprisingly reliable in service, in five years of driving, I only ever failed to complete service on three or four occasions, once with a nearside front wheel bearing failure, once with failed brake pedal cylinder, once with flat batteries (near end of financial year) and once with changeover for crawling uphill with worn out injectors (which seemed to need replacing every four years or so and usually cured the fault).
I expect Clearway's mechanic has some tales to tell about his charge!
