Lagonda Rapiers

4 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

Do you have any ideas for dealing with this? It seems if you have new brake pads, with a receipt certified to be asbestos-free, and you have no insulation or heat shield which could have asbestos, then your only potential problem is with the transmission. Once they see you have no conventional clutch disc, then they will think either it has friction material internally or is some sort of automatic torque converter system. Do you have a spare transmission? You could get these bands relined and certified asbestos-free I would think. The ABF would accept a receipt with some sort of certification?

What you are saying is probably correct BUT to my knowledge there is no supplier of new ENV 75 bands in Australia. The main source of these bands is from one or possibly two Preselector Transmission  specialists in the UK. They will not supply bands to do it yourself people. The only way they will supply bands is if they fit them whilst in the process of totally rebuilding the transmission. This involves removing the transmission and shipping it to England. You then wait for anything up to three or four months. When they have rebuilt your trans they will send you an invoice. After you pay what ever the choose to charge they will return your transmission. The last person I know who had a trans rebuilt in the UK paid over $10,000.
I have a spare trans BUT it is a "wide ratio" box. ENV in their wisdom built three versions of the '75. One as used by Riley 9, Triumph & Crossley 10hp had "wide" ratios. The one supplied to Lagonda for the Rapier had "close" ratios, the one supplied in very limited numbers to MG for use in the "Q" type had ultra close ratios. The linings and bands were probably the same for all three versions. The various other preselector transmissions Wilson, Daimler etc whilst similar are totally different and not interchangeable with the ENV 75.
I have on my shelf, spare bands and harnesses similar to your photograph but being all "old stock" it is almost certain that they contain asbestos. The spare linings that the Rapier Register stock are probably from the same source and age as mine.
There is another option, I can fit a clutch together with a modern Toyota 5 speed gearbox. This involves making non-reversible changes to the bell housing together with a new drive shaft.  
If I was going down this path why not fit a new Toyota motor as well.  Better still why not sell the Rapierand buy a completely new car. As it is my Rapier is worth around UK£65/75,000.00. It has an incredible history prior to my owner-ship.  I have owned it since 1978, we have travelled over 100,000 miles in it. We have at various times driven it through the UK, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The photo shows our car as it was in the 1950s & 60s When owned and raced by Beatrice Shilling. It is worth looking up Miss Shilling. She was the Carburation specialist at the RAF Royal Aircraft Establishment at  Farnborough in the UK throughout WW2, There is a book "Negative Gravity" written about her life. When I rebuilt our Rapier there were a number of people who complained bitterly that I had "destroyed an Historic Car"

These bands are either new or very near new. They are from my ENV spares shelf. I bought them a very long time ago, without having them tested for asbestos content I have no way of knowing exactly what they are but I do know that I am not about to throw them away. I have to look at the "shelf" again but I should have a new "top-gear cone" too.