simondema

Congratulations on the purchase! It will be a long arduous road ahead, but a great feeling when completed. Make sure you do it once and do it right. The Champ has a habit of punishing those who take a short cut when restoring it, and doing it right from the start will ensure you will reduce the hassles at a later stage. Probably wise for you to contact the Champ Registry and become a member of the ACOC. Lots of knowledge and help, and together with this website, you will be in good hands. Ask lots of questions!! Simon 16BE24 Sydney, Australia

Hi all Last week I managed to get the Champ to finally start and run. After a lot of fiddling around, I managed to get a rig set up using an outboard engine fuel tank, attaching its hose directly to the fuel pump. Worked like a dream. When it came time to start the engine, we checked the leads, the spark plugs and the gap in the contact breaker. All good. I essentially re-assembled the distributor the same way I took it off the vehicle when I bought it. Below is a photo of the distributor after I bought the car Looking at photos of the other distributors, the cables are not the same. However, when I started up the vehicle last week, she was running perfectly well in this same configuration. On the EMER manual it says that firing order is 1 3 4 2. If I use the TDC marks on the flywheel, the rotor points down at the circled no. 2 on the distributor cap, not no.1. Unfortunately, I had my carburettor serviced, and they made a dog's breakfast of it. I installed it on the Champ this week, and after that, it won't start again. Hence why I started troubleshooting and ended up moving the distributor around, which I should never have done! Nonetheless, I have bought 2 sets of NOS spark plug cables, and the wires are no way long enough to put them in the spaces as shown in the above picture. How do I get the rotor to line up to no. 1 (which is the circled number at about 11 o'clock on the cap)? At TDC, the rotor points down at the circled no. 2 (which is at 8 o'clock on the distributor cap). Could the flywheel be so out, or is the rotor assembly wrong, or..... Please, help! Simon

Hi John thanks for the great reply, and you are certainly not telling me how to suck eggs. Any bits of information is very much appreciated. Yes I have all the cables and wires connected on the engine, so I just need to get all the connection sorted outside the engine. I think the easiest will be to get the auto electrician who works closely with my mechanic to devise a test bed setup we can connect to the engine. I also have someone who has a switchboard setup that can be connected up and start the engine that way. Again, many thanks for all your help. Simon

Hi John Thanks for the reply. Yes, I have all the cables, however the engine has no wiring loom attached. I assume that once the 2x12V batteries are connected, then the cables will be attached to the starter motor, but that's where I come to a stop. Hopefully someone can help. Thanks Simon

Hi all My B40 engine has been placed temporarily in the Champ and before I take it out an re-paint it, I want to test it and fix any issues. Can someone please tell me what wiring and setup I need to achieve this, please? Thanks Simon

I all I need to replace the small round Ferrobestos bush on my Champ's steering column. It says on Champ World you need to drill a hole in the bush so the small pin can go through it to keep in place. As it's asbestos, I assume there will be some provisos. Can anyone offer some sage advice as to how I go about doing this? Thanks Simon

I have been working lately on re-building the front and rear axles on the Champ. While that was happening, I took the body to a guy here i Sydney, Andy's Restoration in Kurnell, who cut out all the rust and manufactured new sills and other parts which the rust had attacked. He also tidied up the welded parts on the body and took out little dings and knocks. Took him about 3 weeks to do, but attached are the results> Simon

Thanks, MTM I have already looked at them and deciding which I will go for. Simon

Hi all Can anyone properly identify with a photo what the correct inspection light is on the Austin Champ, please? There are a couple on Ebay UK, however the electrical wiring doesn't look like Champ wiring. Any help would be appreciated before I start bidding and possibly end up buying a lemon!! Simon

Not an overly busy day yesterday, apart from the long travelling times between home and where the Champ body was stored. I decided that the repairs to the sills and the bodywork are beyond me, so I will be taking it to a local restorer (Andy's Restoration Services) here in Sydney. It seems Andy has worked on Champs before and on the phone he was very much aware of the Champ's Achilles heels i.e the lower parts of the body. I hired a car trailer which when compared to the tub of the Champ seemed enormous, however I was not prepared to get into an argument with the local highway patrol officers had they pulled me over with the body hanging over a small trailer. So off I went and managed (struggled) to get the body down from the rafters in the shed and eventually onto the trailer Today I will be attaching the front axle to the chassis and start re-building the rear axle. I will also start attaching all the necessary "bits" to the chassis.

Yesterday was another huge day at my mechanic's garage, having decided to wash and set aside the rear axle parts, waiting for oil seals and bearings to arrive and be replaced. I wanted to get the tracta housing bells as smooth as possible and void of rust, as it will prolong the life of the large (hard to find and horrendously expensive) hub oil seal. I used an extremely fine Wet n Dry sandpaper and sanded it under the parts washer which uses a warm solution of this Eco Friendly product which washes away all traces of grease, dirt, grime etc. Oh yes, and it feels great on your hands, too! I spent about 15 minutes on each bowl, ensuring there were no nicks or roughness on the surface. Here is a photo of 2 bowls finished and one still to be done as a comparison. After having polished the bowls, I proceeded to remove all parts which were not necessary on the rear diff casing, and I sent it off to the diff specialists for them to check out. They will clean, dismantle, check the CW&P, and re-assemble the rear diff case, ready for me to bolt on all the other bits, knowing all the settings are accurate. After all this was done, I turned my attention to the front axle, as I knew I had to replace the rubber tracta joint boots. I decided not to completely dismantle the front axle, as I felt it was not as critical as the rear axle. The boots however were another issue. All of them were split, and when I replaced the first one on the right side, it had a huge amount of grease, sand and dirt stuck on the bell housing. I took advantage of having the wishbone arms off to clean and replace some of the small oil seals on the arms The shims were also checked and replaced. I heeded the advice of others and placed tape around the boots prior to assembly, so the clips would not bite into the rubber. Unfortunately I only had yellow tape! Although it was a bit of a struggle, and it took 2 of us to do it, we eventually managed to get the splines lined up correctly for the whole assembly to be put back in place, without having to dismantle the axle any further. Today I will do the left side of the axle, and then hopefully I will be able to bolt the front axle to the chassis. I also sent the wheels and tyres away for them to remove the old ones, dismantle the rims and clean them, prime and then decide on the correct tread for the Champ which not only will give me authenticity, but will also be safe enough for me to drive the vehicle around Sydney. If anyone has any suggestions regarding what type of tyres, I would appreciate it. I had to place the tyres against the chassis, so the Champ would feel less "naked" To finish off the day, I managed to make a gasket for the oil pressure switch and re-assembled it

Today, after returning from a trip overseas ( for work), I went straight to one of the local bearings and seal shop here in Sydney, close to my place. I have been trying to find the correct bearings to replace the ones in the hubs in both front and rear axles. Although I had all the correct measurements for the tapered roller bearings, the guy behind the counter was more interested in the numbers on the bearings themselves. Therefore, I had to physically go over to garage where I keep all my parts and remove both the roller bearing and cone. Interesting what I found: The bearing closest to the wheel was a SKF 2K 359S, Made in England. The cup instead is SKF K-354A but made in Holland. The other bearing, the one closest to the diff, in other words the inner one is SKF 2K-359S, Made in Holland. The cup is K-354 (without the A) and also made in Holland. I have now got the guy from SKF to search his database and see whether they are available in Australia, or whether I will have to sell my house, and part of my family to buy them from overseas!

Thanks Wally, for the information. So where can you find when the vehicle was actually made if it seems there are few records left of the production run? Simon

Hi Keith Well...if 17BE53 shows a D.I.S of 31/12/1952 and 17BE96 shows a D.I.S of 7/1/1953, I would say yours could be early January 1953. However I am sure someone will come back with a more accurate answer. Simon

The last few days have seen a mad scramble to get all the parts painted and finished and then moved closer to home, before the shed I have everything stored in gets torn down. The rainy days we have had here in Sydney have not helped with the paint, however now all major components have been painted and set aside. I have moved the engine and front axle to my mechanics workshop, where he will be carrying out any repairs and tuning of the engine once all parts are re-assembled. I ended up buying a oil filter kit from Russell Altmann in Melbourne, and it fits like a dream I was at first concerned the unit would not fit inside the bowl, as I wanted to retain it as original as possible. However everything fits in really nicely, so that's one less thing to worry about.