restoration Diamond T 980

Part 1 – Delivery and Assessment

After many years of searching for the right T I bought a 980 in April this year. I was always looking for a vehicle requiring a degree of restoration but without major alteration. So an original cab and engine if possible were the boxes to tick, as was the lack of ballast box mods which are so common with ex recovery vehicles. It is an early vehicle (no.373) which has been verified by the MVT as being manufactured in August 1941. At purchase it was unregistered but I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of which the DVLA handled the registration application.

Imported from Holland in 2000 by its previous owner it spent the majority of the post war years in the Italian army, being overhauled in October 1967. It spent time in North Africa or Egypt, as I have found traces of desert sand in some hard to get to areas. The remainder appears to be a mixture of NATO green (internal) and a rather unappealing lighter green externally. The heritage was a bonus as I had always intended to restore in North Africa colours.

 

 

 

 

Apart from Italian data plates, re-wiring (all in black), and a few additional switches it is as it would have been delivered. The engine starts with ease and the gear changes are in order, leading me to believe that since the rebuild it was not extensively used.

At the moment I only have outdoor storage for the complete vehicle, but with facilities to store sizeable sections in my garage so as long as the ballast box and chassis can be tackled in the fine months the remainder can be restored under cover.

In terms of condition the cab has rot on the A post and outer edges of the floor, although the latter is repairable as opposed to removal and replacement. One door skin is shot and the scuttle is rough around the edges. The previous owner had ensured the rust on the bonnet and wheel arches was kept under control by the application of brown paint – looks bad but has kept the panels in good nick over the years. The winch however will not engage; the spindle is seized solid. Tyres are serviceable but some are showing signs of perishing, so I will try and replace them before the restoration is completed.

 

 

Shortly after delivery I tried removing paint in strategic areas in an attempt to discover some of the vehicle’s history. Unfortunately nearly all the exterior areas had been bare metalled by the Italians and no original markings could be found. Copious quantities of high build primer were used (several mm thick in places). The thickness is inconsistent and bears no connection to the straightness of the panels, so it is best it all comes off.

While being confident at mechanical work and painting I must admit to being no expert at welding, so the plan is to give the cab and scuttle to those who could do a far better job than me, so the intention was to get the cab off and pass the job to a restorer for the full Monty.

Before the cab could be removed the steering wheel had to be pulled off the column. I knew the upper bearing had pretty much collapsed due to lateral play in the wheel, and I assumed that to remove the wheel all that was required was to remove the nut and pull the wheel off – not as simple as that. The nut had been over tightened as to strip the thread on the shaft, and it took a three leg puller and two bars behind the spokes to pull the wheel off. The shaft, being slightly tapered after the spline, had held the wheel very firm indeed. In addition I found several components missing.

Removal of the cab followed. It was split from the scuttle and lifted off. Between the two sections was what I believe to be the original canvas strips. It took five of us to lift the cab safely into the waiting trailer but overall the job was much easier to accomplish that initially thought. The cab, scuttle are now in my garage, pending transportation to Allied Forces in Rockhampton for a complete restoration in the autumn.

 

As the T is stored outside I am currently concentrating on the ballast box and chassis, components which cannot be worked on in my garage. Once complete the fuel tank covers, battery boxes, running boards, wheel arches, bonnet and front bumper will be shot blasted and primed at a local specialist before the desert sand is applied – I am currently planning on have this work completed before the winter, but we shall see.

Some basic modifications have already been undertaken, the most notable being the fitting of British army style mud flaps at the rear. This was primarily to provide a location for the rear lights (replacing the Italian clusters, which have been smashed), number plate, and some decent reflectors. I must admit they are a little close to the wheels for my liking but unless I do some serious off-roading (unlikely) and pack mud between the flap and the tyre I think I’m in the clear.

My choice of lights is the land Rover NATO units, In keeping with the vehicle and very sturdy. The reflectors were bought on eBay from a US MV shop and are 4 inches in diameter. With a magnetic beacon on the cab roof and those reflectors (not to mention the light stone colour) no one can say “but I did not see you”. Seriously though, my Father spent many years driving Diamond T’s and I accompanied him on several notable occasions. When you are trundling along at 23 mph people do the stupidest things to get past you, and some just don’t realise how slow you are until it is a little too late for comfort.

Looks like a good project. Keep us updated on progress.

I m thinking if you were to construct a rear bash bar or some kind of defence barrier that you could remove when parked at a display or rally that could give you a bit more piece of mind from joe public meeting up with you by accident as well as save the tires from damage caused by those annoying road fleas .

Look's to become a great restoration !

What a beauty. I look forward to seeing the updates. Good luck.

Tim (too)

Great report and update Adrain, many thanks.

These things are big and hats of to you. I don't that anything on these trucks is small and the everything must weigh at leased 100cwt!

Yes, some sort of rear defence had crossed my mind. It is something that can be added later so when the restoration is complete I will re-visit.

Jack - you are not kidding, it took four of us to manhandle the cab from the trailer to the garage. For a small item it is incredibly heavy, and that was with the scuttle detached and the seats out.:shocked:

Thanks for all your encouragement. The second blog will be posted shortly when I have chance to take up to date pictures.

A

Wow, you sure know how to entertain the crowd with your story! Keep it up and keep us posted.

I have been pestered to add a photo of the T entering the yard, now called the eye of the needle! Two inches either side so a bit a**e clenching the first time you try it, especially as the entry is preceded by a tight turn.

Still, a miss is as good as a mile....

Good thread Adrian, you bought well, they are great looking and sounding trucks. Knowing your width that well always comes in handy!

great looking truck it reminds me of one I had on my model railwat when I was a kid good luck and watch the paint on that entrance

I lost count of the number of times we measured that gateway! :-D Seemed to be we'd be walking out and then someone would suggest that maybe we should measure it one more time!:idea:

At least it's nicely tucked away and injuries to helpers I think is just restricted to me! Was only a skinned shin though.

Ed

I lost count of the number of times we measured that gateway! :-D Seemed to be we'd be walking out and then someone would suggest that maybe we should measure it one more time!:idea:

 

At least it's nicely tucked away and injuries to helpers I think is just restricted to me! Was only a skinned shin though.

 

Ed

Blimey guys that is a cracking bit of driving! Can we now have one of you guys doing it at night....... :coffee:

Adrian - we have been discussing this thread, the content and the pictures and standard is great and Joris wants to put it up on the front page for all to see..........

Blimey guys that is a cracking bit of driving! Can we now have one of you guys doing it at night....... :coffee:

 

 

Adrian - we have been discussing this thread, the content and the pictures and standard is great and Joris wants to put it up on the front page for all to see..........

Jack/Joris thank you for your kind remarks, yes, please go ahead.

Ed, you forget that you did shake hell out of the vehicle when you caught your head on the open door!:shocked:

As to the night driving there is a first time for everything (including demolition of the farmers outhouse).

As another Diamond T 981 driver, albeit a faster Rolls-royce engined one, i never seem to be amazed by other drivers and their habit of overtaking you on a blind bend and then slowing down to see what they have overtaken.

I made up a detatchable light -board which hangs over the rear tailboard and plugs into a hidden socket, with a beacon and a "slow-moving" sign. It works really well and even on a busy road like the A12 traffic gets out from behind me with loads of space and time.

As for putting a beacon on the roof i find that because so many vehicles (transits included) have them they seem to be ignored, i have a magnetic one which sits on the front bumper and that seems to slow traffic down better for me.

My little round mirrors are great for show authenticity but you need some bigger things if you do many miles on the road, The spare wheel is a massive blind spot on a T.

The best wisdom for road driving is pick your route and pick your times

Happy T driving.

Dave

Part 2 – Dodgy bolts and incontinent fuel tanks.

The past few weeks have been quite eventful. With the cab and bonnet off I have turned my attention to painting the ballast box and stripping the off-side items for shot blasting. These consisted of the wheel arch, battery and pre-filter structure, running board, fuel tank and front mud guard.

The fuel tank still had about 25 litres of white spirit (to call it diesel would be flattering and down right inaccurate because it smelt and looked nothing like diesel) which was of an interesting mid brown tint. I had opted to drain the tank at the last point before removal, and this was my downfall. I had removed the cover plate and moving the tank about to obtain better access to the connections at the rear which obviously opened up a weak point in the base as I was soon confronted by a steady flow of brown spirit dripping off the running board. It was one of those situations where you stare at the problem for several seconds before descending into post watershed language and frustration, trying to get the drain plug off and not remembering the last time you saw the adjustable. Draining the tank took the best part of half an hour as the drain hole kept blocking up due to the clag in the bottom. During this time I stuffed anything absorbent under the tank in a rather vain attempt to control the flow and absorb what was collecting on the ground. Tip – a mixture of straw, sawdust and dried poultry droppings (contents of the disused barn floor) make an excellent addition to a spill kit.

The near side tank has been disconnected for some time so I cannot think what has been festering within. You can guarantee it will be drained before I attempt to remove the cover just in case the bottom is as bad as the off side, which is highly probable.

The tanks will be shotblasted to enable any weaknesses to be shown up. If repairable they will be cleaned out and sealed.

During the strip I lost count of how many bolts simply sheared off with little effort. Several bolts, particularly along the top of the chassis rail either had no nuts or were loose. The threads were all rusted in the extreme so I can only think that this was an Italian bodge as nothing had run up them in many years. While on the subject I was also surprised as to how many bolts were in metric, and slightly too short. I have always followed the principle that all bolts when installed should protrude by at least one thread from the mating fastener. A number of the bolts (and this is also the case with two of the wheel studs) were flush or recessed in the nut. As a result I have opted to throw away all the remaining nuts and bolts and starting from scratch replace with imperial units of the correct length.

Off-side stripped for blasting – August 2008.

The ballast box is almost all in red oxide, with the notable exception of the tailgate. The near side top has been damaged. While still functional it does not look very good and will require heating to rectify and therefore it will be better to remove it altogether and get it shotblasted (the sides and front of the ballast box have been flatted back as there was minimal paint while the back was bare metalled to remove copious amounts of high build primer). However, getting the hinge bar out is proving easier said than done. Cue the sledge!

Damage to tailgate.

Examination of the chassis has shown that the previous layers of paint are unstable. The top layer of green will peels off with ease, under which is an orange primer which itself flakes off. Therefore all will have to be removed. Herein lies a problem. The T is stored in a farmyard which is surrounded by houses and therefore noise has to be limited. Shotblasting on site is therefore not advisable. This puts me in an awkward position as the firstly the vehicle will have to be moved off site for certain work, and sides will have to be removed once there; so it is pointless applying the top coat to these areas until the chassis work is complete. I therefore plan to complete the vehicle in red oxide externally (under the bonnet and inside the cab will be completed in olive drab at the earliest opportunity) and return it to a roadworthy state and then take it to the shotblaster where the chassis can be finished. This is not an ideal scenario but until I can find a more appropriate location for both storage and restoration it appears to be the only way forward. On the plus side it means I will be able to take it out sooner than planned and complete a number of road tests before the light stone is applied. Although not driven for many years on the road the previous owner started it up on a regular basis and moved it around to keep the oil round the gears and diffs, and the grease points have been kept serviceable so I am not expecting any nasties, although you never can tell.

On closer examination the winch looks worse than first thought. It has obviously not been used in many years. So it is coming off for a strip and inspection. Green paint has been applied to the spindle behind the dog clutch - a running surface; which does suggest that the Italian army did not intend to undertake recovery work with this vehicle.

The rear mudguards have also been completed, again in red oxide for the time being.

Off side mudguard during a ‘dry build’ with Lucas NATO type lights.

Cab and bonnet in storage awaiting restoration.

Detail of the cab A post.

Scuttle showing corrosion to A-Post region.

Looking good Adrian ! Thanks for keeping us posted and good luck with the rest ! :-D

Adrian -

I've seen a Constructor with twin tanks where one has been converted to a stowage locker. Maybe not in line with your stunning restoration, but (if well done so the hinge cannot be detected) a very good use for a dud tank

Just to add to Adrian's post. After all, theres no point taking the photos if they just sit in the pc!

A slightly lop-sided looking T:

I'm sure there's something missing:

Discussing the winch:

The winch in question:

Spot the difference!

A good thing you got a T which doesn't require a total restoration.

The size it is it would probably take forever.

Keep up the good work.

I want a bigger truck... It's no good... I want a bigger truck...

I want a bigger truck... It's no good... I want a bigger truck...

It's not a question of WANTING, you NEED a bigger truck. Everyone does.

There was a Diamond T knocking about up here in a slightly dishevelled state... hmmm!

There was a Diamond T knocking about up here in a slightly dishevelled state... hmmm!

Go for it! You know you want to....:sweat:

Adrian -

 

I've seen a Constructor with twin tanks where one has been converted to a stowage locker. Maybe not in line with your stunning restoration, but (if well done so the hinge cannot be detected) a very good use for a dud tank

The fuel tank has been downgraded from 'restorable' to 'ornamental'. It is complete Swiss cheese up to an inch from the bottom.:shocked: The blaster was turned down to it's lowest setting (normally copes with 0.5mm with ease) and it still went through.

go on bodge go for it !!! there use to be (so rumour has it ) a jeep up there on railway wheels too .