johann morris

Eddy, The track links would be very welcome, could you find out how much he wants for them, I expect shipping would be expensive. I thought the gearbox and final drives were going to be expensive, it may be back to plan A and cobble something up, in a very English sense. Jon

David, Not a bad idea but I wonder where one might source the cvrt components and no doubt, they cost a kings ransom. Anyone know where such items may be purchased? Jon

I will be honest, apart from fiddling I have done bugger all but I have been down to the tank museum and got the measurements that I require to start again. The journey down there was hell, 7 hours, an hour of that was spent in a traffic jam outside Marlbourgh, which turned out to be caused by the bin men collecting the roadside rubbish bins, only in Britain could that happen. I am waiting for a metal deliver and then its offfff. I decided in the end to get a jaguar straight six petrol engine, so now I have a spare 300tdi Land rover engine to use somewhere. Jon

I have had a bout of the dreaded man flu and as I am unable to sit still for too long, I decided to rise from my death bed and start the canvas covers for the seat bases. I have an old back rest cover for the drivers seat, which I can use as a pattern to make a new one but does anyone have a picture of the passengers seat back rest. It's attached to the rear bulkhead by four turn buckles but that's all I know. I don't want to assemble too many parts to the front of the vehicle before I fit the engine and as we are now in week five of a four week production schedule for the engine and that's before I get it back for rebuilding, I decided to start the rear body. There's not much of the original body left and what is left is very rusty, so its start again. There are some sections that I can use, the front bulkhead but the lower section was rusted out and needed replacement. The strengtheners for the wheel arches that are in excellent condition. Front body corner sections that need repair And the wheel arches that are in fairly good condition. The new base, is based on a picture that I took at the Coberton collection, I assume that it is original, I think that I may have gone over the top a little but surprisingly, in its current state, its no heavier than the old body, but then as my wife pointed out rust doesn't weigh that much.

It looks like a lovely project. Personally I would restore it but as sympathetically as I could, trying to retain its originality but preserving it for another 70 odd years. Jon

The wiring is nearly finished, it just needs connecting to the various components. I am a bit reluntant to assemble any more of the front until after I fit the engine. Jon

Over the last couple of days i have just been trying to clear some of the smaller items that needed mending, remanufacturing and the last two major components pertaining to the drivers cab, the doors and the windscreen frames. All the rails for the windscreen frames were in a very poor condition but repairable, apart from one and for that, I just made a new one.

Cox and Turner engineering. Jon

POR15 is good stuff but don't rush, take your time make sure that you follow the instructions, degrease and etch the tank properly this takes time and patients. Don't be tempted to open the tin of sealant until you are ready to use it, it starts to go off with contact to the air and resealing the tin doesn't stop it. Jon

One of the petrol tanks wasn't in the best of condition, having a large area of rust that I cut out and welded a patch in, the other one was in good condition but to be on the safe side I have lined both with POR. This evenings job was get the tank mounting brackets and tanks bolted in and piped up. The brackets are felt lined, I had a hell of a job finding the correct felt and in the end, I had to import it from the US via Canada.

Evening All, Its been a while since I updated this thread but I have been beavering away. The chassis is complete, the brakes have been rebuilt but I have to be honest, it was only last night that I realised that there was no brake light switch, so I had to plumb one in today. Suspension is all in place and ready to roll. The steering wheel was in a bit of a mess so it was out with the milliput and a very relaxing evening it was too. The starter switch was totally knackered, so I have incorporated a land Rover series one switch into the original housing. The radiator has been off to be re-cored and is ready to be refitted. Tyre fitting went perfectly with the only problem being getting the old tyres off and what a right bas.....d of a job that was. Out of the five wheel rims there are 3 different wheel manufacturers and it is interesting to see the difference in the profiles of the rims. One look almost parallel to the bead, one had a definite raised area on the bead and one had the bead that had a definite indentation in the bead area. I know, I must be very sad studying wheel rims but...…………. I am a head of schedule, so today I took the engine block and head off to the machinists, I hadn't intended to do anything with the engine until the new year but I had the time so took advantage of it. looking forward it is quite possible that I will get the rear body rebuilt before my self imposed deadline, only time will tell. Jon

Yet another war movie, to steer clear of. Why oh Why, can't they just make a decent movie that tells a true story, with as little CGI as possible. Jon

Nice find!

Are these tyres road legal? speaking to a gentleman in Canada who informs me that if they are the one manufactured in the USA they are not DOT approved and therefore not road legal. Is this the case for the UK? Jon

Monday evening we managed to get it back on four wheels.

Evening All, Chassis and axles in green, ready for re assembly. I have decided to do something that i have never done before and that is to reuse some of the old nuts and bolts. I Lot of the 3/8" and bigger bolts are in such good condition it seems a shame to scrap them, so I am cleaning, re threading, dipping them in rust killer and the dipping them in a thin 2k black mix. it does require some planning, as it has to be done about 12 hours before use but I think its well worth the trouble. I cleaned the gearbox today ready for painting and found that the original colour was in actual fact brown, so I am now in two minds as to what colour to paint it. Jon

So a phone call and a possible trip down to the shopland collection is in order. Anyone know how helpful they are? Jon

Thanks Wally, I really appreciate the assistance. I am off to the Tank Museum later in August, so a phone call might be a good idea. I understood that the information that I require would have been held by the Royal artillery but if your information came from the Tank Museum then that sounds good to me. Thanks, Jon

A couple of years ago I bought this rather sad looking Bedford QL and believe me, sad would be an understatement. At first I couldn't establish what version of QL it had started life as but after a session with the cutting torch and 9" grinder, I at last found the chassis number. It was manufactured in 1944 as a QLD and has since been used, abused and comprehensively destroyed. What to do with it was the question, really it was only any good for spares but the fact that it was road registered gave it some brownie points. After a long hard think, actually not long or hard, I have decided to recreate a 1941 QL 6pdr portee. I am not likely to start in the next 18 months, so I am looking for information, plans pictures, dimensions or even the whereabouts of "Mary". I have already bought a lot of the required replacement automotive components and if in doubt, an Airfix 1:35 scale model but actually dimensions would be very welcome for either the QL or the 6pdr. I did try contacting the Royal Artillery museum in Woolwich, London before it closed but they had already closed their library. Any information would be good, I always live in hope. Thanks, Jonathan

Evening All, Things are proceeding spiffingly well, the chassis is stripped, pressure washed and ready for paint prepping. While I was stripping the components off of the chassis, I found several areas where the original paint had been left untouched and from what I can see it appears a lot more olive green than the bs381 298 that I have been supplied. There are a couple of areas that needed to be repaired but all in all it is in very good condition. Driver /passenger compartment painted and ready for re assembly. Hopefully by the end of next week I will start reassembling the chassis, axles etc. Jon

Prague, I am glad that you like it. I am on a mission at the moment and have given myself until the end of September to have the chassis and front cab complete and reassembled, then as time allows over the winter, I can sort the engine and rear body. That's the plan...……………….. Jon .

First batch of components drying in the heat. Jon

And the Lee Enfield fits. Even poor old Monty looks board.

Morning All, I decided that I would repair the tilt sticks before disassembling it all and am I ever glad that I did. To do it I had to take the windscreen apart and found that it had been welded shut and is in pretty poor shape. The tilt frame locations, either side of the windscreen frame, had been repaired but at different levels which put the frame on askew. The observation hatch was a bit of a problem as I didn't have any dimensions. As I told my poor wife, it would appear that this is a very rare vehicle, in fact probably the only one in existence or the level of support within this community is unbelievably poor, as no one could be bothered to get tape measure out but no real concern, I got there on my own. I really don't understand the attitude, I had the same when rebuilding the HUP, I know that there are vehicles out there, I know that the owners read this and other forums, so why not help, is it really that hard or is information power and if you divulge such information then I will be as clever as you? Forget it, Rant over. One interesting discovery, to me anyway, is that the anti vibration pads for the radiator and the rear of the driver / passenger compartment are made of a fibrous material which appears to be felt, I had assumed that it would have been rubber. Jon

I think that you are right and I am going to use a colour coding, in fact I have been a very lazy boy and ordered one from Auto sparks. Jon