Pete Ashby

Thank you Bruce I'm pleased your'e finding it interesting. Where I live it's a bit of a cultural desert with regard to MV collecting so I find keeping the blogs running and updated is a useful spur to meet my self imposed targets for the various projects. It's a digital media version of your mates calling into the workshop for a brew and a chat about the latest progress I suppose. Pete

Many thanks Adrian, for the life of me when I searched last week on that web site I couldn't find them anywhere Cheers Pete

Looking for 4 off of the following: 1/2" BSF 16tpi @ 3/4" long (or longer) countersunk slotted set screws My usual sources do not have this size or have sold out. Anyone have some? or point me to a source please Thanks Pete

Thank you Alex good to hear from you again, Yes working on both projects, not an ideal situation in terms of the economics or division of effort. All the other restorations I have done have been single focus projects , but then we are not getting any younger and doing it this way moves both along all be it at a slower pace. regards Pete

Back in the very early 1970's when the MVCG was formed there were a number of us in the 18 to 30 age group who were active members and owners of vehicles. One of the driving forces why Military Vehicle collecting become popular was the fact that a lot of the veteran/vintage vehicles had moved out of our price range. However the WW2 kit had been pensioned off into the scrap yards during the proceeding 10 years. My first jeep was £200 with an MoT, even so it still took a number of years to pay back my Father the money I borrowed to purchase it . There was a good cross section of ages in the club from WW2 vets in there 50's down to long haired Herbert's like me at 16. Good times with life long friendships made and petrol around 40p per/gallon but then I was only earning £4.50 a week. Pete

No not seen that try putting some more dosh in the meter?? Pete

In order of best finish under clean indoor conditions for me it would be Tig, love to have a set but can't justify the outlay, Gas Mig had my unit for 25 years now, Gas welding handed back my BoC contract last year they were just taking the mick, Arc welding haven't done any for years but still useful for larger work then Gasless Mig it has it's uses for outside high amperage stuff but I don't rate it for thin sheet I'm afraid. Pete

Good usable machine I'd say. I replaced the wire sleeve some years ago with a steel spiral wound sleeve, transformed how the machine operated after that. It's worth pulling the wire out and taking the tip off occasionally and blowing the line through with compressed air clears out the fluff and dust that seems to get pulled into the sleeve and bungs things up. Pete

Thank you for the comment, but I must stress I do not regard myself as a skilled professional. If these various blogs help and or encourages just one person to have a go it's achieved some small thing. The Historic vehicle media, club rooms and show beer tents are full of commentators noting the lack of young people attracted into restoration and collecting of any shape or form. It's noticeable at shows now that the average age is well above 40 and rising for a large proportion of owners, there are a number of factors that contribute to this which don't need rehashing here. I've spent over 49 years of my life outside of my professional career and large sums of money doing what I do. I was taught by men who are now longer alive. I have in my collection auto engineering books that are now over 80 years old detailing methods and techniques that have not been taught for over 50 years. I'm 64, many of my life long friends and associates in this game who also took time and trouble to teach me are older than me some by a good margin (you know who you are). If we don't start to pass on what little we know then I fear our vehicles will slowly disperse back into the scrapyards from which they originally came. For our collective effort and for what the vehicles represent it has to be worth more than that. The alternative is we sit in our little huddles in the show beer tents and our dark dingy sheds complaining about our various ills and pills struggling with the decision to have that second pint or not if we don't want to be up twice in the middle of night. Then when we can't climb into the cabs any more it'll be off to the crusher with them because nobody cares anymore in this bright new electric era. We are under threat from the vision of a brave clean new world the fewer we become the easier target we make. Phew!! that's all a bit heavy for a Sunday morning sorry chaps must be the pain meds for the bad back, I'm off to the workshop to measure some big ends. Pete

With the clutch assemble out of the way the flywheel bolts fixing it to the end of the crankshaft flange were now visible. Those nice clever Dodge Brothers used special studs with a machined flat on the head that locks into the flywheel so you only have to undo the nuts on the other side there are no dowel pins or tapered bolts on this engine. To access the nuts the sump has to come off. Once again crack all the bolts working diagonally first then go around again then remove. Just as with the head if it's stuck don't go wedging a screwdriver into the flange use a block of wood a tap gently to try to brake the seal. Sump removed and you can see the nuts holding the flywheel onto the crank rear flange again just crack each nut in turn moving diagonally around the flange turning the crank to gain access. Here's the rear view you can see the machined flats on the studs, the flywheel face for the clutch friction plate and the gearbox pilot bushing for input shaft all will need to be checked out for spec and condition. The shiny thing lurking in the front of the bell housing is the clutch release bearing I couldn't get the return spring off so waited until the bell housing was removed to do this. The crane makes easy work of lifting out the flywheel, this is a heavy piece of kit with lots of lovely sharp starter ring gear teeth just waiting to trap your fingers in the bottom of the bell housing Last job was to cover up the block with a clean dust sheet it wouldn't go amiss to lay the sump back on if it was going to be left for any time in this condition. That pretty much brings this project up to date, I'll update with progress in a week or so's time. Pete

Moving to the rear of the block it was time to remove the clutch assembly so the flywheel bottom cover and dust shield was first removed Point of interest here is the British army rebuild Odeneal paint ( duck egg blue to you and me) on the flywheel cover the item found on the engine with it on. With this particular model the clutch and flywheel assemblies have to be removed before the bell housing can be removed so the clutch assembly was next to come off. Here is the clutch assembly on the back of the flywheel you can see the fixing bolts around the rim, the rust is only atmospheric corrosion and will clean up easily. Just as with everything else under tension just crack all the bolts around the holding flange on the pressure plate working across the diagonal each time to avoid distortion then repeat until free. To access all the bolts the crank will need to be turned by replacing the hand starter dog nut at the front and using a socket to turn the crank. The assembly is not drastically heavy but there are a lot of sharp cast edges around and not much room so the hoist makes easy work of it and supports the clutch assembly while the last bolts are removed. That's what's going on here note the friction plate is coming out as well as it was stuck to the pressure plate Front view Rear view As an aside, the pot on the side contains the pressure plate bolts it will have the lid put on and labeled up then stored away for cleaning and checking prior to reassembly. I keep all manner of tins, pots and snappy polythene bags for this reason those a Black Sharpie pen for writing on the contents are your best mates here. I include this photo as it's a good example of how I now use a simple graphics pack to make notes on disassembly photos I still use the old fashion way of note book and pencil as well. You think you'll remember because it's obvious......... I can guarantee you wont't after a couple of years...... and the manuals very often are not that detailed. A light tap with a block of wood and hammer from the rear and the friction plate came away easily And here is the pressure plate, there's some scoring on the face, odd because the flywheel face is in much better condition but close examination will be for another day. more to follow Pete

Time to have a look at the top surface of the block, piston crowns and a cursory look at the cylinder bores, these will need further examination once the pistons have been removed. Although this photo looks like the block face is badly corroded it is in fact a gasket paste applied on assembly in this photo the valves have not yet been removed from the block. The piston crowns look OK although very cruddy but with no visible damage or anything nasty stuck into them. The bores show a little light surface corrosion that will hone out but no scoring or surface damage, importantly there are no ridges at the top of the bores which if present would indicates advanced wear. Preliminary measurement suggest the bores are at standard so good news all round. the block was now lifted and a clean scaff plank cut to size placed on the pallet with a cloth over the plank to protect the block face. The whole unit was then turned over using the crane in a series of lifts adjusting the strops on each lift the whole block was turned upside down and put down onto the scaff plank and pallet. Working on these engines needs some form of lifting gear an engine crane would be sufficient manual handling is not a safe option, I have the bad back to prove it after a misspent youth with A series engines in minis. Posh people who do this a lot have an engine stand, they just turn a handle and round the whole thing goes. I have to do it the hard way with the Morris crane and strops bit at a time having said that you still have to get the lump on and off the stand and back into the truck so you do need some form of lifting tackle. Anyway so now it looks like this Left side Right side, with the valve chest open the cam followers and valve springs are still in place here as I haven't withdrawn the cam shaft yet but the valves are all removed. more to follow Pete

The cam shaft sprocket and timing chain has been removed in these two photos leaving the engine front mounting plate behind. The Canadian Chrysler Dodge long block engine has a different front engine mounting arrangement compared to US manufactured 214 short block engine, the Chrysler engine mounts directly to the front frame cross member with two bolts and coil springs. The mounting plate is held in place by a couple of bolts, the countersunk machine screw that can be seen at the front and two small dowel pins. The way I tackle counter sunk machine screws is first to apply heat using the hot air gun, then one short sharp rap with a hammer and punch the right size for the screw head. Then an impact driver with a screwdriver bade that is the right width and length for the screw slot. Lean into it hard and press the trigger just a squirt on tighten then quickly switch to undo if it moves stop. Repeat the heating then give it anther squirt with the impact on tighten then another longer burst on undo and it should spin out. If not you may need to use a spot heat micro butane torch that plumbers seem to like to set fire to houses with, give it some beans but the key is not to mash the head or unfortunately your next tool of choice will be the drill bit and electric drill with much anguish and gnashing of teeth. Front view that's the end of the cam shaft with the three holes that take the drive sprocket the pipe to the right of it is important it's the main oil feed for the timing gear it needs to be removed very carefully. On rebuild it must go back exactly in the same position or the timing chain will not be properly lubricated, Dodge have a pipe some other makes have a small spout both do the same job. At the top of the block you can see the main water channel to the left and if you look closely you may see something just inside the top of the aperture, this is the distribution tube that squirts water at the under side of valve seats and is a feature common to all Dodge engines more about that nest of vipers another time. To the right the round hole for the water pump along with the three fixing holes for the pump body. Photos: front view Side view note where the oil pipe is pointing and how it is formed it can easily get bent out of shape.. more to follow Pete

It's free fortunately, while awaiting it's turn in the workshop about once a year I poured a drop of oil down the pug holes turned it over on the handle a couple of time then replaced the the plugs so I knew it would be free. I have had the engine running after a fashion about ten years ago. Pete

With the head off the valves were now accessible and removed, it helps if all adjusters are backed right off. before you try to remove a valve it must be fully closed onto the seat you do this by turning the crankshaft with a socket on the starter dog this in turn turns the cam so that each valve in turn fully closes and can be removed, if you don't do this you will bend the valve stem. There is a special side valve engine valve spring cotter removal tool, the originals are not always easy to find and are expensive my son picked on up recently but it was not cheap. Some of the modern reproductions can be of questionable quality. I don't own one, I have always managed with a good quality Sykes-Pickavant over head valve tool with careful adjustment of the bottom jaws it does the job. I place a thin piece of strip wood over the head of the valve and compress onto that it prevents damaging the head of the valve and stops the tool from slipping around. On this engine the cotters were a bit sticky and a little shy to let go of the spring retainers as a result of standing without oil for so long. A bit of warming from the hot air gun and a dose of WD40 overnight did the trick. None of the valves were stuck in the guides and the stems were clean as a whistle there appears to be no appreciable rock in the guides and neither the valves or the seats in the block appear burnt. The next few posts on this blog will be a bit photo heavy with a bit of accompanying text as I'm going to show the strip down in stages. I've noticed on a number of vintage forums that there are new people coming along who don't yet have the experience or confidence to work on these older engine styles. So if this is useful to anyone who has not done this sort of work before so much the better, most side valve engines of this era are very similar it's just the size and the hanging on bits that are mark specific. For those of you who are accomplished engine builders you may want to skim through the next few posts and just look at the photos or feel free to add your two penny worth if you think it would be helpful and constructive, sometimes there is more than one way to skin a cat. As I keep saying I'm not a professionally trained motor engineer, my skill set lies elsewhere, but I've done a few of these engines over the years. Here are the valves stuck through a reference card as you want to put the same valve back in the same guide that it came from. Each valve will be removed individually, cleaned, inspected then the stems and guides will be measured against the spec for the engine. Yes I know its convention to start No1 from the left, but I'm left handed and can wright backwards OK ? Next job, remove the bottom pulley using the drawing holes and bolts with a hydraulic puller. The hand crank dog and nut will need to be removed on most but not all types of engine. You need to know what type you have. A few dogs are integral with the pulley and a harmonic balancer, trying to undo the dog will result in wrecking the balancer and or the crankshaft . Either way a little warmth from the heat gun and or your freeze spray won't go amiss, an impact gun is a useful tool here. Keep the torch away you don't want excessive heat travelling down the crankshaft and damaging the first main bearing just behind the timing chain. Then the timing chain cover cam sprocket and timing chain can be removed . No dramas here and on first look very little wear, Dodge do not use an automatic timing chain tensioner so the chain and sprockets need to be up to spec or it'll rattle like an old tin can. Front view Side view showing the oil slinger still in place on the crankshaft more to follow Pete

With the pickup under the hoist in the garage it was an easy job to lift the engine and pallet, drive the pickup out of the way then lower away onto a pallet truck. that's what's going on here And here Enough of of all this moving and shifting it was time to get the tools out and start the strip down, the manifolds have been removed previously. To avoid distortion just crack all the fixings studs and or bolts, different manufactures use various combinations of studs and or bolts. Start in the middle and work outwards left and right in turn then go back and repeat the process until all fixings are slack and can be removed. Sounds easy but can be a real pain as the extremes of heat generated by the exhaust can alter the structure of the steel in the stud or bolt and increases corrosion all this adds up to the potential for snapped studs and rounded off bolt heads. Your only friend here is the micro butane torch and or the plumbers freeze spray and easing fluid of choice I use WD40. Having said all that I ended up snapping two studs and having to drill another one out of the manifold....... it happens. First off was the head dodge do not use studs all the head fixings are long shank bolts and they all came out without breaking off in the block. Result !! and a good start. Undoing the bolts or studs on a head you use the tightening sequence from the manual in reverse. Like the manifold removal just crack all the fixings first then go back around several times until they are free and likewise heat and cold and taking your time are your friends here. To physically remove the head some large versions have lifting points so a hoist can be used, most don't, do not try driving a screwdriver or any other form of pry bar between the mating surfaces this will damage both the head and the block mating surfaces possibly beyond repair. Try putting the plugs back in and if it turns over turn the engine over using a socket on the starter dog the compression may free the head if not out with the easing fluid and take your time in extreme cases a number of soft wood wedges can be used tapped in between the mating surfaces but this is a last resort as even this can cause damage. Here's the top face the head is face down on a clean length of scaffold plank, not on the concrete floor. For storage and transport before any remedial work it will have a sheet of ply fixed to the matting surface to keep it flat and supported safe from damage. The block side nothing too drastic here, no sign of a blown head gasket or water leaks it will be cleaned up and taken to the machine shop for a light skim and to check for true. More to follow Pete

To open this new chapter of the project I'll open with a quote from that Mega icon of Welsh culture Nessa, ...... " Oh what's occurring", (for foreign followers and English non viewers of Gavin and Stacey PM me and I'll send you a explanatory cultural and linguistic link). Any way to business, last time I updated this blog I was messing about with engine sub assemblies and the gearbox so the logical step would be to investigate the large greasy lump that was taking up too much room at the back of the workshop right?, wrong, I spent the summer working on the Retriever (see the blog updates elsewhere on HMVF). but that greasy thing lurking in the shadows of the workshop, .......no, not Nessa, steady that man !!........ kept attracting my attention so a month or so ago it's time had come. Fortuitously my son was down for the weekend, cunning eh? so we manhandled it out to a point where the gantry crane could get at it. It was at this point that we discovered I had forgotten to drain the sump. Oh how we laughed as a huge pool of thick black oil and residual antifreeze spread all over the nice clean workshop floor. Some time later after much swearing draining the sump and cleaning up the mess it looked like this With a bit of maneuvering (posh word for buggering about) I got the gantry with the engine hanging off it out of the bottom workshop and the engine loaded onto my pickup for a short trip across the yard to the other shop. Here it is on the back of the pickup where the autopsy will be performed ready to be lifted off, those little pallets are just right for carting engines and gearboxes around. More to follow Pete

To close this particular chapter of the blog here's an update on progress to date. Work has continued on around the cab area see the attached photos below. I have also finished cleaning, refurbishing, painting and fitting the front brake gear on the drivers side this is a replication of work I covered in a previous post so I've not included photos of this work here, the only thing of note is that I have had two brake shoe pull off springs made by the following company: Leeming & Peel Ltd. located at Bradford web address WWW.leemingpeel-springs.co.uk Tel 01274 491464. Be warned one off manufacture is not a cheap affair but finding a company who will do this sort of one of work is not easy. These guys will make any number from 1 to 10,000 off, the result was identical to the now unobtainable original. No connection with the company just a happy but poorer customer. So to the photos, More stuff out of draws and boxes. These are the correct fuse box, CAV regulator and Lucas wiring junction block these are all NoS items still in their original boxes and wrappings bought for a few pounds many years ago at auto jumbles and sales at a time when most people were not interested in them. Mounted on the carrying bracket And here fitted to the truck on the front scuttle just above the toe plate on the drivers side. Here is the instrument panel fitted, for the modelers among us the location of the control box and fuse box can be seen just below the panel Last but not least, if you don't know where you came from how do you know where you're going??........ no not a bit of home brewed philosophy.... but not bad now I come to think of it............ no, this is the NoS rear view mirror bought again at a time when, A, they were available and B, sellers didn't want your life savings and a kidney for one. It's mounted on the original arm in the correct location. There were several different locations and designs of arm fitted to the Retriever during it's relatively short production run, the type shown here appears on mid production trucks. That concludes this phase of the project so now it's a shift of focus back to the D15 tanker Pete

That looks like a casting fault to me it's not a stress crack they are more linear and run along the grain boundaries what you have is a small pit imperfection in the casting that has probably been there since manufacture. The first question I would ask is have you seen any water seeping out from there? if not my advice would be to leave it alone, certainly don't go digging around inside the pit. Pete

Your better off putting the slightest smear of Vasaline on the heel of the cam, don't use oil it can get thrown off and foul the points then all sorts of bad things can happen. The felt pad is used as it soaks up the oil and releases it slowly. If your going down this route then one drop of clean engine oil is all that is required for several thousand miles of use. As Nick points out most point systems don't use this so you'll be fine without it, just set up your points to 20 thou with feeler gauges or use a dwell metre if you have one at 32 to 34 degrees of dwell for a six cylinder engine. Once again to echo Nick's good advise do not slacken the distributor body pinch bolt and start changing the static timing if you are not confident in re-timing the engine, if it ran fine before leave it alone. Pete

Many thanks chaps for the replies regarding the ground out makers name, another small detail explained. I did have an inkling that it was connected with security concerns, but it seemed on reflection a case of shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted as all the trucks left behind by the BEF in France would probably have had the makers plates intact. Pete

Actually no, on the plate that goes on the engine cover that warns about coasting in neutral just the very top of the letters are visible and they read "Leyland Motors Ltd" and it's the same size font and spacing as the main plate on the scuttle that has been completely erased with the exception of the top of the L and Y. The early plates as you can see from the photos in previous posts fitted to 1938 and 1939 manufactured trucks have the rather elaborate Royal crest and by Appointment statement on them. The later plates don't have this detail just the plain Leyland Motors Ltd logo but it's been ground out in a manner that suggests a careful and deliberate action before the plates were attached to the vehicle. No big deal in the scale of things but an odd curiosity all the same as it was obviously done for a reason. Pete

Good morning Adrian thank you for posting I'm pleased your enjoying the blog. No I hadn't picked up on the fact that this particular Retriever was up for sale, I did however know of it's existence and seem to recall it was up for sale some years ago. Your suggestion regarding the missing plate on the top left may be correct. The majority of the early 6x4 3 ton British Army range of trucks were fitted with 'special purpose bodies' with the exception of AEC who's production seemed to focus more on the GS version with I believe a few bridging variants for good measure. It would appear that a number of these special purpose bodies were removed and stored for possible future use prior to the trucks being sold at auction to civilian operators as chassis cabs, the post war Albion Clansman produced as a chassis cab used the the wartime MK3 machinery body for example., so perhaps the military removed the data plate at that time prior to the sale of the war time trucks. regards Pete

I’ve mentioned in several places in the course of this blog the quality of build and the amount of Aluminium and Brass that Leyland used in the construction of the Retriever, features that are noticeably missing from later war mass produced trucks from other manufactures. This is nowhere more evident than in the positive blizzard of brass instruction plates attached to the cab front scuttle. I was particularly fortunate in that these had not been ripped off and weighed in during its civilian life or it’s protracted stay in the scrap yard. They were all there with the exception of two small plates that are missing if anyone knows what they should be I’d like to hear from you. The plates were painted over by the Show Man who operated the truck in civilian life and this had largely preserved them although something in the paint has reacted with the brass on serval plates and seems to have leached the copper out of the brass. The plates have been carefully cleaned, then polished and a coat of clear spray lacquer applied before riveting back in their original positon on the scuttle. So without more ado stand by for some serious Military bling. The plates left to right as follows: Top set: Missing · Contract information, engine No, front axle No, rear axle No’s, Diff ratio, Gearbox type and No, Frame No. · Shift pattern, of note on this plate is the top line ground out, this should read “Leyland Motors Ltd” but this has been carefully milled out. There is another plate that fixes to the engine cover that cautions the driver not to dead sticking the truck down hill, this also has “Leyland Motors Ltd” milled out. This is obviously a deliberate action done at the factory can anyone hazard a guess as to why??? Next line : · War Department patent number · Volkes air filter operation and cleaning instruction · Last line: · How to drain down the cooling system · Missing Starter carburetor operation instructions The 1938 and 1939 produced trucks had a different shaped contract plate shown below, sorry I can’t remember where I obtained this image from so apologies for not providing a credit. On the mates side of the truck there are two large brass sheets attached. The smaller top one gives the complete wiring diagram for the truck while the larger bottom one is the lubrication chart listing all points on the frame, engine and drive train and giving a description of the different lubricants to be used at each location. Both plates are etched using the factory blue prints and the Leyland drawing reference is included on each plate. Pete

Progress has been steady and ongoing on the Leyland continuing with the premise of getting stuff finished and bolted on. For those who have stuck with the blog thus far you may recall that several years ago I embarked on an experiment in welding fresh air, or what I laughingly called repairing the front wings. Well that turned into an epic. I stuck with it, but to be honest after I’d welded a thousand pinholes and virtually reconstructed the wings from a rust flake I needed a break before I tackled grinding down all the welds and finishing them off. So gave them a quick coat of primer to keep the flash rust at bay and put them away in store while I did other more interesting things. But their time has arrived so first up was the mates side front wing the finishing work on the driver’s side is currently ongoing, in the previous post I showed the mate's wing trial fitted to the truck to check for correct alignment.. By way of a recap, here is how the mate’s side looked several years ago Here it is after getting up close and personal with a grinder, a surprisingly small amount of filler, a coat of high build spray undercoat and last but not least two coats of G3. And at long last after something over 30 years it’s reunited with the truck, one of those stand back and enjoy the moment moments. More to follow Pete