rampant rivet

Jus Picked these up from my mate Pete the blacksmith 😁 Will fettle these up and get them attached to the down tubes on Saturday 😁

Hers a pic of the front off side corner of my rear body as found Not sure there would have been a pair originally.

By the time I left t'shed the canvas had shrunk by over 1/2" after two good soakings from the hosepipe, have left it to dry uncovered in't shed 😎

Just about to head down t'shed with a hosepipe in the van to give it a bit of a soaking 😎

Hi Danny Yes I'll have the angle irons made this week but cannnot weld them to the upright tubes until the canvas has shrunk at the moment I can adjust the height up or down to suit, I hope the angle irons will help keep the tubes upright. J.

Yes Frank allows an extra % to allow for shrinkage as per the original factory drawings, the problem is that the front and rear hoops are not exactly upright so allow for the sagging, will have to remedy this by possibly fitting hooks to tubes over the top of the side boards, but can only do that after I finalise the height of the bow hoops after the canvas has shrunk, or fit horizontal tubes to hold the tubes upright and rigid.

Another busy day down t'shed having missed last wkend mooting about the Beaulieu autojumble finding lots of goodies. Used a dwell meter to check the dizzy, all seems ok plus double checked the timing and stuck a vacuum gauge on the inlet manifold again and all seems good. Then pulled the truck out after it had stopped raining and got stuck into fitting the bow hoops. Having no real idea how the new canvas would sit on the rear body I left the uprights long and used blocks of wood or clamps to set their positions roughly. Little bit saggy but some adjustments will sort it. Need to stop the canvas pulling the front and rear hoops towards each other and hopefully remove some of the sag. More to do next visit 😁 must thank Frank Brown for a superb job on the canvas 😁

Nuther fun packed day in't and out of t'shed, got the timing sorted better and took the truck for a spin all seems ok. Then on with welding the bow hoops together Ground the welds flush then paint. Even painted the wheel chock.

Here's the tube bender I used to make the bow hoops

Always nice to meet and chat Clive, glad you approve of the MW and Mrs R 😎 great wkend at Caldicot castle wartime wheels 😁

Hi Richard Will post a pic tomorrow I used a 4" mandrel to fit 1" pipe, I drew a 7.5" radius on a peice of ply then carefully bent the tube in half a dozen places untill it matched the rad on the ply, repeat the process over and over it's a bit fiddly and time consuming but I couldn't find anyone who could produce an 8" centre line radius bend so I did my own, had loads of spare tube as I bought enough to do the cab as well but as I found an original set I didn't need it all .

Having managed to borrow a 12 ton tube bender I thought it about time I sorted the rear bow hoops for the canvas. First job to form six 8" radius curved sections then I cobbled up a jig to hold the upright tubes in position and put a slight kink in the top bow for strength and to help shed rainwater. Had some steel tube which was a tight fit that I used as a dowel to add strength and help keep the joint true. Three hours and three sets ready for welding, the uprights are over long to enable me to adjust the height of the canvas to suit the rear body.

Thanks Chris It was very nice to meet you and talk rivets etc for awhile, thanks for helping with the firewood 😎 Avin a brew 😁 The truck went well for it's first time out to Caldicot castle wartime wheels event some slight adjustments to carb or timing to remove a flat spot and the return journey was better still. Its very different from the champ thing but once the engine is run in and things settle down it' going to be a great little beast 😎 30 miles in. It never fails to amuse me how much food, booze, cooker, tents etc etc you need for a couple of days at a show. It's nice to have a decent sized truck to lug it all around in now instead of trying to stuff it into the champ thing. The show itself was very good the weather was even better Some idea of interest in the gun display put on by my good old mates 😁

Took it for a spin down the drive yesterday only to have it spew coolant out of the rad FFS ! Ok quick search last night through the resto threads on here and today replaced the spring inside the top of the rad and set the level of the castelated nut as per manual remembering to seal the nut, plus replaced old thermostat with a NOS. one and hey ho ! no more problem ...... so far, then replaced the handbrake spring and made bckt for the accelerator spring thingy. Little difficult to see but it's the grey painted part between / behind the pair of oil lines. Next job was to investigate why the charging light wouldn't light up when the ignition was switched on, this turned out to be a duff bulb, then it was time to investigate why I had no side or headlights working this was traced to blown fuses and dirty contacts in the fuse holder. Then the moment to see if it all works as it should, half a dozen laps of the feild first before venturing out down the lane and back. I guess thats about it apart from maybe blowing over the rear body to get a better colour match, possibly fitting blackout masks to the headlamps and making the bow hoops for the rear canvas, 5 years and it's been a blast and I'd like to thank everyone thats helped me with this project wether it was spare parts or good advice it's much appreciated 😀 Now what's the first show ? Caldicot castle wartime wheels event is not too far for a first attempt 😁

Hi Richard did I give you the details of the company that made me a dozen of these trays ? I supplied an original tray for them to copy which they did inc cutting the correct sized holes in the correct position, the corners are not butt welded along their length but are folded and spot welded please refer to page 13 of my resto blog which shows the correct method of constructon are your trays tapered ? couldn't tell from your pics.

Had a spare hour to tinker with the truck today, have decided to fit the early Rubbolite type rear lights so made a new bckt up for them and removed the slightly later ones. Then on with a couple of other odd jobs, wiring next visit.

Sorry Rob yes clutch is ok and the brakes have a good pedal, but the handbrake ratchet spring gave up the ghost so although I "fixed it " I think I'll get a new one.

Nuther full on day in't and ooot of t'shed first job was to tighten up the head bolts and warm the engine prior to setting the tappet gaps, while waiting for the engine to get up to working temp I made up an extension to the lead on my timing strobe light as it' a bu##er to reach the battery in the cab. 20180414_104333.mp4 Hopefully here's the video of it running. Then time to reffit the front panel but before I did I replaced the new rubbing strip with the original ones I took off yonks ago I think they look better and I also replaced the brass coated steel bifurcated rivets with more suitable sized examples. Then bumper and brush guard to be bolted up and after setting the tappet gaps the timing was set up using timing lamp then it was time to pull the old girl out of t'shed first to check clutch adjustment then to give better access to the brake master cylinder as the front system needed bleeding, plus the seats and rifle butt holders needed fitting. Bonnet on and it really starts to look better. Next session will be reconnecting headlights and indicators etc plus fit the cab canvas. With the panels attached the engine sounds f#cking luuvly 😎can't wait to get some miles on the clock roll on summer 😁

There's a lot of carpentry involved in the MW cab and rear body on the MWD I found it a bit of a Bus man's holiday to be honest, I enjoy the fabrication of new panels and learning about the mechanical side of things more. Your doing a great job Richard at least I didn't have doors to make for my truck 😎

Meant to go to the Dallas digout then the 4x4 sale but was so close to running the new engine I just had to get down't t'shed and eventually after fitting the rad filling various things with various fluids fitting the prop shaft and exhaust pipe it was time to press the tit or rather pull it in the case of the MW. Struggling to add video will try again later. Not much of a pic just topping up the rad prior to running, I removed all the spark plugs and turned the engine over on the starter untill the oil pressure light went out before ignition. Believe it or not it fired up straight off though I'd forgotten to connect the choke cable, after that was sorted it run very nicely though the tappets will need adjusting but run out of time again

Yes it is

Great looking project Pete I'll look forward to following this blog 😎

Managed to get some hours on the truck today. Doesn't look much but the sump, gearbox and most of the ancillarys are now fitted. And all the fiddly hard to get at bits done before the rad goes back in. Floor back in helps it looks like it's coming back 😁

Just caught up with this post, I'd be interested in a set of four 900. X 16 trakgrips to fit British rims please.