john clayton

We now have a brown sign . We just need the Highways Agency to put it up. Sat Nav will probably take you to a farm on the wrong side of the aerodrome . Take Hackmans Lane out of Stow Maries village . Up the hll by the big white water tower. After half mile turn into Flambirds Farm lane. Drive to the end and you cant miss us Mainly open to the public on thurs ,fri and sundays. Ask for me if you want a full tour of my truck. John the blacksmith.

How are solid tyres measured? I need some for the Fiat 18bl

Sorry that you did not come into the airfield . Ask for the 'Twins' and one of them will show you the Fiat. I will be there tomorrow. Ask for the John the blacksmith. 11am till about 5pm. We still come across people from the next village that dont know about us.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]91494[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]91493[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]91495[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]91496[/ATTACH] The thrust race is definately missing it balls. I think the rest of it is good enough to use. The gear/diff casing in the pics is made of bronze. So is the crankcase . Lucky to survive the scrapman. I have removed two of the gearshift rods but the third needs the fork to be removed . It is held on by two welded in taper pins . The shaft are very worn and need re-bushing.The first motion shaft runs on 90x60x23 self aligning bearings. Still a standard size (£22 each). T he other bearigs are 140 dia (£35 each 3off).Bearings from engineersmate.com. They are far eastern but look ok

Someone sent me these pics of a truck pulled out of a hedge. They wont tell me anything about it but I thought it was interesting.

Has anyone seen a thrust bearing like this before. Radiused on one side. It comes from the gear shaft that has the crown wheel drive pinion on it . It did not have any balls in the race so the pinion at the other end was not properly engaged . This caused burring on the crown wheel which will be ground off. I am not concerned about the wear sa the truck only goes 15 mph.

New back soldered into pump body. New face plate machined . Needs screw holes drilling and matching with new holes to be tapped in body. Idid try brazing the damaged holes in the old face plate but it was like trying to turn cheese as it had gone so soft with the heat .New impeller and shaft on it's way.

It was good to meet you all this weekend . Very impressed with your kit.From Stow Maries blacksmith and fiat 18blr owner. Can you tell me if the Crossley's wheels were made by Rudge Whitworth of Coventry?

Fly in still on this weekend despite the weather Planned attraction are 4 stearmans , Tiger Club. Rolls Royce Club including some ghosts plus Bentleys,exRFC P&M, RFC Crossley,farm machinery, beer tent, Napier aero engine, more planes. Oh, and my Fiat 18bl circa 1915. The gearbox is in bits.Constructive comments welcome. Did I mention the beer tent. The airfield can be difficult to find so enter via hackmans Lane entrance

Thanks for the offer Andy but I have already got the gear blank from HPC. I now realise that adding one tooth would mean I could not keep the same gear centres. I am considering making a new centre for pump and pinning it in position .I have bought a blank with 12 teeth ,the same as original.

I forgot to mention that there is a strip of brass soldered around the chamber to take up the ware. It has started to break away

Oil pump worn out . I am wondering if I can fit a gear one tooth larger in here , changing it from 28 mm to 30 mm. It will eat into the rim about .5 mm but might not matter. HPC can supply lengths of splined shaft at 2 mod that I can machine . I do not know what the clearances should be in an oil pump.

Planes ,vehicles and a unique WW1 Home Defence Aerodrome to explore.

There is our annual fly in at Stow Maries Aerodrome on the 10th and 11th of May.There should be lots of planes, vehicles including my Fiat plus a unique WW1 Home Defence Aerodrome to explore.

To David Herbert. Tyres are easy to get hold of . It is paying for them is the problem . I have been quoted £5000!!! It will be the most expensive part of the rebuild . I want to get the Fiat back on the road and take it to Flanders so old tyres won't do.

Pics of diff / gearbox before it was cleaned up. Note transmission brake. The outside shoes are fabric lined and water cooled. The unit is very clean inside but a fork shaft is mis-aligned due to a collapsed bearing. The casing has a 50mm crack in the side where something on the inside has hit it. I will either bronze weld or silver solder this.

Answers to some of your questions. The crankcase, gearbox and diff are cast in bronze.The bonnet panels have been made with 18 swg zintec steel which is quite easy to form. I used my swage rolling machine to form the swages around the panels.

New bonnet panels and hinges/ I made awooden tool to do the louvres

You can see from the photos the problem thatI have with the wheels.The spokes have been cut down and the rims altered to take adaptors for pnuematic tyres These adaptors are rusted out. Does anyone know of any complete whees for solid tyres (the round spoke type). I am chasing up the ones in France but might not be successful.

I am the proud new owner of the Fiat 18bl restoration project. I have bought it along with another investor to secure it for the aerodrome and get it finished It is partially restored and have all the important bits. The engine is a runner ,gearbox needs a minor repair,diff good,diff lock and drive shafts need rebuilding,chain adjustors need new bearing surface ,got new chains, sprockets great, l/h rear stub axle bent, chain guards awful as it had been driven with shattered wheel bearings. I have already built most of a new flatbed. the rad is good but makes a good fountain when connected to a hosepipe, steering box good and so is linkage, no mudguards, I have fabricated a new hood (bonnet) and hinges . So all in all not too bad!!!!! My real headache is the wheels. The spokes have been cut down and new rims welded on to take adapters for pnuematics. The adapters are completely rotted but I want it back on solid tyres. I am hoping that the ones in the French auction last year are still there. The ones I need have round spokes. Can anyone help with info. Pictures to follow John the Blacksmith Stow Maries Aerodrome p.s. The Oxford Concise Dictionary no longer includes the word Aerodrome but spellchecker does!

A few months ago I found a link on here that had pictures of a field of old machines in France that was up for sale. on the edge of photo spotted some wheels and rear axle of a 1915 Fiat 18bl truck. Can anyone help me find this link again. We are restoring one of these trucks at Stow Maries aerodrome and the wheels we have are later pnuematics and would like to fit the earlier solid tyre wheels. Please help if you can

Hi all. Iam involved in the restoration of a1915 Fiat 18bl located at stow Maries Aerodrome in Essex. The truck was just about a rolling chassis when found . Remarkably the engine is a runner.although this was just for a few seconds. The chassis is free of rust. There are wheels but no tyres. The diff and gearbox is all there. Brakes present but no linings.Chain drives and casing all there but completely worn out due to it being run with collapsed wheel bearings. Nice copper/brass rad but when I connected it to a hosepipe it looked more like an expensive water feature. A cab and dropside needs to be made. The chassis has now been stripped and painted and some restore parts have been put back on. The engine has been cleaned up but needs an internal inspection to check oilways etc. This will be an oily rag restoration for now. If anyone would like to see this beast or volunteer ,check us out at Stow Maries Aerodrome on facebook. The aerodrome is well worth a visit as well. It is the only complete (nearly) WW1 airfield to survive and is also under renovation.