OZITIM

These trucks are mostly complete. Engines, gearboxes and an assortment of length bases and trays.

A friend of mine is looking at selling an extensive collection of military trucks. The sale is not yet official, but I have been given permission to discretely advise my contacts that items in the 'boneyard' are being offered for sale and open to offers. The vehicles are located in Queensland. If you see something you like, let me know and I can take more photos, and/or approach the owner with an offer. Contact me on my email policepsychology@yahoo.com Regards, OZITIM

If your interested in making an offer contact me on policepsychology@yahoo.com Regards, OZITIM

As you can see, the skin is very rusted. But not beyond bringing back to life, with the expert hand of a skilled tinsmith.

These are obviously shots taken, looking down into the DUKW. As you can see the instruments, levers and all components are there.

As the story goes, the vehicle was purchased from the military auctions and sat under a mango tree for many years. My friend approached the owner about 20 years ago and he eventually sold it. Obviously sitting an old mental DUKW under a mango tree does it little good. Having said that, this boat has not been picked over by souvenir hunters. Oh, and the important detail, it is for sale and open to offers. It is located in Queensland.

I went out to my mates place yesterday and got some photos of that DUKW as I promised. These are the external photos. As you can see the hull is completely rusted out, but as the later photos will attest, this boat is complete.

It's even got the fold out passenger seat! Very nice.

A bit of elbow grease and that little mk1 will look fantastic. It's very solid looking, no rust and complete. A lot better that what I started with on my mk1/2. Enjoy cleaning her up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh0thfB-_0M&feature=youtu.be I just put this video together to show what I started with and where I am up too with this Ferret. Im now building a bigger shed, and once that is done, I will replace the motor with the one Ive just built, give it a respray and tidy it up, then I think I will be pretty close to finished. To give you some idea of what the internals were like, just picture nothing but rust. Regards, Tim

Im now work in a remote Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland and am loving it. I am fortunate enough to hunt each week and work in paradise. As you can see from the Saracen restoration video, I dont miss an opportunity to drag the community into my restoration projects. Any excuse to get some tools on an old war machine! I plan to restore a WW1 Thornycroft truck with the support of the community this year. I will hopefully be posting on that soon. Maybe something tracked after that!

Thanks guys! Im sure we have all sat inside our vehicles, alone, at one time or another and felt their presence. Finding that one guy at a show, or who happens to walk past your vehicle in the street and say, hey, I know this vehicle, is an amazing thing. Owning these vehicles, you soon realise who the genuine ones are too. A few years ago a guy pointed out some really minor changes to my Ferret and he stated that he knew what unit it came from, because he was with that unit when he saw the rear brake line protectors welded to the hull. I asked him if he wanted to jump into the drivers seat and take it for a spin, he looked at me quite seriously and said that he had done his time in them and politely declined the offer. I realised at that point that he was the real deal. Regards, Tim

This is after installing the old oil tank and other bits an pieces. Now I need to set the timing. I have According to the manual, it states: Engine Timing: (i) Set and lock the inlet valve rocker of No 1 Cylinder to .030" (ii) Turn the camshaft in its normal direction of rotation until the inlet cam of No 1 cylinder commenced to open the valve. (iii) Turn the crankshaft until the marking "IO" (inlet opens) on the flywheel is in line with the pointer fixed on the housing. (iv) Adjust the camshaft gear on the hub to mate with the crankshaft pinion (v) ON completion, adjust the inlet vavle rocker to .006" That all sounds great, but I cant see the "IO" mark anywhere and where is the pointer fixed on the housing. I cant see anything there either? Any help would be greatly appreciated. A photo of the IO mark and the fixed pointer would be be better than awesome. Regards, Tim

As for the valves, I took out the old lifters from the old motor and they proved to be in good condition. Now that the crank, cam shaft and pistons. I forgot to add, that I also found a new cam shaft in a box, which proved to be in the same condition as the crank. With all that installed, I now proceeded to install the side valves. In theory you would think that it would be a simple matter of taking out the old lifters and transferring them to the new motor. It must also be understood that the new motor, already had the valve guides inserted, which was one less job I had to do. Taking the old lifters and inserting them into the new motor, I found that the lifters would not fit into the hole. The problem being that the valve guides in the new motor were about 4mm longer than the ones in the old motor. While this didnt make any significant difference, it did prove to be a significant pain, as I had to now remove the crank and cam, so that I could insert the lifter through the bottom of the engine instead of the top. Another day wasted. Who would have thought that the factory would have made such a minor change, but it would result in changing how the reassembly process occured. Would have been good to realise that before I had put the crank and cam in. Anyway, I reversed what I had alread done and inserted the lifters, which fitted perfect. The cam and crank went in again for the second time. In an effort to get the valve spring compressed I found a great side valve valve compressor on EBay. Original vintage valve compressor for ten dollars and ten dollars postage. Some times you can be lucky.

Opening another box, I found a new water pump, so tightly packed in grease and grease paper, I overlooked it amongst the parts, not realising what it was. Again, hit that with the high preasure hose and cleaned it up well. Unable to find a new head, I reconditioned the old head and reseated the valves. I was fortunate enought to locate a new head gasket though and torqued it all down. The valves would prove another interesting challenge.

I poached the oil pump from the old engine.

To add to the new crank case was a new Crank. The photos show the care in which the factory took to ensure that the surfaces would remain free of rust. The crank was perfect. I also managed to find a few boxes of NOS bearing cups and installed those too.

The motor out of the grease after 60 odd years

Living in Far North Queensland, the availability of 1950's rolls royce parts arnt the easiest things to come by. Having said that though, I was incredibly fortunate to find a treasure trove of these parts a while back, stored in a good friends shed. These parts had been purchased at an auction back in the 70's and had been stored since this time. Last year I completed my Mk1/2 Ferret restoration, or at least I thought I did. I looked over the motor that I had and thinking that it would be alright put it in the Hull and hoped for the best. As these things turn out, the motor was pretty much shot and therefore I was in need of a new or reconditioned one. This led me to the option of attempting to build a new motor from my mates collection of parts. These first three photos show the new crank case covered in the factory grease paper. An old engine is in the background, which I used for parts. After cracking open the timber box and lifting it out, I also found 6 boxes containing new pistons, rings and gudgeons. Lots of high pressure hosing and mineral turpentine eventually revealed the engine block.

This link is fantastic. Their is a couple of photos of this very vehicle on that site. The '55' marking on the black and white photos indicate that the vehicle is being utilised by the 1st battalion, whereas the photos of the same vehicle in this link show that the vehicle was also with the 5th battalion at some later or earlier point. Would love to know where that gun buggy is now!

I know where their is a complete wreck in Far North Queensland and the owner is willing to sell. All the hull tin is riddled with holes, but everything is there, prop, rudder, everything. I will take some photos and post on here. I don't know how far you are from Cairns, but I'm guessing you won't be close.

$9,500 US. Wow that is a nice gun, but not 9,500 nice! But at least I know where to find one now. Just got to find that Landrover to go with it.

Wow, I had never noticed that. But, yes, you are quite right, with the exception to this one, I have only every seen these with the front guards cut out. This must be an early early version. You have an eye for detail!

just a tip, don't touch the nuts that are painted red. From memory, their is a side plate that has been bolted down under pressure. If you undo the nuts you will end up with gearbox pinging around the hull. Is the Ferret running. If so, drive it around in second, third and fourth and then park the vehicle and see if it will then engage in first with the engine turned off. That's what I would do. Tim Australian Ferret 115161.

Here is a photo taken in a Blackhawk. Im the guy with the Kbar in my mouth, while Shannon McAlaney behind me, with the big smile, unfortunately never made it back. He was killed on the 2nd of April 1993 in the Market Area in down town Biadoa. RIP. The importance of Military Vehicle restoration is important so that tangible reminders of past conflicts can connect later generations with the sacrifices that were made by guys like Shannon. We should never forget that.