Some men are born MV enthusiasts and some have MV thrust upon them

[alixcompo]

I probably am stupid but.....

Having bought a 1957/8 Bedford CA MK1 as a restoration project I now discover it is an ex Naval runabout.

 

I am aware that the rules of restoration are 1: Don't break anything and 2: Don't throw anything away. Now I can add to that, 3: Don't rub the paintwork down too hard or you can obliterate any previous serial numbers and hence history.

 

So where do I go from here? You are all Army vehicle types, armour plate and armaments with drab green in your veins.

Who cares about RN stuff then?

My missus was expecting two tone cream and maroon. How can I tell her that Navy blue will look great and that white lettering is historically significant

 

Is there some clandestine group who slink about at classic vehicle shows in a 'Naval Vehicle' area..?

 

I don't think that I have ever seen them. So where do old RN vehicles go if they don't float...?

 

Help

[gritineye]

Could well make sense to have modern laminated screen glass cut. After all it will be a running vehicle not a museum piece.

 

Last time I tried I was told you can't just pop into your local glass merchant to get laminated glass cut for vehicles any more, due to new regs and all that annoying stuff!

[Tony B]

Last time I tried I was told you can't just pop into your local glass merchant to get laminated glass cut for vehicles any more, due to new regs and all that annoying stuff!

 

The RAC did a section of laminated glass for me for the 101 windscreen, then cut the rest of the sheet into three spares. Bloke said there was no point in taking back a cut sheet. Total cost to me £20. Worth talking to local windscreen fitters. Especially for a cash job.

[alixcompo]

Oddly enough opinion seems to be- not to have laminated in the side windows as it is more likely to crack than toughened.! Does anyone have a view on this.?

Edited May 14, 2012 by alixcompo
can't speell

[The Garrison]

Bring on the Navy vehicles. You do not see enough of them and they all have just as much history and anything else.

One of our own preservation group members is ex RNZN (Royal New Zealand Navy) and has just purchased an old 15ft ply boat that we have turned into a replica ships tender. He is lucky enough to live next to a river so the boat gets a lot of use. We also trailer it to events and have it on show.

 

Best wishes with the restoration, cant wait to see pictures.

[gritineye]

Oddly enough opinion seems to be- not to have laminated in the side windows as it is more likely to crack than toughened.! Does anyone have a view on this.?

 

Odd you should say that, my Scammell door glass is laminated and a few weeks ago a vertical crack appeared in the outer glass layer. I think this is due to half the glass being in shadow from the canvas covering the cab, and temperature difference in hot sun.

 

I have seen this happen before when the inch thick glass top on a rare and expensive art nouveau dressing table (not mine ) cracked due to the curtains being half drawn.

 

I had a 50s Ford F100 once, both lam door glasses cracked right across at the bottom.

[alixcompo]

Sadley I have had no opportunity to work on the van for the last few weeks and due to other commitments won't get my hands back on it until July.

Life is never fair and the meek will never inherit the Earth.

Like they say, "in the real world; the hare always wins."

 

Doesn't stop me moaning tho....!

[alixcompo]

OK I'm back. 2 months out of the saddle and 2 weeks to get the van drivable and convert a caravan chassis into a car trailer in time for the War & Peace military vehicle show.

So it's all a bit serious now.

The side windows are an on going issue, although I may have a solution by taking out 2mm all round the openeing and ordering another 14 mts of seal from a different supplier which is ever so slightly smaller.

But meanwhile:

I didn't really want to do this as it was time consuming. However I was never really going to be happy filling rust hole with sealant so I too the plunge and cut it out.

The section is the top of the driver side wheel arch where it meets the bulkhead.

This is the bit wot I made

This is it in place

And welded in

Inside prior to welding; and...... No I forgot to take and inside welded pic.

So then there was the drivers floor. Bit of dodgey rust. Aw shucks the grider waqs to hand so..

I had to make a wiggley bit whe the edge had rusted out on the wheelarch

Cut a bit of plate from a cardboard template

And weld it in.. Simples.

Looks great eh? Then I welded in the mount for the throttle pedal upside down and had to cut it off (making a hole in my new floor and damaging the mount) So I didnt take a pic of that.

I did a load of boring floor bits and finishing odds and ends in the drivers floor area while I had the welder running and now I'm back on the section inside the cab above the windscreens.

More later

[Tony B]

You will have learnt one important lesson. Next time take on something simple like a bionic man!

[alixcompo]

I try never to be an 'ist' i.e. defeatist, racist, Baptist etc etc. To this end I find that being a misery that hates everything and everyone, and who complains constantly means that no one thing (ist) ever gets a priority and thus I don't become an 'ist'.

However I want to get some windscreen glass fitted and that means dealing with the inner valence section that has rotted like a swiss cheese.

I've been avoiding tackling it on the theory that some inspiration would come and it would be easy. But the time has come and I still don't know.

I really don't know what the section does, presumably it adds some strength. It seems to have rotted more due to being a condensation trap than any water ingress. It is also a bit that never got painted originally. They had men spraying the shells in those days. None of this 10 stage dipping or what-ever it is they do now.

Although it looks very simple to reproduce , it curves and has a rolled bead on one edge that can't be reproduced in a vice between two bits of heavy angle iron and a lump hammer.

I can ask Santa for a Bead Roller but that don't get the job done now..... So..

In order to retain the shape and integrity of the section I opted to keep the top edge, however rusty it might be and weld in as much good new steel as I could to make it all rigid.

I don't know if this counts as a bodge but as I haven't got a clue as to what to do and I aint gonna pay no other bugger (I'm a bit precious about doing this restoration myself) I'll just put it down as a temporary quick fix.

So; First job, cut out one half as low to the screen as poss to get as much rotten metal out as possible.

At this point I discovered that there is a rolled edge where I was cutting.! Hey too late now......

I only took half out so that I had reference points on what was left.

I cut a strip of new sheet 3 feet long and 4 1/2" wide.

To get the curved edge I drew a reference line about 25mm (see I can do metric as well)

Then I beat this edge over a bit of 20mm tube clamped in a bench vice being very careful to select my heaviest claw hammer.

Bending/rolling edges like this usually leads to a unhelpful curve along the length of the panel that needs to be straight.

Before beating the hell out of it chuck your 2 indespensible length of heavy angle iron in the vice and ease a slight straight bend along the refence line. This will serve to strengthen the section enough to stop it curving. (Trust me it will all make sense if you do it.)

Then it was just a case of cut away as much as I dare, fire up the welder and tack away.

I know you are thinking "but you cant weld rusty metal" Don't be an 'ist' of course you can....

Just so long as it is nice thick old British steel there will be a bit of uncontaminated metal in the middle between the rust and the err... rust..

The trick is to weld into the new metal and allow the molten pool to burn any rust contamination out of the way and let the puddle flow like solder. It is a knack but a very useful one. Some people put a lump of something (metal) behind delicate area as a heat sink. It isn't always possible and I didn't. Touch the original steel will the tip of the welding wire and it will instantly burn away. And why are the hardest bits of welding always overhead.?

Incidentaly when cutting out steel from sheet for repair panels I usually use and angle grinder with a 1mm cutting disc but as I have neighbours, if it is getting a bit late I go for the quieter option which is a decent pair of nibblers.

As always buy the best you can afford.

So my job for tomorrow night is to get that lot welded properly and I'll probably have to plate up the worst of the rusty bit thats left.

It's a job I hate. And hate is a wasted emotion....... But it does get you through the day.!

[alixcompo]

Bit of a crisis tonight..... Ran out of welding wire......

All was not lost. I now have a fully fitted and working pair of wipers.

Bloody handy on a van that hasn't got a single piece of glass in it yet...!

[Tony B]

It really is an austounding restoration of what was looked on in it's day as an ordinary van. She'll look great in the show ring, though with the amount of welding wire you've used , you could have knitted a complete vehicle. :-D

[alixcompo]

Priceless... I wish I'd thought of that...

[alixcompo]

OK, so I admit it. I sneaked off work today so that I could work on the van. Part of my consciense was riddled with guilt but fortunately the part that was working on the CA felt elated. Turned out really sunny as well.

So I had a lst bit of bodywork to tackle before my venture to the War & Peace show.

The passenger side inner and outer sill were trashed and the removable floor panel over the battery had rusted away on its front edge.

Time being of the essence I had cut everything away except for the edge of the door step.

This was left for reference.

I folded a simple section from 18 gauge (1.2mm) for the inner sill and drilled plug/spot weld holes.and tacked it in on the lower door runner

edge

 

then I cut a strip of 3mm sheet, drilled some spot weld holes

The removable floor section over the battery had rotted away at the fron edge so I cut another section fron 3mm sheet using the original to mark holes and mounting points. Then I welded this repair onto the section

I needed an outer sill on the hurry up so I took a rough overall measurement and cut a piece of 18 gauge sheet.

I had a length of 100mm tube so I tacked on a strip of 1" x 1" angle iron.

I folded a 1" edge on my cut sheet using the trusty bits of heavt angle in a bench vice.

If you want a clean fold the bend it over using a baulk of 3 x 2" timber and a suitablt big hammer.

So the pic shows this section clamper to the 'former' while it is possible to make the sil section this way it is easier to clamp the whole lot back on the vive between the heavy angle and give it the old heave ho

Hold it roughly in place and mark the step edge with a felt tip. Then fold a 90 degree along that mark

The place in position and carefully tack

So that was this afternoon. Then I realised that it was 19.00 hrs and despite the fact that the 'Archers' were on radio 4 I quickly showered and headed up the road for a 'Ruby' (ruby murry/curry) and a few Cobra's. Conscience salved and belly full here I am ready for some Zedzzzzzzzz before sort the braking system tomorrow. G'night.................

[alixcompo]

Well we made it to the War & Peace show

The show was a huge success, we loved it to bits and hopefully I will have the van driving at next years event.

It was a manic couple of weeks to even get the van to the show in it's 'undressed' state.

Restorers will understand that everything I did to the CA in order to progress resulted in 4 other jobs which involved removing major items.

The windows wouldn't fit with the modern rubbers I had (2nd lot as well), the engine wouldn't run with the new electronic ignition I fitted and I had to revert to 20yr old points and condenser then once I had it running again I managed to stick my hand into the engine fan and then the gear lever broke.

It was some couple of weeks and I'm a lucky boy to still have fingers on my left hand.

They are hard to spot when they are spinning, those single blade fans. Luckily the belt wasn't properly tensioned and I just had a lot of ugly cuts.

The trailer that the van winched onto on tuesday afternoon still had the caravan floor on it on Monday lunchtime; and it was four feet longer. I nipped two feet off the back end then cut 'n' shut another 12" out of the 'A' frame and yet another foot out of the front chassis. After which it was a simple case of welding cross bearers and fitting scaffold board runners, and brackets and tie down points and etc etc.

It was all very worth it.

Everyone at the event was very nice, friendly and remarkably understanding. I learn new stuff, made new contacts and had a very nice time too.

So I'm having a couple of weeks off before I launch back into the fray. Enthusiasm boosted...... Watch this space

(How much would I like one of these.)

[alixcompo]

Although I am far from needing to know, can anyone explain to an MV novice what the thing is about light blue paint and MV's. I have seen engines that colour but my van seems to have the engine bay and interior footwells that colour. Would it be an original feature because someone has gone to quite a lot of trouble to badly spray green over the top of it.

My engine however doesn't ever seem to have been painted.

[alixcompo]

I've been tinkering.

First off I fixed the broken gear lever which seems to have been made of cheese and repaired once before in the past.

Then I had a play at removing rust by electrolisis.

A plastic bucket, a 12v battery charger, sode washing soda and a sacrificial annode (lump of scrap iron) and we're in business.

The pic show my 1st effort on 2 CA dash's after they had been bubbling for about 2 hours.

The positive lead goes to the lump of old iron and the negative to what you want to de-rust.

Fill your non conductive container with water and add a tablespoon of soda per gallon.Mix well.

connect up your leads, don't let the diode directly touch your work piece, plug in, and Bob's yer Auntie (as they say in the gender re-asignment trade)

After a mere 24 hours or more, the rust will magically detach itself from the job and travel in a straight line to your sacrificial doobrie and stick to that.

After a day or so (remembering not to switch off the power to the shed when you turn the lights out) this is what it all looks like (after I've tripped over the blasted thing a couple of times) a messy rusty soup.

Remove your item, wash it in mums sink and if I had remembered to take the pic you could have seen an unrusted dash. I'll post that one tomorrow.

I found this a very slow yet satifying method of removing corrosion with minimal damage to the item. Very successful in all.

An amusing trade off is that if you then tip the water onto your lawn, worms will appear like small rockets bursting out of the ground. I don't know if there is some residual electricity, or the soda or what, but boy does it get them to appear. I mention this only so that we can all win that annual worm charming competition where people normally sing, chant and dance to attract the slithery little blighters. (I kid you not; this is England after all)

Aside from that; just tonight I refitted the electronic ignition more carefully, screwed in a new set of plugs and had the old beast running nicely. So well in fact that I rigged a temporary cooling system and ran it up again for about 30 mins.

Very pleased and the smoke is already clearing as we speak.

I don't think that motor has run for any length of time for very many years, so it's good to get some heat into it and hopefully unstick the rings etc.

More news and pics tomorrow..

Edited August 10, 2012 by alixcompo
because I'm an idiot

[alixcompo]

Right took photo's

You can see how heavily this dash was rusted. Quite useable now.

Not that easy to see but this is bare metal now.

Where you can see black is where the electrolisis process is complete

The trim is perfect now.

Where does the rust go....?

It travels in a straight line onto the sacrificial anode

[gritineye]

Looks like you where in Medway Field, never got a proper look round there, shame I didn't spot the Bedford Beast, keep up the entertaining updates, catch ya next time...:thumbsup:

[alixcompo]

Yeah we were there in Medway. Ist time I've done an MV show of any kind and it's hard to describe how much I enjoyed it.

 

The previous 3 weeks were pretty much a disaster regarding preparing the van but it was well worth the effort.

 

Many thanks for your comments; it's what keeps the enthusiasm rolling.

[alixcompo]

Hurrah: I seem to be getting back on track with the van.

 

I only had about 4 hours on it today but tweaked the timing an carburation a little and had it running very cleanly with a lot less smoke than previously. Guess the engine is starting to 'cook out' a bit.

 

I made up some temporary cooling top and bottom hoses and fitted the rad properly. Ran it for half an hour without any overheating. It came up to temperature nicely.

 

My only concern is that each time I run the engine and then drain the coolant, I would expect to see a lot more crap 'n' rubbish coming rather out than the pretty clean water I'm getting. I may have to chuck in something a bit caustic to get theing moving. Dish washer powder is top of my list right now....

 

More importantly; while the engine was purring over (it's running on just the exhaust dowpipe just now and sounds rather agricultural) I tried the clutch and gears. All gears selected and it actually moved a foot forward and back under it's own steam.

 

I was soooo excited....

 

Next job is to fit up some kind of better exhaust with a silencer....

Edited August 12, 2012 by alixcompo
poor gramma. An' grandad aint all that either

[Enigma]

Before we know it you'll be driving it on the road?

[alixcompo]

The original plan was to just get it on the road with the minimum of work and continue a rolling restoration but I pretty quickly fell into the trap of,

pulling off a few big bits,

deciding it would't take long to cut some rust out

and reality.

[alixcompo]

So I lied about the next job being the exhaust.

In a whole week I had about 3 hours to do something on the van tonight so....

I took the fuel tank out. It had to happen sometime so I went for it.

Though the van is very simple to work on, it's hard to be patient when clouds of cr*p are dropping in your mouth and eyes, and you are laying on the tools you need to use.

So it wasn't a lot of fun yet it was very rewarding.

The tank is in fantastic condition and even still had a gallon of fuel in it. Stinking, stale and contaminated fuel but liquid none the less. Suitable to slosh around the tank and flush out the inevitable detrious.

So I went for broke and managed to get the screws holding the fuel gauge sender out.

Now I have owned a fews vehicles over the years and you could count on one hand the number of them that I didn't have to bits.... Yet I have never seen a cork sender float before.

Look closely it really is made of cork.

So from experience I know not to let it dry out.

What a lucky boy I am eh...?

[Tony B]

Ther actually quite common in older vehicles. Ask Rosie, I'm sure she can supply a suitable replacement. :-D

[alixcompo]

Well this is a first time for me, and at 57 there aint too many of those these days. In fact I can barely walk into any room and be the youngest