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WW1 Dennis truck find


Great War truck

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I would have thought that is what all the work is aimed at! Rather than .... Oh I see you had to make a replacement for that...

 

Quite right! Our objective is to produce a vehicle that looks loved and cared for using factory parts. I don't mind if bits of it look well used as it is, after all, 90 years old. It is nice, however to be able to share and talk about what we have actually done to achieve this illusion and I would like to thank Jack for giving us this opportunity to do so on the forum and to make so many new friends through it.

 

Steve

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If i remember correctly, they were called ticklers,I'm not that old, but I think I came across them when I was an adolescent in the sixties, it may have been on fishing boats.

 

Regards, Matthew

 

I think you are right. When I have played with other peoples ancient vehicles, one of the expressions has often been 'Have you tickled the carb?' I had forgotten that!

 

Steve

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Absolutely irrelevant, of course, but all the way back there on the first couple of pages you mention this truck is mid to late 1918, which makes it 92-ish, and you now have more pages in this thread than the truck has years - well done.

 

Gordon

 

( beat the Dodge horn to a pulp this morning, it works perfectly now, but had to replace the original 1939 horn button with a new-fangled WW2 one from 1941 - only I would notice the difference but there is no surround trim on the later one as there was on the original - sigh )

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Restorers take note !!. Going through some info. on the W.D. Subsidy Scheme 1912 ammended 1913 . Ignition: drawing no. 108A q.v. 'Leads to the different cylinders should be of colours to facilitate correct connections being made, and to be coloured as follows: Cylinder nearest radiator red, next green, next yellow, cylinder nearest dashboard blue'. I shall be carying out an inspection in due course.

Richard Peskett.

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Restorers take note !!. Going through some info. on the W.D. Subsidy Scheme 1912 ammended 1913 . Ignition: drawing no. 108A q.v. 'Leads to the different cylinders should be of colours to facilitate correct connections being made, and to be coloured as follows: Cylinder nearest radiator red, next green, next yellow, cylinder nearest dashboard blue'. I shall be carying out an inspection in due course.

Richard Peskett.

 

That's 2 of us on the look out for authentic coloured ignition leads then! Best have a hammer of debate in each hand, Tim.

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The last piece of plumbing to be completed is the pipe from the Water Pump to the Inlet manifold. This is just a short piece of 15mm copper pipe which has to be bent in different directions to fit.

 

Had a trial run this afternoon with an old piece of copper tube, just to get the shape of it - the pipe had to be annealed many times to get it soft enough to bend, but the finished item does have one or two "dinks" in it. It does fit and would do the job quite adequately, but the next job now is to do it again, now that I have the size and shape, but to do it without "dinking" it!

 

DSCN2659.jpg

 

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DSCN2661.jpg

 

DSCN2662.jpg

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Had a trial run this afternoon with an old piece of copper tube, just to get the shape of it - the pipe had to be annealed many times to get it soft enough to bend, but the finished item does have one or two "dinks" in it. It does fit and would do the job quite adequately, but the next job now is to do it again, now that I have the size and shape, but to do it without "dinking" it!

 

When I read those words "Trial Run" I thought you meant you had the engine started.

Am I the only one waiting in great anticipation for this major event. The event will have to be captured on film of course.

 

Wouldn't one or two "dinks" inevitably be aquired during service or routine maintenance from the odd errant spanner?

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Norman,

 

Ohw no.... you're not the only one awaiting the moment of truth... i've been checking the forum on a more than daily bases...

 

This restoration is a source for motivation and technical-'how-to's' for me. It got me trough my own restoration several occasions.

 

Cheers,

Micha.

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Last weekend, Steve went over to Cambridgeshire to pick up the fuel filter which had been turned out by our good friend Mick. As you can see, it was pretty poorly and the handle had rusted off completely.

 

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A bit of judicious heat and it all came apart except for the valve spindle which had to be drilled out. The filter element had corroded away

 

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and the sump had cracked through.

 

DSCN2090.jpg

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First item to be fixed was the sump. Steve used the nylon brush to clean it up and then pickled it in old battery acid for an hour before tinning the inside with soft solder.

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This was successful. Next item tackled was the replacement of the cracked centre tube of the filter casting

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and then he made a new spindle and handle

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Thanks are due to Ben for measuring his up for us so we could get it exactly right.

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The filter element was unsoldered and inspected. It works by fuel coming down the central tube, going around the outside and then back through the gauze and up through a hole in the main body. Unfortunately, the casting carrying the element had some porosity in it such that the fuel could bypass the gauze altogether and we suspect that it had always been that way from new. Steve therefore made a new central tube with an extended thread to cover the hole and you can just see this in the photo.

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He completed the filter element by replacing the gauze.

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Finally he made some new union nuts, copying the surviving original and reassembled it.

DSCN2096.jpg

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Job done!

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Norman,

 

Ohw no.... you're not the only one awaiting the moment of truth... i've been checking the forum on a more than daily bases...

 

 

The time is approaching. What we ideally want is a weekend when everyone is down. A Bank Holiday is the ideal time for family get togethers.......

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The time is approaching. What we ideally want is a weekend when everyone is down. A Bank Holiday is the ideal time for family get togethers.......

 

There's a bank holiday not far away I believe. Hope your not requiring good weather though!

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You most likely know this already, but the old way of bending tube by hand and keeping it round was to ram it full of dry sand, then cap/flatten the ends before bending..

or if it will fit in a freezer fill with soapy water & freeze, you don't have to flatten the ends that way, just use some sort of stopper to plug the ends.

Edited by Marmite!!
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When I read those words "Trial Run" I thought you meant you had the engine started.

Am I the only one waiting in great anticipation for this major event. The event will have to be captured on film of course.

 

 

Amen to that! Camera charged and ready to go - I am free tomorrow morning :coffee:

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The anticipation is Killing me ! can't wait for the first video of it cranking and firing up for the first time in forever , let alone when you put it in gear and it starts moving . Hoping that bank holiday isnt very long in coming !!!!

 

I was just thinking of the engine starting! I forgot the transmission was back together so presumably it could be test drive :-D

 

British bank holiday weather allowing of course.

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Thanks for the pipe-bending tips! Tim and I have fitted the "trial" one this morning so that we have one to go on with - and will be ready for any possible event that we might have in mind - possibly on Tuesday morning after the Bank Holiday! A nicer one can be made up later on.

 

We are taking the three "Runners" to the Honiton Hill Rally on Sunday and Monday and if any HMVF members are there, then please make yourselves known to us!

 

Tony

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A wonderful idea - but perhaps we could leave that for the next Dennis that we do! That would be after the Thornycroft and the two Peerless' - and at the present rate, it would mean that we would be starting the project in about the year 2034! That would make me 95. Something to look forward to!

 

Tony

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What a great picture Richard. I wonder what its stopping distance was like, especially with a rake of full wagons behind it? Must have been quite entertaining. Certainly a possible candidate for the next Dennis restoration. We just have to get the other ones done first of course.

 

Anyway, it is Friday afternoon and the Gosling clan are gathering in Devon for a long weekend playing with old lorrys. Who knows what we might get up to.

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