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Nash Quad


tailgunner

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Hi tim

its me again , i was going to explain what each pictures was although they are self explanitary (i think thats how you spell it?)

The first picture is as how i found it , the next as it is now , the seat after it had been constructed and covered and the last is the engine after it had been sand blasted and the crank reground.

just trying to get the canvas dyed after which i will machine stitch together to make the hood so hopefully the seat ,hoop sticks and hood will be finished.

another piece of the jig saw arrived the other day from a good friend (this guy builds Aircraft merlin engines for a hobby) he remade all eight valve covers for the engine , what a guy!...........colin

Edited by Marmite!!
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In Tailgunners last photo in post 258 I see what I think is part of a upper turret for an aircraft ...I could be wrong , Being a bit nosey what aircraft is it from ? I know they were used on a number of types of bombers .

Edited by Marmite!!
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Abn deuce your dead right its a B17F flying fortress sperry upper turret that from an aircraft that was broken up at my local airbase which was RAF Burtonwood which sadly is no longer.

thank for all the kind remarks about the Nash but be warned i can not restore the truck at the speed tonys doing the Dennis , as it takes 2 1/2 hours to get to my friends where it is kept so its going to be a slow process.

Heres a couple of pictures of the rear body which was found in France...colin

body.JPG

badge.JPG

Edited by Marmite!!
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The body was one heck of a lucky find. I can think of several people who are looking for one (but all in the USA).

 

We met a chap once at Beltring who was looking through some French barns and just found one sitting up on blocks. Makes you wonder how many more are tucked away there (and what else there is).

 

If i am right you're Quad was one of two that was sold at Warnham back in the 80's. The other one is a runner and had a replica body on it, although the owner has a metal body like yours to go on it.

 

I think that there are four Quads in the UK (and lots more in the USA). I will see if i can post some pictures.

 

Tim (too)

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i obtained the body from a guy that i met at Beltring , i put up a sign on my stall saying that i wanted parts for a Nash Quad.

seeing as its the worlds largest MV rally i thought why not give it a go and blow me this chap turns , i think his name was roger?

 

He had come all the way from rance with a friend of his and noticed the wanted sign.

My French is rubbish and he did`nt speak a lot of English but between us all including friends from both sides , he mentioned that he had a rear body .........Yehhhhhhhh!

After he left my mate said he mentioned that also had a engine........Noooooo , i reckon my mate heard wrong.

 

after some time he sent a letter saying was i still intrested and when are you coming and by the way i have found two front oil lamps for you........well that did it, i had to go.

we took my mates toyota pick up and trailer after staying over on the Somme , my mate said well where does this guy live.i never to much notice other than he said he was`nt far from Calais.

After looking at the map i nearly fell over backwards , he was half way down France and near to the Swiss border, oh! god!

I was for turning around but we all agreed that were going to go , which we did.

what a place.............it was full of all sorts tucked away up a hill side , every barn was full of kit...Sherman tank ,DUKW , jimmys , dodges a scammel a quite complete un restored 1ww German truck bits of Nash quad here and there plus a fully restored quad in the garage.

 

Around the back there was at least seven quad rear bodys but all without rear doors and frames , they had survived by being laid on their sides and used in a paint factory as shelving , amazing.........

 

we not only came back with a body but also with a very rusty engine , two oil lamps ,a jeep chassis and jeep wheels , if we had been pulled in by the police i reckon we would of been locked up as i am sure we were well over weight.

the toyota was sold two weeks later poor thing.............

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That is a fantastic story. Just goes to show much luck plays a part in restoration. Is the engine that you intend to use the rusty one that came back from France or do you have a second engine?

 

Here is a picture of Richards old Quad. The history of this one is that it was used at the Le mans race race track for moving barriers etc where it was eventually abandoned in the undergrowth. it came to the UK and was restored by the remarkably able Richard Peskett. here is how it looked last time i saw it.

 

Quad.jpg

 

it has recently changed hands.

 

Tim (too)

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the old rusty engine that i brought back is the one that you can see on the floor next to the aircraft gun turret in the first lot of pictures i sent in.

It actually came apart quite easily except for extracting the pistons out of the bores but i remeber seeing an episode of salvage squad were they had used very hot engine oil poured down the bores to release the pistons?

 

this was some thing that i had never tried before so i thought i might as well give it a go because iether way they have to come out and before every body jumps on their keyboards , there is no cylinder head that you can take off.

The whole upper part of the engine is in one piece so no!.....you can not push out the pistons.......unfortunately.

Any how ......hot boiling oil they got!

I left them for about ten minutes , bolted the big end cap back onto the con rod supported iether side with two small blocks of to keep it vertical and belted it as hard as i could upwards........clonk!

I tried again and it went clink!...........oh! sugar ,that did`nt sound good.

It had iether moved or it was broken any way it was to late so i hit it again and again and sure enough it had moved, it was on its way out.

Each cylinder took me about half an hour each but the hot oil worked.

 

It needs now , eight new valves and springs , exhaust manifold , top water jacket (these two items i can see me casting from new) water pump and complete fan assembly which includes bracket , pulley and fan.

I found the correct brass carburettor and magnetos on e-bay and that also includes the radiator , its just amazing what you can find with a little help.

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Tim

I can quite honestly say that my engine was in far worse state than your friends , it was just red rusty all over.

it looked like it had been outside for sixty years and it was`nt as oily inside so with this in mind , i reckon he should be able to remove the pistons like i did.

Before i even attempted it, i made sure the cylinder bores were as clean as i could get them just by rubbing the rust off with emery paper.

the pistons that were at the top (TDC) were actually the easiest ones to get out?

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Be almost a shame to put a body on it.

As for the hot oil trick, ehemm it's been mentioned several times on this forum. A better mixture is old gear oil heated with disiel, stinks but moves almost anything.

Edited by Tony B
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what a lovely job , can`t wait until mine is looking that good.

i think this years job is to make a new set of rear doors for the ammo body and fabricate the upper chassis cross members that hold the body to the chassis.

Until then heres the latest bits for the truck , new valve covers just need two more to make a full set.the very rusty thing in the right hand side of these covers is one of the original ones.

Another piece of the jigsaw.................

valva caps.JPG

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Hi tim

When i purchased the rear body , the chap gave me a full sized outline of his doors and frames plus some dimensions so hopefully they should come out ok? fingers crossed what i am looking for are the dimensions of the chassis top cross members.

These are the ones with lower cut out and which the ammo body bolts to , you can clearly see them on that lovely olive drab painted Quad.

I hope to have the canvas dyed green within the next month and sown up by my far hands , thats if i can control my sowing machine............

The end result will be have the hoop sticks painted , canvas on and fitted to the seat .Talk about doing things back to front , the engine is`nt even fitted yet but i am a great believer in doing some thing rather than nothing and every thing has to be done at some point?.......colin

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 years later...
  • 9 months later...

Some 20 years ago a friend in france pointed out a Quad to me that was laying near a farm. I will post the picture i made later. And a few kms on there was a 2nd quad in a little car museum in Les Riceys. The museum is shut down now but the vehicle might still be in there.

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As promised the pics. first an overal view than an retouched pic for details. Sorry for the quality i didn't have a better camera a the time. Wonder if it is still out there. Must be in an little village between Bar sur Seine and Les Riceys.

quad2.jpg

And that the one from the Riceys museum

nash_quad.jpg

quad1.jpg

Edited by Citroman
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