Great War truck

If anybody would like to take their MV to this event and thereby gain free tickets to this fantastic air show please send me a PM and i will forward it to the organiser http://www.airtattoo.com/airshow You can not camp on the site and you will have to park up your MV before the show opens and collect it after it finishes. Thanks Tim

Here is an example of the box i am referring to:

I think you are probably right. Next time i go that way i will take a closer look at it. Thanks Tim

The blood grove goes all the way to the end.

The timing gear on the end of the crank has a couple of severely wasted teeth. Fortunately for us, the one on the spare crank is quite good so we set about removing the bad one. As you can see, it has a taper pin securing it on the shaft and that in turn has a split pin through the end. The split pin gave Steve the clue as to which end to hit and it simply popped out, with some velocity I might add. Notice the black dot on my boiler suit! A three legged puller was applied and the job was done. The challenge remains as to how we will press the other one back on.

Nothing yet. There have been other distractions.

This one is in a barn quite close to me. Any ideas?

These are marvellous photos. Were many of the horse ambulances made? It is quite a remarkable survivor.

Steve is still assessing the cylinder bores. To check them for straightness and roundness, he made up a stop for his dial gauge which he bolted on so that the gauge fits across the bores. He also made a handle so that it can be held at any position along their length. He then inspected the bores in the better of the two blocks to see whether we can get away without lining them. He found that both are barrelled in shape with one being 0.020" bigger in the middle than the ends and the other 0.018" so, unfortunately, both will need reboring and then lining. At least this removes the need to decide whether or not to line two or four cylinders! This weekend, we are going to seal and pressure test the water jackets to see if there are any more cracks. If no more are found, we will get the blocks stitched and then start looking for someone with the capacity to bore them out by 0.030".

Just picked up the Jeep from its MOT. It passed i am pleased to say, although there was some last minute tinkering with the hand brake the night before. The chap in the garage (who is really helpful) is a bit concerned about the change in MOT rules. he says that he can think of three farmers who run the most clapped out Land Rovers imagenable and now that they dont need MOT's he is concerned that anything that needs doing just wont be done. it makes me a little worried. I am sure that all of us (well nearly all?)MV owners will keep their vehicles in a safe and road worthy condition but what about the others. One idiot and a fatal accident might see us all taken off the road. Tim

That is a nice picture. It looks like a White.

Has this one come from Mann's yard at Nettlebed? If so it is a Morris Commercial.

Looking at the FWD, it appears to have a British army body on it, but the US petrol tank. The hooks on the chassis look like British ones, but that type were not usually fitted to FWD's. Tim

What fantastic pictures! Thanks. The guy on the FWD looks a little ill. Probably been watching the guillotine in use. Interesting to see the engine covers off the side of the FWD. Not just us who has problems with it over heating then! Very curious to see the Atlas. Does it say anthing else about the lorry? Anyway, what a marvellous collection. Tim

didnt a shot down ME109 from the Battle of Britain go on tour in the USA as a fund raiser?

Not much done to the Thorny these last few days because of other “obligations”! However, we did pick up the water couplings that joins the facing bottoms of the water jackets on the two cylinder blocks. These consists of two castings which lock together when in position – one is bolted to one cylinder block and the other is held in place on the other block on studs. It is not possible to put them both on studs because of lack of space to manoeuvre them on when assembling the engine. When we took the engine to pieces, we had to cut the bolts holding one casting as they were rusted up so solidly, just to lift the cylinder blocks off the crank case as there was no way that the two cylinder blocks could have been lifted off the crank case together with out a severe risk of breaking something if they had remained joined together by this connection. After cutting those bolts, it was possible to lift the blocks off one at a time. These two pictures show the two couplings still very firmly stuck together after an initial sand blasting. There was no way that they could be taken apart in that condition. The two castings were eventually separated by getting them a dull red hot, allowed to cool and then held in a vice – and gently tapped with a hammer. They started to move – some WD40 was inserted in the joint – and continually “worked” until they came apart. These three pictures show them when newly separated. These final three pictures show the two castings after wire brushing. You will notice that there is a groove in the female part to take some sort of packing to seal the joint – what would that have been – graphited yarn?

Well its obvious really, you get a Peerless to tow it out. http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record.php?id=1060022932&media_id=227268 For some strange reason i cant help but whistle "Benny Hill" music as everyone is running around in circles. The Maudslay is smoking a bit. Looks like it is on fire. Later on there is some marvellous film of more Peerless, a vauxhall staff car and hordes of Albions. You may recognise the background as Grove Park and Osterley park. Enjoy Tim

As a portee lorry it has quite sturdy ramps, but i do wonder what difference in weight between a 75mm and a GP is. Visibility cant be good so i expect the driver must be quite positive. the wooden block on the body is to stop the 75 rolling forwards into the cab when they load it. i cant imagine thats going to do much about stopping the GP.

Yes please. do post them. There was a recent magazine article about the Fresne collection. he has some truly remarkable collection.

I came across this nice photo. looks like a Renault GP being loaded on to a Pierce Arrow. The lorry does look like it has the extended cab roof used on the portees.

Father took the opportunity today to get some bits sand blasted. Not all will be required immediately but the “blanking plates” to go on the sides of the cylinder water jackets will be required in connection with the planned pressure test. One of the cylinder side plates has a pin hole in it –it appears that the casting has just corroded away in that one place but that can be drilled out slightly larger and either tapped for a screw or drilled for an iron rivet. The cleaned bits have been given a coat of Bondaprimer to stop fresh rusting.

The front does look remarkably like a Seabrook even if the back end does not:

it looks to be a very complicated body. I wonder why they went to such an effort?

Not just high speed roads. I was out in the Jeep today down a lovely single track country lane. One of my favourite Jeeping roads around here. Around a blind corner came a new range Rover towing a horsebox and doing about 50 Mph. I went up on to the verge and stopped just short of a tree. She (for it was a she) went up on the verge on the other side (thankfully no hedge) and drove with two wheels in the rape seed field. She didnt actually slow down. I went back to have a look around the corner thinking she might be on her side in the field and just saw the crushed crops and the Range Rover driving off in to the distance. It seems they are out to get us wherever we are. It did give me quite a suprise as i really thought my time had come. The safest alternative is to lock your Jeep in the garage and never go out. Not really for me though. i cant really amend my driving style though as i was driving perfectly correctly. As my Grandfather said "Expect a fool around every corner", or as Dave Allan says "live every day as it is your last - and one day you will be right".

Nothing very exciting has happened these last couple of days – but all of the 5/8” top studs to take the cylinder blocks have been shortened and tightened down to their final positions. Similarly, all the missing 3/8” studs on the sides of the Crank Case have been replaced and the Crank Case is now ready for the re-assembly of the engine to commence.