Great War truck

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.

Chap i met did something like that. He was left a note later on saying "if you do that again we will burn down your house". There are some nasty gits around. Not sure what to reccomend really. Camera is a good idea. Tim

I think you might be right. It has got very little ground clearance so i dont think it is for going "off road" so to speak. i cant imagine towing that across a ploughed field for example.

A friend is selling his MV. The buyer is based overseas and has offered to pay a deposit directly into his bank Account, so is asking for all of his bank details etc. The buyer has asked lots of relevant questions so appears to be genuine, however my friend is reluctant to give him the bank details in case money starts disappearing out instead of coming in. Is there a safer way to pay? Any thoughts please? Thanks Tim

PM sent. Tim

The FN cast into the block!

Steve joined Tony in Devon for the weekend – the main objective of Steve’s visit was to join Tony so that they could drive up to Brighton together on the Sunday to see the Historic Commercial Vehicles Society’s London to Brighton Entrants arrive at the Finish. This was the same Run that we did a year ago with the Dennis. Tony had still been removing the many wasted and corroded studs from the Cylinder Blocks that will have to be replaced, these last few days – and as we wanted to get them all out before Steve took the Blocks back to Leicester with him – Steve joined in! This series of four pictures show the last one to come out – a 1/2” BSW stud for the Exhaust Manifold. The threads had really rusted hard to the Block and these last ones seem to have proved doubly difficult to remove. They were drilled out as much as possible but the final “shell” of the stud was still very firmly attached to the female thread in the Block and had to finally be removed with the help of a carborundum on the Dremel and a hammer and chisel. As the thread in the block gradually emerged, the final bits had to be teased out with taps. The few studs now left in the two Blocks are all deemed to be sound and will live to fight another day. And with all the various parts of the project going on at present – there is another to add to the list – and that is to make even more new studs! We are now coming around to what we think is our way forward with the cylinder blocks and dealing with the two cracks. Our present thoughts are to get the cracks in the two blocks metal-stitched together – after first testing them for further cracks and ensuring that we are just dealing with only the two. After that has been completed successfully, Steve will hone out the two troublesome cylinders so that they are able to take liners which will be fixed in with a high temperature Loctite. The cylinders are at present 4 1/2” bore – the walls of the liners will be 1/8” so that will effectively reduce the bore to 4 1/4”. We think that really this will not effect the performance and power greatly – especially bearing in mind that it is unlikely that the lorry will ever be fully laden again. The liners will be of a top-hat shape so that the bottoms of the two cylinder bores will have to be bored out by perhaps another 3/16” on the diameter and perhaps by an 1/8” on depth – to match the top-hat flanges – thus trapping the liners from moving up in the bores. The liners will also be trapped against the crank case so that they cannot move downward. So, Steve has returned to Leicester today and plans now to make an appointment to call on the Metal Stitching Specialists to get their thoughts on our proposals. This visit is not likely to take place until the week commencing 14th May.

Richard and Alan are of course quite right. It looks like a CB not a Y chassis.

An interesting discovery. Certainly looks like an AEC Y Type, but with a lot of modifications. Rear wheels look like they came from a Daimler CB, but could easily be off something else. Probably best to preserve as a living van frame, unless you know someone with a Tylor engine for it. There was a restored living van with Y type chassis on E Bay a few weeks ago. Opening bid was around £16,000. Dont know if it sold though. Tim

The burner is big enough but you will need a bigger gas bottle....