Gordon_M

Its been years, but I seem to remember we got the transmission off, but couldn't pull the bell housing in place. Room ? engine mounts ? tight dowel pins ?

Pull it. Do the back of the block core plug, stand the engine up on its nose and back flush the scale out, pull and clean out the sump, check the big ends, look for metallic debris. I'd be inclined to leave the head alone if it runs well, but clean down and set tappets, etc.

UHPHT wireline stuff here in granite central, but at dry feet at least. Watch out for those rotor blades. I think the production batch for my VC 3 was 196 off. E-Bay sourced me a Parts List and Manual for that specific production batch.

Didn't realise the Cent was that early, thanks Richard. What thread forms are standard on armoured craft and large expensive items right now then, for current production ? UNF easily damaged? you might be right, but I just bin them or shorten them, and of course a thread file is indispensable. I think the only threaded items that just aren't worth the effort are coach bolts, and even then I suppose you could alway buy longer and thread back if you had to.

Tea, excellent idea. Never FaceTwitted myself, never felt the need ...:cool2: On the other hand E-Pay has sourced for me manuals and parts lists for my truck that was made 3000 miles away and (nearly) seventy years ago, and other chip-related stuff has enabled daily conversations with other owners round the world, so on balance. Iain, just noticed you are in Aberdeen - kettles on !

Yup, but the contemporary Champ I had showed UNF on the rocker cover where a WW2 equivalent would just have shown NF There were spares and parts interchanges to be maintained for a whole raft of different things, including a pile of aircraft, and it went both ways too as Packard-built Merlin spares had to interchange with Rolls-built ones. Consider something like the Ashby familys collection of Dodge WK60 workshop trucks. Chassis cabs from the US, Welles-Thornton back bogies from Canada, and workshop bodies supplied and fitted in the UK, and the Canadians had to produce wheels, hubs and axle ends that interchanged with standard British stuff. Standardisation of production, and interchange of parts and spares must have been a key factor in equipment availability during WW2.

.... if Kim Il Whatsit starts getting ideas. I did find a Morris Commercial Bofors carriage many years back that went to the late Tom Bowman in Newcastle. Don't know where it is now, but it was a nice piece of kit.

That's a standard configuration too. Consider something like a jeep or Dodge cylinder head stud. NC at one end, where it goes into the cast block, and NF at the other, where you torque the nut down. WW2 stuff is NF or NC, as that was pre-Unified ( 1949) A bunch of thread pitches and gauges got obsolete when Unified came out, I was told, hence the difficulty in getting some WW2 sizes. The unification process was directly triggered by the difficulty in parts interchange between American, Canadian, and British production during WW2.

... thats the same Ainscough 1000 tonne crane we use to load out my modules here in Aberdeen - that must have cost a few £££ to hire They use the 200tonne crane just to set that thing up

I know it's a long walk for both of you, but the whole place runs on UNC, UNF, NPT, and even ACME I don't think I've ever needed to use E-Bay for nuts and bolts, except for the really odd sizes, like the extra-fine thread 1" on the M19 axle nuts, and 12 gauge on the Carryall side panels and doors, plus the occasional UN form left hand thread die nut or tap for a troublesome wheel stud or lug nut. I do make a point of salvaging every original fastener I can though, as many of the head styles that were common 70 years ago are just no longer around.

A couple of things you need to know, then; 1. There is a thread showing two very similar tankers with single rear axles here; http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=220967 2. That advert is in the very distinctive style of artist William Campbell. Campbell always painted trucks from real life ( or a photograph ) so that truck existed - even if they just made one of them. You can see many more Autocars, plus examples of Campbells work and how he took a truck image and made it into an advert here; http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/Topic603.aspx?PageIndex=4 There is a good example of his advert showing a Landing Craft on the back of an Autocar tractor there.

Here's something for you - not sure how significant it would be. Like all of us I keep an eye open for green stuff as I tour round. Many years back - mid 1970s maybe? I was driving to Rhu on the Clyde coast, and there were two LeTourneau Corporal Launcher trucks parked outside a shore facility - looked to have been unloaded, or maybe got ready for shipping back. Don't know if it was Royal Navy or US Navy facility though. Once you have seen that shape you don't forget it. Never seen them before, or since, preserved or junked.

This is the before.... and after of my two ton convertible Nolan TT100-8 Road Rail trailer, still working on the Dodge to tow it tho' It was only made in 1986, just had a hard life on the Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad - not far from the Hampton Roads port where all those Signal Corps shipment images were snapped in WW2. The whole story of the trailer is here; http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/NOLAN.htm

Neatly done ...:blush:

That's that then. On the other hand, if the foundry was casting SG, it would be a nice WW2 upgrade ...:cool2:

A bit of trouble-avoidance here then. I'm assuming at least one of the original pistons, in one of the engines, came out in bits, or is otherwise completely past it. Take it with you to the foundry and get them to break it on the spot and do a visual check of iron grade & type on the clean break. If the originals were SG iron and you replace then with plain iron it"ll be a problem - best to check.

Sounds like your battery is fully charged, and the generator output was probably modest to begin with. If she will start and run, and put up with running the headlights, don't mess with it other than checking battery voltage now and again. Paint touch-up will always show. It's more important to do it right than to get an exact match. Eventually you will overcoat the lot and it will match, but if you haven't done the touch up right it will come through.

The lift effect is primarily due to the volume of the iron, so as your volume is relatively low you might be OK, worth remembering for next time though. The foundry will advise on what material they have available to cast them in. If given the choice I'd go for SG Iron ( Spheroidal Graphitic ) which is half way between cast iron and steel in its properties. If it has to be 'ordinary' cast iron you'd want as high a strength as you could get, grade-wise.

If you were doing quantity production, you'd put them head down in the mould and vent off the thin top edge, allowing any slag to come up into the vent and overflow slightly, then get ground off.

You'd want the core to hang down into the cavity, as when you put the iron in the core would tend to float under the hydrostatic ( ferrostatic ? ) pressure. The sand core has reasonable strength in compression but very little in tension.

Thanks for those period images Kevin. I notice those shots show six lugs on the front, like the civilian, but eight lug rims on the back. I'm assuming those are factory reference shots as it looks brand new and I don't see a USA number

Thanks for the wheel and tyre explanation. The military vehicles that went to the disc wheel had to go back to five-lug then? I'd guess the disc wheels held up a lot better in service.

Well you certainly did a heck of a job of it. Tell us the story of the spoked / disc wheels, and the NON SKID tyres, then. I can see the clone started on spoked rims.

Well spotted looks like NON SKID at an angle

Were the spoked wheels early, and the disc wheels later ? ( and presumably stronger )