Swill1952xs

So far this week I've sorted and stripped trim from all the cab floor parts, and delivered them to a local firm for sandblasting. I hope they aren't going to rip me off. I've asked them to zinc spray all the parts when they've been cleaned, so hopefully that should help prevent rust re-occurring. When the parts come back I will have a more or less complete cab base to refit. Today I have removed the outer skins of the front panel. The dude that did the spot welding was pretty enthusiastic. It is now in eight pieces instead of one. One of the outer sections of the front panel is 99% complete and will make an excellent pattern for two new ones. Again the good sections of it will be sand blasted before assembly. It will be painted internally, and waxoyled on assembly, to improve life expectancy. There have been numerous colours on the front panel, but at the moment I haven't recorded them. Boring you may think, but it may give some clues to what it has done for the last fifty six years. Paint is easy to remove from the chassis on these vehicles as they seem to have been painted with silver paint when they were manufactured, prior to the green being added. The gloss green paintwork must have been done when A. C. Penmans fitted the cabs. I have also managed to remove the injectors from the donor vehicles engine. I've put about half a litre of gas oil down each bore and tried to move the engine, but it wont budge either way now. :argh:. There's definitely something wierd about that engine. I can't see that it has siezed up when I left my other one without running it for eight years and it fired up like someone drove it yesterday. When I first tried to start it a couple of months ago, I decided to take the inlet ducting off as it had been open to the elephants for some time. I found a nut in the manifold............ not a metal one but a flippin' hazel nut:shocked: I have a nasty suspicion I may find more when I remove the rocker covers (Inlet manifold built into them) as when the decompressor levers are operated,; they don't seem to be connected to anything or offer any resistance. I'm beginning to think that the valves may be off their seats and me rocking the engine to and fro; may have firmly jammed them under the valve seats and now be preventing the pistons from moving. Hence the reason the decompressor doesn't appear to be working. We shall see. It certainly seems strange that I managed to move the engine a few weeks ago, but now it is locked solid. If this is not the case I may try to borrow an endoscope to have a look down the bores and see what's going on. :coffee: I will let you know what I find.

Yesterday I decided to discreetly add windscreen washers to my list of modern adornments. This is another modern item which I feel is essential if you are going to drive to and from events. Some of these events get a bit dusty too so it's a useful thing to have. I've actually bought a Trico installation kit. It even comes with a switch and the wiring. I'm hoping to hide the washer bottle behind a panel in the cab, which has a hole in the centre, just right to gain access to the filler. Er............do you. think I'll need rear fog lamps. :-D It will have hazard warning flashers and a beacon fitted.

What era was this engine from, and what would it have been fitted to. I presume it's a flat 24, though I've never seen one before? I believe Rolls Royce made a flat 24 cyl engine for use in WW2. Was it called the "Typhoon" I saw an actual engine at Tangmere Air museum when it first opened many years ago. Rumour had it that more aircraft were lost through engine failures than in combat. Is this true?

It's a shame the TS4 engine never really saw the road. I wonder what the output of it would have been. I remember a farmer who had a couple of Commer TS3's and he knew of others who drove them, and he said they were a very impressive truck to drive. As an apprentice I serviced a few of them, but never got involved in major repairs as they never went wrong. I was led to believe there were a specially shaped set of scrapers for carrying out decokes. This was because the exhaust came out of slots around the exhaust pistons bore, and the special tools reached all around the inside of the ports. Clever stuff. No doubt they would have been better still with the benefit of modern lubricants and ULS derv. From what I've read; the TS4 never hit the road as Chrysler bought out Rootes, and Rootes owned Cummins so the development was cancelled. No doubt Chrysler realized the TS4 Would have been a serious threat to the big bulky Cummins engines. In the mid sixties the 14 litre Cummins most common power output was about 220 hp. The TS4 wouldn't have been far off that even for its small size. From memory, no one has clearly decided the cubic capacity of the TS3 as like all two strokes; is really only the swept volume of the cylinder when both inlet and exhaust ports are closed. Lovely bit of kit, but like everything else this country ever made, it has all now disappeared, swllowed up and spat out by bigger companies, or out legislated in the countries we used to export our fine machinery to. :-(

Another very handy site for restorers......... Many thanks for that one too.

Military Police..................... Thank god for that.............. I thought you were a Member of Parliament. :rofl:

Many thanks for that.......... I thought mine was narrower, but I will re-check. It will certainly do the job though. :thumbsup:

TS stands for Tilling Stevens (Or Stephens) who designed thje original engine before Rootes bought the design. Fink that's right.

Do you know............... that is a picture of an engine I have never seen before, and I didn't know there was a four cylinder version of it. Is this a prototype or was it ever released for commercial use. Is that known as a TS4.............. love to hear it running. Where is that one kept. Tell me more........................:cool2:

Sme again......... jus' thought of something else. Does anyone know where I can get steel anti slip strip for the steps and wing tops on my Albion. It's the steel stuff that is about an inch wide and has raised pyramid type points on it. Three rows of points across it and equal spacings along its length. Hope you can understand what I'm rattling on about. Many thanks, Will. :thumbsup:

WD HD 23S as per my restoration blog :cool2:

Sex on wheels.............. drool drool :cool2:

Hey Dudes It says on the bottle "Petroleum Spirit" 99.9p a litre. :-D:rofl::rofl:

Whos bright idea was it to try to cross the football field......... I bet someone got their ears chewed for that one. :nono: :n00b:

I used to go to E. & S. Motors at Tooting for Royal (Oilfield?) Enfield parts. (Continental and Crusader Sports) Another name that springs to mind was Comerfords at Thames Ditton, I think they did cars and bikes though. Must have a look through my old sixties Motor Cycle and MCM magazines. I love the old ads where you could buy a new Mini for about three hundred and twenty five quid, including purchase tax. (Antique VAT):-D

Thank you for your replies and opinions. Sounds as though I'm thinking in the right direction. :thumbsup:

I expect this subject has been raised before; but as I am restoring my Albion and hoping to drive it to local events; I just wondered what your opinions were on fitting lighting to vehicles that only had the bare minimum lighting fitted when they were built. My Albion was built in 1953 and I cannot find any pictures of the rear lighting arrangements. I have come to the conclusion that the original lighting consisted of a convoy light with a red eye and large diameter reflectors. Looking at other vehicles of a similar age, it would appear that this was all they had too. I will be fitting rear lighting identical to the early sixties Bedford TK's. My reason for doing this is that had the army fitted updated lighting to meet later standards; this would be the type of lights fitted for that period. I have the original sidelights to fit to the front, and had thought of fitting 1960's style supplementary lighting to the front to provide flashing indicators. Rather than have orange lenses at the front, I have half decided to fit white lenses with orange bulbs for indicators. I think that if a vehicle such as mine is to be used on the road, bearing in mind that flat out is about 25mph; then it must be adequately lit for modern traffic conditions. And now the question/s Do you think I am right with this line of thought and do you consider modifications of this type to be essential in this day and age. Would it be better if the truck had supplementary lighting fitted, to make it easily removable on arrival at a show ground. Thinking of the smart ars*s who will take delight in telling you that it should have a slotted screw in the side light and not a pozidrive........... you know the ones I mean. Regarding mirrors....... is it acceptable to fit the largest mirror possible that looks right for the age of the vehicle, or would it be better to stick with the little 4" round ones as fitted from new. I've seen a number of vehicles fitted with modern lights and mirrors on this forum and have come to the conclusion that owning a military vehicle is more about using, and in some cases abusing the vehicles, rather than having an immaculate authentic replica of the original specification. Military vehicles aint like restored classic cars, where everything has to be perfect. If anything, from the comments I've read on here; prfection is frowned upon. Authenticity is the word, which includes dirt, dents and running repairs as they would have had in their service days. I ask these questions, as I've only ever been involved in classic cars in the past, and thats a totally different ball game. :coffee:

Cor yeah............. I'd forgotten about them. No way it could have worked.. I don't think it had a float chamber........... wonder if they sold any of them, and whether they worked. Used to see them advertised everywhere. :-D

I have seen an addative made specifically for Cummins engines, which is supposed to stop them burning oil. I have a feeling that it is marketed by Cummins themselves. Maybe these addatives work, but I would be reluctant to spend a large sum of money to find out. I seem also to think you wouldn't see much change from a hundred quid for this magic elixir. Eeeee......... when I were a lad.......... there was this magic substance called STP oil treatment. Even if this was a bit dubious, there was certainly a lot of it sold, and for a good many years. Used to get stickers with it too.... .......... me dad used to give them to me. STP and Wynns were both popular oil addatives, claiming reduced oil consumption and lower friction in engines etc. While we are reminiscing........... anyone remember the Mangoletsi ? Manifold Modifyer...........:-D Dad bought one for his MO series Morris Oxford................. clever little thing. It had a flange to fit it between the carburettor and inlet manifold. There was a groove in the flange to allow air to circulate round a second venturi and was supposed to improve airflow to the engine, improve atomization and reduce fuel consumption. Spose it would really...........air leak in the manifold.........weaker mixture. Sorry......nuffin to do with the subject, just an old git with a head full of irrelevant crap. They were sold in the days when the Exchange and Mart was dripping with military vehicles on sale from L.W. Vass. If only we could travel back in time .........

***WARNING*** I SLOW DOWN FOR SPEED CAMERAS And horses of course............ :-D

The trailer has the same colour scheme as this vehicle and the engine does start on compressed air, but it's definitely on an artic low loader.

An engine that is hypnotic to hear and watch running is the 90 hp? single cylinder horizontal diesel that was taken out of a pumping station. I can't find a picture of it any where. I think it was built in the 1920's and now travels around the vintage vehicle shows. It is so big, it is mounted on a low loader trailer and has a curtain sider body fitted around it. I last saw it at the South of England Showground a few years ago. Does anyone have a picture of this engine they could post up please.

That's not an engine............. this is ............:-D http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/ Wonder what it sounds like when it's running.

No pictures of this weekends work, as I have now removed all of the cab floor from the donor chassis. I had a bit of a sortout of all the parts I will be re-using and made a pile, ready to have them sand blasted. I have found a couple of local companies and will be contacting them next week to see how quickly they can do them. I had a look at the cab front panel with regard to replacing the outer skin and discovered that when it was made, it was rather enthusiastically spot welded together, so it wont be a five minute job to dismantle it. I'm hoping to order some steel sheet next week so I should have plenty to do when I'm on holiday in a weeks time. Over the weekend I have decided more or less exactly how I will go about the restoration of the complete truck. I'm hoping to remove all of the cab, clean and paint the chassis and engine. The cab floor and front panel will be fitted next folowed by the back panel. That way when the side panels are finished, the outer cab shell will be complete. At this stage the windscreens can be made (Again by a local company "2 Plus One Windscreens", Uckfield) and fitted. Then we are getting down to the nasty bits............ repairing the roof and repairing the wings. As previously mentioned, I will restore the inner wings and try to get some new outer ones made. The wings should be one piece but can easily be fitted in two sections or joined once they have been correctly located. There are also some additional supports to be fitted under the wings, but they are straightforward enough to make and fit. These add strength at the front and support the weight of the steps at the back of the cab. The cab doors require a fair bit of work to the bottoms, but that shouldn't be a major headache. Bit of a boring post, but there will always be times when there doesn't seem to be much happening visually, but I just wanted you to know that I have been plodding on towards my ultimate goal. Fortunately as the donor truck is dismantled I can transport large bits around in my motorhome. I have a 1979 Transit Autohome 4 berth with a central rear door. Just right for big bits, 8 x 4 sheets of steel and it saves ruining my Fiat Ulysse interior.

Many thanks for that........... didn't expect someone as close to home to do it. I thought it would have been from somewhere obscure and I'd have to pay mega bucks for postage. :thumbsup: