Swill1952xs

Bloo*y Rolls Royce sold their engine plant off to Perkins destroying the status of the engine overnight. Still a super engine, mine (My ERF at work) starts perfectly no matter how cold, and never smokes from cold either. Puffs a bit of black before the turbo pressure builds up on the upchanges, but only momentarily. Perkins V8's.............. yeeeeeeuk..........nasty piece of junk. Sound nice, always run cold, gutless and usually drink oil. I had two new ones back in the seventies in Ford artics and apart from the sound, I wasn't impressed. Strange about Ford insisting on their name on the rocker covers of the PV8 because they never did it on the Cummins V8........ Wierd. :cool2:

The gear selection advice sounds more applicable to a petrol engined version of the subject vehicle. Diesel engines often produce their maximum torque at lower engine revs than a petrol. Use of the clutch brake on up changes may apply to a higher revving petrol where you could rev it to nearly full throttle before you change gear, (To get max torque) and would then have the problem of slowing the clutch plate to engage the next gear. Most of the older diesels rev to about 1800 to 2000 rpm. On vehicles like this you wouldn't need to rev it more than 14-1500 before you change gear, as it would have the torque to pull the next gear up. Similarly when pulling hard, unlike the petrol version where you would need to keep the revs up; the diesels revs can drop as low as 1000 rpm before you change down as they have the torque to do this. With a diesel engine you wouldn't use the clutch brake to either change up or down. (Do it on a Fuller box and you will snap the drive lugs off the brake disc as soon as you attempt it) The ERF with the Perkins Eagle that I drive has a clutch brake. The torquey engine revs to 2000, you change up at 1700 absolute max, and change down at 11-1200 when the turbo starts to drop pressure. The first three gears can be changed without double de-clutching to keep the power up. (All up weight 40 tonnes) after that you can still do some very quick upchanges by double declutching. Coming down through the box you allow the engine revs to drop to about 1200 before changing down, otherwise the next gear down will have the engine revving its nuts off and be hard to engage. Many years ago the company I worked for had a Pioneer. I drove it doing HGV recovery over a six month period, didn't know it had a clutch brake, or if it did, it didn't work, and had no problems changing up or down through the box once I got used to the gate. Trust me.............:cool2: I've worked on trucks for nearly forty years (I don't know everything though) learned to drive on a "crash box" Leyland Chieftain and now a professional driver.

One suggestion I would make would be to fit a solenoid type fuel cut off switch, well hidden on the vehicle and activated by a hidden switch. This would prevent "Hot wiring" and driving away as they wouldn't get very far or anywhere before it gave up the ghost. Obviously this wouldn't stop the thieves who use trailers or covered wagons to remove vehicles. Another suggestion would be something you could quite easily make yourself, would be a pendulum movement detector. This could be switched on when the vehicle is left. It would be connected to the horn so that any attempt to move it or drive it up ramps would sound the horn. It could also have its own power supply in the form of a motor cycle battery if required. I am trying to suggest diy type deterrents as modern alarms are of little use on a vehicle with such basic electrics. All of these deterrents need to be well hidden and usually there is a box section somewhere on the vehicle you could hide them. If your vehicle is worth a large sum, then I would suggest fitting a tracker to it. The biggest problem with that on a military vehicle, is that the antennae has to be somewhere it wont be obstructed by a metal panel. This one you'd need to think carefully about. The type of tracker I'm thinking about (A company called "Simply Trak") is permanently connected and transmitting and can be tracked on a computer via satellite. Even if the power is disconnected, (It could have a back up battery) it will still show the last location of the vehicle. The most important thing about any deterrent is that it must delay thieves and certainly not be made obvious. If like me you aren't swimming in money, you could always put a notice on the vehicle that a satellite tracking system is fitted to your vehicle. The thieves wouldn't know whether this was in fact true and would probably steal the vehicle next to yours instead. :-D

Bloo*y hell,:shocked: you'd have to be brave and extremely clever to restore that one. :sweat: Believe it or not, I don't know a great deal about Albions, so I don't know what model this is. I wonder if the owner has any of the remainder of the cab. I would imagine this would be spares only, but if it is ultra rare then it needs a home with someone with a bank balance that will allow it to be restored properly. It definitely isn't a Claymore but I will try and see if I can find something resembling what it could be.

Just another little update of what has been going on this weekend. Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a whole day working on dismantling my donor Albion. I bought a new grinder to assist with dismantling and got all of the cab off bar the floor panels. My enthusiasm is still there, as I have it in my mind what has to be done and how I will do it. My biggest nightmare and area of doubt in my skills is with regard to the wings. I'm certain I can overcome the manufacture or repair of the inner cab wings, but have serious doubts in my mind about how to go about making the outer wings. I either need to develop some new skills or buy a wheeling machine and produce some compound curves for the outer part of the wings. I doubt whether I could afford to have some professionally made as I aint that rich. Here are some more pictures of the stripdown and comments on the condition of the parts removed. This is obviously the front panel. All the supporting steelwork at the back is in very good condition. The front panels look fairly good, but the outer edges and headlight mounting areas are pretty poor. If you look closely you can see a join just above the corners of the radiator shroud, so the plan is to replace the outer metalwork with new, using the old ones as templates. Crafty eh... :cool2: This next picture shows the top edge of the front panel. The outer panel and the inner frame are spot welded together, and as you can see, the water has got between the spot welds and forced things apart. The edge has gone very wavy, and as this is the face the windscreen closes against, drastic action will be needed to stop the front looking decidedly wrinkly. More so if it is painted with gloss paint. It would be nice to have it in gloss, but I prefer the look of the Nato green matt. The next pictures are just general views around the chassis and engine. One thing I really enjoy about dismantling this truck; is finding out all the design innovations Albion used in the manufacture of this truck. Firstly I hadn't realised that the engine had a separate block and crank case. The other surprise I had was finding out the reason for its very close precise feeling gearchange. The secret of that being that the gearlever box is actually mounted directly to the crankcase and not the chassis. No lost movement there. I heard of a chap who had a petrol HD23 N (The one I wanted to buy last year) and he told me he was going to fit an AEC 760 into it. Looking at mine, I think he will have a hard time as he will have to make a chassis mounting for the gearlever box, and there is very little room to do so. If the 760 engine is wide, he's going to have some real problems. I've tried contacting him to see how he got on, but I've had no replies to my E Mails since he moved. That's about all for the moment. Just looking forward to my holiday so I can get on with it. I will update you on any further progress. I am itching to get stuck into freeing off the engine to see if I can get it to run. If I can and it sounds ok, then I may decide whether to sell one of the engines. Possibly to the chap with the 23N if I can get hold of him. Not sure that that would be such a good idea though, as Albion Engines are as rare as rocking horse poo.

Strange it may be, but it does have military content and is a lovely, very well made piece of work. Well done

There ya go............ the answer to your prayers :-D http://www.mod-sales.com/thumb/phpThumb.php?src=../images/product/1219136188fri%2017th%20007.jpg&w=400&h=340&zc=1&fltr[]=wmi|../images/over.png|CBR|100

I bought it unseen off E Bay..........the guy said it was definitely a Scammell. Well I spose it's worth the forty quid I paid for it :-D

:shake::shake::shake: Whaaaat........ My experience with crash boxes and clutch brakes may not stretch as far as Scammells, but the clutch brake is only for stopping the clutch to enable you to get it in gear when the vehicle is stationary. (Unless it's different on Scammells) If you push the clutch down too far while the vehicle is in gear and still rolling........ you will very likely break it as it will try to act like a transmission brake, and they aint designed to stop fourteen tons. This is why the adjustment of them is so critical and it shouldn't work until the clutch pedal is nearly on the floor. When you change gear; you shouldn't press the clutch pedal all the way down. If you chuck it in a neutral position and then use the clutch brake; you will never get a gear all the time I have a hole in my bottom; as you will make things worse by trying to engage a moving gear, against a stationary clutch plate. Only use the clutch brake to engage gears when stationary. Only depress the clutch half to three quarters of the way down to change gear. Better still, try changing gears on the move without using the clutch. You can do this by pushing it into neutral as you release the accelerator , and gently move the gearstick towards the next gear. As the next gears teeth just tickle each other , and that sensation in your hand stops.... just shove it straight into gear......... no noise..... no clutch and a big grin on your face. Give it a go.......it's not that difficult. I do it on the ERF with a Fuller box that I regularly drive. Jus' tryin to be helpful...........:beatenup:

Well..... you've got to give it to the Russians........ they certainly know how to build ugly vehicles........... except for when they copy the Western world ones. :-D

A bit difficult to assess the condition or decide what models they are.......... especially for the likes of me. :-D Where the hell did they have snow like that. I wish it snowed like that here in Sussex. make a change from the ten minute flurries we have.

Hi Dudes, I managed to escape early from my ADR course today and have been stripping my donor truck. I had a bit of a setback though, my nearly new angle grinder gearbox blew up, so I didn't get quite as much done as I hoped. Bloo*y angle grinders don't last five minutes any more, either that or I expect too much of them. Here are some pictures of how things are at the moment. The back panel doesn't look too bad, but there's some nasty rust under the soundproofing on the left hand window. Definitely a re-skin job. This picture gives some idea of how the cab is made. Albion made the floorpan and windshield, the rest was made by A.C. Penman of Dumfries. I 'E' Mailed David Crouch yesterday to see if he had any Albions laying around rotting in the grass. He had some a few years ago, so I was wondering if he could help me with a spare wheel carrier as I need a complete one. I have some of the parts, but a complete one would be better. I also asked him if he had any idea where I could find a three way tipper body for mine. Stupid question I know, but you have to ask all the same. This evening I have bought some 1960's Lucas rear indicators for the restoration, off of E Bay. I know they didn't have them originally, but had the army fitted indicators; these would have been the type they would have fitted. They are the same as the very early Bedford TK ones, about four inches in diameter. Trouble is that it isn't really safe to use semaphore indicators on todays roads. I've also bought the correct sidelights for the front from greenmachine surplus. They are brand new old stock units. I also wanted a Nato hitch locking pin so I E mailed him for a better price on postage. He came back to me with half the total postage and threw the locking pin in for free. As you can imagine I was delighted, and said I would give him a plug on here. Plug done........ I'm hoping to carry on with the truck on Saturday so there may be more pictures soon. Catch ya later. :thumbsup:

Lovely picture............. have Salvage Squad been down the field where mine's kept and finished it for me. I wish that was mine in the picture.... maybe one day. :-D Pssst, don't tell anyone, but I have exams for my ADR license tomorrow, and hopefully I will be away by noon, so I'm going to "Bunk off" work tomorrow and carry on dismantling my donor Albion. Well they don't know what time my course finishes. :-D I've been hunting for parts for the restoration and sent an E mail to David Crouch to see if he has any Albions left lying around. I'm after a complete spare wheel carrier, and have asked him if he has any idea where I could find a three way tipper body. I've also been searching E bay for parts and will probably order two new front side lamps tomorrow. I'm looking for some complete headlamps too. There are a couple on E bay at the moment, but both have the outer domed ring missing. That's the bit that looks like the chrome surround on a normal vehicle; fitted the wrong way round. I call them "Inside out" headlamps. I will keep you all updated on progress. Catch ya later!

I've been looking for some of these on E Bay for my Albion. Is this a fair price for them? Are they easy to find or should I grab them while I have the chance? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=310061878757 Also I have seen these headlights for sale. They don't have the outer rim with them that fits between the bowl and the front flange of the headlamp securing ring. Are the rings easy to obtain, or does someone on here have some good ones for sale at a reasonable price? I can get new complete ones for eighty five pounds plus vat. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=160320394145&Category=122309#ebayphotohosting Many thanks for looking and any help or advice you can give me. :thumbsup:

Don't shoot me for this............ I hate electrics too, but I'm jus' tryin' to be helpful. Don't know nuffin about Stalwarts, but sometimes a third terminal is fitted to fuel gauges as a supply or Earth connection for a low fuel warning light, and isn't always used. Secondly, our ERF rigids with M.A.N. cabs read full or max if the circuit through the sender is broken. I'm not sure exactly how this system works :embarrassed:, but if you short out the wire to the sender, the gauge reads zero. If the earth to the tank is faulty, it will read max. Thirdly, as you have current going to the actual gauge. Do you get any readings on the gauge if you disconnect the oil level sender, presumably in the sump. If this one loses its reading then the gauge must be ok as it will read full when the oil level is ok. Presumably the push button is connected to both wires to the tank and sump sensors, and pushing the button disconnects one and connects the other. If the sump sensor is doing what it should; then there must be a fault from the push button to the tank. I would imagine the circuit would provide power to the gauge, then to the push button. Either wiring to the tank sensor, the tank sensor itself, or assuming it is chassis earth return, an earth fault on the tank. A possible suggestion is to temporarily run a wire from the fuel gauge to the tank sensor and see what, if anything happens. Another possibility is that maybe someone else has had a fiddle before and connected the gauge in reverse. Finally, if it is insulated earth return and has a dual pole isolator switch; then there will be common earth points and no electrical earth to the tank itself, so using the tank to check for a circuit would be useless. Hopefully, although I don't know the answer to this problem; I hope I may have given you some things to think about which may help solve the problem. I know how annoying it can be :beatenup:when someone tries to help, and really knows nothing, so please don't send a lynch mob round mine.....:flowers:

Er....... I'm not entirely convinced ...... could be the choice of smileys maybe. At least you lived to tell the tale. :-D

I hope not :shocked:..................anyone who would be crazy enough to drive a jeep on the M25 has no place here. Was he wearing shorts and a 'T' shirt too........ Spect the Jeep Joes will lynch me for this comment.......... nothing against Jeeps........it's the other loonies that dice with death on there......fine if they want to kill themselves, but you don't stand much chance against them in a Jeep. :shake:

God I hate Mondays.................always the bloo*y same. Nothing but a bunch of cowboys riding Indians............Har'ley enough bits to make one,................................. and they want them back on the road by lunchtime. :-D

I just knew the examiner would fail me on reversing. I looked in my mirror before I reversed and when I started moving I realised someone had pulled up behind me with a tank.................the first I knew of it was when I heard a bump. :-(

I don't believe it.............. 32 miles per hour. That's the fastest run yet. :-D

'Ere....... you forgot to tell him he will need a pressure reducer for the air supply to the gun. Well........some tips from another amateur. 1- Buying a top of the range spray gun will not give you any better finish than you will get with a cheap one. 2-Make sure the thinners you use is suitable for the paint you are going to spray. Try some of the thinners on the surface you are going to paint. If it goes all wrinkly or swells up........use something else 3-Use a primer that is compatible with the top coats you are going to use...unless you like wrinkly paint. . 4- Make sure the surface to be painted is well rubbed down, dry and dust free. (Unless you are spraying in the garden...... then it don't make a lot of difference). 5- Connect up yer pressure reducer to the airline and then connect your splatter gun to it. Check to see that the air comes through it ok and the little nozzles in the side of the spray jet have air coming out of them. (If you put your tongue in between the flanges of the spray nozzle you can easily detect the airflow and amuse bystanders by blowing up your cheeks):rofl: 6- When the air is going through the gun (Blowing air) set up the reducer to give a pressure of about 40 psi (If you are old like me) or set it to about 3 bar if you are a young smart ar*e. 7- Now this bit is really important if you are ready to spray........... you will need to put some paint in the spray gun. :-D First mix some with thinners. About 50/50 and give it a good stir (Pick the skin out first :-D ) Dip a flat blade screwdriver in the paint and pull it out. If the paint almost disappears from the corners of the blade; its just about right. It needs to be similar in consistency to milk. Half fill the spray gun with the paint mix. (That's because if you fill it right to the top, this will be the time you discover that the top isn't screwed on properly, or the jet is blocked and the container breather is pointing in your direction ) 8- You will now need a surface to experiment on. On the back of most spray guns is a twiddly knob. This one controls the paint volume and needle travel. On the side of the gun next to the splat...... er sorry spray jet is another twiddly knob. This one flattens the paint spray pattern from a cone to a flat fan shape. Ideally you are looking for a spray pattern about eight inches high. 9- At this point make sure you are wearing a face mask unless you like coloured bogies or your nostril hair all stuck together. :-D Try spraying the dustbin or next doors fence before you tackle your pride and joy. Initially all you are trying to do is get a controllable amount of paint to come out of the gun. Hold the spray gun about nine inches away from the surface you are trying to spray. The trigger on the gun should be pulled on the move just before you move on to the area to be painted and shut off just after you go off the other end of the panel. Never pull the trigger when the gun is pointing at the work because the first burst of air from the gun will be at a somewhat higher pressure and will blast a dollop of paint causing a 'run'. (I won't explain what "runs" are .....you will find out for yourself ) Move the gun fairly swiftly across the panel and overlap the spray pattern to give even coverage. What you are looking for is sufficient paint applied for it to "Flood out' or go shiny a second or two after the gun has passed by. If you need to cut down the amount of paint, either move faster with the gun or screw the paint adjuster screw in a little. If the gun appears to splatter a bit ie large drops of wet paint, try thinning it a little more or try increasing the pressure a gnats. 10- If you feel you are ready to tackle the real thing and your surface is properly prepared.........give it a go. Your first coat wants to be a "Mist" coat. Don't put too much paint on the first coat, just enough to show the colour. (Semi transparent) When the paint is tacky and doesn't feel wet to the touch (Not like that you Wally........... on the edge........not in the middle of the panel..............now look, you've got a bloo*y great finger print in it......Ooooooooh give me strength. ) When the paint is touch dry, apply a thicker coat to give even coverage. Again when almost dry, you can apply another coat. For the last coat, leave it a lot longer to dry , or else the paint being applied will "Melt" the previous coats and cause runs. (These you should have discovered already) 11- Go and fetch the wife and tell her how clever you are. On the way; check that 'drift' from the paint spray hasn't gone all over her washing, and that the neighbours car hasn't got a tint on one side. :shake: If it has, remove all evidence of any spray activity and put the empty paint cans in the neighbours garden on the other side of you. Always wash and flush your spraygun after use and store it with some clean thinners in it. If like me you use enamel paints (The stuff you get from tractor dealers) try using petrol as a thinning agent. It works very well but it's best not to smoke while you are doing it. If you get a bad run in the paint :cry: and it's important that the finish is perfect; stop spraying, leave it for a few days and rub it down then. DO NOT try and rectify it at the time of spraying. If spraying outside, make sure the breeze doesn't blow overspray towards anything important or expensive. If a fly lands on your wet paint :argh: (Which they will) and refuses to die, try gently blowing it off with an airline. If the bas*ard wont come off and wont die spray over the little bu**er until it does. Small flies rub down quite well and often only leave marks where their legs were. Big flies spiders and butterflies have a different technique which we will deal with in next weeks lesson. DO NOT use open gas fires to heat your garage or dry a panel. I've had a serious wing fire once before. :shake: DON'T breathe paint fumes for too long if you don't have no breathing apparatus (If you use petrol as thinners in an enclosed space, you will feel totally rat ar*ed after about ten minutes, and probably die in about fifteen. Best spray in the open if you can or a well ventilated area.) BEWARE SOME PAINT THINNERS EFFECTS ARE ACCUMULATIVE AND CAN CAUSE HARM IN THE LONG TERM IN THE FORM OF LUNG DAMAGE AND SENSITIVITY TO THE AGENTS IN THE PAINT. Make sure the paint is warm before spraying as it will apply better. Try and warm up the panels before spraying as the paint will "Go off" quicker. Too hot and you will get an "Orange peel" effect. If the paint won't come out of the nozzle, DO NOT point it towards you and look into the nozzle while pulling the trigger. Doing this will immediately rectify the blockage. :argh: I hope this description is of some use to you. While it is a lighthearted look at spraying....... it works for me. No one has ever taught me how to spray and I have had some almost perfect finishes on car panels and motorcycles. I, OR THE FORUM, ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ACTS OF STUPIDITY YOU MAY COMMIT WHILE SPRAYING, RUNS ON THE PANELS, OVERSPRAY ON NEXTDOORS PORSCHE OR BREACHES OF HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS.