Swill1952xs

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Another one for the list 1400 x 20 bargrips. Not uncommon but a price and availability would be useful for the future.

I drive several different vehicles. Two have standard exhaust brakes and the third has a Jake Brake. The ERF and Daf exhaust brakes work well if you brake down to a speed that you want to hold, and allow the engine revs to drop quite low. If you then apply the exhaust brake; the engine will hold the vehicle back fairly well. Using the exhaust brake at a higher speed is a complete waste of time as all it does is make a nasty hissing noise and give little or no braking effect at all. Our Foden has a Cat C10 with a Jake Brake. Now that is effective. It can be switched off, set to a medium effort activated by just touching the pedal, or set so maximum effort, engaging when the accelerator is released. If you want to be a naughty boy with it; drive down a steep hill (Fully loaded) with the engine at fairly low revs, past a line of parked cars, (Brighton is perfect for this) with the Jake Brake set on maximum. Look in the mirror and watch all the hazard warning flashers come on on the cars as their alarms go off. It has a really deep thundering thudding note to it when you do this. Don't ya just love it....... :thumbsup: :-D:rofl:

When unleaded fuel first came in; manufacturers recommended retarding the ignition timing (A few degrees) due to the different combustion characteristics of the fuel. I take it you have valves and seats suitable for unleaded fuel, as the lead content also provides a lubricant for the valve seat to reduce wear? Have you tried using a lead substitute in the fuel as this could help. Another alternative would be to use a fuel catalyst, either an in line one or a bag of pellets in the fuel tank. (WW2 technology) I suspect that modern fuel is of too high a quality for an engine such a yours and if all else fails then I would you give it what it wants, which is obviously leaded fuel. If it runs ok on this, then there isn't anything wrong with the engine settings such as valve timing. I hope this has been of some help to you. Good luck, Will.

Sorry for being 'Fik"......... but who or what is MLU. Thanks for the reply though. :thumbsup:

Sumfink I've been wondering about since I got into the Albion restoration mode; is whether it is possible to obtain either replacement pads for the observers roof aperture or easier to obtain a complete ring? Are these available to buy new at a reasonable price, or are good ones readily available second hand? Are complete rings a standard part or are they different for each application. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated. Many thanks, Will.

I've been trying to find out more about my donor vehicles Albion engine today. The engine type '900' was mentioned when I asked someone about it. (It may have been David Crouch.) Obviously it does look to be a much more modern version of the engine in my complete truck. It is also reputed to be somewhat more powerful than the older engine. All I have come up with so far is something I found during my search about the takeover of Albion by Leyland in 1951. There is an engine mentioned as being the Leyland Albion 900 series engine. It is definitely an Albion design, but does have external components similar to some items I've seen on Leyland buses. This engine is just over nine litres in size as was used on the CX 22 but probably a more powerful updated version. :??? Does this jog anyones memory? Any further information would be greatly appreciated as it may make things easier to obtain spare parts. Having said that; Albion parts seem to be as rare as rocking horse poo. :-\

Today I started dismantling the cab on the donor Albion. I nearly removed the roof today all except two bolts, which will have to be cut off. I removed the windscreens and to my surprise, they are in almost perfect condition. It's a great help when they are made of solid brass. Hopefully fitting new glass will be straightforward. The next stage will be to remove the back panel of the cab and then set about removing the sides. Now I don't want to go to work on Monday .............. I've got the bug now and want to get on with it. :-(

Don't mention CX22's...............that's another one on my want list. Didn't they do a CX25 as well? Lovely looking beastie. :cool2: P.S. Thanks for your offer of the information. I will try and get a good photo of it asap. :thumbsup:

Any idea what their destiny is likely to be, or will they just be left there indefinitely. I suppose there could be a market for spares, but who would buy them????? :undecided:

I thought this would be a good time to start my restoration blog, commencing with pictures of the donor Albion which has much better panels on it than my original truck. The roof on this one is worse than the complete trucks; so I will attempt to repair that one. I'm not a wealthy person and time is hard to find for the important things in life such as restorations, so please don't expect it to be done at lightning speed. I will do all the work myself to the best of my abilities. Initially I will be dismantling the donor vehicle to find out how it is assembled and decide how to go about achieving the best result. The next stage will be to move my complete truck to where I work to start dismantling that one, again deciding on which parts will be used. Both trucks are of a similar age and are eighteen chassis numbers apart. The donor vehicle came from Crouch Recovery at Husbands Bosworth, and I assume he was the person who cut it in half to sell the rear axles. Sadly this one was the "S" (Short wheelbase) version too. My complete truck is believed to be the only surviving one of its type. All the others are "N's" (Long wheelbase versions) Am I missing sumfink............?? Me r send feels a bit light. :-D Arfurs best view...... well except for the roof rot Unidentified Albion Diesel engine. 900 engine as mentioned by an Albion expert? "Sure as Sunrise" Albion's company motto. Driver command centre. :-D Arfur's luxurious headlining, stowage area and air con unit. :-D The brackets on the rear of the cab seem to have something slot into the bottom one, which is clamped in the top one. Anyone know what they are for? :confused: The angled bar is a handrail. There is a second step missing from the back of the front wing. I will make an effort to post more pictures as things progress. Please be patient. :thanx:

Hi Dudes, I presume Aon will be taking over the staff of Footman James so there will always be someone to deal with that has a knowledge of all types of classic and vintage vehicles. There's nothing worse than trying to arrange insurance with someone who doesn't know their ar**hole from an Antar. I had my Motor Traders policy with Aon for quite a few years when I had my workshop, and they were recommended to me by a broker I used. I had two claims for damaged vehicles and there wasn't any quibbling or delays in dealing with them, so hopefully they are still as reliable. They didn't even send anyone down to look at the damage either, so hopefully they will live up to your expectations.

Don't worry.........I'm the same age as you. Did my apprenticeship with Endeavour Motor Co on Hove seafront stating in the summer of 69. There ya go......feel any better now. We're all getting old together. With age comes wisdom Grasshopper. :-D

Have you tried BRT Bearings Ltd, in Hove.. They have supplied me with parts at a good price before. Contact details, Portland Business Park, Portland Road, Hove. 01273 410000 P.S. As well as bearings of all types, they also supply oil seals and Chains.

I don't know if you can still get them, but many moons ago; Hepolite used to do sets of rings for engines with slight bore wear. I think they were called 'Cords" rings. The new ones replaced the old cast oil ring with a three part ring...... two spring steel very thin rings with an expander ring behind it. That was supposed to give more pressure on the cylinder wall and the slim section allowed it to follow the wear on the bore easier than the cast ones. The top ring was known as a "Ridge dodger" because the outer upper edge of the ring had a step machined in it to avoid contact with the wear ridge. Er............. jus' tryin' to be helpful. :embarrassed:

I actually thought the Victor was a larger version of the BSA Starfire 250, the successor to the C15. The Starfire had a square barrel as opposed to the C15's round / oval one. Well there's a little something for the bike experts to mull over.

One of the first motorcycle display teams I ever saw made a lasting impression on me as a youngster of about 12. I saw them at the Sussex County Show at Ardingly (Just before it became the South Of England Show). I seem to think they were called "The White Helmets" and were attached to the army. They rode off road versions of either BSA A7's or A10's with straight through exhaust pipes, and the sound was music to my ears. I seem to think they were A7's as they were like the Triumph Daytona's and always sounded more "Revvy" than the 650's. From the crankcase design, ie the classic 'Y' shape; I'm pretty sure they weren't A50's or A 65's. If I could, I'd love to own an off road A7 just to hear that sound again. Incidentally, the man who owns the farm where my donor Albion is kept had a Triumph Trophy in off road form. I must ask him what happened to that. Sorry I'm rambling again. :yawn:The point of this thread is to ask if anyone else remembers the "White Helmets" (If the name is correct) and whether they have any information on them or pictures of the bikes. The other bike I always liked was the BSA Victor 440? single and used to feature a lot in motocross during the sixties. The sound........ oh how I love a good old thumper four stroke.

Life is so unfair.............when you get older, hair stops growing on your head and starts growing out of your nose and ears at an alarming rate. Anyone know why. Spose having lots of nasal hair could have one advantage........it could act as a "Hair filter", but what is the point of ear hair, apart from making us look like squirrels. Bu**ered if I know.........????? :-D

Sounds to me like the only way this vehicle is coming out will be to send an "Invasion Force" over there. I reckon, if some of you dudes turn up there with a Foden recovery truck, a couple of Scammells, an Antar c/w trailer to bring it back, and something like a Spartan full of aggressive looking middle aged dudes all dressed in combat gear.........things could change. Just imagine that on the news........"British invasion of France". "Today a number of military dressed civilians arrived at Dover in an assortment of Historic Military vehicles, on an invasion mission into the heart of France, where it is thought they are mounting a rescue mission to liberate an English prisoner known only to us as K2. It is thought that K2 has been held prisoner for as much as forty years in atrocious conditions. A spokesman for the group said they were going there in convoy as a band of twenty men to liberate K2 from the place of captivity, and if necessary they will turn the place upside down to get it." I can just see the TV cameras following this "Mini Army" clattering their way into the back streets of France, wondering if K2 will be brought out alive, or whether as rumours have it; they could turn up to find the body has been dismembered, cut up and removed as threatened. The TV crews will be wondering what horrific scenes and stories they are about to witness. That would be a real hoot................... go on.........dare ya. :-D:-D:-D

I thought that being Italian it would have fired the other way...............er if you know what I mean............... go on think about it. If not P.M. me. Another clue.............wasn't there a similar joke about the Austin Champ gearbox........... something about retreating as fast as they advanced in a Champ. . Spose the bl**dy Mafia will be looking for me now.......:-D :beatenup:

I would have thought that dismantling a vehicle built in the way this one is; would be impossible as the body would be virtually useless once the panels were removed. If it could be moved outside the doors of the shed; I would have thought a crane could possibly lift it at quite a large radius, as it wouldn't be a very heavy load. You would need a spreader frame to lift it though to avoid damaging the body. In one of the pictures it does seem to have lifting rings on the hubs. From the time and cost point of view, hiring quite a large crane would be easier and cheaper than dismantling and reassembling what appears to be a fairly sound body. I would be much happier to hire a large crane than risk destroying it.

As a person with absolutely no knowledge of guns whatsoever, apart from names like Lee Enfield (Is that right); what sort of guns are they? I thought sten guns were a sort of machine gun as in multi shot, and would have been a little too sophisticated for self defence in transport, assuming that was what the original intention was? Would the drivers have been expected to be involved in heavy combat situations? Sorry if I sound 'Fik' but all this is new to me? :embarrassed:

Well..........I may be stupid, and no doubt this question has been asked before; but does anyone know a specialist in the South East of England who does a good job of re-furbishing canvas covered seats? As fitted to my Albion. The drivers seat has a fixed back, and the passengers / observers seat has a fold down back. There used to be a Company at Hailsham called Polyfacto, who were trim and upholstery specialists but I don't know if they are still there. Does anyone know roughly what you would expect to pay for a seat re-upholster; assuming you have the base spring unit. Are military seats a standard design, and if so, does anyone make ready made covers for them, or supply spring bases? Is the seat colour dependant on the age of the vehicle, or were a variety of colours used, depending on what was available? I would be very grateful if anyone can help me with this enquiry. Oh...... an' just anuvver little question........ would rifles have been carried on a tipper truck; as this one has stowage brackets in the cab. If so what would they have been, bearing in mind that they stood vertically at the back of the cab, and would have been fairly short overall? :thanx:

All the red tape we drivers have to put up with wont encourage any new drivers to consider a career in haulage............European Drivers hours regulations............working time directive.........it's like I said to our latest new driver, "While you are watching the snakes hanging out of the trees, there's a crocodile sneaking up behind you; waiting to bite your arse". :shocked: We have a Drivers Hours explanatory sheet on my office wall, issued from V.O.S.A. which states that the information on that may not be correct............... so where the far king hell are we supposed to get the correct information from. :banghead::angry:argh: No doubt VOSA will have an accurate version when they decide to prosecute us for drivers hours offences. No doubt the police may also interpret thing differently too. I have our version of the hours regulations. All we can work to is my version of the rules as I understand them. :-D On the subject of MOT's, I've never understood how an item that isn't included in an MOT test can constitute a breach of the regulations in the eyes of the police when the vehicle is used on the road, ie spare wheels

For some reason I hadn't seen this before in all the time I've been on this forum. I've just finished reading this entire section, and I'm amazed at the way in which you've gone about this restoration. The way in which this has been documented is fantastic, especially for someone like myself who has always been fascinated by anything mechanical. Fortunately you have the engineering skills and knowledge to tackle a challenge like this. Restorations like this are only suitable for people such as yourselves, as no average restorer would be capable of such work. You need infinite patience and a considerable knowledge of materials to do work like this, leaving us totally in awe of your workmanship. Thanks for all your posts so far; fascinating reading, and I for one will be looking forward to future installments. :bow::bow::bow:

How I'd love to have a workshop like yours. Sadly my Albion has suffered from being outdoors for so many years, although fortunately my donor vehicle has much better panels on it. Having a good workshop speeds things up no end, as you can lay things out to repair them and leave everything just where it is ready to carry on at the next opportunity. Sadly, all my restoration work will have to be done in the open in a field next to where I work. Other peoples restorations are fascinating and we all look forward to the next set of pictures.