Swill1952xs

Cor........... you got lots of toys........... can I come round your house to play? :-D

This one was owned By East Sussex CC, and the last I saw of it was at Laughton in East Sussex, showing off with Gritineye's Scammell, then painted in Nato matt green. I don't know the chaps name or whether he is on this forum, but he also owned a Bedford 'S' type recovery vehicle. I haven't seen it or the owner for about six years now. Bernard will no doubt know the him. I used to refer to him a Yasser Arafat as he used to wrap a chequered tea towel found his head in the summer, and was the spitting image of him. :-D He used to keep them in a yard at Halland in E/SX and my wife used to work with his wife, (Heather)

Had another crack at freeing off the donor engine this afternoon and gave up. When I looked at the engine all the cylinders had lost the gas oil I put in them bar numbers two and three, suggesting that the pistons were siezed in the bores and had sufficient rust to stop the gas oil escaping into the sump as the others had done. I now have head gaskets for the engine so I decided to take the front cylinder head off to see what state the bores were in, and whether there were any other problems I didn't know about. I should have tried to start it when I bought it in 2003. It may have just about been ok at that time, but I never bothered as I've never known a diesel sieze up through standing. My complete truck engine stood without running for eight years and started like someone had driven it the day before. Here are some pictures of what I found, starting with the corroded inside of the rocker cover. Next the very dry and again corroded rockers. Two of the valves were stuck too, but I freed them off. The next picture is a good illustration of the subject of "Straight" grade engine oils and the dear old sludge problems. The retun oil gallery for the cam followers (Tappets) was completely blocked, preventing oil returning from the rockers getting to the camshaft and followers. An excellent recipie for for early wear to take place. Sadly at the moment I haven't any pictures with the head off as I ran out of time today. One of the head bolts was an absolute sod to get out, and one of the studs next to it was very stuck. I'm beginning to wonder if this engine has suffered a head gasket failure prior to being pensioned off. It took a ten ton jack under one corner of the head to start it moving, combined with squirting WD40 down the holes and tapping the studs from side to side with a hammer. (Nuts on the studs of course) The head has lifted by about a quarter of an inch, and hopefully the full extent of the problem will be revealed on Tuesday when I will finish work early. I'll put up some more photos of what I find. Don't miss the next thrilling instalment. (Thrilling and possibly disappointing :-( )

Here are some photos of the cab base and bulkhead parts that were sandblasted and painted last week. They made a very good job of doing it and it is well painted with a glossy zinc primer. Some of the more visible parts will need some attention to the surfaces to disguise the pitting left by the rust. Other parts will need new edges on the panels like the one below. This is one of the floor sections of the rear floor panels behind the seats. I will probably make a new edge and spot weld it on to the old panel. Not original but the rivet counters wont know any different.

After the comments about the front engine mountings on Davies CX; I thought I'd throw in a picture of the rear engine mountings, which are very unusual, as I described earlier. According to Davie, his are the same as mine, but as my donor truck is stripped down they are easier to photograph. Now they are different to say the least.

That's a rather scrummy bit of kit. Right up my street. I'd love one of those to play with. Very useful things to have around and could possibly earn its keep too. P.S. the rear reflectors are missing............

You are correct Will. That is exactly what it is. Also mine has the same rear engine mounts. Weird and wonderful devices. Got a bit more done in the last couple of days. I'll post some pics over the weekend. Neither of my engines have a rev counter drive, but there is a rev counter on the dash panel. I thought the rev counter was only for the petrol engine versions, and initially assumed it was electric. I've since found out that like yours, the rev counter is cable driven. I'll see you Sunday evening.......... :-D, About half past nine I'll get myself a cup of coffee and eagerly await your picture show. Catch ya later Dude. :thumbsup:

If it has a light clutch, it means you have a good clutch release fork. They have a poorly designed clutch release fork that cracks through the split section of the casting. The clutch either goes heavy to operate, or it will be slow to engage the drive. Don't worry though..... they are only about sixty squids and take about half an hour to fit. You don't even have to take the box out to do it. We've had two go on our tankers. (Eaton box)

I did the same on another forum I'm a member of, and found that if I wasn't logged on here, I couldn't view the pictures either. Dooh :???

My HD 23 has the same front engine mounting. You should see the HD 23 rear engine mountings, they are like nothing I've ever seen before. The engine seems to hang on a cranked bar with a horizontal coil spring fitted over the top of the chassis. The cranked bar has a pivot half way up it where it mounts on to the engine bell housing. It then turns back towards the chassis where it fits into what looks like a very short clutch slave cylinder. The cylinder on the chassis and hanger bracket pivot have remote fitted greasers. If I get time I will photograph mine. Albions certainly had some unique design features which is why mine fascinates me so much. A question for Davie......... Is the pointed housing above the bottom radiator hose; a drive unit for a rev counter as it has a cable coming out of it?

Nice to see you are getting going again with your restoration, and I will be watching out for the next set of pictures. I really would love to own a CX. There is one thing about them though that always seems very odd; and that is the radiator. It looks like it was an after thought, or they designed the truck and after it was built, they found out the rad wasn't big enough and had to fit whatever they could find. It doesn't look finished off properly. Regardless of that, it's still a great looking truck. I now have some head gaskets on the way for my siezed donor engine, so If I have to strip it; I can at least overcome the biggest hurdle to putting it back together again. I noticed something strange about my engine the other day.......... it doesn't seem to have an external oil filter....:shocked:. Do they have some sort of internal filter, like a centrifugal one perhaps. Great seeing your pictures, keep up the good work. Good luck with the front wings too....... I've got a pair like that.

I just love the Maroon East Kent Leyland? How I would love to own one. Its got style, character, graceful looks, and probably sounds great. Old buses have always fascinated me since I used to travel to school on what I think was a Leyland PD2? I loved the sound of the engine and transmission, the smell of paint and hot engine inside the bus, and often used to stand behind the driver and watch him driving it. None o' yer sissy auto boxes in those. Bus travel in those days was a lot more relaxed than now and another thing I remember was the bus stations. Uckfield had a bus station which was always busy, drivers and conductors walking around with ticket machines and getting ready to take the buses out. People sitting around waiting for buses, bored children running up and down the front of the cafe, patterns in the rainwater from the buses leaking oil and fuel. Mechanics in the garage servicing and repairing minor faults with lights. Buses had a warm homely feel to them created by the soft lighting of the round interior light bulbs (40 watt?) None of yer nasty flourescent lighting.. ......... etc, etc Happy days. How I wish we could turn the clocks back to those days and do it all again.

Nice motor.......... and it would make a great mobile workshop if the headroom is sufficient. Wouldn't want all the medical stuff......... I'm a bit too old for playing doctors... :-D

Weeell.......... There's a hell of a lot of new posters on here at the moment.. ......... was it something I said. :-D All I can say to those wanting to post, and are a bit wary of doing so is that I know next to nothing about most of what is discussed and shown on this forum, although I've learned an awful lot in the last six months. I often worry as to whether anyone will be interested in what I have to say, or whether I will be criticised for my comments, but I do try to make valid and sensible contributions to the forum. If I can do it, so can you. The other option is to ask if there is something you want to know. Someone on here is bound to know the answer.

Well.... good news and not so good news. First the good news.......... I've located a pair of cylinder head gaskets for my Albion EN 253 A engine in the donor truck. They weren't that hard to find really. I have to order them tomorrow from a chap called Bob Mc Culloch, who advertises in the Classic and Vintage Commercials magazine. Sixty pounds plus vat and postage. At last I can pull the heads from the engine and remove the pistons if it still wont turn. It will give me the chance to look at the bores and see if they are useable. If not, I may restore the engine at a later date. It would be sad not to do something with it as they are getting pretty rare now. I'm beginning to see immaculately restored forties and fifties Albions fitted with Volvo and Mercedes engines. That tells you something. And finally......... had a call from the people sand blasting my cab parts today. They should be done now. I was a little surprised at how much they wanted to charge me.......... 325 + vat :shocked::shocked:. When I took the parts in I explained to them I would pay cash.... ie no bill. When I told them today I was surprised by the amount and it would take a few days to get cash from the hole in the wall, they said I could pay by cheque. I said I was paying by cash.......... no vat......... no bill and hoped it would be less than that. To cut a long story short, they are now charging me 275.00 .............. cash........ :n00b: I hope to be painting some of the parts soon :yay: and will post up pictures

One of the reasons I would like to own an ERF is that they rarely look tatty with the fibre glass cab. I drive an EC12 on a 'P' and love it to bits. I really like the cab interior too. My love of ERF's started in the eighties when I drove a 14 litre 'B' series for two years. Sadly the EC12 I drive has suffered a "Blown up" turbo today. I'm not sure what caused it but there are lumps of ally casting in the turbo inlet, and a very lop sided inlet shaft. Anyone got a spare turbo for a Perkins Eagle TX 340........please

Oooooh............... this is too much......... I want one of these too. Having a tipping body is good......... having a crane better still......... having a plant trailer with a Muir Hill loading shovel on it........ the icing on the cake. Tell ya what else I want............... a bloo*y great win on the lottery too, to finance my wild dreams. Perhaps I should go halves with Andy Fowler on the winning lottery ticket if he ever gets it. If he wins I'll gladly give him 50p towards the winning ticket, and he can give me half the winnings. :-D WHAAT NOW......... I don't see a problem with that; it's a reasonable offer.... :-D

PSSSST............. got any spare outer headlamp rings / covers? I need a couple for my Albion.......... Please.

Just a bit of information for Shawn about the Volvo......... It's on page 45 of the May edition of Classic and Vintage Commercials. Its one taken at Donnington.

Having been a motorcyclist in the past, a friend once showed me his 1930's Indian V twin. I tried riding it..........:shake:. The accelerator was on the wrong side, as was the clutch; hand gearchange, and riding off in bottom gear felt like top gear. Needless to say, I didn't go too far on it and it was a bit of an experience. There's certainly an art to riding them. It must be a bit like the vintage cars with the pedals transposed............. scary.

So, Poppies Dad. Has Poppies Mum seen it............. was she impressed?...... does she wonder why you haven't been able to get to sleep the last few days............... has she filed for divorce yet...........:-D Wimmin eh............. some just don't understand..........some can't see the potential..........sad innit. You, like me, in this situation can see it all restored, standing proudly by a piece of history at a show, telling wide eyed children all about what it was meant for and the things it did. Great pictures, and your excitement shows in the posts. Every time you look at it you find something you didn't know about it. Hearing it run for the first time and driving it under its own power. :-D Great stuff

Just seen another item on my "Must have" list. That F88 is absolutely gorgeous, and I bet it sounds great under load with that exhaust........... drool drool. I would really like to buy the ERF EC12 2 axle artic unit from where I work to transport my Albion to shows, and to keep in good condition as a rising classic. It has the Eagle TX 340 engine and the 9 speed Fuller box. Oh well.. .......... spose I can dream. :-(

The wooden tyres you refer to are still in use today. They are often seen on tractors made in this country, and awaiting export. There are two main reasons for this. One being space saving for shipping, and secondly different countries often have different tyre requirements, particularly the American market. It's pointless shipping them here to be fitted, and then take up more space on a ship. It often comes down to cost effectiveness too. The Land Rovers may have suffered tyre shortages in production and were en route to a destination either where tyres are made or the supply was plentiful.

This looks to be a good site. Many thanks for your help, and I will contact them when time permits. :thumbsup:

Well it's like this. On the left we have Cuthberts "current" wife (Hilda) and her beautiful (but skinny) daughter Voluptua with the blonde hair. Cuthberts evil ex wife (On the right) has found their little hideaway, and is less than happy to find them all together enjoying themselves. She's even more incensed because she heard that Cuthbert had ideas about Voluptua; of an unsavoury nature. :cool2: Cuthbert, in a total panic is attempting to hide behind a cauliflower floret as he's suddenly remembered the threat his evil ex wife once made:shake:.......... She had threatened to give him an enema with a fire extinguisher if she ever caught up with him and his fancy woman and her temptress daughter. :shake: Oh fuuu.........what's she got in her hand......is that a fire extinguisher........... with a looooooong hose. :shocked: Do you know how a fire extinguisher works?............... Cuthbert does..... ........ look how fast Cuthbert can run............:-D WHAAAAT.......... noooo... I haven't been watching too many soaps :-D