Swill1952xs

I can possibly understand the Albion owning member joining this forum to find out more about Albions.............. I can also understand why he joined and didn't post either.

I have to confess to joining this forum to find out various things, and hoped this site was going to be dripping with information about Albions, mostly CX's perhaps, or older models.

You can imagine my disappointment with what I found.......... a worldwide forum and two Albion owners. I could easily have given up and turned my back on the idea and not bothered. Still at least I've increased the Albion content by 50%. Albion content and information wont increase unless someone starts the ball rolling by adding to it as I did. I'm glad I took the trouble as many of you have been most helpful with pictures and information; for which I'm extremely grateful. Cheers Dudes...er, and Lady Dudes. :kissoncheek: :thumbsup:

Just found out that Dobson's were charging £40 for a pair of S4 head gaskets. That was for copper/asbestos sandwich (I know they aren't asbestos these days).

Thanks for the information. I will e mail them when I have a little more time. (Got another 2:30 start tomorrow morning. )

Have you tried the hot oil trick?

Heat oil to very hot then pour some into each of the bores and leave for a few minutes.

The heat expands everything a bit which should help to break the seal/rust and also helps the oil to penetrate.

I've heard of some very stubborn engines being shifted this way!

Probably easier and more effective if the heads are removed.

 

It was demonstrated nicely on Salvage Squad on TV a few years back when they managed to get a siezed Gypsy Moth engine moving.

Thanks for the suggestion. I would be happy to remove the heads and sump and remove the pistons by disconnecting the con rods.......... if only I could get some head gaskets. I had thought that if the gaskets were Copper asbestos type and would come off undamaged, I would try putting them back on using something like red Hermetite. Trouble is that if they get damaged in any way, I'm stuffed big time. :-(

Stoopid question, but does anyone know where I might be able to get some head gaskets for the above engine, with out having to spend mega bucks having them made.

I will be forever in your debt if you can help me.

I've been put back on night driving duties again this week so I finish work about one o'clock in the afternoon.

I decided to spend the afternoon attempting to free of the siezed donor truck engine. I filled the bores to the brim with gas oil again, and put a jack under the clutch housing pushing against the rotation. Put a big steel bar with a scaffold pole on the end; through the bell housing aperture. Loaded that up to put even more rotational pressure on the clutch.

I then put a long pointed bar in the next hole round...........and beat the crap out of it trying to turn the engine backwards...........14lb sledge hammer.................and guess what................ I broke the :argh:in' hammer. The head came off. New hammer, fibre glass handle and now it's broken.

And that bloo*y engine just won't move at all. If only it would turn back a little to where it started moving, then I may be able to free it off. As it is now it looks like a strip down job.............. probably next winter. :-( Doooh

Recently I spotted a new members name while browsing the forum. I was really pleased as his user name was Mod Edit

He joined on the 9th of March, and hasn't posted any messages since joining. I was really pleased that we had another Albion owner on board, and was looking forward to seeing and hearing more about his truck. I enthusiastically sent him a pm and welcomed him to the forum, pointed out that he automatically qualified as a friend and was on my list of friends. I waited for a reply.......and waited.........and waited ......and nothing. No reply, no posts, no pictures..............absolutely nuffink.

My questions are.......... does this happen often?

Do people join the forum in the hope that there will be a sea of information and pictures of their treasure and then just disappear when there isn't?

I would have thought that having gone to the trouble of joining the forum; that he could have at least introduced himself or replied to my message and then disappeared. Posting on forums can be a little daunting if you've never done it before, and not everyone is going to be interested in what you have to say, but no doubt someone will want your opinion or share your interest.

If you are out there, Mod Edit stand up and make yourself known.

Ricin was the poison that they used, i was just about to answer with the same thing!

So was I........... his name was Georgi Markov or sumfink like that. But you don't want to know that because it isn't the answer any way............but I jus' thought I'd show you how clever I am. :-D

No doubt you have a plan Will, but I if I had to re-make that panel, me being stubborn, I would spend some time shaping a bit of seasoned wood, say about 9" x 3" to fit pretty tightly in side it, then I would clamp or screw the new metal to it and bend it round, making V cuts where necessary with a thin 4" cut off disc, a few small holes for screws into the wood to hold each bit in place whilst tack welding. (Make it oversize and trim to fit when all shaping is done) Finish welding, a bit of adjustment my be needed after welding to get it snug on the wood, then fill and prime, it works for me, and cheap.

Thanks for the encouragement Bernard............ er....Sir. :-D

The actual radius of the vertical curve will be easy to make as I can use one of the central Ribs I've removed from the front panel to check the curvature of the cab frame when I replace the bottom of that, and to make a former for the outer skin.

If I can make a former; hopefully it will do both sides as the vertical curvature appears symmetrical. The next problem is determining the radius of the cab corner to make it match the other side. I reckon the best way to work that out is by cutting out circles in cardboard and checking the fit.

I had also thought that if the corner radius was a standard size....whether I could cut a length of thin wall steel tubing (Exhaust pipe) to make the radiused corner, and then weld flat steel to it. (Spot, stitch or continuous) It may be possible to produce an even curve by your method of cutting 'V's out of the edges and re-welding it again.

Multiple hacksaw cuts at even distances should do the job. It would be nice to be able to make the panel in one piece, but I don't have a wheeling machine or anyone that owns one that owes me a favour. I will certainly give it a go. I had also thought of the same technique when making outer wings for the truck.

The next little challenge after that is making wire edges for the wings. Like many more of us back garden restorers (Nothing personal Andy :-D) we haven't got a lot of time or money, but loads of stubborn inginuity that will get us there in the end. I'll give mine and your idea a go and if all else fails I may have to get someone to make it for me.

Thanks for the advice. :thumbsup:

The pipes are in an awkward place in the top of the tanker. You'd need three arms to get them back in the storage tubes, otherwise it would be like trying to push a bit of wet string up a hole........................er. for want of a better expression. The other problem is that if they don't have caps on the pipes, they would drip all over you and the ground. Not too clever. Nice looking truck though.

Do you ever wish you hadn't started something. :-D

Ok, so you took it out to do the oil leaks.............. now what. Spose you might as well paint it now its out............... oooh, it's rustier than I thought. .........Might as well get it sandblasted.............. I'll have to strip it right down for that...................... Oh bu**er..........the wheel cylinders are leaking a bit...............spose I'll have to replace them. Oh well I might as well take the backplates off.................Oh :argh: , now the bolt has broken off in the casting, so I'll have to strip the diff down now.

I don't want to do this..............I wanna go to the pub. I should have sold it and knocked a couple of hundred quid off and told the new owner it had a little leak on the back axle.

Sound familiar............ boredom is a bad thing. :-D

Hi Swill1952xs,

 

84KB11 has 24v halogens, fitted in service before release.

They are easy to get hold of, but I do not want to change the other vehicles from original until I have to.

 

I seem to get more problems with the lighting circuits on the halogen bulbs than I do on the other vehicles with standard ones.

Most likely just bad luck, but you never know.

The halogens are 75/70 watt, and the old pre focus type are 55/50's which could be the reason why you get circuit problems, but that's unlikely as there is less than one amp extra power required to run them. (Amps = Wattage divided by voltage)

I reckon if you fit the old tungsten bulbs, you'll have a sod of a job seeing where you are going at night. I had them on a Metro :-D

The halogen bulb number is either 024 or HB24, and the tungsten bulbs are 429's. (24 volt)

Oh, an' P.S. on our tankers, we find that more often than not, when a bulb blows, it will take the fuse with it. This could lead you to think you have a circuit problem. More likely crap bulbs.

You must have pretty good eyesight if you are going to use that type of bulb. I seem to think they are somewhat lower in wattage than the equivalent halogen bulbs. I know you can get halogen conversion bulbs of that fitting in 12v but I will have to find out if there's a 24v equivalent.

As Arnie says............... "I'll be back"

Just a few pictures of the problems found on the n/s cab frame and panels.

The first two show the rust inside the box section created by the outer panel.

The flat section with the holes on it are where the front panel is bolted on, and the second shows the extent of the corrosion at the base. This will have to be replaced.

The next two pictures are of the outer sheet steel which again will have to be replaced. I will have a go at making a new panel, but as it's a compond curve, it may be beyond my abilities. The panel is beyond salvage.

Should be fun.

My collection of goodies for my Albion has taken a step forward today. I won a pair of headlights off E Bay. I've been watching them for a week and no one bid on them until today. There was a 99p bid, so I waited till the end and put in a bid for just over eighteen pounds. With postage that would have meant paying thirty for them if the bidding went silly.

The long and short of it was that I won them for 1.20 + 12.00 p&p. They are halogen lights, but who cares apart from the rivet counters. They don't have the outer rings on them, but I could either get them new, or if some more come up, I will bid on them too.

Link to E bay Headlights- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160326312891

My rear light collection consists of the screw on glass lens lights with the four fins, a pair of 4" Butlers indicators and a pair of 3" red reflectors with the white surrounds. None of this should look out of place.

I also bought a Trico electric screenwash kit from John Richards Surplus for nineteen quid, inc postage. Everything is in a sealed plastic bag including pipes, bottle, pump, switch, wiring and jets. I thought that was very good value for money. Again it's all in keeping with an upgrade of the sixties. Spose it should have been a hand pump really, but they are annoying things to use and draw your attention away from driving.

Well.......... I've at last found out what engine is fitted to my donor Albion.

I was quite excited when I found the small brass plate on the side of the engine as I had drawn a blank with information on the EN244C engine, as fitted to the CX22.

My engine is an EN253A, obviously much later. I went home and put a search on the model number......... and guess what.......... absolutely nuffin. Albion paint.........Albion double glazing.........Albion football club............ Albion forklifts.......Albion cooker door gaskets and absolutely :argh: all about my engine. The Albion website is as it's always been, about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I tried finding a manual for my truck on the Albion Archive. The first person I contacted was the wrong person. The second was on holiday. I tried contacting him on his return and got no reply. This is definitely the downside of owning an Albion:banghead:

All I really found out about my engine is that it was 120hp as opposed to the EN244C at 100. I say was, because it still refuses to turn, in spite of some major persuasion tactics. Next will come the sledge hammer treatment. I will load up the flywheel with a large springy bar and then try to knock the flywheel around to start it moving. I'll not be beaten by a chunk of obstinate metal. :???

I can't do much to the restoration part of the job at the moment until I start getting some parts for the next stage. I need bits back from the sandblasters, sheet steel for the back and sides of the cab, a "Rolastep" edge setting tool for the panelwork, and a sheet of sound deadener for the cab back panel. I have some paint which will help me get on while I wait for the other parts. Never mind........I'll get there in the end.

That scheme was worn between 1982 and 1983 after the filming of the TV series "We'll Meet Again". In 1984, 'Sally B' was repainted into olive drab with a yellow tail, so the picture is actually about 26 years old!

 

Steve

Time goes so quickly when you get older doesn't it. I just love that picture though.

Here's a picture I took a Biggin Hill some years ago. Sorry it's a bit blurry, but it is a scanned photo. (About twnty years old)

Enjoy

I think I may have cracked this :argh: Photobucket thing. Nothing wrong apart from a different procedure, so here goes---------

This was the Albion I found out about near Petworth belonging to a chap called Ben. By the time I had seen it advertised it had been for sale for some time and he'd decided to put an AEC 760 engine in it, put a flat body on it and use it for transporting scrap cars. This is an "N" chassis.

When it was for sale it still had the 10.4 litre petrol engine in it, about 5,000 miles on the clock and he wanted 1500 quid for it.

It was as you can see; in excellent condition, although the wing mountings were in need of work, which is why the front wings are off.

I've tried contacting him to see how he got on with the engine transplant but had no reply.

The next picture is a part I've tried contacting David Crouch for. I've E Mailed him before for a complete carrier, but he never answers E Mails. Ringing him is a pain as he is hard to get hold of.

The last picture was obviously with the engine removed. After he took this picture, I found out that he had to move out of his yard a few days later. I've e mailed him, but he seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. Oh how I wish I could have bought it.

My wife wasn't too happy when I first saw it and said that regardless of whether I could afford it; I just had to have it. Now you can see why. It would have been a simple job to fit the cab to mine, the spare wheel carrier was there, some good tyres............ in fact 90% of what was needed to get mine on the road. It would have reduced the restoration time to weeks rather than months. :-(

Naaah mate.......... reckon you got it wrong.........

I reckon its a DUKW........or a variation of one.... :-D:rofl:

Having had a weeks holiday has helped with progress on the restoration.

I've now de-skinned the rear cab panel and the n/s panel of the cab. The n/s looks to be the worst of the two cab sides so I decided to start on that one first. The lower front end is pretty badly rusted and will need work to replace the bottom end. I'm rather worried as to how I'm going to go about replacing the compound curve front corner as I know it wont be easy to make, and I've never attempted anything like this before. I think the repairs to the corner will be better done before the frame is sent away for sand blasting. In a way it's a good thing that I had to remove the skin from the front corner as there was no paint inside the enclosed part and that will enable me to get some rust protection on it for the future. Where there were two sections welded together, rust has forced the two sections apart and I've had to separate them and remove the heavy scale from between them so they can be welded back together as original. It would be almost impossible to dismantle it and weld it all back together to completely eradicate rust.

The engine on my donor vehicle has turned out to be a great disappointment. I took the rocker covers off to see what sort of state the inside of them was, only to find evidence of heavy condensation markings.

There wasn't anything in the inlet ports, as I expected to find, or hoped to find even, so that meant the reason why the engine wouldn't turn over was because the bores are rusted. I managed to turn the engine slightly and it seemed to move fairly easily initially, so I decided to give it a "Flick" on the starter. (I have filled the bores with gas oil) It turned about an eighth of a turn and is now so badly stuck that I can't turn it back. I've been trying with the help of some very heavy bars to move it by levering the clutch around through a hole in the bell housing. I suspect the only answer may be to remove the heads and hope the gaskets come off in one piece. Maybe with the sump off I will be able to persuade the pistons back down the bores so they can if possible be cleaned. This may now have to wait until I've had more time to improve the running of the engine in my complete truck.

I'm not prepared to give up on the donor engine though as they are rare enough to warrant restoration for the future. I just wish I could find a couple of head gaskets, but first I have to find some way of positively identifying the engine type. If it isn't an EN244C as fitted to the CX's then it may improve the spares situation as I think this is a somewhat later engine. Hopefully I will come across an engine number some where on it.

I will try and get some photos on here of the work in progress, but at the moment, for some annoying reason, Photobucket wont allow me to download pictures to the forum. :computerrage:

The next stage is acquiring a sound deadener panel (Bitumen sheet) to fit inside the back panel and sending more parts away for sand blasting. Hopefully the parts being done aren't going to cost mega bucks.

I will keep you posted about progress.

Thanks ntimber, were learning all the time, still odd about the white wall tyres though.

I wouldn't have thought the white wall tyres were that odd. Look at the two dudes with that Scammell. Now do they really look like they take soldiering seriously.

I wouldn't mind betting they run a Taxi service with it at night. If you wanted some tank parts, nylons, chocolate.......... er.......... company for the evening........... you could bet your life that they would know where they could get it. The lugs on the rims are probably mountings for a propeller cone used a a flambouyant hub cap.

I bet they've even had that one tweaked by the locals so it does about fifty miles an hour. I doubt they even have recovery gear on there. The side boxes are probably full of contraband goodies.If someone breaks down, they would get someone else to do the recovery.

White wall tyres.............. says it all. :-D:rofl:

The Commer nut i met Sunday reckoned 220 hp.

No wonder Chrysler were quick to stop that one. The Cummins must have weighed twice as much as the Commer engine. Mind you; I wouldn't have thought the TS4 would have been able to match the torque of the Cummins, but you never know.

Whist on the subject of the Volvo EKA,s here is the 6 wheeled version on trial towing a Martian cargo

The early Volvo F88's (This could be an F89 with double drive) were ideal for the army. I recently sat in one the same age as the one in the picture, and the cab didn't have a lot more trim than my old Albion. Loads of exposed metal.

The later F88's with the full width grille were a totally different animal, cab wise. In their day they were the truck drivers lusted after.

I'd still like and 88 in my collection.

Actually, there is no reason why one of these Albions did not have w/washers. The last ones in service would have been the RE Machinery truck, worked on one once. At around the same time we were installing Trico windscreen washer kits to Militant Mk1, under a Modification Instruction.........think they were the hand pump type.

Cheers Richard.......... i shall feel a lot happier fitting them now. Again I suppose its a sixties type addition, which is about when they started to appear.

Me being the lazy git that I am; I decided to go for electric ones. Coming from Greenmachine surplus. :-D

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.