paulbrook

Halfords classic 20/50 is good stuff - very reminiscent of Duckhams - and is very benign detergent wise. It is also good value. This detergent thing though is a curious one. Yes, there are lots of stories, but has it actually happened to anyone here that putting clean, modern, albiet supposedly detergent-laden oil in an engine has done it real harm? I am always willing to learn but my own experience is quite the opposite. When I had finished restoring my Dodge fire engine (it took a year or three on top of the dozen years that it had stood idle) I set off to drive it back from Hull to Cumbria. The engine on the Dodge by the way is a big version of the WC Dodge flathead 6. It went well but smoked like a chimney and had very very soon used up what I had thought was a generous reserve of spare engine oil, and although things were running well the smokescreen was continuing unabated. Faced with whatever was on offer in whatever roadside garage we had stopped at, big brother and I purchased more oil, this time Shell Helix SAE30 diesel oil (which I suspect has more than its fair share of detergent). In it went (and rather a lot of it at that) and before long I was caning the old Dodge (which always did have an indecent turn of speed) up over Stainmoor. A quick stop and check revealed no further oil consumption; there was no smoke and the engine was going like a bat out of hell. It still does for that matter and the only oil it uses leaks out of the timing covers (I really must get those sorted). My guess is that the oil was just what was required, un-gumming things like piston rings and the like, which the "ordinary" stuff just couldn't manage in the same timescale. I have also tried to remove gunge from inside sumps with all sorts of chemicals and tools, it is a far from easy job and I remain unconvinced that a little detergent in the oil would get results when me in my wellies plus the mother of all steam cleaners cant shift it. But, as I say, I am here to learn so has anyone had personal experience of the new oil in old engines issue??

C'mon fellas. Anyone can see that's Ned Kellys dunny door............

I found a DUKW once in similar circumstances.... Turned out it belonged to an undertaker. But I did end up with it. The DUKW, not the undertaker.

Never mind the garden ornament - did your mate find the parachute??

Now that I like.... Its as if it has been on Pimp my Pump. Would look nice up behind my Dodge that. Sadly I really need a Sigmund...........

Indeed. And notwithstanding the obvious high profile of the FI liberation the war we were all fighting was the cold one, with russian subs being top of the Andrews List of Things To Do.

M38A1 with a new MOT on the back of my truck ready for delivery to the seaside.............

There are plenty of folks who offer stitching services and the results are excellent. For a really good welded repair (but you will need to rebore and deck) then try Cast Iron Welding in Liecester. Depending on the location of the crack and its severity it can be stick welded. Remember dont panic - its a jeep engine not a faberge egg. Heres a tractor block that I did recently with a cheap arc welder and a few quids worth of the right rods:

Well thats me told! Serves me right for being a spotter....

Oh and I think I have had a heineken experience too..........

Its a model L built sometime between 1940 and 1956. Difficult to say whether it was military or civilian to begin with, but other than the wreckers the military Macks tended to either be E or N models, with the majority of the rest built for and used by civilian industry. The L was the mainstay of Macks post-war heavy highway truck line-up.

Oh and for shedloads of early Indian built Cj3bs and almost as many Dodge WC series try Serbia........... I was going to say try Kosovo but I have had all those

The in-service DUKW are with the RM at ATTURM (Instow) and they have long since been deiselised. (Amphibious Trials and Training Unit Royal Marines)

The MOD purchased 20 DUKW carburettors a year till 1987....................... I know because when I was in the vehicle trials team the contracts branch asked us whether we still needed that many. Sadly I think that the really tasty MOD stuff has long since gone to the pawnbrokers. The home office is another matter though.

Right then a picture or two. First - Antar, and one cab side is now all but repaired and I have fabricated a new pair of fire extinguisher holders (the picture shows one old and one new). I have built the bulge that goes over the air vents into the cab but wont screw them on till I have put some proper paint on (not the horrid green primer you see in the pics). Next is the Humber - and the new ash timber frame, then last of all (because I love welding) the windscreen of the M38A1 which needed a complete new lower section.

Welcome - got a Nekaf M38 in the workshop at the moment, and have done lots of work on its predecessors too. If you need any technical help give me a shout.

Crikey There's two words I never thought I would see together (after many many years of uniformed service) "smock" and "care".................... My recollections are hot wash hot wash hot wash .....repeat till trip to QM required...

I have two approaches for my wheels. Some of the originals are rotted in one area where the truck was stood for years in mud. For these wheels I am considering attempting to slice the damaged quadrant out and weld in a quadrant from another damaged wheel. If I get this right one damaged wheel will provide two quadrants, giving me two good wheels out of three bad ones. Obviously I will need to make up some sort of jig to keep everything in true, but that is straightforward (in fact it may well be that the best thing to do is to use the hub of the truck for tacking up at least). The other wheels I have are just too wide, so I am considering setting them up in a jig again then slicing material out of the band then shutting the outer and inners back together. Or I may be lucky and find a set in the US! There is a firm that can make wheels by the way: http://www.aspectwheels.co.uk On the tyre front I intend sourcing and importing mine from the US, as even with carriage and duty they will be a lot cheaper than UK supplied ones. Its just a case of watching the exchange rate!

My Mack AC has 24 inch wheels but runs 40x8 which are a lot fatter than those. I have found 24 inch tyres of any description to be rare in UK, those 33s will be tricky too will they not? Like you I do not have a full set of wheels and am considering my options; I cannot go to 20 inch rims because of the brake drum clearance at the rear and the steering linkages at teh front. I am scouting around in the states for some as well as investigating actually making some (how hard can it be?). I have some wider rims (from a Leyland Landtrain) and am considering cutting and shutting them to make them a lot narrower. The otehr vehicles with 24 inch rims would be Scammels and steam wagons (I am doing some front mudguards for an 8 wheeler Sentinel and the wheels on it are near as dammit the same as the mack, albeit that the mack has Budd type holes (stud piloted)) They have 2 handholds too. Anyway if I come across anything Ill let you know. What pcd and size are the stud holes by the way? And I am waiting till I win the lottery before I can run to a nice new set of 40x8s....

Rob is the Vulcan on 20 or 24 inch wheels?

Hats off to you - this I like!!!! Not only a lovely truck but a proper restoration too. As a result, when you are ready for some tinwork I would be very happy to cut you a special deal.

They were indeed. And they eventually were subject to "track mileage"

I was asked to check out an individual such as this for a US friend of mine - he claimed to be parting out a 1920s Mack. The address was in Blackpool but the phone line went through to nigeria. It is known as an 0702 scam and a link worth reading is here: http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/printing_machine.htm There is a fraud unit that you can (and should) report this to via your local force - have a look on their website. I reported the above mentioned incident and they were pretty helpful.

Try Kingstown Shipping in Hull

I agree with Tony - the chassis alone is a work of art and must have cost a bomb to produce!