Rootes75

The spring rebuild looks superb. Lots of hard work.

Lovely rare project, would need some deep pockets though.

What engine does it have fitted Chris?

Its all looking very good.

Phill, WW1 or not this find is really important. Keep it going, its great to see the pictures.

I think this thread is superb, cant wait to see what you find next.

I had a Karrier Bantam truck for many years and she needed testing at the VOSA station due to her weight.

I had an issue one year with the test which led me to make a complaint. The Bantam obviously is an old truck and was pretty much dwarfed when lined up with the modern Volvos and Scanias etc. 

Well first check in the line is the cab and fittings etc, the young tester had a good look round and then came up to the cab and said just to let me know the lorry had already failed the test, before I had even started the engine or anything! When pressed on why he got out a measure and took it to the windscreen, he said the factory fitted 6" wiper blades did not clear enough of the screen so she didnt comply with the modern rules!?!?

Well, very angry by that point I continued with the test. Got to the end and was told that was all she failed on, bearing in mind this test cost over £200 with hiring the lane and ballast etc.

I went straight to his boss in the main office and told him what happened, I made the complaint and was told the young lad was too eager and should have known there were certain things old trucks can get away with as such. I was then told that because it had been entered on the system it could not be retracted. In the end they invited me back a week later and I had to pay for a re-test, this time the boss came out the office with the Pass certificate without even looking round the truck.

Waste of time and huge waste of money. Two 50 mile round trips and 2 test fees.

All looking very good.

What was the estimate on the Jeep?

We have been for the open day show they have each year with reenactors and the like.

Lovely place as you say, lots of hands on exhibits and plenty for kids to keep occupied.

Keep it coming Phill, this is like lucky dip to see whats survived. When you have it all back to your place will you take a picture of it all laid out together?

Such a great find.

The chap says in the articles its part of a tank, they know this because its partially made from wood apparently.

Really good to see it coming together. What a lovely feeling it is too when you hear your engine run for the first time.

I am erring on the side of poor spark at the moment, the spark is quite hard to see. And as many have pointed out it should be a big fat blue spark.

I have a spare coil so I could swap that over at the weekend and see if that makes a difference.

Whoops, didnt realise I had done that. When I posted it first it threw back an error message so I hit submit again.

I presume its best to close this thread and use the other.

3 minutes ago, David Herbert said:

If you have fuel (or easy-start) getting to the cylinders and compression it must be ignition. If you have a good strong spark at the plugs then it has to be timing. Are you certain that it is sparking at the top of the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke and that the plug leads are in the right order on the distributor, not the reverse order. Both mistakes are very easy to do !

You have mentioned flooding. I presume that you are happy that the float valve is doing its job ?

David

Thanks David. 

We have checked and double checked the firing order against the plug leads and she is right. I know what you mean though in making a simple mistake in the order. When we checked for the spark from the lead against the head with a screwdriver I was a bit concerned that the spark was weak.

In our experience with our other Commer even with the timing out she will still fire and start but just run very poorly (we have sorted her timong out). This Commer simply wont actually fire up.

4 minutes ago, earlymb said:

It's either fuel or spark I think... Remove one of the spark plugs, hold the thread against the block or any other mass and see if it sparks when the engine turns over? What is the condition of distributor cap and leads?

The plug leads are all new and so are the contacts. We have checked and she does get a spark at the lead ends.

Very useful I'd say. Easy to follow if its all in a central location.

We are having issues with our Commer truck, issues in her not starting. She has a 6 cylinder sidevalve petrol engine with the Solex 40 FAIE carb.

We have set the timing, checked all gaps and plugs for sparks, all fine. We found the manifold gasket was leaking so thats been replaced. Next we fitted new fuel lines and cleaned down the carb, we have checked and she is getting a good fuel supply. We have also checked the compression which is good.

So, with a good strong battery she turns over lovely, but thats about it. Once in a while she does fire/engage but never actually starts. She then just floods everytime. It you put her on full choke she tries hard to fire and almost gets there but floods very quickly. Even a shot of easy start didnt do anything.

We are ticking off things to try out but seem now to be going round in circles.

Any suggestions, no matter how simple, anything could help.

We are having issues with our Commer truck, issues in her not starting. She has a 6 cylinder sidevalve petrol engine with the Solex 40 FAIE carb.

We have set the timing, checked all gaps and plugs for sparks, all fine. We found the manifold gasket was leaking so thats been replaced. Next we fitted new fuel lines and cleaned down the carb, we have checked and she is getting a good fuel supply. We have also checked the compression which is good.

So, with a good strong battery she turns over lovely, but thats about it. Once in a while she does fire/engage but never actually starts. She then just floods everytime. It you put her on full choke she tries hard to fire and almost gets there but floods very quickly. Even a shot of easy start didnt do anything.

We are ticking off things to try out but seem now to be going round in circles.

Any suggestions, no matter how simple, anything could help.

Looks in great condition for a tenner, just a light clean up needed by the looks of it.

I have had a look at the quick assemble steel garages, I wouldnt mind one of them but definately dont have the room.

My friends all say I have too many projects so cut back and then I dont need the extra space!

Our Commer is currently outside, it has a waterproof car cover over the cab and then over that and the body is a heavy old style lorry sheet.

Our problem is the amount that this al sweats. It keeps the rain off ok but the panels are still damp in places. We take them off on a Sunday morning and let it air.

We are having a big move round in the shed so in the next few weeks I hope to get her inside before the proper winter weather arrives.

Steve, that really must hamper being so far away from the project. Not like you can just pop down the shed for an hour. 

And with the current situation it has changed so much of our travelling habits.