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cordenj

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Everything posted by cordenj

  1. cordenj
    A little more progress. Lucas combination Distributor/Magneota model 4VRS checked and producing a good spark: New leads and spark plugs and NoS Champion Plug tops: Zenith VM Carburettor. Stripped and rebuilt using origainal Zenith kit from Alderton Austin Services: [/color][/color][/color] [/color]
  2. cordenj
    Just possible Richard.....but don't want to rush it. Still got the distributor/magneto to sort, to strip and check the radiator etc etc. Brooklands in November is planned first time out. :-D
  3. cordenj
    Oh well, the concensus of opinion is that the engine would originally have been olive drab....so it is now (couple of the photos taken when still drying hence slight colour difference): Heat shield for the fuel pump had a piece of leather bolted to it, so a visit to local saddler produced an offcut and another part is renovated and fitted. One thing I like about this trailer is that is is "real" engineering. Refurbished the Amp and Volt meters (cast iron and brass) and refitted all the chunky electrical coils and heavy duty wiring in the "control panel" for the DC Dynamo: [/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color] : [/color]
  4. cordenj
    Morning Simon, I now believe they should probably be pale blue and were painted on rear and offside front. I've completed recent restorations in those colours: But like you, wasn't sure of colour when restored my AB No1 MkII a few years ago....so it has white numbers!
  5. cordenj
    Thanks Richard. I guessed it was a post-war colour, but as I had a tin of heat resistant engine lacquer in the colour thought I'd try it....at least as a good base coat. Have been busy today putting the generator rotor back onto engine crank and then re-fitting the generator body. Quite challenging as each component weighs signficant amount. Then refitted whole unit back into chassis this evening: Before I remove the masking from engine and start adding fuel pump, carb etc etc, I now need to decide whether to give it all a final coat of Olive drab. By the time the front and side lockers are fitted and the roof is back on, not much of engine can easily be seen.... :undecided:
  6. cordenj
    Re Data plates: I know its not from a Mortar trailer but the Electrical Repair trailer still had its original plate in brass, but with a similar layout to yours: Also, last year on Ebay this plate was sold (for more than £30 I seem to remember), again there is a standard "look" to these plates: Re vertical brackets under rear floor: Could one be to hold the convoy light and the other for the normal Lucas switch? Are there any other holes in the body that would otherwise have been to location for those parts?
  7. cordenj
    The Austin 10 engine appears in good condition. I removed the head and sump to de-coke and dismantle/check oil pump. All looked fine so today cleaned block, re-ftted head with new gaskets from Alderton Austin Ltd. Several sets of marks on the block. Small date stamps indicate it was first bult in May 1943 but was stripped and tested in Dec 1955: As I bought the trailer with the engine sprayed "duck-egg-blue" , presumeably when it was stripped and tested in 1955; I've resprayed the block with a near match to the original......seems bright at moment, but am sure it will tone down with oil and dirt as the last coat had weathered over the last 58yrs!:
  8. cordenj
    An unusual part on this Austin 10 engine is the simple mechanical governor. I've not seen or worked on one before so these photos of it might be of interest: Once all back together, I put my cordless drill on the input shaft and span it up, the side arm moved as it should. So another part ready to go on the De-coked engine, although getting it set correctly it will be a matter of trial and error:
  9. cordenj
    Austin 10 Engine fuel pump: AC Type T. The pump was full of white powder/grit so needed complete strip and rebuild. All the Austin parts that will feature in further posts came from Mark Greening at Alderton Austin Services. I visited him a couple of weeks ago with a list of parts I thought I needed for the engine including a new pump diaphragm that will cope with unleaded fuel. Everything in stock and several tips on fitting. Excellent service. A couple of before and after shots:
  10. cordenj
    so if I need a replacement towing hitch no doubt he will let me have his spare at a very reasonable price!!!!!!!!!!! Evening Anthony, The one on Ebay recently was for £299............so "very reasonable" would be £250. Ok? If we drag the trailer out of your shed next month, I'll take some clear photos for this thread. We can then have a close look at the welding of the handles and whether the Bradley hitch body fits the orignal holes in the chassis or whether there are other signs of the conversion. Also, you didn't answer the earlier question about what state your body was in. Think we should know.
  11. cordenj
    Absolutely. My time with the Forestry Commission wasn't wasted....and these are lightweight trailers
  12. cordenj
    Thanks Richard. As the AB marking is on the lowest paint layer, I think it is the oldest and may refer to where it was first stored prior to allocation to a particular unit?
  13. cordenj
    Hi Richard, The support legs on these lightweight trailers either have a hook and chain as you describe, of a large split pin and chain that locates through a hole in the leg. When travelling with the legs clamped up, the pin is put in place to prevent it sliding down and hitting the road. My Lightweight No1 Mk11 and Bowser both have chains and hooks, but the Electrical Repair and this MUREX have chained pins. Did you have any ideas on the remains of the markings I uncovered prior to painting (a few posts back)?
  14. cordenj
    Managed to find some time this morning to complete another job on the MUREX trailer. As bought from the auction it only had a single support leg....and that was bent. There should be four equal adjustable legs on these trailers, and while all the clamping brackets were there, three legs were missing. Bent or missing support legs is a common problem on these 10cwt lightweight trailers and I've made single replacements in the past. I look on Ebay found 4" diameter laser cut mild steel discs and I had ordered a pack of 4 x Mild Steel Pipe 33.7mm x 3mm from another Ebay store. First job was to mount each steel disc in lathe and cut out a 1 5/16" (33mm) with a hole saw. The neatly cuts the right sized hole for the leg and the cut out core then fits into the tube: A simple weld and the three parts are a sturdy support leg: The legs used on the lightweight trailers either have a flat top (with a small disc welded into tube) or a rounded/curved top. I decided on the latter type and tuned up some curved tops from a piece of bright steel bar: Coat of Bondaprimer and result is four matching support legs:
  15. cordenj
    Yes very ironic. The trailers were built by Brockhouse, who you'd have thought would have had some competent welders. But perhaps the skilled men were put to more critical work?
  16. cordenj
    Thanks Gerry. My wife says the "trailer tree" is getting too big for the garden and wants it taken out.....I think the real reason is to make this the last restoration!
  17. cordenj
    Took the REME Electrical Repair trailer to Amberley Industrial Museum 1940's event last Sunday that appears to have replaced their long established Military Vehicle day. Not so many people, but as I now have the 80W Genny as part of the display, that seemed to attract as much interest as anything else on the trailer. Had the chassis and other major parts blasted and primered: Bank Holiday weekend and its fine and dry, so time for a leafy road in Reigate to echo to sound of the cheap Clarke air compressor pounding away for a couple of hours! Sprayed the MUREX chassis and major components. Usual format for my restorations and the trailer is up-ended using the tree in the front garden and a rope via a pulley to back of the Jeep: [/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color] I took this photo to show the welding construction quality (or lack of it). I could have easily rewelded this to a far neater standard, but it seemed wrong to "over restore" as this was how it was built. Rough, ready and serviceable: Now its all sprayed time to start build up of chassis and then next major task is the Austin 10 Engine: [/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color] [/color]
  18. cordenj
    More dismantling....this is the Austin 10Hp sidevalve engine. Some obvious differences from the standard vehicle version is the combined Magneto/Distributor and what I am guessing is a form of engine governor driven by the fan belt: Engine has clearly had some use, but cylinder bores are excellent and there is very little coking. Two exhaust valves are stuck but should free up easily. Am hoping to just clean it up, fit new gaskets, replace the broken exhaust manifold stud and re-assemble: Not sure whether these block numbers gove a clue to date of casting, but am hoping to meet up with an Austion 10 expert later in week who may be able to advise:
  19. cordenj
    Ok enough rusty old metal. Here is a couple of nice shiny things which might be of more interest. 1. Essential T-plate, via Ebay. Perfect lenses but rusty. Stripped and repainted looks like this: 2. The original rubber mounts for the generator body to chassis were completely shot. No markings on the old mounts, so started the search for pictures of engine mounts for late 1940/early 50's vehicles via Goggle to try to find something similar. Surprisingly easily I found the MUREX mounts to be same as those used on the Jaguar XK120! Replacement pattern parts £15 a pair via Ebay: Back to the piles of rusty old parts, still have days of wirebrushing/BondaRpimer/2 x topcoats.........
  20. cordenj
    More dismantling. This time it is the very heavy duty generator (just the cenral rotor weighs around 200lbs). A few of the dozens of photos I've taken of this whole stripdown...hoping I can put it all back together:
  21. cordenj
    We took the opportunity of the good weather to pressure wash the chassis. Sometimes in the past I've found this to be an effective way of lifting off coats of paint, and so it prooved this time with parts of some old white stencilling appearing as top layers where washed away. Rear chassis crossmember has "AXLE" and the alloy disc that has been painted yellow. This had been fitted later in the trailer's history... post-war? The front off the offside chassis rail has a mix of stencilling, the larger numbers where on the penultimate paint layer but could not make out more than a couple of fugures, whereas the original paint topcoat had "PRES" (pressure?): Also on the offside main chassis rail original topcoat is: It says: AB R/I 65836 then missing numbers? Not sure what this means, but was on the lowest paint layer, could it refer to Airborne Reserve? Any ideas? The cleaning also uncovered an old dataplate for the Austin engine screwed to the engine mount: Cleaned up it looks like this: All fairly clear, but the RECONDITIONED line has a very small "249-", which could refer to Feb 1949? Also don't know what "SOM" refers to. Any ideas from you ex_REME guys very welcome.
  22. cordenj
    Hi Hans, Looks very good. Some nice original parts e.g the small plates on inside chassis that keep the floorboards in place when running empty. Also the T-plate looks in good restorable condition. Are you going to remove the mudguards and but 5.00 x 16 tyres on it?
  23. cordenj
    Hi Martyn, Further to your PM re photos of headstock, see if these help: If you need any other shots let me know.
  24. cordenj
    Busy day over weekend: Pulled out heavy radiator with its solid alloy housing and the very heavy engine/generator combination. Took lots of photos to help put it back together, but here are just a few to show overall progress:
  25. cordenj
    I want to restore this MUREX trailer to 1944 spec. One area that seems odd to me is the gas bottle clamps fitted to top of each side locker (look back in thread to see the wooden semicircular blocks fitted to the vertical steel rods). Here is one of the lockers removed and on its side still with rods in place: I have seen old photos of these trailers with and without the bottle clamps. It could be that they were tested and developed in WWII and then became part of the standard upgrades at the end/after the war: My feeling was that they had been added at a later stage to my trailer (possibly as part of the 1955 rebuild), so one way to check was to move the steel clamp brackets sideways to see whether the lockers had been painted, they had with original WWII British Olive drab: As they had added after the original painting, it seems to me that clamps were indeed a later addtition, this theory is supported by the fact that a couple of the footman loops under the side lockers had been moved from their original positions. Here you can see where they have been relocated from the original drilled holes and one side welded in a new place to allow space for the bottle clamp steelwork: As a final check on the clamps, I've checked the IDENTIFICATION LIST W.O. Code No. 5461 for the "Trailer. 2-wheeled, Lighweight. Electric Welding Mk. 2" first edition printed in 1949. It includes every nut and bolt used in the trailer but makes no reference to bottle clamps....so I have removed them from my trailer. One of the other MUREX trailers shown at start of this post has clamps fitted and I know the owner is planning to restore his one with them in place (I'm giving him all the spare clamps parts from my trailer to help him complete his restoration). So, there should be 2 restored MUREX's in UK, with and without the gas bottle clamps fitted.
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