BenHawkins

The wing brackets need to look something like this. The plan is to weld a piece of round bar to the T shaped profiles and the rectangular flange that bolts to the chassis rail. I will have to estimate the bend required for the wings. I don't know if I will make the wings myself yet. It looks like it could be good fun but I think I need swaging rollers as they have a wired edge and a profile.

The perimeter of the bonnet is edged with 1/2"x1/4" convex brass. This was easy to purchase last time I wanted some but it seems that it is no longer manufactured in the UK. I spent some time phoning around and think I have found enough old stock to complete the job. I had to travel for work a couple of days this week and had family visiting for some the weekend so not the usual level of progress. However I did manage to pick up the new gear blank; turns out this had been finished for a while but they had failed to phone me and I had failed to chase them. In a cost saving exercise I have taken on the job of deburring and rounding the front of each tooth (this makes it easier to slide the gears into mesh). If I return the gear this week for hardening I should get it back soon. The box still needs quite a lot of work including new selector rods. In the spare minutes I have started shaping the laser cut profiles for the rear wing brackets.

The 1mm slot was at the request of the laser cutters. I don't think they actually do any manual programming so it probably has to be a closed area for the software to pick it up or something like that. However that makes me more confused about how the extra notch got there!

It looks like you guys have worked it all out whilst I was away! The original drawings state the bonnets were made from 18SWG planished steel so I went for 1.2mm CR4 steel. As you have worked out I had the slots cut by laser and the notches in the centre of each louvre are where the laser pierced the steel. I can't really see why they pierced them all in that position but I will ask if they can avoid it when I have another one cut. The only problem is these panels cost four pounds each and I need to reach a minimum order of 60 pounds. I either need to make 7 spare bonnets or draw some more parts up! This is the first time I have tried anything like this so I am no expert but I didn't use oil. I decided to have the slots cut as otherwise I would need a hardened tool and with the increased load required I would probably need a thicker piece of steel under the ram as well; not to mention that alignment of the parts of the tool would be critical. You will see there are four bolts keeping everything in line; these make sure the bonnet sides stay aligned as they slide through. I left a cut out in the top part of the tool so I could see the tool was lined up with the slot. Each slot was 1mm wide and I tried to line it up so I was half way across this slot each time. It was very helpful to have a glamorous assistant to hold the other end of the bonnet side. The bolt holes in the bottom two laser cut plates were made tight on the bolts but the top ones were slightly bigger and countersunk so they did not bind up on the bolts. Because the louvres are not on the centre line it all has to be assembled the other way round for the opposite side. The female part also has a (small) radius filed on it. This was also done by hand and is about a 1mm radius. I don't know for sure but I think a sharp edge might have cut the sheet steel instead of forming it. There are still many hours to go into the bonnet. The hinges are made from many strips of brass and there is a half round profile to be riveted all around the perimeter.

Working from the other end the tool worked perfectly. Unfortunately by this point the first bonnet side was scrap. So we proceeded with the other bonnet side. Which turned out well. Just need to get another blank laser cut out and repeat the process with the tooling assembled the other way round to make the opposite side. The other thing this week was to tack the selector gate parts together and try a first fit. It is nearly right but I can't quite get the lever over into the reverse position so it will require a little modification to the design.

Some of the laser cut parts were for making the bonnet louvre press tool. I filed the male part to shape as well as putting a small radius on the female edge. Then four bolts sort out the vertical alignment of the bonnet sides. I tried it out on a biscuit tin lid. The shape was right but the material was a little too flimsy resulting in crinkling. I was blindly confident this would not happen on the actual (and much thicker) bonnet I went to London yesterday to see the Regents Street motor show but on the way in popped in on the RCS Motor Club and borrowed their press as mine is slightly narrower than my bonnet sides. The first louvre was successful but the way I had made the tools each subsequent pressing got pushed over slightly by the radius on the prior louvre. By number three it was obvious I was too far out of alignment.

I have been advertising for White and Poppe parts again. I was contacted by a collector in Surrey saying he had a White and Poppe carburettor. He sent me photos and I was pleased to see it also had some other parts with it. I visited on Saturday and purchased it. It was certainly off a Dennis version of the W&P engine as it has the air shutter etc. only used by Dennis. In fact the pattern numbers for these parts have a D prefix rather than the A prefix on the W&P parts. The parts book describes an "aluminium case for exhaust" so I assume the inlet pipe connected to that and the shutter could be opened once the engine was warm. There are still many parts I need for the engine and think it is probably worth advertising in Australia and New Zealand but I am not really sure which publications I should approach. Whilst in the area I popped in on Seb Marshall who provided me with these silencer brackets: The top one is from my 1914 model and puts the silencer in the wrong place. When I put these ones in place they appear to line the silencer up perfectly with the other brackets on the chassis. Another unexpected surprise. Thanks Seb!

On Friday I collected another batch of laser cutting for a variety parts. Quite a bit of work associated with this lot.

The tie rod that secures the radiator back to the dash needs a clevis at each end. I cut four bits of 1" square steel to length (decided I would make them for the 1908 Dennis at the same time). Followed by scribing them up and cross drilling. Drilled a hole in the centre and tapped it 1/2BSF for the tie rod. Filed the radius on the end then milled the slot. And finally threaded them on a bolt and turned the diameter. Finally I gave them a coat of primer.

Here is a picture of the laser cut blanks for the bonnet catches before I started machining them. This shows the wear on the original king pins. So I started roughing some EN24T to size and drilled the grease hole with a very long drill. Still plenty of work to do before I have even one finished king pin.

The first job of the week was to turn up a tube so I could press out the remaining king pin bushes. The wear is so bad on one of the king pins that is would not make sense to turn them down. Making the new king pins and bushes will keep me busy for quite a few evenings. I then started on the final laser cut profiles from the last batch. These were for the bonnet catches; thanks for Steve for supplying the sketch! The profiles cost just over a pound each and required centre drilling at each end so I could put them on the lathe to make them round. I used an angle grinder to blend the various shapes into each other. A die was used to put the thread on. The ends were heated and bent over using this jig. After sawing to length I finished them off with a file. Followed by a quick blast and coat of primer. I had other commitments this weekend but I did pay for another batch of laser cutting so I need to clear the workbench ready for the next set of tasks.

These number plate brackets are some of the few parts remaining from the last batch of laser cutting. The bend needed to be too close to the end for my v-block so I ended up abusing a drill vice to bend them. I bent these brake guides in the same way but using the v-block. These are listed in the parts book and visible in photos but I did not have drawings. They are made from the witness marks on the chassis and scaling off the photos. The surviving Dennis fire engine (a very similar chassis) do not show any signs of these guides; I assume they are to stop the rods vibrating and the shorter rods on the fire engines do not have that problem. I also welded a few more laser cut parts together to make these radiator brackets. I still need to make the clevises and tie rod to fix it to the dash. Finally I did a few more drawings for the laser cutters to quote on.

The gear lever was set over further than the original could have been so I warmed it up and straightened it a little. The bore was also too big so I have made a reducing bush to take it down to 1". I milled a keyway in the selector shaft but have had to order some appropriate key steel. The spherical bush at the other end was missing the bronze sleeve so I turned one up and pressed it in. I have this operating lever from a different model but I think it is too long. I will have to wait to see if it can be adapted or if it is better to make another.

The whole lot was originally a casting but a lack of anything to copy, drawings or photos means I am fabricating it (in both sense of the word). I have been back from India for a week but managed to order some new thrust bearings and bronze for the king pins before leaving so they arrived whilst I was away. Severn Valley Railway finished riveting my front axle so I have been over to Bridgnorth to collect it. It has now had some paint.

The other part I made from the laser cut steel was the bonnet rest. The original drawing survives so that made the job fairly easy (although it was originally a casting). I started by tacking two profiles together. I had the flanges cut out along with one of the profiles (like an airfix kit). Then cut some of the strips off, cut them to length and tacked them on to the main profile. I left the bottom strip in place to prevent it from distorting as I fully welded it. Next job was to mark up the bulkhead for this and the side lamp brackets. After drilling I was able to try everything in place. That allowed me to measure up for the bonnet, another challenge for a later date. There will be no progress for the next week as work are sending me to a horrid part of India.

Thanks for all the useful input on piston ring gaps. Looks like they are OK, so we are getting closer to putting the engine back together . I started the week by taking a piece of cast iron bar and turning the bore and OD to suit the gudgeon pin retaining groove. Then parting it off. Then it just needed deburring and splitting with a hacksaw and it was ready to fit to the piston. My next batch of laser cutting has arrived so I tacked a few of the bits together for the gear selector gate/handbrake arrangement, turned a boss and welded that on. There is still some work to get the exact arrangement sorted and the remaining parts laser cut.

The rest of the week seems to have been spent on engine related jobs. Although I like to use as many original parts as possible I would also like to be able to tighten the water jacket tops enough that they will not leak so have decided to build up the cracked water jacket top to use as a pattern. I started by grinding back the braze, blasting and priming. On the inside I have built up the corroded areas with filler but still need to glue on some wood where the casting will need machining. I will probably also glue a strip of 1.5mm ply around the outside of the flange to account for shrinkage. I spent quite a while grinding in the valves. The exhaust valves are a little loose in the guides but I don't think I will go for new valves just yet. Many hours were spent freeing off the stuck piston rings. This was done with penetrating oil and gently wiggling the rings. I didn't break any so took the top ring off No.1 piston and tried it in the bore. The engine bore is 75mm and this piston ring end gap is 0.022". From the limited information I have managed to find it would seem like they would originally have been set at around 0.012" but what would be a sensible limit before replacement? I used a dial bore gauge to check the bores. At the worst point they barrel by 0.05mm which seems perfectly fine. Whilst messing with the pistons I noticed that the gudgeon pin retaining rings are actually deliberately in two halves (cut with a hacksaw) rather than broken in two. That still leaves me with one that is actually broken but that may have been done by the same mechanic that broke all the tappets.

As mentioned previously I am making the gear and brake lever set up from a later pattern set. The brake lever forging is essentially identical but would have pivoted on a 1" shaft rather than fitting to a 1.25" shaft with a pinch bolt and Woodruff key. As part of converting it I took a bar end of phosphor bronze I purchased at scrap value, turned the OD and bored it out to size. I didn't really have enough length to part it off so used a hacksaw before turning it around to face and chamfer the end. And then just put it in the lever.

I collected together all my spare Grover washers, blasted and primed them. My very expensive new Grover washers have arrived. I am still working on buying some from India but progress on this front is slow. When I blasted and painted the gearbox covers I did not do the output cover as I could not extract the speedometer drive. I finally freed it off so that is now blasted and primed. I left the drive gear and boss in oil for a few days before pressing the gear out. This points upward and was full of water when I collected the gearbox (and probably for the previous 50 years!). This has taken its toll on the end where the speedo connects which probably had a female square drive originally but has completed corroded away to nothing. I am just amazed the water never got past this and into the gearbox.

I put the transmission brake hub on the milling machine, lined up with the centre of the stud and drilled out to the tapping size of 1/2" BSF. I could then extract the spring of thread left behind and use a tap to clean up the threaded hole. The level tap for the gearbox had a broken off handle and was seized up. After freeing it up I drilled out the stub of the handle, worked out it was 0BA and then turned up a new one. Another part ready to use.

You are quite right to be concerned about this. I believe it probably is a hot forging but I do not know how the original was allowed to cool so by heating it up and allowing it to cool I have certainly annealed it to some extent in that area. It has quite a large cross section so I hope not to have massively effected the parts performance.

Despite having the Kermath engine to fall back on I am always on the look out for the correct White and Poppe engine or any parts for it. The main parts that are difficult to make are the missing crankcase, sump and crankshaft but also the cylinder block. Those of you that have been following the thread for a while will remember that I purchased three cylinder blocks some years ago at Beaulieu. Well this year there was another one. I just need to let it grow for a few years before it will be big enough to use in this lorry. Actually this cylinder block is from the second model of engine designed by W&P, 80mm bore and 90mm stroke but available in 1,2,3,4 or 6 cylinder variations. They then moved on to larger engines of the same type such as the 130mm stroke model used in this 1908 lorry. It was available in 90, 100, 110, 120 and 127mm bores. The first model of White and Poppe engine was the 80x85mm air cooled engine designed for motorcycle use. It was typically built into motorcycles by motor traders using BSA or Chater-Lea frame lugs. Many hundreds of these were produced and here is the one I am lucky enough to have found recently. Coventry transport museum hold some information on the 130mm stroke engine but the drawings are limited to fairly minor parts (such as the big end nuts). What this project really needs are further engine parts or drawings so I can get on with making the missing parts. I know it is a long shot but has anyone got anything?

One of the arms for the transmission brake mechanism was quite twisted. I warmed it up until it was glowing with an oxy-acetylene flame and used a 1" bar through the eye to twist it back to as close to the original alignment as I could check by eye. The rest of the week was taken up by a trip collecting more junk, Beaulieu autojumble and yet more painting.

The first job of the week was to split pin the rear hub nuts. I was going to fit the hub caps but still await delivery of some 3/8 Grover washers. I blasted the water jacket tops from the engine. This revealed that one of them has a crack running alongside the old braze repair. I might have a go at another braze repair but it is probably time for a new casting; especially as the geometry is fairly simple (the existing part could even be built up into the new pattern). I warmed up the transmission brake hub to remove the wasted away studs. The remaining one that was already sheared off will need to be drilled out.

The outer tube was actually done quite a few years back. My little brother works for a sheet metal company so he rolled the tube and mig welded the seam. Two completed for just the cost of the material; one left on the shelf for the 1908 project. Rolling is something I need so rarely I cannot justify the space in my small workshop. Perhaps it is something to look into if/when I build the next garage.