Tony Lawrence

Disconnect the horn wire from the junction block and rewire it to the new horn button (a pre-war car horn button ) positioned on the dash to the L/H side of the steering column. This is where I found the mounting screw holes on my ex-airborne jeep. The contacts within the steering shaft/tube are redundant with the fitting of the quick release wheel and so it is a simple circuit with the horn button making and breaking the circuit. These images are not of my jeep but illustrate the switch and position.

Having a discussion in the pub last night and somebody asked why the Americans, who work in Imperial measurements use metric for artillery, i.e. 37mm, 75mm, 76mm, 90mm, etc. There must be some obvious explanation but nobody could think of it.

It's a workshop, not a laboratory!!

I am trying to but all this dismantling engines and compressors is new territory for me. Further fiddling with the engine provided a bit of a mystery in that although the engine had been painted grey overall with red bits and pieces, the engine block has a bright green as a base coat and the sump has a bright blue as it's base whilst the base colour of the valve cover and some pulleys is army green - goodness knows what the story behind them is. The petrol pump is cleaned and reassembled after a heart stopping moment when I dropped one of the non-return valve hairsprings on the floor - luckily after about ten minutes of prayers and swears I found it.

Onwards and slowly upwards. The governor is now back together and the engine has been attacked. The water pump came off with no difficulty and has now been cleaned up ready for it's repaint. Interestingly there was no trace of green, only light grey which adds to the supposition that many of the parts were reconditioned during it's service life. The pulley is red on the outer face but natural metal on the inner. I also turned the engine on it's side and removed the sump and petrol pump. The lower engine appears fine but the petrol pump is seized and has been left on the bench for another day - obviously the engine has not been run for some time!. the final act of the day was to beg Mr. Corden to bring his mega sockets to enable me to remove the crankshaft pulley as the starting handle nut holding it on is bigger than anything I have and could only be worked on with a socket.

Hi Ian, It looks similar - I would certainly be interested. Please could you PM me regarding a deal. Tony

I finally plucked up courage to dismantle the engine governor. It appears to be a post-war unit in that the barrel was painted grey with a natural metal or anodised end which contains the governing spring and is protected by the rubberised plastic cone shaped cover. The barrel contains a pair of brass 'wing' and a ball race in an oil bath with the main shaft passing through them into the anodised end that contains a heavy spring and throttle operating shaft. It seems over complicated compared to John's governor on his welding trailer that is essentially doing the same job. There is also a secondary governor that appears to be operated by air pressure controlled by the compressor. I have now freed this and it is simply a pressure operated shaft and seal that will move the throttle lever independently of the engine governor. I assume therefore that the engine governor keeps the engine at the constant rpm and it can be over ridden by the compressor to reduce the engine revs when the air tank is up to pressure. I somehow don't think that I will try this!

The next step in the saga....I took the fuel gauge out of the tank and well and truly cleaned it and re-assembled it. The tank is now in situ and I then cleaned the radiator inlet and outlet pipes. It is surprising what a brass wire wheel and Brasso can do. Then there was no excuse but to fiddle with the engine. I found that two bolts holding the governor to a bracket on the cylinder head also acted as the belt adjuster, so I loosened them and then used a gear puller to remove the pulley so that I could remove the bolts. With the governor on the workbench I undid three screws that appeared to hold the two major parts of the governor together. Pulling the two halves apart exposed an very clean set of workings bathed in oil along with a sealed 'something. I hastily re-assembled the two halves and then removed the plastic cover on the end of the governor which exposed a large spring. Cleaning the manufacturers plate gave the details that the engine is governed to 1526 rpm. I have now decided to leave it for today as it is obviously completely different to the governor on John's Murex welding trailer and I hope that someone out there (Richard?) can come up with some info. The lever that is attached to a shaft from the governor and to the throttle linkage appears to have a stop bolt that may be part of a second regulating system in that the stop bolt is at the end of a cylinder from which a pipe is attached to the pilot valve of the compressor. I think that I am getting out of my depth!!

It looks like an early 10cwt/mortar trailer chassis but with the drop board on the rear as seen in one or two examples in the 10cwt trailer thread. Like my mortar trailer originally had it has the early round barrelled hitch and lifting handles welded to the chassis and a continuous wooden strake around the top of the sides. There appear to be no holes where any mudguard brackets should be fitted to the middle two side uprights and definitely non-standard side stand brackets. As Ian said it should have 6 stud wheels as these are certainly not original. Most interesting, it probably has been b******'d about with in it's Belgian army service but it is certainly a good basis for restoration. Are there any manufactures plates?

Another bit of fiddling around trying to re-assemble the radiator. I am sure that it was designed by Heath Robinson. It consists of the radiator that also acts as an oil cooler. The fan is belt driven from the nearby engine via a riveted belt as the belt cannot be removed from the frame holding the fan. The fan frame has a shroud bolted to it and a protective grill is bolted to the shroud. This fan frame also acts as a support frame for the radiator so that the radiator sits in the frame supported by leather pads at each corner. The whole assembly is then bolted to the trailer chassis by two large bolts. Therefore in order to repair a radiator the whole assembly must be removed and twelve small bolts undone which is difficult as you can only get to one end....follow me? To cap it all, the fan assembly must be fitted first, followed by the radiator and then the shroud followed by the grill and finally the whole is clamped together by the top frame. To think that a jeep radiator can be removed by undoing two bolts!! Yet again I apologize for fuzzy photos - whether it is the light or me shaking I will leave to the experts

The correct terminology helps - in the past I have always called them fan belts. I found http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=4601_4790_4735 who stock a vast range of V-belts, bearings, etc. useful for the future as well and I have ordered a Continental belt 1321 x 22 x 14mm.

Has anybody any idea where to get a fan belt 1330mm x 19mm width and 13mm depth? These are the dimensions of the tatty belt on the Austin 10 engine. It is not a normal Austin 10 belt as it has to go around the crank pulley, water pump pulley and governor pulley on top of the engine. Alderton Austin have sent me a 1270 mm length one but seemed surprised by the length of my existing one.

Apparently this was pulled out in the last day or so in Poland It looks in superb condition

I've started to clean up the main engine radiator and have definitely established that the original paint was green and at a later date a coat of duck egg blue/eau-de-nil was carefully applied (presumably after the war) but I do wonder why go to the effort? The radiator header and bottom tanks are brass. I am going to paint the radiator matrix matt black and the rest will be green but I think that this will be the same with the engine...under the neat grey paint with red attachments will be green. I also made up a trailer lead storage plug from the original tandem tow connector that I replaced. The holes were there on the chassis so it seemed that they needed using! However I forgot that the reinforcing plates that were put on when we repaired the chassis were directly behind these holes. Three drill bits later the holes were finished and the storage plug fitted.

Do auction houses have to abide by the Trade Descriptions Act "[h=4]Condition Report or Notes[/h] The Willys Army Jeep was manufactured from 1941 to 1945 and is considered the iconic World War II Jeep and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. With America enduring difficult economic times, the U.S. Army instigated a program to modernise its fleet with a 'general purpose, personnel or cargo carrier' especially adaptable for reconnaissance or command and designated as a ¼-tonne, 4x4 truck. The Ford Motor Company, the American Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland Motors all competed for the government contract and American Bantam were the initial winners of the bid. However, the U.S. government were keen on standardisation and Willys' production capacity eventually won them the contract. Towards the end of 1941, Willys' facilities couldn't keep up with demand so Ford were contracted to produce the Jeep under licence in addition through to the end of World War II. From 1942-45, Willys produced over 360,000 Jeeps and parts used on Willys' MB Jeeps and Ford GPW Jeeps are completely interchangeable mechanically. As the war progressed Willys produced over 300,000 Jeeps. Ford were drafted in to boost production and contributed over 250,000 units. Ford Jeeps were recognisable by their pressed steel grilles as opposed to the Willys slat grille style. 58 EPK is a must see at the sale. The standard of the restoration is quite superb for which there is a supporting photographic record. There are MOT certificates that date back to 1995 and most importantly the vehicle still retains the original cardboard registration book. The vendor has been told by military enthusiasts that this vehicle is considered to be one of the best in the country and it is hard to argue. The trailer has also been restored to a similar standard; it still bears the original manufacturers plate and also a repair plate dated 1945 from Sacramento California. Considering how the Jeep was conceived and its role in warfare, it is remarkable that some of the finest classic car collections will always include a Willys or Ford WWII Jeep making the restored example offered here a candidate for serious consideration should one of these cars appeal to you. It is offered here with a V5c, an old style V5 and an MOT certificate." I always wondered how to tell a Ford from a Willys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't wait to fit it!! Here is the trailer with compressor fitted. Next stage is complete Austin 10 engine strip down and rebuild. What fun!

My friend has come up trumps with repairing the errant pilot valve. He found a fraction of thread left if he took off the fibre washer and so screwed the adaptor in along with some liquid steel, waited 48 hours for it to cure and drilled a hole to insert a steel pin through the alloy casing and adaptor. He then placed an aluminium collar (press fit) to act as a brace. It is now ready for fitting but I will never have it up to any high pressure. It is also inline with the engine governor but as that is seized at the moment it will be another chapter in the saga!!

Simon, I have just found some single filament, two pin bulbs on e-bay eBay Order Confirmed: 10 x 6V 21W 319 BA15D 6 VOLT MOTORBIKE MOTORCYCLE SCOOTER CLASSIC CAR BULBS I am going to use Johns wiring diagram but instead of the convoy light (not fitted) I will substitute the tandem tow lucas socket

I took the head plates off to check the valves - they both seem very clean. The outlet valve has a spring whereas the inlet has a bronze 'claw'. I haven't a clue if something is missing or not. On another subject, I am renewing the wiring. The original was in pieces and so I am using a NOS rear socket and two NOS tail lights. These lights came with 12v tail/stop bulbs which I am changing to 6v but obviously they are still 2 pin and the input from the towing vehicle is for tail light only. I have drawn what I think the circuitry should be but no doubt one of the electrical experts can tell me if I am correct or not.

The alloy is cracking - the same thing happens to old clockwork train cast wheels and old Dinky toys. Colloquially known as metal disease. My friend Derek (who helps me with the Norton) has taken it in hand and I should be collecting it next week. Helicoils are OK if you can find one to fit the thread and even Rose Autos in Crawley drew a blank - it is a weird thread.

Richard, It does turn over by hand but then the air tank is not connected yet as well as the pipes to this b****** valve so there presumably should be no resistance. I have not taken the piston out but had the two head plates off to put some WD 40 down the piston bore to help free it. That, and WD40 over the crank shaft and con rod bearings made it quite free. I don't think that I am going into the driveway business using pressure tools with this one (sorry David!) as I have seen a film of an exploding air tank and this one was last tested in 1971 according to the stampings on the tank.

Thanks guys for your input - Richards picture is exactly what I have. At the moment we are trying our 'bodge' repair which hopefully I can put inline in due course and, as long as it is not closed, the pressure will not build up but at least I can have the unit running although presumably not have the air pressure controlling the governor. Still a long way to go as I have not even started on the engine.

Richard, mine may be the odd one out as it protrudes through the roof and whereas the radiator cap hole is flanged this hole is just cut with no edging and so may be a later modification. Even so, why the different attachment points?

While twiddling my thumbs waiting for the weekend my thoughts turned to the missing data plate. The basic trailer chassis were made by one of the trailer manufacturers and then sent to H.E. Nunn of Manchester for completion with the Austin 10 engine and Holman A.T.8 two stage compressor. Looking at the 1949 Chilwell ID list for 2-wheeled Lightweight trailers which includes circular saw, welding and compressor amongst others I see that mine is a Mk2 as opposed to a Mk3 (single piece brake rods whereas the Mk3 have articulated brake rods). The contract numbers in this publication are shown for the Mk2 as 23/4078, 23/5246 and 23/6069. The Mk3 is 23/7945. In Rob van Meel's reprint of the Chilwell 'B' vehicle WD number book, the contract 23/4078 is Brockhouse allocated to 'trailer 10cwt 2wh various types', contract 23/5246 is allocated to 'trailer 2wh various' and contract 23/6068 (presumably a misprint) to 'trailer 10cwt 2wh Lightweight (various)'. I have therefore decided to make up my plate as contract 23/6069 with a WD number between X5827569 and X5827857. The only compressor plate I have seen is engraved brass (actually just post-war for an Orme Evans trailer, shown in Chilwell as a Mk3). The other puzzle I have relates to my disintegrating pressure relief valve. I have seen photos of three different compressor trailers (plus mine) and all seem to have a different pipe arrangement. Mine is inline between the compressor cylinder head and the engine governor with another pipe going to the air tank - see previous photos in this thread. Another trailer has this valve attached to the plate above the oil dipstick and another has none, Does anybody have any idea about it's function? It would be nice to have some feedback as I feel at the moment as though I am in the country of the blind and I am the one eyed man!

I seem to have a problem here - the alloy body of the valve is crazing and although the valve can be repaired by putting some plastic metal into the stripped hole and threading the adaptor into it, followed by wrapping a thin metal band around the body and securing by putting a stainless metal pin through the band, body and adaptor it will obviously not be safe to put under pressure. Does anybody know where I can obtain a replacement unit that would enable me to use the compressor under pressure/ This unit (or something similar) is needed when the unit is started. It allows the engine to turn over the compressor with little load and when the whole set up is in motion the valve is closed to allow the build up of air pressure.