mazungumagic

I’ve been having some issues over the last couple of weeks, with the front lifting bracket on this BSF engine. These brackets were revised on the later UNF engines and ended up being bolted to the front of the head, whereas the BSF variety were attached to the water pump.

The BSF lifting brackets were a welded steel plate (UNF were cast) and I could not understand how they were attached to the block/head, in the absence of any boss in the head or block to accommodate them. I asked the ACOC for help and both Stuart and John combined to give me a picture of the BSF item attached to a motor. The pic wasn’t all that clear, but given a certain amount of natural cunning and the revelation when I looked at two water pumps, that the backing plate on the BSF pump was longer and had holes to accommodate my bracket, the penny dropped noisily. I had been using a UNF type backing plate on my BSF water pump and the bracket had nothing to hang on to !

All fixed now, though I had to take numerous items off the motor (again) to fit the new backing plate and lifting bracket. Glad now that I used a non hardening gasket goo.

All this success is beginning to be fun.

So with that done, the top pulley and fan belts on though not yet tensioned, the donk looks like this now –

After a little bit of tweaking, we managed to get the gearbox bolted up to the engine and decided that before dropping the engine into the body, we should test the thrust bearing lever to ensure it was doing its job of disengaging the clutch plate from the flywheel.

It wasn’t !

We removed the gearbox and tried to think of the reasons why this system was malfunctioning, but apart from the notion of a clutch plate glued to the flywheel (after two weeks - unlikely !), we couldn’t. So the gearbox went back on and the inspection plate was removed to see what was happening when the thrust bearing was supposed to be in action.

It was immediately obvious that the pressure plate fingers badly needed adjustment as the thrust bearing was about 25mm away from the face of the pressure plate boss. Off with the gearbox and we adjusted the pressure plate fingers equally to narrow the gap. Put everything back on and we now had a working clutch which disengages the gearbox from the engine when the clutch is depressed.

On then to the remainder of the painting which saw the underneath of the bonnet get three or four coats, together with the reverse side of the newly cleaned and straightened bumper bar

These bits will be left to dry for a few days and then mounted. At that stage we can then give the body another three or four top coats and that job will be done.

The rear mudguards have also been given a top coat, where they will be attached to the body. The remaining primed area will be top coated once they’re attached to the vehicle, when we do the final spray.

The windscreen frames (inner and outer) have been painted as have the numerous small bits which are part of the vehicle makeup.

During the week, I’ll rub back any area we primed today and do all I can to get the engine ready for a trial start next week. We want to ensure we have our oil, water and fuel connections tight, our oil pressure system is working and there are no foreign noises, just a good healthy RR purr.

G'day Mike,

Not sure that they wanted to charge more for this paint, but I am sure they wanted to charge a lot !

There's often a variety of solutions to any problem and I solve mine by mixing various paint colours, till I got what I think is fairly close to BS 101. That'll teach 'em.

ANZAC Day - not sure we have enough time left to get it to the start line, but we'll do our best.

Jack

Found we had a problem when it came time to install the oil filter. The BSF type is clearly different to the UNF engine type, as is all the plumbing and we found that the BSF filter's top housing, was broken. As we couldn’t use the UNF engine oil filter, I had to go looking for one and I would guess that they are rare. Nevertheless, one was located in a friend’s parts collection and subsequently bolted up along with its plumbing. There’s quite a bit of plumbing on the RH side of the engine, but most of that is now in situ.

The other side is less cluttered

I did a bit of detective work looking for the Eau-de-nil/Sky Blue/Duck Egg Blue paint that every B series engine needs and discovered it wasn’t cheap – around $45 for one small (210ml) spray can or $42 for one litre. So I mixed up some of my own and the result is a quite reasonable match, I think.

Rather than install the engine in the vehicle – we still have some bits to bolt on and its much easier to do that with the engine on the bench – we got stuck into the remaining pieces of nicely shaped sheet metal, ie the bonnet, grill and rear mudguards. The bottom of the lip was reinforced by a second strip of thicker metal and the original as well as the reinforcement, were welded together. After some trial and error, the result was quite acceptable.

…. and in the process re-created the gentle swell of the bonnet edge from cowl to grill. It looks much better than the near right angle of the lip caused by the tear in the lip metal.

Then finished off the welding, grinding and panel beating of the sheet metal, before being trial fitted and bent that little bit further, to match up to each other. After all was pronounced acceptable, the items were given a few coats of primer.

The rear mudguards have been trial fitted, but we didn’t complete the preparation process on these, so they’ll be primed later.

A little more work will be done on the motor out of session and that may reach the stage where it can be fitted into the engine bay prior to a trial run, to check we have oil pressure and that the many connections are tight.

Could anyone who has a BSF engined Champ, post a photo for me showing how the front lifting bracket is attached.

UNF engines have the (differently designed) lifting bracket bolted to the front of the head, but there is no scope to do that with BSF engines and I'm guessing that the bracket is bolted to the water pump, but would like to see how.

Thanks

Jack

Jerry,

Thanks for the help.

I've looked at a few sites about the paint and discovered various references to Eau-de-nil (Water of the Nile) as well as Sky Blue and Duck Egg Blue.

I called my usual paint shop yesterday but they couldn't find BS 101 (DEB) on their database. I will go back to them with the other number BS 381C 101 and find out if that registers a hit with them.

If nothing works, I'll use what I mixed up previously and used on the fan - you can see that in one of the more recent pictures.

Jack

Earlier in the week, I managed to get the radiator to a shop and have it pressure tested. The report was mostly good, but there was a slight leak around the pressure relief valve at 10psi, so I removed the valve, made a new gasket for it and bolted it down as tightly as 3/16th studs would let me ! I thought for a moment while I was undoing the nuts, that one had broken off, as both nut and stud started to turn. Thankfully it was just the stud twisting out of the thread in the valve housing. Nine o’clock and all’s well.

Before and after shots of the radiator –

The fan shroud has now been replaced with a new one from Champ Spares which proved relatively simple to bolt up to the shroud ring -

I was also able to instal the cam followers during the week and again noticed a difference between the 2A and 5A engine.

I was also obliged to replace one of the original 2A exhaust cam followers which had become a casualty somehow and decided I should replace them all with a set of good 5A types.

The first of the four floorboards, has now been completed and is in situ -

Today we got stuck into the engine bling and managed to bolt up 80% of it. Had several frustrating occasions when dealing with two sometimes very different, engines and realising that numerous parts are not interchangeable. However we achieved a fair bit, as I think the photos show. Clearly, I'm at the stage where I need to get a couple of cans of BS 101 (Duck Egg Blue).

and

The clutch is on and bolted in place – we used a spare input shaft to ensure the correct location of the driven plate, so the gearbox should slide on, like it was a matched pair ! We'll see.

Moved onto the engine today and after some false starts with a mixture of 2A and 5A engine parts – it’s surprising how different these engines are – we managed to get the fan on.

From there we moved onto the other end of the donk and the flywheel. Again the flywheels decided to be very different. Notice the fact that the Mk 2A/4 flywheel is in two parts while the Mk 5A wheel (on the left) is a single piece …

It took us a while to work out how the 2A/4 flywheel, ring gear, clutch driven plate and pressure plate all merged into one workable part, but once that was sorted out, it got bolted up to the crank with 12 bolts. Amazing that the designers decided they needed a dozen bolts to hold the flywheel to the crank !

Still need to find a spare input shaft to allow the driven plate to be aligned with the spigot bush/bearing, but I'll do that this week and finally tension the ring gear bolts.

With that all done and after having to make a locator/spacer for the flywheel because the shed fairies managed to pinch one, we tipped the engine up the right way and decided we should check the timing. We attempted to instal the drive shaft and distributor, but found that the drive shaft should have been installed into the engine, before the oil pump was attached.

Bugger !

That meant we had to invert the motor, remove the sump and then withdraw the oil pump, to drop in the distributor drive shaft. All that was finally done, though there was much time spent in getting the oil pump and drive shaft in the right posture, ie the drive shaft tang has to be parallel to the engine block, at TDC. Then it was a devil of a job with much cussing (nothing abnormal in a Champ restoration), to get the nuts onto the oil pump body and secure it to the block. It would be interesting to speak to the designers, to find out why they went out of their way to provide near impossible obstacles, for future restorers. Very character building !

But after all that and as the sun began to disappear over the yardarm, we got everything buttoned up again and the engine is more or less back to the same condition that it was, when we left last week.

The head has now been cleaned and is ready for the inlet valves to go in, while three out of the four exhaust valves are also in – the last one will have to wait till I get another cam follower – the original was found to have a piece missing from one of the side openings and can’t be used.

I’ve now also started on the refurbishment of the radiator. I blew out the finned areas with compressed air and almost expired with the amount of dust and grass seeds which emerged. I reckon I got three good sized dustpans full of the stuff for my efforts. Quite an astonishing and unexpected result. A section of the flat bar which is used to secure the fan shroud had come loose previously and was soldered on, but I was able to file all that off and weld the two corner sections together.

I'm now scraping off the paint and once that's done, I’ll take it to be pressure tested to ensure it’s serviceable.

More work has been done on the sheet metal, with the bonnet, rear mudguards and grill, now ready for panel beating and welding attention, before being primed and painted.

Rick,

Looming large !

At the moment, that is our timeframe - I would like to have it ready for that big day and it is still possible - we have about eight weeks of worktime available, so we'll see. I could always ask the RSL to delay ANZAC Day this year.

If we get the motor completed next week, I think we can do it, but there are numerous small tasks to finish and they take an inordinate amount of time - I may have to set up a stretcher.

Jack

Jerry,

Good to hear from you again and thanks for more of your reminiscences from the Crewe days.

I understand what you said about the sludge traps in the crank - we extracted a great deal of unwanted gloop from these drillings. I guess that the use of detergent oils had not yet made their mark when these machines were operated by the Army, but even these oils have been around for some time now, yet when the plugs were removed, the buildup of sludge in the drillings was very evident.

I did read about the nitride hardening in the Tech Description manual. The 2A crank has a much better look and feel about it, than the later type, but both appear near indestructible !

Next week, we'll get to the top end and just maybe, we'll set a few personal goals and finish that off too.

Jack

We got serious today with the engine and managed to get the bottom finished and buttoned down.

The first bit was the crank.

I took a pic of the two (2A and 5A) cranks for comparison and you’ll note like I did, that the RH one (5A) is comparatively poorly machined. We used the 2A variety in our BSF engine – it has been drilled out so weight has been saved and it does look like the better finished of the two.

After that we dropped in the pistons, attached the big ends and installed the cam shaft. Added the cam gear and oil pump, bolted on the sump extension and then the sump. So here it is in its coat of many colours ….

I also took a pic of the two different types of sumps fitted to these vehicles. The 2A sump is an aluminium casting, while the 5A variety is pressed tin.

There’s also quite a lot of difference between the 2A and 5A motors, inside the sump and around the oil pump. I guess it was the usual attempts at cost cutting, as the production numbers moved along the line.

The bonnet has now been completely cleaned to bare metal and while a bit of work still needs to be done to it, including some welding of tears and removal of dents, we fitted it to the body to check for alignment. Looks very good …

Scrubbing away at this piece of tin, has been hard work in temperatures of 40 degree Celsius, that we experienced today – thanks Brian - you'll be happy to know there’s more to come !

Finally, a little bit of concurrent activity is also progressing, on the floor boards. The RH front one is nearly mocked up, but needs the final front board to finish it off. Ignore the spacers ….

Added a few of the rear accessories during the week and managed to strip one of the captive nuts on the Rear RH “D” ring bracket. I had a look at the nut – there is a lot of bodywork there, but you can just make it out. Though I can recognise it, a fix will be hard. My options are I think, to tap the existing 3/8” thread out to 7/16”, or to weld a narrow piece of metal plate onto a 3/8th nut, threading it through the bodywork to the front end of the stuffed captive nut and trying to get a (longer) bolt through into the new nut.

So, what I did was to have a go at the easiest solution first ... and it worked. I tapped out the hole from 3/8” to 7/16” and managed to get the bolt tweaked up tightly. A bit of paint and in this area, no one will ever see it !

Then we started on the engine and specifically the crank. A Mk 2A crank is very different to the Mk 5A. Among other things, the journals are drilled out and fitted with plugs, presumably to save weight.

These little plugs are a bugger to get at and particularly to re-install owing to the fact that they have a split pin, which has to be mollycoddled into a very tight space.

Here is a shot of why the plugs should be removed. The amount of hard sludge we removed from the drilled spaces, shocked even the hardiest of us. Two of the oilways were completely blocked by hardened sludge and would surely have caused some grief, if left unattended.

Having misplaced one of the 3/16th BSF castellated nuts which holds each plug together, we decided that to minimise stress, we should all move forward with another task and the oil pump was selected as guinea pig. Regrettably this too created a drama, when the split circlip was misplaced/ignored and the whole kit and caboodle, put back without it. That meant that we couldn’t achieve any free play and had no idea why the free play disappeared all of a sudden. The exploded diagrams in the Manual are useless for such detail, but we later found that the split circlip was missing (it was later found on the floor). By then a general feeling of malaise and unfriendliness took over and we declared the day over.

This pic shows the (missing but found) split circlip on the oil pump shaft

Hopefully next week I will have located the missing 3/16” nut or found another somewhere and we’ll return to the rebuilding of the engine.

A couple of rear bits were attached which helped with morale …

Piston rings went onto the newly cleaned pistons – the top set of rings were found to be 0.020” oversize when we needed 0.010” over, but that was an easy fix with a file.

The bonnet has been stripped of paint and looks very good in its bare metal. Same story with the two rear guards… and I’ll finish off this week, with a shot of the newly lined clutch plate.

If I remember rightly the early B range engines had ally heads & used whitworth threads, UNF was on the later engines (also marked as such on the rocker box). Now I don't know if your engine was made at Crewe or was licence built by Austin. I seem to think it would have been a Crewe build, being early. The fact that the c/case appears to be undercoated with red oxide suggests Austin or a later rework as Crewe painted the c/cases using something called the SO treatment a sort of silvery finish (this almost indestructible paint included a baking process where the c/case was cooked in the black enamel ovens, it was a very good process in as much as any casting sand left inside the c/case was glued in with the paint). The final duck egg blue colour, as it was called in Crewe, was applied in the despatch dept.

 

Whilst I was an apprentice at R-R Crewe from '64 (up until I left in '91) I never saw a B40, although roughly 90 x B-range 6 & 8 cylinder engines were delivered a month, plus a small number of base overhauls were carried out every month in the Car Repair engine shop. Happy days.

 

Oh another thing - Crewe built engines utilized cast ally tappet chest covers & rocker boxes, Austin made them from pressed steel.

 

Keep up the good work. Jerry

Thanks for the comment and information, Jerry.

I had been meaning to put up this photo comparing the two distinct types of tappet covers, but now that you've mentioned it, here it is ..

The BSF cast aluminium type, is on the left.

The engine we are now working on, is one of the (Crewe built) early BSF types which, if I read the Engine History segment on the Champ Owners Club site correctly, would have been initially painted black. It would have been re-painted the Duck Egg Blue shade, when it was serviced.

Perhaps the reason you may not have seen a B40 motor while you were at Crewe Jerry, is that by 1964, most Champs would have been out of service ? Those that were still with the colours may have been in TA hands and would have been relatively few in number - maybe Austin was able to carry out any servicing on them.

Appreciate the first hand information

Jack

We've been using an industrial primer on the body to date, which needs significant elbow grease to rub down to a smooth finish for the top coats. It is a very hard paint and will provide an excellent base for the top coat. Anyway, after a day of sanding back the primer, and with a few finishing touches by the "Master', all was judged to be good enough for the top coat to be applied.

We were able to apply three coats, which left a beaut sheen on the body and thought that’d be enough for one day – we’ll apply a further coat of two, to the whole surface (interior and exterior), in a couple of weeks

Looks very good in the photos, but even better in the workshop ! The vehicle is now back on its tyres and I’ll be able to bolt on a few of the external items during the week.

We also began work on the bonnet and the rear mudguards today. I was able to get a reasonably good bonnet without dents, from a friend. It needs a couple of minor welds, where the metal has torn along the bottom, but is in very good shape overall.

We flushed out the water passages in the motor today, which brought out a surprising amount of gunk and then began the refurbishment of the motor, with some valve seat surfacing. The block seems to have a fairly level top, which doesn’t need planing, but we’ve not yet inspected the head surface – it’s an aluminium head, so we could be in for a surprise there.

The thrust bearing, cross shaft and front seal housing was removed from the gearbox. Some hard yakka was required to remove the two cross shaft cotter pins. It was only then that I found the seal I had bought for the front housing was too small and will have to be replaced. So quite a few steps forward today, with only one minor set back.

We were also able to rivet the new clutch facings to the clutch driven plate, with the aid of a small rivetting tool, borrowed from the same friend who provided the bonnet.

One more step along the way !

Next week and probably the one after, we’ll spend on the engine and hopefully get that to the stage where we can bolt it to the gearbox and install.

The Champ was transformed today from a variety of colours – mainly rust or body filler – to an adorable shade of gray (primer). We tried our best to shield the previously painted areas from the ravages of the primer painter, but it didn’t work and we will probably have to top coat the complete vehicle, as the final stage in this painting exercise. No doubt it will help to have a number of coats deepening the finish.

Also went to work on the gearbox and gave it a rinse with mineral turps to remove the crud from working parts. We also wanted to get the thrust bearing out to make sure that was clean and taskworthy.

It was significantly gunked up, but with the removal of a circlip and a few hearty blows on the bearing, everything came apart and was thoroughly washed. After being packed with grease, the whole ensemble went back together and is ready for use.

The rear seal housing on the gearbox, was also removed as I wanted to replace these seals. I think we were all astonished at the dimensions of the rear bearing. Clearly size did count to the designers and this component is one of many which is unlikely to wear out before the next millennium. It reminded me of the line from "Kenny" after our hero had inspected the inside of a large septic tank - "there's a smell in there that'll outlast religion".

I also mentioned previously, that the brake lines were now complete. To round off that aspect of the restoration, here’s a shot of the master cylinder and a little bit of the tubing. The hole in the floor, through which the (copper) tube from reservoir to master cylinder passes, had been masked by a new sheet of steel replacing a rusted portion, so I was momentarily confused, in regard to how that pipe was routed. Once I noticed the remnants of the hole in the jacking plate, the puzzle was shortlived.

Next week will see a lot of primer sanding, followed by an application or two of the top coat.

After that, I think the last remaining major project will be to pretty up the engine and install.

Some big days on the way.

Thanks anyway, Martyn. I'll see if I can obtain a copy of the CMV magazine for Aug 12.

GWT - appreciate a look at one of the Ts. I see this also has the shamrock emblem. It may also be just the mud, but the tyres (particularly the front RH) look to be wider than usual.

Jack

I got a ride in one of the Model Ts at War and Peace last year. It was amazing they just glided through all the war and peace mud with no problem at all

Interesting, Martyn.

Did you get any photos of these Ts ? I'd like to see them if you did.

Jack

This was one of those days where you spend eight or so hours at a variety of tasks, with not much at the end of the day to show for it.

Nonetheless we managed to complete some tasks which are very necessary for the next few steps.

We finished stripping the block, including the exhaust lifters which were found to be in perfect shape fortunately (the ones on the Mk 5A block were badly pitted)

… and washed all the muck off the engine block and gearbox. There was a suspicious amount of oily dirt covering the motor but I think this came from a very loose joint between sump, the extension and the block itself.

I think that the only parts I need to get before re-assembling the motor, is a set of piston rings and they are I hope, on their way. Interestingly, I found that there are Standard thickness rings and Thick rings. Didn’t know that till now but as usual, found that I had a set of new Thick rings, when I needed Standard.

The sides of the vehicle have now seen an application of body filler and have been rubbed down. It is just the rear which now needs attention and that will happen next week. After which, we’ll be able to prime and shortly thereafter, lay on the top coat. That'll be a big day, which should see the cosmetics completed !

Found another difference between the 2A/4 and 5A engines – the bell housing on the 2A/4 has a detachable inspection hatch, while the 5A is cast in one piece.

Did a little bit of homework over the weekend and concentrated on refurbishing the fuel ytank guard.

It was initially like this....

... so I removed the rusted channel by drilling out 36 spot welds and replaced the channel with angle iron.

I've got a little more work to do on the guard to remove some rust areas on the sheet metal, but that's far less tedious.

We are also working on the BSF motor (1537) and have just got the exhaust valves to remove as well as the fan hub. The first one we removed (fan hub that is) on the other (Mk5A) motor proved a struggle, but a large set of pullers finally overcame all resistance.

I am noting more differences in design and build of these motors, ie Mk 2A/4 and Mk 5A. I'll post up a couple shortly.

Master cylinder is now complete and hanging on the underside of the vehicle - just got a few more brake lines to make and instal and that job's done.

Both the Aussies and the Canadians had full auto SLRs. The FN FAL is the original concept that many other nations modified to fit their own requirements. The Aussies and the Brits had the L1, ....

Chris,

The Australian Army used the L1A1 which was the semi automatic variant, not the full auto FAL.

The weapon was similar in almost all aspects to the British equivalent, though it was produced locally in Lithgow NSW.

Within corps other than Infantry, the L2A1 which was the heavy barrel version of the SLR, was occasionally available. Regular Infantry units had the far more capable GPMG M60.

Jack

Spent the day, applying body filler to the RH side and a little on the left. This is the area where we were obliged to weld in new panels after cutting out the rust and the finished product needed a little cosmetic assistance.

A second engine (Mk 2A/4 #1531) was delivered today and we began the disassembly process to see if this engine is better or worse than the original we’ve already disassembled. There’s really not a great deal wrong with the first engine (Mk 5A #3097), but there’s no harm in just looking.

This engine produced one broken piston ring, which may be caused by the bi chrome upper cylinder liner wearing at a slower rate than the bottom 2/3rds – it’s a theory and I don’t know if it is a contributing factor (we also had broken rings in the first (Mk 5A) motor. You can certainly see the join and (just) feel the slight evidence of wear between the two surfaces.

The first motor also had a broken piston ring but in addition, had enlarged ring grooves. It is looking like we will be using the Mk 2A/4 engine. I was surprised that the head which we removed yesterday, came off easily - I had read that these are aluminium and thought the head may have grown onto the studs, but it wasn't so.

I was also given a body data holder/bracket yesterday, so if we do finish up going with the earlier Mk2A/4 motor, this addition will be very appropriate.

I took the master cylinder into a brake shop today and had the M/C sleeved with stainless steel, so that is now ready for installation and I also bolted up the switchboard, the first of the electrical components to go back in.

Steve,

I wish I could point to some conclusive proof of the colour, but I can't.

There are various shades of grey in the black and white photos I've seen, but there's no evidence of colour either way and the differences could simply be dust or mud.

The only pointer I have is the water colour which you may have seen of a Model T Light Car, from what I've been told is the 16th Irish Division, ie

I was also advised that the 16th Irish was never deployed to the desert, so this water colour painting might well be regarded as more fanciful than conclusive.

All the best in your quest and if you find anything, I would very much like to be told - preferably before I paint my Model T !!

Jack

Send me your email address and I'll send you some photos. I'd rather not post them on a public forum until I actually own the vehicle.

Understand.

PM sent

Jack

"Restoration would be cosmetic more than anything."

Lucky cowboy - I'd very much like to see a photo.

Is it one of the 400 used by the Australian Army ?

Jack

I'd think very carefully about getting into a Champ restoration, unless

a. you can find a vehicle with few flaws (bon chance, mon ami),

b. you've got good trade skills, or

c. like me, you have a small group of willing helpers to take some of the load and brighten each day !

The Champ is a comparatively complex vehicle and will test your skills both during and after restoration, but it is rare and that's a plus.

Jack

Simon,

85% of the Champ wiring seems to be the 4mm type. I can't recall having seen anything smaller than that. There is some heavy duty wiring though - about 8 B&S I think from memory. When you find that heavier stuff, take it to an auto electrician and have him match it or tell you what to order. the wiring is very simple to copy - the labelling is or can be, more problematic.

I used new wiring on my instrument panel - as I say it is very simple to copy the lengths and follow both the wiring diagram and the original wires. Everything inside the two sections of the instrument panels, is well marked so it's difficult to go wrong there.

Good to see you have your Champ now - pictures ??

Jack