Old Bill

Hi Bill. What fun! What do you wish to do with it? Do you just need a nut or a stud or what? It is a nice size to screw cut and I would be surprised if you wanted more than one! Steve

The radiator pattern making continues with the bottom tank. As you can see, this is extremely poorly as well. When you say that something is patched up, this one really is! I decided that the split line should be through the centre line of the bosses and so cut the main blocks and flange and also some prints for the water flanges. As the end bosses are also split, I screwed two blocks of wood together before turning them in the trusty Myford. I have a very nice wood turning lathe but I am not very good at it so for accuracy, I use the Myford! This is how the assembly should look. There are webs beneath the bosses so I have attached them to one side only and rebated beneath. The moulder will have to brush the sand out of the rebate when he does the second half. Gusset cut to profile. To create the inside requires a big core so I glued up some timber for the print. All laid in place and looking promising. However, I still have this feature and it has been perplexing me for weeks. Whoever drew it certainly didn't think of the poor guy who had to make it! I could leave it off and still have a functioning radiator but it wouldn't be right. The trouble is that I can't read the casting to see how it was done. Normally, I can but this one is a puzzle. Well, it is going to have to be done with a core so I have made up some blocks as prints. I am working on the core box now and will let you know how I get on. I shall be glad to see the back of this one! Steve 🙂

Generally speaking, they should be the colour of a good, fresh cow-pat.....

The blue would not have been original to the Locomobile although it might be to the body. The only Locomobiles to carry bus bodies were fitted with redundant B-type bodies when more troop transport was needed later in the war. The only correct colour for the combination would therefore be khaki-green! Steve

There is also this one of course at the Caister Castle Motor Museum. A scrap man called Goodey put the bus body into a lorry chassis in the 1960's and it has appeared in a number of films including 'Oh What a Lovely War'. The poor old thing has been left outside like this for some years and is not doing well when you look closely. It is a very strange museum as you are absolutely forbidden to take photographs. Someone has sneaked this one when they weren't looking. Hopefully, someone will give it some love one day. Steve.

My progress is becoming glacial which is very frustrating. However, the 5/16" UNS tap and die turned up from China this week so I have made up four replacement spindles for the bonnet catches. There are now eight completed catches in stock for the two lorries when the time comes. I continue to press on with the Dennis radiator pattern but there is nothing of interest to show for the time being. I would like to finish it before Christmas though. Cheers! Steve

Thanks Andy. It is great to see progress being made. Being locked down near your vehicle makes all the difference! Looking forward to seeing the progress. Steve 👍

Well, my planned visit has been kyboshed by the lockdown again. I have had a box of bonnet catches on my bench for some time requiring work so I have picked them up again. The Peerless has a somewhat fancy bonnet catch that I have seen nowhere else. Dad had a rummage through the stores and came up with a few more. We will need eight altogether. Once the bodies were cleaned up, Father painted them and turned some new spindles with UNF threads. I then slotted them. As we need eight catches for the two lorries, we decided to take some of the graft out of the job and get some new handles laser profiled. it was deemed worthwhile to order a couple of spares at the same time. I silver soldered some lumps on so that I had something to file back. Filing each one did become a bit tedious after a while at two hours apiece! Then, what do you know but Dad found some more! A bit of heat and gentle persuasion got them apart but, as you can see, the springs and spindles were completely shot. Well, we always like using original bits but I find that these have the dreaded UNS threads inside them so I must turn up some more spindles, Even getting a die has proven difficult and I am awaiting one from China at the moment. In the mean time, I have wound some new springs using my home-made spring winder. This works well but I usually need to practice a few times before I get the springs just right. This time, I was short of wire and had nothing spare to practice with. This is my progress, from left to right. The first two, the pitch was too small. Once adjusted, I had one too many coils. This was remedied by putting some coloured tape on the chuck so that I could count revolutions more easily. After that, they more or less settled down. Finally, some primer on everything to date. These three, I filed and the fourth has an original spindle so I have a set ready to fit. Not exactly urgent but another job ticked off the list. I am running out of bits now and really need a trip to see the thing again. Roll on Christmas! Steve 🙂

I do hope so! Steve

Hi Al. As you can see from the earlier pics, the lorry was fully functional. When Dad rebuilt the radiator, he replaced the sides by using the originals as patterns with some bits glued on to give a machining allowance and replace the broken bits. These are still fine. We are also fortunate in that the original core is in wonderful condition and needed only a few of the gills straightening out when he first did it. However, the aluminium tanks have corroded right away and, although we got a few years out of them, have now had it completely beyond repair. Hence the need for new ones. I am not much of a woodworker and have not done anything as complex as this before but one has to have a go. Our Thornycroft has a complete new radiator but for that one, I bought a share in the pattern that was professionally made for Hampshire Museums Service. That pattern has produced at least six sets of castings which are now scattered around the country. I had the gills made by a radiator repair company and threaded them on the tubes myself before returning them to be soldered into the tube plates. Unfortunately, they have stopped doing that sort of thing so I will have to look somewhere else for the next lot. If you take a look through the Thornycroft thread, you will find the whole story in there. Steve 🙂

I am not much of a wood worker and was getting a bit fed up with it so I gave it a break and did some other things. However, the feeling has come upon me again and it is time it was finished off. I took it to see a pal who has much more experience of this kind of work than I and he made a couple of points. One was that he didn't think the badge would draw very well, particularly around the points in the letter 'N'. I therefore applied some wax fillet around all of the letters. This comes in strips and, if it is warm enough, simply pushes into place using the ball tool. It took some patience but worked well. I put some filler in the letter 'N' and then dressed it off afterwards, tapering it upwards to the end of the points. We also had some discussion about the internal baffle feature. he didn't think it would work very well as there is no key to align the core so I took the wedge out and made up a removable piece of wood and another core box for a pice that could be dropped into the hole. The upper piece is screwed into big core box with wing nuts and the lower part is the box for the piece of sand that drops in. The original, non-located core box, now needed some adjustment. A couple of coats of Bondaprime. Ready for the foundry! I had planned to take it to Devon this weekend but have been kyboshed, unfortunately. Next trip down will be anybody's guess. Oh well. I can start on the bottom tank pattern now. Steve 🙂

No. I think there is a flat strip soldered into the bottom with the end turned up and a hole through it for the spring to hook through. You can just see the outline through the gauze in the pic.

Now that you mention it, I think that bracket must do that. I couldn't fathom it out and didn't make one but the spring does hold the lid in the way whilst pouring oil in so it would be good to have a stowage position. This is the filler on the original lorry at Carlton Colville.

Nice find, Tomo! By the way, the lid is held on with a spring rather than just a chain as the air movement blows it off altogether. I need to fit a stronger spring to ours! Steve

You are very kind. I am only sorry that we aren't progressing faster. Dad is keeping it all going but my contributions have been a bit lacking. I really need to keep looking at the thing and handling bits to plan the next move but have been keeping away. You may recall that the last time I went down, we assembled some of the brakes and the brake shoes. The shoes are held together by two springs on a rod and have to be compressed to be able to fit them. I did try squeezing them up in the vice and wrapping a cable tie around but I couldn't make it work so I have made a spring lifter. I found a couple of bits of steel in the drawer. I bored a rebate in the ends to suit the springs. A couple of bits of 3/8" square bar and a rivet made the hinge with a set screw between the two to jack them apart. Next time I go down, I will be able to finish the job and it can go in the 'special tools' box. A minor step forward anyway. Steve

Thanks Alastair. That is a nice project. Don't worry about thread hijacking. I think of this forum as a bunch of mates in the pub sitting around a table talking about a common interest. It is always nice to see what everyone else is up to. My Peerless activities have been severely hampered by this Covid busines. I need to spend much more time in Devon but have curtailed my travelling. It is such a pain being 200 miles from one's project! Steve

That's what friends are for and why I like this forum so much! We need a picture of the vehicle now! Steve 😀

Think I might struggle with that one and would probably end up making a tap instead! Nice job! Steve

You are too kind, Ed. We only do it for the fun of it and the friends we make around the world. Steve

Nice job! Steve

Can't leave Dad to have all the fun! Now that the front wheels are on along with the track rod, king pins and stub axles, the king pins need some greasers. We are fortunate to have the remains of three but, of course, we will eventually need four. They screw into the top of the king pin and , when the knob is turned, a piston is driven downwards expelling the grease and pushing it down the hole in the king pin. I took them apart for a clean and to assess what parts were missing. This was the most complete example having both the knob and locking clip. We have two pistons which have leather seals. The internal springs have ends bent so that they locate inside the cylinder and in the top of the piston to stop it rotating as the knob is turned. For a bit of light relief, I filed up the three missing clips. The fourth knob was next. A rummage in the stock drawer found alump of brass which would just do with a bit of judicious hole-dodging. Roughed out and with filing guides bolted on. An hour or two with a file and emery paper and there is a respectable replacement. Of the three centre spindles that we have, one is wobbly in the knob and has a poor thread. As usual, the thread was a UNS example but this time left handed! I don't have a die for that as you might expect. However, 3/8 UNS has 18 tpi but 3/8" Whit has 16. I opted to make the two replacements with 3/8" LH BSW threads. Well, there is a limit! We are missing two pistons. They were a simple turning job with a LH thread in the middle. I have used O-rings instead of leather washers and I am sure they will be fine. First complete original cleaned up and reassembled. We have only three original cases so I had to turn up the fourth. A rummage in the stock drawer turned up a 3 1/2" length of 3" brass bar. I have no idea where it came from but it was absolutely just right for the job. Lots and lots and lots of swarf with a bit of knurling thrown in. The excitement of parting off without damaging it. The slot for the locking clip. Pinning the knob to the spindle. I turned up a pin and tapped it into the hole before peining the ends over and dressing off. Nearly there now but still missing a spring for the new one. I wound this on a tapered mandrel. Unfortunately, I didn't allow enough for the spring to relax at the small end as it moved more there, reducing the net taper. Not quite perfect but I think it will do the job. Final assembly. The final three cleaned up and assembled. The fourth one is already on the lorry! It is amazing how long these silly little bits take. Fortunately, the remaining greasers are a lot simpler which is good news as there are dozens of them of a special Peerless pattern! Steve

I have just had a nice weekend in Devon where we did a little more. The 1 3/16" x 12 tpi tap and die had turned up so I set to on tidying up the track rod. The die is a metric diameter for an imperial thread and we don't have a die stock that size. Fortunately, the thread wasn't too garbled and I managed to pull it around by hand and strap wrench to clean it up. The die isn't of the split pattern so it took that treatment. A good greasing this time with the thickest grease I could find (Rated ' Consistency 2' on the tin). I screwed it into roughly the right position and tried it for toe-in. It is 1/4" on a 30" wheel so following the advice above, I don't think we are too far out. I tightened up the locking nut and passed the rod over to the paint shop for some remedial work. Since last time, Father has cleaned up the other radius rod end and painted it so I soon hung that on the chassis and fitted the brake drum back plate. The brake levers went on next. The cams showed some signs of wear so I swapped them side to side to allow the unworn faces to come into contact instead. Whilst tightening the second pinch bolt, it just didn't feel right. Closer inspection revealed that is was a BSF bolt wound into a UNS tapped hole. We found another bolt which could be cleaned up and modified for use but Dad's brand new UNS die made a mess of the thread. After all of the lorries we have done, we thought that by now we would have all of the tools we would need to do these but UNS threads have really caught us out. Does anyone know where UNS fasteners may be obtained? They are very tedious things to make and getting decent dies is proving difficult as well. Next job was to screw the wear plates onto the ends of the brake shoes. Quite fortuitously, when Father replaced the linings on the shoes he replaced the countersunk screws and slot nuts with new UNF versions. He kept the originals which turned out to be UNS and there were enough left to secure the wear pads using holes tapped into the castings. At least we didn't have to make these! Again, the pads are worn on one side so I have carefully arranged them so that the unworn edges of the cams contact the unworn part of the wear plates. We hung these on the axle ends. Then there was the next challenge. How to compress the return springs to fit them! I think I am going to have to make a bespoke spring compression tool. Something else to ponder this week. Steve

Hi Ian. I think there has been a software glitch with the provider. Jack and Co have sorted it, fortunately! Steve

Thanks Ed. Nice to hear from you again! Yes, I did think that 2" toe-in would be a bit excessive. It is always nice to have the voice of experience so we can get it right first time. Steve

Thanks Bernard and Andy for your kind offer and suggestions. I think Father has tracked a tap and die down so, with a bit of luck, we will be sorted shortly. Just have to pay the bill! It is amazing what you can find when you start looking. 3/8" UNS nuts still elude us, however. We may have to resort to making the things. Oh well. Steve