Old Bill

Time to fit the front axle! We lifted it into position and balanced it on a stool while we fitted the U-bolts. The other end was trickier of courseas the holes did not line up but with a little help from a bottle jack to push the springs apart, they went in. We fitted them with ordinary plain 5/8" UNF nuts, just nipped up for the time being until we can fit the overload springs. New balls were fitted to the king-pin thrust races. I fed the king pin through whilst Tim held the stub axle. The king pin screws into the lower part of the axle and a lock nut is fitted. On the top are two holes for a locking washer.

The U-bolts were supplied with 5/8" UNF Nylocs. We won't be using them! Steve

Hi Tomo. Have a look at page 43 of our Thornycroft thread. You can see how I made the ribs from brass for the pattern. I glued them onto the timber but you could soft solder them on to a steel tube. Tedious but effective! Steve

We have, as you might expect, been busy over the weekend and we will share that shortly. In the mean time, I have been doing some preparatory work to make up a second spring clamp plate as we have only one. Unfortunately, it is a bit of an oddity as it traps the overload spring on the top. Dad started the job by cutting out a base plate. I then welded some bits of angle to hold the spring. Unusually, for me, the weld came out quite well. An expert would be critical but by my standards it was OK! Some time with angle grinder and files and the result was quite acceptable. The second spring will be a challenge. It is 7/16" wire with some really weird ends. I have found a spring maker here in Leicester who will take a look at the job but I can't visit for the time being! We have also taken delivery of some new U-bolts from Jones Springs who were extremely helpful. They fit too! More later. Watch this space! Steve

The drums are mounted on the half-shafts where they exit the gearbox. The assembly method is to hang the box in the chassis and then insert the half shafts through the sprocket bearings and into the differential. The drums go between the box and the chassis rail on each side. There isn't room to insert a key in the shaft and then push it through the drum so the drum is simply split and clamped over the key and to the shaft. It makes a good tight fit and makes dismantling very simple. It will become clearer when we have photographs of the assembly. Steve

Pattern making continues and now I am into core boxes. As you can see, there are two cut-outs in the back with return flanges, necessitating a core box each. The flange requires that the core protrudes outwards to create it. This is the side of the box with the flange tucked underneath. I drew out the profile on the drawing board which helped a lot in aligning it all. The front and side I glued together as a seperate piece. It must disassemble to be able to release the sand core. And the same for the other side. The whole lot is held together with over-centre catches. The water overflow boss was glued into the bottom. The prints on the main plug and the two boxes. The right hand one has two bosses for water outlets. Now onto the big core. I plained up some timber left over from a lorry body and the base is an old table top. Nothing is wasted in this household! The filler neck requires a cylindrical boss so I glued up two blocks and screwed them together before drilling the hole. The angles on the blocks were all cut on the chop saw. That is a marvellous tool. Nice straight cuts with controllable angles and the ability to trim them accurately to length. I cut rebates at the corners and set some plywood over the joints to strengthen them. They proved their worth when I dropped one and suffered no harm! A trial lay-out. All of the loose parts were then dowelled together and secured with over-centre catches. Just to add a bit more challenge, the inside of the tank has a baffle arrangement for the return flow. This puzzled me for a while but is quite straightforward as long as I can get the bits in the right place! The main shape of the baffle is screwed onto the bottom board. The interior will be part of the fourth core, supported through the return flow hole. All clipped together Dismantled and pulled back from the core to aid removal. One more core box to do. I shall be glad to see the back of this one. There is saw dust everywhere! Steve

Hi Doug. This is square on but the reflection is terrible! Steve

They are re-decorating our production office at work and I got a call to say they were getting rid of an old picture and would I like it? It turned out to be a framed general arrangement drawing for the Dennis Subsidy A chassis! I took their arms off... Steve

Pretty sure they are not. They just look like surface marks as if something had been left in the sand. I have seen chaplets and they were much more obviously separate components. Also there is nothing obvious to support just there. I may yet be provem wrong! Steve

You are too kind. I am glad you are enjoying it though. It is the only reason for doing it! Steve

Well, despite evreryone's kind thoughts and suggestions, I still don't quite have my head around the bottom tank even though it looks easier. I have, therefore started on the pattern for the top tank! First thing to do was have a good look at it. No obvious part lines on the top but it had been polished at some time. The badge text shows signs of porosity which suggests that it was at the top of the mould during the pour. An extra challenge in the shape of some internal baffling. Two rebates on the back with undercut flanges. Some interesting markings in the back of the casting which we eventually decided were 'chills' to freeze the metal and force it to draw more in from the riser rather than leave a void at this point. After a good looking-at, I decided that it was cast on its back with the text upwards and a split, right through the centre of the filler neck. There will be four cores, a main big one for the water space, two smaller ones for the flanges on the back and a fourth small one to create the baffling. Time to make a start! First task was to source some material. I was very kindly given what looked like the remains of a door and some wall panelling. Not very prepossessing to start with but under the paint was the most beautiful timber with straight grain and no knots. It had also been seasoned for 100 years and was beautiful to work. I did, however, find a nail with the bandsaw. Oh well. The blade needed changing anyway. Prepared blocks being glued up. I drilled right through and put some dowel pegs in to maintain the alignment of the two halves before cutting the profile. The flange was cut from MDF and glued onto the underside. Two blocks were cut for the back as core prints and a much larger block glued to the bottom, again as a core print. The large size of this one was decided upon to give the core some mass of its own and counterbalance the part projecting into the cavity. OK. So the main block was done. Now I needed a pipe flange on the back and a badge on the front. I took rubbings of the originals before tracing the badge, scanning and printing it and sticking both to a piece of 1/8" plywood. These needed cutting out so I rashly invested in a scroll saw. A good investment it proved to be as well. Next challenge was to get the letters properly aligned on the front so I printed another badge but reversed this time. I glued the letters to it, just following the lines. The result was then turned over and glued to the face of the tank before rubbing back with glass paper. There are some bosses on the rear of the tank to carry the securing bolts but with the split line where it is, they prevent the pattern from being drawn out of the sand. A closer look revealed a clue in the shape of a line down the face. The parts must be removable loose pieces! I cut out a rebate from the rear with a chisel and made up the loose pieces. They work well and will remain in the sand after the block has been removed. They can then be drawn out individually. Another core print needed. This time it is through the filler hole and will give support to the main core. I started by screwing two pieces of mahogany together before turning them to size. I glued one half to the top. Notice the filler around filling a few holes! I screwed the other half back on with a piece of paper in between before gluing the other half up to it. Coming on now. The block needed a fillet along the flange so, at the recommendation of a pal, I ordered up some fillet wax and a ball tool to apply it. The wax comes in 24" lengths and is just pushed into the groove. It went very well but, I am told, it needs to be done on a good warm day. On a cold day it will crack unless the tool is heated. Now I need some core boxes. Steve

Hi Andy. That is remarkably similar. Thanks for that. Steve

Yes, it is a two-cylinder engine but with a tee head so you would only expect two followers per side. Steve

The plugs are to access the valves which are typical of a fixed-head engine. The Thorny and the Dennis are the same. The centre plugs must be a simpler way of sealing off the water jacket instead of a flanged cover with studs. You are right, the apparent spare follower positions are intriguing. To someone who knows what the engine is, they will be the main clue! It is amazing what is about even 100 years later. Steve

Thanks for that. Worth a try. Cheers! Steve

A pal of mine has turned up this engine. Said to be a marine engine but of otherwise unknown provenance. Can anyone identify it please? It is a tee-head, is fitted with a clutch and looks to be of great war era to me. Cylinder bore must be around the 3" mark so perhaps a 10hp engine? Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Steve

Looking good! Did you put the spring on any sort of pad? I have often seen springs seated on a red fibre pad but never understood why this should be. I have had great difficulty in sourcing any sort of replacements for them and have generally done without. Steve

Ah, yes, we had a flange put on the liners so they couldn't go up. If you are in any doubt, peg them. It is very easy to do on this engine as you have access to the outside of the cylinder wall below the water jacket. Drill through, tap it, screw the peg in until the end of the thread and dress off inside and out. Steve.

Hi Tomo. Put a rule across the OD of the liner and see if it will fit through the hole in the top of the crank case. If it is bigger than the hole (ours are), then no pegs are necessary. Loctite on its own is probably enough as this is a low performance, low temperature engine. Loctite melts at around 150°C so the bottom end of the bore should never get that hot. Steve

I hadn't thought of that at the time. Possibly one for the future. Actually, I am concerned by the roughness around the gudgeon bosses. This photo is the only one I have seen of it. Will have to wait until I can visit again for a closer look. Steve.

Yes, it could be pegged and welded. However, we have enough good ones in store so there is not a problem. We will keep the bits just in case. The reason they were cut was to get the back axle off. The chain tensioning adjuster is a sleeve which rotates on this part but had completely seized. It has to be unscrewed to free the back axle rearwards and then to slide this part outwards off the casting on the chassis rail. I gassed through a pair of these years ago when rescuing a chassis from a field. We only had a morning to get it cut up and removed so we sacrificed them to speed up the loading process. We still have to free those that we have and they are going to take some doing! Steve

I haven't counted Ben's. Did the list before he did the lorries! Needs a revision. I have a list for my personal interest. However, need to be very careful about publishing things because of security issues. Also, making a list could be your life's work if not careful! Sorry. Bit of a diversion! Steve

Bit of a mixture really. I started off collecting only lorries of all conditions. However, one of these Thornys is the bus. Also, of the three Dennis, one is ours, one has had the engine replaced for film work and the third is in a shed, pretty well untouched. The owner very kindly let us measure up his water pump to copy. These are all vehicles in the UK. Tim has a much better idea of what is around the world. Steve

Hi Andy. I have just had a quick look through my list of pre-1920 lorries in UK and have come up with: AEC 6 Albion 6 Dennis 3 Leyland 7 Thornycroft 14 This is by no means definitive as it has been created be me writing them down when I see them or know of them. I think I will have to sit down with Tim to try to put together a more comprehensive list. Come to think of it, your brother's Leyland isn't on there so it is time it got an update! The numbers are not big, however. Steve

Glad it found a good home! Steve