Old Bill

Thanks for the suggestion Norman. What sort of radius could they cope with? The pictures below show the rear of the headboard on the original Thornycroft J which are, I think, about 8-10" radius and what we want to achieve. The other pic shows the rear of the IWM, FWD model B. You can see that the angles on the sides are bent very tightly indeed and I am sure that must have been a blacksmithing job. Of course, I could just cut and weld them but that would be giving in! The FWD pic also shows a lot of other ironwork around the tailboard quite a bit of which has been hot worked. I think these items are going to keep me amused for quite a while! Steve

Thanks Andrea. A sympathetic blacksmith is a very good find. I also see that he does short introductory courses which seem like an excellent idea. There is nothing like learning a new skill! Steve

Last weekend, we had a family get-together, not only to work on the lorry but to celebrate Tims and my birthdays. A good time was had by all and look what I got! Aren't I lucky! :-D Steve

This is the early pattern body from a Dennis publication which explained how the 'Subsidy' scheme worked. Ours will be of the later pattern with solid sides and much squarer hoops but you get the general idea. Steve

The body will be the later pattern 'Subvention' body with steel hoops and a canvas top. It is quite straightforward and various drawings and diagrams have been published over the years. I think we have an original Dennis drawing in stock too (I must go and look it out!) so I don't anticipate too many problems. It does, however, have quite a few forged iron brackets which I would like to make. To that end, I am in the process of setting myself up with an anvil and hearth and reading up on blacksmithing so I can do it. The most difficult bit will be in bending the steel angles to form the hoops and side brackets. Nowhere can I see how to do it so if there are any experienced blacksmiths out there who can explain how it is done, I should be very glad to hear from you! The body will be of some nice quality pine planks on an ash frame and we are budgeting about £1000 for it. A joiner friend will procure and prepare the timber for us and Tim has been busily importing square nuts from the USA to go on the bolts and hold it all together. As far as the seat box is concerned, we have only overall dimensions. However, an original exists on the Thornycroft J at the East Anglian Transport Museum and I have measured that up and drawn it in detail. It will need tweaking to get the shape right for the Dennis but we will use the same methods of construction. We just need to find the time to do it all! Steve

Just to prove that I am doing something too, here are a couple of oil cups to which I have given the treatment. Tim and Dad rescued them from part of the brake mechanism on one of the gearboxes. The box we have used does't seem to have a place for them but I spotted that they would be ideal for the pedals. They were both seized and thoroughly encrusted with what appeared to be limescale so I started off by pickling them in sulphuric acid overnight. They certainly fizzed and fumed quite well when I put them in! Unusually, I didn't take a 'before' picture but the first here shows them after removal from the acid. I then attacked them with a mini rotary wire brush mounted in a 'Dremel' which polished them up nicely. Finally, here they are in the pedals. The thread of one is pretty poor but it still has enough bite so I am pleased with the results. Two more parts on the road to completion! Steve

Well, yes. I didn't like the idea much either. However the surface of the axle casing is so poor that a simple paper gasket wouldn't have done much although we might have used both together I guess. Alternatively, I could have filled the surface and rubbed it back. A bit late now! Will have to wait and see how it performs. Steve

You are quite right Barry. This pump is enormous compared with later pumps. I wonder whether it was just a rough estimate as to how big it should be and they made them smaller as experience showed what they needed. I have seen it written that the subsidy engine didn't need a pump at all and would survive quite happily relying only on a thermo-syphon. Mind you, at what speed does yours run? Is it camshaft speed or crank speed? Doubling the rotational speed would allow you to reduce the diameter by a half and still maintain the tip speed. Steve

I must admit that I hadn't thought of balancing at all! It runs at camshaft speed, say 500rpm peaking at 750 so I am not really too concerned. However, I will roll it across the surface plate and see how it looks. If it is drastically out, I shall have to attack it with a file! Steve

Wonderful! I knew it existed but had never seen photgraphs before. Thank you! Steve :thumbsup:

Tremendous clip! Steve

Part of the 'subvention' scheme requirements were that the radiator be mounted entirely above the chassis which is where ours is. However, the pump we copied came from a lorry that was just post war and the radiator would very likely have been mounted much lower with the starting handle through it. Therefore the elbow I originally copied pointed much more downwards. Obvious now! Steve

Hi Gordon. Yes, hopefully, it will be a straightforward draw. I have made a couple of compromises to allow this though. The 'lump' around the flange bolt hole hidden behind the elbow has extra material running tangential to it and perpendicular to the split line so there is no re-entrant shape which would drag through the sand. I have also added an extra bit to the small flange as well. Hang on a minute, I will take some pics. Worth a thousand words as they say! Steve

Not I ! That's Father's work! Steve

Yes, you are quite right. I will get some to try. Cheers! Steve

The lorries came from Guinness but were sent to Inchicore railway workshops where they used whatever was to hand to make them. The main shape is formed of four locomotive smokeboxes from main line railway locomotives which were 5'3" gauge. The reinforcement over the lorry cab is a locomotive cab roof. I haven't been able to work out the class of locomotives used, however! Steve

I agree that they look like different vehicles but David Fletcher states that the brewery had three Daimler lorries which were converted so this is very likely. Steve

When I pick up the blocks for final machining, I will take the pins as well, and bore the blocks to fit. I don't think my lathe could cope with a 7/8" reamer in bronze! I am actually more concerned about the fit in the ends of the prop shaft as we have now placed the order for that as well. I hope that the pins will be a firm push fit with no rattle. We could cope with 0.001" clearance by using Loctite but if there is much rattle, we might have a problem. Fingers are crossed! Steve

What a glorious motor car! I am so looking forward to seeing it out and about! Steve

They sound interesting. I'm always pleased to see pictures of Austerities! Steve

That's a good site. Have added it to my favourites. The nuts look a bit lightweight but might do in the right place. Can't find 'Grover' or 'Thackery' washers there though! (My current search!) Steve

No. We just grovel in his presence! :-D

I have just been looking through 'War Cars' by David Fletcher. He says: 'When Sir John Eaton, a wealthy Canadian store proprietor, decided to raise a squadron of armoured cars for service in France in 1915, the Quad was chosen and fitted with a bulky armoured hull with a driving cab at each end and a centrally mounted machine gun turret. Small sponsons, with pistol ports in them, were mounted on one side and the cars had a total weight of about seven tons, power being supplied by a four cylinder Buda engne rated at 40hp. Forty armoured Quads were built and the deal was handled by the Canada Cycle and Motor company of Toronto who traded under the Russell marque so that the cars were often known as 'Russells'. He goes on to say: 'The Quads arrived in Britain in 1916 but, with the war in France virtually static, the Canadian Army decided that they were not needed at the front. For some time the machines languished at Bulford Camp.' It was decided to send them to India but the SS Shirala carrying four of them and all of the spares was torpedoed and sunk. Sixteen eventually arrived in India. The remaining twenty were diverted to Ireland at the last minute where ' a serious internal security problem had arisen'. This appears to have been in July 1917. That's all I have managed to find out this evening but if you are lucky, Tim might come up with a picture. Steve

That's a nice tool. Is there a square boss on the underside of the punch or do you put a nut in the middle so that it wraps around? Also, how to you cut out the blanks? Sawing and filing could be pretty tedious! We are always on the lookout for square nuts to go on the coach bolts holding the bodies together on our WW1 lorries. For the first lorry, I made them. Then after that our very helpful bolt supplier 'Bernie the Bolt' asked around his contacts and came up with a load. More recently, Tim (aka' Great War Truck') has found that they still use them in the US and has brought some back in his luggage after buying them in an ordinary hardware store. Now, this doesn't help you very much other than if you are prepared to pay for them, could you get a US supplier to box some up for you? Not very helpful, I'm afraid, but they do at least still make them in UNC sizes. Good luck! Steve

Oh, I see. That's interesting. I must admit that that is new to me as I knew only of the Lancias, Austins and Peerless. The chap who will know is my brother, Tim, who writes here as 'Great War Truck'. I'll give him a nudge and see what he says. We'll find you something! Steve