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David Herbert

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Posts posted by David Herbert

  1. Yes, but you have the casing. I would bet though that the difference is very minor and that all the internals will interchange directly. It would not surprise me if say Universal Carrier boxes weren't basically the same box, along with virtually every Ford V8 truck of the period. This is Ford, everything is standardized.

    David

  2. I feel that you could reuse those bits if you really had to but they won't last long and will put lots of swarf into the oil as they bed in. It all depends on budget but this was a relatively common gearbox in its day so it must be possible to find another. If you replace only the really bad gears they will be messed up by the old gears that are just fairly bad. A bit of pitting on the teeth won't do any harm but when it exceeds 10% of the contact area I think you have to regard them as scrap. Sorry !

    David

    • Like 1
  3. I worked for Fodens in the mid 70s and they were still developing the two stroke engines. I remember a new cylinder block pattern being built in the pattern shop. Also there was considerable co operation between Fodens and RR and they routinely did specialized work for each other. The castings for the prototype RR Wankel tank engine were made by Fodens when I was in the foundry there. This engine showed great promise but never went into production, presumably because of reliability problems.

    The FD12 was indeed two 6 cylinder engines geared together in much the same way as the Detroit twin 6-71. Actually the whole Foden 2 stroke concept was very much inspired by the Detroit 2 stroke and if anything was even louder !

    David

  4. My gut feel is that the open spoke wheel is the earliest, then the very closed wheel then the two round hole wheels. My reason is that the brake ventilation holes get steadily larger which I think would be the natural evolution. The closing of the open spokes and then somewhat opening them up again could be for casting quality reasons.

    I wonder how many people will notice that you have odd rear wheels when the bus is being displayed !

    David

    • Thanks 1
  5. On 6/13/2020 at 8:49 PM, radiomike7 said:

    Having the lower crank rotating in the opposite direction was the only way the correct piston phasing could be achieved between the banks, not to dampen out vibrations.

    That must have been interesting on the Deltic engine, three cranks rotating in opposite directions to each other !

    David

  6. It wasn't the actual fuel that did the damage because they were normally run on diesel. The problem was that to be able to run multifuel the cylinder had to generate pressures and temperatures that would burn low grade fuels but also withstand the much higher pressures and temperatures generated by burning petrol and also unfortunately diesel. This turned out to be rather beyond the metallurgy available. When the multifuel requirement was removed a lot of detail redesign was done to optimize the engine for diesel, particularly on the L60 which had the biggest problem and the reliability went up as did the HP. The increase in HP though was not enough to keep up with the increase in weight of the Chieftain which had had a lower than intended power to weight ratio from the start. The result was the development of the CV12, still used in Challenger 2.

    David

  7. I understood that the Junkers engine was used in airships not aircraft but have no evidence for this. It is frequently given as the inspiration for the RR engines but again this could be a bit like the story that the Churchill flat 12 engine was two Bedford truck engines bolted together despite the fact that the truck engine made 72hp and the tank engine 360hp and was a we bit bigger !

    David

  8. 15 minutes ago, radiomike7 said:

    Not horizontally or vertically opposed but opposed piston, other common examples are the Rootes TS3 and Napier Deltic.

    Mike, my point was that they are vertical not horizontal. I agree that 'opposed piston' differentiates them from the type of engine in an original Volkswagen Beetle but I can't think of a vertical engine with a single crankshaft in the middle.

    For those that don't know the other engines mentioned, the Routes TS3 had three horizontal cylinders with opposed pistons each connected by two connecting rods and a pivoted lever to a single crankshaft below the cylinders. Amazing sounding engines. The Deltic engine had three crankshafts in a triangle with three cylinders between them each containing two opposed pistons. I don't remember how many cylinders 'long' the engine was but it produced vast amounts of power when it worked - typically British !

    David

  9. I think it must be lying on its side and is actually a K60 (FV430 family) or L60 (Chieftain family) which are vertically opposed engines. The two crankshafts are geared together down one end of the engine. They are slightly out of phase with one set of pistons controlling the exhaust ports and the other set the inlet ports so it is rather more efficient than a conventional two stroke but has no cylinder head or gasket or valves. A very clever piece of design and pretty reliable once they gave up the multifuel requirement. L60s in particular were dreadful up to that point and at 104 hours it could well be toast !

    David

  10. No, not bored but very impressed with your stamina and commitment. I think that most people would have regarded it as not worth saving. Most of these cabs were rotted out 40 years ago which is why these trucks are so rare now.

    David

    • Like 1
  11. It certainly look like the bell housing can be LH & RH drive. At least that is easy to confirm by looking under a car. However the steering box does seem to be handed judging by your photos.

    David

    • Like 1
  12. When I was a student I commuted 120 miles each way every weekend and it was my daily driver in between for two years. I ran with the ignition considerably advanced on the official setting (but not to the point of pre-ignition) and got 16mpg routinely. The only problems that I had on the road were a baffle came loose in the non standard silencer which blocked the outlet and a master cylinder failure which was a bit exciting as I was going down a fairly steep hill with a T junction at the bottom with traffic lights. Luckily they went green at just the right moment ! The gearboxes have rather fragile synchromesh and I rebuilt my gearbox out of two when I first got it, fitting the best synchro rings in mine. They are bronze and several had broken up. I also reinforced the handbrake pivot on the seat base to stop it moving back and forwards when I applied the handbrake. Big improvement. Oil levels are critical and if it doesn't drop oil it is either fine or run out in which case some part of the transmission is dying.

    As mentioned above it was vastly better to drive than the S2 & 3 Land Rovers but you must remember that 65 is about the maximum speed and don't expect to stop quickly from that ! I really loved mine.

    David

  13. OK guys, I give up ! Its not a Mack NO2 because of the wrong body and the front overhang is actually shorter than a DT 980. However I can't reconcile the very long bonnet of the DT with the quite short bonnet of the one in the photo. There is just not enough space between the cab and the front axle.

    As an aside, I clearly remember my local vehicle recovery company in Maidenhead, Leach and Jackson, taking delivery of an absolutely mint Mack NO2 in about 1969. As a schoolboy of about 15 I was most impressed by its sheer presence. They also got a very nice Matador at about the same time which I think replaced a blue painted R100 that sat outside their scrapyard premises.

    David

  14. Sorry but the R100 has a rear body that is integral with the cab and has a hard top that doesn't come off. The Guy is much too small to pull that load. I still think that it is a Mack NO2.

    This would be so much easier with a clear photo but then we would miss out on the debate.

    David

  15. The whole point of pressurized systems is that the higher the pressure, the higher the boiling point. That is why opening the radiator cap when the engine is hot produces an eruption of boiling water as the pressure drops. Just because the truck has an overflow doesn't mean that it's not pressurized. It depends on the design of the cap - does it have a spring loaded disk that seats in the filler neck just below where the overflow pipe joins ?

    I assume that you have tested the engine thermostat in a pan of properly boiling water to see that it works ?

    David

  16. It is Definitely a M26 Pershing ! Chaffies have 5 vs. 6 road wheels and completely different track. Shermans do not have torsion bar suspension or the outer edges of the belly at an angle or the double pronged guide horns to the track. M46 is very similar underneath but has the sprockets set higher in the hull.

    David

    • Like 2
  17. Yes Andy, I know that is how the switch should be wired but this one most definitely did have HT on it when running. It HURT !

    I could never understand how it still ran but it wasn't my vehicle so I didn't feel it was my place to investigate.

    David

  18. 4 hours ago, Scrunt & Farthing said:

    If you zoom into the dashboard you can see the switch is in some kind of frame or mount... and oddly telling the same time!

     

     

     

    Is the 'mount' not just a piece of wood to insulate the switch from the scuttle ?

    I once drove a beautiful 1920s bus that had an old fashioned brass domestic round light switch as a magneto switch. It looked great but when the engine was running it had HT voltage on it which meant that you needed something insulating to turn it off . It started and ran great though despite this unusual feature.

    David

    • Like 1
  19. Hello Toni,

    Welcome to HMVF.

    I do not see these as sprockets. They are too simple and the 'teeth' have not been worn to that shape and would certainly not drive anything as they are too shallow. Also the bolt holes are too near the outside so what they were bolted to would interfere with the track. I see them as spacers, possibly between double wheels, or as a reinforcing disk between the wheel nuts and a wheel to prevent fatigue cracking of the wheel.

    They do look rather low- tech to be WW2 German, but I don't recognize them as either US or British armoured vehicle parts of that period either. Hopefully someone will make a suggestion.

    David

  20. I think that the key to this is the rollers which must be in good condition or they will break up. However I think that the cams need only to be clean and not bumpy to give a good track for the rollers to roll on. A bit of pitting will not do any harm as long as the pits don't join up. I would set about the cams with abrasive paper by hand and just rub them until they are smooth. A slight change in profile simply won't matter on an engine as crude as this and as you say you won't be working it hard anyway.

    David

    • Like 2
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