Richard Farrant

Hi Ratchet, We did talk before on this vehicle. A Perkins P6 was sometimes seen in Morris Commercial trucks as a replacement for the old petrol engine, but it may have been neccesary to move the radiator forward as this engine is a six cylinder as opposed to the original being a four. You may not have much spare room in this vehicle to accomodate a longer engine. Also, the road speed will be drastically reduced as the P6 is unlikely to rev much more than 2,000, where the Morris would be near 3,500 I would think. You were asking about a source of parts for the Morris engine, I have now remembered someone who has new parts, I am sure mainly for the four cyl. engine. It is John Walker, 52 Elmswood Gardens, Sherwood, Nottingham, NG5 4AW, tel. no. 0115 9607860 Evenings Best of luck, Richard

To narrow it down a bit, WW is actually the West Riding of Yorks CC. Not sure where the licensing office would have been, but the old registration archives are sometimes kept by the County Library archives or similar. Just found out it would have been Wakefield, try the West Yorkshire Archive Service. Richard

Tyler, There were no mountings for AA guns on these WW2 British trucks. I had to make a new ring for an Austin K6 a few years ago and they are just a plain ring with a canvas cap over it, no other fixtures. More for look-out I would say. Richard

Hi Tyler, The K4 was used, during the war that is, mainly by Civil Defence, National Fire Service and essential civilian use. It continued on after the war with detailed changes to the grille and eventually became the K4 Loadstar, cab like the K9. The military 3 tonner was the K3. To confuse the issue, the early 3 ton 6x4 was also a K3, before it had a change of cab, from open with civvy front end, to closed cab and a basic grille and front wings, to become the K6. There is a small website on Austin K series commercials, but most pics on there are ones in preservation and mostly civvy. As I have an interest in Austin lorries and have worked on a few military ones, maybe I can help with some info, what are you after? Richard

Dougy, Our workshop was closed nearly 10 years ago, it is sad to see what was the old REME Static Workshop empire, gradually being whittled away. I suppose that is progress. Don't suppose you came across any common charging faults on Fv432 Mk2s in your time there. I was on the mechanical side, we had dedicate electricians to do that sort of thing. Richard

Hi Jack, Just read your diary of the trip, good one. My old friend, Tony Luke, took his Bedford QL, he sent me a video of his trip. The 2000 one was excellent, there was so many relics of the Old Ghan line to see. Best bit was crossing the Finke River Richard

They may well have been army anti-aircraft units at the airfield, we will never know that. My information on these sets was that they were to pass warning of enemy aircraft approaching, so USAAF refuellers, etc, may well have been equipped. Richard

Hi Sgt, Maybe that I have one of these still, will have to check. If so, it has some history. Before D-day, the American air force had P47 Thunderbolts based near here in South Kent and after the initial invasion they moved out to new landing strips in France. For some reason, a lot of kit was buried on the site and a local man had been metal detecting and found a number of these mountings stacked neatly but buried. Some still had readable lettering. I sent one to a mv collector in California as he was fitting one of these sets to his Dodge. The rest have all gone now, but I think one remains, certainly in good order and may have traces of olive drab still on it. The sets were apparantly to warn of enemy aircraft approaching and were fitted to all vehicles on the airfield. As to why they were removed, who knows? Richard

G'day Jack, Welcome. You must be the farthest member so far. No doubt you know of some of your fellow mv collecters locally who took part in the Alice Springs runs. I did the original 1995 and again in 2000, the latter one I drove a Jeep along John Williams from Armadale WA in a Ford blitz and a number of others from WA. Richard

Whatever you take with you, you will never need. So anything you forget will be the thing you need. In other words, throw the contents of your workshop in the truck and hope for the best ! Richard

Clive, I note you now carry water......good idea, it saves having to play chicken across busy motorways :lol: Richard

Don't shoot me for this, it is not meant to be serious :lol: But seeing as though there are some Russian vehicles in your little band, what about this; Eastern Bloc Heads You do not have to use it of course

Richard, Loose seal.......I see what you mean now !!! That is a toroidial sealing ring, in other words, an "O" ring. It does very little really, there is a cork ring further inside that is supposed to keep the oil back and the "O" ring is more of a secondary measure and also to keep the muck out. They always weep, especially when hot and the oil is thinned out. Richard

Where did you get to put these back together. Dougy, ABRO Ashford, formerly a REME Dist.Wksp. Richard

Hello, I have not bought cork quite as thick as that, but you could see if you have a branch of James Walker in your area. They make all sorts of gasket and packing material. Another one is Sampsons at Rochester, they list up to 12mm and will cut them, probably could bond two sheets together to make 3/4". Website is http://www.sampsons.co.uk Richard

Richard, The boot is held in place by a hose clip, slide the boot of the thin metal ring. This ring is held on by a number of 1/4" setscrews, if these are loose, then the bronze ring that the seal is fitted into is obviously loose, that means that the seal is not in good contact with the challis, hence source of leak. Try tightening these screws and monitering the leak. If it still persists, then you will have to delve deeper. Richard

Richard, I have known the mechanicals of Ferrets, intimately for a very long time (32 years), but am a little mystified by you description of your leak. The inner tracta joint is the one in the bevel box, there is a rubber boot protecting the challis (spherical housing that seal bears on). Is the oil coming out of the boot? The inner tacta housing slides in to the bevel box and the action of the suspension means that this housing has to move in and out slightly. The seal arrangement for this is a little archaic in that it is a cork ring fitted in a groove around the tracta housing. They always leak, some worse than others. I still cannot grasp what you say about the seal being loose? Richard

Did you note the dozer working in the background? Could not get a good shot of it, but sounded like it was powered by a GM 3-71 diesel, poss a Allis Chalmers? Richard

Did you spray it? And if so, what did you thin the paint with? Kewelde

I just took a look at G503, that guy is a bit of a ****, the original spec was GO which is straight 90. You will find Graham at Jeeparts recommends Straight 90 as well. As for a flying M series truck, what has that got to do with it? Does he want a medal, or should it be wings?? Richard

Cent, The M201 gearbox is no different to the WW2 ones, in that they have synchros. Any EP or Hypoid oils have additives that inhibit any friction and that is what a synchro relies on, friction. It is a brake ring to slow the gear down in order to mesh quickly. The original US manual calls for GO, which is plain 90 gear oil, save the EP90 for the axles and transfer box. Just shows you cannot rely on what is written in books Richard

thanks Clive, I thought there may have been a BS reference, but no problem. It is very similar to a paint I have seen called "silver mist", will try to remember where I've seen it. Talking about it never drying......when I have been working in old vehicles such as Saracens, etc., which have obviously not been painted for many years, your boots and overalls seemed to pick up a silvery sheen Richard

Clive, I do not have Vocab for paint, H1 I think. If you have a post war one, then that interior silver paint must be listed. The type of paint is special in that it does not harden, to stop spalling if fire upon from outside, but the shade is bound to be of a British Standard. Richard

Ratchit, The OD green may be from its latter end of service, not knowing its history. From the British Standard colour chart BS381c, shade 298 Olive Drab is one used by British Army from 1944 on. The engine colour is probably 216 Eau-de-nil. The silver you could no doubt source, it is not shiny like aluminium paint, more like that used on truck wheels, etc. Maybe Clive has a BS reference for it? Take a look at this colour chart; http://www.indfinspec.demon.co.uk/bs_381c_colour_chart.htm Do not use these charts for colour matching because they are far from accurate for that purpose. If no one can match to these numbers in the US, I have the above two colours and could do a match card for you. Richard