simondema

Yes...fair enough, Eric. The question was what is the second set of numbers, the ones with the 4 digits? I understand the FV number. Someone told me they relate to the chassis number. Can someone confirm this, please? Thanks Simon

"I hope no one read this thinking it was a life size vehicle . . .. " I did....:blush:

Hi all Just a bit confused. I checked both the front and rear diffs on my Champ, and noticed it had some numbers stamped on the outer casing. The rear axle had FV 15325 then the number 5971 stamped in larger numbers on top of it. This is on the top of the axle. Underneath there was no FV number, however the number 1593 was stamped. The front axle had on top of it FV 14300 and the number 3022 stamped, again in large numbers, next to it. Anyone....?.......Someone? Simon

Hi Mario Welcome to the Forum. I believe I have a pinion in quite good condition, however I am in Australia, therefore the postage (if postage from Europe to Australia is anything to go by) will be horrendous. Anyway, let me know. Soon, you will go over to the dark side and never come back from the Champ Side! Simon

Thanks for the offers, however my restored Champ will be going on this chassis. As far as I know the 4th chassis is AWOL, and no one knows where it ended up. Hopefully it will have been put to good use, rather than be stored under a tarp getting battered by our Aussie climate. Part of Barry's collection were at least 2 fully crated B40 Rolls Royce engines which had never seen the light of day. Now THAT would be a find. They also were sold and ended up God knows where. Ahh...don't you just love the Champ mystery? Simon

Finally finished painting most of the engine parts after having given them 2 coats of red oxide and 2 coats of Sky Blue I then turned my attention to those pesky cables which over the years had disintegrated and which I deemed worthwhile replacing once I had them removed from the various bits. I must admit that no matter how many photos, drawings or manuals I have I am very reluctant to change/repair items which don't need to as I am afraid I make a mistake and either break something or assemble something wrong. It seems to take me ages to do something, however I go slowly as I don't have the luxury of being able to order something and receive it the next day. So my motto is "If it ain't broken...... Back to the cables I carefully removed the wire inside the flexible metal conduit and took photos of the setup, including washers and waterproof rubber stoppers I didn't realize what I had started until I realized I had to work out a way of removing the....metal connector (I am sure it has a proper name, sorry). An absolute bugger to dismantle, especially when you don't know what you are doing and don't have any means of finding out. So trial and error finally resulted in a positive result So the cables were set aside and the next day I travelled 56km to Windsor where my Champ is currently resting, awaiting a week of soda blasting, commencing next week. first cab off the rank will be the engine, after all holes will be plugged up so I won't get any soda into any of the internals I have read that it is best not to prime the engine. The soda blasting will remove all traces of grease and clean up the engine without pitting any parts of the engine, unlike sand blasting. As it has received a B/O at Weston Super Mare in 1962, it will be painted accordingly i.e Sky Blue, or BS381 101. I then turned my attention to the front axle. Dear God..what have I started?? The axles were taken out of the vehicle a while back and have been sitting on stands for at least 5 months As I mentioned somewhere else, the axles seem to have various layers of paints resembling a psychedelic 60's vehicle. I am still not sure whether they are priming coats or if it's the actual colour of the Champ. Hopefully I will find out soon. Anyway, after inspecting carefully the axles, I decided that I should strip the axles not only to prime and paint the axles but also to change the rubber boots, which I was lucky enough last year to have bought a set of 8. So...where do I start? Notice the lower connecting bracket bolt. I spent 2 hours trying to work out how to remove the bolt as it was stuck inside the lower connecting bracket. I mean REALLY stuck..not budging or moving a mm. I then foolishly thought that if I sprayed enough CRC into it, it would eventually move with the help of a big hammer. All that did was to essentially flatten the head of the bolt (:red:) and not much else. Then finally the guy who is doing the soda blasting came to my rescue with the blow torch! He heated up the surrounding metal to nearly red hot, and eventually the bolt started moving. What a revelation! Amazing what heat can do. Never knew. So the top arm is removed, then the bottom one, then I turned my attention to the other side. I wanted to show you the tool I had made from a mechanic friend which is indispensable for removing the pivot pin bush Finally the whole assembly is getting smaller and more manageable and the next step is to remove it from the cradle. I finally found out the easiest way was to remove the axle mounting caps and the 8 mounting bolts. Another learning curve. So the Meccano set looks even more so, and I was busy keeping tabs on the various nuts, washers and shims which were coming off all sorts of bolts. Naturally, as with all Champ things, nothing is simple and the bags I was using never seemed big enough to hold all the parts. Hence the large amount of photos. I have decided that I will strip and paint the front axle before I do the rear axle. I know they are different in certain parts, however it is a good way of checking whether the re-assembly has been done correctly by comparing the other axle. I realized the boots were beyond any help and I was surprised the axles had any oil left in them when I drained them, as the boots were completely split open On Friday I will be going back to paint the parts Simon

The white numbers were on the outside. They were a combination of numbers and letters, possibly 6 characters in total though not sure. it had a B/O in 1962 at Weston Super Mare. Nothing I could see inside of bonnet but we haven't blasted that yet. Will check for any markings today. Also interestingly I could not see any numbers stamped on the dumb iron. Simon

Thanks Wally Yes, I have that publication, thank you. T The guy who is doing the soda blasting for me told me that while doing the bonnet he noticed what appeared to be part of a yellow circle on the left side of the bonnet (as you look at the car straight on, in other words on the driver's side) and what appeared to be white numbers down the side of the bonnet, but they were illegible. It is also strange as I have noticed what looks like blue paint on parts of the body and strangely on the wheel hubs. The DBG has been painted over it. I don't know whether they put another paint over the red oxide or whether that was the original colour and someone painted over it. It is frustrating me, as I really would like to know its history. Oh yes...also while looking at the rear axle/diff assembly I noticed that on the area on the closest rubber boot there appeared to be white numbers, though I could only make out 2 numbers, one of which was a 4 I think. Tomorrow I will be replacing the rubber boots so I will be closely inspecting the axles and the body. Thanks for the info. Simon

Ahhh...that makes sense now. That's why I couldn't find any regimental markings for Georgetown :red: Thanks Wally. I have the following from John Mastrangelo: THE RECEIPT VOUCHER [RV] WAS ARMY FORM GENERAL [AFG] 1033. GEO/R/3051 IS THE NUMBER FOR AFG 1033 ISSUED WITH YOUR VEHICLE WHEN IT ENTERED SERVICE. God only knows where it went! Simon

Hi all Below is what I received from the Champ Club regarding my Champ: RV WAS GEO/R/3051 AND DIS 15 JAN 53: THIS WAS THE ONLY CHAMP WITH THIS RV AND DATE WHICH INDICATES THAT IT WAS SENT TO A UNIT ALONE. GEO WAS GEORGETOWN IN SCOTLAND AND THIS MEANS THE UNIT WAS EITHER IN SCOTLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND OR NORTHERN ENGLAND. THE S/O DATE OF 11/1/67 AND AT RUDDINGTON MEANS EX TERRITORIAL ARMY 1960'S IN ENGLAND OR WALES. THIS VEHICLE WAS NOT SOLD THROUGH WD SALES BUT WAS PURCHASED BY PRIVATE BID BY AUSTRALIAN DEALER. I am trying to find out what Military markings I need to use to reflect my Champ's usage. I was told it was probably in the TA, but then it was suggested it might have been with the regular Army. On Champ World it shows the various markings, however my inexperience is not allowing me to recognise "my" unit. Thanks in advance Simon

I want to replace this wire, however I am having difficulty removing this knurled nut part. With much cursing and difficulty I managed to remove the extremely hard circlip buried deep within the knob. Now I don't know what else to do, as nothing else seems to move. I notice below the knurled ring there is a castellated ring....with my luck I will need special tool no FV 6574;?(85$59...... Simon

Thanks for the replies. My Champ (1624) is a British Champ and it underwent a Base Overhaul in 1962 at Weston-super-Mare. I would therefore assume that all the engine parts would have been painted in Sky Blue. Indeed Archie Marshall did bring in a huge number of Champs into Western Australia. The ones on the east coast (Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales) were brought in by a Bill Patterson from Melbourne. As an aside I am trying to find out the Army insignia for the vehicle. It was based in Georgetown (RV - GEO/R/3051). From my limited knowledge I believe it might have been assigned to 6 Vehicle Group HQ. Wally, you are correct about the engine numbers as most of the Australian Champs I have seen have the 5 digit engine numbers, while the RR engines only have 4 ( my engine no. is 3079 on a No1 Mk5A) Will therefore paint all engine items Sky Blue unless new information comes up. Simon

Hi I have noticed in a number of pictures that some items on the B40 engine do not appear to be painted in the usual Sky Blue, but in black, such as starter motor, generator and sometime ignition junction box. Is this the correct method, or was this when the vehicle left the factory and then once Base Overhaul had occurred, all engine components were sprayed Sky Blue? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Simon

Hi Welcome to the Forum, mate. Yes, there are a couple of nutters in Oz who are currently restoring Champs (me included). Ebay is a great source for finding material and so are the other contacts mentioned in previous posts. The important thing with Champs is maintenance and checking oil levels at all times. That in itself will avoid any disasters (or at least make them less catastrophic). I bought some lights off Ebay and the seller is randc430 The ones I bought were DA1077 LAND ROVER SERIES 2 3 LIGHT LAMP SIDE INDICATOR TAIL AND BRAKE Read the blogs on the Forum as they will give you much useful information, especially the ones from Rampant Rivet and Restoration of Champ 1824. As has been mentioned before, ask many questions and you shall receive many answers! Best of luck. Simon

I have started the process of painting the parts. Sky Blue for the engine parts Today I will start painting the other parts in DBG and work out what the best blasting medium will be for the chassis and the body. Someone on the Forum suggested using aluminium oxide and I will look at that option, although I am not sure about the costs and availability here in Australia. i have found that using a very good quality paintbrush, very fine sanding in between coats and just taking my time, has given me some very good results with painting the parts. Hopefully this will continue to the other parts I have to do. i have invested in a small sand blasting cabinet for the smaller parts, as I think I will use it when I start restoring the axles, as most of the parts are coated in mud and flaky paint. More pictures to come Simon

Hi all The time has finally come to make a decision as to the best way of preparing both the chassis and the body of my Champ. I have spoken to a panelbeater who is currently re-shaping the snorkel and the jerry can holder and he suggested that soda blasting might be the way to go, as soda blasting seems to get into all crevices and eventually will leach out. I guess that would happen if you don't clean it up properly. I have also looked at the possibility of getting the whole vehicle dipped in a special alkaline solution which strips off the paint, rust and prevent rust from coming back. Anyone has any other suggestions? Thanks Simon

These parts will then be dried, wiped off with methylated spirits, allowed to dry and then brush painted with the 2 pack red oxide. I have read on the Champ magazine that the brass connections were left unpainted, though on many photos I have seen they have been painted Sky Blue. Anyone have any thought on that? After cleaning all the other parts, I de-greased the parts and then painted them. I gave them 2 coats of paint, with a light sanding in between. I have chosen to paint the parts with a brush, using a very high quality brush, trying hard to emulate the coach painting methods. I know, I am dreaming, however I find using a brush much more satisfying.

I haven't posted for a while as I haven't had a chance to work on the Champ. However over the last couple of weeks, there have been a couple of developments. I managed to acquire a NOS chassis from Melbourne, and I posted the photo of it in another thread on this forum. I have been researching the different types of paints I could use on the Champ. After much reading, I decided on using an Australian product called Norglass. Based in Sydney, they are renowned for making boat paints of a very high quality. I wanted the parts to be totally protected against the Aussie elements. I spoke to them and they suggested I use a 2 pack red oxide paint called Norshield Anti Corrosive Primer. It's a red paint to which a hardener is added to the rate of 3 parts paint to 1 part hardener. The metal parts were cleaned in caustic soda, although I made the fatal mistake of immersing a couple of items made of aluminium in the caustic soda. Ouch! I buggered up the trailer socket and the brake reservoir, both expensive items when bought from the UK....well actually from anywhere! So having learnt my lesson, I invested in some pretty amazing paint stripper from KBS The stripper is sprayed onto the part and then washed off with methylated spirits. Below are some stripped parts

Mainly looking at gaskets, rubber seals, some electrical parts and some brake parts. I have started taking photos then writing down the part number according to the catalogue and emailing the lot to various parts suppliers in the UK and USA. Hopefully they will know what I am on about. Simon

Hi all I have started looking at ordering some parts but I am not sure what to quote. On the catalogue there are FV letters, LV letters, G letters etc. Which one do I use? Thanks Simon

As I mentioned previously, the process of stripping the parts and repainting them has begun. For the larger parts such as fenders, body panels etc I am getting them soda blasted. The smaller items, such as windscreen hinges, rifle mounts etc I am soaking in a caustic soda bath for about 24 hrs then rinsing them thoroughly under running water. I have been told, though that the only way to neutralise the caustic soda is to soak the part in brown vinegar for about 24hrs. Can anyone confirm this? Is there any other product which will do the same job? I am then going to spray the part with etch primer then use a 2 pak paint mix for the final paint. Thanks Simon

My Champ (1624) had undergone a base overhaul, hence the new colour?

Hi all I have started stripping all the parts I have removed from the chassis and the body of my Champ and I was wondering whether all the parts are painted in dark green or some are different colours. From what I can tell, the radiator for example is in black. Most of the photos show all the accessories in dark green, except for the dashboard instruments which are also black. It appears the horn cover is also black. What colour is the radiator grill? I have see it green and other times black. I also noticed the starter motor was black, although the front part is BS 101, so I am not sure. I know from my new chassis that the battery wells are painted white, although was that he case while the vehicle was also in service or was it only when it was delivered? i have looked through all the past numbers of my Champ magazine yet could not find an exhaustive outline of what is painted in what colour. Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, I agree. I intended leaving the inside of the battery box white anyway as I think it really offsets it nicely. Simon