PITT24423

Flipped the chassis over so we can start making the engine mounts the front spring hangers nudge bar and fuel tank were all from the box of lovelyness which arrived earlier in the year . 

Nice Rolls , needs a bit of English patina looks hardly used .

We had a couple of photos only to work with  ref the bars and the cut off ends on a dead chassis to determine position plus the added knowledge of where they break as every chassis we have was either cracked or snapped . So all additional strong points positioned to meet this end 

I wanted corroded turnbuckles and whilst on the search we located some in the Western section stores as they were the from a similar sized chassis with the saddles being a similar style and match to the info we had plus i  didn`t want to go to the expense of patterns and casting as potentially you won`t see them clearly if and when the wooden side rails are fitted.

Started to turn our attention back to the chassis as it had it’s share of “ not quite finished jobs” to see to . One of them being to sort out the Pullman bars which we decided to add to give the chassis some added strength as mentioned earlier in this thread. The downstairs seat cushions are done and currently hiding beneath their protective plastic covers. 

You know how it is , we thought we were going to mothball this project once stabilised until we had finished some of our other projects. 
It started with we will just pop the head off to have a peak at the suspect reported valve problem as it was a bit rainey last weekend and domestic duties we’re suspended. After most of Saturday afternoon and Sunday the head finally let go of the studs after lots of gentle encouragement and tea drinking . What we found on cyl 1&2 the gudgeon pin has scored the bores where I’m guessing the ally end caps have been left out    allowing the pin to move from side to side scrapping the cylinder wall to a depth of a couple of mm.Its now a engine out rebore and sleeve plus new rings at a min. Initially we were hoping sort the valves out and drop the sump for a clean out and check out . Now it will get a strip down and overhaul which is the only way. forward. Even though the wheels look good the closer you get about 50% of the spokes are riddled with worm so the wheels are now stripped and are off on holiday to Devon to let Greg work hit magic . The trick now will be to tone down and de stress the new spokes It’s been agreed to save as many of the original spokes as poss.

A587-152  After several of us looking in the correct areas the chassis number has finally revealed its self . So according to Dodge crib sheet equates to March 1926 which is far later than I would of guessed for the reasons previously mentioned .Another member of this forum has yet again come up trumps for one of our projects . R P came across a article in The Commercial Motor 2/10/23 perfectly describes the truck with matching side lights to what we have ,which I think are Smith’s unless anyone knows otherwise.Need two lens and rims if anyone has any. With the body being built in London by Hoods and Bodies Ltd 

After several of us looking in the correct areas the chassis number has finally revealed its self .

Slight deviation but local bus historian Bill Ward came across a early postcard titled “Changing the guard Mersea Strood “with a Daimler bus . Mersea Island is where we live and in both wars was a restricted area with a checkpoint on the only road onto the Island known as the Strood which is covered by the tide. 

That’s funny I picked up a “Auto ambulance equivalent “ last week as it wasn’t loved and looking for a home.

Thanks for your comments Rick, You are are right on a number of points as i already own a ex Canadian registered 23 Dodge car which I have used as a comparison as we know the date because it still had the serial plate. 
A few comparisons between 23 car and 3/4 ton truck 

magneto v distributor

throttle pedal centrally positioned v on the car as modern vehicles 

headlamps appear to be the earlier saucepan style . The cross member is corroded to the point of heavy pitting plus quite hard to access because of how the seat box is fitted. I will further investigate tomorrow. 

Thank you all for your comments as I often have trouble convincing indoors what she is looking at.

 Rest assured the “posh rust” is staying but mechanically it will get the treatment in the same way as our other projects .We know it has some valve issues to attend to for a start and certainly expect to find more, on the plus side nothing appears seized with it last being run about 5 year’s ago when the mag gave up.This has since been been rebuilt but not refitted and is tucked away in the airing cupboard .

After seeing this at the back of a friends shed I finally convinced him it needed to return to Essex after a brief 24 years in Dorset 

What I think 🤔but only think, is that it was one of the original 1917-18 Dodge order which came over as part of the war effort as it is RHD and there’s no other reason for it to be here.There appears to be the remains of green paint on the cab .It was first registered in 1924 to a hardware store in Clacton on sea with aEssex registration. Later sold to the Seaside Laundry which we believe was also in Clacton as the original sign writing is still visible on the doors. Even though it appears as a pickup I think it’s the cut back remains of what was a van as some tell tale marks are on parts of the remaining frame.

Open to suggestions and thoughts as we are still in the excited unwrapping stage at the moment but we intend to tidy it up and keep it all original as possible.

Nibbling away at the list.A local museum wanted to scrap some axles so via Owen we collected the Tilling Stevens axles and will have this as an option to use as a donor for the diff when the time comes. 
 

The first class seats are coming together and have managed to buy the correct patterned Moquette cloth  which is winging its way to us. These are being done by a friend who does upholstery for yachts and involved  a bit of horse trading as they are very good at what they do.The base foam is a dual layer with the blue foam being dence  to absorb the shocks and the white forms to your backside.This layer is not as effective as normal due to us choosing to use synthetic horse hair to give the seats a more authentic shape and feel.
The upstairs seats are now all primed and we are all agreed in that they are b........s to paint due to the slatted seat bases.

Had a productive morning with Basil as he chose to come into work instead of domestic chores which meant we got the job done in half the time . All the windows got a lick of undercoat ready for topcoat next .

Photo opportunity moved the body this evening over to our main workshop as this is the first Saturday we are not working so I can fit the top deck handrails.Paint is nearly there with a couple more coats of white are needed.

Thought we had better get some paint on the wheels before the damp weather sets in .  We now know that the odd back wheel is Daimler as we have been shown pictures with this wheel fitted to CBs. After blasting the foundry name and date became evident as June 1914 

Bit of excitement today 🤩🥳 .Ran out of time tonight to unpack for a full inspection, but for plastic tyres they look great as I had my doubts .I’m sure once they get some dirt they will look spot on and nigh on impossible to tell the difference. So big round of applause to the guys down Cornwall ask for Nigel  http://www.jobel.co.uk/  😁

On 6/16/2020 at 8:10 PM, nz2 said:

Can you clean up those casting marks as one appears to be the letters JAC.  If so it is a foundry name.

 I have JAC marks on some Thornycroft parts and have found the initals on other castings of the time. 

 Doug

Yes Doug the initials definitely look like JAC there’s also the remnants of WD paint under the black paint of what paint is left.

The bonus of this being our second Daimler is we now know how it is put together and have already made the necessary special tools. This weekend we stripped the wheels ready for the new tyres ,the brake drums proved just stubborn as before with the need to drill out a more than a couple of bolts as they were well and truly seized solid. We have made our mind up to use the odd wheels as they came with the chassis .They are both the same except the spoke pattern so have come to the conclusion the open spoked wheel is Daimler but I could be wrong as there’s a chance it could be AEC as equally I haven’t seen any Daimler with this wheel .There’s some casting numbers but nothing else unlike the original Daimler wheel which has brass plates.

When we rebuilt the lorry the diff was to prove illusive so we had to fabricate the top diff casting and used the gears from a Daimler CC axle we were lucky to purchase. With this project we were lucky in that there was a Daimler CK axle with a top casting but sadly not gears .As lovely as the CK wheels (circular holes )are they are the wrong spoke pattern for the bus  The CB axle which came with the chassis came with odd wheels so at this stage we will use odd wheels as I quite like the open spoke style of the odd wheel . To check the dimensions were the same between the two axles I turned up a couple of discs and pulled a length of mig wire between the centres to use as a datum.

We have applied the first top coat of paint which is pleasing to the lower panels.

On 6/9/2020 at 9:38 PM, Cel said:

Absolutely stunning! The same applies to the Ransomes, that was one of my favourites at the GDSF 2018. Many thanks for sharing.

Thanks Cel

2018 we didn’t quite manage to get the injector sorted and tested in time but was ready for last year which we treated her gently as we had a lot of new bearings and gears bedding in and on the last day towed some logs 

Meant to say the lower internal panels on the front bulkhead are still wearing original paint which I intend to leave.

Started to sort out wheels ready for new tyres which I have decided to go down the plastic route .The rear axle will be a combination of the one which we had shipped as it has the top casting for the diff with the possibility of using the whole axle minus the wheels as it is from a later CK model ,shame the diff isn’t in any of them but I have a plan 🤓.Initially thought we were fine for wheels and axle s but we have just about scrapped parts off every axle we have to make a complete set inc the brass tags as the newness was gone for some reason!

A few updated photos of my willing helpers never say “your bored “during lockdown .Amazing how much rubbing down you can get done 😁

Looking for 7 more catches like this one for the windows if anyone has seen anything close would be great 36mm overall length .

Finally got to the end of the seats with mounting brackets let into the floor and a taste of top coat for the inside .Caught Dave testing each seat and they are unbelievably comfortable for a wooden seat.

Both projects have parts from the Chatham Daimler you asked about with majority being used on the lorry..