goanna

These might be useful to a CS8 restorer ....the floor planks are 3/4" thick ..not 7/8 as indicated .

I think most of the CS8's over here were 'refugee cargo'. This means - vehicles intended for Malaya were diverted to Australia after the Japs overan Malaya and captured Singapore. But maybe a few did arrive ex-Middle East , it's not a easy task working this history out . Some CS8's were disposed of with very low mileage ..virtually new , to essential users like govt. departments and farmers . I estimate the total number would have been around 200 ... all GS I think. Mike

I have a few CS8 wrecks for spares ..... I seem to be the only CS8 enthusiast in Australia ..... surrounded by myriad Jeep owners .....HELP !!!!

I have stripped the truck down... engine is standard bore 82mm about 8 thou of ridge evident . Chassis is the best Ive seen over here in OZ , they are prone to rust .

somebody mentioned that .. the con rods in the engines were made from a fragile manganese ?? alloy . So a potential restorer would likely need to have new rods cast . MIKE

The Australian army had them too ...link here http://users.bigpond.net.au/profpinz/haffyinfo/haflinger_info/haffyinfo.htm I have seen a few over the years ... Auto Surplus in Melbourne had the spares for them... probably ex army stock they had bought . Mike

A business here was advertising these . They look somewhat like the ubiquitous LUCAS C39-40 series ..but are actually 80 amp rated alternators ...I spotted them in a local old car magazine here . Mike PS the mag is RESTORED CARS and the business was at Castlemaine in Victoria

I've been through this with my series 1 Land Rover .The pressure the needle and seat in the carby looks at ..has nothing to do with the points in the pump ..all the points do is switch the current on and off . The pressure is FULLY dependant on the diaphram spring tension..the spring that sits behind the diaphram ..More diaphram spring pressure = higher psi at the needle/seat. It's basic physics . The SU pump was made in LP and HP versions . Mike

Yes , I've been told its all very strict these days , limited access . The Japs actually landed a recce team on the coast along there. A missionary priest was abducted by a Jap floatplane as he was mooching along the coast in a small vessel, sadly he was beheaded by his captors . In another odd happening, a DC3 was shot down along there and the passenegers and crew made their way to a local mission . Mike

Bad luck ..... What type of metal is it made from ? It might be possible for it to be welded or bronzed together . It may have broken because of a internal fault ... something jammed or made the armature seize ? The 4 cyl 'E' series motor was also used in the 15 cwt 4X2 C4 . The 6 Cyl. OH series has a different starter I believe . Mike

yes Hanno, that's the one . Ok Alex , I just checked my email ..many thanks .

Apparently a blue Morris Commercial PU 8 cwt turned up at the Normandy event .... Does anyone have any pics of it ? Mike

Hi I've a few of those regulators here for the Morris'( they seem to be a common fitting ). I've never attempted to adjust one but I've got some data and stuff on them..A friend in the UK posted me a NOS one in the box ..it looks pretty but dont know how it will behave . Yes sounds like your regulator isn't adjusted to 13.8 Volts ..the red light indicates the current flow is happening in REVERSE ..that is it is flowing from the battery instead of into the battery ... The CUT OUT , which is mounted inside the same box, does another job, it doesn't regulate the voltage at all .. it's a simple ON or Off relay that disconnects the generator field coils from the battery when you switch off the motor. The Cut out isnt faulty, its the regulator part that is Mike

Hi Richard No, I've never heard of that one .. ( I've heard of the chalk streams, the Itchen and Test being two ) and we don't have salt on the roads either ..YUK YUK . Mineral deposits can occur ..depends on where you live I guess. Wouldn't it be nice if you found some Gold deposits in your radiator ! Around here , a hunded years ago.. hundreds of miners were digging like wombats .... many of them were Chinese. But the real gold was the massive trees ... big monstors.

UMM , I think they are actually in the INLET side , the coolant circulates from top tank to bottom tank .. or am I incorrect . Mike

Yes, we found the WOT2 brakes to be very effective . I once found a WOT2H abandoned in a paddock in NSW ( 1981) , in a field of lucern ... I approached the farmer and he gave the truck to me ! What amazed me was , despite being there for eons, the brakes still worked . I removed the gearbox cover and found mass of ferric oxide , it looked like a huge mess, water had dribbled down the gear stick into the box. I had to remove the rear axle half shafts to move it . The truck was jammed on a big log and I spent hours freeing it on my own... struggling with jacks in a hot December . I had to borrow some 20" Bedford wheels to move it. All that work and I sold it for $100 ... Mike

Jules Sounds like the header tank is being pressurised . Without thermostsats X 2 , the coolant rushes into the header tank unrestricted . The thermostsats in effect , provide a small port , where a metered amount of coolant flow is let by . Too much flow and the header tank cannot cope with it, becomes pressurised , and the coolant finds the overflow tube and out it goes. Remember, it takes time for the coolant to reach the lower tank through the tubes in the core.... your water pumps are trying to force the coolant around without any restriction. Just a theory . Myself and a friend owned a WOT2D and we drove it up to a MV rally at Corowa .. almost 200 miles on a very hot March day ..temp in the 90's F .. it ran beautifully .. it loved the hot weather . pics here http://www.geocities.com/vmvc1au/index.html Mike

That Ponti brings back memories Rick... I Bought it in 1981 , from a elderly chap at Geelong..he had purchased it in 1946 ..it came down from Queensland where it was demobbed . He fitted sedan doors to it and metal panels over the masonite.. he had a caravan hire business and he drove the car to qld each year for holidays . he had a brake hydraulic connection on the tow bar, which was tapped into the rear brakes of the car ..he hooked up the caravan brakes onto the cars brake system ! ! he had just let the 46 rego lapse .... I drove it home along Geelong road among the traffic ... it was a sickly emerald green , with badly dented front end ..he hit many fences in his back yard with it . Geelong was playing at home that day and the football crowds came out to head home . The motor was tired and the manifold cracked . I sold it to Colin who had one already . Colin salvaged a 41 Ponti sedan ,it had been a hire car during WW2 , had a good front end on it . Oh and I rebuilt the brakes on it,, I fitted Falcon rear wheel cylinders on it , fitted perfectly. the king pin bushes were stuffed and I jammed some shim steel down em to make it more solid.. colin says its still running OK ! he fitted a early 50's Pontiac motor in it . Mike

I'm old enough to remember them being used on the larger army bases here. They were runabouts , taking people from A to B on the base . Leyland here ( or BMC or whatever it was ) built a prototype small 4X4 loosely based on the Moke . In the 70's Leyland also attempted to break into the large saloon car market with a large car called the P76 ..it was a flop ..but it wasnt a bad car ...it just looked very ugly. There is a P76 club here that is a sort of joke among car enthusiasts. The RAAF had some vehicles of their own peculiar need. Some of the BMC stuff here was rebadged ..I think we got Morris instead ofAustin in some cases.

I have a TV doco on tape . WW2 in colour or something . In one scene, what looks like a MW Bedford .. with a van body . Ministry of Food or something on the side of it. The weird thing is, its painted in disruptive camo ..Light Stone and a fancy sky blue colour ,looks very flash . it could be a 30 cwt..but not sure . Whats the deal with the yellow / bright blue camo ? Mike

Here's a genuine Australian army Moke . Last Saturday at the Melbourne ANZAC day march .. Don't think the roll bar is a standard fitting .

hi Don They are still currently available from AGTYRES in Moree, NSW . I haven't seen any speed rating on the sidewall . MRF manufacture a large variety of tyres for 4X4's and trucks etc.The tread is somewhat nobblie ..but quite Ok for the speeds we are likely to be doing.Click on this link http://orbit.dnsrouter.com/~mlu/forums/showthread.php?t=10850

If there are any MRF ( Madras Rubber Factory, India ) dealers in the UK , might be worth giving them a try . MRF manufacture a 900-13 with a sort of NATO/Michelin tread pattern . A few of us ( Australia ) have bought them for our Canadian 8 cwt C8's. You UK guys may have to organise a batch import of them to make it worthwhile, I doubt if a dealer would import just 5 tyres. As far as I know OLYMPIC here has sent the 900-13 sand grip moulds to Asia, Indonesia I think. The Melbourne factory has laid off many workers and the last Australian batch was made in 2000 , I have 3 of them dated 2000 , they fit certain towed agricultural implements like balers. Mike

Mike The other replies have said it's normal behaviour for older vehicles to turn the motor over , even with the ignition switch OFF ..yes, this is completely normal and lots of older cars do it ... My 1946 Dodge ute with the mechanically actuated floor starter motor used to confuse anyone under 25 years old .. they didn't have a clue how to start it .. a good anti theft device ! The starter motor would turn over with Ig switch in the OFF position .. no solenoid is fitted on many older cars ... . Mike in OZ

I wonder how successful the concept was , were any enemy aircraft confirmed as actually shot down by one of the MCC C9/B. The idea didn't seem to last post WW2 , mounting Bofors AA on vehicles or am I wrong . BTW at least one of these made it down under as pictured on the AWM archives. It hasn't been found anywhere...but I'm looking . Mike