Minesweeper

I like your swage block in the back-ground, I hope nobody else does! Once bitten - twice shy! It gets locked away with every thing else now, after our previous experience! Tony

With much sympathy - a sad and terrible time for you and your family. Tony

There are other members of this Forum much more experienced and qualified than I - but from what we have learned, it is very difficult to do a lot with this very old aluminium. We had a problem with the Dennis Gearbox where the cast-in "prongs" to hold the steel pivot pins for the Transmission Brake had either broken away or corroded away - but that Gearbox by the nature of its shape loaned itself to have that aluminium cut completely away and a steel fabrication - not aluminium - bolted to the Gearbox as a replacement. There were flat surfaces available in the appropriate place on the gearbox for the new steel replacement to be bolted to it. Looking at the shape of yours, it seems almost impossible to see an available surface that you could bolt anything to which would also be strong enough to hold such a fabrication - bearing in mind all the stresses that would be placed on it in use. We found from experience that it is impossible even to repair an old aluminium Radiator - despite all the great trouble that we went to, to seal it on the inside. It still leaks and when we get around to it, we must make patterns to have new top and bottom tanks cast. Again, I must stress that I am not an expert and although I understand that it is possible to weld aluminium, this very old aluminium is not really good for that. I hope that perhaps now, the knowledgable and professional members of the Forum might come in and comment and advise but unless you are fortunate enough to find a better gearbox I reckon that you might have to bite the bullet on this one and do some pattern making so that a new case can be cast - and then machined. Not good news as machining such a thing is not going to be cheap or easy. I do hope that the professionals will come in now and comment as there is a lot to be learned here! Tony

Thanks for all that reassurance - we are pleased and grateful to have it! Steve and Tim have gone to Coventry today (not sent!) to see the WW1 Maudslay 3 tonner that is being restored there - always something to learn! Tony

The water connection consists of two castings and a rubber seal between (according to the manual). We have yet to part them but I anticipate complete destruction of the rubber when we do! Steve

Ben H who is a regular contributor to this forum has had some experience of this and may be able to guide you in the right direction in the way that he coped with it and give you details of the company that he dealt with.......... And possibly some idea of the costs, too! However did you hear of this chassis, by the way? Sounds as if there might be more of a story there! Tony

Brilliant! You really are on your way now! Tony

Yes - spot on, Alan! Covered in posting No. 138 of the 28th December, Tony.

The bore is 4 1/2" with a stroke of 6". I will measure the journals and flywheel later. We plan to work on the half-engine today as although that one has had the blocks missing for very many years, the cams and gears appear to be much better. Although the gears on the full engine look good, they have suffered where they have been touching and the crank pinion has two very bad teeth which is a great pity. Nothing we can't sort out, one way or another! Steve

In the late 1950's and early 60's, they were just in the plain green in the UK that they were delivered in. We just referred to it as "Land Rover Green". These were Series ones and early Series Twos. Not much help to you, I guess! Tony

And very good Dust Carts they are, too! Tony

There is/was a Thornycroft J and a Model T with a "Huck Starter" on the same site - but they would not part with them when we asked some years ago! Tony

I have heard that some Railway Locomotive Works Plates are being copied by being cast using originals as the pattern - and then left outside in the garden to weather so that they look old. Buyer beware! Tony

Well, I am no professionally trained machinist and what I do is fiddle around and learn as I go! However, from what I know, no coolant is used when machining Cast Iron. With mild steel, then I use a cutting oil fed in from an old Fairy Liquid bottle - and take small cuts so that I can clearly see what is going on. I expect the professionals will throw their hands up into the air - but it seems to work for me! Tony

Does this prove that PIGEONS - not Pidgeons - are not colour blind? Tony

Nice to see another "Gosling" on the Forum - that makes at least 4 of us - though I do not think that we can be related? Do you have any connection with the Cornish Goslings? Tony

Seems like a tremendous amount of money - but must be very rare now and worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it. It would be interesting to know where it is going and what it is to go in. Hopefully, another old lorry. Tony

If Dan does want to go for it, I know of somebody who wants to bring another chassis back from Australia and would like to share the costs of a container with somebody else......... Tony

Very nice - looks right! Tony

I think that your opening question, Jack, was specifying just "Twitter" - have we strayed away from your specific question? I cannot help but thinking that there is a bit of a difference between "Twitter" and "HMVF"!

Not for me - is it really necessary? I guess it is a waste of valuable time - unless someone can convince me differently.

If you look back at the postings on the 29th and 30th December, you will see the remains of the "retaining thingys" as Gordon describes them, being cut out! They are totally "gone" so new ones have to be made. A nice little machining exercise. When they are fixed down tight, they simply bear down on the Valve Caps to keep them in position. Really, re-use of the caps depends on what sort of seal can be recovered after they have been ground in again. They are not cast iron but a very hard steel. Steve has done proper drawings for the replacement parts and perhaps he will post them for you to see when he gets home from work this evening! Tony

No, we don't think that it would have ever been a magnetic one (for those days) - and on further reflection and consideration, we think that the "prong" on the Drain Hole Screw was just there to stop the float on the oil gauge from descending too far and perhaps "bottoming". I'll make a new "prong" to replace it because of its corrosion which could have just been caused by condensation. Tony

I bet you have started another debate - so let's see what others have to say later! Sometimes on the back of a steam boiler, you will have two try-cocks, one above the other and they are used for testing the water level in the boiler. If you open the top one and water comes out, you know that you have at least water in the boiler up to that level - if nothing coms out, then you would then open the bottom try-cock to make sure that you do at least have water up to that level. If nothing comes out there, then you do urgently need water in the boiler! If nothing came out of the top one and you get something out of the bottom one, then you know that your water level is somewhere in between the two try-cock levels which would be a safe operating area! In the Thorny, there is just one try-cock in the sump, placed at the oil operating level and the same principle would apply. If you open the try-cock and nothing comes out, the oil would need topping up. So in my mind for "Try-cock" you could substitute "Test-cock" - but I am happy to be corrected on this one! If you look in the dictionary, you will see the definition of "try-cock" as a cock that can be opened to draw off a small quantity of fluid to test it! My guess is now that we will get other thoughts and opinions on this - so watch this space. The Primer that we use is Bondaprime. We have used it on all the lorries and find it really excellent. It is initially quite thin so that it covers well and really does an excellent job. Glad that you are enjoying the thread - we learn a tremendous amount from the feed back and are always very grateful to have. Tony