Minesweeper

Hi Tony,

yes, very pleased indeed. The diff was probably the biggest hurdle, and although it isn't complete (input worm shaft missing) I'm still a huge way ahead.

 

:-)

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

Time for an update!

Have been chasing a second 30 cwt chassis; after a little 'Google Earth detective work' I managed to track it's location down, made contact with the owner, a deal was done, and a couple of weeks ago she was brought home.

Springs are shot, but wheels are good, chassis is good, and most important of all, I now have a differential!

 

:yay:

Brilliant! You really are on your way now!

Tony

Presumably you'll be using the crankcase from the half engine as well - it looks like a lug has fractured off the main engine?

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

Tony.

Looking good! Amazing how the flywheel is attached to the crank by a rectangular flange. Just out of curiousitiy, what are the diameters of crankshaft, flywheel and bore? I guess the cams can be built up and reground, or you can make new ones and lock them in place.

 

Regards

Marcel

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

I build dust-carts for a living!

 

Steve

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

Fantastic work as per usual!

Can I just ask why don't you use any coolant? Is it to do with the material, or the rotation speed, or just because you need to see what you're doing?

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

It's a bit sketchy but the first mobile lofts were converted from GS bodied lorries and it appears that 6 buses were converted in 1916 and a further 6 in 1917. They were painted black and white instead of green so that the pigeons could identify them.

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

Wouldn't that do for Dan's Halley?

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

[ATTACH]56000[/ATTACH]

 

Have a look in that second hand tool store for one of these, this one does up to 1/2", the flare on your pipe looks a bit longer than usually made with these tools, Im sure you could easily modify it to suit though.

 

 

Sure enough, David F. at the Tool Box in Colyton, East Devon - only just down the road from me has come up with the "goods"! Anybody living within range who does not know of this "emporium" should look in there for "stuff". He had one in stock for pipes from 1/8" to 3/4". Many thanks for the tip!

 

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

Hello

Possibly, would the prong on the sump plug have been magnetic to pick up any metal particals in the oil? reminds me of the one's used on the mini.

 

regards John

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 suspect there is an obvious answer, but why is it called a Try cock?

Because you try it by opening a little and see what comes out? or am I completely on the wrong track?

What type/brand of red oxide paint do you use?

Thanks for an interesting thread, as good as the Dennis one.

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

 

I was thinking about doing a restoration blog when i've made a bit more progress if anyone is interested?

Yes, please do that! It will be most interesting to see!

Tony

With the new back axle safely tucked away yesterday, Steve turned his attention to the engine today and to getting it stripped down. The next job on it was to remove the Valve Caps - but that was easier said than done as they were corroded to the extreme. They consist of what was once a hex headed threaded section which screwed into a mounting with a bayonet cap type fixing. The Hex head in all four cases had completely corroded away with nothing left and the bayonet fittings on the other parts were either corroded or broken.

Our usual procedure of heat and Plus Gas failed to work and the only alternative now was to cut them out. This was achieved with some difficulty on the first two with the use of a drill, a grinder on the Dremel and the good old hammer and chisel which broke them up

The photographs tell the story but you will see the extreme amount of rust on these fittings - especially around the threaded sections which made them impossible to unscrew.

If things go well and with some perseverance, the last two will be out tomorrow!

As part of our re-shuffle, we moved other engines around. We have a Dorman engine which is ear-marked for our second Peerless when we get around to it and an old FWD Wisconsin engine which is really past its sell-by date but good for spares. We wanted to move the Thorny bits to the front so that we could get at them and these two other engines have taken a step backwards until they are wanted!

We would be very happy to swap the Dorman Engine for a suitable Peerless engine if anybody has one!

All done! The Thorny engines in the front with the Dorman behind. Now just to get the grey civilian Autocar back in the Shed and then it will be job done. Hopefully tomorrow, we can get back to stripping the engine down!

Our prime objective today was to get the Thorny Axle, complete with "diff" still in it safely stowed away until we are ready to deal with it. It is a fair old lump and with really only our Engine Hoist to move it, it was a case of proceeding with caution!

We are always short of space and it meant moving things around to find a safe home for it - but we took the opportunity then of bringing some other Thorny bits to the fore as they had been well tucked away whilst we were dealing with the Dennis.

Firstly, we wanted to turn the axle over on the pallet so that it was the right way up - it had travelled on its side from NZ.

The "right way up" axle was then lifted and dropped down onto the legs of the Hoist, and like that, was wheeled to the back of the Lorry Shed where a space had been cleared for it in front of two Peerless wheels. Here it does not interfere with any other activities in the Shed and it is safe and out of harms way until we are ready for it.

The Thorny project started some 22 years ago - we had no engine, no complete chassis and no "diff". In the early days of the project, we always thought that it would be a "piece of cake" to find all the bits that we wanted but it did not work like that! Following a "Wanted" advert for an engine - it must be about 20 years ago, we were offered a half of an engine - a Thornycroft M4, which was the correct engine. Sometime in its past, the two cylinder blocks had been removed and lost so there was the crank case, crank and pistons and some other attached bits and pieces. We jumped at that offer and thought that another engine would follow shortly after so that we were ready to go. It must have been perhaps another 10 years before the complete engine turned up and that acquisition is described in an earlier thread.

With everything being moved around today to accommodate the new axle, we dug out the old "half engine" as there are several bits still on that which are missing on the complete engine. That will be required shortly to work on so it was the appropriate time to bring it out.

Interestingly, one of the feet on the complete engine through which it is bolted to the chassis is broken off so we had thoughts of doing another "mix and match", using the crank case from the "half engine" as a replacement. That will be fine, but it is interesting to see that the matching foot on the "half engine" is also damaged - but not terminally so we wonder if there is a problem there with the engine fouling something as it is lowered in or taken out. We shall find out in due course!

Other things brought forward include the Gearbox and the part of the Gear Change quadrant.

It would have been nice if the first wheel would then just slide off the axle but it was quite tight and slightly fouling the brake linings. A crow-bar and small hydraulic jack eventually got them moving and we were able to slide them off. These wheels are extremely heavy and we used the Engine Hoist to take the weight of them.

Unfortunately, a Brake drum on one of the wheels cracked during the dismantling process. We really hate breaking original parts - but we have a couple of spares in stock so can replace that one.