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bedford QL restoration


guy66

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Hello, with this thread I send some information about the restoration of my bedford QL.

 

This truck was original a QLR, yes with a radio box on the chassis but lost his rear section after its military service.

The plan is to put a general service (QLD) rear section on the chassis but this will be for the future, first start with the cabin and engine as this last one is solid blockt.

 

 

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Edited by guy66
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Hello,

Nice lorry. Just out of interest, is the disc on the passenger side of the cab the remains of a reflector, or is it a WD tax disc holder?

 

If it is a tax disc holder it will have WD cast into the rim, and once removed from the cab, the back unscrews to put the tax disc in.

 

This OX has one on, if you zoom in you can see it looks the same. I'm looking for one for my mw that why i noticed it.

 

 

 

Rippo

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Edited by rippo
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Hello,

Nice lorry. Just out of interest, is the disc on the passenger side of the cab the remains of a reflector, or is it a WD tax disc holder?

 

If it is a tax disc holder it will have WD cast into the rim, and once removed from the cab, the back unscrews to put the tax disc in.

 

This OX has one on, if you zoom in you can see it looks the same. I'm looking for one for my mw that why i noticed it.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54236[/ATTACH]

 

Rippo

 

Hello, fore sure it is a tax disc holder but need to look if it is a wd type, for the moment it is still on cabin and will have a look!

 

Guy

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Funny how suddenly a bunch of qls are being restored, and we all have to rebuild the bottom of the cab :-)

good luck guy

 

I really think it is the challenge to put a British workhorse back on the road, if I want to start something easy as a project it surely makes the challenge so match easier if I had chose something American. But this is not my cup of tea !!!

 

Where I live we where liberated by the 53rd Welsh division and feel it as something of a acknowledgement to are liberators. something that really annoys my is ,if someone tray's to belief that we have everything to thank to the yanks!

 

But for sure I am a bit of a Anglophile, that's my problem.

 

Guy

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Where I live we where liberated by the 53rd Welsh division and feel it as something of a acknowledgement to are liberators. something that really annoys my is ,if someone tray's to belief that we have everything to thank to the yanks!

 

But for sure I am a bit of a Anglophile, that's my problem.

 

 

 

 

Good for you, Guy .. and a good choice of truck to restore. You are among the Elite now ;). I have owned a QL for 24 years now, and still get great pleasure driving it.

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I really think it is the challenge to put a British workhorse back on the road, if I want to start something easy as a project it surely makes the challenge so match easier if I had chose something American. But this is not my cup of tea !!!

 

Where I live we where liberated by the 53rd Welsh division and feel it as something of a acknowledgement to are liberators. something that really annoys my is ,if someone tray's to belief that we have everything to thank to the yanks!

 

But for sure I am a bit of a Anglophile, that's my problem.

 

Guy

 

I bought my Ql for exactly the same reasons, I could have bought a fair running GMC 353 for the same price as my QL.

Denmark was liberated by the British, and I find it annoying that the liberation parade in Copenhagen allways are full of US vehicles and almost no british (not discrediting the american war effort, but no us trops came to Denmark)

And I am also an Anglophile and proud of it :cool2:

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Where I live we where liberated by the 53rd Welsh division and feel it as something of a acknowledgement to are liberators. something that really annoys my is ,if someone tray's to belief that we have everything to thank to the yanks!

 

Totally agree, Guy.

 

With the passing of time and Amercian movies like SPR and BOB, far too many people think the US liberated Europe, if not that the 82AB won the war single handedly. . . .

 

Keep up the good work on that Bedford!

 

Regards,

Hanno

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Some update on the bedford. separated the cabin from the chassis and I took the roof section first of, this will make my job match easier in the workshop to repair section by section.

The cabin floor will need some welding work and as a small part can be man handled in the workshop .

Al the bolts came lose after some gentle heating and it was a strait forward job to take the roof section of the main cabin.

 

The cabin came next and removed the engine and gearbox, butt it wend very dark and have now pictures of the

removal of the engine.The engine will need a good inspection and some of the pistons are stuck in there bores.

 

 

 

Something interesting came to light when i had a good look at the doors, the QL came from a depot in Antwerp as can bee seen on one of the doors!

 

 

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The cabin and engine are now i my workshop, pictures of the striped chassis and the cabin on transport (only for a few miles)

 

Wanted to take some pictures of the engine strip but my camera plays my tricks, think that santa will need to bring my a new one.

 

Guy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello and a merry Christmas to every body on the forum.

last week I had the engine and gearbox inside the workshop, opened the gearbox and took everything apart to clean the inside of it (some surface rust inside the box) but other ways everything looked fine.

Put everything back together with new gaskets and a fresh coat of paint.

 

As I said in my previous threads, the engine was solid stuck and as I took the engine apart it came clear that some water found his way in to the engine.

The QL had been standing for a long time without the copula cover on the roof and the air cleaner tube was not on the carb and some rain water must have found his way in to the engine.

 

The engine is complete in bits and on first inspection it need a re-bore to first over size (0.20) because there is some damage on the cylinder walls from the water in the bores. I had to use some brute force to move the middle pistons out of there bores ( inlet valves had been open on these two and the water found his way via these valves in to the middle bores).

The good news is that the bearings on the crank are like new and already traced some old stock oversize pistons with exhaust valves, still need some inlet valves and valve spring.

 

Guy

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I need to move on with this project, if I see al the work that need to be done on the QL.

 

Are plan is to take the bedford to normandy in 2014.

I did trace some QLR TEV- type rear body here in Belgium ( the front of the truck had been cut of and the rear section was used as a cabin on building sites) and think that the floor and fittings are the same as a QLT (long troop carrier model). This stuff comes at a very good price and maybe can be modified in to a QLD floor.

With thees lot comes also a engine cover (cover over engine in the cabin) that was missing on mine.

 

Next week the engine goes for a re-bore and can be put back together. I need to find a gasket set or the engine and 6 inlet valves with the valve springs.

 

Guy

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I need to move on with this project, if I see al the work that need to be done on the QL.

 

Are plan is to take the bedford to normandy in 2014.

I did trace some QLR TEV- type rear body here in Belgium ( the front of the truck had been cut of and the rear section was used as a cabin on building sites) and think that the floor and fittings are the same as a QLT (long troop carrier model). This stuff comes at a very good price and maybe can be modified in to a QLD floor.

With thees lot comes also a engine cover (cover over engine in the cabin) that was missing on mine.

 

Next week the engine goes for a re-bore and can be put back together. I need to find a gasket set or the engine and 6 inlet valves with the valve springs.

 

Guy

Hi Guy, Normandy 2014 ? at this rate it will be ready for Normandy 2012 mate.

Well done so far.

Edited by Ian L
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Some extra welding work don on the QL.

 

Bottom of the radiator cover repaired and the starting handle middle fitting re-made.

 

The angle grinder had also a fight with the bottom of the door, there was also some rust to deal with, thereafter I welded some fresh metal in the bottom of the door.

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Nice work Guy, are you doing the fabrication / welding yourself ?

 

Hello Ian, yes al the fabrication and welding is don by me. It is not my first restoration project, in the past I have been working mostly on Triumph Herald and Vitesse cars and also some mini's.

If you know a bit about cars then you know that thees are not so rust proof!

 

And with al the motorbikes that past my hands (lost the cont on al my bike restoration) I have some experience with panel work.

Send you some pictures of some bikes.

 

 

And with the Triumph I really was bitten by the military vehicle virus!

Guy

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