The Restoration of Austin Champ 1824

[mazungumagic]

This vehicle is one of a significant number imported into West Australia, by Archie Marshall probably in the 70s.

 

It was found on a farm near Wubin north of Perth and I bought it from the finder just before Christmas.

 

This restoration will be a slowish process, as I'm only able to work on it on Wednesdays, so most posts here will be on the following day.

 

Details are:

Engine # 3097

No body # found yet, though there is a welded tag on the LH dumb iron with 43/400 stamped on it. I'm advised this is a rebuild embellishment.

 

Anyway, here it is as found:

 

 

 

So far, I've started to remove the bolts holding the body onto the chassis and also taken off a number of the bolt on bits. The speedo registered 12,000 miles and still had the lead seal on the speedo cable plug screwed onto the speedo head. That made me optimistic about the condition of the engine, till I found out it is a replacement motor. Why would it be necessary to replace a low mileage motor and how used is the replacement ?? We'll see.

 

It still has the hinged type reflectors on the bumperettes, which I'm told are indicators of BAOR service. Unfortunately the only remaining rear glass lens (RHS) fell apart when I came to remove it from its threaded holder, so that'll be an expensive replacement.

 

To date, I've found that the nuts and bolts are surprisingly easy to remove - did the makers use some form of anti seize ? Whatever they did or did not do, the dismantling process is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

 

My first mistake is shown in the pic below. I rewired and painted the instrument switchboard. I had been given decals for the switches and put them on - not without a lot of breakage (they're extremely flimsy) and misalignment. Then following the instructions, I sprayed on a coat of clear acrylic to glue the decals in place. I would guess the black paint was incompatible with the acrylic and has now bubbled up to give a very creased appearance, not unlike "hammerite". The only options I think I have, are to make the speedo housing look the same or find some more decals (very difficult) and repaint.

 

 

 

I might try to stamp in the wording, but I'll have a think about that and maybe do some trialling, if I can find a set of 1/4" number stamps.

 

 

Jack

[ferrettkitt]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55808[/ATTACH]

 

I might try to stamp in the wording, but I'll have a think about that and maybe do some trialling, if I can find a set of 1/4" number stamps.

 

 

Jack

 

Decals are flimsy its just a case of being careful with them when you put them on and using compatible paints to achieve the best results. I wouldn't stamp the switchboard it won't look right.

 

http://www.ferret-fv701.co.uk/switchboardtext.doc

 

History wise you should be able to get that from the austin champ owners club (www.austinchamp.com)

[antar]

Decals are flimsy its just a case of being careful with them when you put them on and using compatible paints to achieve the best results. I wouldn't stamp the switchboard it won't look right.

 

http://www.ferret-fv701.co.uk/switchboardtext.doc

 

History wise you should be able to get that from the austin champ owners club (www.austinchamp.com)

 

I'm with Andy on not stamping the digits. Have a search for "letteraset" they used to do very similar font and size white letters.

 

When you come to the axles I own one of the two moulds for the drive shaft gaiters in the UK and have a good stock of new gaiters in modern oil resistant rubber. Russel Altman in Stawel may also have them for sale. Can also supply some other Champ parts as well. I notice that the sills may require some repairs, Malcolm Scot of MS Tyres, Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK manufactures repair panels for these.

John.

[mazungumagic]

Thanks to you both for the advice and help with bits. I am about to get into contact with Russell Altman and obtain a few items that will be needed.

 

I undid a few more of the bolts holding the body onto the chassis on Wednesday and also removed more of the ancillary bits eg steering wheel, fuel filter, seats, rear diff cover and what I think was a farmers replacement for the "winch" cover.

 

I also removed the handbrake assembly because I wanted to see what shape the pawl and ratchet were in. I had another assembly which had a very worn ratchet and was hoping that 1824 might have one that was not so bad.

 

This first pic shows the shape of the two ratchets I started with:

 

 

 

This shows the two after some adroit teeth cutting, with an angle grinder. I may have to adjust the tooth angles after it is all re-assembled but its good for now. I think I'll be using the ratchet on the left - we'll see.

 

 

[Nick Johns]

Thanks to you both for the advice and help with bits. I am about to get into contact with Russell Altman and obtain a few items that will be needed.

 

I undid a few more of the bolts holding the body onto the chassis on Wednesday and also removed more of the ancillary bits]

 

The Champ body/chassis is a monocoque construction body welded to the chassis members, it does not detach, only wings and some panels

[mazungumagic]

The rear section of the body is removable.

 

 

 

The scuttle and forward of that, is welded to the chassis frame.

[mazungumagic]

Did a little bit of work on 1824 yesterday - more removal of body mounting bolts, most of which came off easily, but one or two needed persuasion from the angle grinder. Some of the captive nuts have broken away during the process, but surprisingly few, really.

 

I've found that the body has a couple of half inch welds on the RH side, holding it onto the scuttle and wonder if they were post production mods or not. Regardless these have been cut, with the exception of a third one at the RH rear. It is very close to the mudguard, so I'll have to remove the guard to get the grinder into it.

 

I didn't play with the Champ outside for too long, yesterday - it was 41 degrees C here in Perth and that's set to continue for about a week !

 

I've also put in a bit of time into getting a few other things up to scratch, including this instrument panel carrier -

 

 

 

 

 

The rubber connectors and their bases, generally seem to have weathered well and apart from cleaning, only required a tin strip over the top and bent to follow the contours of the rubber carrier, to restore their shape and make sure that the connectors would be held securely in place.

 

I've also done the instrument wiring and managed to salvage most of the descriptors for re-use.

 

 

 

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

A before and after shot of the ignition box cable -

 

 

 

 

 

The brass junction box end of the cable is very tricky to disassemble - it has a couple of circlips which are extra difficult to access, but it can be done.

 

The outer metal protective sheath isn't shown in the first picture, but it wasn't a pretty sight. Although it was broken in two places and rusted through in other areas, I was able to solder it all together and fill in the holes. With a coat of paint and judicious placing of the yellow descriptor band, it doesn't look too bad.

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

I was able to finish off the unbolting process on Wednesday (it was a mere 38 degrees C) and remove the body from the chassis.

 

 

 

 

 

I must say, I'm surprised at how easily most of the bolts and nuts separate. There were more than a few holding the rear mudguards on, which needed the attention of the angle grinder, but the majority of the body bolts were a simple spanner job. The body has several areas of rust which will need to be plated once everything is cleaned up, but that's just a matter of time.

 

With the body off, it was much easier to examine the drive line - I'm hopeful that the rear diff will be in good shape. It seems to be.

 

Next week, I'll be prepping for the engine/gearbox removal

[mazungumagic]

No pictures today - it was too hot for the camera !

 

Managed to remove the radiator which was still holding its quota of water, as part of the prepping for engine removal. Also took off the brake master cylinder and have now disassembled that. It does look the best of the three I have and I will probably have this one re-sleeved.

 

The generator panel which I've also got at home now, is the later type, ie No 1 Mk 2/1

 

 

 

I didn't notice the difference when I was removing it, but on the bench the lighter weight and distinctive shape gave it away.

 

I will have a closer look inside today and compare the innards with the original type.

 

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

Finished the preparation of the engine, for removal - or at least I hope I have. All the hoses and mechanical connections I could see, have been removed - I was surprised how easily some of them came undone, particularly those which could have been awkward had they so chosen, such as the clutch arm and 4WD linkage clevis pins.

 

All the wiring has now been stripped out of the vehicle, the bolts are out of the rear engine mounts and the nuts are off the front mounts, so Wednesday should see engine/gearbox out. I'll then prepare the chassis for sandblasting.

 

 

[rampant rivet]

Looking good, you can refurb my electrics if you like I think you are going about your project the right way, I am constricted by a deadline to have the champ ready for the end of June 2012 gathering of 100+ champs at champ camp in the UK had I more time I would have removed engine and rear body to do a more thorough job though I am rebuilding the braking and fuel systems and have done a top end engine and carb overhaul plus having anything that can be removed shotblasted.

Good luck with your project I am sure it will be credit to you when finished.

 

RR.

[mazungumagic]

RR,

 

Don't mind working on the electrics - not that I know much about them, but I am learning how to use a multi meter !

 

I haven't got a timetable for the restoration, which could well be a two edged sword, though I think this blog will help keep me on the job.

 

I didn't get anything done on the vehicle this week as I was fully employed wiring up an ex Australian Army Landrover trailer for another fellow. The floor and some of the sides were extra rusty and that's all been cut out - we're just about ready to put the tub back onto the chassis, but thought it a good idea to wire it up before joining the top and bottom bits. I'll see if I can get a photo of it next time. They're quite similar to the Sankey, I think and have been in Army use since the 60s. A very good and capable trailer.

 

 

Jack

[Redherring]

Try not to get the electrics from the Champ mixed up with those from the model T!

Am enjoying your thread. Thanks. Robert

[mazungumagic]

No chance at all, of that, Robert.

 

I've finished the Model T wiring - not an involved task !

 

 

Jack

 

 

[Redherring]

Great. But not the usual ute body?

[mazungumagic]

Nope - it is going to be one of these -

 

 

 

They were made in England to what I'm fairly sure, must have been a War Office design and shipped out to various locations including Palestine. I've not yet got a Lewis, but I can borrow one !

 

The front badge is the Australian coat of arms with a centrally placed palm tree.

 

 

Jack

Edited February 29, 2012 by mazungumagic

[chevpol]

nice model T, will look stunning when finished!!

 

Mark

[Redherring]

Ahh. From the banana republic!

[mazungumagic]

Got a few things done yesterday and in the week leading up to yesterday.

 

Refurbished the generator wiring from generator panel to generator. there seemed to be a lot of dust coming from inside the outer covering of woven mesh, so after some deliberation, I decided to strip off the mesh and see if I could thoroughly clean the dust out. Found that it was actually rust from the inside concertina wrap, so that was wire brushed and painted - doesn't look too bad and it may have arrested the rust for a time.

 

Stripping the mesh

 

 

The end result

 

 

Then it was onto the bumper bar, which not surprisingly was bent. What is surprising is that with all the other refinements on this vehicle, the bumper is such a flimsy piece of metal that a bend or two is inevitable.

 

Before

 

 

and after - there's probably a few imperfections left, but they will be sorted out when we marry it up to the vehicle

 

 

Now the fun part - reverse flushing the radiater. One of my co-workers produced his radiater flusher and we connected it to an air line and the hose and spent some time opening and closing the air to the rad internals which were filled with water to shock any rust/chemical buildup, out of the tubes and tanks. Seemed to have worked well as there's a good clean flow now - it was quite refreshing on a warm day !

 

 

 

 

Jack

 

P.S. The reason I misspelled "radiater" is to stop what appears to be a mob called VIGLINK, from linking the correctly spelled word to an ebay site.

Edited February 29, 2012 by mazungumagic

[simondema]

Hey Jack

Enjoying your restoration thread, mate.

Hopefully I will start my project soon in Sydney, although the number of Champs I know of in Sydney can prbably be counted on one hand. There seem to be many more in WA and Victoria.

 

Interesting how on the Champ registry when you look at the chassis numbers, the difference of 1 digit means one vehicle is in the UK and another in Australia! I noticed that my (hopefully future) vehicle originally came from Cairns, and the number above it ended up in Italy.

 

Anyway, keep up the good work. It will look amazing when finished. How will you clean/protect the chassis and body panels?

 

Simon

[mazungumagic]

G'day Simon,

 

I haven't spent a whole lot of time on the Champ over the last few weeks, our little group of retired military vehicle enthusiasts, have been putting priority into getting two WW2 Jeeps ready for ANZAC Day and we got one out of the workshop today - the other hopefully next week. I can then return to the Champ.

 

I intend to remove the engine and then the two diffs, which will leave just the chassis and the scuttle. At that stage I'll take it to a sandblaster and have him do his work which should include priming.

 

I spent a little bit of today doing some work on my fuel tank which was very rusty on the bottom and the previous owner had fibreglassed the two worst spots. I don't have a photo of it, but I have now removed the bottom of the tank, with tin snips and once it is cleaned, I'll shape and weld a new bottom in place. I'll have a photo of the de-bottomed tank soon.

 

 

Jack

[simondema]

Hey Jack

Wondering whether you have picked up with the Champ restoration. Spoke to someone in Sydney who is willing to soda blast all my Champ for under $2K, including the engine. Seems that soda blast will do less damage to the panels than sand blast.

Let me know how you go.

 

Simon

[mazungumagic]

Hi Simon.

 

I don't know about soda blasting - I like to do most of the work myself, but admit that I will probably be obliged to find a sand blaster for the chassis and front attachments. I've been lucky in that I've wrecked another couple of Champs (they were only Archie Marshall imports !) and so I've got a fair number of spare bits which are getting some restorative attention.

 

Haven't really returned to the Champ yet - we've just packed off one jeep to a new owner and are now flat out installing the motor/gearbox etc in another. That went in last Wednesday and the vehicle will be trialled up a few hills, this coming Wednesday.

 

Apart from that, I found time to look at my fuel tank - I had never seen the inside of a Champ tank before. This one had had the fibreglass treatment over some largish rust holes, so I cut away the bottom with tin snips and if I can't find a replacement tank, I'll weld on a new bottom section. The baffles look the worse for water, so a replacement might be the go.

 

The top and bottom of the tank:

[mazungumagic]

Managed to finish off the two jeeps we were preparing for ANZAC Day and return to 1824

 

Lifted the motor out using a load spreader borrowed from a friend who had fabricated it, following the guide provided in the Champ manuals (or was it the EMERs ?)

 

 

.... put it on a trolley for attention later,

 

 

and then gave the chassis a tub.

 

 

I removed the sump guard and cleaned the crud off half of it ...

 

 

If the sump guard is any guide, this vehicle has done some serious bush time !

 

Next week, I hope we will get to remove the diffs (we've already just about completed the unbolting of the front diff) and check their condition.