The Restoration of Austin Champ 1824

[antar]

Added a skin of "Proofkote" or body seal/deadener to the underneath and a couple of the bolt on brackets including the jacking points - not that I'd ever use these to lift the vehicle. Just couldn't bring myself to apply upwards force to the middle of the vehicle when it has two major (ie heavy) components, at the front and rear ends. No doubt it was well designed and capable but if I need to lift the vehicle (and I'm sure I will), I'll do it somewhere around the wheel area.

 

 

We are now preparing to de-rust the body shell and have retrieved some sections of the side panels from the two available donor bodies. We'll use these to replace the lower rusted sill areas (particularly the swaged areas) and add straight sheetmetal to the replacement bits to complete the job. Hope to start that next week. Photos next week, too.

 

This week though we put in a bit of work on the front diff - feeling our way through the dismantling process. The Tech manuals and the three part (Unit, Field, Base) repair sections aren't all that helpful in providing clues, as to which part gets removed, in which sequence and most importantly, how. Nevertheless, we persevered and removed most of it but remain stuck on how to drive out the lower inner wishbone shaft. It is a must to remove, as we can only access the diff itself after the shaft is out. We did a fair but of judicious pounding, but it shows no sign of yielding to superior force. At the end of the day the shaft, which does have significant rust on the visible areas, is still there.

 

 

Does anyone know if it is a simple matter of driving it out, once the grub screw is removed ?

 

Don't you just remove the 2 aluminium caps each with 4 nuts from the underside of the axle cradle then the diff housing can be extricated from the cradle with a little mauling ? I may be wrong but I think the wishbone pivot shafts may be welded to the cradle. Its a long time since I stripped one.

[mazungumagic]

Thanks for the lead, John.

 

We have removed the cap you mentioned , under which is the split rubber bush, but I didn't see any obvious sign that the diff could then be persuaded out. I assume from what you are saying that the diff carrier simply sits on the rubber bush and the cap holds it in place - makes sense.

 

I'll have another look on Wednesday. What seems to be certain however is that the shaft is well located - it didn't appear at all concerned about the 4 pound hammering inflicted in ignorance !

 

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

Well, that was simple - thanks again John.

 

The diff is now out ....

 

 

... and its been disassembled to the extent that we can verify, it's OK. There was a bit of wear mainly on the pinion, but it's quite acceptable for a front diff and reasonable, given its advanced (almost pensionable) years.

 

So we began the re-assembling job and got as far as the inner boot stage before the day gave out. I'm using some swivel boots made by Archie Marshall (they have his name cast into them) which were "long term loaned" by a friend. I'll have to find more though - a job for later.

 

The day also saw the welding of some additional strengtheners to the rear bumper area where the fuel tank straps are secured. The original welded brackets were too flimsy for the task and had been distorted, so we welded on some 3/16th" plate to adequately cope with a full load of 20 odd gallons

 

 

I've also made up the new fuel tank straps, using the old (rear) ends, ie the threaded T pieces and the forward mounted clevis pins. Some 40mm strapping and the job's almost done. I mounted the tank and the engine end of the straps to measure the length and will now cut the strapping and spot weld the rear loop.

 

 

There were a number of smaller holes in the bottom of the tank, mainly where the inner baffles were spot welded, but after a lot of effort went into cleaning up this area, we were able to solder up the holes, so all should be well. Obviously we won't be fully satisfied, till the tank has fuel in it but the one good thing about the Champ tank, is that it is easily removed.

 

Next major job is the body shell sill area and this has now been cut where we will weld in the replacement panelling.

 

 

This sill area has a very complex interior and will need some careful pondering to make it all work the way it was originally designed. No doubt it will consume a lot of time to duplicate the design work, so it's fortunate that it is mostly hidden from view. If our work is not quite the same as the original, it won't be glaringly obvious.

[mazungumagic]

Now we start on the second part of the rust removal - around the sills. This section seems to often be a problem on Champs and is complicated by the framework, inside the sills. So the first job was to position the body on top of the chassis and ensure that it fitted. We then bolted it onto the chassis to get an accurate start point for welding and as a check of our previous work.

 

 

Some of the holes didn't line up perfectly but a bit of tweaking fixed that. Now we were able to weld in the extra bits of the framework needed to replace that which had rusted out. You'll see part of that in this picture ....

 

 

We've managed to save/recycle enough of this framework from another Champ, so we were able to weld it onto what was still intact, on the existing frame. Once the sill has been tacked into place we'll be able to remove the body shell and complete all the welding of both sills and framework.

 

We still have to make up or find some hat channel to run fore and aft along the bottom of each sill and weld that to the framework to provide strength to the sill. We may be able to get all that done next week including the new sill, but in one day that might be a "bridge too far".

 

The diff is now back in it's cradle and the new rubber boots installed. There is a master spline on the tracta joints and it doesn't look as if it will be too difficult to match up the splines, with the cradle on the bench. I'd imagine though, that trying to do that job with the cradle still on the vehicle, could be awkward.

 

 

I understand from more experienced Champ owners, that it is a good idea to leave the boot clamps loose till the position of the vehicle, vis a vis the cradle and the swivel ball/tracta drive bits, is fixed.

[mazungumagic]

The sides of the body shell are quite complex pieces of artwork, especially when what you're left with to replicate, are more holes than metal. This pic shows the original bits cut away from the internal lower sill area of the shell.

 

 

We managed to find some hat channel which had the right profile to use as the required strengthener at the bottom of the sill. Once that was cut and shaped to follow the slight inwards bend of the outer body near the front wheel arch, it was welded in place.

 

 

This shot shows the same hat channel from inside the rear RH side ....

 

 

Then it was onto forming the panels which at the rear, hide the two bolts used to secure the body shell to the floor of the chassis and at the front are slightly more complicated, but hide a single securing bolt. These panels (front and rear) would also serve to limit road water and/or dust penetration, as well as providing some aesthetics to the join between body shell and floor.

 

We were able to finish the rear two panels and bolt them up to the floor, but time saw us only get a little into the fabrication of the front panels, before we had to pack up.

 

The two rear sides ...

 

 

and...

 

 

Once the two front panels are completed next week, we should be able to move onto the outside skin of the body shell which has been prepped and is patiently awaiting our attention.

[mazungumagic]

Only two of us at roll call this morning. Of the other three, one was off on a round the world tour with the missus, another was in the eastern states buying yet another jeep and the third was entertaining a Japanese visitor. Anyway, we two did some very productive work, which included tack welding the first part of the side skins on both sides of the vehicle as well as fabricating and welding in, the two left and right hand lower front panels, which connect the body shell sides to the floor via a single 5/16th" bolt.

 

This pic shows the first part of the skin tack welded in place. On both sides, we were able to cut off an intact section of the side panel from a donor vehicle, complete with the bead, which was then adapted to take the place of the original lower (rusty) section. The layers of paint on the donated pieces of the skin are significant and include thick black,thick orange and yellow, as well as the usual in service colours. The WD 40 you see on the upper side panels, was sprayed on in a successful attempt to loosen all the self tappers holding the Murphy fasteners to the body.

 

Right side

 

Left side

 

Before these were tacked onto the vehicle, we fabricated and welded in the two front sections which attach the sides to the floor of the chassis, eg

 

Right

 

.... and left

 

Perhaps it's time to compare this progress with a pic showing where we began ....

 

 

After we'd done all that, we dismissed ourselves, secured the area and drove/rode home.

 

Next week should see the above pieces welded in and the final stage of the sides with the flange under the vehicle, welded in place. Once that is all done there'll be a short lifting ceremony to see if the body shell actually comes off the chassis like it was designed to do - in case we have welded where we shouldn't have - and then we can perhaps start on the engine.

[mazungumagic]

Finally finished one side of the sill panel and have tacked up the other, ready for a final assault soon. Our welder is off on safari next week, so it'll probably not be until Wednesday week, that we can finish off this area.

 

Here's the RH side -

 

 

... and the tacked on/partly spot welded, LH side -

 

 

There's been a lot of work effort expended on this body shell to date, but there's much yet to be done, as well. There is an area of rust under the RH rear wheel arch, where it forms a part of the storage bin, which needs to be cut out and a new panel welded in, together with the repair of many dings and the filling of unofficial holes. Much of the remaining work is difficult due to the location and the nature of the original construction, where many areas needing attention are double skinned or just plain unget-at-able.

 

I have pretty much finished cleaning up all the missing parts from the front diff assembly. It took a lot of effort to extract the pins from the torsion bar adjusting forks, but some heat did the trick and they're now rotating very satisfactorily. When this photo was taken, I still had two lower wishbone arms to complete, but I put them in for comparison -

 

 

and will add them to the part finished diff/cradle on Wednesday -

 

 

Also about to receive my first (but probably not my last) consignment of parts from Champ Spares - so I'm looking forward to that.

Edited September 13, 2012 by mazungumagic

[mazungumagic]

Today's production output was a bit of a disappointment, mainly due to my inexperience with Champ suspensions.

 

One of the team was absent on a run in his Chev Blitz, north to the Moora Show and another was called away in the morning to head south to Busselton to help a friend. Then it was just two of us left. While my colleague began to de-rust the body, I spent the day working on the Champ front suspension and thought I had it fairly well licked till I saw this -

 

 

Yes, the steering arm fouls the shock absorber mount and no doubt the shock absorber as well, if it was in situ. Took me a while to work out what had gone wrong, but I realised after a thoughtful pause, that I was probably using rear suspension wishbones rather than front ones.

 

Bugger.

 

I would guess the only difference is likely to be the positioning of the shock absorber extension from the wishbone, in other words the shockie mount should be at the front rather than the rear. The problem is that these mounts are generally well rusted inside the wishbone and hard to shift without significant heat.

 

While I have access to the EMERs and the article on Cradle Snatching (Champ World - Issue 13), none of these focuses on assembling a suspension from scratch. That'll do for an excuse - it must have been someone else's fault !

 

The only option was the disassemble what I had done, spend another day cleaning up some new (front) wishbone arms and then re-assemble next week.

 

By that time the welder chap (Tony) will have returned in his Blitz from Moora and we can weld up the previously tacked LH sills on the body. Then will come the real test - can we still lift the body off the chassis ?

[mazungumagic]

Although there's a little bit of tidying up yet to do, I think we can just about say that we have finished the rust removal process.

 

Yesterday we cut out and replaced a section of the rear upper body section -

 

 

and also removed the rusted out RH rear sheet metal between wheel arch and stowage bin -

 

 

....replacing it with shiny new stuff -

 

 

We've got a little more to do in this area, more sheetmetal is being shaped to cover the outer skin of the body and the lip into the wheel arch, but that'll be welded in next Wednesday.

 

We were also able to finish off the LH sill, which is now fully welded and ground to the point where we can add a little bit of smoothing body filler and "job's done".

 

 

Once all that is finished we'll be able to lift the body shell off the chassis and finish all those hard to get at welds.

 

There are still any number of small tears, bumps and gouges in the metal which will require work or as a last resort some body filler, but most of what now remains to be done on the body is cosmetic, though time consuming.

 

The light at the end of the tunnel is glowing a little brighter !

[binnawan]

Although there's a little bit of tidying up yet to do, I think we can just about say that we have finished the rust removal process.

 

Yesterday we cut out and replaced a section of the rear upper body section -

 

 

 

 

and also removed the rusted out RH rear sheet metal between wheel arch and stowage bin -

 

 

....replacing it with shiny new stuff -

 

 

We've got a little more to do in this area, more sheetmetal is being shaped to cover the outer skin of the body and the lip into the wheel arch, but that'll be welded in next Wednesday.

 

We were also able to finish off the LH sill, which is now fully welded and ground to the point where we can add a little bit of smoothing body filler and "job's done".

 

 

Once all that is finished we'll be able to lift the body shell off the chassis and finish all those hard to get at welds.

 

There are still any number of small tears, bumps and gouges in the metal which will require work or as a last resort some body filler, but most of what now remains to be done on the body is cosmetic, though time consuming.

 

The light at the end of the tunnel is glowing a little brighter !

 

Careful jack, it may be an express train!

[antar]

Just had a look at your progress over the last few weeks since I posted on the removal of the front diff from the cradle, you seem to be getting on really well ! If you need axle boots PM me as I am the main supplier for new ones in Europe.

[mazungumagic]

John,

 

Thanks for the second lot of useful information. I had a set of four boots from a batch that Archie Marshall had made up when he imported the Champs into West Australia, but obviously needed four more and have just received those from Champ Spares. I assume that these were produced by you. Had I known, I would have avoided the middle man !

 

Archie's boots actually have an embossed imprint of his name and brief details on the rubber boots, so it's plain to see where they originated. The ones I received from Champ Spares are without any such embellishment.

 

I'm just going through some difficulties in changing my internet service provider at the moment, but will get back to you when I've worked through the difficulties - a couple of days at most.

 

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

Did a little more work on the RH rear wheel arch, which filled up the gap left last week when we replaced the forward edge of the rear stowage bin

 

 

... so that's pretty much fixed now, but we still have a bit of rust to remove from the tailgate area, which I think, is the last of the corroded areas. It is all double skinned there and it would appear to be a common location for the rust worm. We have access to another body for donations and will check that area on the donor vehicle, to see if it is in better shape. If so, we'll cut it out and replace the original with the better bit.

 

This donor vehicle also had what appeared to be a reasonable front diff assembly on it, so I disassembled it as far as I needed to, to get it into a car boot/trunk and took it to the workshop where it was pronounced better than the one which came out of 1824.

 

 

This diff actually has ball bearings and they are massive balls as well ! I forgot to take a photo but they must be around the 1/2" - 5/8" mark, in diameter. I guess that would make it an early -ish diff ? I'm pretty sure the original diff on 1824 had roller bearings. We also noticed that from what we could see of the pinion bearing, although it was a roller bearing, it too appeared to be more than adequate for the task.

 

So the rest of the day was spent in cleaning the cradle of the accumulated farm junk, grease and solid packed clay. I also replaced the swivel ball seals where it was necessary on the RH side and adjusted the shims to give adequate pre load to the seals. They now wipe very well and will I think, confine the oil to where it's designed to be.

 

I'll go in again in a couple of days and finish off the cleaning/painting of the diff and cradle, so that's ready to replace in the chassis, when the time comes (at last).

[mazungumagic]

Although we still have the rear tailgate to de-rust which won't be done till we can inspect another donor vehicle to see if it possesses better metal, we've started on sanding down the vehicle and the welded areas, with a 7" sander. It is transforming the look of the vehicle and identifying the depressions, most of which will need to be filled. Some can be panel beaten out but the majority are where double skins exist and that makes it pretty much impractical for metal repair - unless significant extra work is done.

 

Progressed with the front diff - just a little bit. I found that once it was re-assembled and I tested the drive flange, I couldn't get the driving gear wheel to spin freely in either position of the selector rod. It turned out that I had placed the sliding gear in back to front and it wasn't able to disengage !

 

So it was off with the driving gear housing again and with some dexterity, we managed to turn the sliding gear around and refit everything. The internal circlip on the selector rod is a true mongrel to fit. It's OK to remove, but in a very tight space you need lots of light and three hands (which won't fit in the space available), to get it back on.

 

Anyway, it was done and it now works the way it was designed.

 

I did a little more fitting of wishbones and their spacer brackets, but found I was short of one important piece. I will clean that up and instal next time.

 

So at the moment, it all looks like this now ....

 

 

A little work was also done on the Model T Ford which we are building as a WW1 Light Car Patrol vehicle. I've got to build a LH door and while I've made the wooden frame, the skin has now to be attached. I rolled in the perimeter bead with a bead roller and today we cut the edges, to allow us to build in curves along the top and sides to conform to the wooden frame. So far it looks quite acceptable.

 

Latch side ....

 

 

... and top

 

[Chrisg]

the diff bearings were angular contact (thrust) bearings the taper roller are I think an australian mod

[mazungumagic]

Could well be, Chris - though I think this vehicle like many others here in West Australia, was a direct import from the UK stocks.

 

I'll take more photos of the rear diff when I get to that job.

 

 

Jack

[mazungumagic]

I think I might have mentioned previously, that there is/was a little bit of rust around sections of the tailgate (or where the tailgate might have been). We decided after looking at the donor vehicle again, that although it had its own rust issues, it was a better section and decided to cut the old one out.

 

 

We spent the afternoon cutting out rust on the donated section and will finish that off next Wednesday. Maybe we'll also be able to tack the new piece in place as well, before there's an appeal against the light.

 

In between doing that, we finished off the Model T door, welding on the bottom section and making the last fold which in due course, will be hidden by the interior trim.

 

A beaut smell of burning jarrah, for a while there.

 

 

and the 'seen' side, with lovely vertical and horizontal curves ....

 

 

A bit of TLC in the shape of body filler where necessary and some paint and it should be ready to hinge.

[strewth_tiger]

Looking good there - let me know when you're ready for the brakes and I'll add some of my expertise to the build.

[mazungumagic]

ST,

 

I would use you but you're such a girl about mechanical things and always seem so distant !

[mazungumagic]

We started the replacement of the tailgate area, by cutting out and replacing the various rusted sections in the donor panel. It took some time to fashion all the little bits, to conform with the intricate detail of the inside sheet pressings, but here's the result ...

 

 

Then it was a matter of cutting the old and new panels to ensure an accurate fitting to the vehicle. Not an easy task, given the fact that it is a double skinned area.

 

Anyway, we made the final cut and tacked it in.

 

 

About this time, we ran out of gas for the welder and moved onto the engine bay which had previously been the subject of a few welds where the metal sides in particular, had torn - no doubt due to chassis flexing. The engine compartment has now been given a good coating of primer - this area of the vehicle is starting to be transformed and its final look is now more easily imagined.

 

 

We are making progress !

[mazungumagic]

Our gun welder was marked Sick in the roll book this morning - he's down with some girlish complaint, so we had to move on from the welding of the tailgate, to something we amateurs could handle.

 

Decided on stripping the rear suspension (note, I didn't say the rear diff - because that's a task for our jack of all trades welder when he recovers).

 

Most of the progress was simple and relatively fast - we've learnt a lot about these components from experiences with the front diff. However one or two of the wishbone arms gave us a few problems, which in one case was solved with brute force and a BFH. The second case was quite different and involved a seized bush.

 

I think it was the last wishbone arm to be removed which proved stubborn and no amount of BFH work would persuade it to slide off the pivot pin. After much heating and pounding it was noticed that the pivot pin seemed to be coming out complete with the wishbone arm. As everyone knows, that can't happen unless the tip of the grub screw holding the pivot pin in place on the cradle, is sheared. Which is what it turned out to be. The grub screw was ineffective and from the look of the shear point, had been like that for so long that there was wear on the pivot pin where it sat inside the cradle (just to the left of the grub screw hole).

 

 

In short, the pivot pin had seized inside the wishbone arm bush, sheared the grub screw and any subsequent pivot pin movement was then taken up, inside the cradle. We haven't removed the pivot pin from the bush yet, but as mentioned above, the wear between pivot pin and the cradle is very evident.

 

 

I suppose that given the difficulty of getting lubricant into these pivot pins, both upper and lower, the seized bushing may not be all that uncommon.

 

The end result of the day's work is the diff is now awaiting inspection - hopefully, all will be well and we can start cleaning it for eventual re-instalment.

 

[mazungumagic]

The full team was on parade this morning and we were able to finish the welding of the tailgate, dismantle the rear diff and separate the body from the chassis.

 

The tailgate job went well, though there are a number of areas which will only look good with body filler - these are mainly the result of previous dings which are very difficult to remove in the double skinned areas. We were able to remove a couple by drilling a hole, threading in a self tapper and using a sliding hammer, but our successes there were exceptions. One of the advantages here, is that the rear is pretty much hidden from view once the spare tyre and jerrycan are mounted !

 

The diff was a disappointment. The first clue to the outcome was the complete absence of oil anywhere and the dirty sludge in the transfer case, which proved to be widespread in the diff housing as well.

 

The pinion looks like this ...

 

 

The teeth are worn to the extent that they are more or less razor sharp, which is pretty much extraordinary. I'm no expert, but I've never seen teeth worn to this degree before. It must mean that the diff was operating without lubrication for a long period. I suppose it must also mean that the pinion was sliding fore and aft, in the housing to some degree. Anyway the long and short of it is that the diff is RS. I do have another which though worn, is in much better shape and we are now scanning the workshop manual to find out how to adjust the excessive pinion/crownwheel backlash.

 

Anyone know ?

 

There were some shims between the oil seal/pinion seal housing and front section of the diff housing, but even with these removed, the backlash didn't improve markedly. Can't see anymore shims in obvious places, so we may have to somehow shim up the crown wheel closer to the pinion, to eliminate the unwanted backlash.

 

So, a bit more work to do there before we can re-assemble the diff and suspension.

 

We also lifted the body from the chassis and despite our concerns, it came off very easily once we had cut away a small dob of weld which had inadvertently landed between body and chassis and prevented a clean lift. Once that was identified and cut, we were able to remove the body, set it up on the floor and finish off the welding we couldn't access, while it was on the chassis. A few more captured nuts were re-installed and it's now pretty much ready for the cosmetics.

Edited November 8, 2012 by mazungumagic

[mazungumagic]

Took care of a number of smaller jobs today, including the rubbing down of the primer in the engine bay - we are being held to high standards by our resident spray painter, even in the overcrowded engine bay, where only about 30% of the surface area will/can be seen.

 

 

A good deal more welding of smaller areas followed, mainly those places where it was difficult to get at when the body shell was on the chassis. Plenty of grinding also and then a coat of body deadener underneath as well as some of the lower internal areas.

 

 

Also made up a cover for the winch compartment - we welded a piece of angle iron across the forward edge of the compartment, drilled holes and welded in some captive nuts. Did the same at the rear, bumper end and bolted the lot down. It will serve well as a flat surface and may also be used as storage for those rarely used, but essential items. Could also be a tucker locker on camping trips ?

 

 

I will now get some deep bronze green (satin) and with a little more work, we can start the paint job in the engine bay. The rest shouldn't be too far behind, but I think we have now put the welding behind us and can concentrate on the cosmetics.

 

After the disappointment of finding two sub standard rear diffs, I've now obtained another, which might be fit for purpose. It feels pretty good but we will pull it down and look at the crown wheel/pinion next Wednesday. Fingers very tightly crossed.

 

[mazungumagic]

Progress of sorts today- the diff I got was useable !

 

Although it's not 100%, it has less wear on the pinion than the other two diffs. There was well over .010" backlash but by re-arranging the packing washers from one side to the other ...

 

 

 

... we were able to move the crown wheel closer to the pinion and reduced the backlash to within the guideline range of .008-.010". Very hard to get a dial gauge into the crown wheel to accurately measure the end result, so all we can say at the moment is that the diff is now set up better than it was. The pinion had some wear and the movement of the crown wheel, will probably mean that the meshing of crown wheel and pinion will now be wearing, at least partially, on new surfaces but we'll just have to put it to the test and see what the noise effect will be.

 

It took us three attempts to get this result - each time we had to extract the diff centre from the carrier, remove the left and right bearings (they are a very tight fit and we only had tyre levers to get them off), move what we thought would be the right combination of packing washers from one side to the other and re-assemble.

 

So this is the diff - all buttoned up and ready to be replaced into the cradle ...

 

 

After some solid sanding of the metal, we were also able to get primer onto the inside of the body shell ...

 

 

... and a bit of body filler onto the front mudguard areas.

 

 

I should be able to reconstruct the rear suspension now and once we get some paint onto surfaces, that will enable us to bolt on the front and rear suspensions. So the point at which we can get the vehicle back on its wheels, is not too far away.

[antar]

Thanks for the update, interesting thread.