Some men are born MV enthusiasts and some have MV thrust upon them

[alixcompo]

I probably am stupid but.....

Having bought a 1957/8 Bedford CA MK1 as a restoration project I now discover it is an ex Naval runabout.

 

I am aware that the rules of restoration are 1: Don't break anything and 2: Don't throw anything away. Now I can add to that, 3: Don't rub the paintwork down too hard or you can obliterate any previous serial numbers and hence history.

 

So where do I go from here? You are all Army vehicle types, armour plate and armaments with drab green in your veins.

Who cares about RN stuff then?

My missus was expecting two tone cream and maroon. How can I tell her that Navy blue will look great and that white lettering is historically significant

 

Is there some clandestine group who slink about at classic vehicle shows in a 'Naval Vehicle' area..?

 

I don't think that I have ever seen them. So where do old RN vehicles go if they don't float...?

 

Help

[Zero-Five-Two]

Fascinating, and quality work as well. Good to see something different for a change, always had a bit of a soft spot for the CA. Love the column change gear shift (3 speed?). Am I right in thinking it has sliding doors? Think I can see a top runner on the drivers side.

 

Good luck with it, keep the pictures coming

[alixcompo]

Yep sliding doors that were legendary. If you shut it as you pulled away then you might just find yourself actually dragging it up the road. If it didn't jam first.

It took a long time in commercial vehicle design for the suits to realise that an abused vehicle with sliding doors was vulnerable to getting the front doors stuck permanently open or shut depending wghere the bodywork got dented.

 

However:-

 

Another pleasent day on the van. Radio 4 and a selction of griders..... Life don't get much better than that.

OK so this the front windscreen corner ground back and a smear of filler applied...... And then rubbed down....And then touched in will a little dab of filler here and there...... And ripping my knuckles and getting blood on the filler...... And

Well if I just post the pics it looks a lot faster than it really was.

It has taken me ages to actually get around to removing the front panels.

They only bolt on but loads of rusted bolts involve sitting under the wheel arches with a grinder spinning above your head, which enduring a shower of sparks and the occasional red hot bolthead dropping inside my 't' shirt. Ah the pleasure of restoration.

Anyway. Having the front out of the way means that in my restricted working area I can move about a lot easier.

So I moved onto repairing the inner wing, inner wheels arch section on the nearside.

It isn't worth muching about 'plating' a piece like this. I fabricated a very easy to make repair section in about 10 minutes.

This is it oversize so I can cut 'tabs' that I will use later to weld it in.

And then trimmed to fit and temporarily held in place with a pop rivet.

A simple repair like this of course involves major surgery.

The wheel arch, which forms most of the passenger footwell in a CA, attaches to the underside of my simple 10 minute repair section. In order to attach good metal, I had to do this to the wheel arch

I'm elsewhere tomorrow but maybe Monday I can move on.

Before I really get stuck into my bedtime beer.......

Ebay can be a remarkable thing... Look what turned up at my house the other day.. Where does this stuff come from.?

I am hoping the pics work. If not I will repost

[Zero-Five-Two]

Lovely work. You can't make an omlette without breaking the eggs, the secret is not to lose the bits you cut off. and, of course, don't drop bits of shell in it!! :-D

[alixcompo]

Having made some very pleasing progress over the bank holiday w'end I have done virtually nothing since. Not for the want of trying but work has been filling every available moment and it is that time of year (Jan - June) when I am annually assailed by MoT's, road tax, tyres, servicing etc etc. The downside of owning lots of vehicles.

I continue to turn up very useful bits and pieces for the CA. My technique is to put ads in everything and if anyone has stuff on ebay, I message them to see what else they have.

Ofcourse all these bits have to be paid for but fortunately for every item of mega expensive unobtainium I score a few 99p deals that no one else has notice. e.g. a NOS set of valve springs for the price of P&P plus 99p.

A major stumbling block has been wheel rims.

The van arrived with 1 x 16", 2 x 15" and a 13" wheels. It should have a full set of 16" which were fitted to these vans until 1959. There must be an explination for this odd mix. I suspect it was just a case of finding a wheel that fitted with a tyre on it.

One of the reasons I searched out a '58 van is the fact that the big 16" wheels really fill the wheel arches and just look great. My problems in sourcing a set though is compounded by the fact that the much more plentiful 15" wheel rims actually measure 16" edge to edge

Where-as 16" rims measure 17 1/2"

It wont surprise you to know that I bought quite a few 15" rims before I realised. I realised when I tried to fit 16" tyres which flopped straight onto the rim and off again.

The true measurement is the tyre bead well. I don't know if these are particularly deep on the CA. They were and early exponant of tubed or tubeless tyres; perhaps that is the reason why.

[alixcompo]

Have you got any 16" Bedford CA wheel rims laying in the back of the shed?????

 

They are 5 stud with a PCD od 6 1/4" which means that the distance between any two studs is 3 1/2".

 

I am starting to panic. 6 months trying and I aint found one.....

[alixcompo]

As a re-cap. My intension when I got the van was to just do the mechanicals, forget about the bodywork, and get the thing driveable.

Of course what has happened is that I have done loads of bodywork and hardly any mechanics.

Though I can report some progress.

The promise to myself is to spend at least one hour a day on the van. It is in my back yard so it is not that difficult to manage 7 hours per week.

To this end ( having achieved bugger all for the last week) I am trying to do a bit as soon as I get in and before that first fatal sit down with a coffee.

Under the nearside wing I had a repair section fabricated so I dragged the welder out and tacked it in

You will have guessed that I 'Joddled' the bodywork and hole punched the repair piece.

This is a 'must do' on lighter bodywork. Not only does it give excellent attachment but the 'Joddled' edge stiffens what would otherwise be a floppy piece of tin.

My joddler/punch has a reversible head, comes from Machine Mart and is one of the most useful tools I have ever owned.

You get a very professional looking join as well, if you just dress the welds back.

[alixcompo]

I'm pleased to say that there has been more progress on the mechanical side.

 

I mentioned before that I have had the engine running. It is great when it fires up, an in fairness it does start fairly easily. |You know that there is a but coming....... But....... The starter would only turn the engine over If I took 2 spark plugs out. Not good. This will be either because the starter motor is naff of the is a frozen/siezed bearing someone in the depths.

 

If you look in the CA workshop manual it will mention that to remove the starter involves taking the exhaust off and lifting the engine 2 inches. A great piece of design which explains why so many people bought Fords.

This is despite the incredible access afforded by removing the internal bolt in panels

It just makes it worse when you can see it but still can't get the 'blessed' thing out.

The wise old sods amoung you will already have realised that no sooner did I "remove the exhaust" than both mainfod studs sheared off.

I am fortunate to have local access to a firm who recondition vehicle electrical parts 'Broadway' in Grays Essex. While I could have got a stater from Ebay I particularly wanted to go somewhere where I could actually talk to someone and know that the finished unit had been load tested. Ebay would have saved me £6. It is worth a lot more than that to know you have the right item and that it works.... And has a warranty etc etc.

So back to the plot......

Having fitted my starter (I didn't need to lift the engine) I now needed to sort out the exhaust studs which required removing the manifold. This was a job that had been waiting on all the front panels being taken off.

Access to the manifold was then a 'piece of p***' as they say in the trade. (Only after you've paid them and heard what a complicated job it was.)

I did try drilling and easy-outs.... Ultimately I settled for drilling to a 'tap' size and re-threading on account that the original studs snapped because they had been in place for 50 years.

I can honestly say that in 45 years of playing with engineering I have never had any success with easy-outs; in fact most of them have snapped off in the drilled hole and made thigs worse..

So the manifold is now sorted but not refitted and I haven't tried the new starter on account it requires taking a battery off of one of the daily drivers. Note to self.... Nip down to breakers buy a £35 heavy duty battery

[alixcompo]

Just a brief update. I got the chance to spend more time than expected on the van at the weekend. I will post some pics when I get the chance to take them; but I am pleased to report that I fitted the new starter motor, repaired the sheared off exhaust manifold bolts (the exhaust downpipe has to be removed to change the starter) bolted the mainfold and downpipe back on and....

 

The engine starts really easy. The new motor spins it over like a mad thing and thus I have had it running on all four cylinders. Can run it for too long as I have no cooling system fitted.

 

I am also converting to an alternator. I know originality says stick with a dynamo but I am not anal about originality and that warm, comfortable feeling when you press the starter button just feels so much better than the crossed fingers of dynamo charged vehicles. And of course the alternator involves less parts (regulator and rectifier built in)

Whenever I am working on anything and some innocent passer by asks what is wrong, I always reply "Too many bits.!" Therefore I am always pleased to leave a few out

[gritineye]

When you get round to it check the gear change linkages very carefully for wear, (seem to remember rubber bushes?) it was quite common to see these vans with mole grips in place of the lever, probably used to get home after it all fell to bits, but left in place cos they worked better!

[alixcompo]

You are right about Molegrips. I don't think it was just CA vans, I seem to recall the Commer 2500 was reknowned for the linkage vibrating to bits and Ford Thames 15 CWT vans tied thier gear selector rods in knots. Often had to lay underneath and give them a kick. And how many motor bikes didi I have with a pair of Moles as a gearchange lever. Ah..... Takes us back.....

 

More news:- I am converting to an alternator. I know originality says stick with a dynamo but I am not anal about originality and that warm, comfortable feeling when you press the starter button just feels so much better than the crossed fingers of dynamo charged vehicles. And of course the alternator involves less parts (regulator and rectifier built in)

Whenever I am working on anything and some innocent passer by asks what is wrong, I always reply "Too many bits.!" Therefore I am always pleased to leave a few out .

Of course the original dynamo straddles the huge paper cartridge oil fiter casing perfectly, and the alternator...... Doesn't. The mountings are much closer together. An alternator is a much more compact (read smaller and hugely more efficient) piece of kit. So I have to make a bracket. This bracket must lift the alt an inch and out about an inch (well that suits the size fan belt I have knocking about) without interferring with the exhaust/inlet manifold.

It is an interesting little bracket/project on account of being so fiddly. I bet there is a part you can buy to do this coversion....... But then anyone could do that....... And it would involve money

 

I will be posting some more pics later this evening if all goes to plan

[alixcompo]

Well I've done nothing to the alternator bracket this evening. I drove to Dorset (from Essex) today to collect an Ebay project and it it still raining incessently. While it is a real bonus to have the van in my back garden and under cover, I only have about two feet to work around e sides of it and out in the weather for the fourth.

 

However.... I got some welding done on the nearside wheelarch

This is the preperation. As per I joddled the egdes and punched a load of holes to weld through. The more astute of you will notice that I started Joddling from inside the van and the when there was no room to manipulate the tool had to change to working from under the wheelarch. Ah well you can't win them all. So I made the repair out of two panels. Where the joddler changed direction was the join.

[alixcompo]

I should probably add that the edge of the wheel arch needed attention.

Sublety has never been one of my virtues. I cut a piece to weld in and rather than doing anything complicated where the original edge didn't exist, I simply built it up with weld.

This is a technique I developed by having a teenage son (and all his mates) who would constantly turn up with moped exhaust systems that they had built from bits and then someones brother had tried to arc weld them together and burnt all the edges away.

My technique of welding to air is only one step away from welding wood. If it was possible I would try it. My welding guru 'Tom Tuoghy' can probably already do it.

[alixcompo]

And to bring us up to date. If you remember the under wheelarch drainage section

This is the repair and paint

I was going to seam weld it. Not for any other reason than I could. Then decided that if I left it tacked the I could flood paint into the joint. I have been trying POR 15. So far I am very impressed. I still have some in my moustashe that has been there for a week despite being force to wash and everything. It's good stuff

[Essex5]

Have just read right through this thread, laughing out loud at regular intervals!

Makes me almost want to start work on the Austin Gipsy rusting in my garden - despite being a dedicated LandRover man.

Having done a 2-year course on vehicle restoration, after early retirement, I know exactly where you're coming from.

Keep up the good work!!

 

Incidentally, I think the side windows in my S1 LandRover homebrew hardtop are Bedford CA back door windows!

 

John

[alixcompo]

Mounted the alternator. I did consider writing a bit about.... "this is how you do it" but suffice to say I did.

The main thing is to establish a reference point so that the pulleys line up. Easiest is the adjustment arm.

Then make sure that the bracket you make actually allows the alt to tighten the belt when it moves. (Trickier than you might think)

Hardest thing is that alternators are bloomin' heavy, so a mount can be very fiddly.

 

Easiest thing in the world to wire up though. Take a wire from the big spade connector straight to the battery and then take an (agitator) wire from the small spade via a bulb (you must do this and the bulb has to work or the alt wont charge) to a power feed off the ign switch.

Viola...! There you have a charging circuit.

 

 

Best to make sure that the alt doesn't hit the bodywork when the engine runs and as in this case I kept it as far away from the exhaust manifold as possible

[alixcompo]

Pretty much finished welding the winscreen repair section exterior; time to move inside and start chopping away the rust

You will notice that the area I have exposed by removing half the panel has never had any paint of any kind on it. Yep bare metal from new.!!!!!!

 

Just as well we live in such an arid country or old british vehicles might have completely rusted away. Oh yeah now I remember they did.... A Vauxhall speciality (F type anyone....)

[alixcompo]

Sad but true..... When I get the opportunity to work on the old van I feel like a naughty schoolboy who might get found out and his toys taken away.

In my mid fifties it is just great to still be able to get so excited

[AndyFowler]

Great to have a shed within shouting range of the kitchen I have found ! Although sometimes it can move to just outside shouting range when the shout is reversed and coming from the kitchen if a tricky task is being performed in the shed ! :cool2::-D (Don't tell the wife I said this )

[Nudge]

Reminds me of the time me and my mate were spannering in my garage (bottom of garden) he rang the house on his mobile and requested 2 teas .............

 

 

that went down well .......:-D:wow:

[alixcompo]

At one place I lived I installed one of those mains intercom sets. These work via the electrical ring main. So you plug one into the mains in the house and the other down in your shed.

However: there must have been someone else in my block with an identical system as after ordering and receiving life sustaining tea from my wife; another womans voice came blasting over the intercom "Do you want this bloody tea or not..?"

 

I stopped using it after that.!

[Tony B]

Used to do 'debugging' we had a unit that pluggd into each mains electrical ring. Amazing what you hear. :cool2: :shocked:

[alixcompo]

I have just sealed the envelope for my War & peace entry form.

 

I will be relying on you experienced folks to gide me through the nonesense.

 

i am assuming that beer will be available to smooth the path

[alixcompo]

Bit of a dilemma at the moment. I popped to 'Baines' the windscreen seal people in Kent UK last week and bought 22 metres of extrusion for my side windows.... But......

 

The glass I have is removed from a '58 (same year as mine) but....

 

The rubber it just too tight.

 

I have the choice of removing a couple of mm around the vehicle frame of getting new glass cut...

 

 

Oh poo

[Tony B]

Could well make sense to have modern laminated screen glass cut. After all it will be a running vehicle not a museum piece.

[alixcompo]

Good point