restoration Restoration of Champ 1624 in Sydney

[antar]

Looking good, if you need axle boots let me know.

[simondema]

Hi John

Thanks for your message.

I do have some, however I wouldn't mind getting another 8.

Can you please give me a price including postage to Oz?

Tried sending you a PM, however your Inbox apparently is too full!!

Thanks

 

Simon

[antar]

Hi John

Thanks for your message.

I do have some, however I wouldn't mind getting another 8.

Can you please give me a price including postage to Oz?

Tried sending you a PM, however your Inbox apparently is too full!!

Thanks

 

Simon

 

Ah yes need to sort the inbox !

[simondema]

Another huge couple of days over the weekend, trying to get all the parts painted, including the torsion bars which needed to be de-greased and the prop shafts as well. All were coated in years of grease, oil and the usual Aussie dust and mud.

After washing them in a very Eco friendly orange degreasing solution, I proceeded to rinse them and then dried them with compressed air. A quick coating of etch primer, followed by one coat of primer and then 2 coats of DBG.

 

I chose to use a Red Oxide paint used on boats as I figured it would be a harder paint for the underside of the chassis. Well...time will tell.

I then proceeded to paint all the small parts, from spare wheel support to rifle clips, and everything in between

 

 

The parts are hanging off the body which I hung off the roof of the shed to give me more space. Parts were everywhere!

I have now pretty much finished all the painting, except for the inside of the fuel tank support and the body.

I have transferred the motor and the front axle to my mechanic's garage where he has cleared a space i the workshop where I can work on re-assembling the engine and changing the oil seals on the front axle.

[simondema]

The last few days have seen a mad scramble to get all the parts painted and finished and then moved closer to home, before the shed I have everything stored in gets torn down. The rainy days we have had here in Sydney have not helped with the paint, however now all major components have been painted and set aside.

 

I have moved the engine and front axle to my mechanics workshop, where he will be carrying out any repairs and tuning of the engine once all parts are re-assembled. I ended up buying a oil filter kit from Russell Altmann in Melbourne, and it fits like a dream

 

I was at first concerned the unit would not fit inside the bowl, as I wanted to retain it as original as possible. However everything fits in really nicely, so that's one less thing to worry about.

[simondema]

Today, after returning from a trip overseas ( for work), I went straight to one of the local bearings and seal shop here in Sydney, close to my place. I have been trying to find the correct bearings to replace the ones in the hubs in both front and rear axles. Although I had all the correct measurements for the tapered roller bearings, the guy behind the counter was more interested in the numbers on the bearings themselves. Therefore, I had to physically go over to garage where I keep all my parts and remove both the roller bearing and cone.

Interesting what I found:

The bearing closest to the wheel was a SKF 2K 359S, Made in England. The cup instead is SKF K-354A but made in Holland.

The other bearing, the one closest to the diff, in other words the inner one is SKF 2K-359S, Made in Holland. The cup is K-354 (without the A) and also made in Holland.

 

I have now got the guy from SKF to search his database and see whether they are available in Australia, or whether I will have to sell my house, and part of my family to buy them from overseas!

[simondema]

Yesterday was another huge day at my mechanic's garage, having decided to wash and set aside the rear axle parts, waiting for oil seals and bearings to arrive and be replaced.

 

I wanted to get the tracta housing bells as smooth as possible and void of rust, as it will prolong the life of the large (hard to find and horrendously expensive) hub oil seal. I used an extremely fine Wet n Dry sandpaper and sanded it under the parts washer which uses a warm solution of this Eco Friendly product which washes away all traces of grease, dirt, grime etc. Oh yes, and it feels great on your hands, too!

 

I spent about 15 minutes on each bowl, ensuring there were no nicks or roughness on the surface. Here is a photo of 2 bowls finished and one still to be done as a comparison.

 

After having polished the bowls, I proceeded to remove all parts which were not necessary on the rear diff casing, and I sent it off to the diff specialists for them to check out. They will clean, dismantle, check the CW&P, and re-assemble the rear diff case, ready for me to bolt on all the other bits, knowing all the settings are accurate.

 

After all this was done, I turned my attention to the front axle, as I knew I had to replace the rubber tracta joint boots. I decided not to completely dismantle the front axle, as I felt it was not as critical as the rear axle. The boots however were another issue. All of them were split, and when I replaced the first one on the right side, it had a huge amount of grease, sand and dirt stuck on the bell housing.

I took advantage of having the wishbone arms off to clean and replace some of the small oil seals on the arms

The shims were also checked and replaced.

 

I heeded the advice of others and placed tape around the boots prior to assembly, so the clips would not bite into the rubber. Unfortunately I only had yellow tape!

Although it was a bit of a struggle, and it took 2 of us to do it, we eventually managed to get the splines lined up correctly for the whole assembly to be put back in place, without having to dismantle the axle any further.

 

Today I will do the left side of the axle, and then hopefully I will be able to bolt the front axle to the chassis.

I also sent the wheels and tyres away for them to remove the old ones, dismantle the rims and clean them, prime and then decide on the correct tread for the Champ which not only will give me authenticity, but will also be safe enough for me to drive the vehicle around Sydney.

If anyone has any suggestions regarding what type of tyres, I would appreciate it.

I had to place the tyres against the chassis, so the Champ would feel less "naked"

 

To finish off the day, I managed to make a gasket for the oil pressure switch and re-assembled it

[simondema]

Not an overly busy day yesterday, apart from the long travelling times between home and where the Champ body was stored. I decided that the repairs to the sills and the bodywork are beyond me, so I will be taking it to a local restorer (Andy's Restoration Services) here in Sydney. It seems Andy has worked on Champs before and on the phone he was very much aware of the Champ's Achilles heels i.e the lower parts of the body.

 

I hired a car trailer which when compared to the tub of the Champ seemed enormous, however I was not prepared to get into an argument with the local highway patrol officers had they pulled me over with the body hanging over a small trailer.

So off I went and managed (struggled) to get the body down from the rafters in the shed

 

and eventually onto the trailer

 

Today I will be attaching the front axle to the chassis and start re-building the rear axle. I will also start attaching all the necessary "bits" to the chassis.

[simondema]

I have been working lately on re-building the front and rear axles on the Champ. While that was happening, I took the body to a guy here i Sydney, Andy's Restoration in Kurnell, who cut out all the rust and manufactured new sills and other parts which the rust had attacked. He also tidied up the welded parts on the body and took out little dings and knocks. Took him about 3 weeks to do, but attached are the results>

 

Simon