Old Bill Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Well, we are safely home although the Dennis is still in the rally field. As you have suggested, we are short of drivers. Our joiner friend, Mark, took charge of the civilian Autocar. He is a big lad and can't get into the FWD which is made for really quite small people. I am pretty ordinary size but certainly can't afford to put on any weight or I won't get behind the wheel myself! On the field, Tim took the other Autocar, Dad the Dennis and I had the FWD which was fine. I took the FWD up the day before with Tim driving tender in the Land Rover. Coming home, I again brought the FWD with Dad and Mark in the Autocars and Tim driving tender. Those three are safely in the shed and we will make another trip tomorrow to bring the Dennis home. Taking four lorries to a show is surprisingly hard work and I expect to sleep very well tonight! Starting has been a problem all round this weekend. The Autocar has simply stopped a couple of times and has had to be wound up again. FWD has been fine cold but once warmed up has taken a lot of effort. I stalled it reversing into the shed and it just would not go. We pushed it in the end. Dennis has been strange. I have moved the starting handle around the shaft by 90° to make it easier to swing and so, now, with some extreme effort, I can pull it over and keep it rotating by hand. Last weekend it started every time, more or less, and was fine yesterday to go to the show. Today, it has been awkward and it took a good few goes before it ran first thing this morning. As the day went on, sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn't culminating in a refusal to go into the ring to receive the 'Best Military Vehicle' trophy. All very annoying. A reliable start is most desirable as I seem to have spent the day swinging big engines and am absolutely done in! I have taken the 'Slick' impulse starter that Dad found on Ebay and have made the adaptors to fit it to our spare mag. That is away being rebuilt at the moment but once it is back, I can set up the trigger-pin positions and we can see if it makes it any easier. Unfortunately, the original mag which is on the engine at the moment, doesn't have any mounting holes for an impulse device so for the time being, it is brute strength only. I am getting too old for this! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Drake Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Well, we are safely home although the Dennis is still in the rally field. As you have suggested, we are short of drivers. Our joiner friend, Mark, took charge of the civilian Autocar. He is a big lad and can't get into the FWD which is made for really quite small people. I am pretty ordinary size but certainly can't afford to put on any weight or I won't get behind the wheel myself! On the field, Tim took the other Autocar, Dad the Dennis and I had the FWD which was fine. I took the FWD up the day before with Tim driving tender in the Land Rover. Coming home, I again brought the FWD with Dad and Mark in the Autocars and Tim driving tender. Those three are safely in the shed and we will make another trip tomorrow to bring the Dennis home. Taking four lorries to a show is surprisingly hard work and I expect to sleep very well tonight! Starting has been a problem all round this weekend. The Autocar has simply stopped a couple of times and has had to be wound up again. FWD has been fine cold but once warmed up has taken a lot of effort. I stalled it reversing into the shed and it just would not go. We pushed it in the end. Dennis has been strange. I have moved the starting handle around the shaft by 90° to make it easier to swing and so, now, with some extreme effort, I can pull it over and keep it rotating by hand. Last weekend it started every time, more or less, and was fine yesterday to go to the show. Today, it has been awkward and it took a good few goes before it ran first thing this morning. As the day went on, sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn't culminating in a refusal to go into the ring to receive the 'Best Military Vehicle' trophy. All very annoying. A reliable start is most desirable as I seem to have spent the day swinging big engines and am absolutely done in! I have taken the 'Slick' impulse starter that Dad found on Ebay and have made the adaptors to fit it to our spare mag. That is away being rebuilt at the moment but once it is back, I can set up the trigger-pin positions and we can see if it makes it any easier. Unfortunately, the original mag which is on the engine at the moment, doesn't have any mounting holes for an impulse device so for the time being, it is brute strength only. I am getting too old for this! Steve Did I see some of your vehicles at the Honiton Hill Rally on this Bank Holiday Monday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Did I see some of your vehicles at the Honiton Hill Rally on this Bank Holiday Monday? Yes, the whole fleet, and I am shattered now! Dennis will come home again tomorrow. Steve :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Well, the Dennis is now safely home again. We went up to the rally field to find the poor thing completely alone in a large empty field. It did look lost! After a top up of the water and a walk round, I gave it several winds but it didn't want to know. Whilst I was getting my breath back, we took the plugs out and gave them a good clean. They didn't look bad but the engine started instantly on the next try so I think our problems lie in that direction. For two days, the lorry has only been pottering around a field or sitting and idling, neither of which are good for combustion. The drive home was nice and Tim noted that we hit 22mph at one point. I am getting more confident now but managed to upset a tanker driver by pulling out in front of him very slowly. I had left the handbrake partly on and just could not move fast enough. He definately wasn't pleased but there was no real harm done. Today, I have been making up the headboard for the body and good progress is being made there. I really want to finish the job before getting stuck into the Thornycroft. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildside Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 Hopefully this will work OK. I have posted video clips to photobucket. By clicking on the photos you should get to see the film. I arrived first at the rallyfield and having negotiated the muddy entrance got into place to tow the vehicles out when they got stuck. Steve drove the Dennis at a good pace through the mud and it slid and bounced through with out any problems at all. In fact it was rather exciting and i was very disappointed that i hadnt filmed it. The two Autocars then drove through with no problem at all which i did film. The rally field is on a hill and with the rain was quite slippery as you will see here. Luckily we drove along the hill for a bit and then tried again on some fresh grass: On the Tuesday we collected the lorry and having a now empty field found our way through the mud with no problem at all: Then back on the road the Dennis was soon off again at a good pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Very nice, as usual, good to have the images linked to videos too. The idea of Dennis on opposite lock through some mud is .... interesting :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Well, our limited "Rally Season" is now over and it is time to take stock of what has happened and to learn from our experiences! The Dennis has again not been too easy to start, but the stronger members of the team have managed to continually crank the engine instead of just doing a quarter of a turn with the starting handle which was sufficient in the early days to get it to fire - and that has helped - although all of us now realise that we are not as strong as either we think we are - or as we used to be! At the final Rally, the engine was left either just ticking over or running very slowly on the field for long periods - and after such engine running, it has been very reluctant to start. Cleaning the Plugs immediately remedied that after such running - although the plugs did not look particularly oily or dirty. We hope to have an Impulse Starter to fit very shortly. These last few days, we have been finishing off the floor and also the bows and beams carrying the body canvas and there are some pictures to follow. Our main worry now is the Radiator - both top and bottom tanks have proved to be very porous and new ones will have to be made. A friend, Mike S - who is a very experienced old vehicle restorer said in the early days that it is a waste of time trying to repair aluminium radiator tanks - and we now find that he was totally corect. Very disappointing after all the time and effort spent in trying to seal them. We will post some photographs later just showing how bad they are. Just a final thank you to everyone who has shown interest in our activities and for all the helpful advice proffered during the restoration. We look forward to moving on with the Thornycroft - although we stll do not have a Differential for it. Surely, there must be one somewhere - perhaps down under? Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 A good friend observed that Steves driving style on the FWD was quite different to driving the Dennis. On the FWD he is hanging on for grim death fighting the steering, while on the Dennis it is a much more relaxed approach. Here is another film clip (this time of the FWD) followed by a still. Perhaps you can see a difference? Coming back to the rally field on the Tuesday the poor Dennis was entirely on its own. It looked incredibly lonely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 These pictures show just how bad the radiator is. The radiator was left "filled" for four days after we returned home from the Honiton Hill Run and the porosity is very apparent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 We were racing the clock to get the Dennis ready for the Brighton Run, and we just ran out of time to fully complete the steel bows supporting the canvas over the body of the lorry, and the longitudinal wood beams were held in position with temporary bolts on the bows instead of the correct steel brackets. Six of the twelve brackets were completed and fixed a few days ago - these were the easier ones that were riveted to the straight parts of the steel bows, but the remaining six had to be riveted to the curved part of the bow - so that the brackets had to be curved to match the curve of the bow. This was done by Steve, bending them hot by eye, using the Hearth and Anvil - and after they were bent, they were offered up to the bow - then bent again if adjustment had to be made until they fitted. They were drilled 1/4" for 1/4" rivets, countersunk, hammered in and then ground off flush on the top side. They are now ready for painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 The other item that Steve has been working on this week is the final section of the cab floor boards. The floor boards were mainly completed before the "Brighton" but the part surrounding the Hand Brake and the Gear Lever is just a little convoluted in shape and was left until now because of the time factor. This part has had to be made in two pieces to get it in. Just remains to be painted now. No more draughts up trouser legs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share Posted September 11, 2011 We went to the autojumble at Beulieu yesterday. Came back with a couple of good finds. Probably the best one was this: it is the correct oil pressure gauge for the Dennis. Paid rather a lot for it, but as Steve says we will no doubt forget about that over time. Also found a five spoke steering wheel which could have worked for the Dennis (but would never have been completely right) so it was a good job we didnt see it until we had already made one. Also found the correct Stromberg M2 carb for the Autocar. we had spent ages looking for the correct one and eventually got one from the USA so we didnt need it. These things do turn up after a while - usually after you no longer need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Working my way through the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Just to let you know that we are keeping busy. There have been other diversions but Tony has been painting the hoodbows, here in undercoat: Although the Dennis has been great fun we are very excited about getting stuck into the Thornycroft now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Does the Thorneycroft restoration have an dedicated HMVF thread already? If so where should we be looking? Thanks, Barry, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Does the Thorneycroft restoration have an dedicated HMVF thread already? If so where should we be looking? Thanks, Barry, Here! http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?13514-WW1-Thornycroft-restoration Progress should start moving again shortly. We seem to have spent the Summer catching up with all of the things we didn't do whilst trying to get the Dennis ready! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 Steve has at last got around to finishing off the rear lamp bracket. Father made the bits and Steve hurriedly welded them together just before the 'Brighton'. However, we didn't have the time to finish it off properly then. We also found, very quickly, that the tailboard smacked the lamp. Steve has now dressed off the welds and also put a set in the bracket to move the lamp away from the tailboard about three inches. Finally, he took the sharpness off the edges to make it look more like a forging. This has the added benefit that the paint will stick better. It has now had two coats of the wonderful 'Bondaprime' zinc primer ready for Father to apply the final green coats. Incidentally, whilst painting out some graffiti on a wall recently, Father was complimented on the quality of his brushwork. 'I've had a lot of practice recently' he said! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redherring Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've finally done it. I've reached the end of the thread! It has taken many months to work my way through every page. I have asked myself... could I have restored something in that time? 'Riveting' guys. Robert from Melbourne, Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've finally done it. I've reached the end of the thread! It has taken many months to work my way through every page. I have asked myself... could I have restored something in that time? 'Riveting' guys. Robert from Melbourne, Australia Hi Robert! We are so pleased that you have enjoyed it. After all, that is the whole object of the exercise! I have recently read it through again myself and the question that keeps occuring is 'Did we really do all of that?' My favourite part is that through this wonderful medium, our many friends here posted a running commentry of our trip to Brighton. It was like being followed by the BBC! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Amongst my collection of tools acquired over the years, I had a small Blacksmiths Anvil weighing about 1 cwt which I bought about 40 years ago from a Boatbuilder at St.Ives in Cornwall who was retiring. I think that I paid about £20 for it. With Steve's aspirations to do more Blacksmithing, that anvil was not going to be big enough and we were given a larger one weighing in at about 2 cwts which was just the job. Because of our lack of space, the two anvils were kept outside the workshop - in two different places with the big one covered over and out of sight. Just a week or so ago, I noticed that both anvils were gone - and they could only have been stolen! Taken, perhaps by an opportune thief as most of the time, there is always someone around the house. Really infuriating as we are pretty-well tucked away - and a 2 cwts anvil is not the easiest thing to move. The Police have been very helpful, but I do not expect to see the anvils again. I reported the theft to the Police by telephone and the young lady who took my call asked for a description - I said that one weighed about 1 cwt and the other about 2 cwts - and was then questioned - "How many kilos in a hundredweight?" How times change! Tony Edited October 24, 2011 by Minesweeper Spelling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8_10 Brass Cleaner Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Amongst my collection of tools acquired over the years, I had a small Blacksmiths Anvil weighing about 1 cwt which I bought about 40 years ago from a Boatbuilder at St.Ives in Cornwall who was retiring. I think that I paid about £20 for it. With Steve's aspirations to do more Blacksmithing, that anvil was not going to be big enough and we were given a larger one weighing in at about 2 cwts which was just the job. Because of our lack of space, the two anvils were kept outside the workshop - in two different places with the big one covered over and out of sight. Just a week or so ago, I noticed that both anvils were gone - and they could only have been stolen! Taken, perhaps by an opportune thief as most of the time, there is always someone around the house. Really infuriating as we are pretty-well tucked away - and a 2 cwts anvil is not the easiest thing to move. The Police have been very helpful, but I do not expect to see the anvils again. I reported the theft to the Police by telephone and the young lady who took my call asked for a description - I said that one weighed about 1 cwt and the other about 2 cwts - and was then questioned - "How many kilos in a hundredweight?" How times change! Tony Anvils are worth good money. There used to be one on a wall outside a house in one of the villages I drive through between my house and where the traction engine lives. One day I noticed that it had gone. Turns out that it too had been stolen. There is also a plough and various other bits of iron tat on the same wall that are still there so I believe it is unlikely to be pikeys stealing scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 It's a real pain. The anvils are not irreplaceable as both were well used. However, now we don't have one and the replacement will cost! The last substantial metalworking job on the Dennis is to forge up the steps for the body sides and I was looking forward to having a go over Christmas. Now I am stymied! Steve :angry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redherring Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 A heavy guage railway line offcut sits on my bench. Approx 60kg/m. Dare I say no-one would pinch one of these? Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Even if it's screwed down, the thieving scumbags will take it! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054006/Thieves-bronze-statue-WWII-soldier-garrison-towns-war-memorial.html?ITO=1490 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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