Another J Type on the way !

[Tomo.T]

Sometimes, I get totally immersed in a task and these little fuel cocks are a 'prime' example. They have been beautifully made by Rosso in Australia and sent over to help with the restoration, which is greatly appreciated and a terrific boost to the project. They are now fitted and looking very smart.

Another trinket from the jewelry box, the No.4 greaser, was tried for a fitting at the airfield. I had some concerns about the length of the supporting post, but all was well and it looked superb in its new home. The only problem is, I need another one ! Thanks Dave.

 

 

[Chris Hall]

There’s some awesome machining involved in those. Very nice.

[Tomo.T]

They are absolutely gorgeous !  Plus, now drilled through and lapped in again for active service.

[radiomike7]

Tomo, in the very first photo on this thread the chassis is set up for LHD, was the front axle fitted the wrong way round? I am thinking the Ackermann angle would only be correct one way?

Edited October 18, 2021 by radiomike7

[Tomo.T]

Hi Mike, The front axle was reversed, to allow drawbar steering when the chassis was utilized as a living van, at the end of its working life in North Yorkshire. It was said to have been used to accommodate WW 2, German POW's who were working on agricultural duties in the area. Well spotted !

Edited October 18, 2021 by Tomo.T
More info

[Tomo.T]

There has been rather a lot of polished brass just lately, so here is some bronze by way of a change. Mike Lewendon has been busy on the CNC mill producing a carburetor extension flange to suit the chosen Solex MOV 35

The flange originally held the butterfly governor valve, which does not appear on the cast of this production. It also has the side effect of adding 4 inches to the gravity feed fuel system.

The choice of carb  is one step forward from the original fitting and boasts some notable improvements over the original design, including butterfly throttle, idle mixture adjustment and a choke. It also came in at less than a third of the price of an original.

This particular 'carby' came from a Gentleman in the south of France, where it had previously been providing sustenance to a vintage racing Bentley ! Judging by the enormous main jet, this is very likely true. The carb has since undergone a thirst reduction programme  and now has standard 'J' type jets from the original spec.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Tomo.T

[Scrunt & Farthing]

Tomo,  nice work mate. 

I have been hoovering up Solex 35MOVL instructions as they come up on ebay, or i find them on net.  I have most of it all PDF'd so let me know if you need any and I will get a copy over to you.

Dave

[Tomo.T]

Yes please Dave, how will you send them ? I could pm. an email or postal address ? Thanks, Tomo.

[Scrunt & Farthing]

9 hours ago, Tomo.T said:

Yes please Dave, how will you send them ? I could pm. an email or postal address ? Thanks, Tomo.

Tomo, I will PM you.

Dave

[Tomo.T]

I have been asked to put up the No. of The Solex Repair Man who refurbished my MOV

Rob Foreman, 01303840222.

[Tomo.T]

It turned out I was a tad premature in declaring the HT cable tube 'fit' for further service. Despite the repair, once fitted the tube stubbornly resumed it's previous drunken posture and it was clear that further attention would be required to the wonky bracket.

I decided the only solution would be to replace the bracket's arm with a new one which would be fitted to the original ends. I set to, with some trepidation and sawed the ends off.

Stan got involved and quickly found a suitable brass offcut, which he taper turned to match the surviving original. 

The arm was re assembled and neatly silver soldered in situ, also by Stan. 

The design of this tube is problematic to say the least. The steel tube provides good protection to the HT leads, but is highly conductive. There is no room for an insulating sleeve either. I decided to paint inside and out with acrylic satin black which worked very well on the steering wheel and would hopefully provide some insulation to the tube.

First problem was to clean out the rust from inside the tube. This was achieved with a rotary tube brush, a strong wire handle and a determined approach !

 

The painting brought to light further problems with compatibility.  It turns out that Bonda Primer and Acrylic are not the best of mates and a bare metal restart was the only option. I started again with acrylic primer !

Finally a hard earned satisfactory finish was achieved.  The brass was cleaned up and the tubes fitted on, straight and level and good, if not better than new.

 

[Chris Hall]

Loving the detail and all the brass!

[Tomo.T]

Having at last sorted the tubes,The next logical step, would be to provide the means for sparks to travel through them.

I have been hoarding up bits for this eventuality,  including A.E.S. 7mm black braided cable and brass connectors,  which straight away presented a problem, due to the Thornycroft spark plug towers, and would have shorted out the connectors immediately, if fitted as supplied.

A simple solution was to bend up the tabs to clear the towers, which is what I did. 

The next mission was to source a suitable material for the coloured tags, which identify the individual cables at each end. After a lengthy search, I came up with some coloured cotton braiding, which was ideal and very reasonably priced per metre. It only requires a dab or two of 'superglue' to stick them on and they certainly look the part once in place.

 

Fitting the cables was straight forward enough, but I had to have two goes at it, leaving a little more slack the second time round.

The mag terminals are top loading,  which causes a close proximity issue between No.3 and the exhaust manifold. Steve Gosling reported trouble with this, so I've tried to route the cables round as much as possible and will fit the extended military heat shield ( oven ! ) which should hopefully forstall the problem. 

 

Stan kindly soldered up the terminal ends in situ and made a lovely neat job of it, which means that apart from the  cutout cable, the entire electrical system is plugged in and ready for action.

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tomo.T
Better words.

[mammoth]

A component of the military approval trials was the speed with which the magneto could be changed to another. No time to dilly dally. So maybe a colour code on the terminals themselves would help with the pit stop. Coloured washers on the terminals??

[Tomo.T]

Hmm ! Good idea, I have seen the No. 1  terminals marked as such, the rest obviously follow round clockwise in firing order. I do have a spare mag but it won't be a speedy change over as it requires a major rebuild having got hot and shat it's insulation in a previous life !

[IAN_B]

Colour coding the leads is a great idea. We have started the engine of our 1918 International model K for the first time this week, and we have an electrical problem causing a miss in No 3. We keep getting our wires crossed as the firing order is 1, 2, 4, 3 - different to usual and a trap for young (and old) players.. A bit off topic, but here's a photo.

[Chris Hall]

That’s interesting that the radiator is behind the engine and I love the starter set up.

[radiomike7]

3 hours ago, Chris Hall said:

That’s interesting that the radiator is behind the engine and I love the starter set up.

Similar to a Renault of the same era.

[mammoth]

As the French would have it - an electric hand

[Tomo.T]

Okay, The little tags are useful, however they have a bad side, anybody wishing to use to use these would do well to seal them with varnish or similar. They are right little dirt magnets !  The slightest touch with a grubby finger will leave its mark. The upside to this is that the colour changes to a darker hue and looks much more aged

 

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Tomo.T
Photo balls up.

[IAN_B]

17 hours ago, Chris Hall said:

That’s interesting that the radiator is behind the engine and I love the starter set up.

International made this style from 1915 till about 1922 and were quite successful.

We built the starter setup a couple of years ago to crank a couple of recalcitrant tractors that needed a bit more oomph to start than we could achieve with the crank handle. We managed to sheer its shaft the other day, so the truck was unable to be started a second time. A bit of homework for one of the volunteers to make a new shaft.

Here's a link to the start. https://youtu.be/4jRqeP-vWoQ

 

[mammoth]

Looks like a "soft start" or adjustable clutch needs to be incorporated into the starter.

[ED-1617]

On 10/21/2021 at 10:20 AM, Tomo.T said:

There has been rather a lot of polished brass just lately, so here is some bronze by way of a change. Mike Lewendon has been busy on the CNC mill producing a carburetor extension flange to suit the chosen Solex MOV 35

The flange originally held the butterfly governor valve, which does not appear on the cast of this production. It also has the side effect of adding 4 inches to the gravity feed fuel system.

The choice of carb  is one step forward from the original fitting and boasts some notable improvements over the original design, including butterfly throttle, idle mixture adjustment and a choke. It also came in at less than a third of the price of an original.

This particular 'carby' came from a Gentleman in the south of France, where it had previously been providing sustenance to a vintage racing Bentley ! Judging by the enormous main jet, this is very likely true. The carb has since undergone a thirst reduction programme  and now has standard 'J' type jets from the original spec.

Morning Tomorrow, just catching up on your thread and noticed the carb you have chosen is an MOV35. My thorny is fitted with an MOV40. Are we aware of the differences between the two? Does the number denote a size, or stage of development?

[Scrunt & Farthing]

21 minutes ago, ED-1617 said:

Morning Tomorrow, just catching up on your thread and noticed the carb you have chosen is an MOV35. My thorny is fitted with an MOV40. Are we aware of the differences between the two? Does the number denote a size, or stage of development?

I think the number relates to the throat size, in mm.  V is vertical.

Dave

[Geoff - Tomo]

Dear all, as some of you may be aware, the author of this blog, my brother Tomo, has sadly passed away.

This leaves us with a dilemma, we would love to continue with the restoration, but unfortunately none of us have the time, knowledge or dedication that Tomo displayed to achieve the fantastic results so far.

Our best option would be to find a buyer, who would be able to take over, and once complete, would hopefully use the vehicle in WW1 display and re-enactment as Tomo had planned to do.