Daimler CB22

[Rootes75]

That would make sense, a simple viewing platform. I wonder how they got up there? Must be a ladder somewhere!

[PITT24423]

Bit of excitement today 🤩🥳 .Ran out of time tonight to unpack for a full inspection, but for plastic tyres they look great as I had my doubts .I’m sure once they get some dirt they will look spot on and nigh on impossible to tell the difference. So big round of applause to the guys down Cornwall ask for Nigel  http://www.jobel.co.uk/  😁

Edited July 23, 2020 by PITT24423
added contact details for tyres

[Dorset Boy]

Told you to trust me!!!!
 

[PITT24423]

Thought we had better get some paint on the wheels before the damp weather sets in .  We now know that the odd back wheel is Daimler as we have been shown pictures with this wheel fitted to CBs. After blasting the foundry name and date became evident as June 1914 

[PITT24423]

Photo opportunity moved the body this evening over to our main workshop as this is the first Saturday we are not working so I can fit the top deck handrails.Paint is nearly there with a couple more coats of white are needed.

[Minesweeper]

Nice!

[Rootes75]

Its looking superb!

[PITT24423]

Had a productive morning with Basil as he chose to come into work instead of domestic chores which meant we got the job done in half the time . All the windows got a lick of undercoat ready for topcoat next .

[PITT24423]

Nibbling away at the list.A local museum wanted to scrap some axles so via Owen we collected the Tilling Stevens axles and will have this as an option to use as a donor for the diff when the time comes. 
 

The first class seats are coming together and have managed to buy the correct patterned Moquette cloth  which is winging its way to us. These are being done by a friend who does upholstery for yachts and involved  a bit of horse trading as they are very good at what they do.The base foam is a dual layer with the blue foam being dence  to absorb the shocks and the white forms to your backside.This layer is not as effective as normal due to us choosing to use synthetic horse hair to give the seats a more authentic shape and feel.
The upstairs seats are now all primed and we are all agreed in that they are b........s to paint due to the slatted seat bases.

[PITT24423]

Slight deviation but local bus historian Bill Ward came across a early postcard titled “Changing the guard Mersea Strood “with a Daimler bus . Mersea Island is where we live and in both wars was a restricted area with a checkpoint on the only road onto the Island known as the Strood which is covered by the tide. 

[Great War truck]

That is a great. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[PITT24423]

Started to turn our attention back to the chassis as it had it’s share of “ not quite finished jobs” to see to . One of them being to sort out the Pullman bars which we decided to add to give the chassis some added strength as mentioned earlier in this thread. The downstairs seat cushions are done and currently hiding beneath their protective plastic covers. 

[lynx42 Rick Cove]

You are doing a fantastic job but I notice that the Chassis Bars are slightly more agricultural than the ones on the the chassis of my 1929 20/25hp. Rolls-Royce which I  finished wire brushing the outside of today. 

[PITT24423]

Nice Rolls , needs a bit of English patina looks hardly used .

We had a couple of photos only to work with  ref the bars and the cut off ends on a dead chassis to determine position plus the added knowledge of where they break as every chassis we have was either cracked or snapped . So all additional strong points positioned to meet this end 

I wanted corroded turnbuckles and whilst on the search we located some in the Western section stores as they were the from a similar sized chassis with the saddles being a similar style and match to the info we had plus i  didn`t want to go to the expense of patterns and casting as potentially you won`t see them clearly if and when the wooden side rails are fitted.

    

[PITT24423]

Flipped the chassis over so we can start making the engine mounts the front spring hangers nudge bar and fuel tank were all from the box of lovelyness which arrived earlier in the year . 

[Great War truck]

Here is an interesting image. Photographed in Tunisia in 1930. 

[PITT24423]

After a bit of trading the front spring pins were dropped off as  all the originals were well past their best The rear pins are next weeks instalment I’ve been told. 

Rear engine mount took a bit longer than anticipated to fabricate due to the mating surface being curved. Temporarily fitted the bulkhead to check out the handbrake lever is set it so it just stops short of bulkhead in the off position.Just got to find a period rusty gearstick.  

[PITT24423]

Radiator mounting studs machined up as luckily the remains of one was in the box of loveliness which we used as a pattern.. Fitted a starter motor and alternator the latter will get a casing to resemble the dynamo originally used Fired up the engine for the first time, a few known problems to attend to but wanted to see what it ran like as we had been told it was a runner when we bought it. What we quickly found out it loves Petrol so don’t expect to many mpg . For some reason the tappets sound louder in the clip than when stood next to it . 

[Doc]

So what make is the engine? If I missed it earlier in the blog, I apologise. As a recent convert to WW1 lorries I have to confess that I don't recognise it. Does look nice with separate cylinders. Not unlike an Overland car of the period.

Andy

[PITT24423]

American Rambler engine built by Thomas Jeffery who incidentally sold his bicycle factory to a Col Pope. Slightly bigger on the bore but 1/4 “ less on the stroke so hopefully the bus will perform closely to the original.Has some nice features   McCord 7 port lubricator,3 mains &4 cylinders. Nice American Bosch DU4 mag which is relatively common and identical to the one fitted to my Dodge so the spare will cover both vehicles. Early Holley carb that just sounds right with no spitting or dribbling but as I reported earlier drinks petrol like one o . The ally water pump housing is holed and badly pitted plus a we will turn up a new shaft at some stage it had been filled with modern antifreeze which accelerating the corrosion. Before we ran it up we had cleaned out the sump and had a general check over but it wasn’t until we stripped down the water pump and took the timing gear cover off we found that the cam was timed one tooth out. We will reset the cam when we put the pump back and it will be Sod’s law there will be a reason for it being out With all our engines I use Evans vintage coolant as it possesses quite a few advantages. It doesn’t evaporate on a vented system,the boiling point is 180 deg and you don’t get cavitation or corrosion. The down side it’s expensive so you don’t want to be sprinkling it to the road gods so we go the extra mile to omit leaks. Another plus when you check the level it smells like cherryade .

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by PITT24423
Photo swapped

[PITT24423]

Due to a slight delay in the chassis bolts coming which are metric bolts with pre war whitworth heads I decided to get the gearbox done so we can fit it to the chassis before we fit the body saving us jacking the box up from underneath as it’s plain heavy.  Gearbox casing has some damage which we think will stitch bolt in a plate with a new flange with sealant for good measure . Once we had the gears out found some spare iron mongery in the bottom miracle that none of the gears had picked any of the bolts or knife section up. 

[PITT24423]

Gearbox all stripped and cleaned large amount of road grit which presumably entered the box through the broken casing which has resulted in all the bearings being unserviceable. All the original bearings are Hoffman who were based in Chelmsford where as the bearings in the lorry were Swiss . New bearings are all on order and due in this week. We will do the same as we did with the lorry and fit double lip seals with the minimum of modification as I personally prefer to have things as oil tight as possible in our environmental sensitive world.

After numerous under coats the wheels have gained their first top coat which in my opinion has changed their visual size and appearance for the better.

[PITT24423]

In the box of lovlyness were the radiator side castings which had already been prepared as patterns saving us a bit of extra effort. The water pump casing is quite badly corroded and in two minds over repair or renew, this I think will be the latter.

[Tomo.T]

Hi Dunc., The wisdom is that the cast aluminium of the day cannot be welded, however there are new low temp rods available, which might be worth a go, preceded by a thorough soda blasting to clear out the crud. T

 

[PITT24423]

16 minutes ago, Tomo.T said:

Hi Dunc., The wisdom is that the cast aluminium of the day cannot be welded, however there are new low temp rods available, which might be worth a go, preceded by a thorough soda blasting to clear out the crud. T

 

Cheers Thomo, this casting is pretty poor on the coolant side which we have blasted several times with it sweeting after each occasion lifting off another layer each time .Leaving us two options two pack epoxy which we have successfully used before or cast new. The problem we have is that the local non ferrous foundries are not interested in one offs. We might of got it sorted by calling in a favour before we go traipsing across the country.so we will wait and see.