restoration Diamond T 980

[Adrian]

With regard to the roof repairs; I have to put a new edge on my Albion roof, the same as you are doing. I bought a tool called a "Rolastep" which when used on the edge of a repair section; creates a 17mm stepped flange on the edge of the repair panel. This enables the repair to be overlapped and give a fairly flush repair that can be spot or plug welded to the back of the panel.

I haven't used it yet, but it should also overcome the tendency for the panel to distort when it's welded, which is always a problem with repairing large panels.

 

http://auto.frost.co.uk/search?p=R&srid=S8%2d3&lbc=frost&w=Rolastep&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efrost%2eco%2euk%2fitem%5fDetail%2easp%3fproductID%3d8462%26frostProductName%3d12mm%2bRolastep%2bEdge%2bJoggler%26catID%3d13%26subCatID%3d18%26FrostCat%3dBodywork%26FrostSubcat%3dForming&rk=1&uid=143594850&sid=8&ts=v2&rsc=2Dpuy-m7ud0lYA4V&method=and&isort=score&view=grid

 

The one shown is a 12mm version, but they also do a 17mm which is identical, but has wider rollers.

 

Jus' tryin' ta be helpful.

 

Interesting tool - not seen one of those before. many thanks for the tip!

[lmcconville2]

hi Liam here, when I was serving my time in the 70s I had occasion to work on the Diamond Ts they were used for,what they were built for heavy haulage taking loads from Belfast to Dublin, I think they had a top speed of about 25 mph and they run very hot I remember the drivers saying they had to stand on the foot plate and steer from outside the cab because the metal floor heated up that much good luck with the rebuild, the only thing could not see in your photos is because of the length of the bonnet they had like 2 metal poles with red knobs on them on each corner of the bumper for a guide to let you know were the corner of the vehicle was in proportion to other vehicle and of course someones house.

Edited July 17, 2009 by lmcconville2

[Degsy]

The corner markers would be a post war civi mod,

[Adrian]

The corner markers would be a post war civi mod,

 

The corner marker described by Liam would have been a post war addition. However, the factory fitted a corner marker to the o/s only, which had a flat plate on the top of the rod which was painted in white.

[Adrian]

hi Liam here, when I was serving my time in the 70s I had occasion to work on the Diamond Ts they were used for,what they were built for heavy haulage taking loads from Belfast to Dublin, I think they had a top speed of about 25 mph and they run very hot I remember the drivers saying they had to stand on the foot plate and steer from outside the cab because the metal floor heated up that much good luck with the rebuild, the only thing could not see in your photos is because of the length of the bonnet they had like 2 metal poles with red knobs on them on each corner of the bumper for a guide to let you know were the corner of the vehicle was in proportion to other vehicle and of course someones house.

 

Hi Liam, I believe the Harkness Diamond T's retained Hercules power so 23mph would have been your limit. The Restored Harkness 981 which was for sale last year had the Hercules fitted.

 

The Cab's certainly get hot when you are working them hard but I cannot recall the floor getting that hot! However, three point turns are best achieved with someone on the running board helping to pull the steering wheel round.

[Joris]

I finally got the thumb out of my ass and added the articles to the front page.

[Adrian]

Part 6

 

Working away has again hindered progress on the parts stashed in my garage but it looks like by the end of the year the cab, bonnet, and o/s items will be back on the T leaving the n/s items for next year. This is not too far off the plan. It is good that progress on the cab can be maintained while I am away. Therefore apologies but this is a short report.

 

The cab restoration is indeed continuing at a comfortable pace and the end is now in sight. The doors have been hung and fit very well in the cab, which, like the doors and scuttle has been shot blasted and primed. The only remaining welding on the cab concerns the A-Post finishers and the corner strips which are situated under the doors on the edge of the floor sections. Patterns have been made by a local fabricator which require slight revisions in order to fit correctly, but once the patters have been perfected they can be made en-mass. If you require these sections for a restoration get in touch with Jim Clark, who now has a number of patters for the Diamond T closed cab.

 

The doors were a pleasant surprise as I had a good idea that they were solid but when sand blasting you can never be sure how strong they really are. Close examination after blasting showed no significant degradation, with just one perforation on the leading edge to attend to. New skins have been fitted. A comparison between old and new door skins can be seen below.

The wooden crossmembers were shown to be in reasonable condition, so reasonable in fact that they can be re-fitted after treatment. This was a bonus as a high level or originality can be maintained.

 

Other progress includes the securing of a complete set of Goodyear bar treads, thanks to Roof Over Britain.

 

The first four pictures show the general progress on the cab, with picture four showing the repaired roof section jut after loading.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures five to seven are self explanatory but it is interesting to note the solid condition of the doors. Minor repairs were needed to the lower edges, and on close examination the door skins would have probably lasted several more years but for the sake of a few extra hours there is no point in taking short cuts, especially when we have ensured that all the rot has been removed from the cab and scuttle structures.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting my blog, more shortly.

 

A

[centi521]

very good work ! i like the new doors;)

[dizzy-t]

Adrian. Hi, dizzy-t here, very interested in your DT, just trying to decypher the photos and work out where abouts you & your DT are in Gloucestershire. Its now November 2009, so can assume that The DT is perhaps nearly finnished, any chance of coming to have a look at the vehicle, incedently you say that you are going to paint the DT in desert colours, if you have a copy of the book Diamond T by Les Freathy, you could use the photo on pages 4 & 248 for reference. I sent this photo to les for inclusion in his book, the original photo I have is from a news paper The Saturday Evening Post, dated May the 23rd 1942. I'm sure that les would'nt mind you using the photo for paint references, if you wish to see the original, please reply to this reply. Good luck with the rest of the restoration, looking forward to see her in the flesh. Incedently if she is up and running, what is your mpg?, I have heard that it was about 4 miles to the gallon?.

dizzy-t

[Adrian]

Part 7

 

With the poor weather well and truly upon us the Diamond T had been wrapped up in its tarpaulin. I say this in the past tense as the high winds of the past week have reduced it to a shredded mess. Still my method of tying it down was not in doubt as the ropes and rings were still there, even if the majority of the tarpaulin was not. Guess what I will be buying this week?

 

Now with the inclement weather has been the chance to concentrate on garage work. Since the last blog I have been looking at a solution to the damage on the steering column thread by which the wheel is retained. During the strip it proved almost impossible to remove the nut as it spun freely without reversing off the thread. Eventually some home made mini-pry bars were used to pull the nut off. The fact that the nut could move up and down the thread without turning was testament to the unserviceability of the thread. A bit of research determined the thread to be a 1" National Extra Fine (UNEF) with 20tpi. With the threaded protrusion being only 7/16” to re-cut with a standard thread would give very few turns as these threads were much coarser. If the original horn assembly was to be re-fitted there was little chance of extending the length of the thread as the well below the horn mounting step on the Sheller wheels is only 0.6”/15.3mm. An option had been to obtain a long shank bolt, bore out the centre and pin or weld it in place within the column. However, the retaining nut would have had to be turned or ground back to roughly the width of the original (3/8“) thus leaving insufficient engagement.

 

 

 

 

 

Damage to the column thread

 

The inside diameter of the column is 19.4mm, and the drill size for tapping out a 7/8 UNF is 19.5 so an option would be to tap the inside of the column, using the current threaded section to get the thread started and proceeding into the column just short of the end of the spline, and then part off the damaged section to enable the bolt to sit in the wheel well. My main concern was the effect on the shaft fatigue strength with a thread cut in the bore. As the shear load would be at the end of the spline I was eager not to extend the full thread beyond that point. However, a solution was at hand as one of the benefits of working for an aero engine manufacturer is that you are surrounded by very knowledgeable stress experts to put the mind at rest.

 

Of course another consideration is the hardness of the shaft. Due to the poor weather I have been unable to put my theory of cutting a thread, to the test but have instead assumed it will be possible and modified a 7/8” bolt. Shortened and bored out to accept the horn wire the head was also reduced to 7/16" to provide clearance in the well.

 

 

 

 

 

Drilling out the Bolt very carefully. You will note the bolt is being held by the thread. Not a good practice but gentle feed of the drill prevented it from spinning. I had tried clamping a scrap bolt in the chuck first to see if it damaged the thread.

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing off

 

 

 

 

 

Bolt bore has been radiused at both ends to prevent chafing of the horn cable

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bolt and Horn Assembly. Sill a bit dusty.

 

At the recent Malvern Convention I collected a new wheel from Jaap Rietveld. An original Sheller it has a few small chips but when the 60 year old grease was removed (3 hours with a bowl of hot soapy water needed) the finish is excellent. Not concourse but well in keeping with what I am looking to achieve with the restoration. At the show I also found a good set of original pedals, which means that all the main components are now in place to complete the cab.

 

On the subject of the cab the finishing strips are now in place. Top coat and assembly will follow shortly.

 

Last week a most enjoyable run was made up to John Webster (Roof Over Britain) with Edd to collect a load of Bar Treads. Of the ones collected there were sufficient to make a good useable set. Several were rejected with cracking and/or side wall damage. Problem is my garage is now very full indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t panic, I can still see the door!

 

Another task which turned into a bit of an eye opener was the cleaning of the winch control lever cross member. Upon removing the paint on the underside I found definite traces of light stone. Now I have been engaging with Michael Starmer on how these vehicles were painted and thought I had identified a definite paint scheme. However, I am now more than a little confused, so rather than get anal about it if I see light stone it will be painted in light stone.

 

Finally for this instalment, the ballast box hand rails have been refurbished with new tubing.

 

Thank you all for once again reading my blog.

 

A

Edited November 30, 2009 by Adrian
Typos, typos, and more typos!

[AndyFowler]

Nice one Adrian ! Thanks for the update !:-D

[Adrian]

Thanks Andy, just cleared up all the typos so might make a bit more sense now!

 

I should stop posting at midnight:sleep:

[Great War truck]

Excellent job.

 

Tim

[centi521]

nice work ;D

[ekawrecker]

Fascinating reading Adrian, thanks for the update.

[henri.vanhoenacker]

Part 1 – Delivery and Assessment

After many years of searching for the right T I bought a 980 in April this year. I was always looking for a vehicle requiring a degree of restoration but without major alteration. So an original cab and engine if possible were the boxes to tick, as was the lack of ballast box mods which are so common with ex recovery vehicles. It is an early vehicle (no.373) which has been verified by the MVT as being manufactured in August 1941. At purchase it was unregistered but I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of which the DVLA handled the registration application.

 

 

To Arian, Nice to look at your site I am working on a Diamond from the Belgium army, exactly the same work and problem, would be nice to get in contact with you, please mail me, Charles

Edited December 24, 2009 by Joris

[brianthesnail96]

Ahh, a local person!

 

Very nice work, I'd love to see the DT sometime. Home is Wotton Under Edge, so not far away- if it's not back together by this summer I can muster several willing pairs of hands, happy to exchange wielding spanners for bacon sarnies. A good friend of mine lives in Woodchester and I know he'd love to help- he's one of those people that will spend any opportunity he can lurking in the garage taking stuff to bits.

 

Anyway, it's been a month- update time :-D

 

Look forward to watching your progress.

[Adrian]

Ahh, a local person!

 

Very nice work, I'd love to see the DT sometime. Home is Wotton Under Edge, so not far away- if it's not back together by this summer I can muster several willing pairs of hands, happy to exchange wielding spanners for bacon sarnies. A good friend of mine lives in Woodchester and I know he'd love to help- he's one of those people that will spend any opportunity he can lurking in the garage taking stuff to bits.

 

Anyway, it's been a month- update time :-D

 

Look forward to watching your progress.

 

Ok, I take the hint!:-)

 

Been a bit tied up of late travelling with work, house hunting and looking for a new place to store the T but promise I will put an update together soon.

 

Good to know more local enthusiasts!

 

A

[brianthesnail96]

Hehe, good stuff. I'll be watching this space!

 

Will have to have a pub meet or something at some point. Or a wherever- the- DT- is- living- by- then- meet.

[supertrack]

Here it hard work :angel:

[centi521]

iiiii like ;D

[Adrian]

Just a brief update. Have found and secured aforementioned new house so restoration work will go on the back burner for a month or two while we up-sticks.

 

However, visited the T today with Charles Vanhoenacker (good to meet you and your wife Charles) and keeping it outside is looking like a bad move as some of the work done will have to be repeated before the restoration is complete. It has also been surrounded by plastic (caravans). Need to sort this now. Those of you who read the ‘Storage and Transportation’ thread will note that I am looking to secure a local yard for my self and others with MV’s to provide secure storage and restoration facilities in the Gloucestershire area. On this I will keep you posted.

 

Cheers,

 

Ad.

[Adrian]

Part 8 – Getting back on track

 

The winter months saw little activity as disruptions on all fronts brought the project to a standstill. With the inclement weather at the start of the year prolonging the hold-up we had to sit tight and wait for the warmth to return. If anything is proven during this restoration it is what you can do with the most primitive of facilities.

 

Anyhow, have a new house and the decorating is coming on well, so the T has been moved back up the priority list. Here is what has been achieved, mostly over the last two months as I have combined my two weeks off work to move into the house, sort the garage / workshop and make up some of the lost ground on the T.

 

Chassis and Ballast box

 

I was a little disgusted at the rate of deterioration over the winter. The work that I had started on the chassis back in September had been undone and where I had painted during year one was showing signs of rust breaking through. The obvious choice was therefore to re-clean and paint.

 

This time the chassis was sandblasted back and in one day the paintwork was built up to a green top coat. Now those of you who have been following this blog will be asking why I have over coated in green when I intend to paint the vehicle in light stone. No, I have not lost my marbles (although some might disagree and even state that they were never present), the madness to my method (or is it the other way round) is born out of some issues we have had with re-coating the light stone. When the bonnet was done I wanted some additional blemish-removal which meant flatting and re-coating the top of the bonnet around the piano hinge. Upon re-coating, and this is well over a week after the original coat was applied, the paint reacted like buggery and as a result it has to be flatted right back and a barrier applied. This occurred in a proper spray booth and the conclusions we came to were that the light stone seems to dry much slower than the green. Therefore to provide a non-porous surface the chassis has been put to green and will be over painted in light stone once all the work has been done to that section.

 

This will also aid the accurate paint finish of the time, as the side will be painted with the battery box in place and will leave the inaccessible areas green. Similar to what is believed to be the standard practice for such vehicles.

 

The supporting planks under the ballast box had been earmarked for replacement. After some difficulty sourcing a local sawmills who deal in hardwoods I found some excellent sapele which was planed to the correct dimensions. Expensive, but very nice. These are in the process of being treated with Teak oil to help the preservation.

 

The ballast box handrails have been re-manufactured as the originals were both damaged and rotten.

The interior of the ballast box has been blasted. This had been done at some time prior to my acquisition of the vehicle so the paint was not as thick as seen elsewhere. The floor plates are in reasonable condition and do not require any repair. The angle sections supporting the vertical plates show signs of corrosion jacking but again no work is needed at the moment.

 

Like the chassis rail the ballast box was built up to a top coat in little more than a day. Here, the light stone was applied as no additional work would is projected, although before the first road run I intend to fit a Crusader style jib to allow the spare wheel to be removed. This will be a bolt-on modification which has been drawn up and I hope will be manufactured over the summer.

 

Cab

 

The cab has been on hold due to shortage of funds. However the chassis is not ready to accept it yet so this is not a problem. It is ready for painting and can be completed in about a week if need be. The scuttle has been returned to me for fitting-out and wiring. So far the gauges and a number of the switches have been fitted. There are a few items outstanding – most notably the hand throttle.

 

Pictures to follow.....

[Adrian]

....Pictures as promised.

 

 

 

 

:shocked: now look at the state on that! Just shows what a winter can do!

 

 

 

 

 

Just after blasting, a bit more prep needed.

 

 

 

 

Prep work done and primer added. :-)

 

 

 

 

Ballast box after blasting and painting.

 

 

 

 

Condition as of early May.

 

 

 

 

Scuttle in my new workshop being fitted out.

[42 chevy]

Adrian;

glad you are back on track. I talked to Jim Clarke recently and he told me that your project had slowed down due to your move. Looking good, keep the pictures coming.

 

John Gott