restoration Diamond T 980

[Adrian]

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

 

Cheers John, been so tied up with other things of late I have not even been on HMVF much so need to catch up on all the threads. need an MV evening I think! Getting back to it though and wiull dedicate some serious time over the summer to completing the painting and hopefully getting the cab and winch back on.

[Adrian]

Forgot to all this picture yesterday;

 

 

 

 

 

The re-manufactured hand rails have been made up of high pressure gas piping, difficult to bend but the right diameter and lying about so FOC. The pipe was galvanised so a good application of acid etch was needed prior to painting.

 

The wood in the foreground are the Sapele supports for the ballast box.

 

Cheers,

 

A

[Gordon_M]

I'd love to have the time and energy to do that. Really looks like it needs to be inside before this coming winter though?

 

If you run across one I'm still looking for a Tri-Master roof ventillator or bits thereof, most commonly seen on T's. I do have a ventillator shell I got from Rex Cadman, but could do with the guts or a whole one from a junk T hard cab.

 

 

 

Gordon

[Adrian]

I'd love to have the time and energy to do that. Really looks like it needs to be inside before this coming winter though?

 

If you run across one I'm still looking for a Tri-Master roof ventillator or bits thereof, most commonly seen on T's. I do have a ventillator shell I got from Rex Cadman, but could do with the guts or a whole one from a junk T hard cab.

 

Hi Gordon, If you are still after it Paul Rhodes has a good one on Milweb.

 

Cheers,

A

[Adrian]

Ok, a very short update, well a few pictures because I am a little pushed for time but just to say that the past three weeks have allowed me to make some serious progress.

 

The photographs below are not the whole picture as I have also completed the radiator and mounted some of the controls. I promise to take the camera with me the next time, and to give you all a proper update soon. There is much to discuss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers, and thanks for visiting my blog,:-)

 

Ad.

[brianthesnail96]

Looks ace! Much better than a few months ago. I really must come and visit, point, stare, wield paintbrush, drink tea etc etc.

[Adrian]

Looks ace! Much better than a few months ago. I really must come and visit, point, stare, wield paintbrush, drink tea etc etc.

 

Cheers Matey. However it looks much better than that now, just need to get my arse in gear and take some up to date pictures.

 

A

[Adrian]

Hi all, just a few pictures to keep you up to date. Got some new batteries yesterday and fired up the T for the first time in over 2 years. Started in a few seconds and running very well. She has now been moved out from the space in readiness for moving to the Dutch barn next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

A

[Joris]

Looking good, Adrian!

 

By the way, why is it called the Dutch barn?

[Adrian]

Hi Joris!

 

Thanks for the reply. The Farmer has always referred to it as the Dutch barn and I assume it is because of the design. I am no expert in arm buildings so cannot confirm if this is the correct terminology. It is an open fronted barn with solid back and sides. i will post a picture in due course.

 

Cheers,

 

A

[protruck]

She's looking good mate.

 

keep up the great work.

 

 

Clive

[Adrian]

She's looking good mate.

 

keep up the great work.

 

 

Clive

 

Cheers, getting near the end now. Planning on a full season in 2011.

[abn deuce]

Those NDT front tires really make the look ! Bit of an open cab at the moment but I m sure you have that part ready to go back on soon .

[42 chevy]

Adrian

 

quit eimpressive to say the least. I hope you had as much enjoyment as I did breaking those wheels down, removing the tires and painting them.

 

Top notch

 

 

John

[Adrian]

Adrian

 

quit eimpressive to say the least. I hope you had as much enjoyment as I did breaking those wheels down, removing the tires and painting them.

 

Top notch

 

 

John

 

Hi John,

 

Enjoyment and hard graft, those tires are a sod to get off. Been doing just that this weekend.

 

A

[Adrian]

Some pictures of Monday's move out of the compound in preparation for its new home. You will note the rather unique driving position, which i do not recommend. The actual manoeuvre out of the gate took about 15 attempts as unless it is lined up perfectly it will not fit through.

 

Supporting oneself on one foot, with the other on the cutch, and no proper leverage on the steering wheel was horrendous. I stopped numerous times to regain the feeling in my right foot!

 

I must admit I have never worked so hard at driving a vehicle. By the end I was knackered.

 

Anyway, on with the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now awaiting the removal of the current truck from my space, which with a bit of luck might be today, and the T will be parked up and the restoration continued. I am still working on the wheel refurbishment and tyre change, and my god what a job that is turning out to be. I am sure these have not been off since it was rebuilt in 1967 because the rust around the bead and the gator is unreal.

 

I have also decided to remove the standard exhaust and replace it with a much simpler and shortened unit. Many moons ago my father replaced one with a 45 deg. and then 90 deg. Bend from the downpipe and then a short burgess straight through oval box, which ejected just forward of the midpoint of the o/s battery box. I have a 3 ½” dia. flexible to take up vibration and movement and the bends so just need a box to complete. More on this later.

 

 

More soon.

Edited August 11, 2010 by Adrian

[Adrian Barrell]

Supporting oneself on one foot, with the other on the cutch, and no proper leverage on the steering wheel was horrendous. I stopped numerous times to regain the feeling in my right foot!

 

I must admit I have never worked so hard at driving a vehicle. By the end I was knackered.

QUOTE]

 

So some sort of seat then......:-D

 

Looking good!

[42 chevy]

It does not help matters that theer is no power steering and a turning radius that is quite big!!!!!!

 

John Gott

[contractorman]

Brilliant work Adrian ...Brings back happy memories of long ago.. for a while i painted my first T desert stone ..Keep up the good work mate ..Enjoy 2011

[Adrian]

Part 9 – The light at the end of the tunnel

 

At last the end is in sight. The cab is finished bar the coat of Light Stone, as is the winch. It is thanks to my problematic shoulder that the chassis has not progressed at a faster pace but one by one the tasks have been ticked off. However, the shoulder appears to be on the mend so we should be firing on all cylinders come the new year.

 

Paint

 

You might recall I had some indecision regarding the correct paint colour. It is surprising how many variants of desert camouflage are available. When I started on the restoration I visited a number of MV shows and obtained several chips, with each supplier assuring me that this is the correct colour for the application. Five chips, five different shades, all correct – and how exactly is this going to work!

 

Modeller Michael Starmer guided me in the right direction and I had ordered 1 litre of light stone, to his formulation from a specialist restoration paint company. Unfortunately the price was rather special too, so with this guide I purchased sufficient paint which I thought to be a close match of BS.361 Light Stone from a mainstream supplier.

 

I was never 100 per cent satisfied and as time has gone on and with one side of the T coated I made another paint chip of the Starmer BS.61 Light Stone to compare. It compared quite badly, as the colour was some way off. It did not help that on viewing some colour footage of the North Africa campaign I saw a scout car painted in a shade almost identical to the BS.61 – oh bugger, got the paint wrong. Knowing it was wrong it could not stay, so more paint was needed.

 

Due to commercial issues the supplier of the 1 litre sample of BS.61 has temporarily ceased manufacture of paint for an indeterminate period so I took the tin down to my local paint specialist and we began to run through the myriad of paint chips to find some close matches to start with, and then tint to obtain a closest match to the BS.61. I was pleased to find that Bedford Cargo Beige was an almost identical colour so 5l was mixed up. Now, a word of advice. Do not trust a paint chip; they can be a little inaccurate. In this case Beige was more like brown and after numerous attempts at tinting the 5l can was overflowing and as it is pointless to tip any out as you lose your reference the pot was binned and 1l was mixed up in a 5l tin and very much to their credit they stuck at it and we have a near perfect match. Apparently the correct finish is a matt but I have requested a matt satin with 10 per cent sheen to prevent a lustreless finish.

 

This of course does mean that all the sand which has been put on will have to be flatted and re-coated, but no bother, a day of grafting should put things right on the offside.

I have this colour saved as my personal mix so if anyone reading likes the shade I can put them in touch with the supplier. The paint itself is a HMG Vehicle Polyurethane, which has excellent resistance to wear and is slightly tougher than the enamels which are more commonly used, and was developed specifically for commercial vehicles. This paint can be applied on top of enamel but cannot be over coated with paints which use cellulose thinners as a reaction is guaranteed. The Poly comes with its own thinner, which is not as harsh as the cellulose equivalent.

 

The paint is due to be delivered this week and as soon as the cab is painted I will post some new pictures.

 

The Cab

 

When we last looked at the cab it was still split from the scuttle. The latter had been fitted with its gauges and was ready for re-fitting. Since then I have instructed the guys at Rockhampton to go ahead and finish it, with the aim of re-fitting it by Christmas. Over the past few weeks the remaining welding, of which there was little remaining has been completed. This encompassed the check straps, which have been re-manufactured from scratch, and the fitting of the vertical finishers on the A-post. It is essential to have the scuttle and doors in place before these are tacked-on as the line of the panels can be seriously upset if the finisher is out of position.

 

The preparation for painting was now tackled. Areas such as the lower middle section and rear roof edge were we had replaced substantial sections were smoothed and blended. The lower edge of the screen surround, where the seal had once sat was blended with a thin layer of body filler to restore the correct shape.

 

Doors underwent the same treatment. You will recall they have been re-skinned and the join between the new and original sections were also blended.

 

As with all restorations the work can seem endless. Then, all of a sudden, the progress appears to jump forward with the first coat of primer. I am fortunate in the fact that Rockhampton is on my route home from work so I can pay a daily visit and see over two days the progression from pre-primer, to a decent coat of red oxide, to the green. It was, a rather emotional moment to see the cab and doors in a top coat.

 

The following set of pictures were taken today (29th November). The new paint will arrive this week so hopefully we will be in light stone for the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The windscreen surrounds have proven to be a delay as it was thought that we could obtain some NOS surrounds, which turned out to be the wrong design, and their alternatives were more corroded than mine so the surrounds had to be carefully dismantled so the rot could be cut out. A simple option would have been to simply fill them, but on a cab where all the corrosion, no matter how minor had been carefully cut out and replaced with fresh metal this was never an option.

 

70 years of clamping had made the securing screws on the screen frame impossible to remove. An impact driver was tried but the safe impact load to prevent the screen from shattering was insufficient to persuade the stubborn gits to undo so my recently acquired pillar drill came into play and the heads were drilled out. The rubber seal, as expected fell to bits. This we have sourced so new, nicely flexible rubbers will be re-fitted.

 

Electrical

 

Isn’t eBay wonderful! The NOS wiring loom has been unpacked and the connections identified. This was a major bonus as re-wiring from scratch would have been very time consuming. Ok, anoraks on, and clipboards at the ready, do you not think the smell of old wiring is intoxicating. Mix that with the waxed coated box and it oozes nostalgia. I recently sat in a Canberra cockpit and just enjoyed the smell of old aircraft and wondered what it was. Opening the Diamond T’s new loom hit the nail on the head. New cars, aircraft, do not have that feel that wants’ to keep you there.

 

Anyhoo, I digress. The loom will be fitted once the cab is in place and should be a case of plug and play. I do have one issue where the junction box on my T has been fitted by the Italians and incorporates different terminals and a fuse array. Nice to have but it is looking a bit ropey. If anyone can lay their hands on an original with the screw post terminals I would be very interested to make an offer for it.

 

The voltage regulator is also not looking its best. Several solder connections have given up so I need to re-attach. Basic soldering is unlikely and last weekend was a bit frustrating with me muttering to myself, “I am sure that pot of flux is round here somewhere”. It was not, so on the shopping list it goes.

 

Chassis

 

My policy of tackling one side at a time has given me a very dim view of the side that has not been touched, although we are only talking about a chassis rail and underside of the ballast box which needed blasting. This has been accomplished and the painting has been kicked off although progress here has slowed over the past week due to the obvious boundaries of sub-zero temperatures.

 

The following picture is somewhat out of date as the whole side has been stripped bare, blasted and primed. Note the colour, in a view such as this it appears obviously too light.

 

 

 

 

 

Exhaust

 

It is no secret that I dislike the original design of exhaust for the 980/981 series. Many moons ago, when my father drove a Diamond T he removed the exhaust and ran a short, straight through Burgess silencer box underneath the battery box. This made for a very neat and reliable installation. Therefore I have opted to do the same. I have sourced a 3 1/2” pipe with flexible joint and have found a suitable silencer which is being modified to suit. If anyone would like an original style system for their T please send me a pm because mine will soon be up for sale.

 

Costs

 

Current costs, including purchase are now well above £12,000. This is primarily due to my insistence on getting the cab professionally restored. I do not for one minute regret this decision, as the cab is now good for my lifetime at least.

 

First outing

 

I have arranged to show it at my work’s annual classic car day in July. That is a non-negotiable event so it will be on the road for the summer. This talk of a Diamond T 70th anniversary bash at the GDSF is very exciting so that is another event penned in.

 

I agree we are a bit short on pictures in this edition but I will post more shortly. Thank you once again for reading my blog.

 

Adrian

[Willyslancs]

looking well mate .........

[42 chevy]

Andrian;

The job seems to be progressing well. The cab looks spot on. Jim is shipping my panels out this week. I will be posting pictures within the next couple of weeks.

These jobs always seem to be going slow, then all of the sudden, they speed up and you get reenergized to finish them.

 

 

John Gott

[Adrian]

Andrian;

The job seems to be progressing well. The cab looks spot on. Jim is shipping my panels out this week. I will be posting pictures within the next couple of weeks.

These jobs always seem to be going slow, then all of the sudden, they speed up and you get reenergized to finish them.

 

 

John Gott

 

Hit the nail on the head there John. It can get quite depressing at times, then you realise you have truly achieved something, and that in itself gives you the extra drive to finish the job. Problem is, when you finish you look back with rose tinted glasses, especially when something else catches your eye.....

 

Looking forward to seeing your pics,

 

A

[dizzy-t]

Thanks for the photos, I will drop by one day soon (as soon as I have thored my feet out), its going to look Brilliant. You must have a very understanding wife does she know how much the old girl (sorry Old Boy) has cost, at least you kept her happy with a new house.

Speak soon.

dizzy-t

[pjg1979]

Hi Adrian, you've done an excellent job so far, great work.