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WW1 Thornycroft restoration


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Regarding the molasses rust removal, a word of warning. Spring steel and high tensile bolts turn to a brittle honeycomb consistency in my experience.

How that double spring you have, survived is a mystery to me.

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14 hours ago, Old Bill said:

Any thoughts on what to do about the hoses? Is there a recommended goo we could use?

I think I would try a couple of turns of self-amalgamating tape tight around the stub before fitting the hose. 

It might not work, or it might prove impossible to fit the hose over the top, but it's quick to try and then quick and clean to un-try if its a failure. 

 

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I have usually found that the old style Nestle brass clip just does not grip the hose tight enough. So I compromise on authenticity and use a modern wideband clamp sold on ebay for 'turbo' applications. I fit them with wing nuts and paint them black to give a token old appearance. The most important thing though is that they keep the water where it should be! The picture shows the clamp in the natural stainless steel finish.

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On 5/1/2019 at 12:09 PM, andypugh said:

I think I would try a couple of turns of self-amalgamating tape tight around the stub before fitting the hose. 

It might not work, or it might prove impossible to fit the hose over the top, but it's quick to try and then quick and clean to un-try if its a failure. 

 

Plus one for this. Put the tape on the pipe dry and well stretched, then lubricate with soapy water when pushing the hose over. You just need a strip where the clamp will be.

Robert G8RPI.

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On 4/30/2019 at 10:01 PM, Gordon_M said:

I'm not a hose expert ( Hoseman, where are you ? ) but there's only a couple of possibilities.  

Either you have too big a size difference between the OD of your connection and the ID of the hose, or your hose is too hard / rigid.  I suppose it could be a combination of both.

A thinner, softer hose would be the easiest fix.  After all, I expect the pressure in the system to be just the hydrostatic head and a couple of PSI.  I'd guess you are using industrial strength hose that would pressure test to hundreds of PSI and is probably twice as thick as it needs to be.  Ask everybody else with similar vehicles what they are using?

I will try my best to help . . . .

as mentioned above, maybe a too rigid hose. Has it a steel helic inside? (Wire support) then you need single bolt hose clamps to secure. Too modern for the Thorny.

swap for a fabric braided hose section, the helix is only there to prevent hose collapse, a short section like this doesn’t need it, so just a fabric braid is fine. Normally in 1m sections. Give me the ID and I can source for you, but try an industrial hose supplier rather than a hydraulics one. Cheaper too. 

Other option is a smear of clear silicone on the pipe when you put the hose on. Have the steel pipe sections got a swage on the edge? To secure the hose and the clamp. 

PM if I can help in any way guys, my pleasure after all the years of ‘entertainment ‘ you have given us!

Edited by Hoseman
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Very many thanks for all of your thoughts. We have certainly got some things to try there.

One of the castings is a bit pitted but the other two are new and polished by ourselves. They might not be perfectly round but they are smooth. The hose is 'Radiator Hose' with no wire braid core. I know this as the word 'Radiator' was written along the side in bright orange letters. It took ages to get it off! It wasn't tremendously tight but it did need pushing on. The clips we have are a bit on the narrow side. On the other vehicles, we have used a standard worm drive clip until the joints have taken up and then replaced them with brass ones of the period to look right. The leakage did slow down as it warmed up.

Another annoyance to address! We'll let you know how we get on.

Steve  :) 

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15 hours ago, Old Bill said:

Very many thanks for all of your thoughts. We have certainly got some things to try there.

One of the castings is a bit pitted but the other two are new and polished by ourselves. They might not be perfectly round but they are smooth. The hose is 'Radiator Hose' with no wire braid core. I know this as the word 'Radiator' was written along the side in bright orange letters. It took ages to get it off! It wasn't tremendously tight but it did need pushing on. The clips we have are a bit on the narrow side. On the other vehicles, we have used a standard worm drive clip until the joints have taken up and then replaced them with brass ones of the period to look right. The leakage did slow down as it warmed up.

Another annoyance to address! We'll let you know how we get on.

Steve  :) 

The leak slowing down could be due to the casting expanding with heat. 

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  • 1 month later...

We took the Thorny out for a quick test run on Saturday and as nothing dropped off or otherwise went wrong we took it to the Wessex MV club gathering at Haslebury Mill today. A 40 mile round trip. The lorry performed almost faultlessly and made no issue of some of the steep hills on the way there and back. This was marvellous as we were a little cautious as to whether sleeving the engine might have reduced its power. Here we are on the way back through Axminster:

 

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2 minutes ago, Great War truck said:

We took the Thorny out for a quick test run on Saturday and as nothing dropped off or otherwise went wrong we took it to the Wessex MV club gathering at Haslebury Mill today. A 40 mile round trip. The lorry performed almost faultlessly and made no issue of some of the steep hills on the way there and back. This was marvellous as we were a little cautious as to whether sleeving the engine might have reduced its power. Here we are on the way back through Axminster:

 

Hi Tim,

Well done to you all, that will give you more confidence in the old girl. It looked great going through the town..

regards, Richard

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Thanks Richard. it was a very satisfying moment. Hard to think back how far we have come with this. Steve said it was like driving a new lorry. A couple of little snagging points that we still need to do, but we are nearly there now. From all the team we would like to thank the readers of HMVF for their suggestions, positive feedback and support. We really appreciate all of your comments and we really appreciate how you keep coming back to check on progress.

I will add some more photos later on.

Tim 

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Here are some photos of us putting up the complete canvas for the first time which we were very happy with. Jim from Allied Forces made it and it really is an excellent piece of work. Thanks Jim. We then took it out for the road test on the Saturday. Started off with a  one mile run, followed by two miles, followed by a 15 mile run. All very good. 

 

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As far as brake lights, I think a vehicle like this is so much slower and has such inferior braking performance that lights are unnecessary.

For indicators, presumably it’s traditional hand signals only? With our steam wagon the driver will use the “highway code” signals, and additionally the mate will stick his arm out for left turns.

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That is exactly what we do with Hand Signals. Turning left does concern me just a little as I wonder sometimes if a driver in a following car would be alert enough and would understand a passenger's arm sticking out on the near side when perhaps he would only be looking for signals on the driver's side.

 

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To be honest, my feeling is that so few people would be familiar with hand signals that it’s essentially an irrelevance; the most experience people will have is with bicycles and so duplicating that is a good idea. Of course, the time that signalling left really makes a difference is when changing lanes, and you can just have the mate look out and make eye contact with drivers.

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