Restoration of Hull 731- Carrier, MG (Aust) Mortar Carrying

[Darrin Wright]

I disassembled all the conduit and with some storage boxes and other items dropped it all off at the sandblasters yesterday for blasting. With the heat, they are only blasting in the mornings.
I have installed the new speedo cable that I got from Euan (also on MLU) some time ago and connected it to the gearbox drive.

Today
Bought more etch primer for the items and collected the bits & bobs from the sandblasters. It is 41 deg C today, excellent drying weather, so I have undercoated the items and will let them dry for the afternoon.
With the overnight temp being 24 deg C and 0% humidity I took the opportunity to paint all the items in undercoat, green. They can dry overnight and get another coat in the morning.
At this rate I may be able to assemble the conduit tomorrow morning and install stowage boxes.
Tomorrow have to collect an accelerator linkage and copy the bends so my rod can be installed.

[Darrin Wright]

Well the weather has not been good for working out in the workshop, so have only spent a few hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the late afternoon/evening. Did not feel like working in 42 to 47 deg C heat.

Picked up an accelerator linkage rod from a local person and utilised it to bend my new rod. Having the correct angles & lengths, it has now been installed.

All items sandblasted have several coats of paint, most importantly the electrical conduit. Discovered the junction block (RHS hull near engine) to be cracked, so have bronzed it up. I have also repaired the flexible conduit from the engine rail to the engine, this carries the generator wiring and oil/temp sender wires. It is all painted green ready for assembly and installing the wiring.

Over Christmas I had a new stepped bolt machined to replace the item that destroyed itself when it had too much heat applied to it, when trying to remove it from the hull. This is the bolt that holds the track adjuster arm in place, on the hull. This has all been painted and it is now installed on the hull with new castellated nuts and new springs from Colin Jones (on MLU).

One evening I made a stencil that replicated the original hull number that was painted to the side. Fixed it in placed with little magnets and gave it a heavy coat of white. This is not the final marking and painted location. I wish to copy the original location and sequence of markings that I found on the vehicle. So when the hull (or that part of the hull) is painted again, those markings will be painted over and the new markings with the Mortar Section markings will be applied.

[Darrin Wright]

Painted the 2 smaller boxes (Box Iron Rations & Box Cooking Utensils) and installed them into the hull in the later model LP2A configuration. Bit of a tight fit to get them in with holes drilled to suit the mounting plates.

The local tool shop had a sale, so went down and bought a large G clamp to assist in pushing the wheel pins out. Utilising Colin Jones' method and having picked up a bracket and 2 hook bolts that my Dad had made up 30 years ago to do the same job, I commenced removing the wheel pin from the LHR suspension unit. It eventually came out and I removed the wheel, due to the heat, that's as far as I got with that.

Found my complete engine oil cooler lines and cleaned them up externally with the wire wheel and washed them out with thinners (that's all I had) several times. They have since been undercoated, test fitted in to the hull & bent back into the correct position, and are now painted green ready for installation next weekend. Once the oil cooler and pipes are in, there's no reason not to get the radiator installed.

Used the weather to paint quite a few parts and let them dry during the day or overnight. These parts are either on the vehicle or in a box of like items ready for assembly.

[Darrin Wright]

Little bit late with this update from the weekend, and like the new thumbnail size for the uploaded pics.

On the weekend I completed a number of little jobs and finished some tasks off, like the RHR suspension 2 engine rail bolts. My hands were too big and I didn't want to pull the starter motor off again, so my eldest son got down in the hull and, with assistance, installed the bolts & nuts and we did them up.

Another task, another son, we installed the painted oil cooler lines into the floor of the hull. Use some thread paste to seal the tapered fittings so that they do not leak later. Fitted the oil cooler lines through the air scoop slot and connected the lines to the cooler fittings. Next we installed the relief valve and positioned it onto its mounting bracket. As much as possible, I primed the cooler lines with oil.
Fitted the 2 saddle clamps that hold the oil lines to the engine rails, this presented a problem as the original holes may have been threaded and with
time and rust they are now holes. This required a longer bolt and a nylock nut, but to install the nut required small hands & arms to reach in under/around the engine and around the tube axle.
Interesting fact from the manual, to check the oil level the engine must be running when the oil level is checked. This is so that the oil cooler system is full and does not give a false reading and the operator has the incorrect oil level.

Utilised a thread tap to clean out the holes for the hull plates and installed the coolant drain hull plate.

[Darrin Wright]

Little bit late with this update from the weekend, and like the new thumbnail size for the uploaded pics.

On the weekend I completed a number of little jobs and finished some tasks off, like the RHR suspension 2 engine rail bolts. My hands were too big and I didn't want to pull the starter motor off again, so my eldest son got down in the hull and, with assistance, installed the bolts & nuts and we did them up.

Another task, another son, we installed the painted oil cooler lines into the floor of the hull. Use some thread paste to seal the tapered fittings so that they do not leak later. Fitted the oil cooler lines through the air scoop slot and connected the lines to the cooler fittings. Next we installed the relief valve and positioned it onto its mounting bracket. As much as possible, I primed the cooler lines with oil.
Fitted the 2 saddle clamps that hold the oil lines to the engine rails, this presented a problem as the original holes may have been threaded and with
time and rust they are now holes. This required a longer bolt and a nylock nut, but to install the nut required small hands & arms to reach in under/around the engine and around the tube axle.
Interesting fact from the manual, to check the oil level the engine must be running when the oil level is checked. This is so that the oil cooler system is full and does not give a false reading and the operator has the incorrect oil level.

Utilised a thread tap to clean out the holes for the hull plates and installed the coolant drain hull plate.

[Darrin Wright]

With the cooler weather in the morning I started work on the rear armoured diff cover. This required a lot of heat to removed some broken studs, straighten brackets and straighten the angle iron that secures it to the rear stowage box shelf.
This armoured cover has a mounting block welded to the inside, not sure what it is for, possible the diff breather hose. Have asked the question on MLU.
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=21602

Carefully cut the mudguards off with the angle grinder and this allowed me to straighten the angle iron. This BGC is fitted with a shorter, curved 1/4" thick rear mudguard. I have not seen too many BGC with this. Most are flat and a little bit thinner in construction. Just an observation, just that bit harder to panel beat.
Positioned my NOS 42 & 43 shovel to check the fit and brackets that I will fabricate soon, a tight fit between the exhaust pipe outlets and where the shovel is.

Next step will be to fabricate the missing brackets and weld them on, them straighten and weld on the rear mudguards. Then off to the sandblasters for a clean up.

[Lynn Eades]

From the manual

[Darrin Wright]

There may be several references, with a slight variation, on checking & topping up engine oil.
Thanks Lynn

[Darrin Wright]

During the week another BGC arrived at home, out of storage, by a backload on a tilt tray.
This is good for parts only, and some of them are already at the sandblasters getting cleaned.
This hull came from a very coastal area and had some rust in it. I did not treat it and the salt has really eaten into it. The armour has suffered the most and the cast steel not touched.
I do not know what the hull number is. Believe it to be an early hull as the air scoop is welded in, no mufflers fitted, riveted rear end.

[Darrin Wright]

Just collected the third prototype leather boots for the steering axle that go on the outside of the hull.
These boots are of a thin leather, machine sewed and the fit is really good.
Will fit them up to a BGC in Melb to check the extension of the boot when the steering axle moves left & right.
I don't expect any problems and have a second pair off to be machined.

[Darrin Wright]

With Fridays good weather, I dropped the LHR suspension unit off to be sandblasted. This was collected later in the afternoon and undercoated. I was going to use the last of my green paint to give it a coat of colour, but the paint had gone solid.

Saturday- it rained all day.
Using Euan's clutch rods as samples (borrowed), I bent up my rod in the same style; however, my rod required its own unique bends to get it from the pivot linkage on the centre bulkhead to the clutch throw-out are/lever. This took about 2 hours of bending and test fitting to get right. It is in now.
I also cut and installed the leather grommet for the accelerator & clutch rod to pass through on the engine bay divider plate.

With the rods in, there was no excuse not to install the radiator. With my wife assisting, we lifted it over the hull side and down into position.
I did discover that the Macs Auto radiator mount kit, that I bought months ago, did not quite fit. The bolts are too short due to the extra thickness of the engine/radiator C channel rails in the hull. To over come this I got two bolts a little bit longer and drilled them for the split pins, otherwise the rest of the kit was usable.
Another point to note, I cut my clutch rods from the lengths listed in the parts book. These lengths are incorrect, I think they got the front & rear mixed up, Will find out for sure when I get to install the front clutch rod.

[colin jones]

Hey Darrin, great job. There's one thing I have found with the parts book and that's to use as a guide only. There is a lot of differences in measurements from actual size and what the book says. I too learnt the hard way and now never make anything unless I copy an original or have confirmation from someone that has one.

[Darrin Wright]

I have just picked up 2 fuel tanks that I had built from a very good sample.
These were built by Simon Allen at Chewton (bscallen at bigpond.com), Victoria. (unpaid advertisement!! ) Simon also makes other BGC items if interested.
They were built with the holes cut and one end not welded in, this is so that I can insert my original fuel pickups, fillers with flame arrestors and a drain plug fitting.

[Darrin Wright]

I collected the second batch of leather boots, this pair are for my project, and installed them to the hull. I utilised some heavy gauge galvanised wire to secure/tie-wire the boots to the exterior of the steering axle. So as to get the wire in the groove on the steering axle, I put a loop in each corner and this pulled the wire in tight against each flat surface. I have seen this technique used on other BGC. I have also seen 2 to 3 thin wire strands wrapped around the boot as well. This technique worked best for me.

The previous week I also put an order in for glass to be cut for the vision covers in the front of the hull. I collected these items on Saturday. They are of modern glass with a 6% tint. That should protect my eyes against sun glare whilst driving.

I also commenced some of the vehicle wiring, starting with the rear conduit section to the lights. Had to utilise a small cord/rope as a pull through to encourage the wiring through the conduit. I am going to run an additional wire, as an earth wire, to ensure that I have no problems with circuitry/earths in the vehicle lights.