Humber FV1600 - ARN 105-819 - Restoration moves forward.

[fv1620]

Thank you Richard I knew I cold rely on you. Nice to have the definitive info. They started selling them off a bit earlier over here 1962-67, mostly 1964. But the Pigs started going 1967 & this continued into the early 1970s until they started buying them back again!

That Commer handbook I have had a print run of 250, whether it has any significance I don't know. Perhaps they wanted a lot of spare copies or maybe they hoped there might have been more than 150 sold!

[Dave Mills]

How is your resto coming along Clive? I am on the scrounge for the seal housing for the winch (see the wanted section of the forum) do you have one?

Glad to see and read that you are just as passionate as us about the Humber,
be it a PIG or GS.

I have the seals for the winch drum as they are stock standard and available over the counter at my local Industrial Supplies, if I cannot find a seal holder my last resort is to go to the local foundary and have one cast. Unfortunately, I do not believe that there is a great demand for these so it will probably be a one off cast.

Dave.

[fv1620]

Dave my restoration of FV1609 continues but I take it to shows none the less. It has interesting embellishments in that after Troop Trials in 1956 it became a police vehicle in 1958. Often little tit-bits of history surface that show me that I need to change or add something.

But the basic maintenance continues, last year I got off all that awful rubber paint that was peeling off the torsion bars. I know of one Pig that snapped a bar over night. Finished the chassis & now even the gearbox & transfer box are painted as original in BSC Lemon zinc phosphate primer (should be zinc chromate but I don't anyone will notice that!)

Your housing. I have a peculiar selection of Humber spares that came all the way back from Africa but there is nothing in that. I sold the only winch I had to a Land Rover owner who felt that these Turner winches or parts of them were fitted on Land Rovers.

There was also an inquiry from Germany from someone who also thought the same. So perhaps your next move would be to see what people in the Land Rover world might have.

The parts book most people use is dated 1960 which of course pre-dates the full implementation of NATO Codification in the UK so I have searched old NATO CDs to try to match up to a NSN that might have been issued later to broaden the search. But nothing. I have also gone through the 5 amendments issued to up date the 1960 book to see if the is any change but nothing.

I've got the 1952 parts book amended to 1957 to see if there were any manufacturer's cross references but nothing I'm afraid.

Have you tried Bannisters? http://www.milweb.net/go/banister/

[Dave Mills]

They seem to be as rare as "Rocking Horse S###". I think I may, just may have located one in Townsville in Northern Queensland, am waiting on a reply. Rich put me onto it. I have feelers out through the Austin Champ group in England and I truly appreciate the MLU and others world wide effort in trying to locate this item.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Have started to reassemble the rear diff, suspension and driveline stations back onto the chassis. Only managed one side, will finish it off and start on the other side next weekend. It is good to finally see all the preperation work coming together. The old rusted flexible conduit for the wiring loom is only in place as a template with all to be reproduced or replaced when i start to remake the wiring looms. Thankfully they come in sections so it is rather straight foward (I hope).

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Some more pics of progress to date.

Holidays now finished so back to work and the Humber takes a back seat for a while. Will have to satisfy myself with fitting it into the weekends. The rims are all bead blasted and primed awaiting top coat.

Next steps will be to finish the rims and give the old girl some new rubber, refit the front diff and front drive and suspension stations, refit the motor and transmission, then prepare the chassis to accept the cab.

The cab is stilling waiting to be repaired, am not to concerned as no room in yard or workshop (3 x champs, 3 x trailers, 2 humber trucks) to have it at home so my plan is to have the chassis finished and once the cab is finished i can then lift the cab onto the chassis. I hope it works out this way, fingers crossed.

1 - Chassis now completed, cleaned primed and painted.
2 - NOS fuel filter and overhauled mastercylinder, wiring looms completed and fitted.
3 - New brake and fuel lines manufactured and fitted. NOS brake servo fitted and plumbed up.
4 - Steering overhauled, cleaned, painted and refitted
5 - Front diff assembly overhauled cleaned and painted waiting to be refitted.

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

The cab at long last is being pieced together and panels matched to shell in preperation for painting. To date approx 84 hours has been spent cutting out rust and welding in new sections, the end product is well worth the effort.

I will get some more pics up as i get hold of them.

Cheers,

Dave.