Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

It is a bit of a pity that we can only add 5 photos per post. I have thousands and have to pick out the ones to use and then resize them, save them and then put them into the order I want to show.

Anyway on we go.

The radiator being at the rear means that there must be some sort protection to stop the air from pressurizing the engine compartment as you drive forward which would stop the fan from drawing air through the radiator and past the engine.

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To do this there are panels under the engine which stop the air coming up from below and help direct the warm air out towards the rear of the vehicle.

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Fortunately for me, all of the panels were there, badly bent up, but all there and I was able to panel beat them out successfully.

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The radiator also has a sealed shroud around it for the same reason. I'll show that later.

Rick.

[lynx42]

More photos of the under engine panels.

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The openings help direct the hot air under and behind the vehicle.

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This dome-headed bit is swung out of the way in the belly plate to drain the oil from the engine.

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A strip of rubber seals the shroud to the hull sides in the engine bay you can see the staples used to hold it in place.

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Some cleaning and panel-beating required here.

Rick

[lynx42]

With the chassis at the sandblasters it was time to start pulling the fittings off the hull. We set it up on two large saw horses which gave a bit of room underneath but did not make the hull too high to work on.

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The Blitz in the back ground is a C60S, WO-78, No.6 Artillery Tractor to tow the 40mm. Bofors Anti-Aircraft gun, a project for the future (maybe).

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The grey vehicle on the left is a rare one. It is a fully optioned 'HJ' Holden GTS wagon. One of 4 built for GHM executives in 1974. It has all the Monaro extras including a 308 V8, M20 gear box and 3.6 limited slip diff vented guards and full Monaro interior. I suppose you could call it an 'HJ Holden GTS Monaro Wagon', but it was never released as such. I restored it for my No.1 son but he did not look after it and I so took it off him 14 years ago.

Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

First it was a job to free up all of the hatches handles and linkages etc. There was quite a lot of oxy acetylene heat used to do this. I think that every nut and bolt was heated up to red and allowed to cool down. This was to break the rust and it was quicker to heat every one instead of hoping that they would undo like the ones on the chassis. The grey thread protector paste was quite visible on many of the threads and most came undone without too much trouble.

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The hinges were all hard to free up and plenty of heat was used on them. There are springs in the latches for the drivers, gun hatch and commanders hatches so they were just warmed up so that the spring, if it was saveable, did not loose its spring.

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The handles for the hatches were also seized and had to be freed up with heat and straightened as well. This was done whilst the hatches were closed and the mechanism of the handles could be lined up correctly.

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The hinges on each hatch and the two door are not only bolted but welded in place as well. I had to remove the doors, but I had fitted them years ago so that wasn’t much of a problem.

Regards Rick

[lynx42]

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Gun hatch being freed up.

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The drivers hatch has the fitting for the protector-scope. The hatch is opened in three parts and all were seized solid.

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As I gently heated and moved things to free it up I discovered that the rubber vibration pads were still there.

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This was removed carefully and the hatch freed up.

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Rick

[lynx42]

The finding of the commanders left side hatch panel was told in #7.

I had already had replacement a panel produced by a firm in Melbourne’s south east using the cut-off right side piece as a mirror patten. They wanted $713.00 for one cut to shape with a garnet/water jet process. The main cost was the setting up of the computer program for the water jet machine. I had a brain wave and had 9 produced for only $130.00 more. I needed only one for the left side but quickly sold the other 4 sets (Left and right). One went overseas and selling them gave me some extra restoration money. I had them made slightly over size as no two Lynx hulls would have been cut exactly the same way. They needed trimming on the bottom and rear sides but the top and where they met the front armour was correctly cut with the correct angles. The surrounding panel then only needed trimming at the bottom and rear to suit each vehicle and the placing of the hinges and the bullet splash strips on the inside. All the holes were drilled during production as well.

Here is the new panel welded into place with all holes etc in place.

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Buried for close to 50 years didn't do too much damage.

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It was amazing that even the light weight splash guard was not rusted through.

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A bit of heat soon broke the rust and I was able to remove the hatch opening mechanism, lock plate and splash guard.

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Rick

[lynx42]

I completely stripped the original left panel and re-used the hatch, hinges and other fittings. This involved unbolting and then cutting through the welds. I cut through the welds to the bullet splash protection in the inside and the angled piece at the top where the roof sits when it is closed.

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There were two types of shims under the hinges to allow them to line up and fit closely to the hull.

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The original hatch ready for the sandblaster.

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Here the reclaimed bullet splash guards and roof support are tack welded in place on the replacement left side. Still to be welded in properly and to be cleaned.

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The car, (yes I know it is out of focus), is a rare one in Australia. It is a 1964 Chrysler, Plymouth, Valiant, Signet 200V convertible, with a 273ci. V8 and 3 speed push button auto gearbox. No others are known in Australia. It has been converted to right-hand drive.

Rick.