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

[Darrin Wright]

Ground down the edges of the replacement front panel and welded in 2 support braces behind where the panel will sit. Fitted the panel, adjusted the braces, braces fell out, re-welded them back in, re-adjusted until I got a nice fit. Discovered that the front armour plate has a slight bend in it, I wonder if this is why a section of the front panel was removed? Previous accident or did it bend from the cutting????
Placed some tack welds in and then used the bottle jack behind the panel to move/lift it into place until the outer surface aligned. Then started to weld it in for good.
The pics show the process from start to finish, it may not appear that much is happening in them, but there is approx 8hr of work there...still have to place some welds in behind the panel yet.

[Lew Skelton]

Nice work there, I did all mine with arc, it's ballsachingly slow but feels good once finished. On one of the hulls I patched up there was a large hole on the gunners side where the farmers dog used to hop in.

[Darrin Wright]

Welded in the last section of the rear shelf, the Right triangle end piece. Also cleaned up and repaired the bracket for the POL container in the RHR section.
Took the Dodge and Jeep for a drive as it had been awhile since they got out of the workshop and the summer weather has been nice.
Managed to straighten the exhaust shields at the rear of the hull as they were slightly bent and also some minor damage to the angle that protects the brake linkage at the rear.

[Darrin Wright]

With Mum & Dad over for a Christmas/New year holiday (bringing many spare parts of mine) we stripped the engine down, slow going as 3 pistons were seized and this made it quite hard to access the split pins and nuts on the end of the conrods. Managed to hammer down some of the pistons and this provided enough access to lift the crankshaft. When we did lift it, the ring gear got caught on the oil pump drive bolts. After a bit of a struggle using the floor crane to lift, we got it apart. Then it was on to removing the valves and guides, using all the correct tools made slow going but we did not break anything. If you try and pull them out without the correct tools something will break, I only broke 1 guide but stopped before breaking anymore.

Dad stripped down the gearbox and checked everything out, it is well worn and will need a replacement main shaft and most of the gears. The rear mount is broken but have a BGC mount to replace it with. Just have to clean it up.

I continued to weld in replacement mounting blocks in the hull, replaced the blocks for the fuel tank brackets, replaced the strap mounting plate in the front left of the hull, tidied up sections of the hull, mounted the diff armoured cover and drilled most of the holes in the back shelf (also welded on 2 threaded mounting blocks), measured and then drilled the 4 holes for the jack bracket.

[Keith Webb]

Hi Darrin

I have a lot of gearbox internals NOS including the mainshaft (not the cluster gear though)

[Darrin Wright]

Welded in the brackets for the mortar base plate in the RHR of the hull, also welded on the small bracket that secures the tow cable on the top of the air scoop.
Not much done of late due to the 40deg heat.

[Darrin Wright]

I have more machined threaded blocks made and have also collected more steel cut by the lazer cutters.
I have had the steering cam plate cut and the section that separates the tube axle area from the engine bay, figured that it was easier to get this plate cut than to make it myself and drill all the 5/16"holes.
The pic shows the 2 cam plates that were used and the seperation plate.
If there is any interest in these I can have more cut as I have paid for engineering drawings. I can also work out the price for those interested....

[Darrin Wright]

Mounted the RHF mudguard and panel beat it back into shape using hammers and a bit of heat to get it right. When finished, placed on the pile of items to be sand blasted.
I then moved on to strip down the driver's floor plates and remove the linkages and pedal brackets, saved most of what was there and repaired it as I went so that it is ready for sand blasting.

[Darrin Wright]

Finished cleaning up the gear box with the pressure cleaner and then wire buffed it and painted it in undercoat. Measures/inspected the casing/housing and it appears to be useable.
Also cleaned up the engine and removed the last piston in pieces (it was the most rusted in piston).
Pistons measured up to .030"oversize, crank main bearings are standard and the big end bearings have been ground .010".
The block and crank are now at the engine reconditioners to be cleaned and worked on.
Oil pump has been rebuilt.
Also measured and counted all the bolts required to screw into the mounting blocks welded into the hull, will order these soon so that they are in the hull prior to sand blasting.

[Darrin Wright]

Australia Day on saturday, traveled to Melbourne to drop parents off at the Airport, also visited the RACV motorshow in the park. VMVC members there with their Jeeps and some very nice cars. Little bit cool and not as many cars as I remember from the previous years.

Have stripped the started motor and generator and checked and cleaned up. Starter motor has a bent armature and bearings will need to be replaced, but otherwise everything else in it is good to use.

The 2 brush generator requires new bearings and it should be good, buffed it up and will undercoat it and give it a coat of gloss black. Will check in town tomorrow for the bearings.

[Darrin Wright]

After being sick for 2-3 weeks and not feeling like working on anything, I finally got back down to the workshop and drilled out that last broken bolt in the hull front floor section that holds down the seat mount/pivot. I also then cut all the 3/8UNF bolts to fill the holes ready for sandblasting.
Also played with my C60L, trying to get the cooling system to seal. Just lots of little pin prick leaks, poured in a can (or 2) of sealing powder to see if that helps. It sealed up a few leaks and also the thermostat, after idling for 10min the engine boiled its head off. So I think the thermostat may have buggered up. I did check it when I rebuilt the water pump, so I will remove it and see if that makes a difference.
Have started to pack my vehicles and trailer ready for Corowa.
I have some seat back panels and engine bay divider plates cut during the week in the hope to sell while at Corowa.
I also placed an order for parts from Mas Auto in the USA, this should help put the engine back together. Have not had the time to ring the engine reconditioners to check on my engine, but it should be ready now and may be able to pick up on Tuesday before heading off to Corowa.

[Darrin Wright]

In the last 2 weeks I have been busy with Corowa and work on the BGC.
While on day 1 at Corowa I received a call from the engine re-conditioners that the engine was ready to collect, unfortunately not being in a position to collect had to wait until after Corowa. So during my lunch break this week, with trailer, went down to see them and pay for and collect my engine and all the items and new parts from the states. Got it home and unloaded it straight into the workshop.

Through MLU and a good friend I managed a swap of some items that I no longer required that could be used by someone else, for (what I believed to be) an ammunition cover to suit a BGC such as mine. This was delivered through another friend that travelled down from QLD at the start of Corowa. See attached pics, the cover fits like a glove and allows for the 3"ammunition to be stowed in the right hand side under cover from bullets, shrapnel and tree branches. This cover requires some minor repair to the up-right stay and a sand blast and paint, so I am very happy with it.

One night after work I started to look at and prepare the block for assembly, I did find that the engine re-conditioners left the 2 bottom welsh plugs (4 in total in the bottom of the block) in the block when it went into the acid bath, so I popped them out and cleaned out the silt and rust scale with a screwdriver and compressed air.

The engine is now on my temporary work bench waiting for m to commence on the valves and valve seats.

Also waiting on my order of parts from Mac's Auto and still have to chase up some valves as I was hoping that someone would have them at Corowa- no luck there.

[colin jones]

Hey Darrin, looks like you're moving along very well. I pretty sure that cover is a radio cover. It's in fantastic condition and they are quite rare...ish.
Great job and keep the pictures comin.
Colin.

[Euan McDonald]

Hi Colin,
What Darrin didn’t point out is the radio cover has a return around the cover that protects the radio compared to the mortar cover that is just a flat cover with no return.

[Darrin Wright]

Took the opertunity today with good weather to get my pile of parts sandblasted.
Loaded up the trailer last night and arrived at the company at 0730ish this morning and dropped it all off.
Collected it this afternoon and undercoated it. Only 3/4 of it was blasted as it took them longer than anticipated.
It is all on pallets away in the workshop waiting for some minor repair and green paint, then I can commence some re-assembly.
Pics are courtesy of my youngest who managed to take photos while on his rip-stick (skate board) around the workshop.

[Darrin Wright]

I misplaced my camera, hence there was no progress report last week.
But it has since turned up, sitting in the Jeep in the workshop.
The other weekend I went to a swap meet and found a leather spare barrel cover and a 1918 dated pick head that suits the stowage brackets/clamp on the back diff cover.
I also picked up some small bolts to secure the '"A" frame brackets that secure the Vickers anno tins into the hull, so they are now in the mount blocks in the front of the hull, ready for sand blasting.

[Darrin Wright]

Tonight I collected a parcel from the general store/Post Office, the last item that I require (until next time I need something) to assemble my engine.
12 split valve guides.
I found that replacing them (4 that I bought previously) removed 60%-80% of the wear between guide and valve stem, so decided to replace them all.
Will check them all out over the weekend to ensure that they fit into the block and around the valve. Must make sure that they do not grab/bind on the stem.
Once that is done I will drop the block back with the engine reconditioners to replace those rusted/pitted valve seats, then can commence reassembly.

[Darrin Wright]

just a quick update, with the last of the engine parts I have dropped off the block to have the valve seats looked at and at least 6 replaced and the remainder possible cut or refaced.
I have also painted (base coat) some items with a khaki green that I had, looks alright but not sure that this will be the final colour.

[Darrin Wright]

for the last few weeks I have been watching the weather reports and having discussions with the sandblasting company about how/when to get the hull to them for sand blasting.
Have to do it before winter stes in.
Well the weather reports are all looking good for the end of the week, so I rang the sandblasting company only to be told that they are booked out until Tuesday next week. Since when did they start to plan and schedule work? Oh well, find a back up plan.
I contacted Dave at Border Sandblasting 0418 578 392, Wodonga, to see how busy he was. I had used him several years ago to blast my MBT trailer and he did a very good job. Luckily he was free Friday to sand blast the hull.
I then rang Raff Fabrications who have a crane truck and organised him to collect and deliver to the sand blasting place; and collect when blasted and undercoated. That should be Friday at approx 4pm.
So today, Thursday, the hull was collected from home and dropped off at lunch time.
Tonight it sits in the blast chamber for an early start in the morning. Dave beleives there is about 4-6 hours blasting. We will see, as I think it would be closer to 8-10 hours. At $200 per hour I hope he is right.
2 pics showing the hull at the yard.
Tonight I cleaned and swept the shed out so that I can paint tomorrow and Saturday, the Dodge now sits in the BGC work bay.

[Darrin Wright]

The blasting took about 8.5hr and it finally came home around 5.20pm.
The crane unlaoded it back onto the dollys and pallet jack.
The underside was undercoated as I cannot get to that part when it is down in position.
Then when ready, we pushed it back inside the workshop and covered it over until saturday morning for painting.

[Darrin Wright]

Like an excited kid at Christmas I was up at 0530h and out in the shed to vacuum up the left over garnet and start blowing off the dust.
Ducked inside at 0600h to put the hot cross buns into the oven (left over from Easter) quickly tidied up so that I can go to work.
Back inside to have breakfast with the kids before having to go to work, then off to work.
Who wants to be at work when there is so much happening at home? so knocked off at 1100h to go home and start painting.
Anyway, here are some pics...

[Darrin Wright]

More progress pics of painting.
I used 4.5Lt of etch primer, bit worried that I might run out, so I thinned it down slightly to extend it that little bit further.

Also while painting the main PRV or check valve into the tank on my air compressor failed and drained the tank slowly, so the electric motor driving the compressor had to cut in and cycle more often.

I eventually finished at around 1500h, so approx 4 hrs to paint.

The pic of the RHR of the hull clearly depicts the base plate brackets, hand rail and also the footman loops for the straps to stow the ammunition tubes into place.

[colin jones]

Looks excellent Darrin and what a great hull too. I gather your air scoop is welded in.

[Paul Dutton]

Originally Posted by Darrin Wright

More progress pics of painting.
I used 4.5Lt of etch primer, bit worried that I might run out, so I thinned it down slightly to extend it that little bit further.

Also while painting the main PRV or check valve into the tank on my air compressor failed and drained the tank slowly, so the electric motor driving the compressor had to cut in and cycle more often.

I eventually finished at around 1500h, so approx 4 hrs to paint.


The pic of the RHR of the hull clearly depicts the base plate brackets, hand rail and also the footman loops for the straps to stow the ammunition tubes into place.

Nice going there mate! Beautiful hull and project.
Second pic, is that an Aussie hard at work....??
And the colour, is that Aussie laid back blue....??

[Dale Jordan]

Really nice Darrin , it must have been hard to go to work knowing all that bare metal was just waiting for some paint , anyway she is done now and what a nice looking hull well done . The carrier hull looked so small on the back of the truck ...keep us posted on progress . Dale

[Darrin Wright]

Went to the engine reconditioners and had them check out the flaw in the sleeve. Nothing to be worried about, it will not catch the oil ring and there is a lot of meat in the sleeve and the engine casting, so the coolant will not penatrate through.

Finished cleaning out the engine and a gave it a blow out with the air.

Cleaned up the crankshaft and placed the bearings and crank in, used flexi-gauge to check the clearance between bearing and journal (.002" gap).
End float was .003".
Installed the oil pump drive gear, sealed it up with gasket goo.
Also installed the rear main seal, took a fair bit to get that rope into the small gap/wedge. Eventually I used the bearing cap and gently & evenly pulled down the bearing cap to install the seal.
The crankshaft is quite firm and tight to rotate, this should become easier later as they bed in.

Some pics of my efforts so far...

[Lynn Eades]

Before you get too far, I may need to be enlightened here. I thought that with that alloy insert, and the flange (slinger) on the crank, that there was not supposed to be a rear seal in that set up?
My understanding is that a new alloy insert is installed, and the slinger is ground off, by the crank grinder, and then a (dog turd) seal is installed.

[Darrin Wright]

Going by my Repair Manual for Ford V8 engines, 1937 to 1947, (pic attached) it states that "one has to coat the upper & lower rear main oil seal retainers with shellac and install the upper half of the retainer in the cylinder block.
Engines built since April 1944 have the lower oil seal retainer integral with the cap. On earlier engines, install the lower half of the retainer in the rear main bearing cap".
There is no clear pic showing the bearing journal at the rear of the crankshaft.

The book leads me to beleive that the seal retainers have the rope seal and the retainer listed as one item.
When the engine was pulled apart there was a rope seal in the seal retainers, this does not neccesarily mean that it was correct.
The gasket kit that I bought has the rope items in it, possibly a modern day way of economically supplying the parts as seal retainers do not wear out (unless incorrectly installed).
The engine rebuilder did give my a bit of V8 history regarding my engine, it is a 1940 block but he thought it had a 1949 crank whick is quite rare (ie a good crank for hot rods & racing). That all means that this engine was possibly rebuilt at some point. The engine number confirms that it was in a BGC as referanced to the AWM records.
I beleive that the rope seal has to go back in to the seal retainers and runs along the edge of the slinger, I think it will be a very effective seal.

I am open to any input and corrective advice at this point in time...

[Darrin Wright]

With the parts that have arrived I have now rebuilt the water pumps for the engine with kits from Mac's Auto and painted them a light/mid grey colour.

Last night I stripped down the diff because it would not fit as a complete assembly into the back of the hull due to the top adjusters having to go into the hole in the hull. So off with the backing plates, this then allowed me to paint it. I also painted a number of smaller items so that they can go into the hull- fuel tank brackets, steering cam plate and gear linkage assembly.

I also had a parcel arrive this morning, a new carby from Mac's Auto. Not sure what happened to the other items that I ordered??? Another parcel???

[Ric Davies]

Lookin real good Darrin. Bet you were thrilled to have to re-strip the diff!!
Speaking of the cam plate and rollers,I replaced the bearings with a new sealed roller bearing that fits inside the original housing. If you want the numbers I can dig them out. Ric