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

[Euan McDonald]

Originally Posted by Darrin Wright

That square panel is where someone has cut out a section of the armour and then re-welded it back in.

I think it was done by the Army, educated assumption, as a training task; because most BGC that I have seen with steel cut out has been used for other things and not welded back in.
I have decided to leave it there as it tells a part of its story/history; however, the inside has been welded and ground down so that it is not seen.

I have attached a 'before' pic to show the cut & welded panel.

Could have been an emergency exit!

[Darrin Wright]

Well with the good weather it was time to get that pallet of parts blasted and painted. So I took in the RHR suspension unit, track adjuster bar, tube axle and a box of loose fittings.
Had it back just after lunch and undercoated, later in the afternoon gave it a coat of green.

As I could not assemble the steering axle rollers in the hull, I removed them and assembled them on the bench, then re-installed them back into the hull. With those mounted back in the hull, the boys and I slid the tube axle into the hull. It went in easier than when it came out.

[Darrin Wright]

Picked up the last of the exhaust items and continued with the manufacture of the tail pipe sections.
I bought 2, 180deg mandrel bends and 1 90deg bend to be able to make the S bend pipes. I cut the 180deg bend and found that by turning the cut section and a little trimming it aligned with the shape of the original pipe that I was trying to manufacture.
The pics tell the story of the assembly of these pipes.
Commenced making the brackets to secure the pipes to the hull, will finish off next weekend and weld in the pipes to the mufflers and install into the hull.

Dropped the starter motor off to an auto elec to determine what has gone wrong with it, if it is a simple fix I may get it back working. Will find out in a week.

Also several pics from the inside where the tube axle is and the roller mounting plates.

[Darrin Wright]

Had a delivery of parts during the week, this enabled me to:
fit the hub locking washer to the L side and bolt axles in
fit a new shaft for the clutch fork, into the gear box
fit another starter motor and play around with that
fit the gear box output yoke (drive coupling) to the gear box

I also assembled the exhaust system into the back of the hull with new tail pipe brackets. Then lifted the rear armour diff cover into position to test fit the tail pipe positions and where the mufflers will sit. From this I will now make the brackets to mount the mufflers and finish the exhaust system. Will also straighten the mounting brackets for the rear armour diff cover as this determines how/where the exhaust sits.

Sorry, not much to take pictures of...

[Darrin Wright]

I picked up the stater motor from the auto elec on Friday and swapped over the bendix drive, and today using the car with a new 12V battery attempted to start the engine.
Had to drive into town and get fuel for it as the last lot had been used in the mower.

After winding it over for approx 1 minute I then switched the ignition on and it fired straight away. Only ran it for a minute as I did not have my cooling system attached.
Installed the temporary cooling and have ran it for a couple of minutes with some RPM.
The timing and fuel settings all seem fine.

I have also installed the steering cam plate assembly into the hull and started to install the tube axle rollers and clamps.

Pretty happy with the engine as I was starting to get the s@#t's with the little problems that were stopping it from starting.

Anyway, at last it now runs.

[Ric Davies]

That first engine run is always a great moment. Specially after a few dramas,congrats. Did you go ahead with the electronic ignition ?

[Darrin Wright]

After all the little problems it was awesome to hear it run.

I am still investigating the electronic ignition, I wanted to get it running first to see how it behaves.

I have an email back from Jolly's Engineering in the UK ref the electronic ignition as they are the only ones who have an electronic ignition unit for the V8 with the helmet ignition. I have more questions for them. Their electronic ignition requires a 12V negative earth system, which is not a problem for me.

I have been starting the engine on 12V and have the ignition on 6V, ran the engine some more today to get it warm and check performance.
Oil pressure when warm--- idle is approx. 40-50 psi, high rpm 70-80psi, giving it a bit, oil goes up to 90psi.
There is a bit of bark out the exhaust at high rpm and returning back to idle, not sure if that is timing, over fuelling or a V8 trait.

I also installed the felt sections in the inside of the engine cover where the radiator sits and also the gun mount on the top cover of the engine cover.

Before & after pics of the felt on the inside of the engine cover.