Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Door vision hatches all taken apart, sandblasted and repainted and put aside.

Next up was the cover plates in the armoured body. These plates gave access to points on the frame for the rear spring mounts and steering arm. It was neat to see more hand applied assembly markings from Hamilton Bridge.

[Jordan Baker]

One of the plates needed to be fixed up as the weld had totally cracked. A new side plate was made as the original had the bolt holes torch cut out. I was going to weld them up and redrill but then realized the plate had been ground down and was too narrow. So I made up a new one with some scrap that happened to be the correct dimensions. The holes were punched using the punch press. I have to say it it much nicer the drilling them. A quick countersink was done and the part was ready to be welded to the original piece. Everything bolted into place on the hull to ensure perfect alignment. It then got tack welded to hold it in position. It was then properly welded up on the bench once off the hull. A quick sandblast was done and it was painted up along with the other plates last night.


One day the rest of the hull will look as nice as this little plate.

[David Dunlop]

Did they use armoured screws and bolts anywhere on the hull, Jordan, or are they all mild steel?


David

[Jordan Baker]

The bolts on the hull for pretty much everything are the boss head style. The same as found on Universal Carriers with the round dome headed and also countersunk. The only difference is these are all 3/8-16 NC thread. The nuts are the heavy hex size so require an 11/16th wrench. They are all slotted too. So it can make for a challenge in removing them.

[Jordan Baker]

The front engine mount had been bent and ripped into a couple of pieces when the vehicle had been rolled onto its side. The assembly is a standard GM inline six front engine mount used from the mid 1930’s up into the 1950’s. NOS ones were available but what fun would there be in that. The parts were bent back into shape using the shop press and welded up. Are they perfect?….close…. but they are the original ones that were holding the original engine in place.

[Grant Bowker]

I think you are better off with your repaired originals. The repro oil shields (top in your finished photo) generally have much squarer corners than the original. The heavy support cup (bottom in the finished photo) isn't that readily available, just because it is built of heavy gauge material... the middle part aslo isn't nearly as readily available as the tin top cover, again it lasts better due to thicker material (unless abused like yours was...)

[Jordan Baker]

Hi Grant.

Excellent points. I did buy one of the reproductions of the top cover years ago when I was working on my C15A. I was quite disappointed with how different it was to the originals. It is still sitting on the shelf.