Kick-start

Roly (good to be in touch with him again) has asked me to update the blog, so here we go:

Martin, early twenties, foreman of a manufacturing plant and partner of a collegue, has read lots of this blog and become very enthusiastic about the project, and he has volunteered to come over after work and help really move it along. As I said, a good kick is what it needed.

One thing he is good at is online research. I always thought I was good at it too, but he has a real knack for it. For example, we have just ordered front and rear engine mounts, which are not listed for the J type specifically, but for other Austin/Morris motors, incl the J4. The front mounts arrived this morning and look right. I have also bought a set of track rod ends and Martin knows someone who will straighten out the track-rod, which has a kink in it.

We are looking for shock absorbers now. Roly says that I am looking for:
 

Part numbers for front shockers are Armstrong 62-0010, woodhead 03107, 03144, 03146, 08399 Girling 3991.Rear, Armstrong 62-0021, Woodhead 09274, Monroe 7014, Gabriel 17360.Nothing comes up with those numbers, so I would be interested in what alternative solutions others have found. Martin is looking into whether VW Camper springs will be suitable.

The other night we went into the garage and test fitted the clutch master cylinder, brake and clutch pedals and other bits, and we did a complete audit of parts....and boxed up the old bits which we won't be using; they will go on ebay as pattern/reference bits. The only bit I had which I can't find is the starter motor, but I daresay it will show up.

I am off school for the holiday, so the masterplan is to get the van on its wheels and put the engine and gearbox in, the rad on and hopefully the front scuttle. I still have some welding to do on the scuttle and wings.

My Godfather has recently died and left me enough to buy a set of tyres, which will seriously kickstart the project. 

So, there you have it. I wonder if anyone will read this.

This summer

A mate has just been round and we have sized the project up and decided to do it this summer (school holiday)!

Finally, the kick up the pants that I needed!

Thanks Martin!

New Year's Resolution 2012

Ok, I am scared of promising something that just isn't possible, but my resolution this year, emboldened by the success I had in meeting last year's goal (nothing at all to do with the van, predictably), is to at very least get the chassis rolling and engine and gear box in this year!

The bit that stops me promising myself I will finish the van is the metalwork.....but recent success with that makes even that do-able

But dammit, that's it, I am determined to turn this project around this year!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I am back in the saddle!

I spent the majority of the afternoon fabricating a patch for the offside wheelarch but, fraustratingly, I forgot to photo it. It was quite a nice insert with a number of angles. Then I used some metallised filler, which I am trying out for the first time. I am not a huge fan of filler because it smacks of bodging, but I am determined to make a quality job of it, and quite honestly my welding wasn't brilliant. Welding virgin steel is easy, but welding 60 year old rusty crap is challenging. Anyway, it needs more sanding and some refilling, but it is going to be sound.

Lastly I drilled holes in the top of the quarterlight so that I can spot weld from the outside before welding a line on the inside. But that is one for later.

So, that is satisfying progress for this weekend. I am definitely back into the swing of the project and need to concentrate all energy on getting the cab scuttle sorted first. I was pleased to note how much of the scuttle is metalwork done by me. It is amazing how little there was of it when I started out and how close it is, now, to being complete.

Today I have finished fabricating the top of the quarterlight, though the proof will be in the welding of the rather thin, corroded steel.

Now, before I weld, I am fabricating a patch for the wheel-arch. I'll then weld both repairs together.

Quarterlight repair

Several years ago, I made a repair here, which as you can see, just would not take. The steel was very thin and I couldn't get the temperature right...and just kept blowing holes in it. So today I decided to try to put it right. This is at the top of the off-side quarterlight.

I started by cutting out the offending part.

Then inserted cardboard to mark the radius.

The replacement part needed two bends, one of them an offset, for which I used the edge of a spanner.
Putting a radius in the part requires shrinking and stretching, which will make the part brittle along the edges, so I made the stretched edge quite wide (far as possible from the bend), but this leads to distortion of the bend, which needed regular re-hammering.

You can buy the stretcher and the shrinker jaws and insert them separately in this lever tool, but as I knew this would be a faff, especially as many jobs need both stretching and shrinking alternately, I bought two of the lever bodies. It was well worth the investment of a couple of hundred pounds.

To be continued tomorrow.

Let's get this show on the road!

June 2010 was the last time I did anything on the van....that is, wait for it..... 17 months! And before that I think it had been another two years! Flying has taken over my life...that and my career....and thoughts had turned to selling the project and letting someone more enthusiastic finish it.

But a couple of nights ago John phoned and, when I said I had lost the drive, he managed to convince me that it would be a terrible shame, after everything I have done over all these years, to let someone else steal my thunder, when really I have turned it from a scrap-heap into a viable Meccano set, which just needs assembling.

So I am going to start the tank re-lining today. Then I need to do a proper critical path analysis...planning exactly what needs to happen, when, in order to get the whole thing bolted together.