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Made a bit more progress with this pack today. New switch was fitted,a new gasket was made up for the tank and then assembled. The carb was overhauled and the air filter assembly straightened and fitted. I also refurbished the valve block, luckily the hydraulic filter is the same as used on some modern CAT power packs. The final job for today was to plumb in all the hydraulics.

Thank you both for your compliments. Just been out in the garden rubbing down a second mix of filler on the tank, it's finally starting to take shape.

Went to the unit early this morning and fitted the engine into the chasis, it was very tricky to get a spanner in to tighten up some of the nuts on the mounts. I dug out another new old stock radiator, this came with a job lot of JCB parts, but as luck would have they are identical. The metal pipes were rubbed down then sprayed in gold, due to light the photos make it appear darker than it really is. Finally today I started rubbing the filler on the fuel tank down. Will probably need a few more layers before its ready for paint.

I used an acid alloy wheel cleaner, then a powerful(bores through Tarmac) hot pressure washer, followed up with an etch areosole aluminium finish paint, looks almost identical to original and seems to withstand the temperature of the engine running.

Cleaned the engine up today and then started to build it back up. Also I started to build up the chasis. The new air filter and castor arrived in the post so at least its now mobile.

Looks a neat job. Your welding is definatley a lot better than mine.

Been using my high tech spray booth again today, lol. This time to paint the engine support brackets. Ive also refitted the sight glass after giving it a clean up (the metal hoses will be painted in a couple of days with some gold paint ive got that looks similar to the original anodised finish.) Then I stripped the remaining items off the engine in order to give the aluminium a clean up, yet again the one exhaust nut refused to play ball, its allways this one on Honda G400's for some reason.

Been a bit busy today but have managed to get the main of the fan housing/hydraulic tank sprayed up. I hate painting things in white as its so hard to get a good finish.

Today ive been painting the engines tin work. Ive also sorted out a better exhaust, - just got to drill out 3 broken studs in it. After hunting high and low I found out a NOS fuel top, also 2 serviceable sheer mounts, which were also repainted. The fan housing and hydraulic tank were also given the paint stripper treatment, (after it finally stopped raining.) The top of the hydraulic tank was filled and given several coats of paint, followed with a NOS hydraulic oil cap that was knocking about the workshop.

Thought I'd investigate the blow on the exhaust. - Was a bit shocked to see how much was missing under the chrome cover as it genuinely sounded like a very small hole! I do have a slightly better one in my store, not perfect but should suffice until I can turn up a couple of better condition ones. The Paint is now dry on the chasis, I fitted the end caps and tried to fit the wheels, unfortunately they were too long for the axle so had to be thinned down with the grinder. The tin work off the engine has been soaked in paint stripper, then run over with a flap disc, now ive got the time consuming job of filling all the dents and pitting, still its easier than stripping the Nylon coating off the jcb's.

As Ive now have almost finished my other Power Packs (just waiting for a couple of little parts to finish), I thought I'd turn my attention to my Panther 101. The main reason I wanted one of these packs is that the chap who designed them sold the Solite rights to JCB then went straight out and set up a new company and designed this, changing it just enough that JCB couldn't stop him. Hopefully this should look good with my display The machine is very rough, however it does run very well with a slight blow on the exhaust. I thought I wasn't going to be able to date it as the i.d tag has fallen off, but by luck found a very faintly stamped set of numbers somewhere else on the chasis which puts it at 1985- exactly the same age as my wife! Ive managed to obtain an original manual- and by chance Ive discovered that I know the chap whos legs are in the second photo on the cover. Tonight I stripped all the rust and the minute amount of paint that was left on the chasis and given it several coats of etch primmer followed by Tackechi Red top coat ( The closest match I could find).But the photos of this will have to wait as I forgot to take my camera with me today. Although the engine is almost the same as the Solites, it should be a lot less of a headache to sort out as theres no electric start fitted to this machine. The part that ive given the most thought to is the top frame, this has a chrome finish that like the rest of the pack has quite a bit of corrosion. To have it re-chromed is out side of my budget so im going to see how good I can get it with a rattle can of Chrome effect paint.

You should show them side by side, at shows,one as a before restoration and one after.

Looks great, hope no rouge cans painted Micala's freezer this time?

Thanks to obtaining a workshop manual for the engine, I have sorted out the majority of the wiring on the honda machine. It now turns over on the key. Just got to heat shrink a couple of the tatty cables and wire in the extra stop switch. Ive also refurbished the carb.

The briggs engined solite arrived today. I guess its what you would call an ebay special!!! Basically what ever way you look at it the engine is beyond economic repair, not only the missing parts but also the block is showing evidence of the conrod being broken in the past. In my experience they are never quite the same again. I can see why non of the photos showed the front of the machine, quite sevre rot in the frame and the eyesore of an air shroud, (conviently not mentioned in the listing!) On the bright side though after a pressure wash it looked a lot better, so am now just looking for a complete engine if anyone can help please?

I've found a big dollop of grease over the entrance hole sorts them out.

Today Ive been plumbing in the hydraulics, new hoses were used throughout as the old ones were perished and the ends rusty. I also refurbed a better filter condition guage.

Hi Darren, if you post up a photo I'll look through my villiers spares and see if there's any coils that match.

Thank you Richard for the offer of help, im hopping to track down some used spares as the pennies are a bit tight at the moment, but may have to resort to new parts if no joy. Today I carried on with the hydraulic oil tank. As I had NOS oil filler top and filter in the workshop I thought it would be stupid not to fit them. Tommorrow I going to hunt out a better filter condition guage as the one fitted is past overhauling. I have also nearly finished stripping the frame down, (just a few bends to reverse and the under side of the rear panel left).

they won't be ready this year but I'll look into it for next year thanks.I know I shouldn't but I somehow just ended up buying this older example. It should be arriving the end of the week. I believe the engine is an 11hp briggs and stratton, the carb is missing some parts and maybe the air filter. Can any one help with any spares please?

I get the shows mixed up, where is this one?

Thanks for the compliment, but I wouldn't say they are better than new, but just as good as I'm able to get them. Hopefully there will soon be a beaver 2 to add to the line, then I'll just need to find a show that will accept something like these as most don't seem to have a plant section.

Went to the unit early again this morning, and got my new old stock oil cooler fitted into the cleaned up housing. I also cleaned up the battery tray and fitted it. Just got to make up a clamp, and some wires.

The fan proved a nightmare to remove, ended up using a lot of heat and slidehammers etc.

I managed to catch a short break in the rain yesterday so I repainted the chasis again. This morning I went to the unit early and started building it up. The hydraulic pump has also been cleaned up and refitted. Hopefully wont be to long until I have the old girl running again.