expeatfarmer

Cleaned up the replacement manifold with my sand blaster only to find that the back of the manifold was burned through and a 4" crack along the corner. Glad I found it before i fitted it. I am going to stitch braze the crack and let in a replacement plug of cast iron to replace the burned area. I have a pair of brand new old stock manifolds that will fit but they are so poor in terms of gas flow I can't bring myself to fit them.

Brakes back together again fitted new seals and rebuilt the master cylinder. managed to crack a rib undoing the end nut of the master cylinder so rolling about on the garage floor under the car has been fun especially when our new puppy comes and lies on your face and pinches your head torch. Found a replacement manifold as the cracked original is in a bad way. I will weld it up as a spare.

Echo that Rhys happy birthday. See you next week.

With a vehicle like your van I think you can ask your own insurance company to pursue a full claim against the other party and insist on a like for like replacement rather than a cash payout.

That was a lucky escape.

Now that it goes I have to try and make it stop, seems to be only one rear brake working and no fronts, have it all in bits and three wheel brake expanders are stuck up. I always thought that humidity controlled bubbles were a good way to store a car but now I am not so sure even the electric motor on the heater fan is stuck. Found some brand new manifolds ( ex wd ) waiting to hear from the seller. Had a play with the lights today, they are pathetic I am going to fit LED units but even though the car has a new wiring loom I am suspicious that there is a huge power loss between the battery and the lights, it may be the switch or possibly an additional positive earthing pointy is needed. Some people fit a relay system to take the current load off the switch.

Fired up and ran for the first time in 8 years today. I was expecting clouds of smoke but not bad at all. Went for a drive around the villages , it has some grunt and pulls well. Burbles nicely in top gear. Next thing to tackle is to replace/repair one of the exhaust manifolds which is cracked through as they were prone to do both have been repaired before, one well done the other badly and it leaks.

yes they can and many were but you lose original items like the radio and heater unless you instal transformers and resistors to protect the guages and fuel sender. With modern batteries, led bulbs etc should really be no need to change. Strangely the post war MOD ford pilots were built with 12v systems throughout.

it is firing now but i reckon it needs a tow to get it going as the starter is fairly slow will try again in the morning with a fully charged battery.

Have spent quite a few hours this week re commissioning the Pilot after its 8 year lay up, the fitted 6 volt battery was under powered and dry so a new one with higher cranking amps was purchased and fitted. The engine now turns over smoothly on the crank handle with the plugs out after a week of WD40 down the plug holes. The original fuel pump was for an earlier car and did not have the hand priming lever, no petrol was coming through after a few dozen crank turns so I suspected the fuel pump might be dried out and stuck, took it to pieces and it was dry but quite clean and functioning as it should. I refitted it and hand filled it with petrol still no good. Fortunately I found an original NOS with correct primer which I bought and fitted this morning, half an hour of priming and still no fuel and yet if I sucked on the fuel pipe I could bring petrol through. I blew air down the pipe thinking there may be an in tank filter, good healthy bubbling. Crawled underneath to check the pipework around the tank thinking there may be a split or loose pipe. Completely hidden behind the fuel tank I discovered that a non standard electric pump had been installed at some point, switched on the ignition and returned to the electric pump, silent, remembering the old SU fuel pumps I gave the pump a few smart taps and tick tick off it went and voila! petrol at the carburetor. Next step is to refit the plugs and see what happens.

looks as if it would make a good leaf sweeper.

You need Nathan's Ransomes dumper it would eat that job.

Sorry nothing yet, car runs twin points in the distributor which is located deep at the front of the engine very close to the radiator making in situ access very difficult. Been reading up in the manual best way to attack it and have decided pulling the distributor out is the best plan. Battery is too small and probably shot (6v ) waiting for a new one on Monday along with some oil for the central hydraulic jacking system. Judging by the way the ignition light dims when you pull the starter I suspect that it will be robbing the power to the coil giving no spark so new battery should give it the best chance.

My neighbor came round for a look and helped me roll it off into the garage. Took the plugs out and gave it all a good dose of WD40 and turned it over on the crank handle. Drained the fuel tank and put some fresh petrol in.

Just back from Northampton, been to collect a 1948 Pilot I bought some time ago. I had one when I was a student and always fancied another that I could use a a period towcar for hauling a tractor. It has been in a bubble for 9 years, I winched it on to my trailer but now have to get it to start to be able to take it off the trailer on my own.

It amazes me the price variance you find between suppliers, 1 company want £75 + delivery for a 25Kg sack, another will deliver for £19.50 for the same thing !

Thanks, I want to clean up some engine bay parts on a Ferrari in situ without risking grit everywhere.

Does anyone have experience of using a baking soda blaster for cleaning up alloy castings and delicate items ?

Will it fit through the door of the new studio?

If you do go down the import route it is important that you check on the classification of goods, certain things like antiques may be free of duty.

Well done for getting it going Norman. It will be a good show exhibit as they rarely appear. maybe you could make up a frame for it to mount on a WH to cut the roadside hedges.

posted an update on the show in the ride on section.

The pictures are great but the display in the flesh was even better, the standard of work on those machines was superb, I would be terrified to ever use them, well done !

Newbury tractor world turned out to be a very good show with lots of interesting machines. 9 Ransomes crawlers were on display including a non runner MG2 belonging to Stuart, we spent a good few hours on Saturday getting it running Neil valiantly changed points and condensor in situ , we stripped and cleaned the carb and eventually it ran. We started it again on the Sunday but it was very reluctant to keep running without choke indicating that for some reason it was not getting enough fuel, I suspect it may be down to valves or piston causing insufficient suck. Stuart came to collect it on Monday morning and I spent another hour struggling to get it running again, eventually it ran but not long enough for us to load it on to the trailer. The show was very well organised with loads of trade stands and in a very good location, i think it will be a very good show to attend in the future. Thanks to everyone who brought along machines and helped with setting up the display. As usual many visitors came along with stories about machines they had owned or still owned, I was particularly pleased to meet the new owner of the Ransomes front loading crawler that is featured in a video on U tube pushing up a compost heap. A good weekend.

They are separate timbers that I stack between the machines. The steel tracks are too dangerous on the standard metal ramps and too wide apart. A side loading trailer would be better but I also use it for moving cars and jeeps around.