Alan

The boot lid was tried in place, the doors closed and were level with the bulkhead so it was time to move forward.
A 2 x 2 was cut to length and the body was supported under the top of the frame just at the back of the door pillars with another support under the frame of the bulkhead.
There was a lack of wheelarch front frame and inner wheelarch steel at this point



and even less to attach any new material to



The construction here is what I can only describe as a plank of ash 7/8" thick, tapering from 7 1/4" wide at the rear to 4 1/4" wide at the front of the bulkhead bolted to brackets along the side of the chassis and to this there is bolted and screwed a sill member which follows the lower body from the rear wheelarch to the front bulkhead and forms door shut.
You can see this better in the photo - these are the two pieces nearest the camera



In this next photo you can see the aluminium section that covers this sill member one piece on the top and then a side cover that meets the front wing and running board.
These are two separate pieces that are just fixed under the door so can be removed without affecting the rest of the body, but boy were they well nailed down, there was a lot of cursing and swearing at this point as every thin chisel and small screwdriver available was pressed in to service.


The flat plank was relatively easy to make but when I had initially measured how much ash I would need I had measured it at 6" and not 7 1/4" wide so my 6" wide thicknesser was as useful as a chocolate ashtray.
Luckily a retired joiner a few houses away still had his 12" planer and he obliged by taking it down to 7/8" thick.
The sill member also posed a problem at 2 3/4" wide as I only had 1" and 2" material available but planed a 2" piece to 1 3/4" and glued and screwed it to a piece of the 1" to get the required width.
This piece should have gone the full length but tapering and angling the rear needed numerous trial fits so I cut it in two and joined it at the front joint of the aluminium sill section.
There was enough of it left to give me the required sizes and I cut a template of its section from a piece of 1/2" skirting board and screwed it to the rough (very rough) sandwich of ash.
The router was then put in to action with a 3" long bit with a ball bearing guide on the end and this was used to follow the profile on the skirting board.


It was a bit scary at times as it dug in to some rather thick bits but we got there and it had the correct upper and lower curves, the side angle was cut on my brother in law's table saw and I persevered with the plane and the belt sander until it fitted the body aluminium and the top sill aluminium.
Although the body frame is primarily ash there are quite a number of substantial steel brackets, one at the bottom of the door hinge pillar and one holding the front bulkhead to the 7/8" board at the front.
These are the finished nearside before the aluminium was replaced 







I nearly put a match to the whole thing when I had bolted and screwed the offside together as the door bottom was striking the sill member before the aluminium was even on and the front of the door was now about 1/4" above the front bulkhead with a huge gap as well, I really thought something had moved and I hadn't noticed.
Time for a fag and a beer and some deep thought, sand down the timber for clearance and play about with the hinges?
Then I thought what would happen if I took out the original spacer between the chassis bracket and the 7/8" board?
Did this and the bulkhead was now touching the door and it was about an 1/8" low - it then dawned on me that by fitting different thicknesses of spacers was how they had originally set up doors and sills when they made the car, thinner spacer made and fitted and all was well.
 
 

A bit more progress on the Bolens HT snow plough replica. In this video we make up the brackets on the frame for the hydraulic cylinder and make the pins for the frame.
 
 

Nae happy !! Doing a bit more last night and just about to load the last photo and internet crashes and lost the lot.
With all the tools and raw materials gathered it was time to start dismantling, the chassis was levelled on two wooden blocks and rear bodywork supported by two adjustable scaffold feet and some aluminium tube under the boot top rail, wheels were removed, rear wings removed and all the interior trim from the back seat rearwards.
It was evident that the rear body section was sinking causing the sides of the rear wings to bow out and the front of the doors to rise above the front bulkhead level.



On the offside you can see the wooden chassis mount is tilted along with a broken bracket and a makeshift repair with some sheet steel.



The nearside gives a better view of how it is constructed with the chassis attachment plate half lap jointed to the cross member, a fairly solid support block attached to a length of angle iron bolted to the steel inner wheel arch. The boot hinge is bolted up through the cross member with one bolt coming through a steel bracket coming round and up along the lower wheel arch frame which is again attached to the back of the support block.



80 year old wood screws are not the easiest of things to remove especially in such confined spaces but using small cutting discs in the dremel the slots were tidied up and with a selection of different sized flat screwdriver bits and various ratchets and sockets to fit all but two came out and  I was lucky enough to have space to drill them out with a right angled drill and some short stumpy drill bits that I had bought for this job some time earlier.
The bolts were also dispatched using the dremel and cutting discs but it was all too easy to shatter them and quite a number were used.
I had to cut the crossmember to ease removal of all the bits but was still able to measure them and get dimensions for the new pieces, the chassis mounts and support blocks along with the crossmember were relatively easy to make as they were all straight sided, the lower wheel arch extension needed to be curved but after some trial and error I worked out the radius and used the router to form this piece.



By fixing the workpiece and pivot block to a 8 x 4 x 3/4" sheet of plywood the radius was set and the inner radius cut then adjusting the threaded rod by the required thickness the outer radius was machined -  a lot of playing about but it worked out OK.



Behind the boot hinge bracket there was some evidence of a solid piece connecting the boot side rail, another body rail and the lower wheelarch extension which had been screwed from the outside before the aluminium had been formed around it, I managed to make a couple of pieces that would fit to all three wooden rails but just could not get the correct profile to fit the body.
After two attempts and even trying some modelling clay I finally managed to get the correct profile by using one of my trial pieces, covering it in a good layer of body filler, covering it with a polythene bag and gently pressing it in to position.Once set I was able to use a profile gauge every 1/4" along the piece to copy to the new one.



With all the new pieces made and trial fitted, broken bracket welded back together, pilot holes for the screws were marked and drilled and holes for the bolts drilled, final assembly took place with all pieces glued and screwed together.



 







The rear body was now solid and firmly attached to the chassis for the first time in over sixty years.
The fun really begins now.

Not quite a Tot Rod but a Black Hood Wheel Horse look a like, sort of.  Based on a Pride Celebrity scooter bought cheap as a non runner.  Info said 6.25 MPH.  Larger rear wheels make it faster.  Steering wheel in place of the tiller with a dummy V twin engine to hide the scooter steering column.  Chain and sprockets from column to wheel.  2 x 12 volt 75 amp battery's so should give a good run. Still needs decals. Only had short test run so far.  Photo's of Grand daughter  having a play.  She loved it.

So I retired in 2011 and built a new shed to house the Carlton to make space for all the bits that I would need to remove from the Gloria to gain access to all the rotten wood. The correct way would be to remove the aluminium skin from the ash frame and repair the frame but I just don't have the skills to undertake such a marathon job as it would have entailed removing hundreds of panel pins, prising the aluminium from the frame and then replacing it with all the panel beating and then a full respray.
By this time my partner Alison was in poor health and required more and more help around the house until she passed away in 2016.
I now needed a project, rather than just want one, and set to planning how I was going to achieve it without everything going belly up.
I am not very skilled at carpentry so to make life easier I purchased a few woodworking tools,
 

small band saw, bench sander, planer-thicknesser, dremel, grinder, multi tool, router and a rip-snorter.
I already had a small bench saw and my brother in law had one with an adjustable table so I thought I would be able to make all the bits I needed.
A neighbour who had worked in the lumber business for many years gave me some lengths of ash trees that he had cut several years earlier and I thought I was on my way but after making a couple of simple flat pieces that bolt to the chassis (4" x 1 1/8" x 12") I came out the following day to find them curled like bananas.
Obviously you need to slice your timber and leave it to dry out for several years before it can be used and I wasn't about to wait for this lot to dry out.
Found a sawmill beside Huntly that had some 1" and 2" thick well seasoned ash slabs about 10 Ft x 2 Ft and went off to pick them up, should have taken about an hour but got back 4 hours later as the 85 year old owner of the mill was also a Jaguar enthusiast and about 3 hours were spent talking cars and looking round his Series 3 V12 E Type.
I had also done some research in to what glue should be used when assembling the frame and found so many different opinions that I ended up using Araldite 2 pack epoxy (the long setting time type).
Since I was going to be working in some very tight spaces, using standard slotted head wood screws did not appeal as I would have found it difficult to work even the shortest screw driver so I opted to use torx headed stainless steel screws and a torx bit that I could drive with a small 1/4" drive ratchet or a 10mm ratchet ring key.



I managed to get 200 off each 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50 an 60 mm screws for under £100 and bought about 12 double syringe packs of the araldite so that I didn't have an open pack sitting for weeks and slowly going hard.
A few test samples of ash were cut and either screwed or glued together and pulled apart to confirm that these methods were going to be successful.
This is the offcut of the 1" ash that i was left with.

Looking good Joseph.   

Yep turned out quite easy in the end Alan , it’s now sold, so some little person will be happy this christmas

Further progress on the Bolens HT snow plow replica. In this video, we do more welding on the frame and finish the mount for the swivel
 
 

Not quite a Tot Rod but a Black Hood Wheel Horse look a like, sort of.  Based on a Pride Celebrity scooter bought cheap as a non runner.  Info said 6.25 MPH.  Larger rear wheels make it faster.  Steering wheel in place of the tiller with a dummy V twin engine to hide the scooter steering column.  Chain and sprockets from column to wheel.  2 x 12 volt 75 amp battery's so should give a good run. Still needs decals. Only had short test run so far.  Photo's of Grand daughter  having a play.  She loved it.

Well it goes like shit off a shovel 😂
 
 

The Scimitar was a great motor, had a rebuilt mildly tuned 3.1 litre V6 when I bought it but you had to watch it on a wet road.
Back to the Gloria, I inherited it after my father died in 2003 and decided to get it back on the road in his memory.
I joined the Pre 1940 Triumph Owners Club and discovered that they were getting hard to find essential components re-manufactured and were reconditioning brake master and wheel cylinders by boring them out and pressing in stainless steel sleeves and reassembling with new seals and springs.
Having sold the Scimitar in 2005 there was some spare cash available and I spent most of it on new shiny bits for the Gloria - master cylinder, 4 wheel cylinders, 8 brake shoes, new front and rear splined hubs with new spinners, new wheel bearings, new water pump, new water manifold, new head gasket and a reconditioned steering box.
First on was the master cylinder



I then fitted new wheel bearings and the splined hubs followed by the wheel cylinders and brake shoes to the back axle and thought I would give the inner wheel arches a bit of clean and maybe a coat of paint while I had the wheels off.
As we all know, that is the moment you find all of the horrors hiding under the mud and grime





I had that sinking feeling and thought that this just might be the end of the old car.
I decided to dig a bit further by removing the boot lid for a better look and it just got worse







The wooden body support to the chassis was sinking, the plywood boot floor was warped and separating and the boot hinge brackets were nearly falling away and any exposed timber that I prodded seemed to be rotten.
A few rums and fags later it became obvious that what was going to be a fairly straightforward mechanical 'restoration' had turned in to a nightmare and was going to need a lot of time and thought or professional help was needed.
In the end it was decided that this was to become a retirement project for 2011 as it was going to need all my concentration and a hell of a lot of time.

Hello again all,
                          Long time, no post !. I've been busy during this absence, honest !. Lots of preparation for painting the T Engine, only managed to get to the etch primed stage on most parts.
Temp, weather and humidity has halted progress.
I have been working on the Water Cart for some time. Glad to have finished the 130 holes for the 1/32" (0.80mm) rivets.
Broke 2 drill bits and had to get the pieces out by dissolving them over a few weeks.
Have reproduced the raised 'cast in' lettering on each of the tank ends by individually soldering them in place after fitting and sealing the tank end plates in position.
The letters are 3mm and 2mm in height and had to make the Ampersand out of bits-
 

 
Just finished making and trial fitting the wooden board work, tank lid and have revised the pump outlet nozzle .
The latch bolts are under way, with just the handle to make before fitting.
So just waiting for a 'weather window' to get the 2 part etch primer on-
 
   
 
Regards
 
 
 

And ditto from me.  

The Acquisition
Not the usual agricultural machinery but it is mine, it's old and a machine of sorts.
First of all a bit of history as to how I became the custodian of a 1937 Triumph Gloria Vitesse 4 seat Tourer.

In 1963 my father was offered £5 for an old 10.8HP Coventry Climax engine that he had removed from a 1935 Gloria Saloon he used in the late 1950's if he put it in running condition but when he found out it was required for a Gloria tourer he refused to sell the engine and offered £5 for the car.
A couple of months later he became the owner of SU3305 and soon found out why it needed another engine:- 




The above was sticking out of the engine block and had smashed the camshaft, engine mount, sump and front casing.
As he was foreman of the machine shop in the local Albion agency in Aberdeen the spare engine was rebored, fitted with new Rover 10HP pistons, the crankshaft reground and the bearings re-metalled and line bored to suit.
The engine was installed, bushes and pins were made for the front suspension, door trim was replaced with leather from a cut down Austin Seven rear seat and sponge backed domestic carpet used to replace carpeting that was falling apart.
The mechanic at the local garage who owned a Singer 9 Le Mans tourer gave it a 'sympathetic' MOT and we enjoyed short runs on warm summer days around the Aberdeenshire B roads.
Over the next twenty years every so often if money allowed - he did have three teenage kids to feed and clothe - it was insured, MOT'd and licenced for 4 months in the summer and once I reached 25 my name was added to the insurance and I was allowed to drive it.
We attended local galas and some local car shows over the years until a problem with the brake master cylinder that we were unable to repair in 1988 put it off the road and it ended up at the back of the workshop collecting dust.
I had been bitten by the kit car bug by this time


A Burlington Chieftan


A Westfield SE
The Gloria was started and taken out to be dusted down now and then until 2005.
To be continued.
 

I’ve just rescued one too...new battery, spark plug and she’s fired up first time 😁

It has been a while since we have have posted. We have started a new project which is to build a replica of the Bolens large frame snow/dirt blade, Bolens part number 18085. The simple rule is that it is not allowed to snow until we are finished
 
This is a very rare attachment and realistically our only chance of owning one is to make a replica. Chris Stoneman recently purchased one of the few know to exisit in the UK and we picked it up for him which gave us the chance to take lots of measurements.
 
Chris's blade did not come with the lift push rods and we need some help with those. In the manual, it says that the distance between the centre line of the holes in the clevis rodes is 26-1/2" which gives a bit of an insight into the lengths of the rods. We did some searching on the Internet and that highlighted that the push rods are 20" long for the early large frames and 22-1/2" long for the HT's. We will be fitting this to our HT20 which suggests we need to make 22-1/2" rods. If someone has this attachement I would be grateful if you can measure the length of the push rods and confirm if they are 22-1/2". Also it would be helpful to know the length of the threaded part of the rod. Thanks in advance.
 
At the moment we get one tractor day a week so this project will take a while but it should be fun and I hope you follow along. I am making some notes of the work we are doing and making videos of the progress. In today's video I cover the preperation and cutting of the metal.
 
 

Hi all
 A  great day at the Workshop on Saturday morning resulted in this Tractor coming out to a great cheer , It has been quite an interesting Project to get running with a big learning curve for me on diesel engines and Clutches  ,
Some more work to do on the Tracks and wipe it down with a oily rag i think and finally enjoy having it  hope you like i ,I think its superb 

Happy Birthday Ewan  

This one now in the shed with the other O&R machines...
 
 
 
 

Whoops, looks like one has already found its way into another custom project...
 
 



 

Happy Birthday Paul  

Not quite a Tot Rod but a Black Hood Wheel Horse look a like, sort of.  Based on a Pride Celebrity scooter bought cheap as a non runner.  Info said 6.25 MPH.  Larger rear wheels make it faster.  Steering wheel in place of the tiller with a dummy V twin engine to hide the scooter steering column.  Chain and sprockets from column to wheel.  2 x 12 volt 75 amp battery's so should give a good run. Still needs decals. Only had short test run so far.  Photo's of Grand daughter  having a play.  She loved it.

Looking good Norm & Dunc. 

I really like that Alan.  I see it's big enough for you to ride round on. And with the box on the back handy for you to do the shopping.

Bit of a catch up. Since the last post, the workshop at the other property has been emptied along with house etc.
 
 Back to Dunc's on last Wednesday. Mezzanine floor to erect. Also some shelving to assemble.
Timber for Mezzanine floor being delivered Thursday morning. So shelving was seen too.
 
 Thursday morning arrived but no timber. We did get the remainder of the racking assembled while waiting for the timber. Most is in position. Timber arrived just after lunch.

 
 Centre up right in place with box beam installed. After fitting stronger timber along opposite sides to support the floor trusses, the first floor truss was fitted in place. Only another 19 to go. Dunc did make an error when ordering trusses and brackets. Only ordered 20 brackets instead of the 40 we'll need. Hopefully get more brackets tomorrow and get all trusses in place.
 

 
The area in the photo' above will be an internal workshop.
 
Friday.
Did well to day with the mezzanine floor.
The shortage of brackets, was solved by fitting the floor trusses on the other side, on top of the support beams.

 
 Doing this had an advantage as it raises the floor, just enough to clear the digger roof if it ever needed to be worked on there.
 
All brackets and trusses secured over the internal workshop.

 
 All trusses now in place except for the missing one front left. That will have to be fixed inside the uprights with brackets.

 
 End of play for now. Floor boards to be ordered. They'd be fitted later sometime next week. Electricians starting Monday.