With all spark plugs present and the engine cover in place it's quite likely this motor survived the elements, and with low mileage on the still functioning speedo it may have had minimal wear. I was a little discouraged by the milky white sludge on the dipstick but I've found that doesn't necessarily indicate any significant damage, and for little more than scrap price it was certainly worth saving. Unfortunately I ran out of daylight and Mr. Komatsu ate it for breakfast.

carrier bit
 

Tony,
I know how hard it was for you to do what you could to save as much as possible.
It was a track winch and now I have see the close up pic I also noticed a carby mount for the choke and throttle cable with the cable attachedin the back of the tipper as well, d’oh……….. I had Colin Jones kindly make one for me as I didn’t have a real one.
As they say "when one door shuts another opens" & "cant save them all"!

Sad to see this, yes I watched it after reading the warning. :(
On a humourous note thank you Tony I did have a giggle...
"Unfortunately I ran out of daylight and Mr. Komatsu ate it for breakfast."
Bill.

The killing fields phrase comes to mind...!!!
Sad ending to some beautiful pieces there!! :salute:

safe at last
 

Having miraculously escaped Mr. Komatsu the two CMPs and the Humber now repose happily in their new homes.

Escapees
 

It's so good to see the cab 12/ex Rover Light Armoured Car and F60S escape. Look forward to driving them both once they are running... :note:

Good home indeed.
 

:thup2:Thanks to Tony for saving our Humber from the scrap metal man and Euan for delivering it to us. It is now in the land of restoration.

Humber
 

Hey Dave,
About time you put up a post! I hope we see more progress shots of the Humber rebuild.

No worries Dave, I'm very happy to see this vehicle find such a good home. I never knew anything about Humbers but I've learned a lot through this exercise and really come to appreciate them. They not only look great but it seems to me they have quite a pedigree going back to WW2. Australian Army service makes it all the more interesting and important to preserve. It's been very satisfying to play a part in saving such a rarity from the scrappy and see it receive some much needed TLC! Having seen your work on the Champ it could not be in better hands and I'm looking forward to seeing it in glorious DBG one day.

It occurs to me there's a fine line between death and glory - had the interfering neighbour not notified us of this vehicle, it would have been unceremoniously crushed and on it's way to China by now. I reckon that fine line is captured in the video!

Dave,
B40's, B60's: waiting with interest to see you get the full set!
Rich.

Yes indeed Rich, to have the B40 & B60 on the road at the same time will be a rewarding time for all. Have only just managed to get into the forum due to some forum difficulties about registering new members.

Battling the dreaded rust monster at the moment; it has certainly taken hold of the Humber and the further we dig and scrape away the dirt & moss the more we find. It will certainly be the case of making one vehicle out of the two. Will be removing the starter today as it is just not responding to 24volts at the moment. Once this is done I will Jerry rig up some go juice and see if I can get the old girl to fire up.

Dave.

I know what you mean Dave, the F60S is the same, rust in every place you care to look. Gippsland is notorious for rust but that place is the worst I've seen, everything in that yard was eaten away as if by acid. The air is so damp in that gully, the moisture gets into everything and stays wet for months on end. Check out the distributor in the photo, it's never been rained on but the points springs have corroded through from the damp air. The only protection is to be sealed from the air like your motor. I'm sure it will be a good one, the whole vehicle was clearly in very good condition when it was first parked there. Likewise my F60S, which will also be running shortly.

The battle begins
 

Hello Tony, have removed the floor panels and gained access into the starter, removed and refurbished. I am forming the believe that this was the vehicles demise, one bolt had been removed and Mr ? Had botched up the "+" connection to the starter. My bet is that they had trouble with the starter, started the job found it to hard and gave up then parked her up for the rust to eat.

Hooked up the jumper cable and powered her up, side lights are still working, dash lights came to life. Hit the starter switch and the engine spun over without a concern.

Am battling with the fuel pump now, will need to remove it and give it a clean, my last stumbling block before pouring fuel down it's throat and seeing if it comes to life.

Another 2 or 3 months in gippsland and the vehicles would have been beyond any sort of restoration.
:thup2:

Oil Change.
 

Dave, I might be teaching Granny to suck eggs as the saying goes but I have found that it is a good idea to change the oil in an engine that has not run for many years before firing it up for the first time.
The reason is that over time the solids drop out of suspension and the oil looks surprisingly clean on the dip stick but there may be a layer of complete crap waiting to be picked up or mixed up and circulated.
I don't know how long it takes for the crud to settle out but this I have experienced and always take the precaution now of changing the oil on an unknown engine.

David

Thanks Dave, already done.

back from the grave
 

This one cheated the scrappy:

Amazing
 

Tony, perhaps you should tell more of the story of the state of the valves and how hard it was to get compression.

Nah, none of use will believe it isn't a photoshopped photo anyway - show us the video of it running under it's own power! :D

H.

What a great use for a lemon! :)

Cheers,
Ian.

Ian, I have to wonder, What concoction of "lemon" parts, complete your Jeep? :devil:

Oh, ye of little faith! In due course I'll take some video of it driving around the back yard, but first I need to fix the accelerator pedal, which like everything else on this truck is rusted solid!

As Keith mentions, this poor old flathead took a lot of coaxing back into life. Having finally managed to unseize it and get the crankshaft turning freely, I was confronted with 16 valves stuck wide open, and even after I finally managed to free them all up (which must be accomplished by repeatedly cranking the motor by hand and tapping the valve closed with a punch inserted through the plug hole), the only way I could raise sufficient compression to fire was by removing the plugs and squirting oil into the pots. However, the effect only lasts a few revolutions before the oil is dissipated, and since the motor kept dying on me, I had to repeat the procedure many times. Eventually though it chugged into life and I was able to run it for about 10 minutes, after which it recovered sufficient compression to start normally. That is, without having to remove the plugs every time! Presumably the rings had been rusted solid in their grooves, and perhaps the rusty valves needed to re-seat themselves on their rusty seats! In any case it's now running around 75-85 psi in all pots, which may improve further after driving under load.

All in all a worthwhile exercise - there is no more satisfying sound than the roar of a long dead flathead, and it's always great to cheat the scrappy. This is one flathead that won't be going into a Beijing skyscraper or a Great Wall SUV!

Unfortunately the gearbox has suffered rust damage typical of Ford CMPs left out in the weather for decades - moisture collects in the reverse lock actuating rod channel in the gear lever and drips down onto the internals. I've freed up the selectors and it's working fine now but will probably be confined to yard duties.

Distributor works fine despite the cap having been off for years, and the points would have just needed cleaning if the return springs hadn't been rusted through!

Hi Lynn,

Not sure what you mean mate, but none as far as i know! I did use some citric acid experimenting on something during resto (dont remember what!!!), so you may find a few particles left!

However, i will remember lemons as a good plug for rad pipes next time i need to blank one off (thought likely smaller lemons on the jeep than the v8!).

Cheers,
Ian.

Ian, I figured the lemon you were talking about was Ford, and as Ford made the majority of Jeep spare parts,(you being a Jeep man) it just seemed you were having a free ride at Henry's expense. :salute:

Yes they're an effective generic plug for use in all water inlets/outlets and I have a tree in my back yard which produces them all year round in a convenient range of diameters! I have another tree which produces small diameter plugs for use in vacuum hoses etc., although my sister prefers to use them for making cumquat jam!

Hi Lynn,

Aah, i see! No mate, not a dig at all! But yes, well under that logic, its a complete lemon- all ford!

Tony- very fortunate to have that natural shop there for such purposes!

Cheers and please keep posting the running updates! As i venture towards trying to get my motor running before tear down, i am learning alot and enjoying these at the same time!

Cheers,
Ian.

Now that I've recovered sufficiently from the trauma I shall catalogue the vehicles scrapped.

Lot 1. 1942 F60L ARN 53114
Lot 2. late production C60L

C60L crane had reverse steer conversion.

Lot 3. late production F60S ex-RAAF ARN 209963 (featured in earlier post)

Sadly this low mileage flathead is lost to us forever.