With the onset of colder weather work ahs slowed a bit. I find im taking more little pieces home with me and I have a pile waiting for warmer weather to paint. These next 2 pictures are NOS head lamp brackets. They had been coated in what I think was cosmoline. I tried a few different ways of removing this stuff but found that varsol worked well. They have since been primed and are awaiting the green paint. Does anyone know what company the letters are for. Im thinking they are British?

The company code is BSM 1941.

Those are cool Jordan , your Mk1 is coming along fine , I decided to nix the mk1 on my carrier and go with a version called a Mk1 A witch was the stransition fromn a mk1 to a mk2 , so basiclly using one mounted swivil light with POL can holders etc, Mostly alot of bothy mk1 and 2 items.


Jordan do u use the oil cooler systyem , I just found out what those metal hoses going from the bottom of engine and running alonmg the engine frame were for was for , but by looking at them they go noware , so i guess i don't have it running too. its not that cold in Boston anyways LOL
Cheers maTE

big mike

I think Jordan anything marked "TL" is British , Cheers Mate, Good work finding those too. :)


BIG MIKE

Brad when you start your mufflers and pipe's Write down and take pics of what your going to do if you could please, I would like to copy what you and Jordan are going to do on creating your exhaust system, ie measurements, pipe bends, size of pipe, cut, weld, clamp etc. thanks


BIG MIKE

Brad and Mike

The lamp holders are British. I was more interested in finding out what company made them just out of curiousity.

As to mufflers. I do believe they are from a Kcar in the '80s. Stewart may know better then me since he bought them. Next time im out to work on the carrier I will check the boxes.

And Mike I will take lots of pictures and notes when I get to that point. Ive gotten bogged down at this part since I still need to have made the rear deck and straighten out the pipe guards.

A bit of an update.

I have slowly been working on making up new brackets for my Oil bath air cleaner. I copied them from originals and they turned out rather well. From the holes that I measured it looks like the air cleaner mounts to the same holes used for the radio battery box. The second hole down on the right side is for the top hole of the bracket. Is this right?

I also just got my blackout covers from the guy in Argentina today at the post office. They are nice.

Anyway here is a photo of my headlamps for all done up. The only thing I need is the rubber qaskets that go between the lens and reflector.

Im unsure if I will use the blackout cover with the hood or go with both having the half moon cover. Im may just go with the moon covers on both as they are different and not seen all that often.

For the spring endcaps I was thinking of using the copper plumbing caps. They appear to be about the right size and it would be easy to drill a hole in them.

Things are moving along rather well. Thanks to the generosity of another MLU forum member I have been given the long term use of an engine cover. At least its now being used to get another carrier out and about. Thank you very much. You know who you are.

Its all been taken apart and most of it has been cleaned up. All new grade 8 hardware has been used as the orginals were rather rusted from being out in the elements.

The shinny metal bins are from John Bizal at Midwest Military. Perfect in everyway. All mounting holes line up exactely. Now i just need some warm weather so that I can paint.

Here is the other side. This grenade bin sits higher then the other. I presume that's so it will clear the stores bin underneath it.

Does anyone have one of the rifle brackets that bolts to the armoured rad cover they woudl be willing to sell?

Also note the engine brush in the proper position ready for use or in its case slightly used.

The other bits of metal on the render are for holding the lower engine covers in place along there bottoms and for covering the brake rod on the hull floor. i keep putting them off as its rather a tight fit between the engine and hull.

I have now gotten my radio battery box mounted onto the rear plate along with the POL carrier. The POL carrier is in a little bit of ruff shape as I think it may have suffered a crunching by the backing up of the UC into something harder. It was a little dented when I got it.

I also have the tail lamp the mounts onto the license plate. It is original but Im working on reproing part of it. I will have more details within a week or two but everything seems to be promissing.

I also have the Bren filler box on the way from Midwest Militay. This batter box originaly had one but has long since been torn off. The lid of the battery box still had the original bolts in it along with some bits of the sheet metal.

HEY LAD if BIG MIKE can Fit to Put HIS Brake rod covers in and Lower engine cover Holders,at 6'4" I'm sure a little guy like you can fit Perfectly:), If not, Let me hold your ankles Upside down mate


Cheers


BIG MIKE

Jordan, if you're looking for the caps that hold the springs in place on your headlight mounts, here's a tip. I restored a pair of those same mounts for a guy and ended up using some frost plugs. They are steel, very close in size to original cap, and easily found at any auto parts store. I had them dtilled out in a lathe, but I suppose if you're careful, you could center punch and hold in a vise and drill with a hand drill.

Thanks for the tip Chris.

I have now started work on my seats. I managed to get an original seat back from John Bizal (thanks) and I have since copied it.

Its all new plywood along with one original upper bracket and two new made lower ones.

I have also just picked up today 5 yards long x 55 inch wide chunk of material to make all the cusions. Its a marine vinyl that is water resistant and stable upto -10 celcius. I was also very close to the orginal colour.

Now I just have to get someone to sew them up for me.

seat material

They Had plywood back then????, I used flat piec's of OAK, for my seat backs, Cheers


BIG MIKE

WOW BRAD who you have make those Seats GRANDMA? is that vynle, (whatever) or real leather? seems alot of Back for Jordan, you could slap them together to make a cought or something , anywho good job Mr Mills. Cheers HOMIE




BIG MIKE sits on BLOCKS of wood

Finally some warm dry weather. I was out painting in full force today and got a bunch of parts all primed up.

I have also begun work on my gunners protection plate.

For the time being Im just using a 1/2" dia bolt on the pivot side to hold it in place. I think the proper dia is 5/8" with a machine screw. Is this right?

For the secureing nut I am using a spare upper engine cover nut. I know this isn't right but its all that I have. If someone has a spare kicking around or wants to make one for me on a lathe please let me know.

Parts painted and installed. Well almost painted.

Some more painted parts.

Ration box, tray and bren mag filler box all from John Bizal at Midwest Military. Great stuff and amazing quality.

We had great weather here today and I took advantage of it. A whole bunch of parts were painted in KG#3

They are from left to right, lower engine cover rails, ammunition bin, gas tank, bren spare barrel box, lower engine covers and grenade ready bins. Up on the rear fenders are more small parts.

I also had my gas tank redone. I still have to finish off the vent tubes.

One down, one more to go. I managed to get one of my newer sprockets put on the carrier this afternoon. I hadn't realized how worn out my old sporckets were unitl Stewart Loy pointed it to me one day last fall. Thanks Stewart!

I was going to use the origianls bolts but I had already purchased a bunch of Grade 8 ones and figured it would be easier then using the old rusted ones. The only difference is that these are 1/4" too long. I don't think it will matter as they don't interefere with the track.

HOLY SHIOT JORDAN , you could use your old sprocket for a CHINAMANS throwing STAR!!! Not that much ware on mine as I took them off last month to be inspected by my Brother who is a heavy Equipment operator at his shop. Anywho its looking good mate. Cheers



BIG MIKE

I should add that those teeth have actually been worn down to a knife edge and they are sharp.

Took the carrier out tonight for its first drive since last fall. Everything went well except for some poor steering but this is due to the loose tracks. Did well in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears and reverse.

I also realized that next weekend is the second aniversary of owning a Universal Carrier.

The rear end