Carrier restoration progress, lots of photos
 

Hi everyone.

I jsut thought that i would share some of my pictures that I took when I got my carrier back in the second week of May.

Since these pictures were taken I have pulled out some pieces and refinished them to the point where they have been re-primed.

Here is the next picture of the carrier on the float. On a side note when we were on our way back home with it we passed a Ford dealership that had an antique car show going on with Model A's, T's and various other cars. What made me feel good was that two older fellows (possibly vets) turned, pointed and smiled as we went by. I wonder if they could have been former crew members?

here is the front right side.

the drivers seat. This has since fixed up somewhat. It actually moves up and down. It took me a couple of hours of banging with a ball peen hamer and tool to get parts of it to loosen up. I guess after having been in the down possition for so long it hjad decided to stay that way, until at least I came along.

Here is my last picture for now. It is of that great and wonderful engine. The flat head V-8. We haven't got it running yet but Im working on it with a mechanic. Im also planning to get it rebuilt this winter.

As far as I can tell, the block is a 37 - 41 model while the heads are the later 49-53. The only number I can find on the block is a stamped M-13.

Engine
 

Hi Jordan
Your motor looks like an early 21 stud model with water pumps on the heads. All the later ones had the water pumps on the lower block - the 8BA type (49-54) which we see a lot of here have the water hoses at the same point but pumps down low on the block.

Great stuff though!

Re: Some pictures of my new carrier
 

Jordan,

Good work!:salute: Getting the little buggers home where they can be worked on is half the battle!

It looks like you have most of the good stuff that you need. As you get further into the resto, please slip over to Beachville and see me and poke around my MkII - if you think that it will help.

You certainly did not skimp on the trailer!

Seeing all that rusty metal makes me want to get another project on the go. Perhaps a T-16 ...:rolleyes:


Stewart

.

thanks
 

Thanks guys

Keith, thanks for giving me some more info on my engine. I found a great site the other night that lists all versions and has hundreds of diagrams of the engines and parts.

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_home.htm

It looks like mine might be an early model from 1936. It seems that in '37 they switched over to the heads with the water pipe connection in the middle then after the war went back to the front but with the pumps at the bottom. I had originaly been worried that I had a post war engine. But it makes sense to have an ealier one as my carrier is a Mk1.

Stewart.

Its not completely home as it is at my grandparents farm. But the nice thing its only about 15-20 min away so its not hard to pop out for a few hours.

It was actualy a job getting it onto the float. We weren't able to get it going so it was good thing we brought along the tractor. We had to drag it out of the yard and pull it onto the float. The last foot was accomplished by four of us pushing and rocking and pushing and rocking and pushing and rocking and then finally a bang as it hit the tractor.

Yes I will absolutely come up to your place one of these days. I'll talk to via email.

Thanks to that trailer we were going 120km/h down the highway. The fastest carrier ever. Actualy my uncle took care of the travel arangements. It was his truck from work and the trailer from a freind who was just glad to see it being used and getting some miles. I only had to pay for the half tank of Diesel fuel used (it was cheap that weekend too).

Thats it for now.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker

Some photos of my carrier progress
 

Hi everyone.

I thought I'd post some pictures of my carrier restoration progress. From the first photos that Ive posted wya back in the summer it looks like I have gone backwards as there is a bit less carrier there.

This first photo is what it looks like at this time. I have removed all non original steel plates so that I could actually see what I have to work with. The plates are in the background up against the barn wall. They will be used again for the project. Taking them off also made working on the engine much easier. The tracks had just been completed and put back on the carrier (thanks Stewart for the track jack)

Ok here is the next photo.

This photo and the next are of my new old rad. Some may remember my posting about it getting blown while driving. All I have to say is that I got a steam cleaning. (although I was rather luckily not to get seriously burned) The rad has a brand new custom made core with all of the original fittings and tanks. All the seams were re-done so this thing should last for another 60 years.

Here is the second picture of the rad. Stewart this was the cowl that I told you about. It looks nothing like the one in the Illustrated parts manual but it does the same green colour on it as other parts did. Anyone have any info on this part.

Here is the fourth picture. Its a bit boring but I still found it important enough to take a picture of it. These are my new fuel lines. I only had part of the original ones so I had to get something that would allow me to adapt them to modern compression fittings. i also had problems because the orginials were an odd size. I finally found some but the threads were different and I endup putting them on as tight as possible without craking them. The I used the sodiering gun to secure them.

You may have noticed I was short of frontal armour. I managed to pic up a 3/4 complete set that has given me a great start. However I first had to get my bow plate off. I really hate those machine screws as they can be a real pain to get out. Most I managed to save but I did have to cut out a few. Since this photo was taken I have removed the last part remaining of the upper armour in anticipation of fitting the new set on soon. It will be removed in the spring again for more work. Id leave it off but I can't streer without it.

The parts that are in grey primer are those that i had cleaned up during the summer. The rad has also been reinstalled as I needed to be able to drive it into the barn for the summer. Unfourtunatly the ground was wet and the tracks ended up getting full of mud. I know its not the best but there is nothing I can do about it until spring.

The steel plate on leaning up on the right side is going to be used to redo the missing division plate. In the background can be seen the rear plate that covers up the axle. Its got a lot of holes to drill.

Oh well lots of fun to come

Here is the last picture for now.

This is the 3/4 complete frontal armour. it still had the parts of the angle iron attachments for the the bow plate. I did try using heat but to no luck. The nuts would loosen somwhat and then the whole thing would either spin or just snap of. So i ended up cutting them off with the angle grinder. Ive decided to use new ones as I wont have to worry about bad threads and rust causing problems. The other reasone was that many of the nuts were badly rusted and no longer were any size. The only problem is that the new one have a bigger head. Im planning to grind them down flush with the plate once they are in and tightened. If anyone had any suggestions im open to try them out.

Further to this, if anyone has any leads on original plates that im missing could you let me know.

So this is where I am for now. My plan is that over the winter I can get lots of fabrication done or at least started and have accumulated as many original parts as I can.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker

carrier restauration
 

Hi, I am also in the proces of putting my MKI carrier together, but my next problem is were to find those countersunk rivets , and how to rivet them . I just have to redo the front armour , found an original one .
does also somebody know what webbing or strap holders are on the side of the cooker holder plate , are they riveted on , or welded or with screws.
here a picture of the hull after shotblasting and priming one year ago .

rivets
 

Carrier is looking good Jordan, keep up the good work. I have just pulled mine into the garage and will dig the extra rad covers out of it today or tommorrow.
Maurice
On the cooker brackets I have had, the strap loops were spotwelded to the tray.
I have just installed a lot of the rivets on my carrier. The majority of the rivets go from the inside of the hull and are peened on the outside where they fill the countersunkk holes.
I bought 3/8 rivets which were 1-1/4 long. I was working alone so I had to devise a method of holding the rivet in place while peening over the other side. I welded a bar about 1 foot long onto the head of a hydraulic bottle jack. On the end of this bar I had dished the shape of the rivet head so I wouldn't de-form them in the process. I used some short beams to get the bottle jack into the appropriate place and would jack the rivet securely into place. I then would alternately heat the rivet with a torch, and peen it with an airchisel. I had modified a chisel bit into the shallow dish shape of the rivets which is on the origional outer armour.
Once I had everything it took about 5 minutes a rivet. I sure like the look a lot better than either carriage bolts or hex head bolts. Lots of good exersize too, climbing in and out of the carrier 100 times.
It's winter here now (going to -25C the next couple of nights) so I will have to wait until next spring to complete the rivets. Unfortunately, I rivetted on the back armour with the rivets pointing out. I later saw Derk Derin's and the rivets went the opposite way on the outer edges of the back armour, so I will have to cut these out and re-do them.
Now some of you with the real rivetters and bucking bars may tell me that this isn't the proper way to do them, but with my limited resources this method ends up loking pretty good. For those who are going to try this method, expect to waste your first 10 or twenty rivets getting them to look just right.
I probably should have done my powertrain first and then installed the armour, but I had to have it looking like a carrier. Also, this way, I can also sandblast the hull without worrying about damaging or contaminating the maechanical components.

Hi everyone

Thanks for the comments and encouragements.

Rob, do you have any pictures of the riveting contraption youve made up. Im not the best at following text based instructions. Much better with pictures. However I will print your instructions out and show them to one of my unlces as he had soem experience working with metal and has provided me with many tips.

Re: carrier restauration
 

Here's the thread Maurice is referring to: Info needed on Mk.I cooker holder.

I have one or two of these brackets around somewhere. When I come accross it I will post pics. I think my portable cooker #2 is a later model and fits nice and snug in the tray.
I'm out of town for a couple of days, but if the weather warms up a bit when I get back, I'll dig out my rivetting stuff and post a couple of photos.

carrier restauration
 

the pictures of my carrier just after priming it

carrier restauration
 

here is another one from the side were I removed the armour from , the plate had a big cut out so they could work on the engine without climbing over the side. I have got another side now .

Hi Maurice

That looks great. You really did strip everything right out of it. Good job and keep going.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker

some more pictures
 

HI everyone

I thought that I would post some more pictures of my carrier progress.

This first photo shows two of the parts I received from Rob Love (thanks again). They are the armoured parts that site either side of the rad. There is also a top plate the goes over the rad tank. Ive bolted them on so that I can see how they look and make sure everything lines up. The one on the left side was a pain in the a** to put on as there were only the lower two holes left in the plate and I was by myself. A third or fourth hand woudl have been really helpful. The plywood is being used as a basic pattern for the missing division plate. I still need to cut out the area for the armour plate that fits on the extreme left side.

One may notice that the fan, fan extension, generator and the rad cowl are gone. This is so they can be refinished during the winter months. The rad hoses are new tubing. I got them from an industrial liquid/tank place near me. The original use for the hoses is for marine exhaust. I figured that temp of the cooling fluid would never reach the same temp as an exhaust would. The hose also has a few layers of fiber for better strength.

another photo and story
 

Ok this photo shows the new bow plate sitting in position. This came with the set of armour pictured above. I had to cut off most of the machine screws as the heads and threads were too far gone to really use again. I have managed to save a bunch of the same type of screws in much better condition from my other bow plate.

You can also see the plywood parts again.

The armour arrives on the carrier
 

After many hours spent pounding away I finally got the two sets of armour to come together and make one set. All of these parts are just sitting there with few bolts holding them in place at the moment. I will still need to remove them for sandblasting and painting in the spring.

Thanks to the camera having a timer setting I was able to get a picture of myself in the drivers seat. It had to be one of the fasted carrier mounts in order to beat the timer clock. I am sitting on the seat in the lower position and I can still see reasonably well.

Back in the summer when I was at Fort George, Niagara on the Lake. Stewart Loy gave me my first driving experience in a carrier. I found out that I had a small problem when my height is combined with the seat in the up position while driving. The shifter comes up under my knee while in 2nd gear. This kept me from keeping my foot completly off of the clutch. The result of this was that every bump made my foot hit the clutch and then release again. All that I can say is that it was a very jerky drive.

Anyway thats it for now.

Jordan, Good Luck with the restoration:)
I have been working on the brakes of my carrier
Waiting on new rear axle grease seals.
And then put her back together for a test drive
:salute:
Steve Kantner
42 mk1

One more photo update
 

Hi everyone.

Here is a photo of my latest progress. All that I can say is that I'm in better shape then I thought. That armour is really heavy and hard to move around when you're on your own.

Re: One more photo update
 

What do you mean - your grandfather looked pretty strong?!

You should have asked Charlie to help you lift, while I took some pix.

Let me know when you are doing more lifting so I can help out.:)


Stewart

....you'd think with all the willing hands he has close by, you'd think there'd be a phone call to ask for help...I mean, if I'm going to mooch multiple carrier rides, you'd think the least I could do is help lift heavy stuff...hey, it's about all I'm good for ;)

Looking good Jordan...keep up the great work buddy. Can't wait to come out to help!

Tim

Countersunk screws
 

Jordan, Great thread good on you! Anyhow, back in the thread you were talking about countersunk screw heads standing proud in the holes, Thats because you have used American std fasteners instead of the British standard. Instead of using UNC/UNF fasteners on yourcarrier you should be using BSF fasteners. They have a different spec and will fit the countersink holes properly. Metric countersunk screw heads are pretty close too.
On the riveting thing , if you can get some help, heat the rivet white hot, throw it in the hole, get your mate with a heavy shaped (to the profile head you want) "dolly" up against it and like greased lightening pean the other side to the profile you want using a rivet gun/kango hammer etc. The problem is you have to make up tooling to suit the gun your using. Ihave found that unless you are square on it is very easy to "smear" the rivet side ways and it takes much longer to get it out than mess it up.
These rivets are supposed to be done hot. As they cool they shrink and hence, tighten. Note I made my tooling ( the bit in the rivet gun) out of 4140, It tends to harden with use and keeps it shape. The big side clearance in the rivet hole allows you to get the rivet in the hole when the rivet is hot and expanded, without the surrounding metal sucking the heat out of it before you can deal to it. Hope this all makes sense. Lastly the rivets "form" to the counterink in the plate so you do not need countersunk rivets, - the prefomed head of the rivet goes on the inside, the shank fills in the countersink,and forms the nice rounded head on the outside if I remember correctly