Restoration of Hull 731- Carrier, MG (Aust) Mortar Carrying

[Darrin Wright]

Well the weather has not been good for working out in the workshop, so have only spent a few hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the late afternoon/evening. Did not feel like working in 42 to 47 deg C heat.

Picked up an accelerator linkage rod from a local person and utilised it to bend my new rod. Having the correct angles & lengths, it has now been installed.

All items sandblasted have several coats of paint, most importantly the electrical conduit. Discovered the junction block (RHS hull near engine) to be cracked, so have bronzed it up. I have also repaired the flexible conduit from the engine rail to the engine, this carries the generator wiring and oil/temp sender wires. It is all painted green ready for assembly and installing the wiring.

Over Christmas I had a new stepped bolt machined to replace the item that destroyed itself when it had too much heat applied to it, when trying to remove it from the hull. This is the bolt that holds the track adjuster arm in place, on the hull. This has all been painted and it is now installed on the hull with new castellated nuts and new springs from Colin Jones (on MLU).

One evening I made a stencil that replicated the original hull number that was painted to the side. Fixed it in placed with little magnets and gave it a heavy coat of white. This is not the final marking and painted location. I wish to copy the original location and sequence of markings that I found on the vehicle. So when the hull (or that part of the hull) is painted again, those markings will be painted over and the new markings with the Mortar Section markings will be applied.