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

[Lynn Eades]

Darrin, do you take the day off for Bathurst today?

[Darrin Wright]

Lynn,
this weekend the family went off on a scout activity, so I have been left to my own devices.
Without the kids wanting the TV, I have watched most of the race, painted the toilet room and mowed some lawn.
Have also managed some work on the BGC and will post some pics up soon.

[Darrin Wright]

With the suspension on, no reason for it to sit up on jack stands any longer. So onto the ground it went (finally).
Pics show general progress.

Have also worked on the rear pioneer tool shelf/diff cover and manufactured and installed all the 5/16 UNF threaded rods for the mounting of tools. Installed correct wing nuts and clamps.
Have mounted the tools on to see how it looks and goes together. There is quite a variation with tools, so it is what fits the best goes on.

Also installed the threaded rods onto the left outer hull tool storage area, but need more wing nuts.

[Darrin Wright]

I have been putting off the wiring as it is a bit of a puzzle as to how it was installed, and quite a hard task.

Managed to thread the wiring through the flexible conduit that goes into the engine bay, and have wired up the engine.
Have utilised a 4mm wire for the charge circuit as it will carry up to 30 amp, also used fabric braided wire over the engine.
When connecting the wire to the oil sender the b%&*#y screw broke, so will have to get another sender unit.

Threading the wired through the flexible conduit took 3 hours, 10 m of MIG wire, 1 roll of electrical tape, 1 can of soft drink and all of my patience.

However, with materials used, should never have a fault with it and therefore, should never have to do that again....

Still have to finish wiring up the rest of it....

[Darrin Wright]

Just a minor update;
both track have been de-rusted and painted with kill-rust matt black paint. Now sitting on pallets.
Utilised the Jeep today to pull the hull forward in the workshop and installed the long brake actuating rods. Poor old Jeep didn't like the load very much, even in low range.
Just have to make more clevis pins to connect it up.

The plan is to roll the hull out of the workshop onto its tracks early Saturday with the help of a friend, and to have the tracks on and driving back into the workshop under its own power. Otherwise I have no way of getting it back into the workshop.....

Have had the engine running and tested the clutch and gear box, all is good and it picks up all gears. The gear lever appears to have a fair bit of movement across the gate, quite a sloppy operation. Not sure what/how it should be.

Will read the manual regarding track installation, but I anticipate laying the track out, pulling the BGC onto the rear 1/2 of track and then manually pulling the track back across the top of the suspension ( to the rear of the vehicle) and connecting it up, with the use of the track winch, between the sprocket and last road wheel. Install a pin and check tension.

[Dale Jordan]

Excellent Darrin I can't wait to see her with tracks on as well . Bet you can't either . Which way are you going to put the tracks tails fore or aft ?

[Darrin Wright]

I have read the manual and it states for track orientation that the short section of track (the section that has 2 sections for the pin) should go to the front when viewed on the ground.
However, it also states that for New Zealand BGC that the track should go around the other way.

Why? Did they know something we didn't? Was it a trial?

I have also consulted my reference pics and have discovered that many people have their tracks on back to front, this has created doubt in my mind as to my understanding of what is written in the manual.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Darrin Wright

I have been putting off the wiring as it is a bit of a puzzle as to how it was installed, and quite a hard task.

Managed to thread the wiring through the flexible conduit that goes into the engine bay, and have wired up the engine.
Have utilised a 4mm wire for the charge circuit as it will carry up to 30 amp, also used fabric braided wire over the engine.
When connecting the wire to the oil sender the b%&*#y screw broke, so will have to get another sender unit.

Threading the wired through the flexible conduit took 3 hours, 10 m of MIG wire, 1 roll of electrical tape, 1 can of soft drink and all of my patience.

However, with materials used, should never have a fault with it and therefore, should never have to do that again....

Still have to finish wiring up the rest of it....

Doing a great job Darrin, but what is with the RED coil? With such a good restoration shouldn't you have the correct crab distributor coil? I am sure that there are plenty around. I may even have a spare one here.

Keep up the good work.

Regards Rick.

[Darrin Wright]

Hi Rick,
that is my special red racing coil....

I have converted it to 12V and to my knowledge, there are no Bakelite coils in 12V only 6V.
This has been done in preparation for electronic ignition to suit the divers helmet distributor.
I do have a 6V Bakelite coil from the original setup.

Today I adjusted the brakes at the drums, after reading the manual several times.
The right brake adjusted up really well; however, the left brake was a little bit hard to get correct. It may be on the tight side, will see soon enough.

Connected up the long brake rods and adjusted as per the manual.

Manufactured 3 more clevis pins for the linkages in the front.

Set about adjusting the linkages in the front of the hull, reading the manual as I went.

Steering & brakes work well on the right, not as well on the left. May require running in and more adjustment as we go.

[jack neville]

Darrin, I hollowed out the original coil that mounts on top of the distributor to accommodate the electronic ignition. Interference. I will mount a normal coil in an unobstrsive spot on my 39 ute so at first glance it looks original. Even easier to hide in a carrier.