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

[Euan McDonald]

Darrin and Lynn,
Referring to the carrier manual the early carriers with the 38-41 engine uses a different system to the one on Darrin’s engine (42 and on )

[Lynn Eades]

Euan, the first and last pictures are what I have tried to explain. The first picture is a standard set up, which can't really work when the whole engine is enclosed. It needs the road speed draught under the forward lower vent to draw the fumes out and away.
I believe the 1942 engine had no outlet vent at the bottom (as you were pointing out) If your engine doesn't have it, it should definately use a PCV system. If you have a PVC system, that vent could be blocked off.
Thanks for the pictures, they help a lot. I'll be looking for the wafer (adapter) for under the carb now)

[Darrin Wright]

Found the camera, so here are the pics from 123

Pics show the Right head on, accelerator linkage bolted to the head and my youngest tightening the exhaust manifolds.

[Darrin Wright]

After several months of trial & error a prototype leather axle bellow seal has been made and will be test fitted this weekend on my hull and axle.
This has been copied from a reasonably good sample and has been hand stitched like the originals.
The guy is interested in making more but unsure as to costing at this point in time.

[Darrin Wright]

Test fitted the leather boot last week and made sure it will fit both the tube axle (which is square) and mounting holes.
It does.
Have given the man the go ahead to make them.

[Darrin Wright]

During the last 2 weeks I borrowed a 12V battery to assist with winding the engine over to get it to start as I thought the battery/Jeep did not have enough power to turn the engine and get a good air/fuel mixture down into it.
The battery worked well; however, the smoke left the coil. I had some doubts about it as it had some damage on the case. I will have to look at replacing/repairing/upgrading the system.

I contacted Pertronix in Aust during the week to see if they do an electronic ignition system for the helmet distributor system. Unfortunately they do no. This leaves me with limited options as I always wanted to convert it over to electronic ignition to make it more reliable.
Option 1: replace the Bakelite coil and ensure all items in distributor are at 100%
Option 2: replace the coil with a remote standard coil and modification kit on the distributor
Option 3: convert to a crab distributor and upgrade to electronic ignition

I am leaning towards option 3 due to electronic ignition option and cost of like parts- but this will mean changing the timing gear cover, rebuilding a crab distributor and I must investigate the drive key/gear to cam shaft for the crab to see if it is the same as the helmet distributor.

After speaking with Euan and placing an add in the VMVC newsletter for ammunition carriers/tubes to suit a 3"mortar, I had some good fortune with the required carriers coming into my possession. I now have enough ammunition carriers to fill the right side with ammunition (6 in total, 18 rounds all up).
Just have to find a bi-pod...

Spent time on the front armour with a sanding board rubbing it back, some masking tape and it is now ready for a coat of spray putty when the weather improves.

Also replaced the thermostat in my Chev and gave it a bit of a run. Cleaned up the points, replaced the spark plugs, stripped the carby down and got some gunk out of the idle circuit in the Jeep.
Recovered a 42 CCKW front chassis section for another project and another thread much later.

Last task was to clean up the workshop a little, put tools away and remove the pallet workbench that was used to rebuild the engine on.

[Nathan Clark]

Hi Darrin, please keep us all informed about the guy making the leather boots as I no there are quite a few people on the forum chasing them at this time. I'm sure the members on the forum would make it worth his while to make a batch.
Regards Nathan

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Darrin, do you plan to treat the leather with anything?