Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

It is interesting that the armoured tank covers have a removable cap so the fuel can be drained from underneath. Three bolts and the cap is off. I had to fit captive nuts to both armoured bases to bolt the caps back on.

The right tank as I said was missing, so I had to modify the original left one into a right one. Not a big job?? Well not really. First I had to unsolder the filler cap and reposition it in the correct place up the other end so that the armoured lid would shut cleanly over it. Then I had to solder a patch over the hole left but removing the filler cap. Sounds easy doesn't it. That done, what to do about the drain underneath? It was in the wrong place for the removable armoured cap mentioned earlier. Well I cheated this time as I could not work that one out. I replaced the drain plug with a shorter one but the tank has to be removed to access it.

Why did I choose to modify the original left one to be the right one? Well it had sat outside for many many years and had a good coating of rust building up inside it. With the filler cap out, the new hole drilled and the sender unit removed it gave me a chance to get at the rust.

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The sender unit on this one was a bit ornery to get out. Two of the bolts ware sheared of but fortunately there was enough shank to get a pair of mole grips onto them.

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Here the right hand tank is floating in the molasses tank to get rid of the outside rust on the bottom of the tank.

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The inside was a mess so I covered the holes and sank it into the molasses tank for a few weeks. I took it out a couple of times and after placing about 1kg. of square shaped nuts into the tank, rolled it around on the lawn for an hour or two then put it back into the molasses. I repeated that about 3 times and a lot of rust build up was removed. I left it floating in the molasses to clean the bottom outside and when I was happy with it I gave it a good rinse out.

POR15 is my choice of tank sealer and after soldering on the patch and the filler cap, I sealed the sender unit hole and poured in them metal cleaner/degreaser followed by the metal prep and finally the sealer paint.

I did that with both tanks and they should be good forever.

Regards Rick

[lynx42]

The tanks were completely stripped back to bare metal so I could see if there were any pin holes. I pored methylated spirits into them and sloshed it around and there was no sign of a leak. Why metho? Well it is very fluid and will quite quickly get into any seams and escape to the outside. It then evaporates quickly as well.

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The underside of the tank before treating. You can see how well the molasses works No sign of rust anywhere.

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POR15 filling the rust pits.

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A coat of POR15 was painted onto the outside of the now right tank and then the tank sealed inside with POR15.

Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

Well that is it for a few weeks. Off to hospital tomorrow for my back operation so fingers crossed.

Regards Rick.

[aj.lec]

Originally Posted by lynx42

Well that is it for a few weeks. Off to hospital tomorrow for my back operation so fingers crossed.

Regards Rick.

Hope operation goes well for you Rick
Wishing you successful op and speedy recovery

[charlie fitton]

Good luck!

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by lynx42

Well that is it for a few weeks. Off to hospital tomorrow for my back operation so fingers crossed.

Regards Rick.

Hi All, Well, Whats happening? I was right in that the metal work was loose and moved, back in February, causing extreme pain and discomfort. The revision went well and I now have larger screws and more cross bracing to hopefully hold it together. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I am now at Epworth Hawthorn for rehab, so we will see how that goes.

Regards Rick

[jack neville]

Sounds a bit like the "..get a bigger hammer!" theory Rick.

Hope it all settles down long term for you.

Regards

Jack

[Lynn Eades]

Rick, glad to hear that you have been assembled correctly his time. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Regards,
Lynn.

[hrpearce]

Glad to hear you have made it to rehab, remember the sooner you catch a nurse the sooner they kick you out.
Mum is in rehab now and is making progress.

[Mike Cecil]

Rick,

From my previous post....

"You probably explained this somewhere back along this thread, but what made you choose Light Stone/Portland Stone as the chassis topcoat? Is that the colour you will use throughout?"

Best regards

Mike

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Rick,

From my previous post....

"You probably explained this somewhere back along this thread, but what made you choose Light Stone/Portland Stone as the chassis topcoat? Is that the colour you will use throughout?"

Best regards

Mike

Hi Mike, Check post #14.for photos etc.

During the strip down, the original sandy yellow colour appeared under fittings which had not been removed or exposed to the sun and rain since the day they were made.

Here is the colour under the lifting ring on the left front.

Inside the left locker was a small bracket bolted to the bin side. After removal the original colour was found, unchanged from the day it was painted.
There were two basic colours used for the finished coats, either this sand colour for the desert and green for Europe etc.

A decision was made to paint the whole vehicle in this desert sandy colour as it was visible all over the whole vehicle. I took 4 or 5 bits to the local paint shop and had them computer match the colour for me. It is still a bit shiny, but a few days in the sun will soon fix that.

You can see here in this photo, (thanks Peter Duggan) that there were two finish coats. Desert Sand and Green. There are about 140 Lynxes in this photo with the green ones in the background.

The sand colour was over painted with both green and that blue I mentioned before.

Regards Rick.

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks Rick, good job.

Pity we couldn't decipher more than the Formation sign, but the probability (possibility?) is it was serving with 1AR 'pre-Ferret'.

Mike