Humber FV1600 - ARN 105-819 - Restoration moves forward.

[pauldavies]

Dave you have taken on a big resto and good work so far, I have it easy compared to you. Best of luck and keep those friends happy.
Paul

[pauldavies]

No the hoops and top cab frame need to be taken off prior to moving out of the shed, won't be for a while.

[Dave Mills]

It has been a long slow slog but we have managed to get two coats of Deep Bronze Green 2 pack on the cabin. The flash from the camera does not do it justice, however, you can get the idea. Will wait a couple of weeks for the paint to harden and then place the cabin onto the chassis.

Dave.

[fv1620]

Looking good. Well done.

[Dave Mills]

Have moved the chassis out of the workshop and into the drive in preperation for the cab. Have organised a tilt tray to pick her up on Saturday and then a very short trip to the cabin, a bit of prep work, a forklift and hopefully i will have the cab back on the chassis this weekend. Have posted a couple more shots of the completed rolling chassis waiting to be collected.

Dave.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

I'm not one to miss out on the rare sight of a rust free Humber cab, so it was a trip down the Highway this morning for a look at Dave's in person. Minutes after getting there, the rolling chassis had been loaded on back of a tilt tray for the drive across town, dropped in front of the workshop and the shiny new cab lifted in place with the forklift. Back on the tilt tray and home, a bit of forethought and planning saw it all going like clockwork with the help of James the Panel Beater, and Terry the long suffering neighbour.
Surprisingly simple procedure, all the strange shapes and cut outs in the engine bay make sense when brake booster, starter motor, etc. just slip neatly through. For future reference, steering column was removed, as was "Y" manifold, and the winch control lever pulled all the way up.
Needless to say the cab looked terrific, great job by Traction Engineering, sure they were sorry to see it go....
Think Dave is now mesmerised by the light at the end of the tunnel.
Rich.

[Dave Mills]

Thank you to you Richard for travelling down and helping out and of course for the photos it was much appreciated and certainly made it a lot easier having another set of Humber eyes around. Yes, I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and I will be forever grateful to the skills of James (Traction Engineering) and his superior workmanship, for such a young tradesman he has done a remarkable job. Am now on the final fit out stages, one very happy camper.
Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Some more pics to keep you up to date with the progress on the Humber, it is so close to being finished but yet so far. Have had to put the Humber on the back burner for a while as i am servicing our Austin Champs in preperation for Champ Camp 2016 in Tasmania.

#1 - Cabin in all its splender.

#2 - Inside of cab showing the spare wheel in place. (Behind passenger)

#3 - Inside cab showing instruments and controls.

#4 - Regulator and voltage distribution box. (Behind Drivers head)

#5 - One of our Champs going through its pre trip service.

Cheers,

Dave.

[fv1620]

Marvellous job Dave you must feel very chuffed.

I wish there some more active Humbering in the UK like that. There are just a few good examples around but we don't see them very often. Pigs survive a bit better but don't see many of them & most that do turn up for re-sale have had the originality knocked out of them by owner's embellishments & idiosyncrasies.

[Dave Mills]

Nothing like a little bit of rework. After comparing the Cab and the tray it was discovered that I had two shades of Deep Bronze Green and that the finish detracted from the cab

So, made the only decision that I could and have started to redo the tub, as you can see it is now in primer ready for its final sand and then two coats of Deep Bronze Green to match the cab. At least it will be well protected with all the layers of paint.

Also took the opportunity to fill all those little marks, dents and scratches that you only see when you top coat. Well, at least that happens to me.

If you search back through the thread you will see the tub when I thought that it was all done, oh so long ago.

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Transmission Tunnels showing the repaired and painted tin work. Had a lot of trouble locating the original Felt heat lining which was then painted (I think) so sourced the vinyl lining which has a heat proof backing this is a Mercedes Benz product.

A real pain to fit into the vehicle and the covering does not follow all the contours correctly, however, they look fantastic and finish the cab off beautifully. I am hoping that the covering will settle once a bit of heat gets to it and makes it a little more malleable.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Niels V]

It looks fantastic, great work

[Dave Mills]

Thanks for the feedback Niels, much appreciated.

Dave.

[pauldavies]

Looking good Dave, attention to detail is going to pay dividends later. C8 is coming along and will post some photo's in the next couple of weeks. Have a great Champ Camp and hope to attend next year so give all my regards.
Paul

[Dave Mills]

Get some pics of your vehicle up Paul we need to see your progress. Will pass on your regards to the Tassie champers.
Dave.

[Dave Mills]

A few shots of the newly painted Humber Tub, it will be fitted onto the chassis this Saturday if all goes to plan. A very happy camper indeed; three years of restoration finally coming to a conclusion.
Dave.

[Dave Mills]

The weekend went well, a couple of helpers, a forklift and the tub was fitted. Took all of 30 minutes.

The tub fitted like a glove, a few adjustments to the suspension heights on the vehicle and a short but very good road test. It felt so good to be able to drive it on the road.

After 3 years of restoration it is pleasing to see such a rare vehicle back on the road.

Problems along the way, the tail pipe hitting the mudflap, front torsion bars required adjusting (Was waiting for the weight of the tub before adjusting so no real surprise here) a small water leak from the radiator blow off valve and the rear winch control lever fitted upside down not bad considering we have completed a ground up restoration. The Rolls 6cyl purrs beautifully at 75Kph at 3500revs.

Dave.

[Niels V]

simply stunning

[Dave Mills]

Thank you Niels, your comments are truly appreciated.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Just had a quick read of the thread from the beginning, (does not feel like 3 years), hard to believe the result.
For the record, I make that 2 trucks, 3 cabs minimum requirement for a resto....
Can't wait to see the next project, does the boss like Centurions??
Rich.

[Dave Mills]

It has taken a day of wading through the red tape to finally get our Humber registered; after 3 years it is a great feeling

Pic #1 - Our Humber upon arrival at Seymour. Towed by the "Mongrel" the challenge begins.

Pic #2 - Finally had all the Roadworthy and registration paper work.

Pic #3 - The registered vehicle in all its glory.

Thank you to all in the MLU community for looking at our rebuild over the last three years and to those who found the time to respond.

All that needs to be done is to drive it and enjoy the experience.

Dave.

[pauldavies]

It looks awesome Dave and well done mate, you should be very proud of what you have achieved.
Paul

[lynx42]

Congratulations Dave.

Gives me plenty of incentive to get into mine.

Please keep an ear out for a set of hood bows for me.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Dave,

Fabulous work done in a short time, certainly when looking at the amount of work that had to be done.

Thanks for sharing the restoration with us.

Hanno

[Allan L]

Beautiful!

[Dave Mills]

Thank you for your comments, we are very pleased with our Humber and will enjoy many happy trips in her. Am currently fitting the tray floor, am using " Grey spotted gum" as the timber planking a great Australian hardwood. Am having trouble sourcing the steel loading strips which run down each join.

Thanks again,

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Timber floor with winch access panel in place as well as canvas bow structure fitted ready for the canvas. The bows are set at the lower height so that I can get the beast down our drive. we believe it looks nicer on the lowered height. Still trying to source the skid strips for the floor; they sit over each join.

Dave.

[motto]

To see such a comprehensive rebuild through to the end is inspiration for us all. Congratulations. I wish you many years of happy motoring.

David

[Dave Mills]

Well, we have placed about 250 K's on the old girl and she has developed a harmonic type noise at about 48KPH when not under load. Tested the drive train by running her at speed whilst sitting on Safety Stands. Thought it was coming from the transfer case so removed it and disassembled only to find nothing that could be causing the noise. Upon further inspection I found the following;

1. Pinion Dog Gear and securing Nut which was not tight.
2. A marvel of design the Pinion Carrier so easy to remove once you have access.
3. Pinion carrier being removed from the diff housing.
4. The culprit (I think) worn pinion teeth.

To wrap up a long and frustrating story I have sourced a NOS Transfer case and another Pinion in which I will try to mate to the crownwheel and cross my fingers that I get a good tooth pattern and no binding.

I will pick up the parts this Saturday and hopefully get Sunday to play around with them. I am pretty lucky to pick up a NOS transfer case a short 3.5 hour drive from home.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

After replacing the pinion and setting up the rear diff, replacing the transfer case with a NOS transfer case I have a very quite vehicle apart from the exact same grinding noise at 48Kph at 2400 revs.

Have traced it to the gearbox I think any Humber owner will know the total Pain in the A... it is to get the transmission out. Well I have had mine out and stripped down twice and I am a bit of a master at it. Up and out through the passenger door. Have found that "Fred the Fiddler" some time in the past has been at it and have found the following

1. Stepped pin that holds the 2nd and 3rd gear selector ring in place missing hence trapped 5 k's out of town in third gear travelling at 10Kph home as it slid past its guides.
2. Rear main shaft thrust washer missing.
3. Reverse idler 1/4 inch thrust washer missing

After finding all of this I thought I had it, but no the dreaded noise was still there.

So out the box came again, stripped down and replaced the cluster shaft as the brass bushes seemed a little worn and thought that maybe the nose was tooth chatter due to inconsistent messing, fitted it all up, passed, the cigarette paper through the gears and it came out crinkled but not torn so I was "In like Flynn". At least I had false hope it would seem. (Richard Couttes-Smith shared that little trick with me).

But no, the noise was just the same except the vehicle was even smoother on the road until the noise starts. A phone call to Russell in Stawell and I will pick up another gear box complete to install and see if the noise disappears. if it doesn't I will at least know that my gearbox is OK, if this occurs damned if I know what is causing the noise. I will know in about two weeks.

Some pictures of my parts gearbox stripped down. Built like a brick shithouse and as heavy as can be.

The maddening part about this saga is that upon a visual inspection on rebuild the gearbox looked and felt fine, did not drive the vehicle so could not test it out. Oh well the joys of vehicle restoration and wanting to get it right.

Cheers,

Dave.