LP2a SAR restoration

[Matt Stephenson]

Hey Wayne,

You have about as much chance of aquiring a 3" mortar as you do of sumbling across a herd of Unicorns. My recommendation would be to take lots of pics and measurements of a real one, and try to replicate as much as you can, in either steel or plastic. If its going to be for display purposes only, then plastic should suffice, and there is little chance of it being operational, which helps keep the authorities happy......especially in this day and age.

Darrin has made an excellent replica of the base plate for the 3" mortar, and under a coat of paint most people would be hard pressed to pick it from an original. The aiming apparatus for the mortars do appear on ebay from time to time too. All together it wouldnt be a insurmountable challange to produce a replica that looks quite convincing without all the hassles of permits and safe storage that would come with owning a genuine one.

Just my 2 cents.....

Regards.

[Phillip]

Whilst the hull is intact and the floor in brilliant condition, it amazing how many parts are not there. Fortunately, I've got a lot of bits on the shelf so I'm only chasing some small stuff, (Wayne - I'll sort through your pile and take it off your bill).

I've spent the last few days sorting through my pile of wiring conduit and ended up with a full set of original conduit where all the joiners match those already in the carrier.

I have to thank Rick Davies for the technique in getting the conduit apart after 70 years - one bottle on MAP gas, a few hours work and here we are (For the observant you'll notice that I have two pipes around the wrong way.) I only have to make two 3/4 pipes out of some of the spare pipe and its complete.

Yes, it is a 3" Mortar Carrier, photos are attached as requested. The cover is the nearside (left) cover as the brackets are spaced differently on the offside (right). No sign of any handrails having been fitted.

Unfortunately no engine cover came with it, so I'd very much appreciate some drawings/ dimensions for the brackets fitted to the cover to secure the mortar.

I'm off to tend to my unicorns.

[Sean Mayo]

Hi Phillip,

very nice and complete carrier, looking forward to seeing your restoration.
Why do I have the feeling next time we visit, there will be a 3in mortar at your place.
Hi Wayne, do I need any of your very expensive parts for my SAR carrier?
Hope you both had a Great Christmas and New years.

regards Sean and Wayne.

[Wayne Henderson]

Hi Sean, Greetings
Not much left now as Phil as been in my shed again.
Heaps of wheels and springy things off a SAR carrier.
Drop by next time you're around this way.

[Paul Dutton]

Originally Posted by Matt Stephenson

Hey Wayne,

You have about as much chance of aquiring a 3" mortar as you do of sumbling across a herd of Unicorns. My recommendation would be to take lots of pics and measurements of a real one, and try to replicate as much as you can, in either steel or plastic. If its going to be for display purposes only, then plastic should suffice, and there is little chance of it being operational, which helps keep the authorities happy......especially in this day and age.

Darrin has made an excellent replica of the base plate for the 3" mortar, and under a coat of paint most people would be hard pressed to pick it from an original. The aiming apparatus for the mortars do appear on ebay from time to time too. All together it wouldnt be a insurmountable challange to produce a replica that looks quite convincing without all the hassles of permits and safe storage that would come with owning a genuine one.

Just my 2 cents.....

Regards.

Funny enough, I happen to be picking up a 3" mortar soon!
Also a 6 pounder and 2' mortar! All go BANG at the correct ends too!

[Matt Stephenson]

Hi Paul,

All I can say is that you're fortunate enough to live somewhere that doesn't have draconian gun laws and restrictions. Most states in Australia wont permit the private ownership of a mortar of any description, even if it is deactivated. Similarly most that were in private ownership have been surrendered to the government and now such things can only be found in museums and a few private owners who are fortunate enough to have been given a special permit or a armouers licence. In NSW you cant own a mortar, anti tank gun, artillery or a anti aircraft gun unless is is completely deactivated, on permanent display to the public, and the authorities have given you a permit to do all the above.
Like I said......draconian.

Don't get me started on the silly requirements for having a plastic, non-firing replica.

So in this part of the world things like 3"mortars tend to be very rare, hence the unicorn analogy.

More importantly, Phillip has a great looking LP2A mortar carrier, which once restored will look great, and would only be enhanced further by the addition of a 3" mortar stowed on/in it.

[Paul Dutton]

And I thought the weapons laws here were bad!
These are all blank firing.
The law is stupid, I've always said it will NEVER stop criminals from obtaining weapons.
I've been collecting firearms for over 20 years, and trust me, been offered some very dodgy scruff.
Take the sten gun, I'm an engineer, I could knock one up in a day or so! Mortar, just a tube with firing pin in base!
12g shotgun out of two pieces of steel tube . . . . Etc
Yep, the laws are crazy, I do feel for you guys.

[Phillip]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Wayne's Chev Six Seater truck is looking brilliant and despite Waynes parts raiding comments, I did not leave with anything carrier related - one day his zombie carrier will LIVE.......

Cleaning and restoring small parts continue, this is novel for me and I'm looking forward to being able to assemble this as a big 'kit' when the hull gets sandblasted.

I pulled the Bakelite junction disc thingy out of its cover, unfortunately the steel screws had rotted and swelled, breaking the disc into many pieces. After a clean I realised that I was missing some pieces and had to sift through the rubbish to find the bits I'd inadvertatly swept up.

I still have to work out how they were sealed against the weather and make up some 0BA posts to hold the cover to the base.

[Phillip]

Spent the weekend alternating between family duties, mowing lawns and still more cleaning of the original electrical conduit.

The West Australian climate (or something else) has done wonders for the rubber coated wire, with some of it being melted and stuck to the tubes so removing it has been fun (especially the long tube to the nearside lamp).

Most the conduit is now cleaned of rust and rubber. Every piece of conduit had traces of black on the outside and inside there were trades of red primer ( I assume red lead) so I've used a red oxide primer.

I need to cut down some pipes but cannot find the correct thread for the conduit - at 16TPI for both the 3/4" & 1" it looks like it is UNF but I cannot find any pipe thread cutters in UNF - any suggestions?

I found a carrier light circuit breaker and ignition resister in amongst the FGT parts. I pulled it apart and cleaned it up but the manual does not give any tests - does anyone know how to test these?

[Lynn Eades]

Phillip, The conduit threads are just that. The answer is to find an old electrician with a set of B.S.Conduit dies. I found a set over here on Trademe quite easily.
3/4" o.d. is the same tpi as UNF (3/4"x 16) but i'm guessing your wanting to run a thread on 1" conduit which is also 16tpi and is specific to B.S. Conduit thread.
The resistor should be fine as long as you have continuity.
If you use an original (Ford) coil, they are notorious for failing when hot. The insulation (even in a nos one) will likely have deteriorated.
They can be rebuilt in the U.S. if you are that keen.
Basically how the system works is that the Ford coil is a 4.5 volt coil.
When you first turn on the key 6 volts goes through the cold resistor to the coil.
This gives the starting h.t.voltage a boost while the battery is under load from the starter. As the resistor heats up the voltage to the coil drops down to the 4.5 volts.
If you use the Ford coil without the resistor, it will eventually burn out.
If you use a std 6 volt or indeed a 12 volt coil, bypass the resistor.

The lighting circuit breaker: If you get a short in any of the light wiring, it will rattle away (noisily) and hopefully your lights still sort of go. Basically an abnormally high current draw will open circuit the relay. It however shuts again very quickly, suppling power to the lights again(momentarily)
When this happens, turn 'em off. It needs fixing.
If power flows through it and you can physically open the points (Which probably need a gentle clean)and they close again (spring) then it will probably work?