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

[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!

[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

[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.

[Peter Duggan]

Rick,

May your therapists have the same skills at resurrecting old iron that you have. Speedy recovery.

Peter

[Little Jo]

Hi Rick

I am so happy you came through your operation with flying colours. I am sure you will be back into the restoration work after your rehab and I look forward to following your progress with the Lynx project. Don't get up to any mischief with the nurses whilst in rehab, just relax and get better.

Cheers

Tony

[lynx42]

But me first.

After 5 1/2 weeks in hospital, this time, (58 weeks in hospital in the 22 years since 1993), I am slowly returning to some sort of normal. I have done a few stray hours out in the shed so fingers crossed I can get out there a bit more often. One hour puts me back to bed for a while each time though. So I am taking it easy as I don't want a 9th major back op to be needed.

What did they find? Well, one of the screws was not torqued up correctly and that allowed movement. The result was that 6 of the 8 screws became loose in the bone and the L5-S1 area refractured. That was last February so I was living with a broken unstable back for 5 months. All 8 screws have now been replaced with thicker longer screws and more cross braces fitted as well. The torque checked again and again they tell me.



Between each vertebrae there are dinky little screw jacks. These are just like a turn-buckle with both left and right hand threads. These are placed between the vertebrae and adjusted to align the spine. I am 1 ¼” taller now than I was before the op. Back to my before 1993 accident height. You can see them in the x-ray photos.



Another cross brace was included to support the rods.



I was given back 6 of the 8 screws, one cross brace and a couple of other fittings to display in the workshop to interested people. (BTW. Each blue coloured screw cost A$427.00. so there is about A$6,000 plus dollars of metal.)

The metal used is titanium and being non magnetic, MRI x-rays etc can be undertaken.

I go for physio twice each week and am wearing a shoulder to hip back brace. I also wear a leg brace to support my left foot which has suffered bad foot drop as a result of the damage to the nerves in my back. I am still on a walker but don’t use it inside.

Fingers crossed that this is the last of a long list of problems from an accident in 1993 when I suffered 5 prolapsed discs in my back and 2 in my neck.

So what is next? BACK INTO THE SHED AND GET THAT LYNX FINISHED.

Regards Rick.

[Private_collector]

Jeezus Rick! Are you able to bend at all?
You must have been in agony, you poor sod.
Most people end up with a degree of spine damage at some point, but your spine makes my tiny little crush fracture look microscopic. The rest of us have NOTHING to complain about when a twinge hits, by comparison.

I've been present for some complex spinal procedures, and they can be brutally painful for the recipient, post op. Rarely have I seen the sheer quantity of hardware you carry around. hope your recovery is uneventful, and you get good relief.

Damn!

[Lynn Eades]

Rick, I am amazed. My wife has just done a jig saw puzzle.
Stamp collecting might be a safer hobby, if the tweezers are not too heavy.
Take care.

[Little Jo]

Hi Rick

Those photographs of your operation are amazing. I hope you won't have to go through any more operations. It is really a credit to your surgeons that they are able to do that for you. Just look at yourself as a restoration job just like we do to our vehicles and that you are back on the road again. Good luck with the rehab and don't overdo it. After seeing what you went through I will never complain about my back problems again. Take care my friend.

Cheers

Tony

[Peter Duggan]

Rick,

Very glad to hear that your operation went well. That is an incredible bit of engineering. Pace yourself accordingly. Great to see you back on MLU.

Peter

[jack neville]

Good luck with everything Rick. Don't wish to sound morbid but you are going to be worth alot to the recyclers when you finally kick the bucket!!

Let's hope that is a long way off and you have plenty of years remaining in the shed.

Jack

[Mike Cecil]

Rick,

At the risk of authenticity, you must be able to find somewhere on the Lynx to incorporate one or two of those screws - like leaving your DNA. It'll drive future restorers/museum curators/rivet counters nuts!!!

Hell, I gave up on armour restoration years ago to reduce the risk of further back injury, but I'm almost ashamed to admit it in light of your ordeal!!

Take care ....

Mike

[gary_bath_jr]

Hey Rick

We have a Dr. here that has a special procedure for spine issues, here is a link to his site, http://www.falsecreekhealthcare.com/...steven-helper/ I know he cant help you out since he is in Canada but the important part is the procedure he performs.

If you have any fractures they have a custom compound they can inject into the vertebrae the fill the cracks, if you have a collapsed/compressed disc they can inject the compound between the vertebrae to get the proper separation again. Patients that have had the procedure done have claimed to have gone dancing the night after they get the operation and pain is gone right away.

I know about this as I wanted to get it done years ago for my spine however when he looked at the x-ray and saw that my vertebrae is a triangle shape instead of a square he said he did not want to fix the disc only to have the vertebrae slip backwards and leave me paralyzed.

I am adding a picture of my x-ray. My injury was a result of a faceplant after flying over the handlebars of a motorcycle.

P.S.: Here is the link to the vertebrae procedure - http://www.falsecreekhealthcare.com/...ertebroplasty/
Here is the link to the Disc procedure - http://www.falsecreekhealthcare.com/...t/discography/

Not sure if any of this is helpful for you but here it is.

[Peter Duggan]

Rick,

I hope that your recovery from your latest back surgery is progressing to your satisfaction.

I am now tackling the reproduction of the soft skin components on the exterior of my Lynx. I was fortunate that the fenders and most of the bins survived to provide templates. However my front bin on the glasis plate was missing. I have access to the one on the Lynx at the CWM, for measurements, but I don' t have the dimensions/configuration of the supporting braces that support this bin.

Would you have any pictures, sketches or dimensions of these brackets ?

Thanks, Peter

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Peter Duggan

Rick,

I hope that your recovery from your latest back surgery is progressing to your satisfaction.

I am now tackling the reproduction of the soft skin components on the exterior of my Lynx. I was fortunate that the fenders and most of the bins survived to provide templates. However my front bin on the glasis plate was missing. I have access to the one on the Lynx at the CWM, for measurements, but I don' t have the dimensions/configuration of the supporting braces that support this bin.

Would you have any pictures, sketches or dimensions of these brackets ?

Thanks, Peter

Hi Peter, Not a problem, but unfortunately I am still in hospital in Melbourne some 300km from home, (only 39 days as a patient so far), and as I require another urgent major back operation, I am not sure if I will be home for Christmas at this stage. I hope you can wait until I get home and I am well enough to get out and into the shed to check it out for you.
Regards Rick.

[lynx42]

G'day All,

I figure a further bit of information is required to add to my previous post.

Last December 2015, I started to suffer more and more pain and was losing my ability to stand and walk each day. The specialists took an MRI last January 2016 and decided that the metal work needed to be removed but not for about another 6 months or so to allow the fusions to completely take. This was finally done on the 14th October. They found that two screws in the S1 vertebrae were loose and giving pain like having a broken bone down low. In the L5 vertebrae one screw had gone a bit further than planned and had caused a bit of bone to break away and press into the spinal cord causing more pain and lack off mobility and finally there was a cyst growing in a facet joint and as it enlarged daily, caused increasing pain.

I was moved to a rehab facility a week later and whilst I did improve a bit, the improvement faltered and stopped and I was almost back to square one. An CT scans and an MRI showed that I have a severely herniated disc at L2/L3 which requires urgent action. I am laid up at the rehab facility at present awaiting the Work Cover insurers to OK the operation. Being Work Cover, these things take time to get the OK and I do not know when they will operate. I might be home for Christmas but it is looking a bit more remote daily.

Don't worry, I will get back into the shed one day soon and get the Lynx finished.

BTW. I have day leave next Saturday to go to Puckapunyal Army base for a meeting with His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd). for the presentation of a new Guidon to my old unit, the 4/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment. The current Guidon is being taken off parade in my M3A1 White Scout Car escorted by two Ferrets and the new Guidon, after presentation, will be carried off on a new Armoured Vehicle. My son, Geoff will drive the White and Jill and I will be in the VIP section watching the proceedings.

My M3A1 was picked up last Saturday and taken to Pucka.





The Yellow Stars will be covered with magnetic signs bearing the units beret badge on the two sides, back and bonnet (hood), the radiator shutters will be open so the front one won't be seen.

Regards to all,

Rick.

[Peter Duggan]

Rick,

My apologies, I had assumed from your posts that you were back home recovering from your latest surgery.

It must be quite rewarding to view your White Scout Car in such a significant role, especially with your son at the wheel.

Our best wishes for another successful operation followed by a speedy recovery.

Peter

[Dinty]

Here's adding to Peter D's post, I too had thought you were home slowly recovering while we hover in the background waiting for updates on your project, I too wish you all the best for a speedy recovery, maybe this coming weekends outing will do you the world of good, cheers Dennis
ps I also have a vehicle that served it's entire service life with 4/19PWLH it's a Land Rover Series 2A 88" Gunbuggy (it's now minus the 106)

[Euan McDonald]

Good luck on Saturday Ric, I think Katrina and the girls are also invited to Puca.
I'm racing so wont be attending.
Hope you make it home for Christmas.
All the best.