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

[fv1620]

Frustrating business Dave, I feel for you. Incidentally what sort of oil are you putting in the gearbox?

[David Herbert]

My sympathy to you too. At least you are finding things wrong that are better repaired but having done such a superb restoration it must be very anoying to be taking it to bits again.

I note that you had new brass bushes made for the drive shafts. If they are being lubricated with any EP grade of oil they will already be dead as the EP additives attack brass / bronze resulting in the bearing surface breaking up at a microscopic scale and wearing away very quickly. You probably knew this but I thought I would throw it in anyway !

Good luck with getting this sorted out.

David

[Dave Mills]

Thanks Clive and David, it is disappointing but this happens at times. I am using a 40W-70 Mineral oil in the gear box. I believe that if I had concerns with the drive/suspension stations the noise would be able to be pin pointed and I would have it at a greater range of speeds. The noise was evident from the first drive and will come into play very quickly once you hit the speed and rev range. All other times it is as quite as can be, if the noise starts and you hit a bump it may stop or can even start, I have driven the vehicle with the front tail shaft removed and no difference likewise it will occur in 4WD or 2WD.

The only thing I can think of now is the 2nd / 3rd syncro cluster and the small internal teeth which engage 3rd gear may just be grabbing due to wear?????they of course are all covered and no way to visually check them apart from a total disassembly.

It almost sounds as if the 1st / Rev gear is grinding into the casing due to shaft alignment problems, no evidence of this occurring. In saying this the gear box is as smooth as silk turning by hand and the clearances all look fine.

I will slip another gearbox in, I may have different noises from using another one but if it fixes the noise I then know for sure. A game of trial and error and once you get the hang of it the gearbox is pretty straight forward to remove and replace.

A Humber owner once said to me that to fix a Humber it only takes "Time and Money".

Will keep you informed.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Saturday was the day that we conquered the dreaded gear growl in our Humber. Another set of Humber ears came down from Stawell bringing a second transmission. A drive of the old girl and a diagnosis of transmission noise was confirmed, so, out came the transmission for the 3rd time and in went the donor transmission; road test and you guessed it same noise at the same speed. Heart breaking to say the least, so off came the front drive flanges to discount the front drive line and noise was still there. Could not believe it some serious head scratching then it struck us; the clouds opened up, angels began singing and their it was staring at us. The tail shaft from the transmission to the transfer case was out of sync by 90% Removed the shaft split the slip joint, realigned, refitted and now I have a very, very quite vehicle. Somehow in a past life the tail shaft must have been reassembled incorrectly and I did not pick it up, with the rear diff solidly mounted the tail shaft was winding up and trying to turn the gears against themselves. This explains why the transfer case and transmission both had noise and when I hit a bump the noise stopped as this allowed the tail shaft to unwind and de torque.

Anyway a couple of shots of the transmission being removed again and the donor vehicle going to the Humber grave yard at Stawell.

A very happy Humber owner at the moment.

Cheers,

Dave.

[hrpearce]

Been caught working too hard on a problem myself only to have a bystander point out the obvious staring me in the face. Dam frustrating.

[Dave Mills]

Have now had the canvas made and fitted by our local canvas fellow. A great job and we are very happy, you will notice we had it manufactured so that we can roll up the sides for greater vision. Yes, Yes I know it is not original, however, it is very practical.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Over the weekend we drove to a small town called Euroa which is about 60k's North of home to participate in the National Show and Shine a massive event with over a 1000 vehicles and 400 motorcycles on show. Anyway, parked up the Humber in the main street and sat out the day enjoying the event and explaining our rare and beautiful vehicle to the crowds. No intention of entering any categories just a chance to be able to display our newest vehicle to the public.

Our Humber won the "Best 4 x 4 in Show" and the "Best Special Vehicle in Show"

Very happy and proud Humber owners, it was good to be judged by others as the best of the best on the day and having your restoration skills on display.

Pic 1- Shows the wife and myself after accepting the awards.
Pic 2- Shows the Humber proudly wearing her awards.

Old vehicle restoration is a passion that we all have - Keep up the great work to preserve our military history.

Cheers,

Dave & Kathy.

[pauldavies]

Dave what a great change in fortune you have had, it is such a buzz when you get some one else judge your vehicle and they like it as much as you. Better get a tin of Brasso and a clean rag they might not be the only prizes you get, great result and well done.
Paul

[Dave Mills]

Final have had a new set of skid strips manufactured. Still have work to do on them bolts, painting and finishing touches. Last piece of the puzzle.

Dave.

[Robert Sexton]

Dave, those strips look the real deal and you have done well to be able to have them manufactured to such a good standard.
It must be a Humber thing as when I first started up mine it had the same horrendous vibration from the uni-joints being out of phase. Fortunately(or unfortunately) I had had previous experience with out of phase uni joints in agriculture machinery and it was the first thing I went looking for.Once experienced you never forget the sound and the vibration.
Robert

[Dave Mills]

The noise did allow me to check the pinion, transfer case which both had wear in them but the major "Elephant in the room" was the transmission all looked great until it all went wrong. Now that is another story. If I had not found these potential faults "Murphies Law" would come into play and it would have stood me up a couple of hundred k's from home.

Yes, the sound is terrible and one you would not forget. We have done over 1500K's in her now without a glitch apart from the oil leaks.

250 K's out of a tank on the dot, have an electric back up fuel pump fitted as I thought to transfer the fuel line from the empty tank to the full tank would take some priming. Not needed at all the pump pulls fuel like there is no tomorrow. I now have it in case of vaporisation.

[Robert Sexton]

Originally Posted by 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.

Hello Dave , I am soon to source the tail/stop lights for my Humber,you seem to have ones that look just right. Where did they come from?.I also assume that you have added the indicators as a separate wiring issue?
Robert

[Dave Mills]

Hello back, the bases came as NOS from Russell at Stawell. I recall that Russell had a fairly large collecting of these and the glass screw on lenses from Tim at Winton. Tim had a dwindling stock of the smaller lenses, however, a lot of the rather large lenses that screw into the same base. The indicator wiring was placed into the new rear looms I made. The rear loom picks up about midway along the RH fuel tank on the inside of the chassis rail and runs to the rear from a junction block in steel conduit, this can be sourced in Ringwood from Vintage wiring harnesses if you want some, he sells it by the metre with the ferels for the ends. They also have the wiring pattern to produce the new front loom with indicator wires included as they made one for me from an old loom and have the pattern and wire lengths on record. If you go this way you will need to supply the push in wire ends. They also weave the outer cover on the looms, I also had the wires for an electric fuel pump placed in the loom along with the indicator wires. From memory the front loom cost around $680.

Also from Vintage wiring harnesses you can purchase the two pole centres for the Stop/Tail light as the NOS only come with a single pole centre unless of course you add two red lenses.

Are you going to remove the cab?

Hope this assists you Robert

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

Thinking further about it Robert the NOS bases come with red lenses fitted and Tim has the Amber ones.

Dave.

[Robert Sexton]

Thanks for all of that info Dave.Bruce Sharman form WA has been doing the body work and painting for me,but more importantly he manufactures vintage harnesses for mostly British vehicles so I am OK there.My wiring loom looks intact with all the original amour present.I have some original NOS taillights with the single filament bulbs but can see that if I am going out on the road to play I will need all the good stuff that works.The Humber has to go onto part time resto whilst I complete the C60s water truck which has a greater priority at the moment. My past practice has been to disassemble everything down to the component parts and then work my way back from bare chassis takes time but you do find all the things that will give you trouble in the future. So the cab will certainly come off,I am fortunate that I have a sandblaster nearby who does the preliminary work and puts the base etching coat on.I have followed your resto work right through very impressive, huge job.Just to change the subject this is the C60 at the reassembling stage. Robert

[Dave Mills]

My hat off to you Robert, stripping any vehicle down is a mammoth task, however, the only way to do a completed resto to a high standard. The C60s chassis looks great and I look forward to your Humber story in pictures. The Humber will test you in ways that you have not thought of yet.

[Dave Mills]

It is with great pleasure that I can share the last piece of the Humber puzzle with you. After 3 years of negotiation I finally have a NOS Snorkel; I could not hold back my excitement upon opening the package so just had to kiss it. The wife took the photo folks. The snorkel is now painted and fitted, if anyone out their in MLU world has the correct alloy cast body housing sitting in their bits and pieces I would be glad to hear from you.

This one came from Sydney and when the owner finally relented had it my hot hands in a day and a half.

Richard. C is the only Humber owner I know who has an original housing and dare I say the connecting rubber also, he may wish to post a pic of them. Hint, hint Richard.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

If you insist Dave, although if you had kept quiet about it no one would have ever known!
(there is only one pedantic bugger who would ever point it out to you....)

Dave has the modified original steel air intake by turning it upside down and fitting an adaptor for the flex. Back in the day this was obviously considered too cheap an option for the FVRDE, so an aluminium casting (part No. FV228852) was supplied with the snorkel kit.
Comparison of pics will show it was money well spent...

(Dave, if you have not seen it, a pic of one of the test Humbers on trial before Aust. Army delivery with kit fitted:
http://anzacsteel.hobbyvista.com/oth...rtruckph_1.htm )

Of course younger more virile Humbers had much longer snorkels for showing off in the Chertsey wading pool.
Rich.

[john piercey]

Hi Dave ,looks the part now but will you be wading that deep with it to try it out?
I have just finished my cab panel and paint ,will have a rest before moving on as other jobs around the house etc have suffered in the last couple of months,i will post some pics up shortly and be back on to you and Richard for more info/parts/.
John

[Dave Mills]

Last weekend we had the Humber at the Broadford Classic Truck Display and whilst chatting a fellow asked about the strange lugs on the roof. After i explained what they are for he said that his father sometime between 1959 and 1961 bought two stands home from Puckapunyal and the family has used them on the farm in the workshop as stands and he thought they may fit the Humber.

Now i am sure that they are not Humber (wish they had been) although i have only seen one picture of the gun mount on a vehicle in the UK. He thinks that they came from a Bren carrier????.

Can anyone out there in MLU land identify them and their use?

Cheers,

Dave.

[Matt Stephenson]

Hi Dave.

Interesting pics, but I don't think its from a bren carrier. Im guessing that they are a mounting frame for a radial engine in an aircraft of some description.

[Richard Farrant]

A transit frame for a radial tank engine. I am certain I saw two of these in use last week with M3 Stuart engines mounted on them.

[Glen Cairncross]

Originally Posted by Dave Mills

Have been toiling away at the B60 for about 2 two months on and off and here is the end result. Motor overhauled, bearing caps in perfect condition compressions all at 110PSI, bores great, a little wear in the valve guides but i like a bit of extra oil in this area with this new unleaded fuel. Had the cylinder head reconditioned by the local engine reconditioner who did his apprenticship on the B60 & B40 motors which helped no end.

Thanks to Russell Altman who supplied a NOS carby, Fuel pump and what you cannot see are all of the original gaskets including head gasket. Clutch plate religned and flywheel machined along with the transmission being serviced. Manufactured the mobile engine stand myself and it has proved to be a valuable piece of kit with a power unit of this size. A few parts from Roy Elvis in the UK a coat of paint and the job is done.

As time goes on and i master getting photos onto the site i will share more if people wish.

Cheers,

Dave.

Hi Dave have mistaken your Humber for Richards I have recently purchased a Humber 1 ton and love your information what a great job. There are so many questions I would like to ask, here are some.
Do you have the paint code for that two pack finish you got.?
Is there any new or NOS wiring looms available.
Will send a picture when I learnhow to do it on this site.
Cheers Glenn
Perentie GS
Bedford QL
Humber 1 ton FFW and GS

[Dave Mills]

PM sent.

Dave.

[Dave Mills]

At last, after much designing and building we have a Recovery trailer to carry an Austin Champ and completed a successful test run in and around Seymour. A long time coming, however, to meet Victorian registration requirements it takes a lot of engineering to tow anything with a gross weight over 2 tonnes.

Tows well and handles very well, the Humber pulled it well, handles the flat well and holds its speed to most inclines. Small troubles with the B60 rotor button kicking in occasionally (Governed). A learning experience to drive with weight towed behind but all good and very happy.

Cheers,

Dave.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Dave Mills

Small troubles with the B60 rotor button kicking in occasionally (Governed). A learning experience to drive with weight towed behind but all good and very happy.

hi Dave,
Good work, looks a nice outfit. regarding the rotor arm governer kicking in, do what the soldiers used to do with the Ferrets, wedge a matchstick in. You are not going to over rev intentionally, just the odd occasion when you want the umph uphill I suspect.

[pauldavies]

Hi Dave and a great looking rig you have there, I towed my champ from Hervey Bay to Corowa last month with my Patrol 4.2 Turbo and it was a journey and a half but well worth it. My trailer is a big one and well able to take the weight, I did get stopped on the QLD/NSW border by the Cops and Transport Nazi's but they give me the all clear. Glad the 1 Tonner is going well, I bumped into Rich Couts-Smith while there. Hope to do 2020 Champ Camp.
Paul Davies

[Dave Mills]

After a little bit of head scratching i have overcome the miss/hesitation in the B60. First i dismantled the spark plugs and cleaned the carbon deposit from the ceramic insulator. After i have raised the compression ratio from 6.4 to 7.1 with a motor overall it is pushing carbon past the internal seal. Took it for a drive a little better but not fixed. Second, i removed the screw connector in the coil high tension lead and spotted a lot of carbon dust in the thread and around the internal contact - blew out with air, cleaned and refitted, test drive, better again but not fixed. Finally i rechecked the spark plug gap as it is opened out as i have electronic ignition fitted. Readjusted gap by eye making it slightly smaller. Test drove and i have a new truck - all fixed.

I believe it was a series of symptoms causing the problem with the main culprit being to wide a plug gap. Under pressure and torque i think that the spark was partially extinguished across the larger gap by the increased compression.

Well, that's my theory for the problem.

Dave.

[Ganmain Tony]

Well done Dave,

Could have turned into an issue that you'd chase for days instead of hours.

Could you post some more pictures of your beast. One of the engine bay would be nice to have a look at.

Simple folk like me like pictures...