panzerjager bren project

[leo tomaiolo]

starting my next project. going to build a pazerjager bren as used by the 3rd panzergrenadier division in Italy 1944. starting off with what i believe is a 1942 uc. it appears to have most of the drive line components, track and road wheels. no armor or creature comforts. this is what i hope to make it look like.

[leo tomaiolo]

here's what i'm starting with.

[leo tomaiolo]

the engine has a rebuild tag on it, the date 1962. it will be interesting to see what is inside it.

[Michael R.]

It does look like you have portions of a lower hull Canadian production UC MK-I*. I wager the date in the engine rebuild tag may read 1952 instead of 1962? If I can be so bold to suggest a good start may be to remove and dispose of those upper front plates with something new and more correct appearing?

Best wishes with your project Leo. Have fun!

If you still have the truck, it may be able to transport the panzerjager bren project?

[leo tomaiolo]

i'll have to check out the tag again. as for the armor it will need a lot of clean up. (thats why i'm here on MLU.) funny you should mention transport i recently saw a trailer made specifically for towing UC's. it was being towed by a FL60(?) sized truck and though i could do that. unfortunately we got more snow coming so it's going to be a few weeks before i move the UC out of storage and up to the work pad.

[leo tomaiolo]

took a pict of the rebuild tag. not sure what the date is at all.

[leo tomaiolo]

the space i need to do the UC is cleared. got it uncovered and ready to move it into position on the concrete pad. probably going to start with getting everything out and on the ground to see what i have. i'm sure what i don't have will be a bigger list. really looking forward to doing this. i'll get some more picts up as i start to disassemble it.

[Michael R.]

Originally Posted by leo tomaiolo

took a pict of the rebuild tag. not sure what the date is at all.

Could that be:

211 Base Work Shop
6 6 51

[leo tomaiolo]

so i finally moved the carrier to where it needs to be to get worked on. went thru some of the parts that came with it and half of what i need is there. at least for the drive line it's pretty complete. used my 41 to move out of it's hole and into the garage. spent most of the winter going thru the engine and trany. bad news on the engine there are 2 large cracks in the block. 1 is thru the exhaust port so i scored a good block and will be sending it out to the machine shop in a month or two. next up is working on the steering/brake assembly.

[leo tomaiolo]

here's some of the parts i got. body is pretty clean. there's some scabbed on plates that will need to be removed from the front armor.

[leo tomaiolo]

so it's been slow going with this project. much to my dismay the original block has 2 large cracks in it. 1 in particular runs thru the exhaust port and i don't believe it's reparable. i'm going to bring to a shop that specialises in block repair and see what they say. other wise the block looks to have been completely rebuilt and ready to go. in the mean time i pulled a block out of storage and could use that if it's not repairable. of course that block needs a rebuild.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Look up Metal Stitching. There is a company that will sell you drills, taps, jigs and fixtures to repair castings and/or machinings. The machinist drills a hole along the crack, sets in the pin of the fixture, and alternatively drills and taps holes. He screws plugs into holes with threadlocker and proceeds. Eventually the crack is filled with plugs.

Don't know how well they'll work in your application, but if you are looking at large $$ for a replacement block, this might be an option.

[Lynn Eades]

Personally I wouldn't try to fix one that has a crack from the cyl. bore to a valve seat. It would basically be a time bomb. You would never know when the stitching would let go, and next thing water is no longer where it's supposed to be.
I am sure guys will now tune in and say they fixed theirs way back in 1763 B.C. and it's still running like a clock, but that's me. I'd want mine to be reliable, so I'd start with a better block and not waste dough on the cracked one. Just an opinion from this ole mechanic.
I wish you better luck with the second one Leo.