Humber FV1600

[fv1620]

Oil leak from breather of transfer box is cured.

The very first leakage did occur with EP90 & I have seen many Humbers filled with EP90 not OEP220 that leak through the breather, but I thought lets try with brand new stuff.

All I could get from the local garage was Comma gear oil EP80W-90. "EP Gear oil suitable for 80, 85 & 90 applications that require a GL-4 spec." So I put this in, after 5 miles the TF/box has only just hotter than the diff. Where as before it was similar temp after half the distance, but at 5 miles much hotter.

After 10 miles there was some leakage but not from the breather. This seemed to be from the drain plug. The aluminium washer has been squashed up quite a few times now & now it was hot I was able to tweak the plug fractionally tighter.

After 14 miles no leakage at all. Not scientific I know, but I could put the palm of my hand on the TF/box for a second or two pretty hot but after 12 miles previously it was untouchable.

So I don't know whether this particular oil is thinner than OEP220 or the EP90 I had used or whether it has some additional anti frothing properties.

Although interesting to know the reason, I shall just use this stuff in the TF/boxes of Humbers in future rather than OEP220.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Good to here that that oil leak is fixed....how many left?
Least you can enjoy driving without sweating over the fate of that masterpeice of design, all in one tranny.
Happy driving
Rich.

[waltz]

hi guys

here is a pic of mine at a local show

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Hi Waltz - nice truck.

What's the chasis no / original military reg no, do you know?

I heard that the Road Transport Museum in Coventry had a One-Ton. Have you seen it?

Tom

P.S. - everyone - did anyone hear what happened to the red wreck in Oxfordshire a few posts back?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Have you guys seen this one advertised on MilWeb?

Humber 1 ton Truck

The Humber is in fab condition inside and out. Runs and looks fab, 1 of only a handfull left. £5000 ono.
01366 382148

Nick Clifton 11 July '07

[waltz]

hi tom
dont know much history about her not had time to do any research yet.

cov museum do have a nice one but dont expect to see it if you come to have a look as it hase been put in storage.
along with most of the stuff they have got,dont get me started about them

man with red wreck is supposed to be getting axles out for me should be out by now

[waltz]

if any of you guys can help i am after some bits for my truck
turrets
tyres 11.00/20 dunlop track grip
set of hoop sticks and canvas
tailgate
any help with sourcing these parts would be much appreciated

thanx guys waltz..............

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Originally posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Have you guys seen this one advertised on MilWeb?

I saw this truck at Beltring 2005 and 2006 (I think I spoke to Nick Clifton in 2006) - it really was a very nice truck - one of the best that I have seen.

Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by waltz
[B]if any of you guys can help i am after some bits for my truck
turrets

Hi Waltz-
Glad some bits are coming off the red one - doesn't that one have hatch hinges too?

I know that the hinges are hard to get as my old truck (02 BK 32) had lost these same as yours. The actual lids were pretty manky and filled to but were repairable. Just as I sold that truck I secured a vehicle I was after for parts (02 BK 09 - pics posted earlier this year) - which I then decided to re-build instead, but as the roof was wrecked I let the hatches & hinges go with the first truck. Even these were battered but body parts are so rare that rough is better than nothing. (I am only talking in UK terms - over in OZ it seems that you can barely move in the bush for rust-free Humbers).

I would quite like to strip some bits off the red one but right now virtually zero time with young kids and also zero money to chuck at the truck right now....playing a long game.

However, knowing that it is still around I may see if I can plan a little salvage trip.

P.S. Chassis No. on bulkhead plate will give you military reg - e.g. chassis 209 = 02 BK 09, chassis 1575 = 15 BK 75. This will give build, service and maybe sale dates - Clive Elliot knows a lot about info here and told me where my wreck was sold...also means you would recognise it in old military photos. Was it a tow truck? what company? Les Freathy may have a photo, have you seen his pics on this site?

Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Originally posted by waltz
if any of you guys can help i am after some bits....
set of hoop sticks....tailgate...

thanx guys waltz..............

Hi Waltz - (and anyone else who doesn't want to see a whole 1-ton truck minus axles go into the frag machine....)

You have bought the axles - Brum has said he would do a deal on the lot (i.e. £250, a lot cheaper than piece by piece) - I want bits but I am broke (CSA are squeezing me until the pips squeak...it's a tough world! - that may explain why I am messing around with a scrap truck....) so I can't raise £100 (I am trying) but could maybe scrape £50...if anyone else wants bits this is a lot of stuff cheap.

We can scrap it where it sits.

Seperately he said £170 for Rad, engine & 'box so that's £70 saved straight away.

I have a tailgate on my wreck, plus original hoop sticks. Both rusty, but repairable. I will try and get pics on....uprights & curves O.K. on sticks but horizontal part rusted away, could be made up with steel pipe, still has the funny 'clip' bits - I have seen these in pics but never worked out what they are for...) Tailgate is all in one piece but some of the flat surfaces are perforated - again, easily repairable, easieir than making one up from scratch, all brackets there etc. My cargo body is a long way from being used - sticks and tailgate are low priority items for 02 BK 09! If the bits are useful I will sell/swap for more urgent bits.

Ideally I want a radiator, an engine, a gearbox, Eng+G-box mounts, various pipes under bonnet, passenger door, pass. B-post, scuttle top, maybe even whole cab???. But would be happy with just the Rad, eng & g-box mounts, G-box selector plate & lever, 4WD lever by g-box - plus a few bits of bodywork - n/s door, scuttle top, rear mudguards.....

Ultimately if I get NOTHING off this truck but it all gets used I am happy, just would be sick to know that the bits I need go for scrap 'cos right now I can't go for them.

Anyone interested in going for some of these bits can call me on 07879 422701.

In a seperate message I will set out my plans for my ugly old truck....

Regards
Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Further to my last message - trying to raise a group effort to get this red truck between a few of us (a guy on the yahoo group wanted a manifold - I have one already......Waltz, you may beven get the axles cheaper or get more bits for your money....)

I thought I should set out what I am doing with my wreck of a truck, 02BK09.

I know that this appeal is a bit unusual, but the thought of a usable engine & 'box going into the fragging machine keeps me awake at night....really!

As I have said, right now I don't have a pot to piss in. Flat broke. They take whatever I earn. But they can't stop me messing around with Humbers!

Sorry, I know that's not really anyone's business but my own, but it does explain why I didn't just buy that bloody truck for £250, sell a few bits on and get mine running with what's left, etc. etc. And it also explains why I am messing about with a pile of scrap that was once 02BK09.

But it's a funny old world. Within a week of being forced to sell 02BK32 (still gutted - I loved that truck) I got the wreck of 02BK09 for free. I also have free use of the land she sits on. Foor as long as it takes. Weird, huh? The catch is that she is blocked in - no vehicle access in or out. When she is done I can remove some fence, build a ramp, take down a second fence (I will need permission) and drive her out. But it will be a major operation. But she is safe where she it and I can work on her. I was originally chasing this one as parts of 02BK32 but I had to let that one go just as I got this new one for nothing....

It is not just because I am skint and this is free though....I am really obsessed with the soft-skin Humber, I hate to see any get scrapped. There is a blue one on the Yahoo group site that got scrapped in 2005 that still gives me nightmares - she was so straight that with a bit of plod and a lick of paint she could have been used. And if only I could have got the Axe-holder for 02BK32!
O.K. - I think that I have established that I am a nutter.

So what of 02BK09?
The plan is to get the front straight, tidy up the scuttle, make what's left of the cab secure, remove the destroyed cargo body (but it's all flat panels - in time I may re-build it if a better one does not come along...)

De-rust & paint the chassis - then gice the whole chassis a mechanical once-over - brakes will be dead but main parts should just need cleaning & re-lubricating as mileage is low and it's all sealed.

Engine & gearbox are pretty-much dead; the plonker who left it there took the selector-plate off the gearbox (and lost it!!) and it filled with water. He also took out No.1 spark plug and left it out for 10 years....you habve to be a special kind of moron to be able to kill a B60+ 'box like this, when one thing these trucks have going for them is that they are WARERPROOF!! Mounts also missing. Rad is lost (Probably weighed in...)

Eventually she needs new engine& 'box but in the meantime I may get this one running as a challenge....but it will never be a good engine. If she can crawl around the field under her own power it will be interesting and I will learn more about how these things tick in the process!

So I will end up with an open-cab, battered, Humber. Short-term stick mekeshift body on back to make road-legal, long-term want cargo body. As funds allow I will replace the engine (I have not given up on the red one - everything to get me rolling is there!)I would really like it to be something that looks like a battered version of the prototype 03BK52 as in Les' old photos -

And I will take her off road places you would never take a nice one. Show the Landrover & Toyota boys what Deep fording is really all about.

And it will be one more Humber still in the world.

I will take the oportunity - now all my cards are on the table - of appealing for ANY old Humber junk you were going to throw away. That old bit may look like rubbish to you but odds on it is better than the bit on my truck - your door may be rusted out, mine is rusted AND bent....a quarter-tin od old congealed Nato paint to tidy it up a bit...

Hope that no-one is offended by this frank discussion of my situation. hey, I know we should just talk about trucks.

Regards,
Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Sadly missed. But had a great time bringing this one back from the dead and driving around in it...

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Pretty bad when I found her...

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

But now she is beginning to look a bit better....

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Looking Better

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

looking Better - But Roof had to go.

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Almost looks like it would run....

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Tom
remember that the advantage (thank god there is one) of starting with a basket case is that you can make such big improvements so quickly.
Keep plugging away mate.
Rich

[Sydneymver]

HI Richard,

I have CMP manuals on CD if you are interested.

Just Checking

Bruce
Sydney NSW

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Bruce
Fine for manuals, thanks anyway.
Rich

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Hi all, after my recent posts I thought that you would like to know that the rusty red 1-ton break-down conversion has been saved - Waltz has stepped in and secured the whole thing, so now it can sit in the yard for a bit too. (Was going to get the chop last week)

Sure, it will come to bits - but all the parts that are any good will be re-used, plus a few bits that aren't! In fact it's probably true that less of this truck will go in the bin than happens in most average restorations.

Hopefully this truck will be a major help in getting 02BK09 a bit more viable too. Sometimes when a vehicle gets broken up the parts just get consumed keeping otherwise O.K. vehicles trundling around. But sometimes when you kill one, you get the bits you need to bring a dead one back to life.

There's bound to be a few bits available if anyone is looking for something they need.

Nice one, Waltz. Top bloke.

It really looked like that rad, B60, gearbox, transfer box, steering box, winch, hatch hinges, etc. etc. were all for the chop.

Waltz - I will be in touch shortly to work out what's what and how and when to pull this one to bits. Cheers.

Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Clive Elliot - I have just been having a flick throuough the Humber Bible - Jochern Vollert's Humber 1600 Series and I see that you provided about half the pictures and it is your Hornet on pages 100-105.

I am impressed! Do you know him? He deserves honourable mention here for writing the only serious book (as far as I know) on this series of remarkable vehicles.

Nice one Clive. Humber celebrity. I will get you to sign my copy sometime.

Anyone else, if you don't have the book, get it!
ISBN 3-9805216-3-X
Try Chris Evans Books.

Regards,
Tom
Portsmouth
UK

[fv1620]

Tom, yes glad you liked the book. There are few errors come to light but relatively few & an awful lot of new stuff (facts & pics)has come to light since. I did the Hornet chapter myself & you will see at the front credited as co-author. Jochen did the bulk of it & his drawings are especially good. But it wiped out about a year of my free time that would have otherwise been spent on vehicle restoration.

Jochen did the project to fund his very successful & respected tank books. I think the question he was most asked why should a German want to write about a British vehicle? His answer was along the lines, why are most German AFV books written by Brits & Yanks?

Max Richards produced a Humber newsletter in the mid 1980s. This was very good & in the pre web era brought together Humber people. This was the trigger for Jochens book, but sadly the two were unable to work together on a combined effort.

I thought there may never another book on the subject so I wanted to input as much data as poss to get the info correct. There are so many books with errors when Humbers are covered!

Chris Evans & has now retired. The book is now out of print, the run was only 800 I think.

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

Clive -
In light of what you say I am glad I bought a copy.

Shame it's out of print.

Great Hornet shots. Really looks like a clasic machine from a different era and quite unlike the Pigs - more reminiscent of Cold War, or Thunderbirds (in all seriousness - I think Thunderbirds captures '60s technology & design concepts quitewell - spaceships with interiors like V-bombers - and the Hornet is about as crazy a machine on any of those '60s shows)

But I like the early development stuff & soft-skin chapters best. Love the real early prototype with step-side body off a Commer Superpoise pick-up.

Tom

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Clive or Tom
1. What is a Hornet. Sounds interesting, but a new one on me.
2. Is the Humber book mentioned still available...never heard of that either.
Cheerio
Rich.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Clive or Tom
1. What is a Hornet. Sounds interesting, but a new one on me.
2. Is the Humber book mentioned still available...never heard of that either.
Cheerio
Rich.

[fv1620]

Rich, I am surprised you didn't know - given your location

All is revealed here:

http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/WWWFV1620.pdf

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Clive
Obviously a subject close to your heart. Loved the concept of aiming a missile at a friendly ferret, then having them take over control, sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Never even heard of the Malakara (did I get that right), as you say Aboriginal dialects vary tremendously, have heard of at least 4 different meanings for the place I live in (Barnawartha)(also means place of big messy shed with just enough spare room for a Humber).
Thanks for the info
Rich

[fv1620]

Rich

The motor in the Malkara Mk 1 was a "Kawana" & in the Mk 1A a "Marloo". The High Commission gave me a translation, I can't remember which was which but one was a bunch of flowers & the other was a kangaroo or a clay pipe!

One of the GAF missile projects was Toolandoo meaning a swampy marsh which sounds a bit odd for a missile. This was in a book "Fire across the desert".

This book was presented to our county fire service by a visiting Australian dignitory. I think he thought the book was about fire brigades but actually related to the missile projects fired at Woomera!

I think you still have a prototype Hornet over there, P3 I think. I was in contact with the owner some years ago but have since lost contact with him.

[Humber-One-Ton Tom]

The Hornet is a way-out sci-fi machine that would not have looked at all out of place among the '60s & '70s UFO SHADO toys produced by Dinky.....