1948 Fordson E83W pickup

Clarry now has new wheel bearings and brake linings on all four corners, with the skimmed front drums fitted up. The front wheels are on, all brakes adjusted, and the toe-in set to between 1/16" and 1/8" (as per the good book). I spent the afternoon refitting all the brake rods and couplings to see how worn things were and what I needed to replace. Looks like I just need a dozen or so new clevis pins and it'll be lovely!

What a difference this work has all made to the steering!! When I first wheeled Clarry into the workshop I could hardly turn it at the steering wheel. Even with the steering box removed and Clarry on the axle stands it took a huge effort to turn the wheels from left to right. Now it is beautifully free. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

...good luck to you Bugly, and it's very nice too see her coming up so well... keep up the good work mate...cheers

I felt brave enough tonight to take the head off Clarry's engine and have a peep inside. I haven't stripped it down at all, but besides needing a decoke, from what I can see the bores look OK, there is hardly any piston slap, and although there is one valve stuck open, none of the valves look to be burnt around the edges. When I've got some more time I'll turn it upside down, drop the sump off and have a look at the crankshaft.

Geez, you don't see rebuild data stamped to the engine like that anymore. How handy would that be?

Have you had the engine running before? It looks like its been running a bit rich and maybe burning a little oil. The two back cylinders appear to be burning a little hotter too. It may be a little obvious, but check the valve springs on the open valves. If they've been compressed for a while they can loose their tension and stay, well, compressed. Also check the valves for side to side movement- side valves are notorious for wearing out valve guides.

Everything else is looking really good, can't wait to see him finished.

Thanks for the comments DD, and I'll certainly check out your suggestions. When I picked up Clarry from Queensland this time last year I started him up ok. It wasn't running too smoothly, but with the #1 inlet valve stuck open that would have explained it. I only had it running long enough to know that it fired up and ran, then I shut it down.

It's quite possible that the engine hasn't done much work since the latest rebuild, as I can't feel any ridge at all at the top of the bore.

Good looking "in service" engine there Bugly.
Even the cooling/ watery parts look good.

It must have been a happy moment and great relief to pop the top and see so much of the right stuff in the right place and in such good condition.

Talk of valves, valve guides and springs, piston slap and bore ridges.
Mk I eyeball observation of running rich and lean,
hands on poking and prodding of bits to determine physical condition.
Ah, good old fashioned simple, basic mechanic-ing.

And not a computer in sight.
Your part of a fast disappearing tribe of figure it out and fix it kind of guys.
Well done, Good work.
Salute.

Watching watching,

-b

I took the gearbox off Clarry's engine today. The clutch thrust bearing and spline all look OK, but need a good clean. There is a spigot bearing still packed full of grease which looks almost new, but there is what looks like a broken tooth of the ring gear sitting in the bottom, with part of the starter throw-out spring.

The pressure plate also looks fairly new, and the clutch plate the same. Hmm ... maybe this has had a bit of work done to it before it was fitted to Clarry! The engine and gearbox are not the original Fordson van ones, but according to the engine number were once fitted to an early 1950s Ford Prefect E93A which was almost identical. That would explain the bodgey mounts for the engine radius rods too.

With the clutch off the flywheel, there are two broken bolts in the clutch housing visible. A quick measurement shows that the fixing bolts are the same as the pressure plate fixing bolts, and are either 5/16 BSW or UNC. Both are 18TPI, the only difference is the BSW is 55 deg thread pitch and the UNC 60 degrees. No matter, I had a 5/16 UNC tap, so I re-tapped the holes to clean them up. Now all I need is a couple of 5/16 UNC nuts to weld to the broken bolts and hopefully the broken thread will unscrew. Cross fingers.

Those are so close to other holes, they're not locating dowels, are they?

Those are so close to other holes, they're not locating dowels, are they?

I to think those 2 are locating dowels as the gearbox has not got any other way of location like a spigot. ? Do they go into a blind hole.

Looking at the picture of the ring gear you can see the broken tooth I remember a while back someone posting up about a place that had some NOS ring gears and another place that had them in a catalog.

Trevor

Those are so close to other holes, they're not locating dowels, are they?

I to think those 2 are locating dowels as the gearbox has not got any other way of location like a spigot. ? Do they go into a blind hole.

Looking at the picture of the ring gear you can see the broken tooth I remember a while back someone posting up about a place that had some NOS ring gears and another place that had them in a catalog.

Trevor

Hi guys - definitely broken bolts complete with threads The holes immediately above these are the dowel holes, with the dowels fixed to the gearbox housing. You're right Trev, the broken tooth is off the ring gear showing in the hole ... this is right at the spot that the starter sits. There are a couple of places that sell the ring gears - the 'upright Fords' or side-valve Fords are popular (excuse the pun) enough for lots of wearable after-market parts to be remanufactured, especially engine parts.