1949 Dennis F1 Fire Truck Restoration

With coil ignition the light is wired to come on when ignition switch is 'on' and no +ve charge is happening. With magneto there would be a different arrangement.The missing bit is usually a fiddly round thing. Virtually all pommy vehicles with Lucas gear were wired much the same. CAV was owned by Lucas and was the brand for commercial vehicles. A more modern regulator would do the job just as well if yours is busted - though yours looks quite clean.

Bugly, depending on the radious of the hole for the red light, dare I say, that the early KW's used some fairly large red lights on the dash that maybe of similar diamiter, not that I would sugest that melding pommie prince of darkness with american hardware will keep in with being absolutly origonal.

Thanks for the input, guys! Based on this I had a bit more of a poke around the dash switches tonight.

Beaver, you're spot on. Yes, the big switch had a third position, and according to my meter switches to the left as OFF - SIDE - HEAD. The small switch also switches to the left, and according to the wiring diagram hooks 12V+ to the coil, starter button and fuel gauge. This is logical if as Beaver suggests it is the ignition switch. This also switches 12V+ to one side of the warning light. All switched positions test OK with my trusty meter, so this is a good condition unit.

Now, Beaver says that on some trucks the warning light is an "ignition on" lamp, while on others it is a battery charging light. Spot on again Beaver, as one of my wiring diagrams shows the other side of the lamp being wired to earth, and on another, it shows the lamp wired to the regulator. Mammoth, you are also right on this, as when wired to the regulator the light would monitor the difference between the battery voltage and the regulator voltage, and would light up with the difference. The greater the difference, the brighter the glow. I think I'll wire it up this way. Can always wire it up the other way at any time just to be different! I even found the bulb for the warning light floating around inside the switch, and it checks OK on the meter.

And Bigcam, the hole for the lens is 3/4'' with a fine thread. So if a KW one is this size, then this would do fine. I'll have a hunt and see if I can borrow one and try it for size. All solely in the interests of stronger anglo/american relationships. I know Dennis won't be 100% original, but it will certainly look the part.

And Beaver, further to the earlier post on the AMAL fuel pump, I have on the way an M03102/A AMAL lift pump kit off the shelf from Mainline Diesel Engineering in Queensland. A Gardiner part, as you correctly advised. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

More to follow ...

I rarely place too much faith in factory wiring diagrams as Brigade electricians have a bad habit of changing things around to suit themselves. Definitely in NSWFB, maybe Darwin was a bit more conservative

Sorry Bugsy, the KW light measures 1"

Thanks bigcam, it was worth a look anyway! Something will turn up, or I'll make something up to suit!

Beaver, I think firies workshops all over had the ability to twitch 'em up or wire 'em on just to keep the engines on the run. Sort of similar to what I'm doing I suppose!

Got a parcel in todays mail ... this'll be a real flash-as fire truck this one will! I now need to measure the resistance of my sender unit to try and get a gauge to suit. I need to sort the gauges out before I start the engine up for the first time, for obvious reasons!

I decided that there had to be a way to get to the fuel sender unit without dropping the tank. I slid under the truck to feel all around the tank, and measured up the location of the sender so I could later measure down from the top. I found that the sender was immediately below the partition between the rear lockers and the front cab, and directly under the 100 gallon water tank. Couldn

There will be quite a bit on the truck which will not be quite ridgy-didge original. Like the air cleaner, but that will be revealed in another post. Still working on it!

Apparently Dennis was never fitted with an air cleaner. Instead, there was a plate mounted over the down-draught carburettor inlet which prevented debris being sucked in, but that was it. At some stage the original carburettor has been changed to a Stromberg type off an old Holden, so I though what better air cleaner could there be than an old Holden oil bath type? Modified of course!

eBay came to the fore with an FC-FE Holden air cleaner. I tried it for size

Update on the Dennis engine ... I finally had time today to finish drilling out the old side cover bolts. Then I tapped the holes to 5/16" UNC, and trial-fitted the old cover plate over the new side plate using the new stainless steel bolts. All went together nicely, but I did have to elongate one hole a little to stop it binding when bolting up. The inner plate now has a pilot hole ready for drilling and tapping for the brass fitting for the capiliary-type water temperature sender. The outer plate (the original cover) is holed to provide a clearance to the brass fitting. When I finally bolt everything up tight, I will make a rubber seal to fit in the recessed area between the two plates, which will stop it filling with dust, dirt, water or oil.

So another little job nearly finished! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]



More to follow ...

Bugly, you're a master of the black art of restoration. By the time you've got this old Dennis on the road, I can see you'll be writing a book on restoration ..