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	21 October So we find out why the handbrake wasn't much use. A leaking gearbox oil seal doesn't aid friction! The spanner didn't actually undo the nut, it just helped to lock the brake drum - it's an old Great Western Railway spanner that comes in useful now and again. That took most of the evening. I took the mounting brackets off the gearbox and removed the front bumper. Once the engine is out, I need to think about the front axle as the swivel seal plates look really rusty. I have stripped the swivels down previously but it's not a nice job.
	23 October Slow progress tonight. The photo is looking at the front of the left rear wheel arch. All bolts on the rear of the tub undone and the right hand rear wheel arch cover plate removed - in surprisingly good condition. Then it was time to tackle the front mounting points for the tub. I had to melt the underseal off to get at the bolts. There is a bracket on the other side of the wheel arch and this came off. I can't get the seat belt mountings off - the right hand side came away with the aluminium body. Water has got under the underseal and has rotted the ally nicely. There's also 2 bolts pointing downwards that engage with the chassis arm. I've cut away part of the chassis on one side to get at the nuts. Just got to do the other side on the next session
	The last 2 bolts holding the tub on came apart allowing the tub to come off. The rot seems to be confined to the area around the wheel arches.
	27 October Engine out this weekend. The only things left were the mounting brackets. The inside of the rocker box didn't look too healthy and I reckon that there is a leak in the cylinder head gasket.
	29 October Slow progress tonight. Bought a load of building blocks so that I can get the axles off the chassis. Then spent the evening getting spring bolts undone. Good job I bought a breaker bar at the weekend! Had to spend a long time getting a split pin out of the rear differential and managed to break one of my pin punches in the process.
	30 October The back axle is now off and the springs are off the axle. The U bolts were pretty well rusted on and took some effort to undo. All of the shackle bolts are undone on the front. Now I've got to work out how to solve the problem of moving the jack so I can get the axle out. Both pedal boxes are now stripped down ready to go to the paint shop. They are quite impressive really with proper bushes and lubrication points.
	1 November So front axle out and ready for stripping. Off to Yorkshire today. First to Bingley and Triple S powder coating to drop off a load of odd bits for powder coating. Triple S have done both of my bikes and the front suspension on the MG. Good stuff. Then onto the wilds of the moors to the west of Halifax and David Beaumont gearboxes. The old mill looks a bit grim but inside looks the stuff. I'll be picking up both sets of bits next Friday.
	2 November Front axle strip down time and a bit of a grim job. It seems to be impossible to get all of the oil out before you start so there always seems to be something dripping. The first big problem is the driving member on the end of the half shafts and I couldn't find out much about this. This is different to the civvy version, presumably because the military thought that the standard sticking out hubs were going to get knocked off. I couldn't work out how to get these off - the lightweight parts manual is useless here because it doesn't show the right bits. I got some levers out but they couldn't shift it. In the end, and in desperation, I got the blowtorch out and burnt off some of the layers of paint. It was only then that I could see a fine line about 2mm from the end of the driving member. A thin screwdriver opened up the gap. The outer cap screws into the half shaft. Spin this off and the driving member can be prised off. Fortunately, I kept the big 52mm box spanner from its last use 20 years ago and the hub nuts came off without difficulty.
	Here's the hub and brake plate removed. Shortly after this I had a disaster. The swivel to axle bolts were really hard to undo and I managed to knock the whole lot off the axle stands. Of course there was some oil left and this got all over the floor. It does look as if I'm going to have to do something about the swivels as the faces look like they are pitted. Next time (if ever!) I would leave the axles on the vehicle and strip them down in situ. I shall be glad to finish this bit.
	3 November Well I reckon I'm virtually at the bottom of the dismantling curve - it can only get better from here as I survey a shed full of scrap iron. The rear axle came apart a lot more easier than the front. The big problem was the rear differential where some very strange nuts had been used. A 9/16" AF socket did a couple of them, a metric socket did a few more but the rest took a 1/2" socket hammered onto the nut. Still it's all apart now. Tomorrow, I'm going to start cleaning springs and then the axles.

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144 records found. Page 4 of 15 displayed.