Oh well, a few more bits done and as ever, some forward motion then some backward to make up for it!
Having managed to get the oil changed the other day, the search for a filter housing seal goes on! It was great to sit there watching the tsunami of filthy, warm oil dropping out of the sump (remind me when it was last changed??) and the filter came out easily enough too, replete with much sludge. Then, in with 11 litres of tasty new SAE 30 Golden Film oil from Morris Lubricants. But, the filter housing seal was way to big for the housing and the seal with the new filter is a flat card type not the narrow rubber version. A quick email to RSOLES confirmed that I need a new seal. Oh well, at least the new 17 litre drop pan with spout came in useful!!
Anyway, a quick check of the two-tone horns was then done as the compressor seems to work but no noise is created. A fellow owner at the weekend mentioned that the diaphram at the backs of the horns might be knackered but a quick check revealed otherwise, so the hunt goes on...
All the extra new canvas hose is now in place, so I have a little over what it had on Op Fresco:
With having played with the flashing orange emergency lights at the front, I then moved to wondering whether the original rear tail / stop lights also worked. Whizzing the painted red lenses off reveled no bulbs, so I have now ordered 2 LED bulbs via eBay for those to see if they work and provide extra rear light - useful with a slow moving vehicle! I also scratched the silver paint from the original reflectors too and removed the old Lucas reflectors as I've ordered new plastic versions of them:
The lenses came up a treat revealing the art decco patterns on!
That done, I then removed the old ignition / headlight switch as it faulty and the lights keep flickering on and off when you touch it. The wires are old but intact so I think it's had it - still, 57 years service isn't bad! A quick call to the helpful chap at Bygone Bedford Bits resulted in a new switch unit with new plastic switch and two new ignition keys going off into the post. That said, removing the old switch was a real pain! With the dash panel off, couldn't quite get in from the cab to undo it nor from the bonnet outside. Much swearing later, it did come off ready for replacement...
I also took the metal surround off the dash panel - the gaffer tape holding it on looked sooo last decade! Mind, I did find out why it was stuck on - the press-on badge fasteners at the back were all missing, two were lying on the bottom of the panel. So a quick search resulted in new 4mm badge fixes from Bresco, though what I'm going to do with 45 of them is a mystery! A quick eBay search also resulted in some new pedal rubbers, luckily mine are shared with the Bedford TK so are reasonably cheap!
I also removed the rear number plate to clean and had hoped to get the panel off to clean the lenses etc but was defeated by two of the screws which are rusted solid...
The following pic shows the nicely cleaned up dash surround, a little bit of work with some white spirit and a screwdriver to remove the paint and also the engine oil filter housing. Like lots of the underneath, this was looking a bit sorry for itself, so a wipe with some white spirit followed by a bath in my volcanic hot water aided by some washing up liquid and a metal pan scourer removed all the grime, oil and rust leaving a smooth clean surface to paint - winner!
Anyway, enough already, as the Americans say....
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