9th August - Chassis in the yard and now 'battleship gery'

The likely lads managed to move the chassis last Monday evening and it is now ensconced in the courtyard.

Being away all week then followed by the crud weather I was grateful to have two days of sun this weekend. I made the most of it and managed to get two coats of galv primer applied.

So here it is in it's battleship grey splendour and ready for a final top coat next weekend if the weather sorts itself out again (it's Summer for godsakes...isn't it?)



Also a decision has been made on the paint for the bodywork etc. After a discussion on the HMVF I have decided on BS381C-224. Protega Containergard in Deep Bronze Green with a sheen/semi-gloss. Bought from Smith & Allen for £45 delivered for about 5 litres. More than enough for two LR's?

Also I have been having another sniff at finding out more about the military origins of Trigger. The best source I have found for older LR's seems to be the HMVF and the thread below has turned up a bit more info on South Eastern Command (which it turns out later became know as South Eastern District).

http://www.hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?t=14135

2nd August - The old chassis is no more!

The plan today was for both Minivin and myself to head up to Swindon for the Sodbury Sortout ....which we then found out had been cancelled! :( So my planned order of paint will have to go by phone it seems.

Anyway to make use of the spare time and as the weather was unusually clear and warm it seemed daft not to crack on with the task in hand. So with the old rolling chassis sitting in the drive the remaining bits were removed, axles cut out (most of the bolts were rusted solid in the spring bushes) and the whole chassis cut up ready for the scrap man.

So from this...........



A 109 chassis can be reduced to this in 3 hours with the help of a 9" grinder and 5x 2mm cutting disks....



What was interesting (from an anoraky persepective at least)was the internal condition of the chassis rails. The rails on the front half of the chassis were in surprisingly good condition for a ~45 year old vehicle. The original dip paint finish had started to peel and there was only slight surface corrosion at the base of the rail. But the rear half of the chassis was completely different. Serious spalling had occurred and you could easily see that the original material was now around 0.5mm thick - and had then been plated over where it had holed. It appears that this 109 had been used to maybe launch boats in a salty environment in the past? It had belonged to a Co. working on canal boats for many years but they had been working in fresh water...or maybe not?

At the end of the day the minimum it would have required was a rear half chassis and a repair to the drivers side front dumb iron assembly. As the former is no longer available a full chassis is the only option....bank manager withstanding!

STOP PRESS!!!! -- A 'team' of trusty fellows have been press-ganged into being over my place at 1900 tomorrow to shift the new chassis.