1964 Alvis Stalwart
Discussion
Thanking you all! If you could change the weather to be a bit less s
t that'd be fab 
Cracking job, the sound of an Alfa V6 stands out as one of the all time greats. They're a lovely looking engine too, does look a bit of a squeeze in there however! What did you take it out for?
I always find on engine out jobs it takes three times longer than you expect before it goes back in due to 'whilst I'm here' syndrome. May as well change that, may as well change this. Then you see your bank balance two months down the line and have a small heart attack
t that'd be fab Cracking job, the sound of an Alfa V6 stands out as one of the all time greats. They're a lovely looking engine too, does look a bit of a squeeze in there however! What did you take it out for?
I always find on engine out jobs it takes three times longer than you expect before it goes back in due to 'whilst I'm here' syndrome. May as well change that, may as well change this. Then you see your bank balance two months down the line and have a small heart attack
Head gaskets, cambelt and clutch. That combined with the need to replace the brake pipe behind the engine - which is absolutely impossible with the engine in. You’re right, it turns into an epic - particularly in the engine bay, you think, “I might as well clean this up” and before you know it, another part is in a million pieces. I really didn’t expect it to start, I was just aiming to circulate the oil a bit, and with no exhaust at all ... the noise was fantastic.
Top work! That is some devotion undertaking a big job like that. I would say only Alfa could have put a brake pipe in such a place, but looking underneath some of the more modern cars I've had up on the ramp recently the access from below is awful!
There's a lot to be said for that feeling of relief when all goes well and it runs perfectly from the off. When I put the engine back in the TVR it'd just had a fresh camshaft so it needed to start and run, then instantly go to 3000rpm for 25 minutes or so for the break in. That was a bit of a nervous moment!
On the Stolly front Matt has had the week off and in preparation for pushing her into the shed made a somewhat farmer but strong bumper bar with hitch on. We are borrowing an A bar off a guy on Saturday for the job.
I jacked the front up last night and dug a load of the dirt and muck out of the bottom of the hull with a shovel the diesel/water/sludge was then drained through the drain bung at the rear into a bucket. Nasty stuff, but has cleaned the floor suprisingly well!
There's a lot to be said for that feeling of relief when all goes well and it runs perfectly from the off. When I put the engine back in the TVR it'd just had a fresh camshaft so it needed to start and run, then instantly go to 3000rpm for 25 minutes or so for the break in. That was a bit of a nervous moment!
On the Stolly front Matt has had the week off and in preparation for pushing her into the shed made a somewhat farmer but strong bumper bar with hitch on. We are borrowing an A bar off a guy on Saturday for the job.
I jacked the front up last night and dug a load of the dirt and muck out of the bottom of the hull with a shovel
the diesel/water/sludge was then drained through the drain bung at the rear into a bucket. Nasty stuff, but has cleaned the floor suprisingly well!Well we've all worked bloody hard today. First thing we took a ride over to a mate of a mate's yard a mile up the road to pick up a military A bar for pushing her in the unit with. I knew he had a few toys, what I didn't realise was that he has around 5 tanks, Alvis Saracen, Gama Goat, Unimog, the list goes on!
We spent a bit too much time nosing round there needless to say but back to the task in hand.
Bedford all ready for service complete with home made hitch.
We pulled her over to the hosepipe first and hooked up the pressure washer. Unfortunately due to a fence in the way Matt and I actually pushed her by hand the last 6 feet. My back is still whinging at me for it now!
During the initial excavation process we unearthed a couple of Roman settlements and some interesting pottery.
A good few doses of neat TFR and several hours of pressure washing later... It's like a new one! We had to jack each end up so the water flowed out the drain holes at either end. It was pretty much a constant stream of brown, but very satisfying seeing how well a lot of the components have survived underneath the grease and dirt.
Finally it was time to push her into her new home. Unfortunately when we measured it, the door wasn't wide enough! The unit had an alarm fitted in a previous life and limited how far the sliding door could open, so with the light fading we removed the alarm and cut the stop block out from the door track. This gained us another 8 inches or so which was just enough to fit the beast in.
The Bedford was proving a bit of a pain to push it back due to the A bar being so short, when any steering lock was applied it acted like a lorry trailer jack knifing and they were extremely close to hitting each other's cab. Thankfully my Dad's big 70s ex USAF Dodge Power Wagon has a NATO hitch on the rear, so in 4WD low range it pushed her in beautifully, with a lovely amount of fine control through having an automatic gearbox.
It has scratched the paint in places, but we're in!
We spent a bit too much time nosing round there needless to say but back to the task in hand.
Bedford all ready for service complete with home made hitch.
We pulled her over to the hosepipe first and hooked up the pressure washer. Unfortunately due to a fence in the way Matt and I actually pushed her by hand the last 6 feet. My back is still whinging at me for it now!
During the initial excavation process we unearthed a couple of Roman settlements and some interesting pottery.
A good few doses of neat TFR and several hours of pressure washing later... It's like a new one! We had to jack each end up so the water flowed out the drain holes at either end. It was pretty much a constant stream of brown, but very satisfying seeing how well a lot of the components have survived underneath the grease and dirt.
Finally it was time to push her into her new home. Unfortunately when we measured it, the door wasn't wide enough! The unit had an alarm fitted in a previous life and limited how far the sliding door could open, so with the light fading we removed the alarm and cut the stop block out from the door track. This gained us another 8 inches or so which was just enough to fit the beast in.
The Bedford was proving a bit of a pain to push it back due to the A bar being so short, when any steering lock was applied it acted like a lorry trailer jack knifing and they were extremely close to hitting each other's cab. Thankfully my Dad's big 70s ex USAF Dodge Power Wagon has a NATO hitch on the rear, so in 4WD low range it pushed her in beautifully, with a lovely amount of fine control through having an automatic gearbox.
It has scratched the paint in places, but we're in!
Some days I despair of the nonsense threads on PH, and then something like this comes along....a madly complicated and brilliant machine, a. technically talented keeper, and everyone rooting for the OP and willing to provide any information they have..
Superb project and a wonderful thread. Will follow it with great interest.
Superb project and a wonderful thread. Will follow it with great interest.
minivanman said:
Now the real fun begins! Good to see she's in good shape under all the crud.
That's always the question, isn't it? Has a thick layer of grease and crud kept the substrate perfectly preserved, or has it just acted as a poultice to corrode it away to nothing, while also being the only thing keeping joints tight etc.Thanks so much chaps, I'm glad it's of interest and a bit different, not to sound arsey but I do get a bit tired of the 'shiny and leased' threads on here sometimes
I can assure you being old and British it won't take much use to self preserve and cover itself in oil and crap again!
It'll be a few years yet but I'd quite like to have a proper unveiling when we do get it moving again, get some PH members along for beers and Stalwarting, have a go behind the wheel and so on.
Possibly in the future Rick, the Dodge has been a bit of a slow burner as Dad bought it as a running truck but unfortunately the previous owner was a complete prat. I've been slowly undoing all of his bodges over the past year or so when I get a minute to spare. The engine was removed to replace a rear crank seal that was pissing out faster than you could pour it in, there were a few headaches along the way with that. I removed the headlight bulkhead panel and found absolutely terminal rust in the bottom of it where it bolts through the chassis, previous owner had simply lathered waxoyl all over it as thick as possible to try and hide it! It took some major weldathon surgery to put that right, including fabricating two new stepped inner wings. I won't say they're the prettiest effort as bodywork isn't really my 'thing' but they certainly won't fall off. Next step is getting the rear lights working properly as he's tapped into the connections for the trailer socket to get power, and chock blocked/insulation taped his way right around the whole lot. I'm still scratching my head now looking at the wiring diagram.
I can assure you being old and British it won't take much use to self preserve and cover itself in oil and crap again!
It'll be a few years yet but I'd quite like to have a proper unveiling when we do get it moving again, get some PH members along for beers and Stalwarting, have a go behind the wheel and so on.
Possibly in the future Rick, the Dodge has been a bit of a slow burner as Dad bought it as a running truck but unfortunately the previous owner was a complete prat. I've been slowly undoing all of his bodges over the past year or so when I get a minute to spare. The engine was removed to replace a rear crank seal that was pissing out faster than you could pour it in, there were a few headaches along the way with that. I removed the headlight bulkhead panel and found absolutely terminal rust in the bottom of it where it bolts through the chassis, previous owner had simply lathered waxoyl all over it as thick as possible to try and hide it! It took some major weldathon surgery to put that right, including fabricating two new stepped inner wings. I won't say they're the prettiest effort as bodywork isn't really my 'thing' but they certainly won't fall off. Next step is getting the rear lights working properly as he's tapped into the connections for the trailer socket to get power, and chock blocked/insulation taped his way right around the whole lot. I'm still scratching my head now looking at the wiring diagram.
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