Bedford TK

[awemawson]

You'd be very lucky to find a helicoil wound from material that is exactly the the thickness of the difference of the two threads in question, but if you did, then yes it should work.

 

[mylesdw]

I did some reading on the subject, the taps used for helicoiling are a special type:

• 
  "A "Screw Thread Insert Tap" (also known as an STI Tap) is designed specifically to be used in the installation of some types of thread inserts, including HeliCoils. An STI tap is different than a standard fastener thread tap; they can not be used interchangeably."

"To illustrate the difference between a standard tap and an STI tap...

A standard tap used to create threads for a 1/2" NF fastener has a major diameter of .500" with a pitch of 20 threads per inch.

The corresponding STI tap for that particular insert has the same thread pitch of 20 threads per inch, but has a larger major diameter. (In this example, the STI tap major diameter measures .568".)"

 

[mylesdw]

Air filter and ducting to the inlet manifold refitted

 

[mylesdw]

This weekend I have been wresting with the headlining and putting in some more sound/heat insulation. This is Dynamat Xtreme and consists of a heavy aluminium foil and a sticky bitumen layer. Quite nice to work with it forms to the various panel shapes quite easily and the bitumen sticks well to just about anything. I started off carefully making templates for everything and soon realised that it would take WAY too long doing it that way so I went for a more crazy-paving approach which works well and has very little waste. You can use the off-cuts to double-seam the joints and make fillets for the angles.

 

[mylesdw]

The rebuilt seat frame in place on some aluminium spacers which I made on the lathe to match the height of the originals which all refused to budge and snapped off.



and the last bushes for the throttle linkage arrived so I assembled that.

This is the area directly under the throttle pedal



Then I started it up! Very undramatic; I didn't bleed it through or anything, just turned the key, it started instantly and sat there ticking over!

A drip of diesel started coming from the bottom of the injector pump but after a few minutes it seemed to stop. Also a couple of leaks in the heater circuit to sort out, otherwise all seems good!

 

[mylesdw]

It starts so very easily that I am considering some sort of lock-out so that you can't just reach into the cab to start it. Tractors often have some sort or arrangement to do this.

 

[colnerov]

It starts so very easily that I am considering some sort of lock-out so that you can't just reach into the cab to start it. Tractors often have some sort or arrangement to do this.

I think it's called a farmers maintenance budget.

 

[mylesdw]

Picked up the seats from the trimmers. He's done a great job but the $1000 bill was a bit eye-watering.

 

[Mark E]

$1000? Damn! Can you not get some Recaro leather racing seats?

Or were you going for authenticity?

 

[Dieselman 63]

Anything decent seems to cost a fortune here. $16 each handle to rechrome on my drill, and $28 for the lever. Feel your pain!

 

[mylesdw]

It's pretty much a brand new seat, everything new starting from this

and apparently a lot more work than a simple repair and re-cover.

He mentioned that putting all the springs and base back in is a lot of work.

I'm philosophical about it - you save loads of money doing everything yourself so it doesn't matter too much if you get the occasional over-spend.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Oh I see - that's more work than I thought, and if it's a good job then I look at it like every year you pay half then a third etc, if you have good seats for 20 years then that's only $50, a dollar a week and you'd gladly pay that!

 

[Bobo]

if you have good seats for 20 years then that's only $50, a dollar a week and you'd gladly pay that!

And bearing in mind I presume it wont be getting used commercially anymore then they should last even longer than another 20yrs...

You're doing a lovely job on the old girl.
Very nice indeed...

 

[mylesdw]

I'm sorry it's all rather boring at the moment but here goes...

I freed up and repainted the fresh-air flap. It sits under the cab floor just behind the front grill. I added foam draft excluder around the edge



But the fit is so bad it does nothing, this is it 'shut'



I'm not sure whether to have a go at adjusting the spring/hinge mechanism or just add more foam

 

[Robotstar5]

Are you sure the flap's not off a Land Rover?

 

[DAPPH]

How I hated those sodding air vent flaps on the RL's & TK's on military vehicles as well as civilian ones ... both as a mechanic and also as a driver ..it's no fun driving about when it's minus 20 oC or so and the flap will not close because it's rusted up solid or the hinge has sheared off due to the hidden the rust or it was is totally missing . I've driven many miles during sub zero weather with an old army blanket draped over the engine cowl and tied to the trailer air brake control lever so it hangs across my feet to try & not get frost bite .

It didn't always work ........I got a nice cream cheese frost bite in both feet when it was close on minus 27 oC up near Fensburg in 1976 , it still plays me up too all these years later .

 

[Mark E]

Is the mechanism assembled correctly? Could that angled bracket go inside the hinge instead? Looks like a terrible design!

 

[mylesdw]

I don't think you can assemble it any other way. I took it off over the weekend and bent the hinges slightly; it shuts a lot better now.

The whole heater and its mechanism is total ****e! I tried to take it apart the other day to swap the 12V fan motor for a 24V and found that you can't get the housing to bits without un-soldering the water fittings. The whole thing is such a bodge, like something that Blue Peter might have made. It really isn't surprising that the whole industry went down the pan.

 

[brewdexta]

My old TVR was always damp, the heater was a Smiths and it had the heating capacity of an asthmatic fart so the windows were constantly misting up and neve cleared. I took the heater matrix and fan off a VW Golf and made an adapter out of a biscuit tin and a soldering iron so it replaced the old unit directly. Worked a treat, three fan speeds that actually did something.

Smiths heaters remind me of those crap bog fans from Manrose that do sod all apart from making a racket so you can't even poo in peace

 

[slim_boy_fat]

so the windows were constantly misting up and neve cleared.

That couldn't have been down to what you were getting up to in there, could it?