Thread: Morris truck restore project

Not much done on the Morris truck project recently, something always seems to get in the way, like caring for my 93 year old mother and preparing for the bush fire season and other stuff.

I need to do some minor chassis repairs first of all .

These trucks were fitted with different styles of bodies , most of them had a wooden cargo body with drop sides but just recently an original water bowser body has appeared for sale . It's a 200 gallon oval tank , the ancillaries are missing from the tank eg stuff like the water filters and taps . The water tank would be a cheaper option because If I did fit a wooden body, I would have to have the 7/8" thick boards milled from kiln dried timber , not cheap .

How well has the tank survived?

Originally Posted by caskwarrior

How well has the tank survived?

In remarkably good condition .
bowser2.jpgbowser.jpgbowser3.jpg

You did say you were preparing for the fire season. It would be handy for that.

Dean

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

You did say you were preparing for the fire season. It would be handy for that.

Dean

Yes a dual purpose vehicle, drive it to vintage car shows and also fight fires at home

Morrisman have you considered posting over at the HCVC website?

Originally Posted by .RC.

Morrisman have you considered posting over at the HCVC website?

Yep I do have a look there now and then. Trouble is, here in Aust. these military Morris trucks are pretty thin on the ground and most people have not heard of them or seen one. There are many more of these trucks surviving in the UK, compared to Australia . There are a few particular facebook pages that are set up for Morris and other British Commonwealth army vehicles , these I find are a very useful source of information

Here is a movie showing the water bowser in use . The vehicles in the film are Bedfords but the water tank is exactly the same as the Morris one

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F05257/

Originally Posted by Michael G

Don't overlook the ezy-out either as they can be surprisingly effective in some situations. The head studs should be helped with the application of some penetrating oil. The water jacket bolts will not be as obliging but at the same time I don't see any rust other than normal atmospheric stuff on the parts so they may surprise you and come out relatively easily (then again, they may surprise me and be an absolute pig as well)

Michael

Getting back to this project. I decided to use another engine block . I managed to remove the head studs without any drama, I made up a extractor . I heated the base of the studs to a dull red, applied some penetrant and let it cool a bit , they all came out without any issues i.e., no snapping off.

I have made a set of new valve guides out of the correct grade of cast iron. As I was hitting the old guides out, a small bit of the block casting that sits around the top of a guide broke off..OOPS It won't effect anything.

The small 6 mm water jacket bolts , most of them snapped off . I will have to drill out the remains and maybe re-tap in a larger thread. . this could turn into a nightmare.

BTW Morris used the metric system for their engines for many years , odd for a British company , it stems from when William Morris had his engines made by Hotchkiss in France.

Parts for this engine are just impossible to find, I will have to have a new head gasket made.

The big end bearings are poured babbit material. Somebody suggested it might be possible to machine the rods to accept modern slipper shell bearings. This mod. has been done on Chevrolets of the same period and is now very common.

Pic shows another engine but the stud removal procedure is the same as the Morris.

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Have you gotten the replacement tyres for it and were they easy to find? Going by the thickness of the tread area, it would take some nail to go through it.
Kryn

I found a set of new 900-16 tyres (not runflats) , Chinese brand,, I got a very good deal . The original WW2 style DUNLOP track GRIP tyres are now being made in small batches , only available in the UK. Cost of importing a set is beyond me.

For your headgaskets in particular - and all other gaskets unless you plan to cut them yourself - contract John at gasketstogo.com
They are excellent quality and reliable under John's control. He's the owner. He's American and very knowledgeable and fastidious. I've had probably 500 gaskets made by them over a period of 10 years when I supplied the only available gaskets for some classic motorbikes worldwide.