Theft delays work

Progress was delayed tonight whilst repairs to the workshop roof were undertaken after some bastards stole the lead ridge section. Some of the final machining operations were then carried out on the last few bits needed for the rolling chassis this weekend.

Wheels

In answer M.Dubois, we are to use wire wheels on this expedition. Although it would look fantastic putting it back on wooden wheels we feel wire are rather more reliable and ,of course, easily available.
Oli

Todays Work

Restored the chaindrive rear radius/torque arms today..... Cleaned, painted and new back nuts from our usual supplier Arun Fastners. Got the engine back into the chassis and the whole thing is now resting on it's own axles - should be rolling by weekend. More machined parts arrived from the Northampton this evening by special delivery : parts of rear hubs and brake backplate mountings which have been re-worked.

Tonight I find that Cotes du Rhone tickles my mouth a bit!! Strange.

More Machining

Another few hours work finished. Modified the rear hubs and backplate adapters to remove some unnecessary weight and to fit lip seals. These modern lip seals replace the old felt seals and should help to keep some of the sand out in the Gobi desert!

No Show

A media meeting scheduled for today had to unfortunately be cancelled due to excessive consumption by one Miss N. Ody. Disgraceful at that age.

A BAD DAY

Started early but hadn't got the right material to machine the differential to main gearbox connector.
Moved on to strip the gearbox down and found a badly worn and bent selector which I will have to build up tomorrow with braze.
Good thing is that these Mors gearbox and diff units are really nicely made.

More Machining

Just finished another shift on the lathe and the rear axle assembly is progressing well......if all goes to plan tomorrow I should be able to move on to the Bridgeport next week!

GEARBOX TO DIFFERENTIAL

Off to the machine shop to finally machine gearbox to diff connector before William arrives to monopolise the big lathe for the weekend. Hope to finally get the transmission aligned today.

The Lathe Work Continues.....

Work on the rear axle continues with plenty of machining. Unfortunately one large chunk of steel has just exited the chuck at 760rpm and a considerable amount of momentum.......

The White Horse Inn

One must not forget to mention our most important supplier - the White Horse Inn at Sutton.

Skinner

I'd like to make it clear that Sandy Skinner will NOT be taken out of the country - we can't get an export licence for him.

Website goes live!

Today the www.pekingparisraid.co.uk website has been launched!

Starter motor mounting

Engine now in chassis and with Sud Major (our short name for Guillaume Sud le Baron de Petworth) fabricated the starter motor housing which will be mounted to the chassis. Fitted the clutch cover plate after centering the centre plate using a dummy shaft. Things going rather well at this point!

Crank now in and Sump on!

Work has intervened and today first time back on the engine for 2 weeks. Oliver getting very cross as he needs to finally determine the mounting positions and the relative position of gearbox to engine. Got the the crank in and it's surprisingly difficult to turn once torqued up but we do have 8 new pistons each 4" diameter to move up and down in their bores. Hope all is ok. Sump on with new bolts and spring washers. Flywheel on and looking good. Torqued up the flywheel nut, hoping my crankshaft thread will be ok, to 350 ft lbs (me on end of 2ft spanner!) . Oliver and the other boys have been at some party at Shelsley Walsh over the weekend and thankfully he looked pleased on his rather hung over return.