Inter 170-952

[Ravvin]

Hi all.
I collected my MK3 from the shipping mob that brought it over to Devonport from Melbourne today. What a drama. The sooner we get a bridge, the better.
Of course, it's in a lot worse condition than I expected from the photos, but I'm still glad I got it before it was scrapped.
I intend to restore it to original, as much as is practical and I am capable of. It's going to take me a long time, but I think it is worth it.
I want to document what I do to restore it, because for me, thats half the fun. I'll start a new topic once I start and use this one to show you all what it is currently like.
As you can see in the pic below, the plate shows it is Chassis 771, Contract C112115, Census 6069B, August 1964. 28,653 miles on the speedo. I'll check the engine number
tomorrow and see if it matches the REMLR records. From what I can tell, it's original ARN would have been 170-952.


The first issue I found when unloading it off the tilt-tray was that the handbrake was seized. I couldn't budge it at all. Also, I had to pump the clutch
to build up enough pressure to get it out of gear. I had expected that as the seller told me he had pulled the master cylinder apart as it was sticking
and that he hadn't got to bleed it before the transport company arrived.
Once in neutral it rolled off nicely. As you can see in the pic below, there were also some issues with the fuel supply. He had put fuel in both tanks
but the manual prime on the fuel pump wouldn't pull it through. The tank valve/switch behind the seat is also seized. I had a quick look earlier
and I think the 2 flexible fuel hoses from the valve/switch have perished and broken. Easy fix.
His solution was to put a 20L drum of petrol on the passenger side floor and run a pipe down to the fuel pump.
Works beautifully, but might upset the purists. And anyone with a sense of smell. Or personal safety.


Once the tilt-tray guy had left and I was sure there was nobody else around to laugh at my choice of vehicle to restore, I figured I had
better see if it would start so I could move it down to the far end of the paddock, closest to my house. I tried pulling out the choke, but it was seized.
I flicked the ignition on, hit the button and it started almost on the first revolution. The noise was incredible. I'm not going to be trundling around the paddock early any morning in this.
Interestingly, it has the newer 2-pipe exhaust and manifold. As you can see in the pic below, I will have to replace the muffler.


I sat there, slowly going deaf, waiting to build up air pressure, when I realised the buzzer wasn't doing anything. Neither was the air gauge.
The light under it was blinking though. I figured that maybe the drain valve was open on the tank, but it wasn't. I tried to crack it to see if there was any pressure,
but it was seized. I tried the tyre inflator valve but it was seized closed too. I was starting to see a pattern here. I thought maybe the fan belt was off, but it wasn't.
I'm now thinking it is likely to be an issue with the compressor or the governor. What do you all think?
This truck sat a long time before being started, so it may just be something sticking. I'll have to free up all the sticking valves and sort out the electrics with the gauges
and buzzer as a priority as I want to go over the brake system in case I have to move it.
The oil pressure was right in the middle of the gauge and there didn't seem to be any smoke coming from anything, so I figured I better move it before the exhaust set the long grass on fire.
I don't know if other Inters are like this, but it was REALLY hard to get into 1st gear. I could get it into all the others but it seemed as if the exhaust manifold was in the way.
The linkages are really stiff as they are all caked with ancient grease and gunge. The transfer case would go into high 2 or 4 but not low. Flipping the air valve did nothing. No air.
With lots of shoving and jiggling, I got into 1st and started a slow trundle of the paddock and the chest-high grass. The steering was heavy but smooth, no clunks or grinding noises. I even managed a 3 point turn.
There were grinding noises there. I need to bleed the clutch before anyone hears me grinding the pointy bits off the gearbox.
As you can see in the pic below, the roof has been stood on and dented down, allowing water to pool. This has caused some custom ventilation ports to form in the roof.
Cutting and patching these are a priority as I want to get the cab sealed up so I can sand it all back, etch prime and repaint it inside and out. It will also keep the spiders out.
We get these huge red flat spiders here that seem to squeeze through the tightest gaps and I hate the things.

The drivers and captives windows are in good condition. The left side one seemed to be missing at first, but it had just done that thing Landrovers do
and the glass had pulled out of the lifting channel. 5 mins with a screwdriver fixed that. The left side windscreen is cracked but the drivers side is good.
I'll have to start making a list of bits I need to scrounge up.
I'll add another post shortly with info on the rest of the truck.

Thanks for looking.

Greg

[Mick_Marsh]

Wow. She's a beaut.
I'll be keenly following this thread.

[GGG]

The problem with first gear brings back memories. Once the linkages became a little worn the exhaust manifold or, if I remember correctly, one of the bolts, stopped it going across far enough. Of the half dozen or so that I drove only one would go into first without any argument. Workshops didn't generally regard such problems as high priority.
Interesting that you could select Hi 4 without air although I would never have tried it so can't really comment. That was in fact a mod. The ones at the school at Pucka still had a manual interlock which hardly ever worked unless your co-driver was willing to climb under with a pair of pliers to help it along. 
Drivers learnt quickly which terminal on the strip between the windscreens was the buzzer. Mind you it wasn't a good idea to get caught playing those games.
Although I much preferred the F1 to drive I hope that you get it going. They are all good fun. I had a drive of a Mk 4 a couple of years ago which was interesting. They had only just started to appear when I got out.
I will be following your progress with interest.

GGG

[Diana Alan]

Hi all.
I collected my MK3 from the shipping mob that brought it over to Devonport from Melbourne today. What a drama. The sooner we get a bridge, the better.
Of course, it's in a lot worse condition than I expected from the photos, but I'm still glad I got it before it was scrapped.
I intend to restore it to original, as much as is practical and I am capable of. It's going to take me a long time, but I think it is worth it.

<snip: text and 3 images removed>
 
As you can see in the pic below, the roof has been stood on and dented down, allowing water to pool. This has caused some custom ventilation ports to form in the roof.
Cutting and patching these are a priority as I want to get the cab sealed up so I can sand it all back, etch prime and repaint it inside and out. It will also keep the spiders out.
We get these huge red flat spiders here that seem to squeeze through the tightest gaps and I hate the things.

The drivers and captives windows are in good condition. The left side one seemed to be missing at first, but it had just done that thing Landrovers do
<snip:text and 1 image removed>
Thanks for looking.

Greg

Greg Eek

I thought my roof was bad and therefore the truck undrivable!



You may be better looking for a replacement roof skin.

Diana

[Diana Alan]

You have 15 months to have it ready for Corowa Swim-In 2016 "Year of the International"

(Happy now, its still 15 months)

[Mick_Marsh]

You have 15 months to have it ready for Corowa Swim-In 2015 "Year of the International"

That would be 2016.
Take note Kyle.

[dkg001]

Your air problems may be leaks in the lines,I had the same problem with one of my F2's and initially suspected the compressor or governor, changed both of them with spares I had, but didn't fix the problem. In the end I plumbed the workshop air compressor into the trucks air line, with 120psi in the system the air leaks were obvious.

[Ravvin]

Thanks all.
GGG, interesting that you mention the wiring strip between the windscreens. I've just come in from having a further look over it, trying to decide where to start, and I noticed that in the past, someone has been playing with the wiring there. Half are disconnected and there is a power cable hooked in to suit a Uniden CB, with a bracket nearby. I'm guessing one of the disconnected ones is the buzzer.
I had the engine cover off, trying to see any obvious issues that would stop the compressor compressing, but everything in that area looks fine. There's nothing hanging off or obviously missing. The passenger's side made me pause. There's a pull toggle for the choke, which is seized but is now soaking in penetrant, but there's a spare hole in the panel next to this and half a cable in the engine compartment that just dangles there. I'm guessing it was a hand throttle. I think it must have seized and someone snapped it off by accident. There are a lot of wires under the dash and in the engine compartment that have been disconnected or torn off. Those should be fairly easy to reconnect. The speedo cable seems to be missing, not just disconnected. There are too many spider webs under there at the moment, so it can wait. I have Friday and the weekend off, so I plan to get it weatherproof first, then go back to the mechanicals. I plan to hit any suspect spots on the roof with the wire wheel and clean back to bare metal. I'll give it a coat of rust converter and when its neutralised I'll spray it with etch primer. Once that's dry I'll cover any holes with this vinyl/fabric tape that is used to patch lay-flat hose. That should protect it until I am ready to cut and patch them permanently.
Diana, those holes you see in the photo are the only rust in the roof skin. The rest of the area still has a good coverage of paint. Most of those holes are where they had a flashing light and antenna cables and things go through. The twin lines of rust spots are only surface rust. It looks like a series of spot welds. There's no rust marks on the top. There is a section of rust in the top of the drivers side door frame, and some loose flakes around the windscreen. Other than that, the cab seems good.



The tray is likely to be a complete write-off. I think they had a tank on the back and also used it for spraying. When we were loading it on the tilt-tray,
I actually put my foot through the tray. Not the wooden part, through one of the steel bits. Something has run through and eaten the steel sections.
The paint is missing from a section of the main chassis rails, but they seem to be solid enough still. The nuts on the U-bolts are mostly gone, but the bolts and threads are fine.



The jerry can and oil can holder will have to be replaced, but I can use what’s left as a guide.



The chain lockers are a bit beaten up, but I can belt those back into shape.



The toolbox is a lost cause though.



I found this jack and wheel brace in one of the chain lockers. The brace looks original. One end fits the wheel nuts and the other fits the smaller ones on the hubs.
I don’t know if this is the proper jack, but it will do, once I fill it with oil again. I never found a crank handle though.



dkg001, that was what I was going to do. I just have to free up the valve used to inflate tires. I need to get the tray off so I can get at everything easily.
Once the paddock is slashed I will jack the truck up, put drums and packing under the corners of the tray and let it down. With the tray off I should have much better access to everything.
I think it’s going to be the air system, then brakes, then driveline. I’ve actually totally stripped and rebuilt the brakes on a MK3 with Red Rocket many years ago,
and seem to remember them being very straight-forward. I have the MK4 RPS and the MK3 Service Manual, but would really like to get hold of the MK3 RPS and the MK3 User handbook if anyone has a copy.
If it’s in paper form, I’m happy to pay postage both ways and scan it for addition to the REMLR online files database.

I had the bonnet open and checked the oil and water before starting it. The radiator is almost full, but it's a nasty orange colour.
I have a couple of bottles of antifreeze/antiboil with corrosion protection and a bottle of radiator flush. The radiator core looks really good, (externally),
with almost no broken fins. The engine oil was a nasty dark grey colour, and overfull. I suspect it is full of water that has condensated in the block over the years.
I have a bottle of flush for that too. I think I will drain it, refill it with clean oil and the flush, run it till hot then drop it, and finally replace it with good oil.
I'm lucky as one of the contractors I manage offered me 4 drums to sit the tray on and they all have a few litres of new engine oil in the bottom that the pump can't reach.
Should be enough to use in the flush cycle.
One thing I found was that I don't have any hoses connected to the oil cooler. I see in the RPS and Service Manual that there should be 2 hoses running from the oil pressure
relief pad to the cooler. I don't think removing them would have been an army thing. Has anyone experienced this with their truck?
Under all the grease and grime, the tappet cover is a sort of greeny-grey colour. No idea about the engine number yet as the block is totally covered in a 10mm thick layer of oil and dirt.
I wish I knew someone with a portable steam cleaner. And I sure wish I had a shed with a concrete floor to work in. Even just a nice flat concrete floor.
It takes a lot of the frustration out of hunting in the grass for that special part/bolt that you just dropped.

[stephendavis]

here is one for spares cheep
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/international-4x4-mk3-ex-army-/221629617080?pt=AU_Trucks_Commercial_Vehicles&hash=item339a2793b8

[Ravvin]

The tires are in better condition than mine, but that cab looks rustier. $1500 plus the $2800 to get it over on the Searoad from Melbourne, its not worth it for me.
I know of 4 within a few hours drive of me that are being held onto by their owners as parts vehicles. With a bit of luck I might be able to talk one of them into selling me a tray and sides.
I think I read here somewhere that the 6x6 tray was the same as the MK4 tray, just moved back a bit on the chassis so the toolbox could fit between the tray and the cab.

[Dervish]

I'm not really interested in Inters, but I'm loving this thread. Good luck with the restoration work; I'll be watching the updates 

[Philthy]

I'm not really interested in Inters, but I'm loving this thread. Good luck with the restoration work; I'll be watching the updates 

Yep I don't know much about them.  Looking forward to learning more from this thread.

Greg looks like you have heaps of moral support from around here.

I'm finding that if I space out the jobs I enjoy between the hard yards it's easer to stay focused and on the tools.

Enjoy it Greg. 




 

[GGG]

Ravvin,
The toggle next to the choke is the hand throttle. On the terminal strip the closest one to the driver should be the buzzer. As it is not good to rev a cold engine it used to take a while for the pressure to build up. If no one was looking we would pull the wire off the terminal to stop the noise. Very important to put it back though. Not much chance of getting caught by the medics for whom I drove but probably frowned upon in a transport company.
The only trouble I remember with the compressor was getting the belt wet made it slip.
I would connect up the oil cooler as they do get rather warm if you work them hard in low range.
The F1 tray is the same but with IIRC a couple of slight differences around the tailgate.
The jack looks vaguely familiar.
I am of course going back a lot of years so I would be open to correction.
Geoff.

[Ravvin]

I didn't have time to do much this afternoon. Storms are forecast so I roughly wire-brushed the holes in the roof and taped them up to keep the worst of the water out.
With the loose rust, silicon and fibreglass bog cleared away, its not looking as bad as I feared. The biggest issue I see will be avoiding setting the inside on fire when I weld patches in. It will probably be easiest to buy a fire blanket and drape it from side to side, using the top of the window frames to hold it up near the roof. I'll even play it safe and take that open 20L drum of petrol out of the cab. 
Something I noticed while cleaning the roof down was that the original paint was Deep Bronze Green, put on very thick, then there was a layer of white filler, maybe 2mm thick, then a coat of Olive Drab, and finally another coat of Olive Drab, but this has faded to a much lighter shade.
The hatch opened easily, although the hinges squealed pretty loudly. I gave them a squirt of Inox and they are smooth and quiet now. I went around all the seized bits I found recently and gave them a soak. I'm hoping it is enough to free up the brass taps on the air reservoir and tyre inflator connection. It would be so easy to break them while trying to open them. I have to make a fitting up to hook my compressor up to the air system as dkg001 suggested to find any leaks.
I had a better look at the oil cooler and it looks like someone has unscrewed the bottom hose from the cooler and connected it back to the block where the top hose would connect, which in effect totally bypasses the cooler. The cooler looks to be in perfect condition, with almost no bent fins. The bypass has been in place a long time as the bottom connector on the cooler is totally covered in dry, caked-on grime. I'm hoping that the top hose sprung a leak and they took the easy option of bypassing the cooler instead of replacing it. I'm going to pull the radiator out to clean the rust and gunk out, so I will fill the cooler and check for leaks.
I've been trying to get a good picture showing the hoses. The best I can find show that the hose going to the top of the oil cooler has a right-angle bend on the end and the bottom hose is straight. On the other end, one appears to have a right-angle bend but I can't see what the other has, and can't tell which is top or bottom on the engine ends. Does anyone have accurate measurements of these hoses, including which ends need 90 degree bends? The originals seem to be ADE parts, so I will get new ones made up locally if I can get accurate dimensions.
I brought the jack down, intending to take it into work to clean up tomorrow. Something caught my eye, under all the grime.



There was this little round disc riveted to the base plate. I gave it a good clean and took a pic. After a bit of photo chop, I got this.



Its a bit blurred as I don't have a macro lense and had trouble holding still. The writing around the outside reads "PAT 28/8/44 No. 122.950"
The inner text is "21786---REG."
The whole thing is only 15mm across and I thought someone had pinned a 1c piece to it.
The jack itself started off red and has been painted a sort of olive drab/tan grey sort of colour. Anyone know if this could be what was actually used on these trucks?
Also, anyone know how to get the oil back in the jack? There isn't a bung or bolt to take out. Going by the rub mark on the outside, it has layed on its side in the chain box for a long time and drained out.
I took the Tac plate out of the holder for safekeeping and found the plate itself was in perfect condition, but the holder fell apart. The one on the other side is in really good condition so I will make some new ones up out of stainless, using it as a template. The Tac plate looks to have been cleaned to within an inch of its life.



While cleaning up the pics I took, I noticed that the Xmas tree on the door actually had 5436 stencilled at the bottom. I had previously thought it was 5433, going from a picture I was sent before the truck arrived.



While moving the step at the back to slash the grass, I was admiring the thought that went into making it when I realised that they had made the base out of a section of one of the drop-sides. It even has the loop on the back for lashing the tarp to. Interestingly, a lot of the paint had flaked off and it is galvanised, so maybe its off a later model.



Oh well, that will do for now. Friday should show some progress. My sister is coming around to give me a hand for the day. We will be changing the clutch master cylinder, flushing the lines, cleaning the slave cylinder and bleeding it all. Then cleaning the 10mm thick layer of dirt out of the cab and degreasing and pressure washing the engine and gearbox so I can see what I am doing. Should be a fun day, if a bit messy.

Thanks all for reading this.

Greg.

[Ravvin]

Thanks for that Geoff.
I just went out and checked and those wires are connected. I gave them a squirt of contact cleaner but it still didn't work.
I'll get my multimeter on it tomorrow after work and follow it through. Of course, it could be a faulty buzzer. The cover was off when it arrived, but everything looked clean and shiny. Most unusual.
I did a bit of checking and the company that originally supplied them, Industrial Timers & Controls Victoria, is still listed in the phone book.
One of the things I am finding about these old Inters is that you don't need tiny hands and an extra elbow to work on them. Everything is very basic and logical.
It's almost an oversized Landrover. They even used a lot of interchangeable Lucas parts. No need for blackout lights with Lucas lighting.