Diamond T 980 Restoration Part 2 by Adrian

Written by Adrian

Wednesday, 03 September 2008 13:32

Part 2 – Dodgy bolts and incontinent fuel tanks

The past few weeks have been quite eventful. With the cab and bonnet off I have turned my attention to painting the ballast box and stripping the off-side items for shot blasting. These consisted of the wheel arch, battery and pre-filter structure, running board, fuel tank and front mud guard.

The fuel tank still had about 25 litres of white spirit (to call it diesel would be flattering and down right inaccurate because it smelt and looked nothing like diesel) which was of an interesting mid brown tint. I had opted to drain the tank at the last point before removal, and this was my downfall. I had removed the cover plate and moving the tank about to obtain better access to the connections at the rear which obviously opened up a weak point in the base as I was soon confronted by a steady flow of brown spirit dripping off the running board. It was one of those situations where you stare at the problem for several seconds before descending into post watershed language and frustration, trying to get the drain plug off and not remembering the last time you saw the adjustable. Draining the tank took the best part of half an hour as the drain hole kept blocking up due to the clag in the bottom. During this time I stuffed anything absorbent under the tank in a rather vain attempt to control the flow and absorb what was collecting on the ground. Tip – a mixture of straw, sawdust and dried poultry droppings (contents of the disused barn floor) make an excellent addition to a spill kit.

The near side tank has been disconnected for some time so I cannot think what has been festering within. You can guarantee it will be drained before I attempt to remove the cover just in case the bottom is as bad as the off side, which is highly probable.

The tanks will be shotblasted to enable any weaknesses to be shown up. If repairable they will be cleaned out and sealed.

During the strip I lost count of how many bolts simply sheared off with little effort. Several bolts, particularly along the top of the chassis rail either had no nuts or were loose. The threads were all rusted in the extreme so I can only think that this was an Italian bodge as nothing had run up them in many years. While on the subject I was also surprised as to how many bolts were in metric, and slightly too short. I have always followed the principle that all bolts when installed should protrude by at least one thread from the mating fastener. A number of the bolts (and this is also the case with two of the wheel studs) were flush or recessed in the nut. As a result I have opted to throw away all the remaining nuts and bolts and starting from scratch replace with imperial units of the correct length.

Off-side stripped for blasting – August 2008.

The ballast box is almost all in red oxide, with the notable exception of the tailgate. The near side top has been damaged. While still functional it does not look very good and will require heating to rectify and therefore it will be better to remove it altogether and get it shotblasted (the sides and front of the ballast box have been flatted back as there was minimal paint while the back was bare metalled to remove copious amounts of high build primer). However, getting the hinge bar out is proving easier said than done. Cue the sledge!

Damage to tailgate.

Examination of the chassis has shown that the previous layers of paint are unstable. The top layer of green will peels off with ease, under which is an orange primer which itself flakes off. Therefore all will have to be removed. Herein lies a problem. The T is stored in a farmyard which is surrounded by houses and therefore noise has to be limited. Shotblasting on site is therefore not advisable. This puts me in an awkward position as the firstly the vehicle will have to be moved off site for certain work, and sides will have to be removed once there; so it is pointless applying the top coat to these areas until the chassis work is complete. I therefore plan to complete the vehicle in red oxide externally (under the bonnet and inside the cab will be completed in olive drab at the earliest opportunity) and return it to a roadworthy state and then take it to the shotblaster where the chassis can be finished. This is not an ideal scenario but until I can find a more appropriate location for both storage and restoration it appears to be the only way forward. On the plus side it means I will be able to take it out sooner than planned and complete a number of road tests before the light stone is applied. Although not driven for many years on the road the previous owner started it up on a regular basis and moved it around to keep the oil round the gears and diffs, and the grease points have been kept serviceable so I am not expecting any nasties, although you never can tell.

On closer examination the winch looks worse than first thought. It has obviously not been used in many years. So it is coming off for a strip and inspection. Green paint has been applied to the spindle behind the dog clutch - a running surface; which does suggest that the Italian army did not intend to undertake recovery work with this vehicle.

The rear mudguards have also been completed, again in red oxide for the time being.