Glass!

Damnation... the glad spontaneously cracked overnight.

My van in my animated film...

Husk film trailer from Paul Howell on Vimeo.

Goodbye Jag...

I'm keeping the van... but my matching Jaguar is going to Sydney with Peter, her new owner. Hope she makes the 800+ km trip OK.

Animation

The van is being used in a film...

http://boganfairyland.blogspot.com.au/

The film is a puppet style stop motion short.  The van is doing a great job, shooting at night in the middle of Melbourne, Australia.

Photo: Jason Reekie

This is NOT how she will appear!

Little update

Things have been quiet on my blog for a while...

Just a little update.

I have installed a new choke cable and electric fan to keep the girl cool in traffic. 

Otherwise, she is a joy to drive and own.

I need to fix the handbrake cable... still working on that one.

Austin 101 in Moorooduc

I noticed this on Ebay today...not all that far from me.  Good luck! 

UP FOR AUCTION
AUSTIN BAKERS VAN MID 50S ??
MISSING ONE BACK DOOR
OTHERWISE COMPLETE
DONT KNOW MECHANICAL CONDITION
EXSTENSIVE RUST
COME AND SEE
ONE SOLD LAST WEEK FOR 1850 DOLLARS
A LOT WORSE THAN THIS
ONE AT BRIGHT ROD RUN WAS ON L3OO CHASSIS RUNNING 350 CHEV
COOL RAT LOOK
VERY RARE NOW
YOU BID TO BUY
THERE IS A RESERVE
PICK UP IS MOOROODUC
CASH ONLY
NO PAYPAL

J / JB Fleet...

I took the Van along to Sandown Racecourse today for the Historic Commercial vehicle display. Lots of other vans showed up. A rag tag lot but full of personality.  Interesting other vehicles were a Scamell, steam powered truck, little fruit and veg mover from Queen Vic market, Commer van (one owner) and a variety of WW2 trucks. Fun and interesting...

Private car show...

John and Annette Brook-Smith dropped in with their lovely van. We met up with an Austin Health bug-eye in a local reserve.  A nice collection, related and all from 1958-59.

2 j vans

Nick Fuller and I have just met up at Patterson lakes primary school fete...

Retired or re-tyred...?

Well, of course she is not being retired... she has her new diff in and smaller tyres so she doesn't scrape the shed door any more.  Great to be back on the road.

New Differential

To make the van more comfortable to drive at speed I am getting a custom diff made, with a ratio of 4.1 rather than the 5+ that is in there.  I have chosen 'Dandy Diffs' in Dandenong (outer Melbourne industrial suburb) to make it for me.  They had a beautiful lathe from the 1940's there, still in use.  The owner picked it up for $1000 a couple of years ago.  What a bargain!  I guess this stuff isn't valued because the skills to use them are disappearing as fast as manufacturing in this great country.

That's my rant for the day.

Working at the cafe

The Van has a job at the local cafe here in Carrum.  I get free coffee all week and $25 if I park the van outside the shop.

Spiders

Everyone wants a ride in the jb van...

Collecting Christmas trees

A fine day for a drive to collect some festive gear.  The christmas tree seller ran to my van and, like a gorilla, leapt onto the rear bumper while holding the protruding door hinge yelled:
'I spent me child'ood loike dis!'
He went on to recount the bakery vans up in Cheltenham (Melbourne suburb) and how the fleet of 30 JB's were sold of one by one for 50 dollars.
I really must take a voice recorder with me so I can collect these stories, the vans do seem to elicit a lot of emotion in people.
Simian, mainly.

nowhere in particular

Back on the road

Well, I had to buy a new slightly larger fan belt because the nut on the fancy welch plug means the generator has to be further away... 25mm to be precise...  It all works out easier than removing the engine, which suits me.
She is back on the road now, which is great. 
Well, next to the road.

Welch plug installed

Well, it was faster than taking the engine out.  I am pleased I had two sent over.  I stuffed the first one by burring the large nut stamping on the outer part of the plug face.  Hope none of them leak.  Now to put it back together.

New welch plug

There was not enogh room to swing a cat to hammer home the new front welch plug.  I found a nifty US invention for this problem.  You simply use the one with a nut and tighten it up.  Saves removing the engine and is under $10. Found on amazon usa. 
It is called a:

Dorman Expansion Plug.  Part number: 568-010

Core / Welch / Freeze plug failure

Hmmmm, I should be working, but my van was leaking coolant all over the place.  Inspection revealed failing welch plug, so, out it comes.

I better find a replacment, perhaps I will do them all at the same time...

To remove the old plug I drilled a hole in it then levered it out with a punch. 

Very easy job.  Thanks to the Austin 7 page for the info:

http://www.austin7.org/core_plugs.htm

Coolant

I know it's juvenile, but it really does look like the van is having a wee when you empty the coolant...

Motorbike in a JB Van

JB was busy today, shifting a Suzuki Katana motorbike for restoration.  Not mine!