Thread: The Ultimate FC

The stalwart would not do full floatation with six tonnes, but with six tonnes it would still get safety though to 2.5 metres of water........well over my head !
Exhaust outlet pipes currently off the stalwart.
I had to fix it as the exhaust gases was melting the amber safety light.
I am thinking about making new pipes in stainless steel.
The protection mesh has had a misunderstanding with a tree and needs sorting out.

The Stalwart has a play mate in works small yard.
If you have been following this thread you will know we sold the family farm about 6 months ago.
I had my restored 6x6 WW2 Studebaker at the farm and the new owners wanted one.
I put them onto one which they purchased and are going to restore.
The new owners of the farm have become friends.
They will do the basics at my work, so they can enjoy the vehicle on the farm before getting serious with the restoration.

Ps........... placed a FG7 forklift for" is Vic there" in the pic.

The Stalwart had been under cover until recently, but the yard had to be rearranged so both trucks and forklifts could fit as the storage place for the Stalwart has now been leased out.
The exhaust tail pipes is proving a problem in that no one near by, can bend 3 inch Dia thin wall stainless to the correct radius I need.
90 degree bends ......no problem, but a radius is.
Been playing with some of the floor plates and rear compartment divider board......nothing worthwhile to take a picture of, but the idea behind temporary fitment of the floor plates is to stop the exhaust manifold from overheating, letting the engine fan force though hull draft work and cool the manifold and allow the stalwart do longer trips with out a red hot exhaust manifold.
The Fine UNF threads which fill with rain water for bolts that hold down the floor plates in the cargo area have been Heli coiled or repaired.
Now the stalwart is out in the open where I can work on it, the last wheel and wheel station will be checked out , chipped back of old paint and then repainted.
The hydraulic accelerator pedal system giving the engine little throttle.
Just more work for me to chase up.
I have been thinking about the muffler compartment area which is not sealed when the vehicle is swimming and in general is a little bit hard to access to paint and treat rust due to high exhaust temps and water action.
I am thinking of making some sort of side door to access the compartment to allow inspection and regular painting.
Another problem with a old Stalwart is because of the mufflers are exposed under water means any hole or leak in the mufflers or exhaust system could drown the motor if the motor is turned off when swimming.........another trap with this vehicle and close inspection of muffler condition is necessary.
My sand blaster has been out of action too, which slows things up.
Hope to get back into the swing of things again restoration wise.

Hi Ron,


Thanks for the picture, great forklift, very rare indeed!


Keep up the good work, really enjoy this thread.

Very little going on with the stalwart at present.
A lack of money and time being the main reasons.
my other vehicles have been costing me big money.
I have my 3 inch stainless steel exhaust pipe back from bending and I now know why when other stalwart owners replace their exhaust pipes its simple 90 degree bends as the cost of reproducing the original ones is very expensive......two different radius, two different set ups ect.
I have been sitting on a new TIG welder for a while and I want to get my hand back in at doing it, so I have been saving up to set up the rest of the machine.( It would have been cheaper and quicker to pay some one to do it.)





The front left side suspension has been very dry.
I have had to recoil the threads which the special locking bolts for the wish bone pins use, as the old items had sheared and damaged themselves due to dry pins.
The rubber single piece non split boots around some of the suspension needed replacing to keep the whole thing water proof.
To replace them as per the book means stripping the suspension from the hull and pulling everything out from inside the hull to get at various bolts.
I ended up making split boots by using the two NOS boots, cutting them and glueing them together using tyre tube patch cement to make longer split items using the same sort of rubber the factory did which has lasted 40 years.
New stainless hose clamps and finish off with silastic..

All my vehicles are old and it is getting on top of me maintance wise.
The stalwart is leaking a big trail of oil from the central lube tank in side the hull and I have loss interest in finding it as it will be all bad news.
I am learning the stalwart being the last of its breed from Alvis and being a load carrier has much bigger torsion bars and some other suspension components than say a Alvis Saracen( the only parts available in Australia) and some stuff will not interchange.
The only good stuff is the friends who had the Studebaker in my works yard got the vehicle running well and the brakes working so they could use it around their property and I enjoyed helping them do it.
The Studebaker is a complete snack to work with compared to the Stalwart.
Ron.

Chin up Ron, when I get fed up I take a break or have a cup of tea and a minute, some minutes do turn into months but a break is good!
I always restart with a more upbeat attitude, I'm nearly in my 4th year of building a Harris framed Kawasaki motor bike and the set backs I've had have been unreal, the bikes been on eBay twice as I'd had enough!
Just come in from working on it and I have finally sorted out the rear brake and gear change, feel really happy as I've had a win for once and you will as well!

Still not much going on with the stalwart.
For every step forward I seem to be taking Two steps backwards.
I have had the hydraulic accelerator master and slave cylinders apart.
I was getting to the stage of pumping the accelerator and getting every little throttle
The slave cylinder has a simple cup in it, but I would have trouble find a replacement in Australia due to the working fluid being oil.
I ended up using just two Quad rings to replace the cup and that seems to be fine and cost effective.
A new boot to cover the end of the cylinder came from a forklift brake master cylinder and a new hose the slave cylinder made.
The accelerator master cylinder I imported a brand new item, but it had been sitting for along time and the seals were shot.
the shaft seals were easy to get 1x 5/8 x 3/16 and the piston seal is a O ring , but not of a size you find in your 0 ring kit.
Again a quad ring from my Quad ring kit came to the rescue.
This inturn caused a problem where the master cylinder wouldn't bleed because the quad ring sealing lip is in a slightly different position to the standard O ring and I had to give the master cylinder piston more return stroke by machining a little bit off a metal stop.
All very simple stuff just trying to get some throttle.
Naturally to figure all this out takes fitting and removing from the vehicle many times.
nothing is easy on a stalwart.