1970 SIIa Ex mod Marshall Ambulance

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Hexonxonx

Hexonxonx

Member
Posts
32
Location
Guelph, Canada
Good day from Canada!

I took delivery of my Marshall-bodied Series IIa back in May, and have been focussed on getting it safetied and road-worthy since then. Now that I'm able to drive it around town, I thought this would be a good time to start my project thread. Here is my Hello thread with pictures of the vehicle delivered "as found" - running but not yet safetied nor cleaned up in any way. This was after a cross-country trip of about 3,200km on a transport truck.

As I purchased it sight unseen, I spent a couple days familiarizing myself with the vehicle and christened it "Winnie" (because, let's be honest with ourselves, coming up with the right name is one the most important things to do, if not THE most important). I started making a list of things that I could easily see were needed for the all-important safety certification here in Ontario, Canada. Shocks, right-rear turn signal wiring (bad ground), wiper switch, front anti-roll bar links, and new tires.

To my surprise, not all MOT-licensed inspection stations here will inspect and certify a classic vehicle, but I finally found one and dropped it off after fixing the known issues. I was a bit anxious about it, but the list they came back with was not all that bad - u-joints on rear propshaft, transmission mounts, spring bushes, windshield washer switch (they didn't realize it was a plunger rather than an electric pump switch :D) and a jack. I ended up replacing the rear leaf springs with 1-ton units, which made things a little simpler and also fixed the rearward lean. Everything else fixed, and she's on the road!

rear_springs.jpg
 
Here's how it looks all leveled-up and with new 30x9.5 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires. The rims are LP861 6x15, which I've since found are not so common a size/part, and I'm struggling to find a matching 5th rim for the spare mounted on the hood (currently a 16" military rim). If anyone knows of one available, PLEASE let me know.

Safetied.jpg


Just for fun and to be a completionist, I bought a vintage military stretcher that was for sale locally. Comes in handy while working on Winnie in this hot summer in Southern Ontario. It remains a few degrees cooler in the "patient compartment" due to the roof and cabin vents, sliding windows, etc., and I can lay back and enjoy a beer.

stretcher.jpg


Speaking of beer, I want to give a shout out to Mike at Britannica Restorations. Not only has his YouTube videos been very helpful and entertaining, and that he's located in Sherbrooke Quebec (about 1 hour from where I grew up), but he also put me on to Partake non-alcoholic beers. I've been looking a long time for an even marginally passable brew that doesn't have high gluten content, and Partake's brews actually taste really good. I'm still trying out their offerings (they have 8 different ones), but so far am happy with their two IPAs, Blonde and Red.
 
First real operational issue this past weekend...

Winnie did not come with a water temperature sender, and the Jaeger combo instrument had the old style capillary tube gauge (with the tube cut off). I installed a new electrical gauge and sender, and found during a country drive the engine was overheating.

After getting the vehicle back home, I started troubleshooting - drained, flushed and refilled coolant, checked for leaks, checked the fins, etc. There's certainly crud in the top of the radiator, but water is still flowing down and out the bottom connection so it's not completely blocked. I also drained both heater matrices. A Marshall ambulance has two heaters - one in the cabin between the seats, and one in the patient compartment - and both have their own pair of coolant pipes.

I have an IR temperature sensor but the batteries are shot and they're an odd size that is difficult to find around here, so I haven't measured the temperature differential between the top and bottom of the rad yet.

After flushing and confirming flow, I lifted the thermostat housing and found....nothing. There's no thermostat at all. My theory is that the coolant is taking the path of least resistance and mostly going through the bypass circuit, and very little is going through the rad itself. A skirted thermostat should fix this, so I ordered both "summer" and "winter" thermostats (I'll be driving Winnie year-round) from my local shop, along with a new gasket and o-ring. Hopefully that will resolve the immediate overheating issue, though at some time I will want to pull the rad out and do a full reverse flush to clear out any remaining blockages.
 
A bit of history about 30FJ11 "Winnie"

Based on a 1970 Land Rover Series IIa LWB, Winnie is officially an "Ambulance 2/4 Stretcher 4x4 Rover 11." The vehicle arrived to me with the original UK army military vehicle registration plates (30FJ11) attached, which is cool but due to local rules cannot be visible alongside my Ontario license plates. I'll likely re-mount them on the inside of the cab or patient compartment.

When I was first doing some research on the vehicle before purchase, I found this picture from the 70s of a sister vehicle located in Belfast with reg plate 30FJ16. I'm not sure if military plates were assigned sequentially - if so then these two vehicles are very close to each other.

sister.jpg


I requested info from UK MoD and received a copy of the Vehicle Data Card which has been really helpful. After the ambulance body and other modifications were made by Marshall Engineering of Cambridge, the vehicle was received at Central Vehicle Depot Ashchurch in May 1971. There is a hole in the service history at this point; perhaps it sat in the depot during this time. By the end of March 1972, 30FJ11 landed at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada where it served with distinction (my words) until being sold off to private ownership in October 1979.

From there, very little has happened. According to the previous owner, Winnie has spent most of her post-army life in a covered storage barn in Medicine Hat. At some point in time someone started to make changes to the wiring (replacing wires in the engine bay, cutting all the wires to the patient compartment), and replacing some of the rear glass and windshield. I'm not sure when it happened, but it looks like Winnie was shot at a few times, judging by the holes in the couple of windows that I still need to replace. Then again, it was stored in Alberta...
 
Still seems to be overheating, at least according to the gauge. So far, I've checked/done:

- Rad fins are clear, and it doesn't seem to be clogged. The top coolant tube is hot and the lower one is cooler so water is flowing throught the rad. I picked up some button batteries for my IR thermometer last night so will be checking specific temps.
- Temperature sender, gauge and voltage stabilizer are all new and presumed working. I will double check these to confirm
- Fan belts are tight and fan is spinning
- expansion tank has a little coolant in it, so the expansion tube is fine and the cap is holding pressure
- upper and lower radiator tubes are not bulging
- installed new summer thermostat, o-ring and gasket
- set static timing to 6* BTDC and checked with strobe light. I still need to re-connect the vacuum advance line and check with strobe
- Fuel mixture ( 2 3/4 turns out) and idle set. My strobe light does not have an RPM sensor so I don't really know what the idle is, but it sounds reasonably low
- Oil is clear

Now that I have my IR thermometer working again, I can check to see if the vehicle is actually overheating, rather than just looking like it is according to the gauge. Would be funny if all the while it was operating normally, though all of the above work is good to do anyways and gets me more familiar with it.
 
Temperature observations, fixed a potential issue, and ran across a new one...

After a 5 minute idle, here are my temperatures (all in *C):

Radiator hoses TOP - 58.4 BOTTOM - 27.5
Radiator upper tank LH - 44 RH - 54
Valve cover FRONT - 39.3 BACK - 39.4
Cylinder head FRONT - 95.1 BACK - 80.6

And after revving for about 2 minutes:

Radiator hoses TOP - 60 BOTTOM - 36
Radiator upper tank LH - 49 RH - 57
Valve cover FRONT - 48 BACK - 47
Cylinder head FRONT - 99 BACK - 82

Next I'll take it out on the road, run it at about 75kph for a bit, stop and take temperatures again.

When reading through other "overheating" threads, I realized my shiny new electrical temperature sender grounds to the engine. I made the assumption that brass fittings with liquid need plumber's tape, which would only interfere with the grounding connection. I took everything apart, removed all of the offending PTFE and re-installed the sender. Unfortunately, it made no difference to what the gauge was showing, but it's good to know it's installed properly now.

Since my gauge is still showing very hot, I re-checked the wiring, and then checked the voltage out of the shiny new (solid-state) voltage stabilizer, and it reads 9.6v, which is below the 10v it should be. In this article, it says that in general if it outputs less than 10v then the gauge should read low, which is the opposite to what I am seeing. I'll need to start tracing and measuring across different connections to get a real sense of what is going on.
 
Some good news at least...

Took Winnie for a spirited drive out in the country - had the nerve to actually touched 80kph. Vehicle feels very steady and straight at this speed, though the engine is certainly ticking over in 4th gear (no overdrive). Good news is that after a 5km stretch at that speed, I stopped and took temps:

Thermostat housing - 88
Radiator hoses TOP - 73 BOTTOM - 60
Radiator upper tank LH - 65 RH - 69
Valve cover FRONT - 57 BACK - 59
Cylinder head FRONT - 105 BACK - 90

And the upper rad hose was still soft. Normal operating temperatures seem to be 85-100 from what I've read, so 88 after a fast run seems pretty OK to me. Here's my temp gauge LOL

Temperature_gauge.jpg


The needle moves to that point then stays put. It might move a fraction when I'm going up a steep hill, but never seems to touch the red. Something electrical is going on with the sender-voltage stabilizer-gauge circuit, but it doesn't seem to be overheating :D

(and before anyone asks - the fuel gauge is not hooked up and both senders are seized so I can't use that to test at the moment)
 
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Managed to a get a couple of hours of work done before today's thunderstorm/tornado/hail storm rolls through. I don't have a garage or otherwise covered workspace, so I'm at the mercy of mother nature for some work.

One of the fun things about this vehicle is learning about/working on the military ambulance-specific parts. As mine is a "2/4 stretcher" ambulance, it has two lower stretcher fittings, and two upper ones that fold down from the walls. These are supported by a steel channel at the front of the patient compartment, and a pivoting tube that latches to a hook on the ceiling (green vertical rod in the pic of 30FJ35 below).

stretcher_support.jpg



I was able to remove one hook and get it cleaned up, and removed the rod as the adjustable tip is seized. Right now it's soaking in PB Blaster, but I might need to hit it with some heat to get the collar to move.

I was also able to start in on the two gas tanks. Both fuel gauge senders (two under-seat tanks) are seized, so I pulled the LH sender as it was easier to get at. A little WD40 and the sender arm is now swinging freely. I also checked the resistance at different positions, and the float appears to still be sealed. This tank is not currently hooked up to my fuel switch or pump, so I drained the old gas that was sitting in the bottom, cleaned it out as best I could, and reinstalled the sender.

Just before it began raining I started to dismantle the RH seat frame and rails, as the sender is under part of the seat box assembly and I can't get at the screws to remove it. Hopefully I will have the same success in getting it working as the other one, though I can swap them if not. I'll be rebuilding the fuel tank switch as well, and then can get both tanks and senders hooked up to alleviate my anxiety about running out of fuel.

Rain started, so had to close up for now.
 
Hexonxonx said:
Still seems to be overheating, at least according to the gauge. So far, I've checked/done:


- expansion tank has a little coolant in it, so the expansion tube is fine and the cap is holding pressure


Now that I have my IR thermometer working again, I can check to see if the vehicle is actually overheating, rather than just looking like it is according to the gauge. Would be funny if all the while it was operating normally, though all of the above work is good to do anyways and gets me more familiar with it.
Click to expand...

Does the expansion tank have 'Min' and 'Max' markings on it ?

Any pics as I think it may need more fluid/bleeding ?
 
Another success for the books.

After un-seizing the RH fuel tank sender arm, re-checking the wiring, and cleaning up the fuel gauge, I've got a reasonably accurate level showing on the gauge. That must also mean the voltage stabilizer is working within normal range, which is good, but it means my water temp gauge is reading very high, which is not so good.

Anyone know if you can put a resistor in-line on the wire from the temperature sender to the gauge? I know this can be done with the fuel sender, so I might try out some resistors to see if it makes a difference.
 
Well, it turns out the fuel gauge is not reading accurately after all - 3/4 is full, and 1/4 is empty! At least it's reading consistently. Regardless, I've ordered a pair of 2" fuel gauges that will be mounted in an auxiliary panel so I can see the level of both tanks. I rebuilt the fuel tank cut-over switch, but removed the electrical switches on it and will wire the two senders directly to the gauges, bypassing the voltage stabilizer altogether.

Fixed my stuck odometer by disconnecting the trip meter cable - speedo was working fine so I knew it wasn't the main cable. Not sure what the root cause is yet but I can live without the trip meter.

Planning for a tappet check/adjustment and compression test this weekend, along with re-installing the fuel cut-over switch, new fuel lines and fuel gauge wiring.
 
Tappets weren't too far off but adjusted and re-checked them anyways. Compression using starter when engine was warm (not hot) came out as 122 - 125 - 127 - 120. A bit low overall, but low variation across the cylinders which is good. These figures might move up a bit if I ran the engine a bit more to get it hotter, and maybe use a heavier oil.
 
Not above a little vanity...

There are some things that are done, not necessarily because they are functional, but because they look good. Though a tow rope is useful, a 1 1/2" manila-esque rope wrapped around the front bumper is not really the most practical of solutions, but to my eyes it certainly looks Right.

rope_bumper.jpg


Turns out one of the largest rope distributors is only 1 hour from where I live, and they have this really nice "promanila" rope, which is synthetic and stronger than true manila rope but looks like the real thing. It won't rot or shrink, and the eyes are spliced in the traditional way. It also hides the slightly dented bumper :rolleyes:

After removing the fuel gauge wiring from the voltage stabilizer and fuel gauge on the combo instrument, the water temp gauge is no longer working. I checked the resistance on the sender and the readings seem normal, so it's something behind the dash. As with the fuel gauge, I'm planning on replacing it with a separate 2" gauge and can do away with the stabilizer altogether.
 
I've been working on the plan to replace my original dynamo/generator with a Delco-style 12si 94 amp alternator and using the mounting kit from Pangolin. I'm certainly no electrical expert, so I'm being very careful to map out the new wiring, while making some improvements as I go along. The wiring harness will be upgraded to handle much higher amperage, I'll be adding additional fuses and relays to appropriate circuits, and a continuous operation solenoid for the new fuse/relay panel.

To give me some space to work, I've removed the battery, air cleaner, the tray both sit on, and the inner (metal) fan shroud. This also gives me an opportunity to refinish the metal parts, giving them a good sanding and coat of paint.

One concern I have is the location of the alternator with the Pangolin mounting kit. There are two large heater hoses, and a oil cooler pipe, what looks like right where the alternator is going to sit. I can probably re-route the heater hoses, but the oil pipe might be a bit of a challenge. I'll know more when I get the old dynamo out and the new brackets installed.
 
I installed a pair of side signal lights for a bit of safety. Some military 2a's have a rubber bumper on the wings above the front wheels, presumably to stop the doors slamming the sheetmetal on full swing. I found some orange LED "penny" lights that fit the holes perfectly. They're small, but I think bright enough to warn vehicles in my blind spot, which is quite large on this ambulance. I've also got some large rectangular mirror heads on order to replace the miniscule round ones on my wing mirrors, which should help with visibilty.
 
Alternator conversion is coming along. The oil cooler pipe ended up not causing any issues - a little gentle bending has it routed below the new alternator bracket, and slight longer standoff keeps it from rubbing. The heater hoses will definitely need to be modified but there's lots of room to work with.

alt_conversion1.jpg
 
After a marathon weekend of work, making use of some decent weather before the Cold November Rain, I managed to get a significant amount of upgrades done in the engine bay and behind dash panels:

- 12si 96a alternator to replace my old, worn-out dynamo
- Upgraded the alternator/battery/starter wiring
- re-routed heater hose
- new Pertronix distributor and coil
- New water temp/oil pressure combo gauge
- Removed the starter button and re-wired the ignition switch (they were NOT connected, unbeknownst to me)
- Added new fuses and a continuous duty solenoid
- Various other re-wiring which is still a work in progress, as can be seen by the pic below

Another problem that I've identified the source of - the rattle under the floor, which I thought (and dreaded) was from the transmission/transfer case, is actually the exhaust pipe touching the frame. Shouldn't be too hard to sort out.

Next on my list are new reverse lights, wiring up the two cabin blowers and interior lights. Before it gets too cold I also need to fabricate demister piping from the heater between the front seats. This vehicle does not come with the usual heater behind the wing or under the dash, so it's a little trickier to get air up to the glass.

alt_conversion2.jpg

alt_conversion3.jpg

Wiring_mess1.jpg
 
Cabin heater blowers are wired with a new 3-position switch and relays - Off, front cabin heater, patient compartment heater. Unfortunally, the cabin heater motor is shot so a new one is on its way. Still working out how to get heated air to the windshield for demisting/defrosting.

Also re-positioned the external electric windshield washer pump closer to the bottle, and replaced the crumbling hose so now I can have clean-ish glass.
 
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