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More indepth information.
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A little bit of information in case you haven't read the rest of the page.
The African is so named because of the type on the driver's side door. "East African predatory wildlife survey --- Kenya - Uganda district" <-- did that from memory. : ) I purchased it Febuary 23, 2002 and have loved every minute of owning it since, even though it took me a long time to get it sorted out enough to be safely driveable, by my standards.
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The repairs I've made:
The gas tank was leaking, so that has been replaced with a new unit from Atlantic British. Including the filler and vent hose. I gave the old tank to Paul, hopefully Elgie will get some good use out of it. I had planned on installing it as an auxillery, but needed to get rid of it for the move.
There was three broken bolts on a rear hub, so I replaced that with a used unit from Wise Owl, of course replacing hub bearings and seals at that time.
The wiring harness is all new, from the headlight pigtails to the leads for the brake lights. Everything in good working order.
I had shoes for the hand brake bonded and arced for the drum, and it works great.
I had the radiator cored, and replaced a petcock that was leaking, it's now holding water brilliantly. I also had the heater core recored, for the Kodiak heater it has.
I got a new air hose for the oil bath air filter to the carb.
I recently installed new motor mounts as one had given way, and the other looked close, I switched to the diesel motor mounts for greater longevity and strength.
I got spare tire and wheel for the hood, which isn't in any of the pictures. Thanks, Paul.
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Misc. information
Some things I didn't do, but are relevant:
The engine was rebuilt, thanks to Granville for this information. "The late Dave Hudson rebuilt it. He was the rebuild mechanic and restorer for Atlantic British's west coast branch, when it existed."
The transmission was replaced with a box from a '58 by Paul. It too is in good shape and doesn't have any problems as far as I've seen. Paul also redid the brakes with new shoes and cleaned everything else up inside there quite well. They are strong and you don't need to pump them to stop.
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Some things that will need attention:
There is a small problem of one of the connecting rods in the carberator linkage bending every so often. Just need to replace or slip a cover of brake tubing over it. Only a few dollars. I was planning on replacing the rear halfshafts, when looking at the splines you can see they aren't entirely straight anymore. The interior is decent shape, as decent as 40 plus years can be. The seats will need replacing, the coconut batting inside the Rhino Vinyl is poking out through tears and cracks. There is very little rust. The bulkhead is in great shape considering. The frame is in good shape, with a little rust in the rear crossmember, but that's pretty much it.
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In all, The African is a dependable daily driver. I am very happy with her. She's been more reliable than my girlfriend's Toyota... imagine that.
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