The New Project

Spend tonight just surfing the web. I was told by the guy I bought the van off that it came from Inverell NSW. So been checking for old pictures etc associated with that town and found this on the Inverell Times website

How exciting, I wonder if that Commer is mine? The picture is dated 1966. F & E Thomas were and old company in town and manufactures of "Snowclad Cordials" and eventually Coca Cola Products. It's the right model, looks like a blind van, has a pressed metal one piece Commer badge and 3 seats up front. The number plate is on this van is on the bumper bar, mine didn't come with a bumper so can't check for holes. My van has holes drilled in the body beneath the Commer badge for the number plate where the number plate always seems to be. I'm wondering if the plate was relocated so they could add the"Coca Cola" logo. It certainly looks like an after though down there, off to the side so it doesn't cover the crank handle hole. Judging by the strange angle on the bumper it's already had a knock or two. Might have to get the wet & dry out to see if that "Coca Cola" is still there.

Haven't been able to find and reference to the existing signwriting that I have uncovered, "For Value & Friendly Service" relating to F & E Thomas P/L or any of the old businesses in Inverell. If anyone has the technology to figure out the number plate, I'd love to know.



Cheers Stephenr0_0_1800_1265_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
 
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The van in the photo appears to have individual Commer letters on the front rather than a badge. Might have the Coca Cola signwriting though.
 
Looks like you're right about the Commer badge. Bugger, not mine, but at least proves they had Commer's in the district. Looked through their photos some more and found this beauty, from the 1960 Wood Parade, where the local community collects wood for the local hospital. Get pretty cold during winter in the Northern Tablelands of NSW.

Obviously a big day for the town. Trucks down the Main street as far as you can see including another Commer

Inverell wood Parade 1960 b.jpg Inverell wood Parade 1960.jpg
 
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Been back on the job., so a quick update.

Finally got a manifold gasket and was able to fill the cooling system. Happy to say my soldering of the new inlet and outlet fittings on the radiator didn't leak. So with a full radiator and the temperature gauge connected I started the motor. That miss had come back, but persevered with the motor idling merrily and me watching the water temperature slowly rise. Still need to mount the Temp sensor for the thermo fan, so operating it manually for now. After a while the motor was up to 90 Deg C and I turned on the fan and the temp dropped down. Yeh, that was a relief! Though the motor was just idling and it was a mild 17 deg today, I ran the temperature up and down a number of times and finally timed it at around 2.5 minutes to drop from 90 to 80 deg, which seemed pretty good to me. It might be different when the engine bay is closed up and we have a hot day.

Strangely during this process the Oil Temp only rose to just over 50 Deg, so need to check that, wondering if I have the sensor on the return line from the oil cooler. Another good thing was my old tacho from the Range Rover, that's been sitting in a box for 20 years still works. It's reading half the rpm as expected so need to get that converted back to suit a 4 cylinder now I know it works.

Still having problems with the Oil Pressure gauge going to full scale when switched on. I removed it and bench tested it and it was fine after discovering this happens when sender unit isn't earthed properly, so have that one half sorted.

Motor sounds good, though the timing chain is a little rattly when warm. I wanted to do a compression test, but couldn't find my compression tester, I've put it somewhere safe, no idea where!

So pretty happy, now I know things are working, so I can set about finishing off the engine bay wiring layout.

Cheers for now
Stephen
 
Hi all, just a brief update on what's been happening

Firstly just got off Aust eBay where I was luck to come across a NOS Speedo for AU$45 plus $15 postage and bought it on the spot. Will be great to have the speedo starting from close to zero and no flaking numbers on the odometer.
New Commer Speedo.jpg

New Commer Speedo Back.jpg

Still battling on with the re-wiring, getting there slowly as realistically the work needs to be done when it's daytime, so that limits it to the weekends. Removed the radiator and resoldered the bottom pipe as there was a pin-hole leak. While it was out I also soldered in the fitting to locate the thermo fan temperature sensor. Have cleaned up some of the wiring and now in auto cable conduit, but still a few instrument wires to be lengthened or shortened to suit.

Starter motor has been giving me some grief the last few weeks and just can't seem to pin point the problem. After marking up then disconnecting all the cabling to fit up to the corrugated conduit, all was good for a while, but now nothing happens when trying to start with the key, not even a clicking starter solenoid. Earths are good, but to be sure ran a second direct to the Starter mounting bolt. The wire that feeds the solenoid shows power on and off when key turned on/off to start position, but no action. Ran a wire from the Solenoid and touched it direct to the battery, still no joy.

So out comes the screw-driver and manage to make contact with the Power and solenoid terminals, still no joy. Starter then removed, ran a spare cable I had direct from battery to the starter power terminal. Earthed starter body to the negative terminal on the battery and arced the power and solenoid and it happily engages and motor spins like it should. Bolted it up again to the motor and still nothing. I'm sure it will be something absolutely stupid. Yes I have already removed and bridged out the Triumph inertia kill switch and all the fuses are good. Will try swapping the existing power cable from the battery with the one that worked when testing the starter when removed, no harm in trying.

Have a few small oil weeps from the oil temp and pressure senders located on the remote filter body, so will divert my attention to resolving those next week and leave the starter for the moment. With the radiator re-installed I completed the wiring to the Thermo fan sensor that I installed, so that's all ready for when I figure out how to start the bloody engine!

It's all fun in the end, with the added challenge here and there to test our skills and patience.
Cheers for now
Stephen
 
Just looked bac ka the thread page, I seem to have lost the recent pictures I posted of the Commer Van and Truck and some others, Anyone know why??
 
Result with the speedo, not so good with the starter:( Is there a relay somewhere in the circuit?
Strange about the pics, have you moved them from where you originally posted them from? Switched them to a new folder on photobucket for example.
 
Panky, now really!! It's a Triumph wiring loom designed by Lucas, the only relay in it is for the Horn!

Photos uploaded from my computer, haven't used photo bucket since the old site updated so we could upload our own files
 
Hi All

Had a victory on the weekend with the starting issue. I bolted on the smaller unit off my old Sunny wagon and everything worked fine, so confirmed there was no issues with the wiring. Pulled apart the problem starter and found one of the wires to the brushes had come away and the other 2 looked pretty average. As this was the second time I'd stripped it down I decide to head to the wreckers and get another. Couldn't find any Navara's and ended up with one off another model Nissan. Slightly longer and with the solenoid in a different place. Length-wise it just fit, but the best thing was the different solenoid position makes it so much more accessible, also cranks the motor heaps better being longer than the original. Hooked up the battery and vrooom!! The motor now seemed to have a miss, but quickly realised I had mixed up 2 of the plug leads when I fitted the new leads and plugs prior to the old starter dying. With that sorted it went VROOOM!!!!

With the motor finally running again I could at last test the cooling system and thermo fan. With the cooling system topped up with straight water for now and the radiator cap off, I left it running for some time and watched the temp gauge head up to around 110 deg C, but showed no evidence of boiling and no thermo fan operating. Odd I thought, so I raced into the house and got the cooking thermometer and stuck it in the radiator and got a reading of 70 deg C. Seems the temp sender doesn't match the VDO gauge. Ordered the correct VDO sender and now reading spot on, though the thermo fan's still not starting. It works fine when the temp switch is bridged, so the wiring is good, so will check that out on this weekend and work my way through the wiring in the engine bay for the other gauges.

Been extremely cold here this last week, we've apparently had a "Polar Vortex" come up from Antarctica, through Victoria, NSW and South Australia, with temperatures way down and snow falling on much of the higher reaches of the Great Dividing Range, almost to the Queensland boarder. There's talk we might have another blast coming this weekend, have to wait and see.

Cheers Stephen
 
That's great, good that you have so much choice when it comes to swapping and changing. Oh for a bit of snow to cool us down here. it's up to 63 F here;)
 
70 degrees (22 C) I wish!!! 6 months ago we were having weeks in the high 30's, with the occasional day or two in the 40's. It struggled to get to 11 C in my part of Sydney today. Heading up to the Blue Mountains (Katoomba) tomorrow night, about 1 1/4 hour drive from my place, 2 hours from Sydney CBD, only got to 4 C up there today. Will definitely be leaving the motor bike at home and taking the L300. Hoping it improves for Sunday, Commerday.
 
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