Posts Tagged ‘leopard’
Not Another One!
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Acquisitions
Yes, it appears that we have a new acquisition in the form of another Supreme! We acquired 83 D 4174, from Malahide Coaches, Dublin who have operated it on schools since 1999. This bus has an unusual history, like our 79 MN 522, this was delivered new to Wallace Arnold in C49F layout (Plaxton recliners), delivered 4/1981, as PNW 310W. (Chassis No: 8031151 PSU3F/4R).
Following delivery, it appears this vehicle was involved in an accident, rendering the body a write-off (Body No: 8111LC3010 . It was returned to Plaxton, Scarborough, where it was rebuilt, and delivered in 1983 to Wallace Arnold as GWY 165Y. Hence the unsual reg for a Leopard! We are unsure of when it was withdrawn from Wallace Arnold, and what it did between then and it’s acquisition by Malahide Coaches. If anyone could help with this gap it would be greatly appreciated!
As acquired, pictured beside ‘Lucy’ on Saturday 3rd May 2008. Somewhat of a before and after photo!
Pictured after a good wash and cleanup. Note the addition of a new grill (79 MN 522’s old one) and the removal of all Dublin Bus ‘SchoolLink’ decals.
Standard Leopard cab. Including the Lucas indicator stalk (often removed by operators).
Interior after initial cleanup, all seats intact and perfect!
After a roadrun, we parked up in Wicklow harbour to go for lunch!
Finishing Touches!
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Events, Restorations
The finishing touches are presently being applied to ‘Lucy’ in preparation for her pilgrimage up North to the Annual Irish Transport Trust Bus & Coach Show, Cultrá, Co. Down. The team has been busy making sure every last detail has been tendered to, all that is required now is a good soapy wash and wax and the interior cleaned out.
For those attending, you will be receiving an email shortly containing all corresponding information about the upcoming show this Saturday, including revised meeting points, times and the agenda. Anyone who wishes to book last minute seats should contact us immediately at: info@motorpreservationireland.org. We regret to inform, that we will not be able to facilitate any passengers who have not notified us prior.
What a Contrast!
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Restorations
Interior restoration on Suzie has now been completed! New seats, carpet and lots of elbow grease has turned her back into an A1 executive coach once more.
Below is a photo of here fully complete, with original style moquette, centre isle carpet, and a spotless interior!
Whereas below is a contrasting photo taken 31st December 2007, when we had just removed all of the seating and had yet to clean the sidepanels, lino or lay carpet.
Watch out for us during Summer 2008!
‘Lucy Repainted’
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Restorations
Above: For a good finish, the bodywork must be 100% perfect/smooth. This means filling in inevitable dents, scratches, stone chips, and other damage with such fillers like Isopon. Luckily, very little work was required, a quick skim over rough patches, and the filling in of small panel damage was all that was required - Luckily!
Above: The webmaster can be seen getting his hands dirty from time to time, seen here sanding imperfections from the rear nearside wheelarch - when sanding use coarse pads to begin with and gradually increase the grain to a finer texture.
Above: Looking worse for wear, Lucy was backed into one of our workshops (featured in her Head Gasket replacement), and the more intense bodywork was attended to - following this, the entire body was wiped down using a surface cleanser before being ‘masked up’ for painting to begin the following morning.
Above: All allies were called in to aid in ‘masking up’, pictured (L-R) Karl Roche (Vehicle Manager), Aaron Donohoe (Operations Manager) and Patrick Donohoe (Transport Consultant).
Above: Alan Donohoe, who kindly donated his time and expertise to paint ‘Lucy’ is pictured applying a ‘Tack Coat’ to the nearside. Alan has been professionally respraying coaches, buses, cars and trucks for over 20 years, and it was an honor to have him work on our vehicle and to donate his time to the cause. The finish Alan applied exceeded our expectations!
Above: Waiting for the second coat (of four) to dry, you can see that at this point the roof hasn’t yet been painted. The roof is generally given a more liberal coat of paint, which was given shortly before the commencement of coat three. Pictured is our vehicle manager Karl Roche inspecting the paint finish!
Above: Once the paint had cured, we couldn’t resist removing the ‘masking’, and pulling her out of the workshop, to check the paintwork in the sun - the photo doesn’t do it justice, but she was has a mirror finish - a credit to Alan who did a superb job of her.
Above: Frontal view, with all auxillary parts (grill, dest. glass, head light surrounds etc…) removed. The rubber trim had been refitted by the time of this photo, but the rock guards located below the lockers haven’t been painted, due to the fact they have to be straightened and will be painted black!
We’d like to take the opportunity to thank the following people who without their input the project wouldn’t have been able to progress to this stage:
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Mick & Johnny Fortune
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Alan & Paddy Donohoe
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Willie & Paddy Doyle
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Stephen Lynch
The turn of a CIE key…
Posted by Stephen Payne | Filed under Development, Reports, Restorations
Walking through the yard of Kells Transport Museum in Cork, you see a lot of buses, coaches, trucks, minibuses, in fact just about anything could meet you around any corner, as each time you adventure into the depth of grimy, bewildering vehicles that you might find something new. Well each time we are down, two vehicles always pop up in conversation during breakfast, probably the only two truly amazing vehicles within the museum grounds at Cork. Having worked for 12 3/4hours on R913 back in Freezing December finally came to an end with the apprentice finally signaling that she had started, as the mechanic glanced into the engine in amazement. The other vehicle might not be as unique as R913, but does come from the same period and was a true veteran of the CIE fleet, having been the longest serving member of its class.
Yes, no matter where you went on your adventure anytime you were down, you always met the miserable, almost skeletal remains of a badly deteriorated vehicle that is E106. Having been purchased from Bus Eireann in 1998, she had been lying in Knockraha hidden by other vehicles for nearly six years, and another few years sitting in Capwell garage, which is where she lost a lot of her identity.
Well, eventually we got around to having a good look at her, seeing that she required a lot of parts, and being a small problem with the fact that there was really more work to do than would be normally put into a vehicle, but the decision was made to have a go anyway.
So last weekend, armed with the usual tool boxes, as well as a portable LED lamp, Stephen Payne set to work on rebuilding her from slightly modified parts off different buses across the yard. The sump, rocker assembly, injectors, lift pump, injector pump, injector piping, water pipes, rocker cover, clutch assembly, as well as reverse gear were all replaced, as well as a modified drive shaft from an LA as the original had been badly warped.
Starting work at just after 11pm, it seemed as if it were the last place on earth anyone would want to spend their Friday night, but Steve braved the damp ground and pursued the goal of waking this gentle beast from her death bed. 3am came and went, and frequent dashes up and down the yard for oil, water, batteries and forgotten parts eventually paid off, as at 7.28am the last dash was made up to the office, master switch turned on and with the turn of the oily CIE key, dashboard lights as well as the horn and buzzers broke the perfect silence that was Saturday morning. One more turn of the key and away she went, seven seconds was all it took before she was firing, and the sound was of absolute magic. Never before has an engine started with such ease and sound so perfect, a constant rev was kept until she was idling on her own, and the levels were checked. Everything okay, the buzzers eventually went out and the reverse gear was selected.
Handbrake released and a very nervous mechanic reversed her out of her grave, and moved her up towards the office. Not a puff of smoke from the engine, and sounding as a leopard purr should, she gracefully progressed up to the main gate, where she was left idling while further checks ensued.
So once again, another veteran of the Irish Transport Scene has purred to life, and will be heading towards the MVPSI workshops shortly, as E106 is to be completely refurbished to the standard required. It just goes to show that even things which seem as if they are finally fit to face the grave, can in fact turn around to once again grace the roads of Ireland, and possibly the UK, you would never know what could happen…
‘Lucy’ Head Gasket Replacement
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Reports, Restorations
Over the course of two days, Stephen Payne and Aaron Donohoe tackled the task of replacing the cylinder head gasket on the left cylinder head of our latest acquisition - 79 MN 522. Below is an illustrated report of the repair. It should have normally taken a day to remove the cylinder head, replace head gasket, refit cylinder head and manifolds - it took us two days due to stubborn, inaccessible bolts, studs and nuts, as well as encountering difficulties removing the head.
Checklist:
- Workshop - it wouldn’t be advisable to tackle this in the open, a workshop would be best, for convenience more so then anything!
- Tools - Good quality, heavy duty tools, inc. a Torque wrench, mallet, multiple ring, adjustable, open, angle and ratchet spanners, sockets, and a rubber mallet are all essential.
- Lighting - Inspection lights, and background work lighting.
- Trolley Jacks - Leopards have their engine mounted upside down, on its side, so the cylinder head is located on the right hand side of the bus. Trolley jacks come in handy for bracing the head lightly when removing and for making it 10x easier when refitting.
- Workbench - You need somewhere flat, clean and secure to put the cylinder head, head bolts, exhaust, air and water manifolds.
- Assistance - You can’t feasibly do a Leopard head gasket by yourself. It makes sense to have another person to help reduce the work load.
- Patience - It’s a long job, you’ve to drain the cooling system, remove exhaust, air and water manifolds, remove the air filter and housing, cylinder head cover, rocker shaft, push rods, inlet pipes, injectors, and it’s a task getting the cylinder head itself off!
We backed 79 MN 522 into Workshop one, leaving enough clearance on the offside to get adequate access and workspace on that side. Workshop one is big enough to fit our longest coach 355 SZB (12m) comfortably, and a double decker at a squeeze. Workshop two will be double the size of Workshop one, once complete.
To get access to the cylinder head, to the stage where it’s ready to be removed, you must remove ancillary parts such as Air Manifold, Exhaust Manifold, Water Manifold - with Thermostat, Air Filter, and disconnect all corresponding hoses.
Firstly drain the cooling system, once done remove/disconnect hoses in relation to the parts that have to be removed. Now start by removing the water manifold - this is the first manifold, it comes in two connection parts, one contains the thermostat. Both sections are joined by a copper sealing ring (cause of many water leaks on 0.680 engines). Once removed, store carefully and keep gaskets and bolts safe!
Next remove the exhaust manifold. We encountered a problem, the nuts had melted to the manifold, luckily on the side we didn’t need to remove. We have a replacement part, so to save time we cut the manifold in half from the joining ring - which was also seized into place. Again keep the gaskets, nuts and bolts safe. The air manifold is the one at the rear, it came off without a problem, although it did crack at one of the flanges - since repaired.
Now you can remove the Cylinder head cover. It’s advisable to keep the bolts in situe once removed. As they’re different sizes, it makes it easier on yourself if they’re in the correct order when it comes to reassembly. You can now proceed to remove the fuel delivery pipes, and clamps - cover the outlet pipes, disconnect leak-off pipes and remove the injectors (3). Now remove the Rocker shaft with care, untighten bolts evenly, and lift assembly clear of it’s locating studs. Remove the Push rods, and place in order of removal. Remove cylinder head nuts in reverse order (a manual/diagram comes in handy at this stage), and place in order of removal.
Ensure all Cylinder head bolts are removed, and tap the cylinder head to break the seal. We now encountered a problem, that the cylinder head wouldn’t budge! We tried manually removing it, and bracing it with a jack and trying to pull it clear. We located two unused holes above an below two of the cylinder head locating studs - one either side, and we manufactured two 8mm plates to go over the studs. Two holes were drilled in each place to locate and tighten nuts onto. This method slowly pulled the cylinder head off.
For some reason this method of removing the head wasn’t mentioned in the manual. It was under the advice of Willy Doyle, who had previously worked on such engines, that the recommendation of the two plates came from.
With the cylinder head removed, a well deserved rest was in order. Illustrated is the stripped side, and the complete side with rocker shaft and injectors still in situe.
The cylinder head after removal. Yet to be cleaned and prepared for refitting. Mr KT Lawless, was kind enough to resurface the face of the head for us.
A new Leyland 0.680 Head Gasket.
The old Head Gasket.
Once the Head Gasket had been put into place, and cylinder head cleaned and prepared, it can now be located and fitted. We used a trolley jack to brace it. It slid right on without fault.
Aaron Donohoe locating the cylinder head. Cable ties were used to keep the fuel delivery pipes out of the way whilst fitting the cylinder head.
Now once the cylinder head is located, you can now torque the head bolts, refit the injectors, push rods, rocker shaft, delivery and inlet pipes, cylinder head cover, and manifolds. Once complete, check your work, refill cooling system - check for leaking, check oil levels, and refit air filter. Start the engine (it will take approx. 5-8 minutes to start), and leave to idle for 45-60 minutes. Do futher checks for leakage, and refill water levels.
Job Done!
New Acquisition - 79 MN 522
Posted by Aaron Donohoe | Filed under Acquisitions
Although the photo doesn’t do it justice, our latest aquisition 79 MN 522 is a superb example of a Supreme IV. Formely owned by Wallace Arnold, it ended its service career with St. Kevin’s - Glendalough. It has now been acquired by the Motor Vehicle Preservation Society of Ireland for futher use. After a complete mechanical and structural inspection, it has been found it requires little more than a good clean and polish. Externally it requires one panel to be repaired, and internally requires nothing - as can been seen from the below photo.
