Update on the truck project. The big yella hulk runs, and drives; not very far, or for very long, because of having no radiator... but there's movement.
Also, I passed my LGV hazard-perception. Whoo, go me!
Truck
Refitted the radiator on Wednesday and started to refill it, only to find it was leaking. It appeared to be leaking from the lower end-tank; so I dropped it off at Phoenix Radiators in Chorley to be pressure-tested and repaired, yesterday.
The bad news came in this morning; it's not leaking from the end-tank. The core itself is rotten. Because of course it is!
So it's being re-cored with a modern radiator core; meaning it'll be better than new. Not cheap, mind; but hopefully should last for another 30 years or so.
Registration-wise, not too much is happening at the moment; still working on trying to uncover enough about its identity to fill out the paperwork. (Oh, and to get enough information to be able to get a confirmation of its age, from someone the DVLA trusts...)
I think I've discovered the Minstry of Supply chassis plate, which should hold information like the service registration number and the contract number, which would mean I'd be able to look up its dates of service, etc.
Actual confirmation of what it is on the plate I've found will have to wait until I've cleared enough access to get at the plate, and carefully cleaned it of the paint that has been slapped over the top of it, hopefully without doing damage to the plate itself.
As for the weight... (Ascii weight-ticket below, because the picture I had of it was terrible. Though, to be fair, the weight tickets are terrible to read anyway. Effect of using the cheapest thermal paper available.)
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13:13:25 25 Mar 16
Vehicle: 5970kg
Number of axles: 2
Axle 1: 2480kg
Axle 2: 3490kg
Speed: 0.8km/h
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Of course, to run it over the weighbridge, I had to drive it out of the compound and round to the other end of the building, then back again to park it; which was cutting it a bit close, with a nearly nonexistant cooling system.
I do now, however, know that both the temperature gauge and the thermostat still work! As soon as the temp gauge nudged over the dot in the centre, a huge cloud of steam and spitting coolant was hurled out of the front of the truck.
It will be very nice to get the radiator back in, but it's not going to be ready until the 13th of April; to give me a little bit of time to build up the funds required to pay for the work. cue wincing
I'm also thinking of writing up a little 'history' of how I got to where I am with the truck. We shall see.