Work on United Counties Lodekka 651 has progressed very well over the last couple of months, but the challenge of fitting an overhauled Gardner 6LXB engine into the vehicle is currently delaying the process of 651 roaring into life once more. Although some of the chassis cross members and mountings are the same as a Gardner 6LX (and these have been sourced to replace the former mountings since 651 was originally Bristol engined). The 6LXB is, however, a bigger unit and some major components on the engine are in different places compared to a 6LX requiring some modifications to the vehicle.Meanwhile, we have managed to persuade Tiflex to manufacture a run of the original green Treadmaster flooring for this vehicle - this flooring, once common on PSVs is only manufactured to special order and generally only in the more common brown colour. This is an example of the problems in vehicle restoration - sourcing materials that are no longer in regular production and the costs of procuring short production runs. Glazing with cream coloured window rubbers will soon be refitted.
