restoration MK IV Cromwell

Goran there are more Cromwell/centaur hulls around than you might think.

Rick,

do you know some Cromwell/Centaur hulls that are not listed there?

http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Cruiser_Tanks.pdf

http://www.massimocorner.com/afv/Surviving_Charioteers.pdf

If so, is there any I could add to these lists?

thanks

P-O

Are there no turrets left on ranges somewhere? I have heard stories over the years of people who have been visiting ranges "Off the record" and found loads of stuff no one knew about, Shermans, M10, Churchills, etc. etc.

Making a turret is doable (not easy-but doable) compared to the effort and work it would take to build the rest of a tank.... =)

Goran N

Hi pierre

the cadmans have 5 centaurs but only one with a turret and I know of 2 early hulls undergoing restoration near Retford. There are also 2 more on range but i don't have pics of any of them. I will try to get some and post them on the forum.

keep up the good work.

rick

Goran

luckily the Cromwell turret construction is quite basic and requires few specialist processes, the mantlet and pistol ports are the hardest things to fabricate, normally the turret ring would be costly but we plan on using a Saladin ring which is only very slightly smaller.

rick

Hi pierre

 

the cadmans have 5 centaurs but only one with a turret and I know of 2 early hulls undergoing restoration near Retford. There are also 2 more on range but i don't have pics of any of them. I will try to get some and post them on the forum.

 

keep up the good work.

 

rick

yes please, I would be very interested in getting the pics of the Cadmans' centaurs and the two other hulls being restored. Thanks in advance !!

Pierre-Olivier

I will do my best but only if the owners agree (can't see it being a problem)

Well the engine is currently being rebuilt, one cylinder bank was bad, so he had a spitfire bank, which is going in mine. So it will be half spitfire...Also it looks like we are going to make a mold for the wheels to redo the rubber, so we will probably have some makers marks and some other goodies put into it. I need all 20 of my road wheels redone, and I know a few others do too, so look for more info. And don't be to hard on Rick for picture updates, he decided to step on his laptop again and broke it, so he will be back in service some time this week enshallah.:cool2:

Just wondering if you don't mind me asking, what you do in Iraq?

Richard

PM sent.

he could tell you but then he'd have to kill you :-D

he could tell you but then he'd have to kill you :-D

He has. 'PM' meant 'post mortem'

Haha that is a good one Rick, I can only kill with kindness..:-D

it looks likes that there plenty cromwells around bit like the number of jeeps :-)

there are few Cromwells and Sherman tanks in Irak, so I guess that Lance does a bit of tank hunting there..

P-O

it is my plan to get as many ww2 british tanks up and running as is humanly possible :cool2:

there are more in the pipeline !

rick

the engine rebuild has been progressing nicely, although there have been one or two issues which is inevitable with an old engine.

first the inlet manifold water jackets were corroded to the bolts and had to be drilled out. after that one of the cylinder walls was found to be cracked on the left bank, fortunately peter the engine specialist had a spare spitfire bank lying around, (as you do) :-D and this has now been fitted. most of the piston rings needed to be replaced as they were seized solid which is not unusual for a meteor that's been stood for a long time. the mag's will be replaced and if we can get hold of one a new loom as well. there will be other small bits and pieces but on the whole it's going well.

I'm still alive...................for now

I'm still alive...................for now

You can drive it when it is done, or come and play in it, is that kind enough...

the 2 downdraft carbs and trunking and one of the offending pistons with stuck rings.

Good to see some photos of the engine strip and rebuild, brings back memories of stripping down the first Flathead V8 for the Carrier, looked fine from the outside.....corroded to hell on the inside. I had to drill out the crowns of four pistons, terrible mess! I know there are two spark plugs per cylinder on the meteor, but is that to give redundancy, i.e. one magneto does one plug per cylinder and the other supplies the second or is it one mag per bank? Would it not be more reliable to install a modern capacitance discharge system with optical chopper in one the mag casings and only use one set of plugs? I guess the tractor pulling people must have a good solution by now....they have used meteors for years.

Two plugs per cylinder was originally for redundancy as it is a Merlin derivative, each mag running one plug per cylinder but running on one plug gives less power, not a lot less but there is a noticeable rev drop on one plug. The magnetos are perfectly reliable if the coils are in good condition and you keep them dry(ish).

Adrian,

Is it the HT loom you need to replace? We have re-cabled a couple of looms using copper core HT cable rather that the steel that was in there originally. Seems to have worked.

I like the mag setup on the meteor; it is a good system. As long as the mag is in good order and the booster coil is fine there should not be a problem as you say.

yes it's the ht cables that have gone hard and rigid through age and so might be liable to break if not already done so. we could use normal copper cable but it would be nice to have the rf screening so we can use a working 19 set but if push comes to shove then i'm happy with anything as long as it works ! i was on the phone last night to a chap that plays around with meteors and they have been taking the mag coils out and testing them, he also told me water ingress is a problem.

bloody petrol engines will be the death of me.

rick

Two plugs per cylinder was originally for redundancy as it is a Merlin derivative, each mag running one plug per cylinder but running on one plug gives less power, not a lot less but there is a noticeable rev drop on one plug.

Other than the redundancy aspect, dual plugs mean that the fuel/air mixture is burned up faster because you have 2 flame fronts crossing the cylinder and meeting somewhere in the middle rather than having one flame front that has got to cross the entire cylinder. Not only does this mean more of the bang is happening when the conrod and crankshaft are at the most favourable angle, it also means that the flame is less likely to go out before finishing the task. Such partial burns are common at part throttle - wasting fuel, which either gets lost out the exhaust or down the cylinder sides.

Of course, you could achieve a similar effect with a single plug, by placing it in the middle of the combustion chamber - easy on a 2 stroke, harder on a 4 valve 4 stroke.

On another note - I know it is said that some early meteors were rebuilt merlins, but what we appear to have here is a meteor becoming a merlin...

trevor

yes it's the ht cables that have gone hard and rigid through age and so might be liable to break if not already done so. we could use normal copper cable but it would be nice to have the rf screening so we can use a working 19 set but if push comes to shove then i'm happy with anything as long as it works ! i was on the phone last night to a chap that plays around with meteors and they have been taking the mag coils out and testing them, he also told me water ingress is a problem.

bloody petrol engines will be the death of me.

 

 

rick

A very nice man from Bovington told me the same with regards to water ingress (esp in the mag drop leads).

We kept the screening and just fed new cable in it. I think the HT cable came from Marcus Glenn. Where the rubber outer on the screening had perrished we used self amalgamating tape over the top of it and it gave a really nice finish.