restoration Scorpion/Scimitar Restoration in New Zealand

I'm bemused as to why the ATDU were stripping engines?

 

Andy

As a unit, they may have had a vehicle with an engine problem and initial dismantling he observed that the engine was unrepairable. Maybe we might hear more!

I'm glad to see your retaining pins came out so easily, I'll be needing to replace a couple of mine that had to be drilled-out.

We then found a bit of accelerator linkage threaded rod about 1/4" which wound into the retaing pin and pulled it out. Job done and torsion bars removed and carefully marked 'left' and 'right' then we have a better than 50% chance of putting them back the correct side.

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I'm bemused as to why the ATDU were stripping engines?

 

Andy

Spoke to spike last night they removed the engine because the scorpion was being placed as a gate guardian it is still there at the D and M school Bovington . You can see it from the Tank museum car park.

Al

Spoke to spike last night they removed the engine because the scorpion was being placed as a gate guardian it is still there at the D and M school Bovington . You can see it from the Tank museum car park.

 

Al

Ah!

Andy

Spoke to spike last night they removed the engine because the scorpion was being placed as a gate guardian it is still there at the D and M school Bovington . You can see it from the Tank museum car park.

 

Al

Would be nice to see photo of Scorpion mentioned above. I wonder if the engine was any good when Spike removed it?

Removal of the fuel tank is a similar story to other forums. The fuel cap ws completely seized and had to be forcibly removed. Several litres of fuel/water were removed (about 250 litres). The access plate was removed and the rest of the foul smelling liquid cleaned out. Seems to have crystalized. At this stage we have decided against removing the bladder as we are not sure that we will use this tank or install a separate smaller one considering most running will shorter and it will be easier to keep fresh fuel. The old fuel did still burn - not explosive like but it did make an impressive sight.

I like your Carbon footprint! You might have to buy some "Carbon Credits " to offset your emissions in clean/green NZ,Cheers:-)

Just a word of warning, if there is any rust pitting on the torsion bars (and they do look rusty) then it might be wise to replace as the pitting is likely to produce a fracture in use. This is why torsion bars have a coating or wrapping on them.

 

regards, Richard

The wrapping was mainly in place and most of the gunk was a mixture of oil and dirt. The end exposed appears okay but we will check them all as they are removed.

excellent blog .

brings back fond memories ,I've restored an ex Belgian scimitar (as a sabre as that's the turret it came with)

you seem to be having all the same problems but its worth it in the end ,mines great fun to drive now although I still have some finishing off to do .

best wishes

justin

I like your Carbon footprint! You might have to buy some "Carbon Credits " to offset your emissions in clean/green NZ,Cheers:-)

Do you have any "Carbon Credits" in stock? If so, add them to the list for Friday.

excellent blog .

brings back fond memories ,I've restored an ex Belgian scimitar (as a sabre as that's the turret it came with)

you seem to be having all the same problems but its worth it in the end ,mines great fun to drive now although I still have some finishing off to do .

best wishes

justin

Thanks Justin. They are certainly nice to drive (in my brief experience) and we are looking forward to bringing it back to life.

You going to be doing a raid on The Tank Factory!, I will make sure the sentries are posted.:-)

May be a good idea to ditch the fuel bladder , when we did turret lifts the mechanics would often change the bladder because they were troublesome , I don't remember the reason why ? but we would always make sure they were filled up before they came in for the turret lift as any fuel in the bladder was written off. it always found its way into our private cars:cool2:

You going to be doing a raid on The Tank Factory!, I will make sure the sentries are posted.:-)

An easy way around the sentries is fresh donuts and the Tank Factory doors open.

Picked up some bins today which we didn't have room for on our last vist. Luckily I was in the area with work. Nice ex NZ army in Merdec cammo scheme.

Also got to to view the Valentine that is in the Factory being restored currently. See -

http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?50645-restoration-of-a-valentine-MK5-tank-started

We started to clean up the Hull interior and ended up taking it back to bare aluminium for a full repaint.

The front torsion bar channel required repairs as well as the flotation screen skirt which had probably been damaged after being lifted and moved by forklifts or the like. These repairs we had an engineer undertake.

Jealous, what a workshop.

I'm very interested in knowing what alloy you used for your sponson patch. Mine was patched with an incompatible alloy (6061 I suspect) at some point and rotted away quite badly. I'm also curious to know if you chose to follow the Repaircraft instructions and MIG your repairs or if you went with TIG? Did you use AL 5556 or some other filler?

The front torsion bar channel required repairs as well as the flotation screen skirt which had probably been damaged after being lifted and moved by forklifts or the like. These repairs we had an engineer undertake.

 

 

 

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Jealous, what a workshop.

Not ours unfortunately. Just visting for the aluminium repairs then back home again.

Never mind. Quality repair, I always had the aggrigates to rub my aluminium welding down when I had a tipper body to repair. Some loader drivers thought it was their mission in life to get the load around the propshaft through the floor.

Hull interior undercoated in 2 pack automotive white which also acts as an etch primer.

I'm very interested in knowing what alloy you used for your sponson patch. Mine was patched with an incompatible alloy (6061 I suspect) at some point and rotted away quite badly. I'm also curious to know if you chose to follow the Repaircraft instructions and MIG your repairs or if you went with TIG? Did you use AL 5556 or some other filler?

Caught up with the engineer today to find out what was used and how repairs done. Tig weld, 5056 grade alloy and 5356 filler rods from what he remembers. We put some alloy flat right around the bottom of the sponson to give a bit more bulk and support.

First of 2 top coats in. Again 2 pack paint (white). Starting to look real nice and soon be ready to start putting components back in. Thanks to Brett's dad for helping us with the painting.

I can sense competition, are you going head to head with the Tank factory for finish? High class work.

Looking really good!

Andy