ArtistsRifles

Beginning to think I am jinxed right now. Couple of days after picking up the replacement the "check engine" light came on the dash. Plugging a code reader in comes back with a P1260 error which on a Saab is the throttle body. So now I have to fix that - which is about £300......... Got the jerry can carriers here all ready to go back on and need to get the tool box on the other side off for the same treatment. Also need to get air in the drivers side front tyre. But until this issue is sorted I ain't going anywhere. Can't even use the FFR or UAZ as nether of them are running either. Only consolation is the weather has been too crappy to work outdoors.....

Yes - OT90 track is identical as it is, to all intents, a BMP-1 hull.

Good find Now - if some one could find a cab roof somewhere that's not full of holes.....

Just a thought - is it the same as used on the Stalwart's air-operated wipers? If so try a call to Bannisters to see if he has one in his stocks or Nick Mead who had half a dozen being cannibalized for spares last I was there.

Looks like the bean counters at PhotoBucket have done the math - belatedly - and worked out they are losing far more than they are going to gouge on the new rates. So I got an e-mail from them yesterday with a "special offer" - their Premium service at $99 a year that allows for: Store up to 300,000 Photos Unlimited 3rd Party Hosting (Non-commercial)* Unlimited Forum Embedding Unlimited Sharing Link is at http://photobucket.com/p500/?hotlinkfix=1516928810657 - apparently it expires in 7 days from 26th January 2018....

If anyone is having issues getting libraries downloaded prior to closing accounts ( I see the "Download Library" option has been removed from the options on the main website) I found this way of doing it. It's time consuming but does work. First off you need a mobile phone with enough room to store at least the largest the library and a USB cable that will connect the phone to a PC. Having WiFi will save you a fortune on data charges too.. * Fully charge the phone and hook it up to the PC via a USB cable. *Open up Explorer or File manager and connect to the phone as a drive. Navigate to the pictures folder on your phone. * Open up the Photobucket app on the phone. * Go into your Libraries, open a Library and at top right you see three vertical dots. Tap on that and "Download Library" is an option. * Tap on that menu item and the system will down load the library to your phone in a folder named "photobucket_<library_name>". * Check the number of files in the library on Photobucket and make sure it matches the number of downloaded files. I found anything over 200 files in a library might need the download function run more than once to get them all. * Using file manger or Explorer move that directory onto your preferred storage space. * Repeat for every single library you have. You can stack up to half a dozen to download in succession. Note that if you have any sub-libraries these need to be down loaded as separate libraries - the system will not bring them down with the top level library.. And that is it!! Its taken me most of the day to get all mine down and I had to pause between libraries at one point to recharge the phone.

Many thanks Clive - I hoped you would pick up on this one.

On to of all the other rap right now - the Landrover is refusing to start!! I had to replace the head gasket after the Peterborough show and, in the process of reassembly, lost one of the domed nuts that holds the rocker cover on. Couldn't find it anywhere till I started rotating the engine by hand to do the tappets. It had dropped into #3 cylinder exhaust port. So took the manifolds off again and hooked it out. Re-ran the compression tests again - 150 psi on all 4 cylinders - just to make sure all was well then continued reassembly. Had a bit of a hiatus after the events of Oct 15th so its only the last couple of days that I've got the will to go back and finish. Completed reassembly on Sat morning, went to start it - and nothing. Zilch. Nada. It just spun over with no sign of firing. I checked and made sure all was connected up as it should be - it was - then checked I had 24 volts going into the filter/dropper unit. There was - but still nothing. Hooked out #1 plug - earthed it, spun her over and - no spark!! At this point I gave up as it was one short step from picking up a large hammer and going berserk.... Yesterday I got the lead out of the coil and checked the voltage there - 24v... Not right, should only be 12v so obviously an issue with the filter/dropper box. Refitted the coil lead and spun it over again - and it tried to catch Just the once and then just kept spinning again. I found that if I removed and refitted the lead from the dropper to the coil then tried to start it would do the same. So possibly more than one problem has surfaced at the same time. First step is to get 12v coming out of the filter/dropper. Does anyone know if they can be rebuilt using components from somewhere like Maplins - and if so - which is the most likely component to have failed to give 24v straight through rather than dropping it down to 12v?? Once this is sorted I can look at the coil and condenser.

Alas the deal is now done - although I am STILL waiting for the cheque!! Think I will be changing insurers as soon as this mess is sorted out. Can't do a thing until they send it as things to date have wiped me financially. And although they say they are pressing for 100% libility from the other party I do not think that will be a quick resolution. The other moron is saying I drove onto the roundabout without topping and straight into him and even though the photographic evidence of the damage plus my route home proves him a liar we all know what lawyers are like for wrangling over details.

I know we are waaay off-topic here - but.... latest status is they offered £2130 for the Range Rover based on current available prices for a '98 HSE. The fact the interior had been upgraded to a Vogue spec was not relevant - or allowed to be relevant - so after they dock the £400 excess I am left with £1730. I need transport so had to accept the offer - I found an '07 Saab 9-5 Aero estate with a similar size load carrying capacity and put a deposit on it. Another story involved there for another time - but one thus far in my favour. . I've had Saab's in the past and they are extremely reliable so as soon as they issue the settlement payment I will at least be able to get back over the Militant and get on with the work. Good news is they have told me they are pressing for 100% responsibility from the other party based on the statement, sketches of the incident scene and photographs provided. Once that settles, hopefully in my favour I get the £400 excess back.

Got legal protection on the policy so that's covered. Insurers have said they "most likely" will go 50/50 on the blame as there were no witnesses and its his word vs. mine. My reply to that was if they do then they both render the Highway Code not worth the paper its printed on but also the laws of physics as the front of my car is manifestly ripped off. if I had hit the other driver as he is claiming then the front of my vehicle would be crushed in - so would the side of his vehicle and its unlikely his front seat passenger would have escaped without serious and life changing injuries. I was doing maybe 20 mph at the time and he overtook me before trying to cut across in front of me to get to his exit so he had to be doing in excess of 30 mph and either was too stupid to work out he couldn't do it or too arrogant. Take your pick. I also distinctly heard one of his passengers complaining the other one would miss his train so the reason for the speed and the stupidity is pretty obvious. Just got to sit back and wait now. sent the form back the other day together with the signed statement that I am full prepared to stand up in court and recite the same series of events. I will just be glad when all this shit is sorted and I can get back to talking about how the Militant is getting on.

Yep - Sankey on the back of a Ka is a non starter :-) Seriously though - used to work for the blue oval and vehicles in the Ka (Sub-B) class do not mix well with tow bars. We do have a standard car trailer here but a lot of stuff gets left in the boot of the car - left in a trailer it would be gone within 24 hours. Only yesterday I walked a pair of Est European types out of the drive at the point of a Nagant + bayonet because they were trying to nick the remains of a Landrover 2.25 lump sat beside the garage. And yes - we are actively now looking at moving out of the London zone.

Well - all work on the Militant is now on indefinite hold as I have no way of getting there with all the tools etc. Insurers want to go 50/50 on blame and I am refusing, sticking to my guns that in no way was I to blame. Other party is now claiming for injuries - which hopefully means he's shot himself in the foot as I positively heard him tell the police on the phone immediately after the event that no one was hurt. Now got to sit back and wait until the insurers and lawyers finish fighting. Appreciate the offer on the Ka sir - but what I lug up to the Militant every week would fill a Ka with some left over. I have specific needs, capacity wise at least, for a vehicle which includes being able to get either a Soviet tent or a 9x9 in the back together with all necessary kit for Living History.

If jacking up - don't forget to open the tailgate and put the hazards on - stops the height sensors getting screwed up apparently.

You should see what done underneath as regards the supporting bracketry. Insurers are picking it up tomorrow.

Another day - good news - and not so good news. Good news is we had a lovely bright day so the top coat was applied to the front bumper (1 coat so far) the faces of the door inner panels and the affected areas at the rear to allow the carriers to be re-attached. Two coats in each area so by the time a week has passed that should be nicely hardened ready to take the carriers The not so good news is as of now I have no idea when I am going to be able to get back over there Heading home on the Sat evening I had an idiot in a Audi decide he wasn't waiting for a Range Rover and tried overtaking me then cutting in front to take hi exit. And misjudged it. End result being the drivers side of the bumper was ripped off, wing f*cked and possibly the steering. Spoke to my insurers and they wrote it off without even looking at it. From what I know of insurance practices the payout will be the bare minimum of what the market price range is - and then the insurers are taking £400 off that for the excess. If I'm lucky I might end up with around £500 for a car I could have sold privately for about £2,000 - and I have NO idea when they will payout so I am grounded until I can find something to replace it.

Images are showing now attached to the end of the posts - but not in-line - still getting a message like: attachment.php?attachmentid=129463&src=1 Not a major issue as the images CAN be seen at the end of the post but it does disrupt the flow.

Time to start wishing the lottery fairy would smile upon me.....

Noticed this looking back through the Albion thread in the Restorations section. The image name appears in Green test which appears to be a hyperlink but if you click on it you just get a black screen.

So - progress again..... The jerry can and oil can carriers plus brackets and support struts are all now finished with two coats of Deep Bronze Green and are ready to go back on. Couldn't do anything last weekend as I was replacing the head gasket on the Landie - again!. However this week saw the structure where the carriers mount and the read mudguard cleaned off and given a coat of primer ready for a coat of Deep Bronze Green next week. Week after they will get the second coat and then the carriers can go back on and I have the joy of getting the tool box off the other side to do the same job on Lastly the spare wheel carrier was freed off and the spare wound down to check it. Tyre was as flat as a pancake so I need to get an airline made up with a PCL fitting one end and a clip on valve fitting the other so the tyres can be inflated single handed.

Thanks for the kind words sir. The vice has actually darkened down nicely in the weeks since it was done - looking more like the Army version of DBG now. Spent all of today prepping the jerry can carrier - used sanding discs to get most of the paint off then tried using paint stripper. I have no idea what paint was used but it totally ignores Nitromors which usually works quite well. Despite two thick applications I wound up using more traditional scraping techniques which is why it took all day. Still - the support struts and their bracket have now been given a coat of Bonda Primer so they are ready for the Deep Bronze Green treatment. Tomorrow morning the carrier will get a final once over in Jenolite to catch anything I missed prior to stripping and then once that has dried off that too will get a coat of Bonda Primer so that all is ready to have the top coat applied. Saturday I will clean up the area the carriers were fitted to on the chassis and mudguards and give those a coat of Jenolite and then Bonda Primer so in 2 maybe 3 weeks time these carriers can go back on. I also need to get a fuel line replaced - the one that runs along from the filter behind the tank to the union just in front of the greasing/oiling points on the drivers side of the chassis We get there slowly - very slowly.

In between rain showers today I stripped the support struts and bracket from from the jerry can carrier, went over them with a coarse sanding disc and then a gave them a good dunking in Jenolite. The oil can carrier was not so bad - just a bit of surface corrosion in places so that too was cleaned back to bare metal and then given the Jenolite treatment. The Jerry can carrier itself was given a quick brush over with Jenolite as time stopped me getting the sanding disc on it - that will come tomorrow. All currently sitting in the Landrover as the OH refused point blank to have them in the house Those parts already treated will get a coat of Bonda Primer tomorrow whilst I clean up the jerry can carrier. This will then also get a coat of Bonda Primer and when dried all parts will get two coats of Deep Bronze Green before being refitted.

Another day done yesterday - bit of a painful one too in more ways than one. For starters the front edge of the roof had some nasty bubbles appearing under the paint. So I took a sanding disk to it and cleaned it back to bare metal then gave the whole section a coat of Jenolite. The bits I thought were bad turned out to be just pitting. Alas this was not the case in the corner on the drivers side which has a large hole!! Really the cab roof needs splitting off and removing as Rob has done with the Tankers - but facilities and available funds kind of block that idea. I begin to think the 9x9 canvas draped over the roof has been a two edged sword. Kept the rain from getting in - but encouraged condensation and thus enhanced corrosion. Once this was done I had intended rebuilding the doors - but a large aerial inspection platform has been dropped beside the passenger door preventing access that side so rather than do only one I thought I would get the oil can and jerry can holders off and take them home to de-rust during the week and give a coat of paint to them so they are ready for refitting. Oil can one came off easy enough - but the two countersunk screws holding the jerry can one to the mudguard supports refused to undo so I had to undo the bolts securing the bracing straps to the mudguard. Just as I released the last one I remembered I forgot to tie the holder back to the chassis - about a millisecond before it dropped on my head. Note - this f*&%ing hurts!!!

So - pretty much the same as Mk 1 Militants then!

So the pre-1960 MoT exemption remains for HGV's/PSV's provided they are not significantly modified but those post 1-1-1960 will still require an MoT. For the pre-1960 one then - how will that affect older ladies like Scammells and Ward La Frances etc where the original petrol engines are replaced by more powerful diesels? For cars one of the stipulations was not more than a 15% power increase over OEM - are the engine upgrades on these older ladies more than 15%??