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Aussie

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Aussie last won the day on January 29 2018

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  • Location
    Victoria, Australia
  • Interests
    Ferret Mk1 but then "caught the bug" and added a Saracen, Cent and a Saladin basket case
  • Occupation
    Medico getting closer to retirement, so I'm really old enough to know better!

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  1. Hi Peter Not sure if your question was aimed at me, but yes, I unbolted the electrical stuff on the right side (looking towards the rear) to move it out of the way. Taking the tank out wasn't difficult. The mounting brackets all broke or were already broken, and needed fixing (vulcanised). Someone suggested drilling a hole and putting a bolt through them but didn't do that - might be a reasonable idea but you'd need to grind the head of the bolt down flat to fit (you'll figure out what I mean when you take the tank out). I also considered an electrical fuel pump but in the end just left it with the mechanical pump, although I added a simple rubber bulb hand primer between the main fuel tank outlet and the fuel filter - not sure if that's really needed but I thought it's simple to do and might help prime the filter and reduce the load on the battery a bit. The only other bodge I applied was to replace the fuel filter (which was non-standard and ridiculously puny anyway) with a diesel truck fuel filter - wouldn't have done that if it had its original filter of course, but this ferret is a non-standard "chop job" in any event.
  2. Back to the Saladin, and now that the engine doesn't look disgusting I've had a look and have/will solve the hydraulic pump problem! The NOS Saracen pump has 1 belt and the Saladin 2 (pic of Sal pump above). The pulley on the Saracen crankshaft has the right setup with 2 belts for the generator and one for the pump. Saracen Saladin (only one belt on generator at the moment) The other skinny belts for the water pump (top) and fans all run off the Saladin PTO (bottom right) and aren't connected to the crankshaft pulley at all. So.. all I need to do is swap the crankshaft pulley rather than risking wrecking the pump while trying to fettle it! Could take it off my NOS Saracen but should be able to get another one and not need to cannibalise that engine (not that I have any plans for it now). Now on the hunt for the short drain pipe from pump to hull (or make one). Simple! James
  3. Thanks David. I'm comfortable driving LHD cars over here but the HMMWV is a different kettle of fish. It is sooo wide that you need to drive on the left kerb, particularly on narrow roads, and any lapse of concentration risks drifting the right side (which is hard to judge) into oncoming traffic. My concern is that I'm tarting it up so SHMBO and the kids can also drive it, so for safety's sake I think RHD will be best for this particular vehicle. Cheers, James
  4. Thanks for the offer. Main question is why people in the US are so slack in replying to emails! I've researched the HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle but apparently a.k.a. High Maintenance Money Wasting Vehicle) and plan to insert a Duramax 6.7l turbo diesel with 6 speed Allison transmission (two overdrive gears to keep revs down). Will need a bit of fettling to make right hand drive and some air con. Should be fun but I'm not holding my breath getting the stuff imported. (Not sure if this is a project that's in the domain of HMVF so apologies if everyone's eyes are glazing over.)
  5. The engine has arrived! Has had just about everything replaced: would have been cheaper to get a NOS but I'm happy that it's been salvaged. The pistons were seized, head needed a shave, sump rotted out, several teeth rusted off the flywheel, carbie and fuel pump full of crud, etc, etc, etc, etc! But now it's alive again. I've started it and ran it for a minute or two (no radiator so couldn't run it for long). Sounds great but don't think I can post a video on here, so just a pic. Now, the only thing keeping me away from the shed is the cold. Next challenge will be to get the (single) pulley of the Saracen NOS hydraulic pump switched to the Saladin pulley so the belts will fit. Will start making enquiries about that but if anyone has dismantled them I'd be grateful for advice. I imagine the shaft will press out but the frame is an alloy that's rather soft so I don't want to destroy it. Also need to have a look at the gearbox and transfer case but am hoping they'll be OK apart from a couple of seals where the transfer case joins the centre bevel boxes. Then try to work out the wiring looms .... Ah the fun of it! Cheers, James
  6. Doesn't time fly! Still waiting for the engine - had a call that it was almost ready and would be delivered "next week" but that was some weeks ago, so maybe soon... Haven't done anything on the poor thing for a while now. Reckon I need the engine back to get me motivated again. In the meantime have decided to up-engine the HMMWV to give it (a lot) more beans. This also waits on stuff being delivered (from US) but should be a fun project and reasonably simple. Went to John Bellfield's Tank Museum today. At the age of 87 he has decided to sell some of his stuff. Fantastic what he has done and continues to do. If you're after something the UK pound/euro to AUD exchange is in your favour, and I understand most of the stuff he has sold has gone overseas. You could pick up a nice Fire Support Vehicle (M113 with a Saladin turret on it) or various tanks, field guns, trucks of all shapes and sizes (big to huge), amphibian, a leopard tank engine or two, a chev truck used by the long range desert group - the list is almost endless. He also has a paddock full of wrecked tanks etc "for restoration". Makes me feel quite inadequate! Not sure if this link will work but here goes:
  7. Was interesting and very nearly did my head in! Wasn't going to bore people with the gory details but since you asked... Put it all back together and started it up in the shed; ran for around 20 min without any dramas so thought "job done". Then started it the next day to take it out and it played up royally - wouldn't start then ran very lumpily with smoke pouring out the exhaust and gradually died. So assumed the worst (head gasket) and considered taking it down to the valley for burial. Really couldn't face mucking around with it anymore, so got a friend (mechanic) to see if he was interested. Started it up for him - same performance but he said it was acting as if the choke was on. Assured him it wasn't but pulled it in and out so he could check the carbie end of the cable and... the sheath clamp was loose so pulling the knob in/out had no effect! He flicked the choke off and hallelujah! it immediately went back to running smoothly and sweetly. So after a week of foul temper I also went back to running smoothly. (Tightened the nut for the cable, of course - fiddly bit to get at). What a saga! But fortunately this time the gods were just teasing me. Haven't taken it out on the road yet because I detoured to the dark side and picked up a HMMWV which I've just got on club plates today. Very tempted to swap a Cummins BT and Allison transmission into it to get the tyres smokin' but SWMBO reckons I should pull my head in. Cheers James
  8. Ah well... hope this is the end of the saga! On a whim I decided to replace the hose from the bottom of the radiator. Didn't look bad and I was in two minds because it's awkward getting the hose clamps off, but thought I might as well. Pulled the hose of and this dropped out of the hose: A metal disc that is almost exactly the size of the hose! Which neatly explains why there was no water circulating from the radiator (not helped by the absence of the thermostat). I have absolutely no idea what it is (unfortunately doesn't seem to be a valuable roman coin) or how it came to be in the hose, and find it hard to see how any water got past it at all. Anyway, I'm more confident than ever that there was nothing wrong with the water pump (that was replaced anyway). Put it back together and ran it it for 20 minutes, with no signs of overheating and nice gradient of temp from top to bottom of the radiator. Measured around 85C at the thermostat housing, although the gauge on the instrument panel reads around 200F, so not sure that is all that reliable. Anyway, I'll take it out for a bit of a run when I get a chance, and am quietly confident that it's job done! (Apart from replacing all the armour, of course!) Take home message: before dismantling armour plate, radiator/shroud, water pump, etc, first check the thermostat and next perhaps don't assume that your hoses aren't blocked! Cheers, James
  9. Thanks Andy. As you said, the thermostat housing has a bypass that is open when the thermostat is closed, and closed when thermo is open. Ist schematic scribble shows thermostat closed. The hatched "plugs are connected so when one moves the other does as well. With the thermostat closed, water recirculates through the engine block back to the pump and then back to the engine, with the radiator outlet blocked off. When the thermostat opens (rises) it pulls up the bottom plug and blocks off the bypass, so water goes from pump to engine then out to radiator and back to pump. All very logical, and with thermostat missing some of the water (possibly most, since the pump sucks it through the bypass) was recirculating and not going through the radiator. Maybe this is all that was wrong (bugger if it is, since there are now bits and pieces all over the floor that I have to put back on!). Certainly couldn't see anything wrong with the old pump (but have replaced it anyway). So.. put a new thermostat in, and after the engine heated up and thermo opened, I got a flow of 4 litres (1 gallon) through the outflow in 1 minute. Would hopefully be more if the engine was hotter and the thermostat fully open but at the moment I've just connected the bottom hose of the radiator and running the outflow into a bucket to measure, with a cold water hose into the top of the rad. So........ as Richard advised that pushing water through too fast with an electric pump (Craig Davis recommends 150l/min) might not allow enough cooling time in the radiator, I'll put it back together and see what happens, although I'm still a bit concerned that the flow wasn't higher. Cheers James
  10. Sorry fadedsun, just spotted your post. No recent progress on the Saladin. I've been sadly distracted - one of the joys of MVs and life! The Saladin is on its 6 wheels and parked nose in to side of shed. Engine is off getting restored. Got a NOS Saracen hydraulic pump that has a single pulley and I need to change that to the double pulley for the Saladin, or change the whole pulley set up to the Saracen type (but that would waste the Saladin PTO). Think it's doable but haven't quite got around to it yet. Soon... SHMBO then decreed I "tidy up the shed, or else.." (whatever that means, ) so bought an old forklift and pallet racks and put the stuff that was annoying her up so high she'll never have to worry about it again. The floor looked good for a few weeks. Got sidetracked with a Ferret that became incontinent of water, oil and petrol. All sorted now (posted about that). Drove the Saracen to a Xmas party - nearly wiped out the missus on a steep hill and it boiled, which is the subject of yet another posting. Feeling confident that it will soon(ish) be back on the road. Along the way a HMMWV fell into my lap - well, you never know when it'll come in handy... At least it is driving nicely with no issues, although you do need to keep well to the left! Hmmm, what else.. found the tarp cover for an old landrover series one 80" (thought it was the cover for the barbecue for a year or so) and have just got that back after getting its beading re-stitched. And a new grand daughter couple of weeks ago - worth much more than anything else! Hoping I'll be back on the Saladin in the next month or two, so hopefully some more-interesting posts before too much longer. Cheers James
  11. Thanks guys I've sent the radiator off for checking and have ordered a new pump and thermostat, so we'll see how it goes. Will also flush the block.
  12. Still a dilemma! Got the pump off and took the back off it but really can't see anything wrong. The impeller is in place and it spins without making any noise. No broken bits to see. (Also worked out how the adjustable pulleys work, once the belts were off - they are threaded together independently of the threads on the shaft, which are used just to line up the belts and pulleys). Now I'm really stuck! I'll replace the back on the pump and see if I can test it off the engine by spinning it e.g. with an electric drill. If it pumps then maybe the internal waterways are blocked, however water pumped through with the electric pump and it was a NOS engine so this seems unlikely. Back to thinking about an electric pump. I could replace the mechanical one but can't see how this will make any difference.. Sage advice please!
  13. That has to be the weirdest way to adjust fan belts! The Saladin has a jockey pulley and it's obvious how that works, however it's not clear how spinning the Saracen pulleys (sheaves - thanks Lowfat) to the rear along their threads loosens the belts - I can only assume that the fan axles are not parallel? Anyway, it does and I've got the belts off ( I hear your applause and a few groans). My next dumb question: how do you remove the fan assembly? There are two bolts at either side and at the bottom there seem to be just a couple of pins, so it should just lift off. However there is stuff (mainly electrical connectors) in the way. I guess I have to remove those (not in the EMERs) but wonder if the bolts can be pulled down so the assembly could then swivel out rather than lifting it up. The bolts might be fused to the rubber mounts so don't want to apply brute force needlessly. Forecast 33C tomorrow and 39C Sunday so will probably give the shed a miss for a couple of days, but looking forward to getting the pump out and seeing what's going on! Cheers James
  14. Hi Richard I just thought you were brief and to the point! I take your point that the pump might be blocking something and will take it out, although I might need a bit of hand-holding with this. I've sourced a NOS pump. The front armour and radiator are off. Do I need to remove the fan assembly or can the pump be removed without doing this? Will have a look tomorrow to see where (what) the belt adjusting pulleys are. No idea what the sheaves are but might be obvious when I look. Sorry but this process might involve more cries for help. Cheers James
  15. OK.. Removed the radiator and it needs a bit of a service but not too bad. Connected the electric pump (which is leaking) to the bottom hose and got 5 litres out the top pipe in 30sec, which is probably correct for that pump, though a bit light on for the engine, probably. Then ran the engine with the same set up for a minute but nothing out the top, so it is the water pump that's shot. Can't find the flow rate expected with the mechanical pump and would be interested if anyone knows. What to do now? If I remove the water pump it will be a saga and I don't know if or how it could be repaired. Seems logical to fit a (bigger) electric pump to the bottom hose, if it can be wedged in there, but has anyone done that? Davis Craig recommends a 150 l/min pump +/- a digital controller to work the pump as needed for large engines, and this does look like the simplest solution...
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