Starfire

There is a lot of contention over this topic. I would suggest contacting the oil manufacturer and asking them whether it is suitable.

Turret weighs about 270kg. A tractor shouldn't have a problem with it.

I like it. Good job!

Very nice toy you have there

Many truck type radial tyres can be used either tubed or tubeless. This will generally be marked on the sidewall. Split rims (with the locking ring) can be very dangerous if not assembled correctly. Divided rims (which are bolted together) are generally pretty safe when bolted up to the proper torque. Cheers, Terry

Welcome in. You have some nice toys

The manual says to fill it to the top, but that will be technically a little overfilled. The idea is that it will vent out of the side until it finds its own level and should be pretty happy from there. I can't for the life of me work out why the Ferret was never fitted with an overflow bottle - Photographic evidence shows the Brits mounting them on trucks during WW2, so they certainly knew about them... That being said, when I first got my Ferret, the vent valve was faulty and was not building up the required pressure in the system, resulting in it constantly venting and steaming/boiling off. They are a two way valve and should be closed under normal conditions and should vent outward at a fairly high pressure and suck back in at a lower negative pressure (they are actually two valves, one inside the other). I replaced mine with another one from Empire Trading and it's been good ever since. The supplied valve was slightly different to the one on the vehicle though, and I had to drill out the mounting holes a little to have it fit properly. Cheers, Terry

Old rubber and ethanol don't play nicely together. I suspect that's why our American friends are having so much trouble with the fuel pumps on their Ferrets and Saracens.

I'd be interested in just the box, if you're willing to post to Adelaide, South Australia? Cheers, Terry.

I know nothing about these generators, but it might also have a decompression lever somewhere to aid in starting.

Yeah, but it wouldn't be the most fun I won't actually modify the Saracen, hanging around at a museum has me wanting to keep all of my vehicles stock for some reason.

Google tells me that there should be two heavy duty towing points on the back of the hull. It looks like you should be able to mount a bar across those that would have sufficient strength to mount a tow bar; either pintle or conventional ball type. From there, you would just need to work out how to wire in the trailer lights...

Good to see that this is back on track. Looking forward to seeing it running.

I think that my Ferret has pretty much enough power (although it can be a bit of a slug up steep hills) and the power brakes would be nice, but I always thought that the Saracen would benefit most from a smallish turbo - I've been in situations where that thing is going flat out in third gear up a hill, at 15 MPH! It sounded awesome, but it was way too slow, a bit of boost would have woken her right up, and being a slow revving, low compression engine, I don't think that an extra 30-50hp would hurt anything, especially if you weren't thrashing it all the time.

What variant do you have? A quick google search shows that some did and some didn't have pintle hooks. Of course, if you're only transporting the one bike, you may have the option of strapping it on top of the vehicle?

Nicely done

Silicon fluid is fantastic, in systems that are designed and specified for its use. If you are adapting or modifying a system, you'd best know what you're doing, although you can never go wrong following the manufacturer's specification.

There may have only been 12 built as ambulances, but the conversion kit was a relatively easy modification to fit. I've got 2 in service photos and a short clip from the movie Threads which shows my Saracen. In all instances, it's been upgraded to Mk 5 already and is set up as an ambulance. I've not been able to find any photos of it before the upgrade or in Hong Kong. Cheers, Terry

My Saracen is fitted for one, but it was removed at some point, prior to my owning it. I would like to find one though.

It depends on what period you want to portray. Yours, having served in NI and HK can be either Nato Green all over, or Nato green with black. For late Hong Kong service, it would have also had red tow points and lifting rings. I went with a HK scheme, as for most of its time in NI, mine was configured as an ambulance.

I don't know how you got on, but I'm personally a fan of rebuilding the standard pump. Keep in mind that yours has probably been working without trouble for 50 years and after a quick rebuild will be good for 50 more. Something to note though is that it seems that ethanol fuels can cause problems with the rubber used in them, which seems to be why American users are having more trouble than most, as in a lot of places you can only get an ethanol blend.

How did you get on? I've given my Mk 5 Saracen quite a thrashing on hot days (45 Celsius) and the only thing that overheated was me. Cheers, Terry

The subscript here is that you shouldn't use a silicon fluid in a system for which it is not specified. Given that brakes are a safety critical system, care should always be taken here.

Not true. The VRN was allocated at, or near, the time of manufacture, however, a number of Saracen Mk 6 (with VRNs in the FF range) were new-builds, intended for a foreign sale to the Middle East. For some reason, that deal fell through and they were diverted, still painted in desert tan, to NI and pressed into service there. These vehicles are (probably) the last Saracens built and have a number detail changes which mean that they are probably some of the best out there. Cheers, Terry

They won't fit on a Saracen.