sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I think it's about time I start a blog about my current restoration project. This is one of the diesel Scimitar hulls which Withams were stripping and scrapping about a year ago. The hulls were what was left after stripping the vehicles to build Scimitar 2. Pretty much everything was stripped from them, engine, gearbox, electrics, final drives, turret, turret ring, wheels, track and more. I asked about buying some bits from them and ended up buying one of the hulls, which was a massive gamble. Diesel vehicles are rare in private hands and the diesel upgrade parts are highly sought after by overseas governments who want to do diesel upgrades. In order to free up some money I had to sell my Lightweight Land Rover, which was painful as I'd owned it for years, my Snatch project which I'd just finished collecting bits for, plus both the Sabre projects we were doing. One was nearly finished and went abroad, the other is being restored by Paul Donovan who is doing a brilliant job. Here are a few photos of the hull at Withams, and once delivered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 I knew finding parts for this would be a challenge, there were diesel parts going through the tender sales and a couple of weeks after buying the hull I bid on a number of lots which had bits and pieces I needed. Amazingly I won all the lots I needed. I was very interested to find out the history of this hull as I suspected it had been used in Afghanistan. I put in a request for the Merlin report and got a reply very quickly. Thanks to Peter Hall for translating it, we believe it has seen service in: The Gulf (1990 - 911) - QDG Bosnia / Kosovo (1993 - 2003) - Light Dragoons & 9th / 12th Lancers Iraq (2005) - Light Dragoons Afghanistan (2006 / 07) - Light Dragoons It went through the 235 upgrade programme in 2009 and became a "Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Full Tracked Scimitar (DSL) (E-Spire) Mine and Ballistic Protected 30mm Gun Bowman" .. the replacement cost on the Merlin report is £457198.85 The final posting before being stripped was the Land Training Fleet which is a training unit based at Warminster. I figured it may have been used on Salisbury Plain and asked the question on the Plain Military forum. Many thanks go to Andy Brend who had photographed the vehicle in use on Ex Pashtun Dagger 29-1-11! Not only did he supply me this photo and a few others, but he even had some of it at DSG Donnington in January 2009! I hope to one day find some photos of it in theatre, but unfortunately it's often hard to read the registration numbers with dust and extra camouflage, bar armour etc fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Here are a few photos of the up-armouring package. It is fitted with the cheese grater armour along the sides of the stowage bins, but it also has a belly plate fitted. I don't know what this lot weighs in at, but it is supposed to be bonded to the hull so not possible to remove. The most annoying thing about it is the armour plate covers up all the drain plates for the engine and gearbox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) Final snippet of history I have so far on this vehicle. The hulls which were stripped had a sticker on the headlamp giving details of what the parts were being used for. The headlamp was smashed on mine, but inside the front bin we found the broken glass with sticker still attached... The parts from 07FD04 were used to build NG50AB. Thanks again to Plain Military, here is a picture of that vehicle... I would love to get the turret etc back from this vehicle, but I don't think that's going to happen! Edited April 10, 2013 by sirhc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 10/10 for bravery Chris - this will be an interesting thread to watch! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Andy - not sure about brave, more like stupid! :nut: After a year of it sitting and sinking into the mud I have recently started building the Scimitar, I'll update as I go along. I still need loads of parts, so if anyone sees any turret related stuff, I need a mantlet, side bins, gunners sight and more. I do have the engine and gearbox, and pretty much everything to get it mobile, so I am getting there! :undecided: Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topdog Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 So we will see you down at Folkestone with it then........................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 So we will see you down at Folkestone with it then........................ I would love to have it there, but probably not this year as there's a lot to do and not enough time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mill comms Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Looks like mission ##possible.;-) I have seen E-SPIRE (the sight bits you need)parts on this MOD disposal operator http://www.vwinme.com The come in black peli-cases with STC in red letters on the box. They had a pallet of this stuff about two months ago. Worth a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 It would be great to have an ESPIRE, thanks for the link! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDonovan Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Brilliant Chris.... this is a really interesting project. Great photos. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 So you've finally come out of the closet on this one eh Chris?! Looking forward to seeing the progress. Yours will be the first genuine diesel Scimitar in private hands I think? AB's was converted from a Sabre if I remember rightly, and the AFVS owned one was a pre-production testbed I think... Good luck with it, it will be great when it is done.. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Hi Tim, There are a few more of these hulls which made it out of Withams alive, and I think at least one is up and running already. Hopefully I'll be able to get hold of the last bits and pieces I need to get it complete before the summer. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Time for some updates. I was lucky enough to win a number of lots in the tender sales last year which enabled me to start ticking off bits on my wanted list fairly quickly. Thanks to Andy for the use of his van, it has had most of the parts I've bought for the Scimitar in it so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 I finally got round to starting the project in about November time. First job was to give the hull a good clean out. It came up quite nice after some degreaser and a steam clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 (edited) I decided to fit the final drives first, these were fitted by putting a bar through the middle and having a person lift each end while the 3rd person put the bolts in. It worked out ok, but was heavy work! With the final drives on, we lifted the hull onto some wooden blocks and fitted the wheels. It had been sitting on 4 wheels, which caused it to keep sinking into the ground! Edited April 10, 2013 by sirhc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Not a lot happened for a while, but today was a good day and I did a bit more. The handbrake was assembled and the brake calipers fitted. I also took the TN15D gearbox up to the farm and put it in the hull. This had been thoroughly cleaned and drained of oil first. There is no access panel to drain it once in the vehicle! No matter what I do I can't seem to keep the water out, and to top it off my wet vacuum cleaner died today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Final job for today was to fit a better set of sprockets and some track. I've got a few days off next week when I hope to get some plumbing done, get the engine in and hopefully assemble the completely stripped turret ring... maybe even get that bolted in too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter4456 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Blimey Chris - it's looking good already! With it's rarity plus all that wonderful history, this will a really special vehicle when it's finished. Well done for locating the in service photos - I'll keep my eyes peeled for Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq & Afghan photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 Well I am nearly at the end of the days off I took to get a good start on this project. The gearbox is now in and torqued up. It needs to be levelled up with the hull and then shimmed to get the pulley parallel to the fan bulkhead, which is all done. Connecting the drive shafts proved a bit tricky as they wouldn't go in, but I figured out how to give them a wiggle and they slid in nicely. All the steering pipes have been made (they were missing) and all but 1 fitted. No pictures of this, but it's not that exciting! Today I spent some time sorting out the Cummins 6BTA which I'm going to fit. It's been drained and fitted with new filters, and given a good clean. This is the hours run meter on the engine... 184 hours! I think this is about as close to a new one as it's possible to get! It should run nicely. In case you are wondering, it is possible to fit a 6BTA into a Land Rover 110..... they go in the back quite nicely! I've got the engine mounts all cleaned up so tomorrow it's going in the hull, along with the alternator, oil cooler and oil pipes. The engine may have to come out and go back a few times as it needs shimming to align it with the gearbox. That should be fun! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Todays update... First jobs were to fit the alternator, oil cooler and engine mounts. You can see how different the engine mounts are from a petrol one. The oil cooler is the gearbox end of a petrol one, with different caps and extended connectors. The bulkhead is split so this can stay in when you need to replace the engine or gearbox. Next I fitted all the pipe work for the oil cooler. You can see the 3 new master cylinders in this photo. I had rebuild kits for the old ones, but it was quicker to fit a new set. These are worth replacing or re-sealing whenever restoring a CVRT... I didn't do the ones in my Sabre and ended up replacing one at a show, in the rain, so I could drive the 30 miles home! The engine then went in temporarily. It needs aligning correctly, at the moment there is one shim on each corner. It will probably need to come out and go back in a few more times before it's ready to be bolted down. Finally before calling it a day I tackled the wiring. I didn't have a diagram to hand and there are old a few wires I wasn't sure where to plug in, so it's looking pretty good. Next time I get back to working on it I will tackle the rest of the wiring, hopefully shim up the engine and then I am not too far away from seeing what kind of noise it makes when I start it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scammell4199 Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Nice work. We're all CVR(T)s petrol powered originally? Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Stormers were built with a Perkins diesel, and Shielder has a Cummins, but all the original CVRTs (Scorpion, Spartan etc) were powered by the Jaguar J60 petrol engine. There were some diesels built for export like the Scorpion 90. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scammell4199 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 So the 6BTA you're putting in, is that the same model of engine that would have been in the Shielder, or just one you've found will fit? Liking your progress, good luck with it. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 The British fleet were converted to diesel around 2000. The engine is a genuine CVRT Diesel engine, it came out of a Sultan. Everything I'm fitting is correct for the British army diesel conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.