eddy8men Posted January 4, 2018 Author Share Posted January 4, 2018 all i can do is hope the block isn't cracked or that the pistons have turned to mush. not a lot of the ancillaries survived but these can be overcome. the original distributor bases are still there so the quill shafts could be mated to any 12 cylinder dizzy. the carbs can also be replaced without too much expense, as can the starter and generator. as long as i don't have to start making camshafts and grinding cranks i might be ok. if it costs under £5k i'll be a happy man. we will see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC312 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Not sure if you know much about the Weald Foundation but they are restoring two Renualt FT tanks complete engine rebuild and newly made carbs, so anything is possible even better if you can get hold of original workshop drawings and cad the drawings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowfat Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) Do you still have the Churchill Rick? it wasnt in the list of tanks to do! Edited January 4, 2018 by lowfat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 i've seen the work the weald foundation do and it's very impressive. unfortunately i am not in the same league as those guys. there's only so much you can do with a gas axe and 9" grinder my churchill has been sold and is now in lithuania awaiting restoration. however i will get another one (or two) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason1968 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 (edited) When I used to have military vehicles in the late 80s early 90s I was offer a pile of flat Nuffield engines new in crates but didn't ever take the chap up on it I wonder what happened to them. It was a dealer near Bristol had them if I remember rightly he had 20 or so I will try and remember who it was he bought them at a military auction somewhere. I went to see them and they were painted military engine green/blue £250 as I said in boxes on frames Edited January 7, 2018 by jason1968 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 jason that would help a bit but are you sure they were'nt churchill engines. i seem to remember a load were found on a railway siding a few years back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 45 minutes ago, eddy8men said: jason that would help a bit but are you sure they were'nt churchill engines. i seem to remember a load were found on a railway siding a few years back I remember many years back at the late Chris Wilkinson's yard, which was the old St. Albans railway goods station, there were Churchill engines in crates laying around, as well as other tank engines, but I had not seen a Meadows there. The only Nuffield tank engines that I recall were the V12 Liberty, but never come across any in crates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Chris Wilkinson told me that if he ever had purchaced any Covenantor parts and particularly Meadows flat 12 parts, that he would scrap them as soon as he identified them. There was no market whatsoever for them, military or civilian, so there was no point keeping them. Presumably that would have been a common attitude among the dealers at the time. It might well be that some Meadows flat 12s survived longer than the Covenantors because the Covenantor power train was used in the British copy of the LVT4, known as the Neptune. These were not exactly successful but did stay in service long enough for the last remaining ones to be driven into breaches in the sea defences in the Fens in the 1950's floods, and deliberatly sunk as a barrier. As far as I know they are still there. There was a smaller version of the Meadows flat 12, of 165hp vs 280hp, used in the Tetrarch light tank. This engine was also intended to be used in the FV420 series carriers, which would have given a flat load floor like a Stalwart, but a policy decission was made to use the RR B80 resulting in a big bump in the middle of the load bay which was not exactly helpful and resulted in a complete re design into the FV430 series where the (B81) engine moved into the front LH corner of the hull. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 5 minutes ago, David Herbert said: Chris Wilkinson told me that if he ever had purchaced any Covenantor parts and particularly Meadows flat 12 parts, that he would scrap them as soon as he identified them. There was no market whatsoever for them, military or civilian, so there was no point keeping them. Presumably that would have been a common attitude among the dealers at the time. It might well be that some Meadows flat 12s survived longer than the Covenantors because the Covenantor power train was used in the British copy of the LVT4, known as the Neptune. These were not exactly successful but did stay in service long enough for the last remaining ones to be driven into breaches in the sea defences in the Fens in the 1950's floods, and deliberatly sunk as a barrier. As far as I know they are still there. There was a smaller version of the Meadows flat 12, of 165hp vs 280hp, used in the Tetrarch light tank. This engine was also intended to be used in the FV420 series carriers, which would have given a flat load floor like a Stalwart, but a policy decission was made to use the RR B80 resulting in a big bump in the middle of the load bay which was not exactly helpful and resulted in a complete re design into the FV430 series where the (B81) engine moved into the front LH corner of the hull. David, The Neptune was I think built by Nuffield Mechanizations, so it is possible that the previous poster had seen crated engines for these, Nuffield might have taken on the reconditioning of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 thanks fella's some very useful info there, especially the bit about the neptunes because as luck would have it i was looking into digging up one or two from the breach dave mentioned. might even be part of another tv show. i'll definitely get onto it now. by the way while we're on the subject of flat 12's i would also like a churchill engine if anyone knows of any please let me know. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 i would also like a churchill engine if anyone knows of any please let me know. cheers Insatiable... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 are there any surviving neptunes in collections or museums or failing that any decent pics of one. info on the net seems very scarce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) adrian if i dig one up do you want it Edited January 8, 2018 by eddy8men Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 could someone put up a pic of the neptune, preferably from the front. i want to compare it to a pic i have of the lvt's in the breach. it seems the neptune is a very elusive beast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
79x100 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) Is this it ? http://www.militarymodelling.com/forums/postings.asp?th=105638 Loads on this thread including East Coast floods :- http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=233381&page=1 Edited January 8, 2018 by 79x100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 excellent work. well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
79x100 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Are they still in a row as per the photo ? Is it dry land now ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 yes and yes but i need to do a recce and then arrange for a survey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon king Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 The Tank Museuem had an example of both the Neptune and the Argosy for a while but they were ultimately scrapped.which seems remarkably short-sighted as by then they were likely to be the sole survivors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtskull Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) Rick, is this the same photo that you have? They look like Neptunes for sure. The location is obvious on Google maps but nonetheless pretty safe from casual looters, I suspect. With nine to choose from and with them having been in fresh, rather than salt water, there ought to be plenty of engine spares for the Covenanter, plus a few Neptune restoration projects left over...... You're going to be busy! Edited January 9, 2018 by mtskull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 9, 2018 Author Share Posted January 9, 2018 that's a great photo. i have a poor blurred image but i don't even think it's the same breach, i'll send you a pm. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packhow75 Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 More pics and info about the Fen flooding... http://www.eyepeterborough.co.uk/heritage/the-big-flood-of-1947/ Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex van de Wetering Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 Quote that's a great photo. i have a poor blurred image but i don't even think it's the same breach, i'll send you a pm. cheers Could be a still from a Pathe movie, maybe? They do look a lot like LVT's though, not Neptunes like in the other pics of the breach. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packhow75 Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 17 hours ago, eddy8men said: yes and yes but i need to do a recce and then arrange for a survey Not sure getting permission to dig will be so easy... I can see the locals not being too happy with you wanting to excavate a large hole in the side of their flood defences... especially given what happened last time there was a hole! Good luck though! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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