Hoseman Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 59 minutes ago, dgrev said: Rick I am astounded anything has survived being buried in your climate. I know you said the chalk was free draining, but how does that account for the hull not holding water and being one big pile of rust? Regards Doug Have you seen how many holes are in that hull, like a sieve I bet!! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 doug it's amazing to think it was blown up and buried for over 70 years and it still has engine and gearbox oil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draganm Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 (edited) I just read up on the history of Meadows, never heard of them before but they were such an important player in engine design and production for half a century. Based on what I could find the 16 liter DAV 12 cylinder was designed specifically as a tank engine? Today a flat-12 cylinder is pretty much standard MBT propulsion, does anyone know if Meadows design was the first to do this? If so it would be a pretty important historical piece in and of itself. hopefully you can restore it? Other than the blown-off vale-cover on one side and knackered valve gear, how bad is the rest , have you had a chance to go deeper? The Covenanter though, what a strange machine. Hard to imagine they made 1,700 of these things and only 4 or 5 left in the world. Rick this might be the rarest vehicle you'll ever own! Edited December 23, 2017 by draganm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 24, 2017 Author Share Posted December 24, 2017 i have to say it's a little unusual but i really like it. it will be a bit of a pig to restore but worth it. the first thing i thought when it came out of the ground was just how much it reminded me of a churchill. flat 12, scirrocco fan and tiller bar steering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Good to see that you are well on with this restoration but I suppose that you will be wanting all day off tomorrow........? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted December 25, 2017 Author Share Posted December 25, 2017 i did think about going in and doing a bit on he engine but maybe you're right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 with the help of a couple of friends i've started a page on facebook but i'll keep the updates coming. the drivers comparment, like the rest of the tank was in amazing condition. which is fortunate as it would be a long hard struggle trying to replicate the various controls due to the fact that unlike most tanks that use hydraulics the covenanter uses compressed air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 this pic shows the brake pedal and master cylinder with the accelerator pedal in the bottom left. the box with the bent lid mounted on the bulkhead wall is the vehicle document box. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 here we can see the accelerator pedal in the centre. the top one of the two rods coming to the left side is connected to the hand throttle. the other rod is connected to the carbs through various linkages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 i thought a diagram from the instruction book might help to explain a thing or two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtskull Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Wow! It must be very exciting to find everything so complete and in such good condition, Rick. What next? -strip out and chuck everything into an industrial sized tub of molasses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Thanks for including the manual drawings, I was struggling with what I was seeing in the photo's! All clear now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1950 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Just out of curiosity are there any plans to investigate the other target area, at the vineyard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 That looks quite good indeed. Guess the soil helped to preserve it a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1960 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 21 hours ago, eddy8men said: with the help of a couple of friends i've started a page on facebook but i'll keep the updates coming. the drivers comparment, like the rest of the tank was in amazing condition. which is fortunate as it would be a long hard struggle trying to replicate the various controls due to the fact that unlike most tanks that use hydraulics the covenanter uses compressed air. Whats the Facebook page called please Rick ? Happy New Year by the way . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowfat Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 https://www.facebook.com/T18656/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1960 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 1 hour ago, lowfat said: https://www.facebook.com/T18656/ Many Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 HAPPY NEW YEAR. technically i'm not starting the restoration just yet. it's more of a tear down and assessment, although i do the odd bit i have two carriers, a charioteer and a centurion to restore first. i have managed to source pretty much all the parts i need to restore it to running condition with the exception of the engine. this is a big unknown and would be hard to replace with anything other than another flat 12 engine. i just hope we can find someone to work a miracle with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrev Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Rick. I think realistically this engine is even beyond your talents. True, given enough money and determination anything is possible, but given your success in locating all the other parts needed, then hopefully a restoreable engine will come to light. Regards Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 don't give up on it just yet. i'm going to put it in a tank of oil and light a fire under it now and again. i hope the heating and cooling will loosen it up, after that i've got an engine guy that will pull it apart and then we'll know how bad it is 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 on the plus side the underneath is great, just a bit of blast damage to the sump. (wish the top was like that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtskull Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 In my own humble opinion, I.think you are quite right to not give up on this engine; it is astonishing what can be achieved these days, in terms of recovering and remanufacturing parts. That said, should you be resourceful enough to find a nice NOS engine in a crate somewhere, then it would be silly not to.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draganm Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 If it's an it's an Iron block and Iron heads (which it appears to be), then as long as you have the Camshaft, crank, and connecting rods it's useable. Remaining mechanical parts can be made within a reasonable cost, at least reasonable in terms of Uber-rare historic MV terms. one concern is carburetors/fuel and ignition system, is any of that stuff there? grandson of Henry Meadows, John Meadows, appears to still be around, there's a site dedicated to some goofy little car called the "frisky" built by Meadows in the 60's. Maybe a place to check for leads on CAV12 parts? http://www.meadowsfrisky.co.uk/page3.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrev Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Oh no it is a Reliant Robin (or is that Robin Reliant?) with 4 wheels. Perhaps Meadows should have stuck with building gearboxes? Regards Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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