Chris Hall

All old spec except for 1 x EU spec ZB33 Enf Bren Mk1 Kings Crown DD Ser. No. A3695 (Non matching but Correct 1938 Spec, early scalop lower, Mk1 waisted barrel nut, adjustable bipod, long cone flash hider etc) £1100 1940 Enf Bren Mk1 Kings Crown DD Ser. No. C9186 Original Matching £1000 1940 Enf Bren Mk1 DD 1st Stage Intermediate Ser. No. D5826 Original Matching £1000 1942 Enf Bren MK1 Ser. No. V1662 Original All Matching, all Mk1, very good condition (Not FTRd) £750 1940 Inglis Bren Mk1 DD Ser. No. M242 (rare very early Inglis, 242nd ((7th oldest known in existence)) part of 1stcontract as is the pattern room collection example No. M107) £1000 Very rare original SKN Bren, Ser. No. SKN2442 (1 of 17 known in the UK) £SOLD Very rare 1937 Bren ZGB33 No.185 (1 of 80 ordered by the War Department in 1936) £1100 Sequential 1937 Very rare Bren ZGB33 No.181 (1 of 80 ordered by the War Department in 1936) £850 Sequential 1937 Very rare Bren ZGB33 No.182 (1 of 80 ordered by the War Department in 1936) £1100

ooooh she be ugly!

Not much of an update, the storage yard has been closed for some new gate posts going in and when I have been able to work on it, all the screws have been badly corroded. so all the floor is now out and the side armour has been removed. I was going to lift the front firewall/bulkhead off as one lump but I realised 1. It was heavy and 2. I would need something that lift quite high. The yard owner is happy to loan me his telehandler but I found some cracks in the windshield supports so decided to play it safe and dismantle the dash and windscreen from the firewall and remove as 2 separate and lighter items. Splitting them in theory is a case of simply undoing a load of screws and removing the top and side armour. That’s never the case though and many lock nuts are now just lumps of iron ore. Some of the space available is so small it can take a 1/2 hour just to chisel the nut off. My back hand hammer action is developing well. 2 screws I’m not looking forward to are blind with captive nuts. I’ve not removed one screw yet by using a turn screw, I would normally just hold the head with the turn screw and undo the nut. I have a feeling I’ll be drilling these out. So here is the result.

A good idea I’ve not tried myself yet is to buy 2 cheap engine stands with a single or double long box section leg. Buy a length or two of box section of the next size down and connect the 2 together with the right distance apart to mount the tub. This gives you a very professional rotisserie that can be used for lots of different vehicles. something like this would work https://www.manomano.co.uk/p/car-engine-stand-support-mount-heavy-duty-swivel-transmission-workshop-gearbox-182308 To end up with something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-duty-rollover-jig-rotisserie-on-wheels-mobile-fits-any-vehicle/133183471143?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=133183471143&targetid=1001986947744&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007079&campaignid=10199638303&mkgroupid=107296312292&rlsatarget=aud-629407027905:pla-1001986947744&abcId=1145987&merchantid=115730036&gclid=CjwKCAiA7939BRBMEiwA-hX5J0C6ZmnpqGtJPfigjNxS6_qSzfYmNdWJeZ1mA1sYMGB7eN7_aDqg-hoC_8YQAvD_BwE&pageci=7cc3faba-8ef7-40c4-9384-3ff51f62aaea

I would also replace the loom, at best it works for a while, worst, it catches fire and burns out. Then of course you may get spurious faults and then you’ll wonder if it’s that old piece of loom.

Try some more heat and oil. Probably just stuck with dirt/grease and our old favourite.....rust.

I just undid the bolts on the arms that clamp the pedals to them, Then pulled them out. When I removed my tub I did remove the steering box as I removed the tub using my engine hoist on my own. But it wasn’t to get to the pedal shaft.

Glad the wheels off. Your pedals look pretty well loved so some of the JMP repros could be good replacements if you can’t find good originals. I would imagine that if the pedals are that worn, your pedal shaft and arm will be looser than a hookers....

That ones an international harvester which was the version sold to the commonwealth. The armour is welded rather than screwed and there’s a lot of minor differences such as the dashboard. It may be tired but it’s another survivor!

Have you got a 3 leg puller? If you have, protect the end of the column with something solid, try and heat the boss and then put the puller on and put some pressure on it. If it feels like it won’t go, let it cool a touch, spray some more penetrating oil on it and leave for a while. Then repeat.

It was a few years ago now Ron, my C had the big stand with a braze repair to one side where it had cracked. I did find a couple of NOS stands with the stores label a few years ago which I literally fell over.

Yes, defo wrong! You can’t drain the oil in that configuration. Also, the engine plates are not drilled for the WD/C centre stand spring posts or the pivots for the levers. Easily fixed with the correct dimensions and studs. The foot brake stop has also sheared off and been replaced with some bent steel and a bolt. That could be fixed by welding on a replacement piece. This poor bike really does need some saving.

That’s what I was thinking.

I think This is the TA building Ron refers to

I went and looked anyway, according to the Uk Gov there were 41 deaths from knife crime last year and although there are no stats on how many were attributed to kitchen knives, Police and Pathologist estimates put it at about 50%. That’s approx. 20 deaths a year.

I was reading through this yesterday. I see this as a way to try and reduce the number of obsolete guns available to criminals however I think this may have the opposite effect short term. My personal opinion is that this is yet another ill conceived idea that punishes the law abiding. According to the UK Gov website, they’re were 6 deaths due to Antique firearms in the last 13 years. last year alone there were 42 people killed in Police pursuits. Any death is tragic but this to me proves that the government and the Police don’t look at the bigger picture. I’m sure that if I looked for statistics involving deaths from Kitchen knives, it would be far higher but they won’t ban kitchen knives.

Yeah I’ve had no luck with 1/4” plate, everyone says they have it until you ask if it’s really 1/4” or just 6mm. im in the states next year so may buy some big sheets and bring it back in our ISO containers. Today I got some more of the floor out and the front track armour off. I think I need to remove the Hydrovac unit to get to some of the armour bolts and then I can get the cab side armour off. Then it’s the engine to cab bulkhead assembly and that’s a heavy chunk! You can see in the photo below how rusty the floor is. Luckily that has protected the chassis underneath but I’ll have to buy the floor parts that I can and make the rest. It amazes me that some parts are rotten but only inches away you find something pristine. I can literately have a nut that is so corroded there’s only a thin collar left and yet an inch away there can be a pristine identical nut. It’s bizarre.

That may well be a still from the film I saw as it looks from memory the same.

Today’s efforts involved removing the cab floor and the bulkhead. There’s been some really strong winds recently and it’s been pulling on my tarp. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to cover sharp edges with pipe lagging, it didn’t work and I’ve got some big holes. So those sharp edges needed to go.

I would have thought when that article was written, the only places to have that many bikes would be a manufacturer, a depot or in service. I doubt it’s Reditch as I don’t think they would be to happy at having a rivals bike in a photo so I assume depot or training and evaluation. Someone would have to train the trainers and evaluate the bike for its intended use. The article reads as if the other bike was loaned to the other chap for some time. Off topic but of interest, I watched a programme last week that showed Bren Carriers travelling through a town in the UK with civilian registration numbers. It’s the first time I’ve seen British armour with a civvy reg number, unfortunately they were head on so couldn’t see any census numbers.

Is that a military depot? Or perhaps training section? I wonder if the racer was impressed into service but was too nice to be painted green and kept as a trophy or maybe a fast ride trainer.

The more we dig, the less I think this bike was worth the value asked on eBay.

There’s a chance then that the front wheel is all Model G with no speedo gear thread to even fit a speedo gear.

That’s an interesting one Ron as it has no raised lip around the edge.