Chris Hall

I’ve heard good things about laser welding so will be worth looking into when I’m ready. I find recommendations go a long way to finding a good engine builder. Problem being they are usually swamped in work so people don’t give out recommendations so they can squeeze their own jobs in lol.

Just a few thoughts,

have you got the correct retard/advance fitted to the magdyno? There’s a slack and tight version and can be mixed up.

do you leave the engine on TDC? Does it smoke on start up?

I’ve already stripped it down so I could see what was wrong and give me an idea. It has been rebuilt previously but the rebuild plate was for the most part, missing. The jacket has been repaired around the coil mounts (usual) many moons ago, perhaps at rebuild and must have worked well and given many more years service.

The big crack, and the one that worries me a little looks like it may have been due to a snapped/separated front prop shaft. I did wonder if it may have been left in 4WD while being towed on the rear wheels.

My plan is to find a good machine shop who can do the work. Normally I think such a bad engine would be scrap, but this engine is currently the oldest known Ford produced L134 engine (Feb 42) so I think it’s worth saving. Prior to this, Ford purchased Wilson foundry blocks (same as Willys) and machined them in house. During the assembly of the VEP GPWs, a mixture of early Ford and Wilson blocks were fitted with out any obvious sequence.

It worked for me but now it’s gone.

Lol, I think someones ear drums just burst.

If it runs well then I’d maybe leave it as is. If it doesn’t get heavy use then it may go for years without issue.

The GPW engine I have was very firred up with scale, rust and.... a drill in the water jacket. There’s also a few cracks between the galleries on the deck an oversized stud/head bolt hole, a crack to the bottom end (I’m told this isn’t bad to repair compared to the Disy side and the oil galley plugs need sorting.

it won’t be cheap.

Is it a post war CJ engine? The engine I’ve got for my jeep is serial GPW7095 But it needs extensive work, I think I will need to send it to a pro repair shop for rebuild even though I’d to do it myself.

Someone put a little access panel in my transmission hump to get to that pin. Needless to say, I welded it up last week.

I suppose they could have still been issuing the A2 but I I would have expected it to have been withdrawn from service as there were only something like 4000 made. If you compare the trigger and the folding button to the A3 you will see they are different.

I understand there’s a bit of debate going on regarding the .22 rifles.

not sure on the DP rifles but there are other issues with some rifles in cadet hands. Some are owned by the Cadets and not the MOD so that’s another can of worms for them to sort out.

4 hours ago, 43rdrecce said:

Here is an interesting press photo from a sequence taken in 1972. Crackle finish paint on this L2A3.

Ferretfixer may be able to confirm this, but I think that gun has the crackle finish as it’s not an L2A3. It could be a training installation as I think that gun is an L2A2.

4 hours ago, andym said:

My deac SMG has a KR prefix and a smooth finish.

Andy

Is that a New Zealand gun by chance?

They were still scrapping war reserve L4s about 5 years ago and they may still be clearing out but they must still hold reserve stock of in service weapons such as L85. Every time we destroy one, a replacement always rocks up.

2 minutes ago, Enfield1940 said:

My understanding is that the British military guns always had the smooth Suncorite over phosphate finish. However, some commercial spare parts with the crackle finish (e.g. end caps) were later on obtained by the MoD from Sterling and ended up on military guns.

I did have some Enfield made end caps that were salvaged from commercial Sterling’s and these sold on eBay for a very good price. 

30 minutes ago, 43rdrecce said:

Seems that is the case. With the Sterling, as you say most have foreign contract serial numbers.

Not sure about the paint though. The crackle paint was originally on early British Sterlings too. It was removed and replaced with Suncorite in the course of their service life on most if not all weapons.

British contract L2A3s only ever had a Sunc finish and have different markings to the commercial offerings. The serial numbers are also US or UF prefixed rather than the commercial KR or S prefix. Some MOD spares were salvaged from broken up commercial guns (because the commercial gun was not to UK spec) but I believe they were refinished to MOD spec.

32 minutes ago, Enfield1940 said:

I believe almost all of them were scrapped sadly.

This also explains why ex-British military Sterling SMGs are almost non-existent on the UK market. The ones you see for sale are commercial guns sold abroad in the past which have different markings and a different paint finish.

Unfortunately the UN agreement to which the UK is a member and signatory Decrees that military weapons are destroyed unless sold to a foreign government. So all the excess L4s, L2s, L1s and many others have been destroyed at Donnington. I’m sure there’s likely still many in war reserve as we’ve not got enough L85s (350,000??).

The shameful thing is if you look at the current prices of EU deacs, the government could probably earn a few hundred pounds per item. And that much more than scrap.

But Luckily some examples have passed into civilian ownership legally. Movie props, contractor repairs/replacements etc. but not many. 

45 minutes ago, 43rdrecce said:

Chris,

did any of the Interarms guns enter British service before the cancellation of the FTR programme then? I assume any that did went to the RN/RM, as I understand they were the only users of the L4A3.

Are ex British guns few and far between? 

Paul

No, the contract was terminated in favour of the GPMG but some went abroad and others deactivated.

These aren’t made from spare parts, they are Interarms FTRd guns under MOD contract. The guns that were in factory original condition were sold by WWA about 5 years ago (original over seas sale) and I missed out (been looking for one since). 
 

The reference to being made from parts probably originated from the cancellation of the Interarms FTR programme (when the MOD decided to issue the GPMG to reserve units instead) and IA were told they could keep the guns. So they finished what they had and offered those for sale and sold the refinished parts to another well known dealer darn sarf who assembled what was left.

The A3 is just an A4 built on a Mk2 body, not as common as the L4 but they were sold to many foreign countries.

MG37GA is a drawing/part number of a L4A3.

The Indian 7.62 guns are rarer than the British, I managed to find 2, a conversion in line with the L4A4 and the other a new build from a 7.62 body, this is much better than even a British L4A4.

All Original L4s should have a barred out serial number and a new UExx Axxx serial number next to it, with the exception of about 500?? Guns made up on new, unused Mk3 .303 bodies.

I’ve got the drawing for that little block of wood in the fender, should you want to make a new one.

I’m the same, if I can and it’s safe to do so, I’ll salvage as much as I can. The floors in my jeep are/were so bad and repaired badly in the past so I’ve opted for new floors but to keep the firewall to floor. 
 

I kicked myself when I sheared a F script bolt on the spare wheel carrier. I’ve kept the head and may make a new bolt out of it for a non stress show item.

Have you ordered the extra gas parts to?

Should I show you the state of my Tub? Or maybe I should say, what’s left of it. I’m desperate to actually put bits back together!

I wonder if it was cancelled/superseded but either that didn’t filter down to the troops or those that had already had it prior to cancellation didn’t remove it.

this is a well known photograph and every vehicle including the 1/2 track has the detector paint on it suggesting some units enforced it.

On 5/11/2020 at 9:27 PM, Jerry Jeep said:

can sort it out for you if you need me to 

Jerry, where in the uk are you?

the box is complete with all parts (mostly new) but I just can’t fathom how to check the slop on the blocking rings and I’d rather have it right first time.

Well I just googled it and typically there was an order so ignore my “likely never know comment”