fv1609

Peter I would have thought so. I have no unit histories but for starters if you give me the ERM I can tell you: Chassis serial no. Engine no. Contract no. Date in service Receipt voucher no. Depot it was delivered to Date struck off Date sold Possibly the price Sale no. Lot no. Possibly may have a picture

Wow that is really superb. It's the interior that really brings it to life & all very correct as I know the details were drawn from the EMERs;)

Simon I think there is clip to release the inner. The outer looks rather far gone. How were you thinking of repairing it? Possibly successive layers of heat shrink rubber? Terminations look the same as Humber that is 4ft as well.

PS It's not so much usage it has had but the age since manufactured. Even its NOS, looks new & was still wrapped up, the paper thin dielectric will break down with time despite having never been used, I,m afraid.

It is immaterial whether it's 6, 12 or 24v. Condenser is usually rated at 500v to absorb the back EMF as the points open & magnetic field collapses. It matters not what voltage the primary winding is designed to work off. The spark at the points is this back EMF. If they fail so rapidly are you certain that they are proper distributor condensers? BTW am at GDSF, 3G clogged up in day. Took 1.25 hours to respond to a PM earlier!

Takes me about 3 days to do one but that is just dawdling, sometimes removing cleaner/nicer bits from old carbs. No doubt one could do one in half a day. But try to look at it as a training programme. Looking in the EMER at cross-sectional diagrams of little arrows of fuel & then vapour flowing in a 2-dimensional diagram of a 3-dimensional situation is not easy to comprehend. Have a diagram of the parts diagram, the cross sectional view & the technical description of its construction & operation is important to get the best appreciation from the rebuilt. I find the 'brass' wire brushes on those little hobby drill kits a nice way of cleaning some items without being as scratchy as normal steel brushes.

Richard, it isn't cheap but it is reasonable because you have no other choice. But you will have newly manufactured items particularly important where rubber is concerned. A few years ago I put in a bulk order to a carb re-manufacturing company who I suspect is the supplier of these components. It worked out a lot cheaper of course but it required the purchase of a very significant quantity. Wait until you have all the bits. Take lots of photos as you dismantle it label where the various jets & valves go most have unique fitting but there are one or two ambiguities of fit esp the choke mechanism. Do this in a tray so bits can't roll onto the floor especially as there are two 3/16" glass balls. Replace the economy diaphragms whilst you are at it. The last carb I rebuilt I found that the wrong spring had been fitter, it was too long & prevented the diaphragm from moving. This was from a professionally rebuilt carb from a Pig from NI.

I just turned up for the Saturday as I'm only 16 miles away. Not a lot of public but a very convivial day in the sunshine. The first event this year for me where rain has not played some sort of role in the proceedings. Spent Sunday sorting the wobble on the Pig & today packing it for GDSF tomorrow. Many thanks to Tony & Phil for their efforts on the day & in their work planning the event. I hope the Bank Holiday Saturday at the Museum is repeated, it's a nice little jaunt for me yet a full blown show for the whole weekend is a no-no with GDSF so close.

Richard yes who knows that could be an issue. I couldn't cope with jacking the vehicle up & jacking front & rear wheels stations as well. So I just fitted the front ones from my reserve stock. Due to the weight of them I jacked up one wheel at a time just sufficient to clear the ground. When I fitted the replacement on one side it needed several strokes of the jack to get the hub up high enough to engaged the studs. The other side was about equal. Although I would have thought if one wheel was more worn there would have been a tendency for the steering to drift to that side, which I did not get. So presumably one side was more worn than the other although they all look only 15% worn. I suppose I should have tried on wheel at a time. But it was easier to get on with doing both rather than a test drive & get set up again. These fronts are set at 25 psi on the basis that it is a Mk 1 as per schedule, Mk 2 should be 30 psi. I had assumed this was on a weight basis, but as I'm using Mk 2 tyres I wonder whether I should put 30 psi in. Can't see how it produce wobble though. The tyres I took off & fitted all had a flat area I could detect by spinning then just scrapping the ground & observing when a clear patch arrived. The magnitude was the same for all. One thing I've been conscious of is the vibration of the 4WD lever as it droops just a little as I chug along & when I lift it fully up of course it has no vibration. There is a ball catch that holds it up, I might replace the top part of the gearbox with this on. But before I changed the wheels, I noticed that the steering wheel wobble seemed to be less when I lifted the vibrating 4WD lever. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the slight wobble in the improved set up but clearly trying to droop into the edge of 4WD is not a good thing, whether that has been an aggravating factor I don't know.

Still not tried the beads yet. But today fitted two replacement wheels on the front & a dramatic difference. Up to 30mph 99% better, above 30 mph 90% better & 40 mph 85% better - not that it goes to 40 mph very often. So much easier to handle nearly cured, the other 2 Humbers I've got them so there was no wobbling at all, would just like to get this one to that stage. The others were cured with replacements track rod ends & new shockers. Done all that & trying to cure this last bit is going to be more difficult. Maybe the beads will sort it, but maybe it is not a balance problem at all & a cumulative effect of track rod ends or the steering relays wearing? I can feel no noticeable play feeling the joints when someone rocks the steering wheel. Anyway grateful for the improvement that came today.

Ok Richard fair enough. In any case it is well worth checking the diaphragms as they are prone to failure with modern fuel I had some last for years but on one occasion some only lasted a season. I would run the engine briefly, so that if there is a failed diaphragm it will be made obvious as behind the cover it should be dry. When you take the diaphragms out there will of course be fuel coming out. Check that the short centre pin of the diaphragm holder is free to move in the casting. It is very easy for this to corrode up with non use & not move freely or be seized in place. If it is not free fine abrasive cloth needed on the pin & wash away dust. If still sticky use a suitable width drill held in the hand to ream out the corrosion & blow/wash away debris. Do not at this stage remove the central choke mechanism. If you ever do take lots of pictures to aid re-assembly as it is ambiguous in positioning the brass discs.

Richard oh I thought you were feeding fuel via a tube going into the carb where the banjo connector is. This does have gauze filter & that does sometimes collect bits. Entry of fuel this way is regulated by the needle valve operated by the floats. There is no fuel return line like in a diesel engine. The two narrow metal pipes feeding the top of the carb are breathers to allow fumes from the crank case to combusted. If its being tipped in the top via these pipes it will flood & as the fuel hits the butterfly valve it will seep along the spindle & out through seals either end.

The seal on the shaft isn't the main issue. Is suggests to me it is getting flooded by failure of the accelerator pump diaphragms. They have either gone brittle & cracked or are porous. This would explain the high revs & high fuel consumption. Take off the side panel cover but first detach the choke lever arm. Then the peripheral screws if the diaphragms are shot there will be fuel in this chamber. To inspect the diaphragms remove the 4 screws over each pump.

Dave that is a significant find I've just got off the phone from Ian who was telling me about this together with his find of a 1944 jerrican which underneath the flaking black paint the original service brown shows through. Two very interesting bits of evidence in the space of half an hour!

Robin the national identifier should be left front & left rear (That's what the Regulations & STANAGs say, yes I know people will say Regulations are there to be broken & most of us will see in service vehicles where the Regulations have been disregarded) Bridge classification is 9

Yes I know you were just testing me;) How about the early Mk 2 visors? At first I thought there was a little flap below the hole but I assume that is extra armour as that will be the man's face just below the periscope hole. Here is an early Mk 2 before side vision blocks in the doors.

Andy I agree those 3 side hooks by the door would have to have come off for uparmouring. The top one is still cut off, the lower two I imagine were put on after the armour was removed when the home made ant mount was fitted. You can see it might not be correctly sloped like a proper one. Ok they are Mk 1 doors but Mk 2 doors are just Mk 1 with another layer on making them very heavy. Hence Mk 2 doors had door stop restraint springs & you can see the mountings for these are in place which would serve no purpose with Mk 1 doors. There are Mk 2: gutterings over side hatches, recovery eyes, mirror stalks. Anyway Jamie you can go Mk 1 or early Mk 2. Here is a view of the early Mk 2 flaps showing Mk 1 visors underneath. If you do decide to go Mk 1 & manufacture the door side flaps. I have a spare pair of mechanisms for the small circular viewers & of course can sell you a Mk 1 canvas which is essential.

Excellent, many thanks

That's another way, but you,ll need new rear doors & ideally Mk1 front wings + roof rail for canvas & as it happens I can supply a NOS canvas

This is the best full frontal I have. You will see this is a Mk 2 & happens to be a foamer. You will also see the door flap has a vision block. A little earlier these door flaps were made with no window at all. One can see when the flaps are down a frame & clamping bolts. I suspect these were made in readiness for the vision blocks & the holes cut out when the blocks became available. The position & size of the hole in the visors suggests that this is for the No.17 periscope to still be used & that suggests underneath there may still be the original Mk 1 visors. Without those visors it would awkward rigging up a mount for the periscopes & indeed if the only protection was the new flap it would make this the most vulnerable part of the armour with two men immediately behind it. I'll find you pictures of these & I have a few from above shots showing the visor's profile. So it could be turned round to depict an early Mk 2 which would be interesting to see. But you will need to have my photos at hand to show it was once done that way;)

Oh yes what a shame I see what you mean & why it has been painted light stone on a Mk2 seems a little bizarre. Its such a shame when these things get cut off that they are not kept to one side for a future owner to re-use. On side step to avoid front vision blocks would be to fabricate visors that were initially fitted to Mk 2 conversions. The vision blocks & hydraulics came in fairly soon but were not on the Mk 2 as it initially appeared. Photos are consequently very rare. But if you were thinking of that I can search some out.

Yes it will. It won't let me say just "yes" & "yes, yes" would look a bit irritated:-D.

So was it a Mk 1 or Mk2 at that stage? Would be nice to see it, any chance of posting on here? The one at W&P was never an Ambulance FV1613 in fact it is in the start of the original thread when I first started seeing it 25-30 years ago.

Which hatches do you mean Jamie? Roof, side door, rear door, side body?

Make sure the accelerator linkage is allowed to return to minimum & that a return string is in place. A return spring is often fitted on the choke cable. But I never use the choke & have disconnected it. The starting procedure in NI was no choke, foot down twice on accelerator then foot off & start up. I find at start up I need the accelerator depressed & held about 15% down appx Yes