fv1609

Fiscal year 1963-64

On the face of it 47A-29 looks like a RAF Vocab number, but that makes no sense at all. It is in fact the CAV number, but its RAF Vocab is 16E-6371. This reveals that this switch was applicable to: Bedford: MW, OX, OW, OY, QL Humber: 4x4 Ambulance, 4x4 Utility, Recce IIIA Ford: WOT6A2, WOA2, WOT2H, WOT1A1 Thornycroft: WF8/AC6/2, TF/AC4/1 Crossley: FWD, Type 2 Coles Crane 6x6 (L.96404-1) The above just relates to RAF vehicles, the Army number is LV6/MT4/CB47A29 which was later codified as 6MT4-2590-99-805-5847. If it needs repairing I have the complete breakdown of part numbers down to the last washer. I'm just trying to cross reference the complete board. PS. Not been able to match that up. I have Air Publication 2515E Mechanical Transport Electrical Equipment, Section 16E. It is over 2 inches thick but only seems to have the individual components that make up the board. But I suppose as owners of the above vehicles declare the whole assembly was not in their vehicle, that will eventually leave the vehicle that used it, assuming it was used by the RAF!

Well Darren (of Lux 101 & Striker fame) has saved my bacon & hard soldered the boss. As an additional precaution I surrounded the edges of all this with the sealant Lee sent me. In addition I built up a rim of this on the inside to seal leakage to early rust of the tank base to the boss. After allowing it to set for 4 hours in the sun, I have put a gallon of fuel in & after another 4 hours could detect no leakage. So it goes back in tomorrow. I has been a good opportunity to re-route the fuel spillage/overflow drain. seen here is the fatter tube. Unfortunately see were it flows to :shake:

So just a one-night-stand then Daniel :-D

Lee, yes thank you it is here now, our deliveries are always a bit delayed. between 2-3pm weekdays & anyone's guess on Sat. I've now got the tank out & can see that there is some rust between the boss & the base of the tank. This has caused expansion & the outer soldering has cracked slightly. Thinking about this, it can't be brazed as the boss is brass & would have melted, I assume it is silver solder or the like. I don't have anything like that so tomorrow I will attempt tin/lead soldering. I will clean the rusting crevice as best I can then form an internal ring of your sealant. Once I have done my soldering, I will apply an external ring of sealant as a second defence. This of course far more likely to be successful, not just because it will be absolutely dry but I can work on it from above with no access problems. The tank is now basking in the sun, but I'll leave it until tomorrow. Couple of good things come out of it. Firstly discovered the earth lead for the tank sender was loose & explains its intermitencey. Secondly one of the tank clamps was loose & I think the tank was jolted when I hit a rut & cracked the solder. If it hadn't leaked now then the expanding rust between the boss & the tank floor would have caused trouble at a later stage.

Richard The base was a replacement as the original was rusted up. I was thinking of detergent washing it repeatedly. Then filling it up with water, surely that would displace any petrol & vapour? Then let it seep through the leak. Then put it out to dry & in a day or so work on it. Though just wondering about soldering the crack. I have a heavy duty electric soldering iron that has a high thermal capacity as it takes about 15 min to heat up that way there is no flame. But it may not be sufficient. When I did the radiator, I had to use a flame on the surface to get a good flow, but there was water in the tank. But would flame soldering be less of a risk that full blown brazing?

Postman's not turned up with Lee's stuff & the more I think about it I want to try brazing it up. The worry is if the crack starts to spread as I have a round trip of 190 miles next weekend. When I worked on the tank previously a friend steam cleaned it. But the logistics of getting that done is not probably practical. So I was thinking of pressure washing it with detergent & drying it off in the sun. My concern is for how long should I flush it before it might seem clear of petrol residue or vapour? The main worry is that bit of petrol that had seeped through the crack in the brazing around the boss. One hears of terrible stories of exploding tanks from vapour residues. How can I be certain of cleaning the crack (no funny comments CW please). I don't now whether water could be arranged to drip or seep through, given that petrol seems to seep through waterproof seals!

I'm not rising to that! This section is after all entitled "I may be stupid"

Doug, laden weight is 3360 kg & armour 8.25 mm. The radiator, bonnet & engine sides are armoured. Not fitted in the picture but there is also bevelled armour that fits below the radiator & down behind the bumper. The footwells are armoured & you can see the panel removed to adjust the master cylinder.

Yes please that's very kind of you Lee. Have you still got my address or shall I PM it? Just booked in the Shorland to the Eastnor LR Show for 6/7 June which is 95 miles, so don't want to worry about the leak getting worse. Was going to a local event but no reply to my entry & to two emails so thought I'd try this one. Never been to a LR show, hope there isn't too much in the way of wide tyres & Camel Trophy nonsense!

Does it have to be 100% dry? Given my very slow rate of leakage, once it is on I was thinking of using a hot air gun to speed it up.

We've discussed these sealant fluids that are swished around the tank, particularly useful where there is widespread corrosion. But what I am after is some reliable sealant to block a tiny seepage from a definable crack, that could be applied externally to the defect. I removed the tank some months ago & had it steam cleaned. The base of the tank was a replacement & braised on. After the cleaning the base looked in very good condition. The seepage I am getting is visible from the crack between the arrows where the boss has been braised on. It is very slow it takes about 10 mins before it is damp to the finger, so I am hoping that there is some sealant that would set quickly enough. It is a bit of a fiddle getting the tank out of the Shorland & I am scared of brazing with risk of residual vapours. Even if I used the gooey fulid & swished it around it would land in the boss & drain plug making drainage impossible. Anyone got any recommendations please?

Yes please bring your banana.

Why, are you going to a different show then? :-D

Yes I will be Andy, but the dilemma is Pig or Shorland? Shorland gets me on EMLRA display, the LH group I was with last year are depicting BAOR this year. So if I want to take the Pig I need to offer myself as as an example of the Civil Power for any LH group that might be depicting Op Banner, given that it is 40 years in August.

Just sent off my entry for the Evesham Camp event, a lot further for me but worth it as they have a good set up there & actually want our MVs to come!

Unfortunately the odometer does not read tenths of a mile & as this was a relatively short trip it could have been on the edge of another mile so it could have been 15mpg. It did run smoothly & didn't cut out on me, unlike one W&P trip when it cut out for several minutes on the Chichester by-pass & again in Billingshurst high street!

David, yes I've done a lot of falling over it in the last 12 years. The moral of the story is of course is to regularly run your vehicles out & about throughout the year. CW, not sure what thermostat it has. I took it to W&P several times. But I remember breaking down several times in traffic queues in Chichester & Billingshurt which I assumed was a heating issue. Given the similarity of mpgs, I was contemplating putting the screened system back in as it added to the authentic quirkiness of it, making it visibly more authentic & interesting. Many have suggested that I remove the armour from the footwells, engine panels & bonnet as 'nobody' would see. But again that detracts from its character & this hidden armour is part of the exhibit. (I feel much the same about the suggestion that my pig should have a diesel engine. The pig exists because it was built around a B Series engine & if you remove that you remove the heart of the thing & its raison d'etre)

First of to clear up three general areas of questioning from the public. 1. It does not float 2. It is "real" 3. It was not built from a kit, nor did I build it myself. It is based on a S2A export chassis built in Nov 1965 using at the time non standard items as it predates the 1-Ton chassis. It was built into a Shorland in early 1966 by Shorts Bros & Harland in Newtonards. It is serial no.9 & I believe that it is the oldest Shorland as most of the original batch were re-cycled into Mk 3 Shorlands. The improvements in running, apart from general servicing & rebuilding the carb, were: 1. Fitting a £15 electronic ignition system to the rebuilt original distributor. 2. Removing the screened HT system. In a military FFR system, although operating on 24v, the ignition circuit is operating on 10v or 12v & loaded with a large ballast resistance to offset the inductance of the coil. Thereby increasing the oomph from the coil to offset the effect of the capacitance of the HT cables, this dampens down the available HT as it has to charge up this capacitance. The Shorland is a 12v vehicle but was fitted a civilian Lucas screened system. This comprised a screened enclosure for the coil & distributor cap using standard sparking plug fitted into screened adaptors, with all the HT cables screened. I have measured the capacitance of the HT cables that would be seen by any one plug at a time & this amounts to 250pf. It runs very smoothly & starts easily. Now I'm a bit depressed that although pleased that I am achieving 14 mpg, I see from my records on a trip to W&P 16 years ago it was achieving 15 mpg & that was with the screened system in place.:shocked:

After a 12-year lay-up back on the road again. Getting 14mpg with a 4-cyl 7:1 on a largely motorway run. My recollection was 11-12mpg, perhaps it likes unleaded!

Actually I was in the machinery supermarket & they do two compressor oils SAE30 & SAE40. But I saw this as an opportunity to buy not just an oil-free compressor but one with considerably more capacity. I can now even use a nail gun with it, now that is satisfying:)

The NSN is 2920-99-803-6661 which reveals a number of Morgan Matroc numbers: 2012 EV443 RML 60 SR2-1 The is also a RAF number 16E13725. Apart from the UK the plugs were used by New Zealand, Belgium & Singapore, if that helps?

I think I'll give this a try British Armed Forces & Veterans Weekend at Trowbridge Park, Wiltshire. Various displays including cooking! MVs, re-enactors, steam etc. Contact maryrose@trowbridge.gov.uk I used to go to the Bovington "Battledays" & display a MV. But not been for a few years as it clashed with Kemble. As a Friend of the Museum was looking forward to going this year with my own MV, but if we are not welcome any more so be it, I shall have to review whether it is worth renewing my Friends subscription.

Yes if you do go "way back" that is absolutely true. But in those days there was nothing much technical covered anyway, there was a high content on the write up of shows, barbecues etc. But any editor will tell you they can only print what gets sent in & I feel the current editor has elevated the magazine into a meaty publication that that has something for everybody, but it will can never be everything for everybody. Some years ago I submitted the outlines of two articles which were rejected by the then editor as they were outside the period 1939-45 & consequently would be of no interest to members of the MVT. I complained to a number of committee members & after receiving an aggressive letter from the then editor, I decided to leave the MVT. I then had one of the articles published in Wheels & Tracks which had no problems with WW2/PW. Before my subscription expired a new editor was appointed, he continues today having elevated the magazine into a prestige publication. Having tested the water, I see I have had articles occupying 323 pages of Windscreen at no time have I ever encountered any resistance to my PW topics (although I have to admit some more recent articles are largely pre-war & by that I mean pre-WW1!). Much as I would like the magazine to be cover to cover Pigs & Shorlands, I realise that can never happen. If an article is put together well, I will often read it although it officially is of no interest to me. I am currently following the article on rebuilding a Jeep engine & gearbox! So if you have something of interest to submit be it PW or not send it in for publication, I am convinced in the present hands there is no era bias, the editor is dependant on what gets submitted. I just feel sometimes we PW enthusiasts can be too sensitive & develop a "chip on the shoulder" approach which only adds to a divide real or imaginary. But for any era you can't expect everyone to love your particular vehicle or field of interest. I think the MVT is the best that we have got & it is worth supporting to keep it going. We may all have little niggles that we may not be happy about but on balance a good job is being done. In the way that one might support a political party, you may not agree with everything, but if you feel it gives the best overall option you give your support over the alternatives.

Excellent investment, can't afford to damage the seals especially the inner one!