ferretfixer

Thank you kind Sir!

Hi Andy, I had been after a nice example of one of these for a long time. If you sign up for the MT Riders club, there are a lot of expirienced owners there. Who are as helpfull there, as member are here on HMVF. What you have to balance up with Whithams & a privately owned example is quite simple really. If you but an ex whithams one, before you start anything else. You will HAVE to: drain petrol tank & flush out, strip out & clean the petcock, change ALL oils AND filters, Change cambelt, check all fittings for seizure & tighten as ness. you may also have to remove the tyres & change the inner rubber strip & replace the tubes! POSSIBLY have to drain resevoiur & replace rubbers in brake system etc. Check out the cost of those spares & lubes plus your time.AND you will then have to MOT & Pay the fee for registration Etc. A lot of Whithams ones have bits missing & need to be replaced. THEN look at the cost of one ON THE ROAD & all the work done by the owner (Usually an enthusiast!) Al you would have to do is insure it & ride off! It can actually work out cheaper & a LOT less hassle this way! I got a lovely example with ONLY 3,000 miles on the clock from an enthusiast. It had only ever served with ONE unit in Army service, & even then done about 800 mile in Military use! Check out Evilpay on MT 350's & you will see what is available. Avoid any that say in the listing, 'Just released from service & need registering'. They have been bought drect from Whithams & had virtually NOTHING done to them. Good luck Mate & let us all know how you get on! Cheers!

I agree, the pump diaphram may also be stretched & require replacing. You can get a servicing kit for the whole 'David' pump assembly. A relativley easy & straightforward job to do.

The floats inside Ferret carbs are Copper drums (X 2) linked together with a bar. IF, they are 'holed' it will be obvious when you take out the transverse axis pin & remove the floats. Shake them & see if you can hear any sloshing inside. Or, blow them dry with an airline & then submerge in a tank/container of clean Petrol. You wll see air bubbles as fuel goes into either of the circular floats. Unusual to get a leaking copper float though in my Expirience with Ferrets.

HURRAH!..........Alway nice to see somthing working again after having developed an Inconvienient fault! I have a simlar one to solve on a Bedford RL. She hadnt been run since Beltring last year! I charged up the Battery, Cranked her over to get fuel up to the Carb. She turned over & fired up on the button, BUT, the Red charging light is ON. Indicating NOT charging. I am assuming that as everything else was working fine before laying her up for a year. It WILL be either, sticky contacts in the Regulator Box (WD40 will sort that!) or sticking brushes in the Gennie. (WD40 again, IF, required) My Money is on the Regulator box!................

I echo the sentiments of other members here! If availabale, I would be very interested in a Saladin Plate. Well done on finding these plates. Im sure you will have no trouble shifting them to members on this Forum. There are quite few vehilces about with thier date plates missing. Greedy dealers a few years back, took them out & were going to weigh them in for scrap for extra money after they had sold the vehicles on. Mind you, there WERE a large amount of AFVs about at the time that were not selling. Due to the fact that most collectors who wanted a particular type. Got what they wanted, & that left a glut of vehicles available then. That was then, & these days things have changed. There are not available that many vehicles that havent been restored like back then. So collectors & enthusiasts are looking for the 'Little Things' that are missing to complete & fine tune thier respective beloved pride & joys!

I dont know if it would be of any help. But there is a site dedicated to the RL & it's derivatives. Called RSOLES, it is a website for enthusiasts of this marvellous vehicle. They are mainly green goddess collectors, because there are more Goddess'es about than GS Rl's. As your is an ex AFS / Civil Defence variant. You may well get a taker on their site. It costs nothing to sign up & start posting what you want connected with RLs. I have found the members to be most generous & extremely helpfull. Its got to worth a try? Good Luck!

David is SORT of right! OK, Check safety catch is on safe. Remove magazine. Cock the Weapon. Remove gas plug from front gas block. (It's the plug with a spring pluger on it's side. Press plunger & turn a 1/4 turn & it WILL come out) On a Live version, you would remove the gas piston & spring. (A DEACT should NOT have these, as it's part of the requirement Spec to have them removed. HOWEVER, if the piston has also been Deactivated, thats Legal & fine) Go to the rear LHS of the lower trigger mech housing. There is a lever with a button head at the end of it. Pull this lever rearwards with your thumb whilst gripping the housing with the rest of your hand. The Weapon will drop down in half. Pull out the Top cover & remove. Pull to the rear the Working parts. Then seperate the breechblock assembly from the main carrier. You CAN strip it more than this, BUT, if you are not expirienced at this. I would NOT recomend it! Clean the weapon with an old tooth brush & lightly oil. Reassemble in the above reverse order. Cock the working parts again to ensure the action is closed & working correctly. Release the safety catch (Change Lever!) & squeeze the trigger to ease springs. Re-apply the safety catch & refit magazine & put The Rifle away! Simples! Dave, your guarding the Latrines next Chatham Fair!..............

Ouch! £££££££££££££££££!

Andy, you were lucky there. It was a quick & easy fix! BUT if driven a long distance with the bearings having that much poor adjustment. It MAY well have resulted in a more costly repair! Not to mention a potential breakage! Welldone Buddy!

Great Photos Steve, thanks for sharing. I wasnt aware of this Museum at all! This post was particularly interesting for me, as My father was Seconded to the Sultans Forces during the Sixties. I particularly liked the Photo of the Saladin! Cheers!

In Service, this is Known as 'The Dead Mans Pedal'. IE: If you get a Runaway engine & dont have a facility like this to stop the engine. ........You may well en up, 'A Dead Man!' :shocked:

Wouldnt mind doing a 'lipstick on my Collar' re-enactment with her!.................

Just a small & pedantic point on these. But it MIGHT help you or indeed, somone else sometime down the line. The towing 'A' frame you refer to is correctly termed, 'Hollibones' in Service. So IF you ever have to refer to them to a R.E.M.E Rep or someone in the recovery line. It MAY just help them know EXACTLY what you are looking for. ALL, 434's, & R.E.M.E Recovery Vehilces will have a pair of these. Stowed on a pair of Brackets, usually on the side of the vehicle.

Dave, I dont supose you gaot a picture of the Kubel, did you? I knew of one VERY well that used to reside in Lewes. After the owner died, his son sold it off, along with all his other vehicles. I lost track of it after that! Cheers!

Andy, 1981 manufactured for the Sterling. The Sten Pattern is a LIGHTER coloured Green Webbing that Matches the colour of the 1944 Patt Stuff. When these pouches surface on the Market. they invaribly are in excellent to unsed condition generaly. This leads one to supose that they stayed in the Stores in Ordanance forgotten about for years! Hence their good condition! :-D

I have a spare blue copy of 'Provisional Phamphlet' For The 120mm Battalion Anti-Tank Gun. (B.A.T) 1954, Part 1 Technical & Battle Handling. WO Code No.8836. If you were interested, you can have it for what I paid for it. PM me if you are. I had to buy a small Gathering of User Handbooks, just to get a couple I didnt have in My Personal Collection! Very Scarce to find any of these surviving today! :-)

Some valid & Positive suggestions here, it seems to me. Safety is obviously an Important factor at this Prestigious Event! With regards to Quadbikes. Would it not be possible to have a Field set aside for nothing but these vehilces? That way 'Kids' small & 'Big Kid's, could drive about till thier hearts content. With no fear to the visiting Public. I think there are ample fields that are unused that one could be selected & utilised for this purpose. Just a suggestion,anything that could be added to the show that is Positive Idea & realistic. Can only add to the Betterment & Enhance what is purported to be 'The Worlds BIGGEST Military Vehicle Show'.

Matt, This is a WWII Example. Later in life pressed into Israeli service & converted to 7.62mm. I have observed the Shinbec Arsenal mark on your gun. TWO Birmingham Deact Stamps! Indicating resubmited for ANOTHER Deact Cert. Possibly because the orig one was lost? The conversion was minor on these. A short round stop held in on the LHS to prevent feeding longer incorrect calibre ammo.New extractor arm assembly,Short sleeve insert in the chamber to shoulder shorter ammo. & chamber slightly relieved with a reamer as 7.62 is slightly fatter near the base of the cartridge. Extractor cam inside RHS or reciever replaced to act on shorter length ammo. Bolt stamped 7.62 But they are frequently an Original WWII bolt. Stamped so National Service Not really interested Squaddies, would not put the wrong calibre ammo in! Other than the markings. & stamping some (YOURS) with another serial number on some componants Like the side of the top cover Etc. They are basically a WWII gun to look at from a short distance away. If you really want to be pedantic, I wouldnt change anything componat wise. Just polish out the Izzie markings, or obliterate them with an 'X' letter punch!

have you undone a couple of the screened HT leads & tested for a spark? If you have a spark, loosen the banjo bolt at the carb & see if you got fuel getting up to the carb. If you have BOTH of these facilities. Then replace the condenser. This SHOULD work if the other two points have been checked & found to work. If none of these points have revealed a problem. You are going to have to look a lot closer & deeper into the problem! Yu mention that it WAS running a few months ago. My Money is on the Fuel! Let us all know how you get on. Good Luck!

Tell him all information has been passed to Interpol!....:laugh:

Thank you Lee, Finger on the pulse. As ever! :thumbsup: Mike.

Dave, I worry myself sometimes!.............

Smarties eh? Hmmm, you have to be very carefull with confectionary. NEVER eat a Marathon Bar (Now called Snickers for some weird reason!) whilst on the Toilet. Why? Because Marathon keeps you going, going, going!...................:cheesy:

Absolutely Brilliant! :rotfl: