sirhc

Clive, Would Ferret cylinders fit, or are they externally different? Ferret cylinders are around, but are expensive. I fitted 4 new ones to mine as I gave up trying to get the pistons out! Chris

I don't think you'll find them anywhere cheap, I would think they'll set you back £50-100 a corner.

Neil, I think you may have underestimated the skills and equipment required to do these jobs. The only reason people might look at having someone else do a particular job is if it's too difficult to do themselves or they don't have the equipment. You will need overhead cranes, a fully equipped workshop and you'd need to be able to fit yourself in the most awkward of places. Even something simple like changing the master cylinder on a Ferret means cramming yourself into a tight space and banging your head on the steering wheel. If you wanted to work on FV430 vehicles you would need a pack lifting frame. Changing track or wheels requires jacking struts, track clamps, the correct adaptors etc. All of this before you consider how able you are to do the jobs, you'd at least need all of the manuals and since you haven't worked on many of these vehicles before every job would be a steep learning curve. It also sounds like you're not really in the best of shape health wise? I know there aren't many jobs around, but I think it'd be better sticking to something you know rather than trying to attempt this. Chris

Neil, Most people in this hobby do it because they like doing the work themselves. Those who can afford to pay someone usually already have a mechanic or dealer for repairs and servicing. Most of these people are based in the south east too. I don't think there is much of a market. Chris

There will be lots of 432 wheels about for a long time yet, new ones do come through the sales. Even if it means buying take offs it will be much cheaper than having them refurbished. I read somewhere that during the invasion of Iraq they were changing at least one wheel per vehicle per day, so you can imagine how many wheels they were making in 2003. Chris

We have looked into this in the past for cvrt wheels, but it's much cheaper to buy NOS or take off wheels. If the wheels were rare or hard to find it might be the only option. Chris

The FV434 is a REME fitters vehicle, this one definitley was as 24B is a REME callsign. Chris

That's an FV434, and it's a real shame to see such a useful vehicle in that state. Is it still there?

There should be a tap on the top of the engine near the bulkhead which controls the hot water flow to the heater. Make sure this is turned on. Also make sure the electric motor in the fan is working. If both of these are ok but you are still cold, maybe buy a Winterised one?

Hi Will, I guess the headlamps you're after are the Ferret type? I paid about £80 for a set a few years ago. They are still current though, the CVRTs and 432s are fitted with them, so there are plenty about. The sidelights look good for the money. Chris

Vince, It's not anti-condensation material, it's a spall liner. The idea is that the foam catches the fragments of metal which are sent flying around the inside of the vehicle when it gets hit with bullets. I did have a contact who was supposed to be able to get sheets of this stuff, but it never happened. As for removing the glue, have you tried petrol or another similar solvent? Chris

I have a video from the QOY which includes footage of my Sabre firing the Rarden on a range.

Yes, if it were possible to buy a deactivated Rarden cannon, but there are none around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T17_Armored_Car

They are! Apart from this one, which has been for sale for a while, and the one I've got, I don't know of any other spares.

Time for an update. We've almost finished making all the parts for the rear body. We did a trial fit a few weeks ago, and luckily it all fitted fine. This weekend was spent building new wheel arches. The old ones were a mess, but there was enough of them left to work out how they were build. We have made exact copies of all the bits, today in the rain and the snow we assembled them. They look pretty good, hopefully in about 2 weeks time the body will be in one piece rather than 50! Chris

I know where there are a few more in similar condition, dry stored since release. They are the owners retirement fund, so they're not for sale... yet. Chris

Vixen was a an entirely different vehicle, based on Fox but the hull was quite different. Vixen never made it past the prototype stage. Only 2 remain, one in the Tank Museum and one in Australia. The vehicle Adam is thinking of is this one: This is a Polecat, it's a Peak Engineering GPMG turret fitted to a Fox hull. There were several attempts to fit the Fox with different turrets in order to make it attractive to overseas customers, I have most of the sales brochures, but I don't think there were ever any orders. I don't know why everyone associated Alvis with the Fox, they were designed by Daimler and manufactured by Royal Ordnance. Chris

Not at all! They are great fun to drive, and if you have one that's been well restored you won't need to look for all the bits. You just need to make sure you look after it! The sad thing is, the vehicles which you see for sale are usually the poorly restored ones. Chris

I guess a similar thing happened to the Foxes that has happened to the CVRTs which came out in 2004. Some were bought by enthusiasts, others by dealers, but the majority of them went for scrap. Those which remain now command a high price. When it comes to Fox bits, it's easier to say what's easy to find. Basically anything common with CVRT you can locate, so thats the engine block, starter, carb etc, periscopes and the odd fixtures and fittings. The fans, flywheel, exhaust, radiators etc are unique. While they were around in 2003/4, they aren't anymore. All the Fox projects are gone, so are the engine spares, and there will be no more. When it comes to wheel stations or gearbox you can forget it. The gearbox has some common parts to Ferret, but the vehicle weighs twice as much, which is why I think they are prone to failure. The brake calipers are common to Stalwart, so you can get the pads though! Chris

Does anyone know where this is, and if it's still there? I image the photo is fairly recent as it's a Sabre, but I think it's pretending to be a Scimitar! Chris

Engine removal prior to disposal. What happened to the Foxes I don't know, but the engine packs were stripped down. The engines themselves went back in to stores, the rest went to a scrap yard. Luckily Helston Gunsmiths managed to buy the bits and sat on them for a long time. When they were offered for sale I went down there and spent a day rooting through all the stillages of spares. I managed to find everything except for an oil filter bracket, the aux drive flange and one pipe! Second photo shows our rebuilt pack, the engine was a recon unit I found on its own amongst several hundred CVRT take outs - most had holes in the side. The fan pack came out of a crate, the radiators were fitted with new cores. Stupid photos in wrong order, but you get the idea! Chris

A CVRT is very simple compared to a Fox, there's almost nothing to a CVRT. You can change an engine or gearbox on a CVRT in an hour or 2. To get the gearbox out of the Fox you need to remove the turret and the entire interior. It is only just possible to get it out the back, been there done that, but you have to remove pretty much EVERYTHING from the inside of the vehicle. Any job on a Fox becomes long and involved. I think Fox was withdrawn from service because it was a nightmare to look after compared with the simple CVRT. The Scorpion was withdrawn from service because the extraction system was ineffective and crews were becoming ill after firing the gun. This was around the time of the army reductions in the mid 90's and they had to reduce the number of vehicles. This is where the Sabre came in, Sabre is almost a Scimitar and it made sense to swap the turrets over. They got rid of all the Foxes and Scorpions and replaced them with 136 hybrids. I have never heard anyone say Fox was withdrawn because they had too many accidents. Chris

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/lsm/dhmg/mahon2.html

Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle