sirhc

I think at £3500 its worth rescuing, trouble is that it's so far north! Chris

You mean there might be someone there who knows where they're going? :-D Chris

Best way to do the steering is to use a pressure bleeder. You may need another reservoir cap to drill a hole through in order to use one though. We've used the Ezbleed before, I forget who makes it, but you can buy them in Halfords. Another thing I found was that removing the drivers seat first made it easier to bleed the steering, as the seat may prevent you from getting full travel on the tiller. Chris

Yes, it's very painful. I was sitting on the top of mine in the arena at Beltring next to Lee a few years ago. I had my hand resting on one of the side hatches. Next thing I knew it had slammed shut. It just caught the tip of 2 of my fingers. You can still to this day see the line. The guys in the medical tent sorted me out with some bandages and pain killers. Of course this was Sunday afternoon, so we were a few hours from driving home. On the way home I was following my dad, who got lost, we ended up stuck in traffic on the M25. I had to change gear with my sore hand, in the traffic I ended up changing gear about 200 times. We also used a full tank of fuel going round the M25. Not a good day all round! Chris

John, I'd hardly call it a magic touch.. I guess the people who work at the Nottingham office must just be pretty laid back! You know what's going to happen now though, the next one will be a nightmare! Chris

Mark, You can either join the EMLRA and trace the history that way, or do it through Deepcut. Chris

John, The renewals for my Ferret never ask for an MOT. I take a V112G along to the post office just incase they ask, but it's never been a problem as long as I've had it. When I registered it I asked the bloke if it qualified to be MOT exempt, he said yes, and must have pressed the right button on the PC! Chris

Colin, I am in Sandiacre, where abouts are you? My seal kit came from Marcus Glenn, http://www.marcusglenn.com Chris

It was converted to a Sabre in 1994. The history before 1987 would be on the original record card. The data I have came from a MERLIN database printout. I've only been sent the info, not the original print. When I asked the Tank Museum for the history they said to wait a few years for the original cards to filter through to them! Hopefully I should be able to find out the earlier history at some point in the future. Chris

Guys, The only history I have for it is this: 06/07/87 RHG/D 24/01/90 LG 11/02/91 RH 17/04/91 LG 26/02/92 2 Army delivery Sqn (veh stock) 09/12/93 Ludgershall 18/03/94 ABRO Donnington planned repair 01/05/95 QOY 02/06/03 Ashchurch 15/01/04 ABRO Stirling planned repair 12/05/04 Withams Chris

Barry, My Sabre was with the QOY. I did email them and ask if they had any photos or information, they said they'd have a look but never heard back. I have seen a video of it firing the Rarden on a range, you can clearly make out the number, but I'd love any more info if you can help :-) I should probably add that someone with light fingers removed the dataplate from my vehicle before it went for disposal. If anyone finds the dataplate for 04 FD 31 I would like it back please!! Cheers, Chris

That's how long it's been since I posted on this topic! :-o Anyway I've been busy over the summer, the past few weeks I've been back at work on the Sabre. I now have all the paint removed and if it had been nicer yesterday I would have painted it. I've got almost everything blasted up, today I sprayed some green on the engine decks and lots of loose bits. I've also been working on the inside. We lifted the bottom of the turret basket up and ratchet strapped it to the turret, so we could work under it. The floor was really badly corroded. I needle gunned the whole floor, washed everything down with some marine clean and then primed the floor with some aluminium primer. There's not much room to work under there! I've got some blige paint, the type they use in boat engine bays, to repaint the floor with. This should cure the corrosion problem and make it easier to clean inside. The rest of the internals are painted in silver, ready to fit. Hopefully within a few more weeks it will start to look like a proper Sabre again. All these bits take up loads of space, which I need for the next project :whistle: Chris

That's the master power switch. I've been working on my Sabre this weekend, I should update my blog really too! Chris

It's happened to us every time we've had something for sale. There was even the bloke who came to drive the Champ, after taking it for a good long drive, turned around and said 'I've got a Champ, don't want another' - he just wanted to drive another one to compare it to his Chris

You get Windscreen, which is a good read. Also the greensheet, which used to be the place to buy and sell stuff. Still useful though as it lists lots of events. You can get into Kemble, which is a good show, and many of the other smaller MVT shows for free too.

I have an idea for a good new site, I know how I want it to work, and I know enough about websites to know I don't know enough to make it work! If anyone out there knows more than I do, and fancies a bit of a side project, send me an email to chris@sirhc.co.uk I don't have much money, but will try to make it worth your while! Thanks, Chris

I spotted these the other day too http://www.witham-sv.com/infopage.php?ID=1507&Overide=1 Chris

Thanks Lee... anyone needs plugs for a Villiers-Norton Mk 10? Chris

Yep, I have issue 9, never got any of the others, though I have read them on Dougs site. Chris

Does anyone recognise these spark plugs? Lodge SR2, LV6.MT4 37076. I hope they fit something useful as I ended up with a box of them! :? Chris

Where can I get some C4 from? I liked the track splitting article, much easier than drifing the pins out when Andy destroys another final drive! :evil: Chris

My advice would be don't buy something unless it's what you actually want. You may end up resenting the vehicle when something goes wrong with it, rather than enjoying the challenge of repairing it. Chris

Ferret register newsletter? This wouldn't be the very same one which I paid a subscription for several years ago, but only ever recieved one issue, would it? Chris

Not totally true. My Ferret is built before 1960, therefore is MOT exempt on that clause. Look for one with BA, BB, CA or CC registration numbers. Later vehicles DA, DC, DD, EA etc will not qualify. Our Fox is MOT exempt on a different clause. It's sole purpose is to transport a gun, therefore it becomes a gun tractor, and is exempt from MOT testing. There are other rumours going around about them being 4 wheel drive and impossible to test, etc etc. I've never seen the 'armoured car' one before though. There are ways and means to make them exempt. The guy at our local DVLA office said he tries to get as many of these 'unusual' vehicles exempt as possible, as it just makes life easier for everyone. Chris

Mick, I paid £750 for my Lightweight. It needed a new 1/4 chassis, a good service, the clutch freeing off and some door tops. These were all fairly cheap and simple to do. There are Lightweights on ebay all the time, but they're usually somewhat modified. I have seen very few which don't have big wheels, seats/steering wheel from something else, a V6 or V8 engine etc. You should get a good one for about £2000, maybe not a perfect one but a good starting point. 109s are cheaper, but are slow and underpowered. 101s are more expensive and more thirsty. Chris