sirhc

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

Problems with the Hummer are: - they're so big - the engines are so big - they're so expensive For that kind of cash you're talking ww2 armour, several CVRTs, a garage full of GMCs etc. £25000 is too much for 1 toy, especially when they're not that special. If you've got that kind of cash you could buy a tank, they probably get about the same mpg. Chris

David, You can join the EMLRA (google them) and get the history that way. They don't charge much and will give you some detailed info. You've certainly got a lot to do to put it back to standard, the 200TDi will be nice though! Chris

There's one for sale here https://secure.pablanchard.co.uk/forsale.asp Chris

John, As Mick suggests you can remove the covers and have a look at what's going on inside. It's easy enough to remove the cover which contains the selector mechanism. Check this for a weak spring or anything else which looks or feels wrong. You can actually get someone to press the pedal while you select the gears manually and check that everything works as it should. We spent quite a bit of time adjusting linkages on our Fox in order to get all 5 gears to select smoothly. Remember there may be a problem with either the gear change pedal or the selector linkage. Chris

Yep, and you can only bid if you've been approved and have a VAT number. I used to buy from them before they got silly. Chris

Hi Mark, Champs are nice vehicles. Lots of people hate them because they're fairly complex, and need a lot of love. The B40 engine is excellent and they're pretty quick, the suspension is also very good and is much better than a leaf sprung Land Rover. They do tend to rot quite badly in the body, but replacement panels are easy to come by. The back axles are the weakness, but if you get one which has been looked after you should be fine. There are plenty of spares about aswell as Champ News and Champ World magazines for help and advice. Chris

Yep. Sure I saw that for sale in Germany a few weeks back.

Fire up your printer, it's on the way...

Mark, Send me an email chris@sirhc.co.uk and I'll send over the 432 electrical fault finding charts. Chris

Paul, This photo gives you an idea how the radio tray is built for a 353 setup. The radio mount (green plate with 2 runners on) is replaced for the 351 with a frame type structure, which the manpack clips on to. I'll post a photo once Andy has made them for me :-D For a 351+353 setup the 353 should be on the other side, the ARFAT mounts on the green plate to the left of the drivers seat. When I did this I hadn't seen a manual or another Ferret with a 353, so I put it together how I thought it should work, which was actually pretty close to the book. Chris

How are you supposed to wear a seat belt when you're standing on the commanders seat so you can see whats going on while commanding? :dunno:

Paul, Usually with a Clansman setup you would carry either a 353 and 351 or a pair of 353s as shown in Lees photos. I'm having a batch of Ferret 351 mounts made, after looking for a few years I finally found one, so thought I'd better get it copied before installing it. I can send you the manual for installing the Clansman radios if required. The Larkspur radios take up more space and are more expensive to buy, if you just want to fill the gap a 353/351 installation looks good and shouldn't be too expensive. Chris

I'm not surprised that works so well. We use Caustic stripping at work to remove coatings from compressor components of aircraft/marine engines and industrial gas turbines. Chris

The antenna bases are just different versions of the same thing. The one on the RHS is missing the tuner ring/spacer block. These wing boxes/antenna mounts are for Clansman series radios and would be found on Land Rovers from the late 70s / early 80s right up till this year.

Yes there is a seat belt, but it's not really a harness, just a lap belt. Andy was aproaching a roundabout at the time so wouldn't have been going very fast. It would have locked up and had the effect of turning the vehicle in that direction, which is why it's at a funny angle across 2 lanes. You shouldn't go anywhere in any vehicle without a plan for how you're going to get it off the road and recovered if it breaks down, especially if the vehicle is armoured and tracked! Luckily Andy only lives a few miles from me, and between us we have plenty of vehicles, towing frames, tow ropes, track tools etc. Chris

The point is how do you know if it's your thing or not if you don't try it? Kind of narrow minded really.