sirhc

There's nothing wrong with the engineering, it's a prefectly good solution to the problem. As for changing the engine, you've obviously not spent enough time listening to a B60 or driving a Ferret... If you swapped the engine you'd be taking away the best part! Chris

Mark, It sounds like there was something wrong with it, or the owner didn't actually want to sell it. It's a shame he wasted your time, but there are plenty more Ferrets about. Chris

Tony, Item 9 is a gasket. The exhaust passes through the hull at this point and the gaskets are for either side of the hull. Chris

I thought I'd post a picture of the exhaust so everyone knows what we're talking about. With the Ferret exhaust some of these ideas will not work! Items 3 and 4 are the 2 interconnecting pipes which usually leak. Chris

Hi Chris, Depending when you got your licence yes and no. I got mine after 1997, so I can only drive a Mk 1. If you got yours before then you will be OK with a Mk 2. As for running costs, it depends entirely on how much you use it. Apart from petrol you'll get through plenty of oil, some grease and eventually tyres. The biggest cost in serviving is time, but even then it won't take longer than a few hours to oil and grease everything. I've done thousands of miles in mine, as have other forum members, without too many major problems. Of course you always need to be prepared and don't be surprised if something goes wrong, because at some point it will. They don't really cost any more to run than any old vehicle. They are fantastic vehicles and if you decide to get one you will love it. Chris

They will all leak when cold, but they should seal up when the exhaust gets up to temperature and the tubes expand. Mine was leaking quite a bit so I took it all apart, and found that the elbow casting which bolts on to the inside of the hull had worn due to the tubes rattling. The holes were enlarged and the pipes were no longer a good fit. I put a new one on and it's been much better since. Worth checking. Chris

http://www.mark.clubaustin.co.uk/

Suspension gaskets? Who says they need replacing? You need to buy unless you have them already as many manuals for this vehicle as possible, including the user handbook, servicing schedule, parts book and any EMERS. You will probably be able to get new gaskets from Banisters, but if you phone up and ask for suspension gaskets I suspect he won't want to help you. You'll need to give him the Nato Stock Number (NSN) for any parts you want, which you will be able to find in the parts book. Leaking suspension won't stop the Saracen being road legal, you'll just need to keep the oil level topped up. All British AFVs of the period leak from the suspension/drive line components. Chris

Rick, If you add up the cost of professionally rebuilding an engine, including new parts, labour time, machining etc £1600+Vat isn't too bad! Chris

You repair the gaskets by changing them. How much they cost depends on which ones they are, there are thousands of them on a Saracen!

The lube trailers were purchased in a 2 year period, they would have been released in the last month or so, making them almost 20 years old.

49 AT 33 was the Alvis prototype Sabre. I've seen all the bins etc that were trialled when they were designing it, still with prototype lables on. I was going to have a few, untill I realised they didn't actually open! The photo shows it all shiny and brand new. This has had 'Sold' written on the front since I first spotted it at Withams 2 or 3 years ago. Shame really as I would have liked it. Chris

Vince, The Spartans were working quite well as sausage machines, I saw a few sausages of mud fall out of your Sprockets! Chris

Rick, I think the combat rims are the devided disc/split rim type - you can change a tyre without any special equipment? No doubt someone will tell me if I am wrong. Chris

I've been trying to upload a few more videos, but the status bar doesn't work and then it times out. Might need to look at this Joris!

Paul, If you want to fit the mk 3 alternator I think you will also have to change your generator panel to the later one. Te later panel will work with either alternator but the mk 3 alternator will only work on the later panel. I'd have swapped the panel first, easier to do and you'd soon know which unit had failed. Chris

Jack, You can get some software which submits your website to the search engines. You can set this up to do it every week, 2 weeks etc. The best way to get up the rankings is to make sure you have all the correct mata tags, keywords etc. Search google for this topic, there's been plenty written about it. I spent a long time trying to get some websites I was working on up the rankings. Chris

Kevin, The Chieftain ARRV is one of my favourite vehicles. Let me know if your boss wants to sell it! :-D Chris

Optimisation how Jack?

I guess I'll keep trying then! I need this engine to be a good one, I started pulling apart the other spare engine I had and found 2 pistons which had totally burnt through! Chris

I've been trying to unstick a J60 for the past 2 weeks. I've tried coke, hot oil, diesel, WD40, heat, time, a large hammer and block of wood. So far I have got 3 pistons out (2 came out easily) by removing the head & sump and knocking them out through the top. The other 3 won't budge and it's really starting to annoy me know. It's sat full of diesel at the moment. Any suggestions, or should I just leave it even longer? Incidently the engine looks very good, little wear and the 3 pistons we got out looked almost new. The engine has been drained of oil and has sat a long time, otherwise I think it may have been ok! :shake: Chris

Rick, The 2 numbers 2 letters 2 numbers is a post war registration number, this scheme was introduced in the late 1940s and all wartime vehicles still in service were renumbered. YH and YJ were used for jeeps. Chris

If you ask me Jack is lagging behind, he's had that GMC for a while now, most 'normal' people would have bought at least one other vehicle by now! ;-)

Mark, A Ferret is an ideal first vehicle, ignore what these ww2 guys say. They're small, light, fast, armoured, easy to fix, easy to find spares for, they fit in your garage, and they're fairly cheap. You can buy 2 for the price of a jeep! You'll have far more fun in a Ferret than a Pig. Pigs a slow, heavy, have no brakes, big things to store, but you can sleep in the back, so they're not all bad! Chris

Clive has written a good article for fault finding on these charging systems. Try looking in his section of the forum. Chris