sirhc

Yes, the 432 is a 2 stroke. Chris

The Bedford M series trucks are widely used throughout the world by charities, aid agencies and foreign governments. I expect the spares to be easy to get hold of for a long time yet. If you're really worried, at £2k each, why not buy one to use for spares?

If you buy a vehicle from Withams it will come with a form 654. This form allows you to register the vehicle with the DVLA and is proof of the date of manufacture. You will need an MOT and insurance first though. If you are looking at them in tender sales get the guys in the yard to start them up first, they usually dump the rubbish in the tender sales. I've looked at some nice trucks before, climbed in the back and found half the engine in a puddle. At the money though they are a bargain. Chris

Mick, I fill them with a squirty oil can, much easier than an oil syringe but your tumb will get tired! Chris

Val, Your Saracen was designed to have several military radios fitted, so will be a big beefy affair. I would have thought it would handle a PA system easily. Chris

It wasn't really worth the air time was it?

My guess is Val bought the Saracen Mk 1 'troop transport' which is for sale on milweb from Fantastic Days, who also run tank driving, but over in Norfolk..! :roll:

Val, Are you sure you bought it from Tanks a lot?!? They aren't based in Norwich! Chris

A full exhaust for my Lightweight was only £30... and it'll do 70 on the motorway, a bit faster than a jeep!

Autosparks are just around the corner from here, I see the van driving around. http://www.autosparks.co.uk/

John, I happen to know of a pile of bits, if you're looking for anything specific. I know there are NOS wings in the pile. Chris

Not entirely true, there were loads made, there just aren't many left in the UK. Lots of ex-British vehicles were sold on to other countries, there are quite a few left out in east asia and lots over in private hands in the USA.

Mike, I have AESP 2350-T-220-522 which has a chapter on setting up the torsion bars. I'll try and scan the relevant pages for you. I guess they must have problems with them as there's quite a bit of information about them in the manual. Chris

Mike, It does seem like you've got a problem with the left hand side torsion bars. What does the rubber on the roadwheels on these 4 wheel stations look like? There should be a bulge where it's in contact with the road. If there is no bulge it suggest broken or weak torsion bars. Chris

At Kemble they have 2 fields, one for people with military tents and one for the civi tents and caravans. It works very well, the vehicle displays do look much better. At 10pm they stop people driving around, if you go out and come back after 10 you have to leave your vehicle at the gate and walk back. I like the show, it works well and more and more people turn up every year. They must be doing something right?

LOL I buy from both, but Paddocks are usually about 20p cheaper and the postage is quicker! Chris

Paul, Some of the dealers were buying military reconditioned engines, stripping them down and selling the bits on. I got a fully reconditioned 24volt distributor from Craddocks on ebay for about £10 a while back. Keep looking on ebay as the parts often turn up there. As for your idle, theres an adjustment screw for this at the carb end of the throttle linkage. Just give it a tweak 1/2 a turn at a time and see if it makes any difference. As yours is an FFR it will also have a hand throttle. Use this to see what kind of speed is required to run without the choke. Chris

Paul, You can try buying a carb rebuild kit, they aren't expensive. I rebuilt mine twice, it didn't seem to help, so I bought a brand new manufacture carb rather than an NOS one. It was around £100 but it made one hell of a difference. My Lightweight was using a lot of oil and pumping out black smoke the other year. This problem peaked at Beltring, on the way home I was struggling to get up the hills and I almost didn't get allowed through the Dartford tunnel. I stripped the engine down and found the rings on one of the pistons were knackered. There was also a chunk missing from the piston. I put in new valves, valve guides, gaskets, a new piston, 4 sets of rings and honed the cylinders. All these parts are quite cheap and the manuals are easy to find and easy to follow. Chris

After changing the spark plugs it flew home.

I got mine out the window

They would work fine.

Yes.. see my previous post for a tested solution.

I will endevour to bring the Ferret down again, got that jump lead handy Chris? :oops:

Big aren't they! I have a turret wiring harness and some final drive hub nuts if anyone needs them...!