sirhc

Mike,

We will be there from the Sunday to the Wednesday as far as I know, not the whole week - I can't afford to take a whole week off work!

Chris

Andy & ourselves will be there with the Fox & Saladin too.

Chris

Tony,

The split tailgates turn up on ebay quite often. There is also a good book my Mark Cook called 'The Half-Ton Military Land Rover' which has hundreds of good photos. You should find one of those on ebay too!

Chris

Neil,

Remember to use the locking pin on the NATO hitch, this will stop the jaws coming open. If you haven't got one there are loads on ebay, or you could substitute some wire instead.

Chris

Well I went and checked over the 432. The pack has 80 hours on it, so it's not been run much. The fuel pump doesn't work, probably from being sat under water. The starter also goes 'clunk' instead of turning the engine over. The most worrying thing is there doesn't seem to be any oil in the engine oil tank. Looks like I'll have to pull the pack out to do the starter and possibly just put a new pack in. All in all not ideal, but it is a challenge.

Anyone got a spare fuel pump or starter knocking about? I also need to borrow something with a crane! :oops:

Chris

Brian,

The 30mm Rarden cannon on the CVR(W) Fox and CVR(T) Scimitar or Sabre is not the same as the .30 Cal Browning on a Ferret Mk 2/3. A Ferret isn't a CVR either - althought it is a combat reconnaissance vehicle. The CVR vehicles were designed as a family with common parts in the late 60s.

The answer to your question is yes, they must be deactivated. Unless you have them converted to a blank firer etc. I'm not sure on the rules on those, but someone will know.

You would be advised to remove the MG from a Ferret while on the roads, but this is a much bigger job on a Fox or CVRT as the gun actually forms part of the vehicle.

Chris

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the offer of parts. The pack looked untouched, the side panels were all on, but I am told it doesn't run. I'll go down and see if I can get it to start! Hopefully it won't come to removing the pack!!

Chris

Brian,

The user handbook will be a good start at this stage. This shows you how to start it, service it and the basic layout and data. if you do buy one the parts book and servicing schedule are vry useful. There are lots of other manuals, you can never have too many, but those 3 should solve most of your problems.

Chris

Brian,

If I were you I'd get on to Vintage MV Manuals and get yourself a set of manuals. Have a read through, and it'll answer most of the questions you can think of. It'll also help when you go to look at one, if you know something about it the owner might not be able to fob you off quite so easily!

Chris

It's all worked out on the weight, vehicle type and original use.

Mick,

I never said I could afford it! I have a reasonable job, and a dad who likes playing too, which is handy, but we don't do half as much as we'd like to.

Chris

Dave,

If he had any decent CVRTs I'd probably have had one of them instead! Thanks to Andys kind offer of space I now have somewhere to put it, and I've found the cash. I just hope it's a runner, otherwise I'll be down the scrap yard again...! (either for bits, or trying to get rid of it :whistle:)

Chris

I seem to have somehow bought a 432 from Withams. Seeing them running around Salisbury Plain the other weekend convinced me to bid on one. Shame I can't afford it, and have nowhere to put it. Anyone want a 432?

Chris :shake: :shake: :shake:

I do have a copy, there's not much to write about though, I'll see if I get time.

Alein,

It's a similar shape, but the Ferret clamp is 2 pieces, and is also much larger.

Sorry to hijack the thread.....

This is the removable part:

http://www.marcusglenn.com/catalog/photos/351.jpg[/img]

This bit bolts on to the hull:

http://www.marcusglenn.com/catalog/photos/436.jpg[/img]

Chris

Yes there is a 1/2 ton trailer, but it's not much smaller than the 3/4 ton. The chassis is a little bit different, the body sides generally have pressings in the side in an X shape. These were generally used with Austin Champs and early Land Rovers.

Chris

Anyone interested in post war British vehicles would enjoy this book:

http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=53229

There are around 120 photos covering all armoured and softskin vehicles in service between 1945 and 1979. Also look out for the Berlin Brigade book, also by Tankograd publishing.

Chris

Brian,

Ferrets have been steady at around £5000 for the past 4/5 years or so. The price of restoration projects has gone up slightly as the number has gone right down. People are now restoring Ferrets in far worse condition than most of the vehicles broken up for spares in the 90s. If you buy a good one you almost certainly wont lose money, there are more potential buyers than vehicles and the hobby keeps growing. Military vehicles are not like cars. They are mostly only produced in very small quantities and relativley few make it into preservation. The value tends to go up rather than come down, unlike cars.

Running costs will depend entirely on how much and how far you drive it. Your biggest expenses will be petrol, oil and time. Tyres are a problem at the moment, but I'm investigating a way round that. I'm not using original tyres and they're doing a great job of eating up the miles. Of course if you hardly drive it you won't end up spending money on it, but they do leak oil and they do need topping up before going very far. Providing you look after it you shouldn't experience many major failures, and if you do the parts are out there. You can get engines, gearboxes and wheel stations if you manage to kill one.

It would be worth having a recovery option, especially when you first get a vehicle. I've never had breakdown insurance on mine, but I know it inside out and have confidence in it. I would reccomend a new owner who didn't know Ferrets and had an unproven vehicle to sign up to the roadsure recovery scheme. Quite a lot of people break down first time out with a new vehicle!

Hope this helps,

Chris

Looks like a Vickers FV433 Abbot SPG.

Chris

Mick,

There are timing marks on the flywheel. If you can get someone to turn the engine over while you shine a light through the inspection hole you should be able to find it. I timed my engine by adusting the distributor a little bit at a time, starting it up and listening to it. Not the official way of doing it but you can pretty much time it by ear! There's a plug on the side of the distributor you can squirt oil in to lubricate the timing weights.

Chris

That just means the internals have been protected with inhibiting oil. Turning it over would displace the oil. All reconditioned engines are supplied in this condition, to prevent corrosion etc when standing for a long time.

Chris

Jack,

There is a book of publishers you can buy, I forget the name but my brother has it. You will need to send a few chapters to hundreds of them and hope someone likes it!

Chris

Richard,

There is a priming lever on the fuel pump. Good luck in trying to reach it though!

Chris

Brian,

I suggest you go along to a few shows, there are plenty down in the South East. You will find MV owners are mostly a friendly bunch and will be more than willing to show you round a Ferret. I bought mine as a wreck when I was 18 and have been showing it for the last 5 years. I don't think I'll ever be able to sell it!

Chris

Pete,

Those scrap Spartans will be expensive, and they're totally bashed about now. Anything worthwhile has been stripped.... :-D and the stuff thats still on them is either bent, broken or smahed. If you want a Spartan, Sultan, Samson or Samaritan I can probably help though. They will be more expensive than Withams were charging, but they will also be nicer.

As for the price of that Spartan at Withams? I'm not sure as I didn't ask. It did look interesting though, and would be easy enough to swap to standard track if the experimental stuff caused a problem. It was fully loaded with ballast though! The yellow Scorp hull also looked like a track/suspension trails vehicle. It was certainly a mess.

Chris