sirhc

Charlie, I have a friend who had a Mk 1 and yes it did sound like that ! Chris

Have you tried Comptons for a new cover? Wouldn't surprise me if they made them in the first place. http://www.comptons2000.co.uk/index.htm Chris

Does it look like this? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvis_Salamander Chris

Sounds like a cheap modification. Mine seems to go ok, but I can understand tuning it down a bit to make it last a bit longer with army drivers...

Terry, What have you done to tweak yours? The 235 upgrade has I believe a bigger turbo and different injection pump. Chris

Leah, What vehicle is it? Do you have some photos? Chris

We were very lucky yesterday that the rain held off so I could finish spraying. We swapped some wheels around, a few were in a bad way, and then removed the tracks. Everything was given a good clean. I noticed a bolt missing from one of the sprockets so that was replaced and then it was time for more light stone paint. We then put the tracks back on and drove it backwards a few feet to paint the bits of the wheels and hubs I missed. I have bought a compressed air powered grease gun which really makes tensioning the tracks easier. The next job was the number plates, a job I hate doing as it takes ages to get everything lined up and I never quite get it exactly right. I think it's close enough for now. The BATUS zap numbers did not go quite to plan as my stencil, cut from vinyl, ended up peeling off the black paint. I will probably just cut the numbers from white vinyl and stick them onto the black squares instead. I still need to put some rear mud flaps on but they were buried in some boxes of stuff so that's a job for next time. I also need to clean out the inside and bolt some Clansman intercom boxes in. Chris

Hi Jason, I'm pretty sure I saw this on the back of a truck just south of Lincoln the other day! Good luck with your search for parts. Chris

British army demonstrating the type of vehicles, the Latvians don't have them yet.

http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2014/05/cvrt-goes-large-latvia/

The BATUS fleet had upgraded gearboxes. I guess they removed them all to fit to the remaining vehicles. There is a big problem with gearbox casings cracking and they can not get spares, most of the vehicles which have gone for disposal have the gearbox missing. Like all these things, there will probably be loads around in 10 years time once the vehicles are all scrapped! I don't think the Sturgeons at Withams are the ones from Castlemartin. Chris

Withams do not have that many. They have quite a few, just not the gearboxes to go with most of them!

Thanks for the comments guys, hopefully the next photos will be of it finished. Robin - no photos of it anywhere yet. I have my Sabre waiting in the wings if the Spartan has any issues! Chris

I thought it was about time I posted some photos of the Spartan we are currently tidying up for W&P this year. Last year we sold our petrol Spartan, 48AT14, and I was lucky enough to be at Withams just a couple of days after the first diesel vehicles arrived last August. We ended up buying a running but scruffy Spartan. It would only steer in one direction and struggled to select a gear. Both problems were fixed within a couple of hours of it being delivered by a new master cylinder and tightening up the gear change pedal bolts. We had some fun racing it round the farm tracks so decided to take it down the road to the house to start the paint job. This did not go well and it broke down just yards from the drive way and we required the help of Andy's RB44 to push it on the drive. Taking the top off the fuel tank revealed the usual Spartan fuel problems.. it was full of the usual mess. I replaced and the filters and ran the pump only for the filters to block before there was enough fuel in the injector pump to start it. I will eventually clean out the fuel tank and filter the diesel so we can hopefully use it, there is a good half a tank of it in there, but for now I have fitted another plastic fuel tank. I still need to strap it in place securely but for now it has got the vehicle back up and running. Working on the fuel problem revealed the starter motor was a bit dodgy, so we took the decks off to have a look. While I was there I gave it all a good clean. We fixed the starter using parts from another one, but it didn't last long and is now replaced with a shiny reconditioned one. The next job was to give the vehicle a good rub down and blow it over with some light stone paint. If we had more time ideally it would get a bare metal respray as the paint was pretty rough underneath, but this will do for now. I still need to paint the wheels and suspension, apply some BATUS markings, number plates etc but I think we should be on track to make it to W&P providing nothing else goes wrong! There is a video of it on youtube here: Chris

I get my MIN19 seal kits from Pickering Brakes & Clutches in Ilkeston.

There were Chieftains in Iraq which were captured from Iranians. I have photos somewhere taken after 2003 showing them and some Scorpions in a tank dump.

Take the seat out and look inside the tank, fingers crossed its nice and clean but I bet it's a mess in there!

Possibly the seal around where the commanders seat fits into the fuel tank.

Ok it's Chieftain, but the 432 one is almost identical.

It's an FV432 drivers night sight, loads of these about.

You could try Rex Cadman, he collects fire engines from Scampton and delivers them to the show so may be a possible back load there.

I know this is reviving a very old thread, but here is a photo of 03FD00. Chris

Go to settings at the top of the page, then select edit avatar on the left hand side.

Hi Nick, Welcome to the forum. My vehicles are mostly in Nottingham at my parents house, I'm not far away in Lincoln. Chris

http://www.lrseries.com/shop/product/listing/1340/562631-REAR-ROAD-SPRING-RH.html?search=562631&page=1