ArtistsRifles

As a related aside on this topic - there was an article doing the rounds recently from the producers of the show saying that the series just aired was the last one and they were seeking crowd funding to launch a new series that from the description appeared to be a cross between "Wheeler Dealers" and "Car SOS".

At least the floor won't go rusty for a while :)

Well - it could have been worse - a lot worse. If Vicky Ford and her committee can swing it so that prior spec deac's can be bought and sold without needing to be upgraded to these new specs then a great deal will have been achieved over the original proposals. I believe the declaration in effect already occurs here as the Proof Houses retain copies of the deac certifications which can be viewed by Gov't inspectors on request.

Maybe the move back to the Hop Farm will bring them back Tony. We can but hope :-) I must admit - right now I am curious to see if they intend following through with the plans for living history to be a time line starting at WW1 and working up to Cold War and if so - how they are going to implement it in the confines of what was the living history field at the Hop Farm. Time will tell.

Yes - my lot are the original illegal immigrants 😂😂 Original family name was De Plugenet - Norman French.

Thanks Nick. Looks like I will have to get an adapter made up at some time to run this test. Right now the foot brake valve looks odds on to be the culprit as thats the only point the charged air system interacts with the braking system. Guys on the AEC society have recommended s good spaying of WD40 in case its just sticking and if that doesn't stop it removing the valve and vhecking the diaphragms.

If it was at Hastings - my ancestors were there in 1066

Many thanks Rob :-)

What paint are you using for the DBG Rob? Looks excellent!!

Don't know about "Free lists" - the only free part I knew of was that for long standing members of IMPS who got in for free - the gist of the comments as I understood it was that MV owners were"only" paying the entry fee for their vehicle and bringing the whole family in for a weeks holiday. Well - for many people it WAS their annual holiday. I'd have to go dig out the (CMV??) article that carried the remarks to be 100% certain. For sure he totally ignored the fact that to have a show he relies on said MV owners paying the fuel bills out of their own pockets both for the trip there and back as well as the running around whilst there - arena, convoys etc. The large gaps in the fields last year bore silent witness to the numbers so affected. As for armour movements - I can only speak as to my experience and that was Rex offered to pay a % of the cost - usually 50% which I felt was fair. If your vehicle, like mine, did not fit on his unit then you could either deal with Ovendens who invoiced Rex directly so you only paid the 50% or used your own nominated firm, paid them in full and then submitted the invoice to Rex. In my case where ever possible I dealt with Ovendens and the total cost was between £900 to £1000 for the return trip. Meant I only had to find £450 to £500. Schedule-wise they would collect the vehicle the week before the W&P week and collect it sometime in the week after the show finished. At the Hop Farm there were usually people on site during thus time who kept an eye on the vehicles. Not sure about the Racecourse. Loading and unloading of mine was done by me. I'd meet the truck at the store and load the OT on then drive down to the show and unload it. Reversing the process to get back home. As for the new owners - I tried getting an answer out of them for months regarding whether or not they would continue to honour this cost sharing arrangement - got to March last year and still could not get an answer beyond "we'll know in a couple of weeks" which had been the standard response form the prior September so I wound up having to sell my OT-90 as W&P was now the only show it went to because of transport costs and no way could I afford the whole £1,000

Was last year for Mitary World 😊 Race course was a good venue in its own right and - my personal opinion only - would have grown to be a second Beltring if (a) Rex had continued to run things and (b) the council wasn't so set on building a housing estate. The new owners got off to a bad start with having the show in a new location, essentially slagging off MV owners as scroungers for having their family come with them and then charging for facilities whether used or not. I know a few PW owners who either took offence at his comments and never went or who, having gone, were upset at the arena timetables where the emphasis was primarily on WW2 instead of the nice mix we had grown used to. It will be interesting to see the site plans for the Hop Farm given the new guys stated intent of having having history in a "time line".

Piston hits TDC twice on one cycle on a Suck-Squeeze-Bang-Blow (or 4 stroke) engine. It rises to TDC on the compression stroke and then again on the exhaust stroke. Apologies if this is a lesson in extracting nutriment from ovoid objects - but you need to make sure you have it set to TDC in the first position!! :-D :-D

Many thanks The Militant is 4.15m so should just fit under!!

Yes - should have got an AEC instead!! 😂😂

That's going to save a bit on fuel!! Anyone happen to know the height limit on that low bridge near the bottom of 7 mile lane??

Thats the valve Nick. Can you let me have a copy of the relevant section from the drivers handbook please as I don't have this yet. Thanks 😊

Thanks Richard. This does match the system as installed on mine - at least as far as the rear is concerned. Most importantly it does seem the only connect between the stored and active air systems is that foot brake valve. So its as good a place as any to start the hunt for the leak. Got to admit - hydraulics are a lot easier to fault find

This is the ISPL diagram for the "Power Brakes" - I tried to fill in the various air paths to make it easier to follow. Red is the path from the foot brake valve to the rear distribution valve where the leak of air can be heard and felt from the exhaust port. As you can see - it is a very basic system. Blue is the path from the air tanks to the foot brake valve. Yellow is the front service brake connector Had a couple of pointers from the AEC community tonight: * "Check the plunger under foot valve pedal it's got a rubber boot covering the plunger , this gets dry and sticks" * "If it's leaking from the breather and was doing so with the previous valve then I would suggest it is being fed from the foot brake valve which is leaking internally. Memory is weak after 40+ years, but as a relay valve it should have a feed (usually the central union) and trigger line from foot brake the third union is delivery. Build up air pressure and check each union there should only be air to the centre union until brake is applied" So next chance I get to get over to the vehicle I will have a look at these as well

The valve replaced was purely for the rear brakes - one feed entered it and two came out - one to each of the rear axles.

In all honesty Phil - I have no idea - my knowledge of air brakes is minimal at best so I am on a steep learning curve here. I used to drive them, not maintain them. All I know at the moment is there is air constantly escaping from the exhaust valve by the rearmost axle - enough to drain the air tanks within a few minutes of stopping the engine. That rear valve has been replaced with a brand new assembly thus (in theory) eliminating that as the source of the problem. As I understand the system thus far - and I'm always open to correction here - being a 1959 vehicle it is an simple "air on" type - that is, the air pressure applies the brakes as opposed to the more modern system of "air off" where the air pressure holds the brakes off. For operation - the compressor charges the air tanks, these feed the compressed air to the foot brake valve under the cab floor so with the pedal up the system past this should be "dead". Pressing the pedal to apply the brakes opens this valve allowing air into the system and applying the brakes, lifting off the pedal closes the flow of air allowing what is in the system to vent and release the brakes. This is how I think the system works so again - if wrong - I am always open to correction! I am assuming therefore that the fact that air is constantly escaping from the exhaust valve suggests that there is a leak in the system at the point where the air is allowed to enter the system - which is that foot brake valve. I cannot think of anywhere else it might be. I am guessing either something is sticking or a diaphragm has gone after being left standing for 3 years.

Cheers So then - next step is to: (a) Identify the valve in question, (b) Locate it on the vehicle and © Persuade the outlet union to come off! Hopefully that will be the source of the problem - if its not then at least that can be crossed off the list.

I'm with Robin - the Classic Cars LED looks the best of the 3. I can see the Mitant being retrofitted with them at some point. Probably not the indicators though as I doubt there will be an LED replacement for the indicator switch/relay.

I thought the crew cover was sewn into the load bed cover?? Been a long while since I've seen one though.

Exactly so mate!! I will not be using the old girl until this issue is resolved. I'm not an expert on air brakes at all so question is - if I disconnect the outlet union from the foot pedal valve and run the old girl up to pressurize the system - would I be right in thinking if the foot valve is good then there should nothing coming out from that union??

New valve was fitted yesterday. Went reasonably easily (thank god for very large adjustable spanners). The fears over corroded unions and pipes proved groundless. The hardest part was getting the old blanking plugs out as they were allen key types rather than hex heads. Thats the good news. Less good is that on starting up and building air pressure there was still a leak from the same place When the unions were transferred across it was found that the apparent source of the leak wasn't actually a pressure relief valve but an exhaust valve. So the air leak must be further up the system. Next suspect after talking on the AEC forum is a leak from the foot pedal valve. When it warms up a bit more this will be investigated.