eddy8men

an excellent project. I may well get a valentine myself in the future so I will follow your restoration with great interest. good luck rick

had a bit of a play in the Cromwell after the damyns hall show :cool2:

lol I had the chance to buy that last year lauren take note of the £75k estimated restoration costs :wow:

you jammy bugger, I can't tell you how many Churchill and Cromwell pics I've scrutinized with the hope of seeing a familiar T number. good for you mate. there's hope for the rest of us yet !

getting the old photo album out hey bob, is that you 3rd from the right

lol entertainment is one way of looking at it, seems more like self flagellation at times

as I understand it the A in AVRE was assault then changed to armoured after the war. rick

"Earlier on I was recounting to the Mrs. how as we were getting ready for Sunday's battle, the re-enactors huddled around the back of the Cromwell for warmth got a bit of a fright when it revved up!" sorry couldn't resist reaching in and giving the hand throttle a blip

glad you liked it :thumbsup:

just use normal mig wire and lots of amps, the more heat you put in the better. I did the t16 resto using that technique without any issues. although some of the wading plates on the side cracked which I put down to it being short inch long welds that didn't get the surrounding steel hot. try it and you will see. just make sure the new plates are straight when you get them back from the profiler as this caught me out on one side and was an arse to cut and reweld !

we had a very wet show but still enjoyed it, I took the Cromwell out 2 or 3 times a day as did john in the valentine but we were pretty much on our own tanks wise. I did see a Sherman once and a t34 in the arena but it was before the public came and It was only one time ! the pepper pot grant was there also but didn't go out much due to a loose nut on the tillers. there was a nice cent avre that went in a couple of times but it was a fresh resto and needed more running in time. it was good to see the 2 Achilles together rex's and Adrian's but other than those I have just mentioned there was a distinct lack of tanks. maybe next year !

thanks adrian lance the tank's looking quite good. we worked late last night to get the rear valances on and finished 5 periscope rain covers today which I will take down and fit tomorrow. i'll get some pics up soon. rick

the tank is now at the show with the tank museum bunch

sorry no pics I keep forgetting. the tank is ready for war and peace and is going on the low loader at 5am tomorrow. I did a small local show at the weekend with the Cromwell which was great and got to meet a Normandy veteran that operated the grant CDL before moving on to ram kangaroo's . a very interesting chap to speak to indeed. he didn't drive the Cromwell while in the service but had nothing but praise for the crusader and nothing but scorn for the covenanter, which is about the norm. i'll have to put a crusader on my wish list anyway if anyone reading this is going to the show come over to the tank museum section and say hello. rick

did a test drive today and still had a misfire from the engine under load but seemed better and definitely runs cooler with the new belts fitted, bit more work required but will keep plodding on with it. alastair refreshments are always welcome (foster's) :thumbsup:

put it back together today and ran it up briefly with no issues. will do a road test tomorrow to see if the engine is still playing up under load when it's hot and see if we have brakes, clutch and steering. feels good on the tiller and pedals so hopefully it will be fine. i'll put some pics up tomorrow

i'll brew up for you anytime al. owning, running, driving and maintaining a Cromwell singlehanded always leaves me with loads of spare time. it's so easy I don't know why everyone doesn't do it

cracking on with it again today, although a little slower than usual (hangover) cleaned and refitted the vehicle brakes, painted the gearbox (twice), fitted an insulating sleeve over the fuel lines and sorted the clutch slave. tomorrow we'll put it all back together and run it up. the gearbox got painted with American olive drab by mistake while I was not in the workshop but was easily rectified with a coat of british olive drab.

good idea lauren I will speak to him tonight to arrange collection of the manual. been an interesting day today. finished rebuilding the brakes and new output seals on the gearbox as well as cleaning the gauze filter that strains the oil before it gets to the pump, it was surprisingly clean which was a good sign. then removed the left hand rad and fan assy to aid fitting the new hydraulic lines. on closer inspection the fan belts were knackered and the belt tensioner was seized this is now fixed. we also found an oil leak from the clutch slave cylinder whilst pressure testing the hydraulic system. we'll have a bash at that tomorrow.

we are spending a week on the Cromwell to see if we can get to the bottom of the mysterious engine misfire and whilst we are tinkering with the thing we will put new output seals and service the brakes in the gearbox and new hydraulic pipes in place of the flexi's that are in there now. should keep us quiet for a while

morning al not really sure, I plan on getting down on Tuesday but that depends on the tank, we are pulling the gearbox today and fitting new seals and hydraulic lines and maybe the engine after that so it's up to the spanner gods whether it's ready in time to go down early in the week but i'm hopeful we can get it done and running well this year ! rick

looks like someone tried to swim it again

I wondered where you'd got to john ! I assumed you had knocked it on the head. didn't realise you were only doing sunday. oh well i'll come and say hello next year

well spotted rob, looks like a grizzly

well said doug I think you pretty much summed up the armour market