eddy8men

kev i've got a spare fuel gauge you can have. rick

cheers lance, i haven't seen the old girl for a while and had forgotten how much i love it. been too busy with work to think much about anything else. she will be rolled out for the desert rat memorial day in thetford forrest on 15th june. which i'm really looking forward too. driving the tank is always great but having a chat with the old boys and maybe swapping a few war stories is what it's all about and you never know i might meet it's original owner. all the best rick

well done mate. rick

i haven't spoken to peter the engine builder about the ht harness but i assume he fitted the originals, they must have been ok as it's been bench run for over an hour with no problems but he doesn't have a dynamometer so it's not been under load yet. the proof of the pudding will be in the eating :-D rick

i don't know for sure but i would have thought it ended up back at bovvy

P O i also have an amazing never seen before project in the wings but you'll have to wait for that one as well :-D

lance i'm sure we can get it moving under it's own steam, which is a world away from a restoration but it's a good way to kick it all off. i'm up for it, after all it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to show off the british armoured lineage and we could even get john pearson's valentine to lead from the front followed by the cromwell, comet, centurion, cheiftain and chally 2 :-D. the decision is with lance and as always will come down to how many shekkles he can throw my way in june and july (these things aren't cheap). regardless of what pans out with the charioteer i will be there with the cromwell but it would be nice to do it just once ! rick

the engine rebuilder was peter greive from flightengineering in leeds (formerly carlisle). he's a good guy and does lots of merlins, meteors and griffons he even has a few junkers jumo's and 109 bits. the best bit is he's fair with his prices. i would recommend him to anyone. this engine was completely rebuilt as it was badly siezed form corrosion and appeared to have been stored outside for some time. when lance bought the charioteer he was told the engine and gearbox were beyond repair but we now have a working engine and the gearbox is very nearly done too, next will be the clutch inspection/repair then the rads and fan drives, which leaves the steering and gear linkages. we could have it running as a charioteer for war and peace but that's not the plan although it would be nice to see my cromwell, ian galliers comet, lances charioteer and melvyns centurion all together. the last of the british heavy cruisers. :cool2: rick

makes me wish i still had mine nice work rick

try bob grundy, he deals in a bit of cheiftain gear.

thanks for the tip on the harness i'll have a word with the engine guy. cheers rick

yes it's the ht cables that have gone hard and rigid through age and so might be liable to break if not already done so. we could use normal copper cable but it would be nice to have the rf screening so we can use a working 19 set but if push comes to shove then i'm happy with anything as long as it works ! i was on the phone last night to a chap that plays around with meteors and they have been taking the mag coils out and testing them, he also told me water ingress is a problem. bloody petrol engines will be the death of me. rick

the 2 downdraft carbs and trunking and one of the offending pistons with stuck rings.

the engine rebuild has been progressing nicely, although there have been one or two issues which is inevitable with an old engine. first the inlet manifold water jackets were corroded to the bolts and had to be drilled out. after that one of the cylinder walls was found to be cracked on the left bank, fortunately peter the engine specialist had a spare spitfire bank lying around, (as you do) :-D and this has now been fitted. most of the piston rings needed to be replaced as they were seized solid which is not unusual for a meteor that's been stood for a long time. the mag's will be replaced and if we can get hold of one a new loom as well. there will be other small bits and pieces but on the whole it's going well.

it is my plan to get as many ww2 british tanks up and running as is humanly possible :cool2: there are more in the pipeline ! rick

he could tell you but then he'd have to kill you :-D

I will do my best but only if the owners agree (can't see it being a problem)

Goran luckily the Cromwell turret construction is quite basic and requires few specialist processes, the mantlet and pistol ports are the hardest things to fabricate, normally the turret ring would be costly but we plan on using a Saladin ring which is only very slightly smaller. rick

Hi pierre the cadmans have 5 centaurs but only one with a turret and I know of 2 early hulls undergoing restoration near Retford. There are also 2 more on range but i don't have pics of any of them. I will try to get some and post them on the forum. keep up the good work. rick

Thank you for the reply, it will be interesting to see where it turns up!

Goran there are more Cromwell/centaur hulls around than you might think. What is in short supply is the turrets but I plan on fixing that problem :cool2:. rick

I have to ask, did you see if the Cromwell was still there?

Lol :-D "I've also got a tornado and a harrier" that has to be the best line ever to end a post with

Panzer 4 is a little steep, maybe 1milion but only because it's already in the states. What I want to know is what has happened to the Cromwell ?

Good for you mate. Save what you can, whenever you can. rick