eddy8men

i'd definately like to bring the carrier so count me in aswell. thanks for agreeing to do another eddy

i was at withams last week and i noticed the same lines on the armour of the 432's eddy

yeah sounds about right, maybe the 'slashes' come from a roller that the armour went through while it was rolled flat at the foundry ? i hadn't thought about not putting mufflers on but it makes sense,especially as someone told me that because the mufflers are mounted vertically they only last a couple of years unless they're stainless, i'm also going to put a k&n air filter on until i can find the real thing, carrier/hotrod sounds good to me, i might even put some go faster stripes on it :cool2: all the best eddy

hi fella's bedford boys i know what you mean now with regard to the "striations" on the armour surface which has puzzled me since i noticed them. they are all straight lines about 2 inches long all in the same direction on the surface does anyone know why these marks are on the armour ? hi robin the carrier will run on 12 volts using the original ignition system and seems to run really sweet but the engine has only just been overhauled so i'll have to wait to see what it's like after a few hard miles have been done but i doubt i'll need to revamp the ignition but i'm definately in favour of reliability over originality within reason so the electronic ignition could be an option. i'm also going to put a modern electric fan with shroud on the rad aswell as the fan mounted on the dynamo, to give better cooling but also because i don't have the parts to do it the original way unless they come up in the meantime. i'll get some pics of the engine and various other bits on the thread tomorrow. all the best eddy

sounds like you all had a great time, i must admit i'm pretty jealous but there's always next year. did anyone take anymore pics of the range wrecks and what was there to see. all the best eddy

the patch is on the floorpan on the drivers side so i doubt if anyone will notice and even if they do i'm sure i'll be able to live with it. i know there's a lot of purists out there but it aint going in a museum, i just want to get the old girl up and running and then fine tune things as they come up, i've got the v8 now and man it sounds sweet can't wait to get it in the carrier and take it for a spin all the best eddy

i wouldn't have thought you needed to have a degree to be an expert in your chosen field but don't take my word for it as i haven't got a degree either.

hi colin you've let the cat out the bag now mate, i was gonna tell everyone i did it all by myself in my spare time, never mind , you're doing a great job there mate and thanks for posting the pics for us, last time i saw it it was lying on it's side half blasted looking rusty and unloved, i'm coming up on friday to strip out the steering and brake controls, sorry but i can't come before that as the other half has insisted i do a little bit of parenting before the kids go back to school, you know how it is, family getting in the way of quality carrier time:D see you on friday eddy

hi eric i got my carrier from john bizal at www.midwestmil.com in minnesota so give him a try, he sells carrier parts so it would be a good place to start. all the best with the resto eddy

i'll put the date in my diary and see if i can make it. eddy

hi eric you won't struggle finding parts as there's a nice liitle carrier network on the forum already, i would know i'm always scrounging gear for mine. eddy

just reading through this thread and the mention of the different personal weapons as well as normal issue weapons has reminded me of my time before we flew out for the gulf war, when we were waiting for the flight from raf gutersloh to saudi and the medical officer turned up with a brand new uzi, apparently as an officer he was allowed to bring his own toys and ammo but why he thought an uzi would save him i'll never know as by the time he needs to start shooting we would have all been in deep sh#t but it looked cool anyway although it was a little worrying. eddy

thanks bluebell those are some great pics, just what i needed but would you do me another favour ? there's an old boy local to me that can make a new rad for £400 as long as i supply him with pics and dimensions, you've given me the pics can you also give me the dimensions. cheers i owe you a pint eddy

thanks john i went today to look for a rad for the carrier but no joy, however if you know what to look for there are some real bargains to be had from the classic car lads, trouble is i don't know what i'm looking for yet but i'm learning fast. eddy

hi bob is there a show on at tatton park? might take the kids up if there is. cheers eddy

hi mogmaner i don't have a pic of the rad but it's a distinctive looking beast so it'll be easy to spot, the engine is a ford flathead v8 so the rad has 2 inlet pipes in the bottom and 2 outlet pipes in the top with the filler cap in the middle, the dimensions are w 500mm, h 800mm and 100mm deep if you spot anything like that you can get hold of me on 07970828122. cheers. hi andy is that your ferret at bob's place or were you on the scrounge, might take a trip up there tomorrow and take the steering column off for a refurb while i'm there. all the best eddy

you bobby dazzler ! nice one, i hadn't realised jack had got the blasting done this week all we need now is for colin to nail a bit of armour on and we're up and running, martyn's got the engine running sweet and the gearbox is also done now, so i'd best get me finger out me arse and get a rad from somewhere and i can get it moving under it's own steam. happy days !!! eddy/rick ps for those that are wondering why bob called me rick, it's actually my real name, eddy 8men was my old army nickname, but you can call me anything as long as it's not dick

thanks for putting me right on a few points steve, as you know i'm no historian i was simply quoting what i had read in the book "the churchill in canadian service" by mark tonner and yes i was wearing my rose tinted glasses but the more i read about the churchill the more i think it doesn't deserve it's bad reputation once the mk3 arrived on the scene, i was just defending the old girl and trying to put the record straight or what i would call straight anyway. eddy

steve you must have read my mind as i was thinking of writing a little about dieppe and the churchill's role in it which until recently i had thought to be disasterous but only because i was under the impression that only a few got off the beach when what really happened was 30 churchills were sent to dieppe, 29 disembarked and 1 had mechanical problems and went back to england. of the 29, 2 drowned so that left 27 on the beach 15 of which got off the beach successfully, did their little bit and then most returned,this is why you see so many churchills on the beach when you look at pics of the dieppe raid it's because they returned there to be re-embarked but this never happened so they fought on until out of ammo and i doubt any tank would have faired better especially when you consider the shingle was between 1-4" in diameter which would break the tracks of most tanks. now in all fairness i must admit i have a slightly biased view of the churchill but if you read the following extract from Major Page, B squadron, Calgary regiment who commanded a mk4 on the dieppe raid you'll see that i'm not the only one. "not a single tank was pierced by enemy fire, and not a single man was wounded inside a tank. Lt wallace's tank was struck on the turret by a shot that made the turret wall bulge on the inside. but did not penetrate. it was believed that this might have been a shot from an 88mmm gun. Not a single tank was set on fire. As a result of the performance of the churchill at dieppe, every individual in the unit without execption was 'absolutely sold on' this tank." and that fella's is good enough for me. When you think dieppe you think churchill but the real people to suffer were the infantry who were mowed down and stood little chance of success the only consolation for those who were sacrificed was a determination not to let it happen again which lead to the specialist tanks that were employed on d-day with great success, the americans turned down the offer of these tanks with the exception of the dd sherman and their landings very nearly failed as a result. either way it was a sh**ty deal but that's war for you

you learn something new everyday (especially if you didn't know much to begin with) eddy

didn't know someone got run over, hope he's alright but how do you get run over by a towed gun, i assume it was reversing and he didn't see it coming, too many distractions maybe. eddy

hi fella's it was a good show, i met a couple of people and had a chat about mv's and even the weather gods were onside today which made for a good day out, next year i'll be there in the carrier for sure so i should have a bit of fun berna2 vm i saw your wagon and had a good look round it, quite an impressive beast and looks like it was built to last but didn't see you there and when i came back later i saw your tailgate disappearing through the exit gate, i'll have to catch up with you next year. all the best eddy

hi fella's sorry to say that i won't be able to make the meeting as i've got no wheels, the landrover's still dead and i might look a bit daft driving round the plain in my white builders van. gotta say i'm gutted as this would have been the first time i've been off roading/driving round the plain since i left the army. i was really interested in the range wrecks aswell especially the ww2 stuff so if anyone sees some wrecks post a pic or two for me.cheers eddy

hi fella's thanks for all your input, the different engine specs is really interesting eddy

thanks norman i think the wot's a dead end when it comes to a load carrier so the plan is to get her running and flog it on, shame really as it's a nice truck but too many toys can only distract me from my main task of restoring armour so it'll have to go. plan b is to buy a bedford mj with crane from withams and use that instead to shift the carrier plus i can also use it for work so it's not totally dead money but i'm probably looking at £5.5k so i better get saving. all the best eddy