Andrew S

Guys, you have been very helpful. Couple more questions. Regarding the axle stands. Where do you exactly place them? Actually under the axle (& where exactly?) or under the hull inside of the wheel/ axle assembly? Also I have a 3 ton floor jack which I thought should be sufficient? Cheers,Andrew

I shall have to find a good gravel spot. Actually the end of my road turns dirt road & gravel so I suspect that will work. The tyres are brand new so right now should all match fine.Cheers,Andrew

Robin,Is the hull mid way between the front and rear wheels strong enough to use as a single jack point or do u jack each wheel separate & use jack stand? Also in gear or out of gear?Cheers,Andrew

Now that I think about it when I jacked it up the handbrake may have been on. Does that maye a difference?

Actually the lines were on there ( just yellow tape) when I got it. & I must say they are not helpful where they are. I might do new ones & line up with the hub fill point or eliminate them altogether. I did jack up the back to check & see if any wind up but the rear wheels did not rotate at all. Any other way to check for wind up? I think I will leave it all green for now. Maybe add some matt black later.

Fiber washers are ok. My carb banjo bolt came with fiber washers. Andrew 06CC12

The seat belt was used later in service. It attached to the sides of the commander seat and also one attachment point on the sterling smg hanger behind the commander. The screw cap covers a connector for a ground antenna. Not one that was mounted on the vehicle. In the photo you have a blanking plate covering where a clansman arial base would attach. Cheers, Andrew

Odd that the second battery is in front of the first on the left

I just replaced the wires for the spark plugs and the ignition coil. I learned a couple of things: 1. Glad I did it as the ignition wire connection at the cap was not good, the spike had not entered the wire correctly and the wire was barely touching the contact. 2. The original wire is 7mm. 3. It was easy to push the new 7mm wire back through the braided conduit. I put a little dielectric grease around the end of the wire and it slid thorugh easily. I got new wire with the spark plug & coil connectors fitted on. The other end has no need for connector as the connection in the distributor cap is just a spike pushed into the wire. 4. The spike connectors on the distributor cap are delicate. When I removed the wires I found they were a bit bent. I tried to straighten one and it broke right off. Fortunately I had a spare cap so it was easy to replcace. Once I cut the wires to the right length they push easily onto the spikes for connection. I think if you are going to put the new electronic ignition and coil it is a good idea to replace the old wires and hopefully eliminate a weak link. Andrew 06CC12

Hi Clive, Unfortunately W&P is too far for me to bring my Ferret as I live in USA. I emailed Frank to see if I can get some specific data to share. One other thing I am going to do is replace the original ignition wire. I had Frank make me a set for the coil and spark plugs. This will give me a better connection to the coil than the connection I made myself. Too bad I cannot make W&P would be great to have you figure out the specifics on the coil. Andrew

On my Ferret I decided to cover all the bases and I replaced the Points system with an electronic (magnetic ) system by Jolley engineering. I also replaced the coil with a new high performance one also from Jolley. In doing this I covered all the possibilities in one go. I replaced the points, bypassed the old ballast resistors and replaced the coil. With the new system I no longer needed a condensor. Now runs great. I think the easiest first step is to try replacing the condensor. It is cheap and easy to replace and could be the only problem. Also check the ballast resistors in the junction box. Mine were all corroded. I ended up bypassing them anyway but I could have taken the contacts apart and cleaned them and it might have worked ok. I would consider down the road replacing the system like I did as it is much better all round. Andrew

You might consider looking at the ignition system. Mine had a similar problem (worse going up hills) and then it got to the point it would not even start. A couple of easy things you could do is take the cover off the junction box and see if the connection for the ballast resistors is corroded. If so could clean the contacts etc. Another thing is the condenser. If you have an old condenser it might be good to just switch it out for a new one (only costs about $5 so an easy thing to switch and if old it is better to have a new one anyway.) Would be best to get new rather than an old stock B60 condenser as those can go bad on the shelf. Another test to see if the ballast resistor circuit is the culprit is to pull down slightly on the starter lever when it is acting up. Not enough to activate the starter motor. If it starts running better then it indicates the ignition coil is not getting enough voltage because of a bad ballast circuit. depressing the starter bypasses the circuit and gives the coil a full 24v. Mine would sputter and stall on a hill but if I did slightly depressed the starter lever it would run better and not stall. Turned out my ballast resistors were all corroded & I also had a condenser going bad. I was lucky I figured this out before I ripped apart the carburettor which was another likely culprit. Andrew

Clive, Not sure about the physics of it but it seems to run great. No problems so far. That being said I only drive it 10-15 miles at a time so can only attest to performance to that point. Andrew

Great thanks. Yes I was using an online version of the manual which must be an early one. Andrew

Hello, Does anyone have a source for LG 320 grease or know a civilian equivalent? Thanks, Andrew 06CC12 Ferret mk2/3

Lee, Just saw your post. Basically what I am saying too! The only modification I made to make my coil fit the housing was I put a small collar of neoprene to make it fit snug but it is not very wide so not much of a heat issue. I suspect some are thinking the coil is more enclosed than it is. Andrew

John, I had thought about the cooling issue but it is only the very end of the coil ( The lip at the end of the coil and the terminals), that is enclosed. The rest is open to the air to cool so I cannot imagine it would be a problem as 95% of the coil is exposed. The part that is enclosed is mostly plastic. The rear bracket is metal and should conduct heat ok. I guess if it became an issue I could remove the end cap of the housing as well. Then it would all be open to air. Maybe Frank Jolley thinks the whole coil is encased by the housing? The original coil is in a thicker casing to waterproof it. I did some short test runs today and seems to run great. I have not checked my spark plug gaps yet to see if they are the recommended spec. Andrew

Clive, I emailed Frank for tech specs on the coil/reisistor but did not hear back yet. On a postive note I got the system installed and it runs great. I ended up mounting the resistor on a bracket nect to the coil attatched to the original coil head housing.. The only visible alteration to the engine is the new coil itself, the reisistor and a new wire to the resistor all of which are hidden fairly well by the oil cooler. The resistor is on a bracket that runs parallel to the body of the coil about 2 inches away. The distributor side does not have any visible changes. Aside from the standard spark plug connectors. Andrew

Clive, Fortunately I have a spare junction box so I could replace it whenever. Unfortunately looks like a pain to remove as I would have to remove the air intake pipe to get at it fully. The o ring seal seems dry but it was quite tightly screwed down. I had to pry it apart once I removed the nuts. I think I will reseal it with some dielectric grease or silicone liqid gasket to keep moisture out although the wires and connectors look ok it is just the ballast resistors & the conncecting bar that look bad. Wonder why they did not use brass or copper? I cleaned off the terminals as best I could around the ballast resistors & covered the metal with dielectic grease to protect it although iit will no longer be needed in the circuit. I bypassed form the R terminal to the ignition wire and I am getting a 24v reading from the ignition wire so it looks good. If I am correct on the wiring the ballast bypass circuit will not make any difference as it will all be 24v. My new resistor is going to be wired into the ignition wire downstream anyway so it will always ne in the circuit. I am just waiting on a new braided conduit I bought so I can find a way to get more wires through it without messing up the original. I am being very careful to make everything I do completely reversible if I ever wanted it back to stock. If I am measuring right the coil has a resistance of 3.3 ohms. Not sure exactly the physics behind the coil reistance and the new ballast resistance. Andrew Here is a primitve diagram of what I am doing. The ignition wire will be my connect to 24v and I will have that supply the resistor/coil and the Jolley plate. The pos and neg wire to the Jolley plate will hopefully go in the braided conduit from the distributor to the coil housing where the connections will be made. I will make a hole in the conduit to branch a wire to and from the resistor.

Hi Clive, My understanding of the install from my discussion with Frank Jolley is as follows. The new coil plus is connected through the new ballast resistor to 24v. I am assuming this indicates the coil is designed to work at 24v. The new ballast resistor is 1.82 ohms. The old ballast system is completely out of the circuit. The Jolley plate is also connected to 24v. So in essence I am completely bypassing the old ballast resistor setup. I did this by placing a wire from the R terminal to the ignition wire terminal in the junction box. In my case I was not sure if the old coil or the ballast reistor were the cause of my ignition problem. Now I have taken the cover off the junction box I am thinking it may have been the old ballast resistors as they are pretty corroded. The photos show the corrosion on the resistors. Also the red wire is the jump wire I put in to bypass the ballast resistors. I checked the voltage with the jumper in place and I am getting 24v now on the ignition wire. I would have liked to replace the junction box with another one I have which is in good shape but it looks like too much of a pain to swap it out. I think the wires are ok so it probably does not matter. Another problem I had was changing out the connector on the coil HT wire. The ferret had a screw in cap. I got a rubber boot to fit and made a new contact to fit as well. Andrew

Clive, It is still a work in progress. I think I can mount the new resistor easily under the oil cooler so it will be out of site. Here is a photo of where it will be (oil cooler removed.) the resistor is the T shaped thing. Not bolted tight in the photo. I also found the braided wire conduits are made only for one wire. I am getting a spare & will try drilling the hole in the end bigger to accomodate more wires. Andrew

Clive, Where did you get the extra braided wire conduit? I was thinking of using a spare port inthe ignition coil head part to connect another braided wire to take power to the new resistor (maybe in a small box) and then also back to the coil. That way to the untrained eye it will look like it was meant to be that way and it will leave me leeway on where I mount the resistor. Thanks, Andrew

Clive, I am not sure what shape or size the resistor is. I am hoping It migh mount beneath the coil somewhere out of sight. Andrew

Clive, Actually the resistor was meant to be included but got left out of the package. Now one is on its way in the mail. Having thought about this a bit I think this is what I might try to do. Remove the old coil but leave the end part where the wires to hold the end of the new coil and also to take advantage of the wire conduits attached to it. I have a bracket to hold the body of the new coil in place. I will move the ignition wire from the ignition post to the R post to eliminate the ballast resistors. This will serve to power the coil and the jolley plate. I will see if I can thread the red wire of the jolley plate through the braided conduit the negative wire to the coil from the distributor lives in. I will then splice power for the jolley plate and the coil from the original ignition wire connected to R in the junction box. (putting the new resistor in series for the coil) Only tricky part will be to see how easy it is to get the second wire down from the distributor to the coil through the braided conduit. If I remember right the coil cost about 40 pounds sterling (at least cheaper than a NOS original coil) I also bought a NOS rotor arm so I will start fresh with that. I do have a digital multimeter so hopefully I can take a few meaningful measurements. Andrew