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Jason Now that's really unusual, you will of course need a truck to pull that lot on a trailer or better still a couple of aircraft to go round them !!!! Andy

Welcome abroad from another restorer from deepest darkest Somerset, go on tell us what the other projects are ?? Andy

Yes Marmite cleaver photos, I note your Mobat is live, I certainly hope it wasn't loaded whilst you had them in your sights !!!!!! Oh the temptation !!!! :cool2: Andy

Confirm the previous comment regarding the strap which went round the shoulder of the gunner, the operators manual I have shows it clearly. Regarding the spotting gun the manual I've got is for the L4 so doesn't go back to the L1 but the Mobat I have has a complex sight fitted with adjustable sight for both up and down and left and right with a scaled turn wheel so I suspect the spotting gun was never originally used and the gunner had to reply on firing the main gun and getting the sight right for the range. Mine also has a range card fitted inside the small shield in front of the sight which the gunner could know the range of land marks, mark them on the card and adjust the range accordingly when a tank appeared near those land marks. I wouldn't think a separate gun would be any use any as they used a Bren because the trajectory of the round was the same as the main shell so when the Bren round was seen to hit the tank you fired the main gun and it hit the same place at a range of 2000 yds (the manual talks about how to fire high or low to compensate for different ranges), a separate gun wouldn't do that. Mine has an adjuster for the Bren mount and there is a process in the manual for aligning the Bren with the main barrel for them to align at a range of 2,000 yds. From what i've been told you didn't want to fire the main gun to often as the back blast quickly gave your position away so it was a couple of shots, hook up and run so fitting a Bren cut down the number of misses before they got a bead on you !! I don't know what the sights look like on the ones you have seen but here is a photo of mine in case its different from what you've seen, I'm sure mine is accurate sight wise because of the place I got the gun from, but somebody may of course know different !! Hope that makes sense and is helpful. Andy

Really bad news sorry to hear of the losses, is it worth putting something on Milweb or at least let them know in case somebody tries to sell them through it. No doubt we will all be checking this and eBay. Andy

Yes he was, I had the same impression as well to begin with until I heard him talking on his radio to his people, he didn't sound impressed with the Hop Farm security people and I think he really went over into the corner to get out of the way.

One of the muddier parts of the field, its not all like this of course !! And some T34's having fun in the arena.

The Policeman was stood at the front for a while, I assume called by Security but beat a hasty retreat into the corner on the other side of the gate from the Cafe. At one stage the guy at the front who was having a go at one of the Hop Farm people inside the gate accused him of running away at one point, to which his reply was he went into the corner so he could hear his radio over the noise !!!! Andy

Joris Sorry to sound negative I know a lot of effort goes into these things, lets qualify a bit more. I don't think it was the W&P people I think it was the Hop Farm people, the site is bad in places but generally ok if a bit muddy. The closure seemed to be only about a bit of mud on some tarmac and the sweeper was called in, which meant a delay because somebody decided the sweeper couldn't operate with people anywhere near. It wasn't needed and the sweeper made it wetter and didn't seem to cure anything, I guess the W&P organisors were likely to have been more frustrated than anybody else, none of it seemed necessary, the customers mostly had wellies on and were happy to walk through the mud and the military vehicles of course were never likely to struggle anyway. Andy

Well let me qualify that statement. I arrived at 8.30 this morning, paid nearly £20 to get in but then found security had locked the inner gate and we couldn't get in. Some Health & Safety person felt the main tarmac road through the site was a bit muddy so it they were not allowed to open ? A road sweeping lorry went up and down a few times (actually making it wetter not cleaner), the crowd got a bit restless, the police turned up as security didn't like people asking them what was going on !!!!! An announcement went out over the tannoy which was so badly crackling it was totally useless and nobody knew what was happening. By time the gates opened at 9.45 there were about 1,000 frustrated customers waiting. To make it all worse there were only about 60% of the stalls there compared with previous years so no real bargins and many vehicles haven't yet arrived. All in all not Beltring's best year, I know the weather has been the worst ever but it all seemed to be about a small amount of mud on the tarmac track across the front of the site not the 6 inch deep mud all around the rest of the site !!!!! Still on the upside seeing some of the vehicles driving around in the mud was great, the T34's in the arena going through mud and through the newly built village in the middle was really impressive and most of the vehicles are impressively dirty which actually makes a nice change (I have a couple of photos of T34's, a Jeep, WC63 & Bulldozer that are really great). As the day went on the sun shone and the light wind really started to dry the site up so I guess by the weekend all will be better and more stalls/vehicles will no-doubt appear. Andy :cheesy:

Ted Thanks for that. I've managed to get one of the rear wheels off and the centre hub nut so now have to work on pulling the hub off as the brakes are seized on. So hopefully I maybe able to save the axles. Andy

John I normally try and get down to the Steam Fair, it would be good to have a look at your trailer, that will be a great help. Andy

John Thanks for your feedback, I've heard of Dyson but not Eagle, I'll Google and see if I can find anything but if you have some pictures of yours to compare that would be great. I've had a close look at the plate on the chassis and it says the following; J B & Co Ltd, Type, 6 ton ???, Contract Number S132 Year of supply, 1943. From that I assumed it was a J Brockhouse trailer. Good idea about getting some wheel centres made up, there must be plenty of Ford lorry 17.5 inch rims around. I think its going to depend on if I can get the old rusted wheels off the hubs and then the drums off the brakes as they are rusted more than is healthy, I think I'm going to even have to cut the wheel nuts off of the studs. The front unbraked wheels turn freely and appear less rusted but the rears will be a problem. I think worse case scenario is I have to find a pair of 6 stud trailer axles with brakes which I could rig up for air and most 17.5 inch/trailer rims fit them anyway. I would however be better if I could keep the original axles. Regards Andy

Andy Thanks for letting me know about Rex, I spoke to him earlier this year but he's only interested in selling them as a whole so the cost & transport was just too high. Regards Andy

Hi Always looking for a challenge, I'll never learn !! No luck with a rear body for my DT yet but I have been told if I can get hold of a M35 Reo back body its easy to cut down as the sides are the same profile, tail gate is the same and width is near so it would be easier to add tool boxes and form a slope/cut to length. Andy

I came across this trailer which has been sitting in a yard for the last 30 years under brambles. It was going to be cut up for scrap so needed saving (at least that’s my excuse). I’ve saved it and bought it home today and plan to restore it with a flat bed and tow it behind my Diamond T Wrecker. It has a plate on it stating ‘J B, Co Ltd’ so I’m assuming it’s a Brockhouse but any information anybody can give me would be great. The plate also says 6 tons on it and the chassis length is about 16 foot. It has 10.50 x 13 inch tyres and air brakes on the rear only. The wheels are rusted badly, the tyres are shot, the wheel nuts/split rim nuts rusted solid and the brakes seized. On the plus side the chassis is very good and only needs a rub down and paint, the turntable is smooth and its fairly complete, as I guess the tyres are unavailable these days and with the state of the wheels / hubs I am most likely going to be forced to replace the axles with some 6 stud brakes axles off of a farm trailer which would give me some tyre options, not original but I can’t see another viable option. But if anybody has a better idea please let me know.

Sorry to not agree and throw a spanner in the works (pun not intended !) but the time to consult on this has passed. The government public consultation period closed back in January and the decision has been made so not sure what a petition will do now. The Government brought this in as part of an election pledge to reduce red tape in society and having looked at the very low MOT failure rate of pre-1960's vehicles felt it was a good move to reduce costs to classic vehicle owners who most often use their vehicles for shows, display etc. always at their own costs and to bring it in line with vehicles over 3.5 tons and I have to say I agree. Liability has never been with the government or MOT stations it has always been with the driver of the vehicle to ensure it is legal and safe to use on the road at all times so no changes. An MOT test is only valid at the time of testing so if you have a test and drive out onto the road and say your lights fail a mile down the road and you are hit because somebody can't see you then you are at fault not the testing station. The only time bound liability for comeback to the testing station is corrosion for a period of about 3 months after the test (because the chassis didn't just happen to rust out overnight where as most other test items can instantly fail in theory). You would then have to sue the garage not the government but again you would still be facing the fines and points for an unsafe vehicle on the road. No testing requirements on pre-1960 vehicles over 3.5 tons has been in place for years and to my knowledge has never caused a problem. I'm an ex-MOT tester, a trained Mechanic and currently own a Diamond T, Jeep, Land Rovers, etc. and I ensure like any vehicles its safe and legal so hopefully my opinion is relevant to you all. As John mentions above there will be plenty of options for vehicle inspections. I would suggest if anybody wants an MOT completed or is not technically happy to judge if a vehicle is safe that they carry on and have an MOT anyway, it will remain optional, if you don't want a full MOT then as suggested about just ask for a safety inspection or 'MOT Lite' as it was called above. But please don't think that moves the liability away from you or anybody who decides not to maintain a vehicle and use it on the road. Regards Andy :cheesy:

Nice to see another one being restored, it all looks complete, I've got to find the correct rear body for mine ! Andy

Simon Welcome from a fellow Land Rover owner in Somerset Andy

NOS You’ve opened a can of worms with that question !! There will be a lot of different opinions on this subject but I’ll give you my spin on it and its not a short answer I’m afraid so please bear with me and I’m sorry if I explain some things that are obvious and you may know already. There are a number of different things happening in an engine to stop it starting and they act together sometimes. When starting from cold oil is a lot thicker and causes a lot of extra drag on all the bearing surfaces so its very tough to turn the engine over, this draws a lot of power so everything else has to be perfect, battery, wiring, timing, fuel mixture, choke setting, compression in order for it to start especially in the winter with cold air temperatures. Mix all that with the fact that an engine doesn’t want to run when cold its all a recipe for disaster so with only 6v it only takes a little for it not to start as there is no leeway, my view is that when 6v was main stream 6v batteries were a lot better quality than they are today and this is enough for it to be an issue. Therefore all the power available to going to the starter nothing is left for the coil to fire the plugs hence as you say on 3-4v at the coil, you can sometimes see this when you crank the engine over and it doesn’t start, you release the starter and it catches and fires just before the engine stops turning over. This is because the starter has stopped drawing the power and its suddenly available for the coil whilst the engine is still just turning and it fires. A Jeep engine is in fact normally a good starter so again you can easily (ish) start a Jeep on the starting handle because all the power is going to the coil and it only takes half a turn once the fuel is there (always worth hand pumping the fuel into the carb using the lever on the fuel pump). The ability to turn an engine over when very cold is demonstrated by the Russian’s, WW2 & post war Russian tanks smoke a lot because they are fitted with undersized pistons giving a larger operating gap with the bores thus allowing them to turn over when starting from very very cold, the side effect of the larger gaps between the piston rings and the bores means oil is pumped up and burnt hence the smoke. During WW2 German tanks had a real problem in winter in Russia because their precision engineering meant they wouldn’t turn over and start when cold, the answer was to lit a fire under the engine and keep it burning all night !!! So when its hot and the cylinder head is hot and the oil is runny you hit the starter and it spins a lot quicker than when its cold it should be fine but it still won’t start. You often get something called ‘Vapor Lock’ as described by Pete. In a simple fuel system like a Jeep you stop the engine and if you leave it about 10 minutes it won’t start because the fuel in the carb or sometimes in the fuel line has evaporated and turned to vapor with the heat of the engine, this isn’t helped in a Jeep because the carb are right on top of the hot exhaust. The vaporized fuel causes a ‘bubble’ in the system and needs to be cleared as Pete states which works most times or left to cool down. If you stop a hot engine and re-start it straight away its fine because the fuel hasn’t evaporated yet and if its left about 45 mins its cooled enough for the fuel to turn back to liquid fuel. To get a bit technical vapor compresses but liquid doesn’t so then the engine turns over slowly the mechanical fuel pump can’t pump enough fuel pressure through the ‘lock’ and it doesn’t start. As 12v has a bigger kick turns the engine faster and it pushes the lock through instantly, it doesn’t take a lot. Once its running it can be as hot as you want but as the fuel is running its fine and will keep going. In hot climates its common for electric fuel pumps to be fitted, sometimes in addition to a mechanical fuel pump so when you switch the ignition on the electric pump pushes fuel through with a bit of grunt before you turn the engine over (I had one fitted to a Dodge WC63 a few years back that had been used by the French Army in North Africa). More modern vehicles have an electric pump with a return line so fuel is always being pumped to the carb and when the carb is full it flows back down a return line to the tank so you never get the problem where as an old fashioned single line stops flowing altogether when the carb is full and thus is susceptible to getting hot. A lot of others things such as changes to oil (stickier these days), us all not using the vehicles as much as they would have been, higher octane fuel, better engineering (tighter bearing tolerances), etc. etc all don’t help but I feel these are the main reasons. So you end up with the issue that it won’t always start when hot or cold for two different reasons, it only ‘just’ doesn’t start but it amounts to the same thing. I guess if you really wanted to stick to 6v you could have a separate battery as you suggested for when its cold and an electric pump for when its hot and as long as everything else is good is likely to fix the problem. 12v gives you enough of a safety margin to be much more reliable and is the main reason 6v died out and 12v is still used to this day, people just don’t like using a starting handle anymore. If only life was simpler !!!!! Andy

Pete The old Lucas part number is RB106, follow this link, http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/460/category/83 you will see this one has screw connections as I used but they also list others with spade connections which does the same. I got mine from a local company called Autoelectrics in Glastonbury so they are around if you look, plus Autoelectrics were very good with advice. Interestingly they also do a 6v version of the same thing which costs 4 times more !! It doesn’t seem to run hotter but I can’t say I took any notice of what it was before. After 40 miles it was only warm to the touch and I guess that was mostly down to the engine heat. Apart from testing in the workshop I’ve only done one 40 mile trip which I did today, it all seems fine and it was great to stop when the engine was hot, leave it 10 minutes and then it started again after about half an engine turn. I will keep you posted as time goes on. Gary Regarding the conversion manual if you follow this link http://jeepdraw.com/MWO_ORD-G503-W7-Convert-6V-to-12V-1948-52.pdf you can download the manual in PDF from jeep-draw for free. Andy

Pete No I didn’t match the regulator with the Dynamo, I remember from my apprentiship in mechanics, many years ago that you would have to ‘tune’ the Regulator to the Dynamo but it seems that modern ones are better factory set in the first place. An electronic version is also available which should be better again but cost more. The battery is 570amp constant cranking but as the engine actually starts easily and a Jeep doesn’t have much in the way of electrics fitted I think a smaller battery/lower amps would work fine, 12 volts should give you some ‘slack’ where as all the amps in the world won’t make up for 1 or 2v drop in the system with 6 volts. The dynamo charges about 14.1 volts at about third to half revs. The Optima 6v battery mentioned in the next post looks interesting, that should be more than enough power as long as the wiring is ok and you can keep 6 volts reaching the starter. Andy

Pete You make some good points abut 6v, in fact I had a 6v Dodge a few years back and that was always fine. The starter on my Jeep was new 1,000 miles ago and I cleaned the brushes etc, I also checked the floor mounted starter button as I have heard of them not being good enough and checked/rechecked the wiring, earths. I also altered the timing around and fitted a Jolley Engineering electronic ignition as this draws less voltage on starting all to no avail. There was enough volts to turn it over but none left to charge the ignition and in fact sometimes it would start just as you released the starter button and the engine was still just turning. Having spoken to a number of auto electrical people who have all said the same thing they basically don't make decent 6 volt batteries today, my Dodge had a very very old battery on it which just went on and on. I think you are right in as much as their never used to be a problem but 6 v was main stream and batteries were up to the job, today they are made cheaper with less amps so as soon as the battery is anything less than brand new it becomes an issue, also I only do about 400 miles a year which is no where near enough even with a trickle charger to keep the battery 100%. Regarding Amps output it pushes out what the battery needs so the gauge shows actually as it would with 6v as the Amps are no different, it tends to show lower as less is taken out of the battery after starting so drops back to near zero quicker. The Dynamo will ultimately push out about 50volts if it was unregulated its only the voltage which is different, the amps and watts are no different. Rick Glad I have drawn you to the dark side, I have of course kept all my 6v stuff just in case I want to go back one day !! Please let me know if you want more info or pictures. I didn't mention the horn, I have kept the 6v one which is now louder !! but I should change that as well in case it doesn't last. Regards Andy

Thanks for your reply, I googled MWO-G503-W7 and found a comprehensive 16 page instruction book that made interesting reading. This seems to include new starter, generator, pulleys, twin batteries between the seats and loads of other new parts, seems its for high power radios to be run from the Jeep. I didn't touch the starter so don't know about the end play. Somebody did tell me that if I get trouble with the starter Bendix then a stronger one is available as the starter really does turn over quicker but so far so good. Ground (Earth) wise when I rebuilt the Jeep I over did the earth straps anyway and I have a main one which goes direct from the battery to the chassis and then onto the engine in one run plus a gearbox to chassis one and the two I mentioned to the regulator so its most likely a bit overkill. I also did check the timing as when I removed the electronic ignition I had to re-time it so that's right. Andy

Finally got fed up with my Jeep not starting so I converted it to 12 volts. I’m sure somebody has already explained how easy it is but I thought I would jot down a few lines on how I did mine. I totally rebuilt my jeep from the chassis up about 4 years and wanted to stick to 6 volt but a couple of years later the battery wasn’t quite good enough to start it and I have been forever having to use the starting handle for the last 18 months. I tried everything I knew to stick with 6 volts and make it work reliably but basically I don’t drive it enough and you can’t seem to buy a good 6 volt battery these days so I took the plunge and brought myself into the modern world. The conversion to 12 volts was easy and only cost me about £150 including a decent battery. Lots of people I spoke to have had different ideas but the following worked for me. 1. Regulator. I bought an old style Lucas 12 v regulator to fit a Land Rover (also used for many other older Morris Minors, Austins, etc.). I used the type with screw in connections so I could just cut off the existing larger ring connectors and strip the wires bear but you could use the one with Lucar connectors just as easily. This was £25 new and I fitted it in place of the original, some people I have spoken to have stripped the insides of the old one and fitted this type inside as its about half the size so it looks original but I couldn’t bring myself to do this as my 6v regulator was brand new when I rebuilt the jeep and will live it not looking perfect. 2. Connect as follows: The Old Regulator has Field, Arm & Bat connectors with an earth to the case. The new Regulator has E, D, F, A, A1. a. Field wire (Green wire from the small connector on the Dynamo, which is the one nearest the Regulator). Connect to F. b. Arm wire (red/white lead with larger connector on the Dynamo, which is the one nearest the block). Connect to D. c. Bat wire (Red/White lead which goes to under the dash) Connect to A. d. Earth wire from the Dynamo. Connect to E. I also ran a wire from an earth on the chassis to E as well as you can’t have too many earths !! e. A1 is spare which you could use for any other non ignition switched feeds you need if you wished. 3. Dynamo, nothing needed here as it will push out as many volts as you need and is of course controlled by the Regulator. I did actually have a problem as it didn’t charge when I started it on 12 volts. I took it into Autoelectrical in Glastonbury who sorted it, it turned out to be an earthing fault. I think this was due to me cleaning the brushes and when I put them back in I managed to mis-locate the brush wires and cause an earthing problem (I should have left well alone !!). 4. Ignition. Replace the ignition coil with a 12v one, cost £10. I had a Jolly Engineering electronic ignition fitted which was an earlier failed attempt to solve the 6v starting problem, I had to remove this and go back to the original points as it is wired for 6 volts and would have blown if I’d used it on 12v. Good old fashioned points work well on 12 volts so no need to change. 5. Headlights, this nearly caused me a problem as 12v 5 ¾ sealed beam units (5731) are no longer available. However Autoelectrical had some Halogen bulb conversion units for £35 a pair which fit the headlamps bowls once you slightly bend the three mounting tabs through 45 degrees on the lamps so they fit nicely. Connectors are of course the same so no re-wiring just blank off the side light hole in the lenses. The bonus is halogen lamps instead of 6v candles. 6. Front lights. I have four standard marker lamps on the front, 2 as sidelights on the tops of the wings (I have the Jeep in British markings, the Brits fitted them here) and two in the usual places in the grille as indicators with amber lenses in. These were straight 12v bulb replacements. 7. Rear Lights. When I rebuilt the Jeep it removed the black outs from the lower rectangles and fitted amber lenses and used them as indicators. I removed the sealed lenses/bulbs and cut the bulb ends off and stuck the lenses into the mounting ring with clear sealer (as the bulb ends hold the lenses in place normally but as you just cut them off they will be loose). Standard 380 & 382 bulbs then fit into the holders. 8. Dash lights, I had fitted 12v ones on rebuild anyway but a straight replacement. 9. Flasher Unit. Straight replace with a 12v unit. I did have a problem I think caused by the bulbs being low wattage which meant they didn’t trigger the unit. When I plugged in a trailer board to the trailer socket I have fitted hidden under the rear cross member the extra bulb and wattage caused the unit to work fine, a heavy duty flasher unit cured this. 10. Battery. I found a black cased heavy duty battery for £70, part number 030 fits the tray perfectly and is the largest one you can get in there but other cheaper sizes are available just a bit smaller. Job done, now starts instantly, lights are great and I don’t have to worry about trailer lights. No other changes are needed, the wiring is fine, 6v actually needs double the ampage of 12v so is more than heavy enough if in good condition. I’ve been told that the fuel gauge will read wrong unless you fit a resister but I have to say I have never known a Jeep fuel gauge be right in any case !! The starter is fine unless you keep it turning over for too long but it now starts after about a second so should be fine, apparently you can get a better starter bendix spring if it plays up. Hope that is useful, its certainly made a very big difference starting both hot and cold. Some pictures below for those interested.