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It would be good to see those. Manby has been sold and the driving centre is closing down in the middle of November:cry: It is unlikely than any motorsports or driving activities will happen there again. Jason

No, the ferrets were sold 2 years ago. Same person bought both and planned to restore them.

one thing to remember is the scrap value of some of this stuff. We have been getting upwards of £700 for 432 packs:nut: and crazy prices on the heavy armour. Which is why we have scrapped all of our vehicles even the runners. Only got an abbot and the cent left now:embarrassed:

Sorry for the lack of updates on the bowser at Manby I have been very busy. It is still there at the moment, as to its condition its may not be complete but it is far better than the one on milweb! The 3 that are on ebay do look to be in good shape though. Hopefully it will be saved even if it is just used for parts for others.

Sorry not had a chance to get near it, its safe for at least another week as were concentrating on stripping the 3 centurions down ready to go on thursday I will try and get to it this week.

I had a closer look at it today with someone who was interested in saving it. Since it was parked up parts of the pump have been stolen although the main block is still there. It does not have its engine. Most of it is intact and could be restored. It has some damaged to its side panels/mud guards and the doors would also require attention and the tyres are shot. If it is to be sold and saved it would be at scrap value (currently £240:wow: per ton) based on it weighing 2 ton(if anyone knows the weight of one of these it may help get the price down), the price would be plus vat. That is what my boss is prepared to sell it at and we would help load it onto a suitable vehicle. I can get some photos and i will try and get some tomorrow. It would be a shame to see it go for scrap but i can honestly see it going that way. It will be getting cut up by the middle of next week if it has not gone.

There is one of these fuel bowsers located at Manby Motorplex. It still has its brass pump and looks mostly intact if a little rough. Unfortunately it is due to be scrapped in the next week or so, as the boss is having a huge tidy up. 4 alvis stalwarts, a tatra kolos 813, 3 fv432 and a high defence mobility trailer (later model with hydraulic suspension) have already been scrapped:mad:

Thanks for that Adrian, exactly what im after. We are having a huge sort out at the moment all of our 432s and stalwarts will be gone by thursday and were starting on the cents next week. Luckily we have buyers for the cent parts or it would all be going to the scrappers.

I am currently breaking 3 centurions. Various parts have been sold and im currently organising transport for them. I need to know the weights of the following components: Meteor engine Gearbox Clutch Tracks (each track or even better individual links) Final drives Suspension units Any help with this would be much appreciated, all of the above parts are going to rebuild many other cents.

They are mk1 and mk11, We have both new and used spares for them, pretty much everything you can think off. I wont lead anyone else up a dead end trail as I have passed information on for many forum members only for it not to go any further once its reached the boss! I am sure he will at some point start to sell it all off but he doesnt appear to be in any hurry:nut:

Thanks for al the usefull info. Ive got 6 to do in total:shocked: They have been sat for sale for a long time so the boss has decided just to weigh them in. Most of the usefull stuff has already been removed. I will look into getting something to suck out the oils as that looks like the easier and least messy option. Thanks again Jason

I need to drain all the fluids down out of a 432 which we have been stripping for spares. I need to drop all of the oils out of the gearbox and engine and anywhere else that has any fluid. Does the engine pack need to be removed to do this or can it be done in situ? Any help would be much appreciated. regards Jason

Hi there good to see more members on from lincs I didnt realise there was so many:shocked:

This is turning into the job from hell!!:mad: The weather certainly is not helping. Just about every nut and bolt is rusted solid. Ive managed to disconect the gearbox from the drive shafts and take all the gear linkages off. I still have the 2 mounting bolts to remove and the 2 bolts holding the clutch drive on. These are going to have to be burnt off as they are stuck fast. I gave up today once I ran out of acetylene, but im back on it tomorrow and the first job will be to cut the deck plates off to make access a bit easier. I will hopefully have the gearbox out and the aux engine out tomorrow. Apart from the rusty bolts ive encountered everything under the deck plates looks to be in good order. Will see how i get on tomorrow, hopefully a bit better than today, its not easy tackling a job like this on your own.

Thanks for the info Adrian, so far i have removed a few insignificant bits while ive been working out where to start. All the hatches had seized shut so that took a while, surprisingly though everything apears to be ok underneath. I started to remove the radiators but i came a little stuck. I have managed to unwind the 2 big nuts that hold it on but it looks like they need to go more but there isnt the room. Is there an obvious solution to this that im missing. Regards Jason

Thanks for that, looks like its going to be a bit of a long, cold, wet job.:-( hmm wonder if i can talk the boss into waiting untill the summer? :laugh: cheers

Just been told by the boss that ive got to remove a centurion engine and gearbox tomorrow. Ive never done one of these so i was just after some general advice on what order to remove things, any hidden bolts wires etc and also how much do i actually need to remove from/around the engine to get it out. How many man hours should a job like this take and how many people? We have got a 16ton excavator to lift everything out but unfortunately its all being done outside, so fingers crossed for good weather. regards Jason

Its actually new diesel that does that. All diesel is now 8% bio it does not like any moisture. We have suffered a lot on our work vehicles as condensation forms in the alloy and steel tanks and mixes with the bio, causing the fungus to grow creating a black sludge. It is a pain to get rid of and is very costly:(

Thanks for all of the information. I knew the cents had been at Manby a while but not quite that long. Some parts have been removed off of them to help the restoration of our fourth cent the AVRE 165 which is coming along nicely now:-D. We are trying to get it out in a few weeks as a display piece for a show at the venue. If and when we do i will get some photos of it.

ok so i now have the reg for the third cent without a turret it is 00 SP 37. With regards to the manifold I will find out for you, we may even have some new ones kicking about.

At work we have 4 centurions. One is an avre with a dozer blade which is currently being restored, and is progressing nicely, but the original military reg has been lost:(. Is there anyway we could trace the history of it? We also have an ARV which under the paint I have found was called MISTER X and carries a reg number of 06 ZR 89. There are another 2 cents but without turrets, which I have been told were used as training vehicles? One carries the reg 89 BA 82 the other im still trying to find. I will post some photos up later on if they are of interest to anyone.

The ones at Manby are still for sale but are in poor condition some only being good for parts. There are six left, 2 mk1s and 4 mk 2s. One of the mk1s is a swimmer and one of the mk2s is winch equipped. He is asking £2000+ vat for each of them!!:shocked: But im sure at least 3 could be saved if someone is up for a long term project. I know they wont be there for much longer as the scrap dealers have started snooping again so prices must be on the up.

I need to replace the clutch in an MJ after some numpty drove round the offroad course in highbox riding the clutch:mad:. I have never done this before on an MJ and just wondered if anyone has any usefull tips on how to go about this? I also need to find a supplier for the clutch, ive tried a google search but that has not really brought anything up of use. Any help much appreciated. Jason

Hi Adrian, welcome to the forum. I believe we have spoken in the past about some centurion parts! I have not forgotten and I will be in touch very soon:) Regards Jason

Having seen the above photos and images im fairly certain I know the where abouts of a mk 1 432 that may be winch equiped. It certainly had the ground anchor on the back as i caught my leg on the thing and wondered what it was. Anyway I will look into it further now, as I didnt give it to much attention at the time.