Sidewinder

Hello, Knowing I have an interest in all things military, I have recently been asked about a WW1 German rifle that has been found. I haven't seen it myself but the finder has reason to believe it is still live. Understandably the finder would like to keep the rifle if it is legally possible. All advice I've found so far says to phone the police and they will collect the weapon for destruction. Is it possible to take the rifle to a gunsmith for deactivating to enable it to be kept legally or is this just opening going to open a different can of worms? Thanks!

A lot of manufacturers pass on the development costs in some way or another to their customers. I work for an engine manufacturer and all of our suppliers pass on start up costs for producing parts onto us, whether that is us paying for tooling directly or adding the cost of development to the individual piece part price. Things like this will work on economies of scale.. car manufacturers will add development costs to car prices, but because of the large volumes they sell it adds little to individual car prices, whereas MOD suppliers tend to sell fewer vehicles to spread the development costs over. Not saying its the only reason for the extortionate prices, but it probably goes a long way to explaining them. James Edited to say posted at the same time as Chris!

I will be popping over either tomorrow or Saturday to look at a few lots.. won't be able to stay for long though as it'll be a squeeze as it is! Was considering one of the CVRT's but they look even rougher than the ones in the last tender, if that's possible! James

Looking good! Some great pics there, will definitely be looking back at them when it comes to dropping the engine in the Spartan. :cool2: James

Finally managed to get around to this yesterday. Arranged to borrow the keys to the loader, but my mate dropped out at the last minute so I decided to go ahead alone anyway. Came out fairly easily, definitely needed two pairs of hands to guide the tank as it kept twisting inside the vehicle by the time I'd climbed back into the loader. Just some of the rusty water, mud and general rubbish that fell out of the tank as it was being lifted. Definitely glad I'm not going to be connecting this to my re-con engine. One thing I did notice is the rear of the vehicle is now sitting very high, so much so that the track under the rear roadwheel is far enough off the ground that I can fit my hand under it. The vehicle is pretty much stripped and only has the gearbox in it, so I'd expect her to sit nose heavy but I imagine this will only get worse when I refit the engine? Is this normal or is it a possible sign of broken torsion bars somewhere. Using a crow bar under the final roadwheels they're not that easy to lift, but thinking about it now I suppose its more likely a front one is broken. I'm not planning on reinstalling the original fuel tank, mainly to increase passenger space, so will board the troop compartment out with marine ply or similar. Wondering now whether once the engine has been fitted to add some paving slabs as balllast to the rear of the vehicle before fitting the new floor to level it off a little? Cheers, James

Don't want to hijack the thread but I would be very interested in a complete set of new engine and gearbox oil hoses if someone can get you some old ones to use as a pattern. Planning on putting an engine in my Spartan this summer and as it was completely stripped out when it arrived from Withams I am missing lots of hoses! Cheers, James

Went and tried again tonight for a little bit managed to get the tank to move about 8" towards the rear door, it's now resting on top of the torsion bar housings so its losing the fight.. all be it slowly. Removed the rear inspection plate and the tank is full of rusty sludge.. definitely glad I'm removing it. Robin, if you could get some pics that would be brilliant. I can get it moving, but its a tight fit so as much info as possible to help in knowing where to lift/pull it from and how to turn it to get it to fit through the roof would be helpful. Cheers, James

That sounds similar to what I'm thinking.. hoping a 70 - 90 litre tank will be more than enough. I must admit I'm tempted to just cut the tank up inside to aid removal, but even after all this time there is still the smell of petrol coming from inside the tank and my sense of self preservation is a little too strong to convince me to try that option. However it comes outs its going to be tight.. Hoping a 30 tonne 360 will give it the added persuasion it needs! James

Have you left your old tank in for appearances then? So there's no real need to try and turn it while its still inside the vehicle then, just pull straight up and out from its current position using the inspection plate. Yeah, was still planning on coming up. Will PM you later to arrange a time. James

Currently trying to remove the fuel tank from my Spartan after its spent the last 10 years with all hatches left wide open and the inspection plate removed. As a result the tank is full of mud and had a small tree growing out of it when I got the vehicle. i know it can only come out of the vehicle roof hatch and has to be turned several times inside the vehicle to allow it to fit out of the hatch, but what exactly is the trick to getting it out?! Currently trying to lift the right hand side of the tank (looking from the rear door forward) using bottle jacks and ratchet pullers so I can stand it up right before sliding forward to lift out of the hatch. However, it now appears to be stuck wedged at a 45 degree angle between the hull sides.. Will try and get some pictures up later. Cheers, James

I'm sure I will.. I'm also fully expecting that a few seized bolts will be the least of my worries! :-D James

Definitely glad I asked! Sounds like I'd have got about half an hour into it before throwing my toys out the pram.. Will get it stripped and on blocks, then let the pros have a go. Sounds like it'll be more than worth it in the long run! Cheers.

Cheers guys, think I'll start getting some quotes then. Can anyone recommend a mobile blaster around the Peterborough/Grantham area? On the upside, at least I don't have to worry about making a mess.. she's currently parked in a quarry so a bit more dust will be the least of their problems! James

While wandering around the Spartan at the weekend deciding where to start, I convinced myself to take advantage of the fact the vehicle is already half stripped and get stuff like shotblasting out of the way first. Don't want grit getting all in my repaired electrics and engine etc.. What sort of prices have people paid for mobile shotblasters to do a (CVRT sized) vehicle? I'm toying with trying to save money and do it myself. I can borrow a 5/6hp petrol compressor and a hand held shotblasting gun from the usual suspects are only about £20/30.. obviously I'd still need the blasting media and a respirator but I'll need that for respraying anyway. Has anyone got any advice/experience on this or is this one of those jobs thats just better left to someone else? Cheers, James

Always one thing after another.. And I've got all this to look forward to with the Spartan I've just bought.. honestly, I can't wait! :coffee: James

According to the lads in the yard, all the other Spartans & Sultans went to a scrap dealer. Can't decide where that's a real shame or if I'm just the only person stupid enough to outbid the scrappy! Chris, Yeah, its got four Armstrong dampers fitted, though it looks like one is weeping oil. James

Hello, Took the morning off work today to collect the Spartan I won in Witham's last tender. Only had time for a quick crawl over today so will be heading down on Sat for a proper play. It'll need a new engine as the engine bay is currently looking very empty along with a new drivers seat cushion as the current one has a 5ft sapling growing out of it, but overall nothing too daunting on first inspection. Had a massive grin all afternoon.. I'd forgotten how much I miss these lumps of green metal! :nut: James

Chris, possibly.. Bid price definitely reflected the condition though! Worried now I missed something blindingly obvious though! Too late now I suppose! :nut:

Hello! Just thought I'd say a quick hello again, hopefully some of you might remember me! Back after a long absence of not being a MV owner having sold my 432 but just bought a CVRT Spartan.. why?!? James

You'd think Withams would have the foresight to park them all up "round the back" somewhere for a few years until they are declassified, assuming that'll happen anytime soon. Given the asking price at the moment for a turreted CVRT, surely it'd be more than worth their while. Its not as though they're short on space, I can't imagine it'd cost them much in storage fee's. Or is it part of the MOD contract that they have to be destroyed ASAP? Hopefully some of the parts might make it out as spares... James

Be a real shame if they are, I'd kill for a diesel Scimitar... I'd imagine Withams know they'd be worth more to paying customers and collectors than for scrap and at the end of the day they are in business to make money so they only reason I can think of is if they are still classed as restricted or something similar and can't yet be released into civvi life?

I think unfortunately insurance will be your biggest problem, when I phoned up to get insurance on my MV there was a lot of sucking air through teeth when I told them my age (24). Most of the well known companies said they're not keen on insuring someone under the age of 25, as a result my quotes were about 2.5 times what other older drivers pay for exactly the same type of vehicle. Even with a spotless licence, no accidents etc.. On a similar topic, I tried to hire a minibus a few weeks ago so that a dozen of us could go away for the weekend. Now according to the DVLA's website I met the requirements to be able to drive a minibus (over 21, no special licence needed as long as its not used for hire or reward or used as part of an organised company/club/corporate trip). However, no hire company would hire to me as I was under 25 and they said no insurance company would cover me to drive a minibus. In the end we gave up and went in separate cars... Think all you can do is phone round a few companies and ask some questions, be honest with them and just see what they say. Hope you manage to get something sorted. James

Robin, Exactly the same happened to me on my 432 and as is always the case in deep mud too, so I understand exactly how you are feeling.. On mine it turned out not to be the bearings but the actual idler arm itself that had been twisted at some point. I gave up trying to get my guide horns to drop back into place in the end. Even with all the tension taken out of the track it wouldn't budge, and rocking the vehicle gently backwards and forwards just made it come off even more. Hopefully you'll have more luck as your idler wheel isn't rubber tyred which I think was the main problem I had, the guide horns were biting hard into the rubber and as a result were not going to be persuaded to move sideways. In the end it dropped off completely and I ended up having to splitting (in two places) the track in deep mud, not something I'd want to do again in a hurry. Hope it all goes well! Good luck. James

Going off on a slight tangent here, but while having a browse through Withams online auctions website earlier I noticed that they currently have a Stormer HVM up for auction. What most caught my eye however was the small print: I believe the 654 is the Cast Vehicle form which without means the vehicle can't be registered, as they have stated. Am I correct in thinking that although the Stormer complies with C&U and braking/steering requirements that like a 432 it is also overwidth? Could this be the start of Withams stopping issuing Cast Vehicle forms for vehicles that don't comply or is there just another simpler explanation? If they are not issuing one on grounds of non-compliance, surely they'll stop issuing them to other similar vehicles.. Either way, buyer beware! James

If you want a digital graph, why not enter the data in microsoft Excel, I'd have thought most computers should have it as standard. You can then create a whole range of different types of graph with the option to modify and change them to suit your needs, add grid lines, legends etc etc..